The Clueless Homeowners

Great giveaway!

2011-04-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you guys know about a fantastic giveaway over at bryn alexandra!

The April Giveaway

If you love to sew or you want to learn, one yard pieces are a fabulous addition to your stash, and there are some really goregous prints included! I love that dusty purple ikat.

Check it out!

After 10 months

2011-02-24T08:30:00.001-08:00

The drapes for the living and dining room are sewn and ready to hang!

We'll be hanging them the next time we see each other, which will be either tomorrow or Saturday. I absolutely can't wait.

I actually bought the fabric last April with plans to reupholster the green chair (which, man, I've almost had that thing for a year now). But it didn't have the right weight for upholstery. I still loved it, and knew it would be perfect for the drapes. It's a gray and white linen stripe, almost exactly the same shade as the wall color. We actually chose the wall color based on the fabric. They really look great, and I can't wait to see them up. I'll just have to hang them and hem the bottoms to finish up.

Here's a picture of the fabric from when we were choosing the paint color for the room.

I can't stand bare windows, so it's hard to believe I've been living without anything in this rooms since the summer. Can't wait!

Thrifting anyone?

2011-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

Garage sale season has started hot and heavy here, and we're taking advantage. We prefer estate sales and moving sales for a few reasons. We don't have to deal with looking through tons of baby stuff and clothes (the clothes at estate sales are usually fun to look at, actually), and there is a much greater chance of good furniture. Prices are generally a little higher, but you get what you pay for.

In the past couple of weeks, we've made some great small purchases. No furniture, although we found some awesome mid-century chairs at one sale. Too bad they were already sold.

The painting is from 79 and cost us $15. We dropped it off to be framed last week, and chose a flat front white frame. I can't wait to get it back and figure out where to put it.

I also couldn't resist the little troll like dude in the brown frame for around $7. We didn't notice a $2.99 written on the back in pencil before we bought it, so we definitely overpaid, but I love it $7 worth, so that's what matters, right?

At the same sale, I also got two enamel bangles and we picked up a Mark Twain paperback.

Then last week, we found a couple of moving sales with great sales.

I got this little horse for $1 to add to our menagerie.

And his friend the donkey, also a dollar. At the same sale, I got an old sil scarf for a buck.

Then we found a sale with all the books you could carry for a dollar, and took great advantage. I don't know how many we ended up with. But it was a LOT.

I'm excited to see more sales as the season goes on. And maybe find some dining furniture!

Speaking of dining furniture and thrifting, I'm still looking for inspiration.

I was kind of inspired by today's outfit.

I love turquoise and red. And I loved the way my brown work bag and gray purse worked with the color combo. So I wondered if a deep, deep teal or turquoise could work on the china cabinet.

But dude, I'm trying to tone this thing down. Turquoise is crazy right?

When I use a picture of the china cabinet in the Sherwin Williams color visualizer, the answer is a resounding YES. It looks awful. I am not thinking the color of my sweater of course. I am thinking a teal so dark it's almost black. But that's hard to do right. And if I pick that, I have no CLUE what to use in the back.

But I'm kind of loving this paper for the back.

I think it would look fab with the white chine in front. But Brett is unsure about painting it black. It's a hard decision. I don't want to mess it up again!

The shoes I'm wearing in the above picture were part of my Valentine's Day present from Brett. I LOVE them! My Toms collection is starting to get a little out of hand. We did Valentine's a little late due to work/travel/schedule, but it was worth the wait.

Other than that, as usual, we went with home related gifts.

I also got this bookend from the new CB2 Spring collection (LOVE!)

So we rearranged our books a bit. It really makes me smile!

Even before we did gifts though, when I got back from my work trip I found these on the kitchen counter. Even though I wouldn't see Brett for a few more days, it was nice to know he was thinking of me in the middle of the week.

Side note, I am falling in love with our kitchen all over again lately. Especially on days when it's really functioning and then it's clean, but the light that we get on weekend afternoons just makes me want to hang out in there.

For Brett, I got a print framed that I knew he would like. He collects Legos, new and vintage, and we display some of them in the office. So I thought he would like this print to tie that in. I really love it too, actually!

We moved the concert poster that was here, but ti's still in the room.

We also framed the card I gave him because we both liked it so much, and hung it in the stairway.

Which I also realized I never posted about. We've started hanging photos/prints/whatever in the stairway in black gallery frames. The plan is to eventually have the entire wall just covered with frames and stuff.

Hey look, we still have to figure out how to cut in up there!

It's going to be a slow process but we really like it so far!

2011-02-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you Thomas Edison, for pretty much everything we enjoy today.

But most of all, for inspiring me to care about science, math, and how things work.

Happy Birthday.

Image from the fantastic blog Letters to Dead People

Gray and White

2011-01-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that gray is my favorite color (I-i-i felt so symbolic yesterday).

Anyone? Anyone?

But I love, love, LOVE the combo of gray and white. Take gray of pretty much any shade, put it next to something white, and I'll swoon. There are a few examples of this in our house already. Gray walls and white trim, obviously. A charcoal piece of fabric framed in a white frame. Charcoal gray glass tiles surrounded by white subway tile (both set off with medium gray grout).

When we moved in almost two years ago, the second room we made over was our bedroom. The first was the guest bathroom, which we've already completely redone again. Honestly, we made some decisions in our bedroom that we wouldn't make again. But this is a much bigger room, and these decisions involve a lot more expense. So we're going to work with them.

We do love the paint color we chose, truly. It's what started the color inspiration for our entire house. So I'll give us an A+ on that. But the trim color is not so great. I would have already redone it if not for the French doors. And I'll eventually do it anyway. I originally chose a muslin color when we thought the common rooms were going to be a tan/brown. But now I want all the trim to be BM Simply White. It's going to be a bitch of a job.

The furniture? Meh. The style is okay. We wouldn't choose it today, but it's not bad. We're just not into matchy matchy anymore. We would not buy a matching set today, and we would rather have a medium wood tone. And really, we would SO rather have smaller scale furniture. But the biggest mistake by far was the brand. We bought from Ashley Furniture, and we are SO unhappy with the quality. We have known people who had Ashley stuff they were happy with (not heirloom quality, but we didn't expect that). But I would NEVER buy anything from there that had moving parts. Our drawers are awful. We've had to replace the tracks on two drawers in a year, and several won't stay shut.

We'll be replacing this a lot sooner than if we'd just saved a little more, and went with something higher quality. Or even better, waited a little longer and bought estate pieces or shopped in Houston where we had better, and cheaper, options.

I also chose bedding, art, accessories, etc. that I liked at the time, but looking back they just aren't my style. I do like certain pieces of course, but the whole neutral earth tones palette just wasn't working for me anymore.

So with some Christmas money, thanks to the grandparents, I started what will be a slow process: making our bedroom look like a part of the rest of our house. First on the agenda was injecting some gray and white, in the way of bedding.

With my money and a West Elm coupon code burning a hole in my pocket, I gambled on whether I should wait for the Spring Collection, or go ahead and buy on sale. I decided to take a chance and wait, and it paid off.

I got the new Stripe Duvet Cover with Euro Shams. And we also got the Flame Stitch Blanket (it's hard to navigate to their blankets, even though they have a couple. Put blanket in the search bar).

Love that texture. And you know I'm a sucker for anything chevron.

That first pic was taken with my phone. Here's a truer to color, and truer to life picture of how the bed looks.

Come on, like you all have perfectly made beds with throw pillows every day? We both love how much BRIGHTER the room looks from this change alone. It's so refreshing and just feels cleaner.

I do plan on covering a couple of throw pillows, but I have to choose fabric first. My instinct is very graphic, black and white, but then I think I should bring in some very bright color. Like a flame red, the color of my dutch oven? I love the contrast of the color with gray/blue gray.

(making a big pot of red beans and rice this weekend. it means the beginning of Mardi Gras in our house)

Gray and White is really the perfect color scheme, I'm convinced. I've yet to find a spot it doesn't look good in. I have gray and white curtains in our office. A gray and white letterpress print in the upstairs bathroom. And now this bedding.

But there comes a point where an obsession can go to far, and I think I've reached it.

Meet Moe. Short for Mowgli, his shelter name. He's about three months, or a little older. He's got long hair that we think will stick around, and blue gray eyes that we think will go away with age.

He has two modes: running around like an insane wild man, or snuggling up as close to one of us as he can be. We already like him very much (you might even say love) after knowing him just two weeks. Charlie, our tuxedo cat, alternates between playing with him and ignoring him, and Sadie's coming around. All in all, he's a great addition to our family.

Of course, we didn't pick him based only on the fact that he matched our house. But it didn't hurt.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

Since it's been exactly a month since Christmas Eve, it's probably about time to post about what I got for Christmas, right?

Right.

Well, I was majorly spoiled, all around. First, from family.

My parents started it off with this insanely gorgeous bag. This picture does NOT do it justice at all.

They had it custom sized for the laptop I'm getting in a couple of weeks (for work, nothing exciting, but if I have to carry it home every day, I might as well carry it in something beautiful), and I LOVE it so much. It might be the most beautiful (fashion related) item I've ever owned.

Also fashion related, I got a pair of Tretorn for J.Crew Citron canvas sneakers. No pictures, because they're sold out, but they're pretty awesome. Definitely an attention getter.

My brother and SIL got us the new Donkey Kong Country for Wii. This is a sentimental gift for us, because I have plenty of fond memories of playing the original with my brother as a kid.

Also from my parents, you've seen a sneak peek but here she is in here glory.

I hope to show you all the organizational goodies inside if I can remember to take pictures. We fit everything in all of the drawers from the cabinet we replaced and both towers in like half of this thing. I love it. The red accent is exactly what we needed to wake up the room. I can't WAIT until we have a) curtains, b) white shelving on either side of the fireplace and c) a chair that's been reupholstered in the charcoal and white chevron fabric I bought and am 100% obsessed with.

It will be AWESOME.

My in-laws got me a gorgeous J.Crew sweater. I've been wearing it like twice a week! It's so soft and the smoothest knit. They also got me some lotion and soap, and various other bits and bobs.

My aunt and uncle were so thoughtful, getting us several owls (favorite below, made of a found rock!) and a giftcard to Lowe's, and one set of grandparents got me a beautiful scarf.

But then, there's my husband. He, without a doubt, rocked it.

First, I got Casablanca on DVD in my stocking. It's one of his favorites, and I've never seen it. I guess he just couldn't live with that anymore. I also got some hard candy to fuel my sugar addiction.

But there were four differently sized boxes under the tree for me. I honestly thought it was new bedding. It was the only thing I could think of that would be remotely the right size, and come in different sized boxes.

But not, the different sizes were just to throw me off.

I got four (four!) beautifully framed Sharon Montrose prints. Guys, my husband and I don't always see eye to eye on art. I know this would not have been his first choice, to say the least. It makes it that much more thoughtful that he chose something that I would love SO MUCH. He's a keeper, dudes.

It's really difficult to photograph photographs and do them justice.

So here are his choices in all their glory.

A silkie chicken, to go with my extremely well loved little chicken dish I keep by the sink. Perfect match.

A piglet, who obviously is smiling. Look at his little tail!

A little innocent lamb. Such a lovely pose.

And although my favorite changes almost daily, the most consistent has got to be this little porcupine. JUST LOOK. I want a real life one. Now.

This was a lovely way to bring the (not so) subtle animal theme we have going into our living room. Our kitchen almost screams it, our guest room has started to whisper it, and our upstairs bathroom is definitely in on the act. Now our living room fits right in to the menagerie.

A post on what I got for Brett is coming up. I'm pretty proud of it, if I do say so myself (it's also home related. What can I say, we're well matched in terms of house crazy).

Hi

2010-12-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

Let's ignore the fact that it's been a month and a half since I last posted. Okay?

Okay.

Life got busy. I got busy. Excuses, excuses. Let's jump in.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! The weekend before the big day, I got to host our family Christmas for the first time ever. It was wonderful to have my parents, brother, and sister in law in our home for some family time and a wonderful meal.

And we did a great job hosting if I do say so myself.

We served a traditional-ish meal of fried turkey, turnip greens, sweet potato casserole, English peas (a must passed down from my great grandmother for any holiday gathering), roasted potatoes and carrots, and cornbread (using Brett's great grandmother's pan and recipe). We also had Christmas candy and derby pie (regular and gluten free) to finish it off.

The house was decked out for a celebration!

My favorite ornament acquired this year, the stegosaurus:

We even got our sheepskin in on the action.

(Stack of library book are not a Christmas decoration :) )

But my favorite, favorite thing about having people over for a Christmas meal: I get to do a Christmas table!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I started with some black and white fabric I've been wanting to use forever, and some charcoal gray chargers I got on clearance for $1 each at Z Gallerie.

The original look was supposed to be black, white, and brass. With maybe some glittery thrown in. My original flower plan was white poinsettias. But then I realized I really wanted some red thrown in. So I did that with flowers, candles, and the napkins.

The brass was brought in using my vintage candlestick collection (never pay over 50 cents people) and a couple of containers for flowers bought at Goodwill (also 50 cents each). Then I added our china and an assortment of red and white tulips and daisies, along with some green mini hydrangea, and it was finished.

The candles are all from Target. They offer these column candles in a few different colors every season, and I always grab a few. My gray ones (on the mantle in an above pic) are my favorite. They look so much nicer than tapers to me.

The napkin fold came from Martha Stewart Weddings, and was super duper easy.

I thought it all turned out beautiful, but still fun and not too stuffy? Maybe?

The only other project I've really been working on is this one.

I've still got to stain the bottom but the weather is not cooperating. We are having a freakishly cold winter! (cue tons of people laughing at my complaints) But I can't use water based stain if it's going to be under 35F within 24 hours, or if it's going to rain anytime soon. Plus it's, you know, kind of a busy time of year. I'll finish it sometime.

I'll do a post with nicer pictures soon, but here's a sneak peek of a couple of my Christmas presents. I took these with my phone in the dark.

Oh yes, oh yes that is a red, metal Ikea cabinet.

And that is a photograph from the one and only Sharon Montrose!!!!!!!!!! And those are picture hangers for three more photographs!!!!!!!

I'm way spoiled.

Ready for Thanksgiving?

2010-11-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

We are!

Thanksgiving means a lot of planning for me, and this year, I'm bound and determined to get some of my favorites. Combine my uncertainty with the fact that my husband won't get to come with me for Thanksgiving at all, and we were inspired to have a practice session on Sunday.

I made a little bit of baked ham with maple glaze for the hubs, but I wasn't interested. What I wanted was the casseroles. I'm a huge nut for my grandmother's potato casserole. I call it hers, because she's been making it since I was a little girl. But it's really just the recipe on the bag of Ore-Ids Hash Browns. She switches the green onions out for a little bit of finely diced white onion, and trust me, this stuff is delicious.

I also really want to be able to eat my mom's broccoli casserole, straight from the pages of every Southern girl's favorite cookbook, Bell's Best (recipe below). For both of these recipes, most of the ingredients are totally fine for me. Sour cream, cheddar cheese, butter, onions, broccoli, all gluten free of course. Two suspects, the Ore Ida hash browns and the Cheez Whiz, were also thankfully GF. Ore Ida actually has a list of all gluten free products on their website, here. Corn Flakes aren't gluten free, but I could just use some Glutino crackers as a topping instead.

I had one problem with both recipes. Cream soup. Check and can of Campbell's Cream soup and you'll find wheat flour listed as an ingredient, so I needed to find an alternative. I had looked for GF cream soups before, with no luck. But on my latest trip to Whole Foods, I did a happy dance, called my grandma excitedly, and told her we were in the clear. They had GF Cream of Mushroom Soup! I bought like 6 cans to take for our huge Thanksgiving. I thought we had found our solution.

Then Sunday, when I opened the first can for my potato casserole? Craaaaaaaaaaap. It wasn't condensed. It wasn't condensed! Which would make my casserole way too liquidy. Without thinking, I went ahead and dumped both cans in the bowl. Oops!

I had a soupy mess on my hands. Hmmmmmmmm. So I added a few tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken (which probably didn't really help, honestly). And I added tons of extra cheese to help bind it together. When it felt like almost the right texture, I dumped the whole thing in my largest casserole dish, topped it with crushed, buttered gluten free crackers, and popped it in the oven.

Ingredients

* 1 Bag Ore Ida Country Style Hash Browns
* 2 Can(s) Gluten Free Cream of Mushroom Soup (modified)
* 2 Cup(s) SOUR CREAM
* 1/2 Teaspoon(s) SALT
* 4 Cup(s) CHEDDAR CHEESE shredded (modified)
* 1/2 Cup(s) White ONIONS sliced (modified)
* 1/2 Teaspoon(s) BLACK PEPPER ground (modified)
* 1 box plain Glutino crackers, crushed (modified)
* 1/4 Cup(s) BUTTER melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 4 1/2 quart casserole dish with butter or spray (or don't, it's not super necessary. Side note: the original recipe calls for a 13x9. B.S. No way will it fit. You need a honking casserole for this sucker)

2. In a large bowl, whisk together soup, sour cream, salt and pepper. Stir in cheese, onion and Hash Browns until well mixed. Spoon evenly into baking dish.

3. In a large ziploc bowl, shake together crackers and butter. Sprinkle evenly on top of Hash Brown mixture.

4. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour (modified from original!), or until hot and bubbly. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Eat your heart out.

Next, I tackled the broccoli casserole. I was better prepared for the soup shocker, so I planned ahead a little. Instead of the two cans the recipe called for, I used only one. And instead of using the entire can, I spooned out the thicker globs and left the thin, watery stuff out.

Pre-cooking, the consistency of this casserole was much closer to how I thought it should be. But the lack of thickening agents from the soup just made it never come together. I cooked it. And cooked it. And cooked it. I kept the rest of our lunch warm while I baked it an extra 25 minutes. Then I let it bake while we ate our lunch. Then I let it bake a little longer. We finally took it out just shy of two hours, bubbly and brown on top but still jiggly as ever. It did set a little as it cooled, but it never got as thick as it needed to. It tasted just fine (not as good as my mom's of course, but nothing ever will), but it was more soupy than casserole-y.

But I've found a new solution for next Thursday, and I think it will work much better for casseroles! I'm going to use the condensed soup recipes from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom. I think this texture will turn out much better.

Here's the Broccoli Casserole Recipe, p. 338 in Bell's Best.

1 large onion
1 stalk celery
1/2 c. mushrooms
1 jar Cheez Whiz (the big jar)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I used 3/4 of a can of non-condensed, didn't turn out so hot though. I'll make two batches of the recipe linked above next time)
1 c. cooked rice (we used brown, but either white or brown is fine)
1 box chopped broccoli, cooked.

Saute onion, celery, mushrooms in 2 Tbsp butter. (Honestly, I skipped this. I just melted a little butter and mixed the onion, celery and mushrooms in it in a bowl. I don't think I've ever seen my mom do this either) Add soup, Cheez Whiz, rice, and drained broccoli. Place in a casserole dish and cook at 350 for 10-15 minutes (lies! Even following this recipe to the exact letter, it has never taken less than 45 minutes to get done. Cook it at whatever temperature you have other things going, until the top is brown and delicious looking, and the middle is barely jiggly)

Honestly, these recipes may not look like much. Cheez whiz? Hash browns topped with crackers? But they're home to me. I'll also be helping to make the turkeys (smoke, fried, and baked, thank you), ham, and vegetables. Plus I'm preparing the sweet potato casserole, from scratch, with a too good for words pecan topping. I'll also be making a little pan of gluten free stuffing, some GF rolls, and a GF pecan pie. So I won't be going hungry. But the two recipes here are the two that mean Thanksgiving for me. They bring back years of holiday meals and family gatherings. And I'm so happy that I'll get to eat them this year.

If you want a chance to win several fabulous prizes, including a new kitchen-aid mixer, you can make a gluten free dish and blog about it, and post a link on this post at Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. It's way easier than you think, I promise!

Hi there

2010-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

I have a bunch of random things kicking around to post, so here's a mish mash of things.

First, the fall cure update. When I started, I loved the concept of this year's cure. At 20 minutes a day, it's perfect for us working stiffs, right?

I didn't think about the fact that I wasn't going to be home over a quarter of the days of the cure! When I'm in a hotel Monday through Wednesday, cleaning, buying flowers, and other 20 minute tasks aren't happening. So they've been pushed and I'm behind.

But I'm doing pretty well considering. I'm only a couple of days behind. I still need to clean a room this week, clean out my medicine cabinet, and hang a piece of artwork. I stopped on the way home from work today (my first day in my own city this week!) and got some flowers.

I decided to go with another bunch of football mums. The first ones I got, three weeks ago, lasted until today. They were still okay, and probably would have lasted another week if I had been home to change the water earlier this week. At $4.99 from Whole Foods, they're a great deal.

And dude, I'm sure you're tired of it, but hellooooooooo black fireplace. I love it so, so much. Best, decision ever.

I love this color. It totally matches the sweater I wore today, actually!

I used the greenery from last week's flowers-white hydrangeas. They were gorgeous, but not super cheap. And they started wilting almost instantly. These would be great for an event, like a dinner party. But not to enjoy for a week. Excuse the iphone pic, please.

The greenery was still in pretty good shape. I even had enough left over to brighten up my fruit bowl area.

One of my favorite days so far was one of the ones I dreaded most-the media fast. I spent an entire evening with no tv, no computer, no books, no radio. And I did it on a night when Brett was working, so I spent it completely alone. To keep it real, I was assisted by a traffic jam caused by an overturned 18 wheeler. So I got some extended radio time. I also stopped at the fabric store on the way home. But I got into the spirit of things starting at the fabric store. I left my iPhone in my purse, and made conversation with my fellow shoppers instead. It was a nice change of pace.

When I got home, I had dinner (at the table!) and just kind of stared around my living and dining room and thought about what I wanted to do. Some things will never happen (wood floors, ha!). Some things will happen really soon (curtains). And some things just hit me all of a sudden. It was really, really refreshing.

After dinner, I decided to hang a mirror that I've been meaning to hang since I painted the dining room. Like three months ago.

I almost definitely should have waited until Brett was home to help, but I did it without breaking the mirror! And it's level! Then I took a long bath with a yummy smelling candle and went to bed on time for once. I felt great the next day, and I had a new list of things to tackle.

So what is it that just hit me in the face, and so suddenly became clear?

This thing.

I hate it.

Like HATE it.

I kept quiet about it, because I thought Brett really wouldn't be happy with me saying I wanted to refinish it AGAIN. But I really, really hate it. So I secretly wished I could paint it again and started thinking about what I should back it with.

Then a few days later, a miracle happened! I was sweeping the dining room and Brett was wiping off the table, and he said, "I hate that china cabinet." I think he was so confused when I started grinning. He doesn't hate the cookie monster color with my passion, but he also doesn't like it. What he hates is the flowery paper backing. And I honestly can't blame him. It's just way, way, way too much. Way too much.

So we have to decide what color we want to paint it. We're considering mixing the half quart of blue that we have left with some black and making something closer to the blue-black we wanted in the first place. But I'm also considering just plain black, or, of course, gray. Charcoal this time? We're really not into white, but suggestions are welcome.

For the backing, I'm loving this from Paper Source.

But I am kind of in love with the whimsical idea of this utensil print.

And then there's the Marimekko Frekvennssi Wallpaper, and of course, my dream, Schumacher's Birds and Butterflies Wallcovering, but it's way too pricey for this project.

I'm really obsessing over the dining room lately. I think we've picked out a table, pending seeing the color in person to see if I think it will clash with our floors or not.

Sure, it's basic, nothing fancy. But the clean lines, the solid wood, and the natural finish has me thinking this could be our table four years to come.

But I am set on dining chairs. I've decided. I haven't let my husband in on this decision, but it's okay because I'm the decider, like George W. Bush. I'm wearing the Decision Pants right now.

Our eventual dining chairs are going to be Wishbone Chairs. And even if I'll feel bad, and wish I could find vintage ones, they're going to be knockoffs. The one pictured above is $960. For a single chair. Or $5800 for six. Okay? I can't afford it. InMod sells a knockoff for just $269. The top rail isn't one piece of bentwood. And you know what? That's not worth 700 bucks to me. Urban Home used to sell a version for just $79. SEVENTY NINE DOLLARS! But it seems it's no longer available. My plan is to buy one chair at a time until I have the number I need (8?). I know this is a pretty stupid plan. I know.

Now, I'll wrap things up and go to bed. I'm happy to be home and taking advantage of my own bed and my wonderful sheets (Target Home Organic Cotton. Get some). Hope everyone is having as wonderful a time as I am tonight!

New Additions

2010-11-07T13:51:00.001-08:00

We have a couple of little additions that are brightening up our place lately.

Fall has arrived here in Baton Rouge, and we actually turned our heat on yesterday! We turned it back off after a couple of hours, but still! I wanted to leave it off until December, but Brett was a wuss. It was 60 degrees in the house, so I can't blame him.

Still, it has me in a blanket kind of mood! I was stuck in traffic the other night after a huge wreck on the interstate, and I stopped at the fabric store to pass some time. When I saw that wool was on super sale, I decided I needed a little plaid wool blanket. I picked out a gray wool (of course), with a little brown/black plaid. And I got some red trim to edge it. This was a real bitch to work with, I'll be honest. The trim was really hard to keep in place at first, but I got the hang of it as I went along.

I love the way it turned out! It's a great size and very warm, and makes me feel all New England-y or something. I've never been to New England though, unless NYC counts, so take that with a grain of salt.

We also have a new addition to the guest room. Last Saturday, I noticed an estate sale on my way out of the neighborhood, and I had a few minutes so I stopped in. There wasn't much that interested me, but I saw a little wooden side chair with a ripped upholstered seat, and wondered if I could get a deal. I got them down to $5, and ran down the street to get cash. I ended up paying in change, because we didn't have any small bills!

It had ugly black fake leather on the seat, with a few big rips in it. They included more of the same fabric with it, but I wasn't interested. I wanted the chair to look bright and cheery in our guest room.

Here it is, peeking our from behind the bed.

I used leftover curtain fabric to give it a sweet makeover.

I'm really doing my damnedest to convince Brett that we can let this chair function as an end table. A wall lamp and a vintage clock, and we'd be in business, right?

Not bad for $5.

AT Fall Cure: Days 9 and 10

2010-10-29T11:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Day 9, and the task was to find a recipe and make it. I skipped out on doing it last night for a couple of reasons. First, because I didn't feel like cooking a special meal just for myself after the indulgent meals I ate on my business trip earlier in the week (Brett was working). And second, I got home after my dinner time thanks to election volunteering. So I figured moving it to brunch today when we could both enjoy it would be a better move.

This was a task I really think I needed. Since Brett and I work opposite schedules, I rarely cook except on the weekends. And I have had a really bad attitude about food lately.

I have been focusing on what I can't eat, rather than what I can. I think eating vegetarian for a few months was actually pretty bad for me, because when I had to eat veg and gluten free, my diet was so insanely restrictive that I just didn't enjoy anything. I've started eating fish again, which has helped, but I still just focus on the fact that everyone at my table is enjoying chocolate cake, while I can't order dessert. Or when an office professional I don't really know orders lunch and I'm stuck eating nothing but a bag of chips for the entire day.

So I wanted to use today's task to make a lunch we could really enjoy, that was simple, and mostly from scratch. I didn't wand to depend on the pre-made GF pizza crusts or bread products that I usually use. It's nice to give my kitchen a work out.

This is when I started getting excited. I love red leaf lettuce and tomatoes.

The pancakes were extremely simple to put together, with just a few ingredients. Hello lovely!

I also made my first attempt at poaching an egg. I did not succeed.

We ended up with sunny side up and over easy eggs, which were just fine!

I have no pictures of the meal put together, because we gobbled the pancakes up as soon as they came out of the oven. But we ate at the table with candles and cloth napkins, and good conversation. And no television. We usually eat breakfast together on Fridays and Saturdays in bed while watching our DVRed tv shows, so not having the distraction was a nice change.

The food was delicious. The pancakes were crispy and chewy. I had smoked salmon and Brett had sour cream. The green salad was great, and I made a white balsamic vinaigrette.

I think I'll make a nice meal tomorrow too. :)

For today's task, I need to come up with a list of my home's top 6 needs. Unfortunately, these are some pretty big needs, so none of these can be tackled today or this weekend. I think that's to be expected, since we've been in our house a relatively short time and it needed SO much work when we moved in.

1. Repair damaged wood around carport and windows (hopefully this spring)

2. Replace kitchen/laundry/powder room tile

3. Rent scaffold/ladder leveler to finish stairwell painting

4. Replace living room media storage (I am thinking this will happen at Christmas, fingers crossed!)

5. Get new dining furniture

6. EITHER: Replace carpet or renovate powder room. Both are in pretty crappy, but usable, shape, so it's a toss up.

Based on the expense involved in 1 (we're hiring someone, obv.), the work involved in 2 and both for 6 with either option, the others are likely to happen sooner. But we know that the wood, the tile, the carpet, the powder room and the painting all have to happen at some point. It's just a matter of when.

I am excited to have a bit of a rest this weekend, and a bit more election work. I hope everybody has a great Halloween. Our house was attacked by a swarm of spiders last night so we're really in the Halloween mood!

Happy Halloween!

AT Fall Cure: Day 8

2010-10-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 8 of the AT Fall Cure. Day 6 and 7 were repeats of last week. I was out of town on a quick business trip Monday night, so I couldn't exactly clean a room in my hotel!

So last night, pretty much as soon as I walked in after unpacking, I set to cleaning the kitchen. I cleaned the countertops, the stove top, wiped down the cabinets and cabinets, dusted the shelving unit and spice rack, and swept. I had picked up a bunch of light purple daisies at Target on the way home, so I added a few to my football mums and then made another small arrangement for the console.

Tonight's task is to establish a landing strip. According to the video, I need a place for my keys, a place to hang a coat, and a place to sort mail. We come in from the carport through our screened porch to the laundry room. We already have two hooks on the wall in the laundry room, where I keep my keys, my apron, and my reusable grocery bags. And we have a little expandable folder just past the laundry room, next to the microwave. This is where we sort the mail. Junk goes in the recycling bin, magazines and catalogs we want to read go in the powder room, and anything we need to keep goes in the file folder. Different categories (bills, receipts, financial docs, recipes, etc.) each have their own section. My purse stays on my arm until I get to the living room, where I unload my computer and put my laptop cover and bag on the console table.

So we've got those two covered. And as for the third? Well, here it is the last week of October, and our heat index today was 95 degrees. There's a reason houses are built without coat closets here. We don't wear coats! Most chilly days I wear a light sweater, which goes into the dirty clothes when I change into my lounge clothes after work. For the two weeks a year that we actually break out the wool jackets, there's really no justification for coat storage.

Brett actually has his own little landing strip on the dresser in our bedroom. It's a pretty wooden tray that's just the perfect size to hold his wallet, phone, keys, change, and whatever else he might have in his pockets.

So this task just required a little thinking about how we already do things, and no actual work. I would like to move my shopping bags unto my trunk full time (I'm just too lazy to take them back out after I unload groceries) to declutter that hook, and get some sort of wall mounted storage for that area.

I really want this Kikkerland First Aid Storage Box, which would be the perfect size for that spot. It's too adorable, and we could use it for storage of anything, not just first aid supplies, right?

Um, finally

2010-10-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

I think I first said I was going to make these in like August. I know I got the fabric in July. Here it is almost Halloween, and we finally have curtains in our guestroom!

It's my first big dose of chevron, and my next in a series of seemingly never ending shots of yellow. We're slowly returning to the embrace of whimsy and bright color, and we are loving it.

Hello, gorgeous.

Seriously. Look at that light. Both bedrooms upstairs get great light, and these filter it wonderfully.

Hi hems. You're kind of perfect, aren't you?

The black rod, which was like my 97th choice, worked out wonderfully. So glad I didn't go with white.

I'm in love with the mix of modern pattern and color with classic furnishings in this room. This room is where we've hit the mark closest in our house, in my opinion. This, and the kitchen.

I'm kind of crazily in love with these curtains. I may have wrapped myself in them and done a Stevie Nicks-esque dance earlier. BUT THAT'S OKAY!!!!! Because our love, coupled with the ease of their construction, is giving me motivation to make curtains for the living and dining room NOW NOW NOW! Even though those won't be as easy. No, they won't. Because one of them is a Roman shade.

And since I never posted about the AT Cure, Day 5, a quick update. The challenge was to switch to a green cleaner or replenish one you use. I kind of did both. I picked up some Seventh Generation dishwashing detergent and mixed up a fresh batch of all purpose vinegar cleaner. The dishwashing detergent didn't leave our glasses spot free like Cascade, but we're okay with that if it means we're not drinking P&G's proprietary ingredients.

I'll have to skip tomorrow's task because I'm leaving in the morning to go out of town. I may clean the kitchen in the morning if I have time, but that's the only room I can clean without waking up the hubs. We'll see! Otherwise, I'll just tackle two tasks on Tuesday.

AT Fall Cure: Day 4

2010-10-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today's task is one that I was simultaneously excited about and dreading. Today we had to get rid of one item in our home and establish an outbox.

I thought about this on and off today, but I never decided exactly what I'd get rid of. Still, I thought it would be easy. When I got home and watched the video, I knew I couldn't live up to Maxwell's giving up an old iPod, but I was going to do my best.

I started with my outbox.

I wanted to put it someplace where it was out of sight most of the day, but where we would still be faced with it every day. I decided the powder room would be the perfect spot. I chose an old wastebasket that held ll of our paint swatches and some tile samples that we ordered for the fireplace and backsplash long before we actually got to the project. Actually looking through them was kind of great, because it reminded me how far we've come. They were tiny, bright colored tiles, and so different from what we ended up with! I hesitated to get rid of them, but what was I going to do with a few square inches of tile? Nothing. And we've already chosen every paint color for the house. So into the trash they went!

And I set the wastebasket up on the powder room shelves so we'll be sure to see it every day.

This won't be permanent, because those shelves won't be there once we redo the powder room. Then we'll think of something else.

I started out the removal with a stack of old magazines and catalogs. I'm not sure why we've been keeping them honestly. It's just a habit.

But into the recycling they go!

But that wasn't enough. I started in on the pantry next. First I got rid of a box we've been keeping just in case we wanted to return the light that came in it. But I kept going with couple of wedding gifts that we haven't touched. Since we've been married two and a half years, I think it's safe to donate them now.

Why did we keep these? The wheat pitcher was not our style, and has never been our style. And the novelty filled cake pan? I'm kind of a classic baker, myself. I'd rather have a nice round cake. For some reason, it's just been hard to give up wedding gifts. But just because we appreciate the sentiment and the thought doesn't mean we have to keep the gift itself.

It's the same with the last item I got rid of, the double blender set. It was a gift from my parents when I moved out into my first apartment alone. And I loved that apartment. Most of the things I had in that apartment are gone now (our guest bed and the TV in our bedroom were the only items I can think of. WAIT! our microwave was also in that apartment.). But it was a really wonderful place and time, and I've hesitated to get rid of them.

But the reality is the blenders are big, bulky, and a hassle to clean. And I have a stick blender that I'd much rather use if I want to make a smoothie or a small batch of soup, and a food processor for bigger jobs. And there's no reason to be sentimental over a blender.

So I loaded up my trunk and I'll stop by Goodwill on my way home tomorrow.

Giving things up may not come easily to me, but it's worth it. It's a nice reminder that I should only have things I LOVE. I got another reminder today as I put out my new little dish that I bought last weekend at an antique store. At $7, it was probably one of my more expensive plates as far as surface area, but it's by far my favorite. It's a Japanese piece, based on a silky chicken, and it's the perfect size to hold my jewelry while I do the dishes or work in the yard.

I hope that someday all of the things in my home will make me smile like this little chicken. There are quite a few items that I love like this. My little owl on the mantel, our shadowbox with an imprint of Weenie's paw print, the letterpress prints in our guest bath, my vintage brass candlesticks, and our owl sugar bowl.

It's good practice to remember that letting go of things you don't use, need, or truly love makes room for new things to come into your house. Things that are useful, things that are beautiful, things that make you smile every time you look at them.

That's what we're striving for, and I think today's 20 minutes got us a little bit closer.

AT Fall Cure: Days 1-3

2010-10-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

So as I mentioned this morning, I just now caught up on the Apartment Therapy Fall Cure, so I needed to do three tasks in one day.

Luckily each task only required 20 minutes of effort!

First was to clean a room. Not a deep clean, but a good surface clean. I chose our bedroom, admittedly partially because it's a quick one to clean. I dusted and wiped down the furniture, rearranged our nightstands since we switched sides recently, cleared some clutter, and vacuumed the carpet. I even vacuumed the living room rug an a bit of the tile while I had the vacuum downstairs.

AND! I made the bed! It was a little weird since I was going to crawl back into it in two hours, but I bet it will feel great when I get in. We're weekly bed makers, so it was also an eye-opener for me. Brett hasn't been lying the past four years when he complains about me stealing the covers.

Dude, this carpet smells really clean! (I know these pictures are AWFUL. Forgive me, please)

Look at all those pillows! And I even put my Apartment Therapy book out on my nightstand as inspiration.

With that task complete, I moved on to Day Two, Buy Fresh flowers. I went with something that made me think of Fall and got a bunch of football mums in a golden yellow. I split the bunch in two between the living room and the kitchen.

Then it was time for Day Three, finding inspiration pictures. I went to my favorite sources: Design Sponge, Canadian House and Home, Rate My Space, AT, and Domino. Here's what I came up with.

The home of Gemma Ahern via Design Sponge Online

Trish Grantham's bird themed gallery wall, also via Design Sponge Online

A black office with wood touches from Lauren Bradshaw, via Design Sponge Online. Her entire house is drop dead gorgeous. I would KILL to have her style.

How fun is this scene from Amie Corley's home? It would make the perfect landing strip (and yes, I'm aware it's gray, muted color, gray, black, white, TEAL AND YELLOW!!!!!). Also via Design Sponge Online.

I love this kitchen from Domino: the Book of Decorating. I'm semi-obsessed with bentwood chairs, and I love subway tile and open kitchen shelving.

Anna of Door Sixteen's living and dining room, via Apartment Therapy.

Even though we're nowhere near here yet, these pictures do give me hope. Because we're a hell of a lot closer than we were a year and a half ago!

Tomorrow: remove 1 item from my home and setup my outbox!

Apartment Therapy's Home Cure

2010-10-20T06:35:00.001-07:00

Apartment Therapy's Fall Home Cure started Monday, but I'm a little late joining the bandwagon.

This season's cure is specifically designed for those of us with busy lives, so it will be perfect for me this time of year. Each task takes just 20 minutes a day, and the cure lasts for 20 days. Anyone going to join?

Monday's task was to floor and surface clean 1 room. I actually did this in the kitchen on Sunday, but I'm not going to count it! So tonight I'm going to clean either the living/dining room or our bedroom. I haven't decided yet.

Tuesday's task was to buy fresh flowers. Luckily, I already have a shopping trip planned tonight, so I'll stop in the grocery store in the shopping center and pick up a bunch.

Today's task is to find inspirational photos for my home. I already have a folder full of these, but I might stop by the bookstore to flip through some magazines and add some additional images I hunt down tonight. Either way, I'll be posting some of my finds tonight or tomorrow.

There are a lot of great tasks coming up (remove one unneeded item and set up my outbox, establish a landing strip, and declutter my medicine cabinet, all sorely needed!).

So is anyone else up for the Fall Cure? You can sign up and see all the tasks here!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2010-10-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sure, we may not have bought our Halloween candy yet, and the high may be 91 today, but guess what.

There's only 75 days to Christmas!

It's been two years since my grandma had to feed me at Thanksgiving, so the questions on what I can eat started a few weeks ago. Then I thought about how fast Christmas will come after that. It's just around the corner, really!

So here's what I'm hoping to find under the tree on Christmas morning (if they'll fit!)

First, I've had my eye on this big wooden ampersand since I saw it on Door Sixteen (I think).

But at $125 plus $25 shipping, that's a little rich for my blood, even if someone else might be paying! But you can get custom unpainted letters from Woodland Manufacturing in your choice of font (the one on etsy is Helvetica, I'm almost positive). For the size of the one on etsy, I'd pay only $48.85 including shipping. I already have matte black paint from the fireplace, but wouldn't t be gorgeous stained a deep wood tone? Hmmmmmm.....

I want to hang it to the left of the fireplace. I think it will be the perfect thing once we find a low storage piece for that side.

And speaking of storage. I'm really digging the IKEA PS Cabinet in red.

At $99, it's a phenomenal deal. And I think the pop of red would look great with our new wall color. I think the touch of metal would bring a new texture to all the wood in our living room.

Still on my list from last year is the Manzanita Candelabra from West Elm.

And I would love to snuggle up under this handknit throw in Platinum.

And while we're on West Elm, their Christmas decor this year has me swooning. We scored a new tree on clearance last year, and it's a natural tree with pinecones, so we're going for a certain look. West Elm's ornaments make me want to go on a buying spree. Some highlights:

Another great gift would be to reupholster/repair my $3 chair. I've already got the fabric, below, but I've got plenty of other things to spend the $300 on.

I definitely wouldn't mind finding this yellow desk lamp under the tree. I love the classic design with the unexpected color.

Even though I know none of my friends or family will indulge my unhealthy tea towel obsession, I would love one of these French inspired towels from Our Workshop.

Of course I have some non-home related items on my list too.

I have my eye on some original Hunter boots, but I can't decide between the classic hunter green or this gorgeous aubergine.

I'm also in love with these Britten boots from J. Crew, but they are waaay too expensive. I guess a girl can dream.

Also from J. Crew, I'm really itching for these.

Silk and wool ruffle shell

Ruffled jersey dress

Dream draped V-sweater

But in real life, I rarely wear J Crew stuff, so I know I should go back to my first love, GAP.

I want to wear this cap sleeve dress with textured gray tights and a cardigan all winter long.

And this navy and red skirt is calling me.

And from GAP, I'd be happy to add to my weekday uniform stash. Always Skinny jeans (plus I'd like to try the Real Straight fit), scoopneck or crewneck Favorite Ts (or vintage Ts), embellished tanks, and cardigans.

And something that's been on my list for a while, I'm still dying for a Sharon Montrose print (or three). I'd love a 17x22, but at $350, I just can't. Instead, a grouping of two or three (or just one!) 7x9 images would be wonderful.

My favorite by far (at this moment) is the baby goat.

But I also LOVE the baby deer

And the porcupine.

These can be framed with West Elm's 14x17 gallery frames, which I would love in white.

So that's what I'm hoping to unwrap this Christmas morning. Am I the only one working on the list and shopping this early? Or am I just crazy?

AWOL

2010-09-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure when the last time I posted was, but I've been so busy at work that I've barely had time to come up for air, much less work on any projects. I think since I last posted, the only thing I've done is touch up the fireplace. The touch-ups really sharpened the whole look and Brett is totally on board with the black fireplace now.

Unfortunately, we have some very bad news here at the Clueless Home. Last week, we unexpectedly found out that our Weenie Man had a tumor in his little belly. It was just too much for his little body, and we had to put him to sleep on Friday. We will miss him so much, but we're relieved that his pain has been lifted. In his too short life, he touched us in so many ways.

I've loved many pets in my life, but I've never had a bond like I did with Weenie Man. Every room, every piece of furniture holds a memory of the two (or three) of us. Whether it was him sitting next to me on the arm of the sofa while we watched TV, sitting in the dining room chair with us while we ate dinner, patiently waiting for a table scrap, or hopping up on the ledge of the bathtub and drinking my bathwater, he made his mark on every inch of this house.

Even though we'll always have those memories, we wanted to add something a little more concrete. So we printed out some of our favorite pictures of him, and framed them for around the house. Now in our bedroom and in the office, we will always have a reminder of our favorite boy.

We took it really easy this weekend, mostly reminiscing and trying to sleep, but we are trying to get back to normal, and I'm hoping to start some sewing projects soon. I'm itching to get some curtains up in the living room and guest room.

I also just sewed an adorable throw pillow for a sweet upcoming arrival's nursery, and once I get permission from Mom-to-be, I'll post pictures and instructions!

A quick update

2010-09-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just so you know I'm not dead.

The pain I mentioned in my hand last weekend somehow migrated to my right arm, and got so bad that I couldn't lift it without assistance from my other hand (or "chicken wing it" as my doctor called it. Love him). He gave me the good stuff (prescriptions strength anti-inflammatory and a lowish dose of painkillers) and hooked me up with a specialist. I also got my first non-dental x-ray, which was anti-climactic. I did think it was funny when they called me three days later to tell me my arm wasn't broken. Well, I knew that, but I'd hope if it was, you'd have gotten back to me sooner!

But I've been taking it easy as far as house projects. Pretty much all I've done this week is take the sunroom rug out and scrub it with woolite, wash it off with the water hose, and let it dry in the sun. Somehow it looks dirtier after, but I think the layer of dirt that visibly came off was hiding some of the uneven sun fading.

I am feeling much better on the medication, though. So I may actually touch up the fireplace tonight, which would be a super quick job. Then I will just have to re-coat the ceiling and one staircase wall, and I'd be done! (with everything except the trim).

Happy Labor Day!

2010-09-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend as much as I am. Labor Day itself brought rain to our neck of the woods, so there was no grilling for us today, but after our weekend, staying inside and getting some projects done was welcome.

We spend the extra long weekend hanging out with my dad, who came down for a visit. Thursday night the two of us had dinner at home together, and it was so nice to just spend time with him. I couldn't tell you when the last time I had five interrupted hours alone with my dad was.

I had an appointment Friday morning, and Brett needed to do some stuff at home, so Dad checked out a local bike trail and had a great time. Then we went and picked up jambalaya for lunch (white beans for me). After Brett went to work, my dad and me checked out some of the shops around town and bought some fabric for a project he wanted me to do for him, and had dinner at the gluten free place, Truly Free Bakery. I loved my cheese and pepper pizza and Dad was really surprised by how great his avocado burger was. I think he didn't have high hopes! We also got some cupcakes and a muffin to take home for dessert, which were delicious.

Saturday, we spent the day downtown. We had lunch (after we had a lot of trouble finding an open place!) and walked around Third Street. We spent a few hours in the Old State Capitol and learned a ton about the history of Louisiana politics, which was great for us non-natives. Then we walked along the river for a while and headed home for a nap and some dinner.

Sunday was the day we had been looking forward to all weekend. We got up early and drove to Breaux Bridge and met a guy named Butch who took us into the swamp for a tour. We saw all kinds of birds, spiders, frogs, snakes, and yes, GATORS! Plus tons of beautiful old cypress and tupelo trees.

Real life owl! We got to see him fly and it was completely silent. I'd hate to be a snake or a frog and have him sneak up on me.

This guy was a little baby compared to the one above. He's still a juvenile, less than 10 years old. Male gators keep growing until death (females stop around age 10), but their growth slows way down around that age. The best way to tell their age is by their markings. The darker, the older

This is in a protected nesting ground for herons and egrets. No boats are allowed in during nesting season. One thing I thought was interesting was that the gators actually serve as a sort of protection for the baby birds, because they eat raccoons, nutria, and other small animals that will eat them. Of course, if one of the baby birds fall out of the nest, the gator will eat it too!

I love the swelled cypress bases.

We stopped for lunch at a hole in the wall on the way home, and then rested the rest of the day after our adventure. If you're ever in the area, seriously, spend the two hours and $20 and go to Cajun Country Swamp Tours in Breaux Bridge. It's worth SO much more.

Today, my dad left for the long drive home, and Brett had to work. I touched up the paint around all the trim in the living room while watching the Hoarders marathon. I'm so excited that it's done! I was hoping to touch up the ceiling as well, but I'm having some pain in my left hand, and there's no way I'm rolling. It will have to wait until I can rest my hand for a while.

With Labor Day marking the end of the summer season (but not the end of oppressive heat) I knew I had to take down my red, white and blue wreath. We've had a green berry wreath since last Christmas, just changing the ribbon and the accent color with the season, but I was ready for a change.

My criteria were that I didn't want to leave my house, and I didn't want to spend any money. So I was resource limited. I decided to take some inspiration from our swamp tour, and go with a cypress wreath. Luckily, we have a cypress tree right in our backyard (they also grow on land, but the trunks don't swell at the bottom unless they're in water, and the cypress "knees" don't come up). I cut a few branches of greenery, making sure to get some of the balls.

Then, I started the long task of taking the old wreath apart. It was a huge pain, and I had no business doing it with my hand hurting so bad. But I got it done!

Then, I trimmed down the greenery and started wiring it to my grapevine wreath.

Once I had it mostly covered with greenery, I had to figure out the hanger. I was pretty sure I didn't have a ribbon I would want to use, and after digging through my craft box and my fabric stash, all I found was bright orange grosgrain left over from my apron. Halloween isn't quite what I'm going for!

So I knew I had some leftover rust colored silk that would be perfect for fall. I cut it into strips and made a wide bow. It's a lot more orange in person than in photographs. The finished product is a bit more wintry than I hoped. But I'm thinking that as the cypress dries out, it will turn brown and be the perfect fall wreath. Here's hoping!

A Fresh Start?

2010-08-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

I love our bedroom. I really do.

It's calming, it's soft, and the wall color, Oyster Bay, is still one of my favorites in the house.

This was the second room we made over in the house, and I really think that color choice is the one that set the tone for the rest of the house, and ended in the cohesive cool loveliness we've got going on now.

But I have a real craving for something new in there. I think I want another bedding option.

In the rest of the house, we've really been gravitating towards brighter colors, graphic prints, and more fun. We want a calmer feel in the bedroom, but I also want it to fit in with the rest of the house.

Lately, I've really been noticing some options that I think would be gorgeous for our room.

This duvet cover from West Elm is definitely graphic, but I think the color would look really beautiful with the wall color. Plus at $79 it's a steal.

This is a lighter option that would still have a definite calm feeling, but it still feels fun and modern. It's organic cotton and only $99 for a king, from West Elm.

I'd love to pair either one with a slate gray quilt and crisp white sheets. Or a white quilt and white sheets. Neither one would need very much in the way of throw pillows, just a couple of very small ones in a bold pattern.

But, I also have the strong desire for a think, multi-layered, cloud of white on my bed. I'd start with Target's Organic sheets in white. We have these already in a bronzy color and love them.

Next, I'd love to add some texture with this Frayed Edge Quilt from West Elm

With that much texture in the quilt, I'd top it with a smooth cotton white duvet cover to keep it simple, and sew one or two throw pillows with just a pop of color.

Now, neither of these will happen because we have other priorities right now. I need to spend my time touching up the living and dining rooms, and we need to spend our money elsewhere. But a girl can dream.

Maybe a West Elm giftcard will find it's way into my stocking this year?

Home Stretch!

2010-08-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

I planned to do some work last week in the evenings, but I hit a snag. I had plans Tuesday, and then Wednesday I started having an allergic reaction to something (assuming it's gluten). For me that involves hives and swelling on my hands and feet, so I slathered on the anti-itch cream and hoped for the best. But I was worse on Thursday, and was still in no shape to be holding a paint brush with my swollen hands. Luckily, I got into my doctor early Friday morning for a steroid shot and a six day course of more steroids, plus strict instructions to alternate antihistamines morning and night. Steroids being the miracle drug that they are, I felt pretty much completely normal after a couple of hours. And after running some errands and hanging out with the hubs for a couple of hours, I was ready to roll, literally.

I actually started with a brush, in the stairway. I cut in around the stairs and the rail, and then cut in throughout the upstairs. Then, I got a little frustrated and decide to tackle the last layer of wallpaper. It was something I wasn't going to do on my own, but I just wanted to get it as done as I could. So armed with a bottle of soapy water and a scotchbrite pad, I scrubbed as much of that paper off as I could. With a lot of elbow grease and a little spackle, it's looking not too shabby.

Once that was gone, I could actually paint the entire upstairs hallway. Because it's a tiny hallway with 7 doors (closet overload up there), it was almost entirely brush painting. I was able to get on two coats pretty quickly. Or at least, it seemed quick because I was listening to a great book, The Year of the Flood. I'll be posting my review a week from Thursday at my other blog.

Then I started rolling, and after I finished upstairs, I made my way down the stairway. Once I got to the bottom, I decide that I might as well get that second coat on the walls downstairs while I had all the stuff out. It only took a couple of hours and the results were so worth it. I thought we had great coverage before, but the second coat really evened out and deepened the color.

Saturday morning, we were all ready to pull the tape! I am so happy with how this color works with the floor, the furniture, and the white moldings. I'm in LOVE with the black fireplace, but the verdict is still out for Brett. Cross your fingers for a yes!

Good lord I'm a terrible picture taker, aren't I?

This is like the PERFECT color to complement the kitchen. Seriously. Perfect. I'm so glad I saw it on Kara's blog one day and randomly asked her for the name. Thanks Kara!

And finally, my vision for my china cabinet has come together. The tan was totally throwing me off before and I still had my doubts until now. I can't wait to set it all up again.

(Side note, that is my new bag in the pic, bought as a self birthday gift. I bought it from seller ikabags on etsy and can't recommend her enough. The quality is excellent and it's so adorable and deceptively roomy. Plus with the sturdy strap I can carry my full size laptop and it feels feather light. I love it so much more than the bag I paid over twice as much for from another seller late last year. Love her!)

One of my favorite things about this color is how awesome it looks with wood. Our console table and our handrail look so much more, I don't know, there?

I love it upstairs, mostly how great it coordinates with all of our other colors up there.

But we still have some work to do. We haven't figured out the stairwell conundrum, so we have some areas that look like this.

See how high our arms reach?

Plus there are significant touch ups needed on the ceiling, and I need a second coat on the upper half of the stairway walls with the roller. And then there's all of the cutting in around the moldings. We tried the Frog tape for this project, and our verdict was basically, yes it leaks less than regular painter's tape. But we're not good enough tapers to justify it if we're going to have to touch up everywhere anyway. So after the two rolls we have are gone, we're going back to the cheap stuff and a steady hand.

But it just feels really good to have banished the flesh color from our house. I love this color so much, and it makes for such a great feeling in here!

Now, anyone interested in buying 4 gallons of it from me (that's right, I have half a gallon left for touching up)?

I'm kind of obsessed with white

2010-08-16T16:33:00.001-07:00

I remember saying those exact words to my mom a few months ago over lunch. I think it was at Ikea, so it must have been in May.

But as of this weekend, my obsession is cured.

I still love me a good white. But black can be oh so nice.

I'm in love with our fireplace.

I really love the way metallic accessories pop against it, and the way it highlights the white mantel.

And after dark, I'm obsessed with the way our television disappears. Pop some popcorn and it's almost like a movie theater!

But I'm not the only one in the house. And last night while we were at Sonic waiting for our junior sundaes, Brett turned and asked me how much primer I had left. I asked him why and he said he wanted to make sure we could paint it gray if we needed to.

Oops.

But he called me at work today, and I think it's winning him over. He said IF we get some art on both sides (we already have the painting for one side). And IF we keep symmetrical furniture on both sides (which has been a sticking point. I want no furniture on the right), then he'll like it.

I predict by week's end he'll be totally won over.

What do you guys think? Wonderful? Awful?

A New Project

2010-08-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not giving up on my living room just yet. This project is not decorating or home related.

If you like to read, head on over to literarysluts.com to check out our new book blog! We'll go to bed with ANY book.

We've already posted a giveaway and our first review. Keep checking back each day for more reviews, author profiles, and general book related content. We've got ladies from all over the country and very different backgrounds who all have one thing in common. We love to read! From fluff to serious stuff, we'll read anything, and we take suggestions too!

I'll generally be reviewing audiobooks, and my posts will usually be on Thursdays. Be sure to check it out this Thursday for my first review: Stephen King's Under The Dome!

I'm really excited to be a part of this new project! Please head over and check it out.

One gallon

2010-08-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

One gallon of paint got me cutting in the entire downstairs plus all of this.

Yeah, it's one coat. But dude, one coat gives such amazing coverage.

I should have tried this paint a looooong time ago.

I cracked open gallon number two and continued working and made it to bed around ten o'clock last night. When I saw the room in the sunshine today, it was totally worth all of the yawns!

The new color and the kitchen color are really good friends. They told me.

Good morning living room!

I used Duration Home Interior (the one in the plastic can with the green sure label). Get it. There's a reason it's so expensive. And you can buy it on sale so it's not so expensive. But don't trust their calculations or you'll end up with three extra gallons like me.

One coat gives amazing coverage, but we'll be doing a light second coat for longevity's sake. Even with the second coat, I really can't see us using more than 4 gallons. I've used about 1 and 1/4 and I'm halfway up the stairs.

Paint Progress

2010-08-10T18:48:00.001-07:00

I know I didn't do so great on the Post Along part of my weekend project! But Sunday, I did a lot of wall repair and ended up cutting in along all of the baseboards and the chair rail throughout the living and dining room, as well as painting around the windows and doorways.

And as I finished, I couldn't resist painting the wall with the smallest amount of surface area, since I thought I could get away with just my brush. Luckily, I was right!

And the verdict is in. In case my smiling face doesn't tell you, I'm butt crazy in love with this color. It's completely perfect and I'm so glad we chose it. It's a little lighter than we expected, but it turned out to be exactly right.

Then tonight, while dinner was in the oven, I cut in around the crown molding downstairs. I'm taking the day off tomorrow to have dinner with my husband at work, and then I might start with the rolling on Thursday night!

Josh Lyman was my painting buddy tonight, as you can see. The lighter areas in the dining room aren't dry yet.

I just can't wait to see this room completely done!

As for this coming weekend, I'm not sure if we'll spend it relaxing or working. But I don't know what we're dreading more. Corralling all the cords and painting the fireplace black, or tackling the final layer of wallpaper in the upstairs hallway. Probably the latter. We've tried all the tricks we know and no dice. We've scored it with the Pirahna thing, tried vinegar, tried detergent, tried Dawn, tried a spray bottle, tried a sponge, tried a ScotchBrite, tried our fingernails. Any suggestions?

We're down to just the paper backing, and it's on top of flat paint, which is making things very difficult.

Post Along Project: Pictures

2010-08-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures I said I would post last night. Since I took these, I've put the vent covers back up, and it looks pretty swell. I love the subtle, gorgeous gray.

I love our new schoolhouse globes in the stairway!

See those touch-ups? The stairway is completely full of spots like that. I will pretty much need a second coat up there, but I'm waiting until we rent a scaffold or figure out whatever solution we can to the very high ceilings and stairs.

Today, Brett is spending his last Sunday morning at work. I'm about to make my first attempt at drywall patching.

Since we moved in, we've been curious about the presence of a couple of vents, high on the wall, with no discernible purpose. One, to the left of the fireplace.

And another above our bedroom door. It turned out that the one above the bedroom door is hiding a hole in the drywall about the size of a golf ball. Okay?

Because who needs to fix something when you can just out a vent over it?

The other one is hiding a non-functioning infrared motion detector. We can only assume it's non-functioning, because, you know, we've been walking around our living room for a year and a half and we've never set it off.

So I'm going to attempt to patch them. I'm using the mesh, spackle, sand approach. And I have a can of the orange peel spray to match our drywall texture. And, cross my fingers, start painting!

Post Along Project: Break Time

2010-08-07T14:13:00.001-07:00

After four solid hours up and down the ladder, plus 4 or 5 more painting the ceiling, plus three more karaokeing, my body was screaming at me to take a break. A real break.

So today, we made the list and got the stiff for dry wall patching. We'll put the lights and vents back up (once they dry, we washed them and we're waiting for the little sponge parts to dry), and then tomorrow I'll do some more work. I don't know if I'll even get to painting the walls this weekend.

Last night, I finished the ceiling. My husband texted me at ten to meet him at 11 and I still had the dining room, plus I had paint all in my hair. I was painting like a mad woman. Literally, RUNNING around the house. Y'all, I was huffing like Tom on Design Star. I wish you could have seen me.

But I finished painting that dining room ceiling in a half an hour. And I showered and was at the bar by 11:05! But I'm paying for it today. I slept until 8 and woke up so sore! We cleaned up (no time for that last night) and then watched a movie. And we're just relaxing.

I got the cutest schoolhouse globes for the stairway light fixtures! We're about to nap for a bit, then we'll put them up and maybe I'll post some picture of them and the ceiling tonight. It's so pretty!

Post Along Project:: Day 1 Dinner Break

2010-08-06T16:58:00.001-07:00

So it's just before 7 and my back and neck are killing me. But I THINK I'm done with the ladder for the night. I think.

I'm all done cutting in for the ceiling! It took for ever. Over four hours of climbing up and down the ladder, and I'm shot. But I think after some rest and food, I'll be able to tackle rolling tonight!

After Brett gets off, we're thinking about going out for karaoke, so we might get a late start tomorrow! :)

The plan for tomorrow, assuming the ceiling is all rolled today, that is: wake up and make a plan for wall repair, drywall patch, etc. Then I'll take a trip to the hardware store, and work on the walls so we can start painting!

Here's a couple pictures of the ceiling color! I am really loving it against the wood tone of the ceiling fan.

These are phone pictures. Excuse the quality.

Post Along Project: The Prep

2010-08-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

I've heard that the preparation should take you twice as long (or is it just as long?) as the painting. Now, that's never been true for me, although sometimes I wish it was! But there has definitely been a lot of prep work involved in this project!

We started bright and early with the taping. Our room has crown molding, a chair rail all around (which I don't get in the living room, but okay) and thick baseboards. And it's a big room. Add in the baseboards up the stair way and 13 doors, and that's a lot of tape. We started at 7 this morning, took a lunch/goodwill run break, and I just finished (at 2 pm).

But in that time we took quite a few breaks to take off the vent covers, get all the lights taken down for painting, take down the curtains (and took them to Goodwill), and started stripping the wallpaper upstairs.

Is there anything more satisfying than tearing off an old, ugly wallpaper border? We tore off a burgundy and navy paisley one, and found pastel hummingbirds underneath. It was actually sort of pretty. Although, I wouldn't choose a wallpaper border of any kind, probably, I'm sure I would have picked something like this when our house was built in 1991! Since I love birds so much, I kept a small piece, and I'm thinking I might frame it to have a piece of history from our home!

Now, I'm taking a water break and about to start painting the ceiling. Hopefully I can finish that tonight! Dream big!

Post Along Project: Paint

2010-08-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'll be totally honest here. This is completely about motivating myself to actually start painting the living room/dining room/hall/stairway.

Ugh. It even hurts to type. I actually still have no idea how I'm going to do the stairway ceiling/wall transition. Brett has an idea that includes a paintbrush on a very long stick, but he hasn't adequately explained that one to me yet.

I figure that posting here will help give me the motivation to actually do something! That really worked with the chevron curtains I mentioned last weekend, right?

Right...

But I have an excuse. I decided to tackle kitchen lighting instead, which turned into a huge disaster which I have no pictures of because it bled over into the week (and we still haven't put up the new ceiling fan. Yes, we have ceiling fans in the kitchens here in South Lousiana) and we got some great news.

My husband got a big promotion! Yay!

But he'll be working evenings, and since I work 7-4:30, that means we'll only see each other on the weekends. Boo.

So rather than work on the house or take pictures of our beautiful new kitchen light and the new plate that's covering the gaping hole in the ceiling, we concentrated on spending time together.

But this weekend, he'll be training for his new position, so I'm taking advantage of the alone time and starting the great paint of 2010.

The goal for this weekend is to paint the ceiling.

Sounds easy, no? Quit looking at me like that! It's a very big space!

The stretch goal is to finish painting the ceiling and paint the dining room.

We'll see how it goes!

I can't wait until the tan is BANISHED from the house (except for the ghastly tile. Ugh).

Powder Room

2010-07-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

So after the big living room project, we'll be closing in on the finish line.

All of the projects we have left are things that we will either have to hire a pro for (new carpet) or we just have to pick out (new dining room table). We do have to replace the tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, but that's a job that will probably wait until we replace the carpet, so we can be sure that the floors throughout the house can coordinate.

But once the living room/dining room/staircase is painted and put back together (and the trim. ugh), painting/reno will be almost complete.

In fact, the only room we'll have left after we finish the largest space in the house, is the smallest space in the house. And one of my favorites, the powder room.

This room is tiny, I could guess about 15 square feet. It contains a small vanity, a toilet and some shelving on the walls. And maroon formica. But for some reason, I love it. I just love the feeling of being in a small space.

Now, it is nearly impossible to capture such a small space on film, but here it was before we bought the place. It looks much the same now, except the sink is usually filled with drying paintbrushes (this is our "dirty sink"). And the front piece of the formica is ripped off, thanks to my clumsiness.

The previous owners of our house seemed to have a penchant for putting wall anchors everywhere except where they were actually needed. So, we have random ones all over the wall, where they were apparently required to hold photo frames.

But behind curtains rods? Nope, just a giant painted over nail holding it up.

And every towel bar, toilet paper holder, or hook, even the tiny ones meant to hold our car keys by the back door, is not held up by an anchor, oh no. Instead, they just nailed a piece of wood to the wall and secured them to that.

We dealt with it in our master bath by painting these odd rails a contrasting color. I like that look a lot, but I don't want to repeat it in the powder room.

And since we scored an old sewing table that we want to convert to a vanity for just $20, we'll probably do some damage to those walls anyway when we rip out the old one. I've been trying to decide whether resurfacing the walls was worth it, but luckily I came across these amazing photos from Design Sponge.

Beadboard it is! Didn't Andrea and Nathan do an absolutely incredible job in there? I love all of the black and white details.

We'll bring our beadboard up a little higher (probably 60 ish inches) to play up how tall the ceilings are. And since it's such a small room, we'll choose a wallpaper that's more white than black. Right now, I have my heart set on the Blackbird wallpaper from Walnut Wallpaper (in the white and black colorway, although this Kraft one is gorgeous too).

But I'd also be perfectly happy with this one from Marimekko.

Then, we'll put up crisp, white crown molding and paint the ceilings gray. We'll bring in a white vessel sink and a hopefully black faucet, and lots of brass accents. I truly can't wait to make this little gem shine!

Rods

2010-07-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

This is one of those things I always struggle with. Picking out fabrics is easy. Bedding? No problem. Even furniture and artwork comes a little easier to me.

I can never pick out curtain rods.

I'm planning to whip up some yellow chevron curtains for our guest room tomorrow and Sunday. I know I want to use rings, so the rod needs to be round, but that is about all I know.

I love the squared, chrome rod we bought for the office.

But for the rest of the house, I've just reused an old one. So far, they're fine. I generally want the curtains to be the star of the show, and the rod to just be background.

Still, I'm struggling to find something for the guest room. It's definitely one of the more traditional rooms, even if I've punched it up in the color/accessories department. And it's 100%, the girliest room in the house. The color scheme of soft blue-green with accents of yellow, orange, and in your face PINK is all girl.

My first thought was that white was the way to go. But every white curtain rod I can find it just so frou-frou. I don't need crystals, I don't need swirls, I don't need a cage on the end. I pretty much just want plain and white. So why is it that the only place I can find this is at an upscale teen furniture store, where it will cost me like $50?

I'm assuming I'll have better luck when I actually hit a store.

But the bright side is, I found the rods I NEED for the living room. They're totally the wrong feel for the guest room. But I need them. With the dark gray metal and the acrylic finials. Yes.

But you know what's killing me? I know exactly which curtain rod I want, but I don't think they make it anymore. This one used to be available on a few websites, and I had it bookmarked on Amazon where I think I remembered it being around $25. But now that I need it, I can't find it. It's a sweet touch of whimsy that ties in our house's animal theme.

And nothing else seems right. Don't you just hate it when you know exactly what you want and you can't find (or make) it?

Finished!

2010-07-30T05:07:00.001-07:00

I could resist pulling the tape this morning before work!

I'm in love! Can't wait to see it up on the wall.

2 for 2

2010-07-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

The second manicure I've done since we bought our house?

Ruined. This one lasted little longer, at 4 days. Maybe I can pretend I was going for a splatter paint look. At least the colors match, I guess!

But the project you can see in the background was totally worth it.

I know by now you've seen the gorgeous color field painting that's been floating around the blog world. Originally done by The New Domestic, they created a beautiful piece with just a little effort. It's been copied plenty of times over, and I was happy to try my hand at it.

I bought the largest canvas they had at Hobby Lobby, as well as yellow, orange, and white acrylic paint (I already had some black). I also got some 1/4" Art Tape in crepe. Which honestly is pretty much really skinny masking tape.

I used almost 2 rolls on a 30x40 canvas, but it will depend on how many lines you want.

I used the pattern of The New Domestic painting as a guide, but changed it up a little bit. I just taped lines, making sure to keep the tape as straight as possible, and wrapped it all the way around the back. Then I used my finger to smooth and press down the tape, to try to prevent any seeping.

My canvas had a smudge and a dark spot on it (discount! I saved $5) so I was careful to avoid these areas, since once I removed the tape, I would be looking at bare canvas.

It looks kind of cool already!

Then, I mixed my gray paint (black, white, and a teeny tiny bit of yellow) and started painting. Gray first, continuing the paint around the canvas edge. Yellow was up next. The yellow paint wasn't quite as opaque as the other colors, so I had to make sure each yellow piece was VERY clean. Then I moved onto the orange.

I love this color so much, and it dried beautifully!

It took me a couple of hours to finish the piece, with a dinner break in the middle. I purposely wanted it to look very much like a painting, so I did one coat and left in some brush strokes. If you want a more saturated look, you may need two coats.

I can't wait to pull the tape and hang it up tomorrow!

Pets and hair

2010-07-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Pets are an obviously wonderful addition to a home. I love having pets and our little trio of kitties makes me immensely happy.

But pets come with some sacrifices when your house is involved. I'd prefer it if we didn't have tons of neon jingle balls rolling around. I'd prefer it if I didn't have to look at a scratch pad all the time, but these are things I'm happy to live with to have more moments like this.

But we have made some adjustments over time. We have a designated cat toy basket, and only a few of their most loved toys (jingle balls and the ever present milk cap ring) are out all the time. We rotate a fresh stash to keep them busy. We also let them play with their favorite thing, cardboard boxes, for an hour or two and then out they go.

We also moved the litter boxes out to the sunroom. It really helps our sanity when the cat door acts as an extra barrier. It's stopped cat litter from getting all ove the house.

But there's one thing we've never really been able to eliminate The dreaded pet hair tumbleweed.

I know we're not the only ones dealing with this menace. Little balls of fluffy hair drifting across the hard surface floors make my husband growl with rage. You can pick them up all day, but they never stop forming. And it seems sweeping only makes them worse.

Our first line of defense was a Roomba. It held the hair at bay but never eliminated them entirely. But as the battery slowly died, we ended up depending more and more on our $5 garage sale Dirt Devil. We knew it wasn't cutting it, but we kept on in denial.

Then on Saturday, it died. We did a little research and decided on the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser, for $149 at Target.

Oh. My. God.

This thing is incredible. Incredible! I balked at the price (no way will I ever be a Dyson owner) but wanted to try it out. This thing is amazing. It glides like a dream, and it picked up so much hair and nastiness that we had to empty it twice in our bedroom alone.

Yeah, disgusting I know. But our floors are CLEAN now. Our carpet looks so amazing that I'm putting off my daydreams of new carpet. It made such a huge difference, that I can't recommend this product enough for pet owners. After about a minute of using it, Brett yelled "I'm going to vacuum every day!" Unfortunately, he hasn't made good on that promise, but a girl can dream.

It has several attachments with rubber brushes for picking up hair (along with anything else lurking in there). The attachments were great on the stairs, and we can't wait to try them out on the furniture. It was a little confusing to put together (the instructions were not so great), but after about 15 minutes we were ready to roll.

All in all, this vacuum has pretty much done the impossible: made vacuuming enjoyable for two very lazy housekeepers.

Squee!!

2010-07-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Guess what's sitting in the dining room floor as we speak?

Looking at that big old pile makes me realize just what a big job this is going to be!

That's 7 gallons of paint for the walls (4 are in the box). I chose Duration Home in Matte. It's low VOC and super cleanable, which is a must for the staircase and hallway.

We got three gallons of ceiling paint, in the cheapie Design Basics. We decided on Repose Gray for the ceiling, to add some depth. We think our nine foot ceilings can handle it.

And I also picked up a quart of Black of Night and some tinted primer for the fireplace! I can't wait to try it out and see how it looks.

Birthday Wishes!

2010-07-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm a pretty lucky lady, so I didn't have a lot to wish for this birthday. I already got an iPhone, and I was really only expecting my annual dollar bill from my grandparents (always one of my most anticipated pieces of mail!), and maybe a pair of Tom's from my parents.

But I got much, much more than I bargained for!

I woke up to a couple of cards Brett had squirreled away after getting them in the mail the day before. I got my dollar bill all right, but I also had a surprise from my in-laws. They sent me a beautiful card along with a gift card to Lowe's!

I'm already planning on how to use it. I took a scouting trip this morning (actually, I was ready to make my purchase and realized I left the card in Brett's truck while I was moving it to get out of our driveway. Oopsie!

First on the list is a kit to cover up our cords in the living room. They have a kit with several lengths of paintable cord cover moldings with some connectors that should work just fine.

And I scoured the lighting section for a new dining room chandelier, but nothing lit my fire. Same story in the outdoor rug department. But there's a fixture I've had my eye on for months, to replace the one we installed over our sink. I bought that fixture not because I loved it, but because it coordinated with the two ceiling fans we love downstairs. I just really want something that fits in better with the feel of the kitchen. Simple, bright, cool, this is it.

Then, I came home to some beautiful white and yellow flowers on the counter. I think it's no coincidence that I've been extolling my love of yellow lately. Awww, he pays attention!

Don't you just love the texture of sunflowers?

So pretty!

And while at work, I got a call from my mom and grandma. Guys, my 70 year old Nana is my biggest blog devotee. So when she walked into a fabric store and saw this:

She immediately remembered that I had posted it before. When I was extolling my love for chevron, I linked to that fabric from Premier Prints. What I didn't realize was that one of their few retail locations was in none other than my birthplace, Meridian, MS! They happened to stop in after my aunt ordered some upholstered pieces, and she recognized the chevron and called me.

And thanks to Nana, my fabric stash has grown exponentially overnight.

Y'all, the customer service at this place was fantastic. I sat on the phone with my mom giving her style names and colorways. They helped her find every fabric, suggested some other products I might like, and offered to overnight some things they didn't have in stock for no charge. They were also really great about helping my mom, who's not a seamstress, figure out how much fabric I would need for projects. There were a couple fabrics with large repeats, and I was unsure about how much extra yardage I would need to work with that.

They also do upholstery and sell furniture pieces that are covered in their fabrics.

Of course, I got some of that yellow Chevron. I'm planning to use it for some drapes in the guest room!

And I also got a larger chevron to recover the $3 chair. I can't wait to see it done! This is actually the third fabric I've bought for the chair, but it's definitely the last. No, I mean it (the others will find homes as living room curtains, a table runner and placemats, and an ironing board cover.

I also got smaller pieces of a lot of fabrics to build up my stash. Orange houndstooth, anyone?

And I couldn't resist this owl pattern.

I can't wait to lay my head on a pillow with this beautiful fabric.

I don't know what I'm using this for yet, but I can't wait to see it.

This beauty will make some Euro Shams for our bedroom.

Just finding the store was gift enough, but my mom called to let me know she wasn't going to let me pay her back for all of these goodies. Way too generous, right? It blew my mind!

And a little bird told me there's a gift card to Sherwin Williams on the way. And since Sherwin Williams is running 30% off for preferred customers this weekend, it seems like even my favorite paint store is getting in on the birthday action. And I've decided the black fireplace is a YES. Or at least a YES, we'll try it and paint over it if we hate it.

I also got taken out on a date by the hubs. We saw Inception (I loved it, he hated it) and stuffed ourselves with fondue, then came home and watched Top Chef. Pretty much the perfect night, am I right? All in all, my twenty fifth was much better than I expected. And thanks to some gift card action and a new fabric stash, my home to do list has just gotten much bigger!

Black walls?

2010-07-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

I know, it's a crazy thought for someone who hated the darkness of her house just a year ago.

But I'm really thinking I need a black accent wall in my living room.

We considered painting the back staircase wall a different color (it's currently a lighter, and clashing, shade of tan than the rest of the room).

But we decided we wanted continuity on the way upstairs, so it will be the same color as the rest of the room.

We also considered wallpapering the back wall of the dining room in a bold pattern. But with our blue china cabinet and patterned backing, it would just be too much.

And that really only leaves one spot that makes any sense.

The fireplace.

Since this picture was taken, we've tiled with white and dark gray subway tile between the mantel and the fireplace insert itself.

With that black TV and the black fireplace insert and the dark gray tile, I'm toying with the idea of painting the chimney wall flat black. Before you call me crazy, check out this black wall eye candy.

I can just see my brass candlesticks and some yet to be determined white accents shining from a black backdrop.

Now, I just have to convince my husband and myself that it's worth the $15 it'll cost to try it out.

Are you tired of it yet?

2010-07-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

My talking about the living room color, I mean.

When I shared the conversation with my husband where he told me I would change my mind fifty more times about paint, I didn't realize just how right he would be.

No, we're not approaching thirteen paint samples like we did in the kitchen. But we're up to 8. Two Valspar colors, two Martha Stewart colors, two standard Sherwin Williams colors, one SW color lightened a little bit, and one color where I told the guy behind the counter that it wasn't quite light enough and a little too blue, maybe not green enough, you know? Thankfully, he did know, and he mixed me a sample that is just labeled "Gray."

We have big gray splotches all around the room, on most expanses of available wall space. The problem with a space this big, that includes a dining room, a big, long, not very well lit living room, a staircase and a very poorly lit hallway, is that we like different colors in different spaces.

In the dining room, near the window and the front door?

I really love that top color, which is SW Mindful Gray. In case you're wondering, the bottom color is "Gray" and the other two are SW Agreeable Gray and a lighter version of the same.

I'm also loving Mindful Gray on the other dining room wall, looking into the kitchen (on top, the bottom is "gray"). Please excuse the fuzziness of some of these photos. I took most without a flash to get the truest color.

Mindful Gray also looks pretty great with our mirror, and since gray+wood tone is one of my favorite looks, that's a big deal to me.

Elsewhere in the dining room, though, "gray" is the front runner. It looks fabulous next to our funky blue china cabinet. It's the small patch in the middle. The others are Agreeable Gray and the lighter version.

We have so many samples up, we painted samples on top of samples. In this picture you can see all the colors previously mentioned, plus Valspar Stony Path and a little bit of Valspar Seashell Gray under a newer sample.

And here, we found out that SW Mindful Gray and Martha Stewart Bedford Gray are pretty much the same color. The big patch is Bedford Gray, with Mindful gray to the right and "gray" up top.

In the living room things get a little more complicated.

At the base of the staircase Agreeable Gray (left) looks perfect, while Stony Path, Seashell Gray, and the lighter AG are all too something.

But up the stairs, "gray," to the right of Mindful Gray, has me ready to paint.

On the other side of the room, I'm stuck thinking Mindful gray is too dark. (L to R, Bedford Gray, Martha Stewart Nimbus Cloud, Mindful Gray, and "Gray")

But in the end, it's the media console that has me convinced.

Bedford Gray

Mindful Gray and "gray"

And Nimbus Cloud

Mindful Gray is the one. It's got just enough green and not so much blue that I'm worried about it not coming up neutral. It looks great with our curtain fabric (in fact, it's almost the exact color of the gray stripe!). And it dark enough to give me a cozy feeling, but not so dark that I feel like I'll need a headlamp to get around. Lucky for me, Duration paint is 20% off until the 31st, so I'll be picking up the 7 gallons very soon!

But just so you know, if anyone in real life asks me, the color is called Heavy Goose.

Summer Style

2010-07-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

With my big two-five coming up this week, I gave my husband strict instructions.

No gifts.

We just upgraded my iPhone last month, and I am completely attached to my new 4, so I definitely didn't think I needed anything else to help celebrate a quarter century.

But apparently my brain didn't get that message, because I've been doing a little shopping. Not decor/home related, sorry. But The Gap's online clearance sent me into a frenzy of outfitting myself for a bright, stripey, nautical (second half of) summer.

The first thing I picked up was another pair of skinny jeans, cropped this time.

Skinny jeans from the Gap are my biggest wardrobe staple. Their cut is insanely flattering. If you think you're not skinny enough for skinny jeans, try these out, for real. I'm super excited to add a cropped version.

I can't wait to pair them with this adorable sweater. A silk blend for only $12.99!

And this adorable ruffled tank, with a gray (0f course) cardigan.

I've had my eye on these shorts since they first appeared, and I was happy to snap them up once they were half price.

And I also got a nautical striped tank dress that will be perfect for hot weekends.

Then I continued my shopping spree with this new bag from etsy seller ikabags.

And today I got a red quilted clutch wallet, a gold leaf headband, and the cutest antique gold tone necklace with a pair of scissors as a charm.

I can't help but notice the stripes, the navy, the red, the yellow, and notice that it reminds me a lot of the color schemes I've picked for the sunroom and the living room. Especially when I add these pieces into my already gray wardrobe, I'll look right at home.

I'm so excited about my new handbag, I couldn't resist a sewing project. I prefer big handbags, so that I don't have to carry a separate laptop bag. But letting my laptop bang around in a giant cloth bag isn't the best idea. So I whipped up a replacement for my old gray sleeve. Something that will fit the cheerier feel of my new bag!

For this project, you'll need a half yard of two fabrics (one more heavy for the outside, and one for the lining). You can use the same fabric if you'd like. You'll also need a half yard of 1/4 thick lining. I used a double thickness of bamboo batting, and it worked great.

First measure your laptop's dimensions. Measure end to end both ways, and also all the way around, both width wise and length wise.

I came up with 10.5"x13", and a circumference of 24" on the short side, and 29" on the long side. These measurements are for a 15" Think Pad, but you'll want to take your own.

To determine how big to cut your fabric, divide your circumferences by two and add an inch. I came up with 13"x15.5", and cut two pieces of each fabric to this size.

For the bunting, divide the circumference by two, and that's your measurement. For my computer, I needed two pieces 12"x14.5".

I decided to use ribbon and two D-rings as a closure (like a d-ring belt). Some other options are a big button and elastic, a flap with velcro, and a simple tie closure. You'll need to modify these instructions a little bit if you want a flap, but basically you'll need to cut one piece of each fabric a little longer, accounting for the flap.

Once you have your fabric cut, you're ready to pin it. Pin one liner piece and one outer piece together, right sides in, along the short side. If you're doing elastic or ribbon closure, you'll need to pin it into the seam before you sew.

See the ribbon sticking out? There is a much longer length between the fabrics.

Once you've sewed this seam, turn the right sides out and iron the seam. If you're doing the D-ring closure, then you should go ahead and sew the other length of ribbon on the opposite side. This would also be a good time to attach buttons or velcro.

At this point, you'll have your two sides with some sort of closure attached.

Now, you'll put in your batting between the layers of fabric. Line up the short side with your short seam, and then smooth the other layer over the batting.

Then pin each side together, lining out, and sew around the long sides and the bottom short side. Turn it inside out and you should have a laptop shaped pouch!

Test it out to make sure your laptop fits.

Success! Then attached your D-rings and finish the end of the other ribbon at an appropriate length.

Then close it up, and you've got a laptop sleeve that's perfectly coordinated to your bag!

Obsessed

2010-07-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm reeeeal into chevron patterns these days. I can't stop thinking about a chevron rug in the sunroom. Or the living room. Or the dining room. Or the kitchen.

This could get dangerous real fast.

Chevron has been one of those things that's been in the back of my mind for a while. I want it to fit in somewhere but it hadn't reached fruition.

Then, thanks to the totally talented bryn alexandra I happened upon this very reasonably priced fabric. Yes, please.

It had me wondering how many zig zag toss pillows one can have in her house and not look like a crazy person. I have my eye on the black and the yellow, of course. But the village blue and village green are calling to me too.

But earlier today, browsing Decor Pad for some gray paint ideas, I fell head over heels in love with these bold curtains.

And I am just dying at this bold chevron rug (and how gorgeous is that chair?)

If you want something a little more on the subtle side, how about this rug from West Elm?

For the very brave (and patient!) among us, how about an entire chevron wall?

Or for a high contrast look, this wallpaper from walnut wallpaper has me weak in the knees.

I'm even cheating on the monthly Design Sponge calendar wallpaper with a Riki Zaris Chevron Print on my desktop!

And speaking of obsessions, my birthday is coming up in a little over a week and I have a serious suspicion I'm getting living room paint! I already got a new iphone, so this would be totally sweet.

So what am I doing on my way home? Paint samples. I think I want Martha Stewart Bedford Gray, but I need to get a sample on the wall. This will be sample number 5, so hopefully it's the one, and we won't end up with another kitchen situation (My favorite part of reading that post? We chose NONE of the colors on the walls or mentioned in the post. And we love the color we ended up choosing in desperation without a sample. Go figure)

Post Along Project: The Porch is Done!

2010-07-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

After sewing the hook and loop closures on the futon cover, and taking everything outside, the porch has gone from drab to colorful!

Before, our porch had some bright red chairs and yellow walls, but other than that, was lacking in color. The faded black futon cover and the old water damaged printer cart were just depressing.

Over the past two days, I've injected some color, some much needed storage, and a little bit of fun.

New art in white frames can be added to over time.

Brighter, more graphic throw pillows up the fun factor, and the navy blue futon cover in an outdoor fabric brings in color that will resist fading over time.

A newly blue baker's rack holds shoes, garden tools, and my ever growing philodendron.

We added a clock for a pop of red, and finally, the exterior doors are painted, and no longer disgusting.

I'm so happy that such small changes have made a big difference in the feeling of our back porch.

Now I've just got to pick a rug (and buy it) and this room will be DONE!

Almost done!

2010-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I was able to repot my new plants, paint an old toolbox red, and hang up the art on the porch (as well as a red clock we bought in February and haven't found a home for.

I also knocked out three pillow covers for the futon.

We relaxed most of the afternoon. Did some shopping, watched a couple of episodes of X-Files and The West Wing and had an easy dinner. While we were watching TV, I started to pin the futon cover, and I decided to go ahead and stitch it before I forgot how it was supposed to be put together!

All I have to do now is sew the hook and loop closures onto the flap and the back.

Then this morning, I got up bright and early and took care of my normal Sunday morning grocery/kitchen cleaning routine. Then after a breakfast break, I scraped the paint off of the glass in the doors, swept out the porch, and cleaned the litter boxes. Now, the hubs is on his way home, and we can finish the cover and move it back outside. Then we will hopefully get some afternoon so we can hang out there without melting.

Whoa!

2010-07-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

So the schedule I originally set up for this project? The one I worried was too ambitious?

I'm blowing it out of the water.

I had the baker's rack painted, the art framed, the lawn mowed (after a minor freakout and a call to my husband at work when the mower stopped in the middle of the lawn), and the back door and french doors painted. All before 10 am!

I totally have my thumbs under my non-existent suspenders right now.

Now that I'm showered, I'm going to take a break for some lunch and HGTV. Then I'm going to start on the throw pillows and repot my new plants. I might even arrange the plant stand! When Brett gets home, we'll bring in the futon mattress, so I can cut the fabric into smaller pieces for pre-washing.

Looks like my Saturday will be more productive than I thought!

Update!

2010-07-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

So I'm eating breakfast and I've already made some pretty big progress!

Yesterday, I took this art from the living room (we have something else in minf for this spot) and painted the frames white. I used the dregs of a can of spraypaint, and then had to buy another at $3.89.

Then, I used dafont.com (check out the dingbats!) and vintageprintable.com to print some art for the low cost of $0. For a project like this, where water in the air is going to be constant, I want something that can be easily replaced.

This morning I cleaned up the frames and put them all together.

I can't wait to see what it looks like hung up.

I also spray painted my baker's rack navy this morning. The dark blue will pop against the yellow walls, and coordinate with the new futon cover.

After breakfast, I've got to get going on the lawn, and paint the porch doors, assuming the rain holds off!

Post Along Project

2010-07-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but it's also been a while since I did a project that took more than a day. So I'm excited to announce this weekend's Post Along Project: sprucing up our screened in porch!

After building our porch last fall, we kind of ran out of steam on the decor front and moved on to other rooms. We worked so hard on construction, that we were ready to just do something else. But now I'm ready to make it more than just a functioning cat lounging/reading room.

Here's the plan:

-Create a frame collage to go over the futon, and make art for those frames (Budget: $5, yes really!)
-Paint baker's rack and add some potted plants, as well as a basket for the shoes that gather at the back door (Budget: $40)
-finally paint the doors (Budget: $0)
-sew a futon cover (Budget: $70)
-recover throw pillows (Budget: $0)

Hopefully at the end of the weekend, all we'll lack is a rug. I'm still torn between FLOR tiles and the jute squares from World Market.

The schedule is tight, but doable.

I was off today, and I've already done all of the shopping (I scored outdoor fabric in solid navy for $3 a yard! which means my futon cover will be $25 with tax instead of $70) and spray painted some existing frames. I also created some art and will print it before bed tonight.

Tomorrow I want to paint the doors and the bakers rack, get my new plants potted, and hopefully cut and pin the fabric for the futon cover. I also have to cut the grass, since Brett is working an insane schedule. And we're supposed to get rain almost all day tomorrow. So it will be hectic.

Sunday will be spent with sewing, sewing, and more sewing. I've got to make the futon cover as well as recovering the three throw pillows out there.

Hopefully I can do it. The first update will come some time tomorrow!

The Big Pantry Clean Out

2010-07-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

So, I know I haven't posted in forever. Sorry dudes. I would like to give some excuse but the truth is I'm lazy and unmotivated.

Last week I finally got frustrated enough with the state of my pantry and did something about it. At first I was just disgusted with the avalanche of plastic grocery bags that rained down on me every time I needed something. We use these bags for cat litter and the occasional lunch that won't fit in my lunch box. So they're a necessity, but I really needed a way to keep them under wraps.

Enter grocery bag holder.

But even though this one was a deal at $10, I remembered that my grandmother had one made out of fabric, and I wondered if I could make one with some scrap fabric. I found some directions (google grocery bag holder for tons of options. I chose these from Make It and Love It.)

I used some fabric and bias tape from my scrapbox, and bought half a yard of elastic for just 11 cents. How's that for a budget project?

I started with a rectangle of fabric, 20 by 25 inches, and pinned the short sides with a hem wide enough to push my 1/4" elastic through.

Then, I threaded the elastic. This was absolutely the hardest part of the project, and I struggled quite a bit. I eventually figured out that my best bet was to pin the elastic at one end, and poke through the other end with the sharp end of a skewer. Then I poked the skewer into the tube, and scrunched the fabric down until the elastic was exposed. Then I took it off the skewer, pinned it down on the other side, and sewed down both sides.

You will need two pieces of elastic. 11 inches for the top, where you can put the bags in, and 6 1/2 inches for the bottom, so you can pull them out one at a time.

Then pin the long sides together, right sides in, and stitch up the remaining side.

Finally, add a loop for hanging. You can use ribbon but I just used leftover bias tape. Turn it inside out and stuff!

And if the little peek into our pantry shelves doesn't make you break into hives, then check this out.

I didn't even take a picture of the rest of the pantry, since I couldn't look at it without crying. But armed with some serious determination, I bought a few bins and tackled everything else. After a few bags of trash and the discovery of several rolls of toilet paper buried under a pile of crap, we now have a clean, beautiful pantry.

We have a bin for snacks/breakfast, one for condiments/vinegars, one for Italian, one for soups/broths, and one for Mexican.

Since I took this picture, I also added a drawer organizer for some of our smaller hardware related stuff.

I'm just so happy to say I can actually walk in here!

Happy Fourth!

2010-06-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

We wanted to cheer up the front of our house and celebrate the season. But we didn't want to spend a lot of money doing it. So this weekend, I whipped up a couple of quick projects on the cheap to brighten up the place!

First, I spruced up our front door wreath with some red berries and some red and blue ribbon.

That's a little more like it!

We also moved the red chairs from the back porch out front. It's now a great place to sit and read during our many summer thunderstorms!

But it was still missing something, so I dug into my fabric stash and decided to whip up some flag bunting. I found some easy instructions online and got to work.

First, I picked out four coordinating fabrics, and cut strips the wide enough to make a nice sized triangle.

Then, after making a template from paper, I grabbed my rotary cutter and set to work. I tried this with scissors and it was so much harder, so if you have a rotary, bust it out. Once you have one triangle cut, you can just alternate the orientation and cut the triangles really quickly.

Then, just pin them right sides together (you can make them matching front and back, but I alternated for a fun look). Then stitch them up on two sides, leaving the top of the triangle open.

When you turn them out, you'll need something to help with the points. I used the end of my scissors, and the blunt end of a wooden skewer. Then it was time to iron them flat, and put the whole thing together!

Once they were ironed, I used bias tape to bind them. I just pinned each flag to the bias tape, alternating the patterns, and stitched across the entire thing. I didn't have any of the right bias tape, and since this was a "work with what I have" project, I made do. So the front is prettier than the beack, but still pretty darn cute!

So with a few hours of work and a minimal investment, our front porch is much cheerier, and ready for the holiday weekend!

Want to see more awesome Red, White and Blue projects? Head on over to Centsational Girl's Stars and Stripes Party for more patriotic fun!

Heavy Goose

2010-06-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today, a fluke of waking up before the alarm, an un-crowded gym locker room, and freakishly light traffic came together and got me to work at 6 am. Luckily, since I have flexible work hours this means I can take an hour off some other time. I had a meeting for the last hour of my workday, but when I walked in, my very lovely lead told me I looked tired and we should move the meeting until tomorrow. Score!

I escaped 45 minutes earlier, and skipped a big chunk of rush hour. I decided to use my extra time to stop at Home Depot and finally check out the Martha Stewart line.

Now, let me say, Martha Stewart is somewhat of a personal hero of mine. I hope that someday I can be successful in my career, raise a child, keep a home, cook delicious, healthy meals, and balance it all like she has. Yes, I know she has a staff and her daughter is all grown up. But I still thinks she's remarkable. And her slightly out-of-touchness just adds to the charm for me. What, you don't change your sheets everyday?

Anyway, I've been thinking about her new paint line since Making It Lovely used it in her bedroom makeover. And when I stopped by to ogle the new colors, I was floored. Guys, I so wish this line had been out a year ago. I picked up a brochure and a few swatches (which are nice and big. Something Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams might want to learn).

I'm kicking myself now that we only have two spaces to paint. There are so many beautiful ones.

Like Rainwater

And Fig

And can I geek out for a second about the names of the colors? I love the names so much. They just make me smile. Like Milk Pail, Graham Cracker Crust, Pup Tent, Brook Trout, Sharkey Gray, and my personal favorite, Heavy Goose.

But, since I was looking for my living room and powder room, I picked up a selection of grays and greiges. We love these for the living room.

Bedford Gray (this is the front runner if we're brave enough to go this dark).

Nimbus Cloud

And for the powder room, I think I'm going dark.

I love Seal.

And Thunderhead. Again with the names! They're killing me.

Too bad Heavy goose was eliminated. And of all things, it was for being too light.

Guest Bath: Take three

2010-06-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't paint it again.

I really love the paint color that's in there now. It's soothing and light, even if it is the most saturated color in our house.

But let's go back a year or so, shall we?

We moved in to a house with a bile yellow monstrosity of a bathroom. Pictures do not do this color justice, but it made everyone and everything look sickly and gross. It may have been a perfectly nice yellow, but when we took off the mirror we found dark gray paint, and no signs of primer in between. So the gray was giving the yellow a weird cast.

We couldn't wait very long before painting this room. We thought we had the color scheme for the house nailed down, with greens, blues, and tans. But we chose a very, very wrong color. And we tried to tone it down with some neutral accessories.

But even the cream linens weren't cutting it. So armed with a Sherwin Williams gift car from Christmas, we set out to fix our mistake. And it could have been another one, since I chose this color based on a picture of another room online, and never even looked at the sample card with the other colors in our house. But I knew I loved it, and I went for it.

MUCH improved, yes?

The old neutral accessories went fine in here, but I was itching to bring something more fun in. Our other bathroom is so soothing and relaxing, I wanted some color and kitsch in here. I bought some art on a whim from Etsy. Three letterpress greeting cards, shipped for $16! Greeting cards can be a really great, cheap alternative to prints.

I already had some white frames from my first IKEA trip in February, and I had some charcoal mats cut at a craft store for $20 ($5 each). I had four frames, and I knew I wanted three in the tub area, so I made a quick word cloud from some song lyrics and printed it on cardstock. Unfortunately, Brett doesn't love it so I'm going to make something new, possibly a collage piece? But the colors work for now.

This little dude might be my favorite piece in the house. I love him (her?).

The whale and the cactus crack me up. We moved the pen and ink drawings to Brett's office and got new gray mats as well (they were a standard size, so I got them for a steal at $2 each).

But we didn't stop at new art. I was ready to bring some real color in and bring the bathroom back to it's roots. We were itching for some yellow.

With super sale fabric from Ikea (2 yards at $2.99 a yard!) and some cheap-o curtain rings, I have a fun new shower curtain that makes me smile when I walk in the room.

This room has just a bathtub, thanks to the slanted ceilings. So the curtain is more for looks than function. But it was super easy to make and took me under an hour.

We also brought in some bright white towels and linens, and some more colorful candles, as well as putting in new switches and a GFCI in white. And one of my favorite things are the new hand towels. I had some yellow pom pom trim that I intended for another project and scrapped. With just one yard, I had enough to edge two hand towels for a hit of whimsy and color.

Okay, I admit it. I love yellow again. Not enough to paint a room yellow, but I can be happy in a yellow tinged environment!

Kitchen: Before and After

2010-06-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

As if this afternoon, we are DONE with the never-ending project.

That's right, the kitchen makeover that started in NOVEMBER with a broken oven is over. Apart from the floors (which don't count since that is a multi-room job, right?) we are finished with the kitchen.

Let's look back at what the kitchen used to look like, shall we? This is with the seller's stuff.

A real tropical paradise right? Or should I say parrot-ice!

After 7 months of working off and on (including a one week blitz early on) we now have a fresh, clean, bright, and (mostly) neutral kitchen that I love spending time in!

So refreshing! We painted the walls, trim, ceiling, and cabinets. Even though the cabinets were white, they definitely needed to be repainted. What a huge difference a couple of coats of paint can make!

One of the first things we did was replace the countertops and sink (actually, that was our Christmas present!). The sink was a $60 clearance find and I love it SO much. It's ultra deep, and so much more convenient than our old basic model. We also replaced the faucet and sprayer.

The backsplash tile might be my favorite project to date. It made such a huge difference.

Believe it or not, we don't mind standing here at the end of the day and doing dishes! I made this roman shade using a $4 set of mini blinds and Ikea fabric.

One of the best things we did was declutter the countertops. We got rid of the coffee pot (it comes out when we have guests. We rarely use it otherwise) and cleared out a drawer for my cooking utensils. We also consolidated all of our documents and bills into the file folder next to the microwave. We also cleared off the top of the fridge. We used a paper tray to hold out bread, and bought canisters for coffee and cereal. It's the perfect breakfast station for us!

I love the color so much I want to marry it!

We made this area of wasted space a focal point with a storage piece and a plate collage. We've dded to it over time, and we plan to continue until we run out of space! I keep some of my more often used appliances and pots, and cuter serveware in here. I love the color it brings to the room!

We love the variety in the collage. From a cornbread pan handed down from Brett's great grandmother, to a tag sale plate transformed into a clock, to a handmade plate by yours truly, the variety is what makes it special.

By the cooking area, we have a floating spice rack and a sign to remind us of our Southern roots.

I'm happy to say I've got a new favorite room. By far.

Oops

2010-06-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

So that roman shade I made late last week?

I used the blinds that came out of the kitchen window. Fool proof sizing, right?

Except I forgot to account for the thickness of the tile and the mastic, and now I can't wedge that puppy up in the window. And it wouldn't matter if I somehow could, because my vigorous slapping and tugging managed to break one of the pull strings.

This was a big fat failure.

I'm hoping to salvage the fabric and buy some cheapo blinds that actually fit our new window size. But for now I just want to cry. I was ready to call the kitchen dione with the exception of the floors. And now my 6 month project is officially going into month 7. Excellent.

Roman shades

2010-06-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've seen the directions floating around all over the internet to make your own Roman shade using an old pair of blinds. As soon s I saw them, I knew I wanted to do it for the kitchen window. I finally bought my fabric and tackled it tonight.

As I broke off the extra slats, I got a little nervous. I was totally ruining a good pair of blinds, for possibly nothing! But using just a yard and a half of fabric (this will completely depend on your window size) and some fabric glue, I have a totally new window treatment.

The wrinkles are because it's sitting on the couch. I still have to clean the window and tile surround, and install the hanging hardware. But come this weekend we'll have a circus striped shade filtering light in our kitchen.

I was so excited by the folds. It actually works!

This project was well under an hour, start to finish. I did it all while watching Glee, and a friend was fast forwarding through most of the commercial breaks. So easy!

Directions are here (I didn't follow exactly, it will be pretty obvious how it works once you get started). You won't be sorry!

Quoth my Husband

2010-06-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Me: I saw a laundry room painted Comfort Gray but cut down with white paint today (from the ultra fab Centsational Girl), and I think I might want to paint the living room that color.

Brett: silence

Me: What do you think about that?

Brett: I think it doesn't matter because you'll change your mind ten more times before we actually paint it.

At least he knows me, right?

Back to Reality

2010-05-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

After over a week off work, I'm heading back to work in the morning. I'm not going to lie, the thought of it is giving me a sad. And the though of getting up to go to the gym before work after a week off makes me want to cry.

But I had a great week off and got so much done! The projects I did (and some that I started and nee to finish) have me really excited.

Last weekend, I didn't do much except clean the house and pick a paint color for the living room. Then Tuesday, I headed off for a few days in Houston. I lived here as a kid, and haven't been back since 91. I saw a lot that triggered my memories, spent some time with a friend and her brand new baby, and did a lot of shopping!

First, I checked out HomeGoods for the first time. At first, I was disappointed. It was just a home section in the back of Marshall's. Then when I actually went back there, I realized it was much bigger than I thought. I was seriously impressed with the lighting selection. It really made me wish I needed lamps! The only room I need a lamp for is the guest room, and they didn't have one quite small enough. The prices were amazing, though!

I didn't end up buying anything, though. Partly because I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, and partly because I was holding onto my decor dollars for our next destination.

I'm an unashamed Ikea fangirl, people. This place is my home. I'm pretty sure I could literally live in here.

I came with a mission: bookshelves for the office and a long list of fabrics. But just like last time, I got sucked into the displays and was mesmerized. My shopping buddy (my mom, an Ikea virgin) was also enamored. We ended up having lunch in the restaurant and spending all day there.

We were both very inspired by one of the first display rooms we saw.

I loved the gray couches with the flat woven rug and the white furniture. It really confirmed that the color scheme we;re planning for the living room is the right thing for us.

I also loved this room. I wish I was bold enough to paint a room orange! It's my favorite color, but I'm too chicken to go that far. I'll just stick to accents!

I also picked out some furniture for a future trip. When we're ready to buy a sofa and dining room furniture, we're planning to make the trek to Houston so we can have access to Ikea, West Elm,and some of the boutique stores.

We haven't decided on a sectional or a sofa and loveseat yet, but we know it will be gray, and we're pretty sure it will be Karlstad. We love the color on this ottoman.

And I'm pretty much set on the Torsby table (the larger version, but with this white glass). I also love the Tobias chairs (probably the clear) but I'm not 100%.

The fabric selection wasn't great, and I wasn't able to get a lot of the fabrics I wanted. But I found a lot of great alternatives, and I can't wait to tackle some sewing projects in the weeks ahead.

I ended up with the bookcases, fabric, a new living room rug, and a storage piece for the kitchen, as well as a few odds and ends. I'll be showing the kitchen piece later, once I've styled it (It's sitting mostly empty in the kitchen for now).

I wasn't planning on buying a rig for a while, but when I saw this one in that first display room, I fell in love. The color scheme was perfect, and at $150, you couldn't beat the price. I passed it up at first, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. When my mom saw me looking at it for the tenth time, she very generously offered to buy it for us, and now it's very happy in its new home!

I think somebody likes it!

We were so excited about the bookshelves, though, that we put them together as soon as I got home! The lights didn't come with screws, so I ran to Lowe's today and now our library is complete. We even have extra shelf space to fill up!

I love how much more put together the office looks with these in place. Plus, we finally don't have boxes of books in the closet! We actually moved the old bookshelves in there, and have some of our books that don't really warrant display in there.

We re-matted the art from the bathroom and moved it in here. Brett loves it and it looks great in the room. We have some new art for the bathroom that should be done this week!

From owls to transformers, and Glamour Dont's to The Godfather, I'm loving how these bookshelves so perfectly highlight both of our personalities.

And now, I think I'll spend a little time reading before bed.

The Final Choice

2010-05-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

We have finally, FINALLY chosen a paint color for our living room. No more swatches, no more samples, no more stopping at the paint section every time we go to the store.

We're done.

And I think we've finally perfected the art of choosing colors for our home. Too bad we don't have to do it any more! After this, the only room we have left is the powder room, and I'm pretty set on Valspar's Coastal Jetty for that room. Regardless, it will be a much easier choice than this one.

We had a few requirements. Light, gray, and the toughest one: must match all of the other colors in the house. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

So we went to Home Depot, Lowe's, and dealers for Pratt and Lambert and various other paints, plus armed ourselves with our Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams fan decks. We picked up a swatch of every gray that caught our eye. We seriously ended up with over a hundred colors in mind.

Then we brought them into our dining room and started the selection process.

We could immediately eliminate a ton because they were too dark

or too light

Or too blue or too green.

Then we brought in the fabric we're using for drapes, to make sure there were no clashing issues.

And with the fabric, we were able to narrow it down to a few choices.

After bringing them all in the kitchen, we settled tentatively on Valspar's Stony Path (middle bottom row in the above picture).

On the way home from work Friday, I picked up a sample of Stony Path and the second runner, Valspar Tempered Gray. After living with them all weekend, we finally admitted that they weren't doing it for us. Stony Path was WAY too blue, and Tempered Gray had a purple cast we just weren't digging.

So today, we made a trip to Sherwin Williams to pick up some samples of a color that we eliminated early because it was too dark. We just couldn't stop thinking about it, so we got a sample of the color, and a sample of that color at 50%. We got it home and before they were even drying, we knew we made the right choice. We found our color!

And we even like the darker version!

It's on the bottom in this picture. I love it with the kitchen color!

On the left in this picture (the right one is the lighter version). Bonus points to Brett for the beautiful flowers I got for our second anniversary today!

The bottom color, with the china cabinet.

I am so in love with this color! I just can't wait to cover that HORRIBLE tan once and for all.

Laundry Room Face Lift

2010-05-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

When I bought the fabric for the office curtains, I way over-estimated (this was before my design notebook that has all the measurements I need to estimate yardages) and bought 8 yards. Even though I made double width panels, I only needed like 5 yards, and was left with a lot of fabric.

I knew I wanted to inject some orange into the laundry room. After putting up the magnet message board from Ikea, I was ready for some more decor.

I started with a different fabric. I re-matted our marriage license receipt with a bold orange and red floral (the same fabric I used for the pillow shams in the guest room). I'm also using this fabric for the kitchen window, so it will tie these two rooms together.

I quickly sewed a window topper one night (seriously, 20 minute project easy) using the leftover office fabric. And then I tackled my first non-linear projects.

First, I used my old apron as a template and made a new one using the same orange fabric. I added orange gros-grain ribbon for ties at the neck, and at the waistband. Since my apron hangs on the hooks in our laundry room, I wanted it to tie in with the room's decor. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture)

My last project was a new ironing board cover. I figured the easy way out would be to sew the fabric on top of the existing cover. I got it pinned and wrestled the layers through the machine. I put it on and was happy to see that it worked! I set to pinning a hem, and turned it inside out to turn under the hem.

Again, I wrestled the layers through the sewing machine, and went to put it on our ironing board. And.... it didn't fit. One of my seams went a little too far and shortened it enough that we couldn't stretch it out.

So I bought a new ironing board cover from Target. It's not the original color I had in mind, but I do like it. And apron + curtain + ironing board would have been a lot of one fabric anyway, right? So maybe it's a happy accident.

Even though things weren't exactly as planned, I love the way it turned out. It's so bright and cheery, and it actually cheers me up a little when I'm doing laundry.

How To: Make a decorative plate

2010-05-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

So, we all know I have a thing for plates. And a thing for animal motifs. Lately I've been really digging on octopi, and I wanted to add one to my kitchen plate collage. But all of the octopus plates I could find were either over-the-top kitschy, or way too expensive.

Desperate for a cheap alternative, I wondered if there was some way to make my own. I considered a paint your own pottery store. But those places are usually super expensive, and plus, I'm no artist. My plate would end up looking like a spider or a leggy blob.

This morning while grocery shopping, I wandered down the serving ware aisle. I picked up a plain glass salad plate for only $1.49, hoping I could figure something out. I already had all the other supplies I needed, so I wouldn't be out more than $2 if I messed it up.

When I got home, I googled "Octopus drawing" and found the best example on a website for teachers. I printed it out on plain printer paper in high quality (DON'T use cardstock! It will make it much harder to work with). Then I colored it using felt tip markers, in the color palette I wanted. You could also use an image that's already colored, and skip this step. Cut it out carefully with an exacto knife.

So now you have a plate, and the decorative elements (try layering more than one!)

You'll also need a bottle of Mod Podge (I used matte, but glossy is probably fine too), a couple of foam brushes, and paint for the background.

Put your paper face up on a piece of scrap paper or cloth. Apply Mod Podge all over the face.

You really don't need to worry about making it even or looking good. It will dry clear and you won't be able to see it.

Next, apply your image to the BACK SIDE of the glass plate, facing the right side of the image down. When looking from the front of the plate, you should be able to see the right side of the image.

Clean any excess Mod Podge from the back of the plate, and let it dry. I used wet paper towels and Q-tips dipped in water to clean it.

Once the Mod Podge is dry (I waited about an hour and it was plenty), you're ready to paint! I used old sample paint from our bedroom. I mixed two shades together and brushed it all on. Don't worry about getting paint on the paper. You won't be able to see it from the front.

The first layer of paint will probably be pretty streaky. I also added some "waves" with a flat brush. Once that layer is dry to touch, you can add a second layer. I added some black paint this time for depth.

Once it's dry, clean the front of the plate and there you have it! A totally custom decorative plate for under $5 (assuming yo don't have paint already). If you sealed the back with clear coat, you could even use it! Just hand wash GENTLY.

I'm going to give it a few days to dry before I attach the hanger to the back, but for now it's sitting pretty in the kitchen window!

Not too shabby, right?

Let's get serious

2010-05-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am usually not one to post about serious topics. But something happened today, and since most of my readers have a similar "tackle it now" personality, I decided to write about it.

I work in an industry that puts safety above all else. I worked in a manufacturing plant for three years, and steel toed shoes, ladder safety, and hard hats were part of my every day life. Even now that I have switched to a job that is strictly in the office, I still have to fill out a card every week with possible hazards (of sitting at a desk, walking, driving) and how I'm going to avoid them.

And yet, I'm not nearly as careful at home. I don't put on my safety glasses to mow the lawn. I don't maintain three points of contact when I'm climbing a ladder. And I wear flip flops when I'm doing tons of things I shouldn't. I've shocked myself more times than I can count because I didn't check to make sure I flipped the right breaker. But today, I really scared myself.

I was hanging a window topper that I made for the laundry room. I had used a kitchen chair to get up on top of the dryer. And I had just gotten home from the store, so I was wearing something probably even worse for climbing than flip flops--gladiator sandals. As I was about to step down, my shoe strap caught on the chair back and I fell, from the top of the dryer, into the kitchen, to the hard tile floor.

I am fine, but I really believe I got off easy. My head barely missed the counter top. I was able to get one foot under me to break my fall (which gave me a twisted ankle, but better than a possible break, right?). I got off lucky with my ankle, a busted lip, and some soreness in my back, arm, and neck. But it could have been much worse. I was home alone, and if I had hit my head, it could have been hours before Brett came home and found me. In the half second that it took for me to hit the floor, tons of scenarios went through my head. And I am so thankful that none of them happened.

I'm making a commitment to myself and my husband that I will have the same attitude towards safety at home as I do at work. From now on, it's strictly tennis shoes any time I'm climbing. We're thinking about shutting off the main breaker any time we work on electrical, but at the very least we're getting a volt meter and checking before we start. And I'm going to be very selective about which jobs I'll do alone at home. I'm not going to freak Brett out with my casual attitude towards very powerful saws.

I hope you guys will do the same without having a scare of your own. Really, it doesn't add much of an inconvenience, or extra time, and nothing is worth an injury, or even a scare!

And now, back to posts bout throw pillows and paint colors, I promise.

A restful weekend

2010-05-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

We finally had a weekend with no guests and no big projects looming. And after the last few weeks we really needed it!

There were a lot of things we needed to take care of (changing the oil in Brett's car, lots of weed pulling), and we had a ton of small projects that needed to be taken care of. Plus we needed a little bit of relaxing too!

First of all, let me apologize for the truly heinous picture quality in this post. It's after dark and insanely humid, and I knew I wouldn't get to posting this week if I didn't do it tonight.

After yard work and a quick swim at the Y, we started off the house projects with touching up the paint in the kitchen and replacing the outlets and switches. This ended up being much more difficult than we planned, due to there being NO leeway in the wires behind a couple of the outlets. But after lots of struggling and an unplanned trip to Lowe's for longer screws, we now have white, right side up outlets and switches in the kitchen! 5 rooms down, 5 to go! The two bathrooms are on the list for next week.

Now all we have left is to caulk, and I've got to make a Roman shade and the kitchen will be done other than the floors. I'm still on the lookout for a vintage dresser or credenza to fill out the plate wall, but I'm happy with the kitchen as is until I find the perfect (cheap) piece!

After that, we just hung out in the office, with Brett playing video games and me reading my new design books (Domino and Apartment Therapy, both great with tons of eye candy). I was so hppy to be able to hang out up there and read on our new sofa!

We picked it up last weekend at an estate sale for $100. It's perfect for our office/library, and in great shape. And so comfy for a short person like me. It's perfect for lounging!

That orange pillow is the first peek at today's major project. I busted out the sewing machine and sewed up a storm! Besides the orange bird pillow for the sofa, I made new pillow covers for the guest room. The hot weather has me itching for some hot colors, and the guest room is looking much brighter!

We especially love the yellow one! Sometime this week, I'll be recovering the canvases with these fabrics and the orange one from the office as well.

I also made a cute floral pillow for the sunroom.

Even though we didn't have big plans for the weekend, I think we made a pretty big difference in our home!

And although it has nothing to do with this weekend (other than the fact that we FINALLY got some rain, thank goodness), it has been six weeks since we planted our flowers. And not only have I not killed them, THEY'RE GROWING!

And before anyone cries "Foul! Your husband used to work at a garden center!" This is all me, baby. I admit he has reminded me to water them sometimes, but I'm taking care of these, and they're not dead yet!

The petunias are actually overflowing!

And the begonias are looking awesome.

Actually, I'm so confident in my plant care skillz that I got a philodendron for the sunroom last week. I love this ultra cheap pot from Target. It was either $4 or $5!

I think my black thumb has a little green under it after all!

More than all the tea in...

2010-05-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

China!

We've been looking for so long to have a place to store our china, I m now so happy to have it displayed in our dining room.

First, we scrounged Craigslist and got a smoking deal on an 80s castoff. Then we primed and painted (and went through fits with the color). This weekend, we finished it off with some wrapping paper from Ink and Paper and a bottle of Mod Podge.

So with a little bit of 80s in the furniture and some 70s in the paper, we've hopefully made our dining room a little more modern.

I love the way our simple china stands outs against the bold backing.

I can't wait to see it with gray walls and some more modern dining room furniture. In a few years, of course.

Grout!

2010-05-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll be honest here. Grouting is a total pain in the ass.

Actually, I have no idea how hard putting the grout on, because Brett did that. But the plan was for me to wipe off. After it was getting harder and harder, Brett started helping me, and then he pretty much finished it off while I cried. Okay, so I didn't really cry, but my hands still hurt 4 days later.

But the result? So worth it.

Look at that beautiful tile! We love the gray grout with the white tile. It really makes the running bond pattern stand out.

Still to do:

1. Switch out outlets and switches and install new plates
2. Touch up paint and caulk around tile
3. Make Roman shade for window and install
4. Deep clean tile to get rid of excess grout
5. Build or buy storage piece for plate wall
6. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the future when we forgot about the difficulty of grouting, we'll retile the floor

We are so close to done I can smell it!

Notice something about that picture of the sink area? It contains the fridge, which I've been too ashamed to show for a while. The top of our fridge was a big mess for the last few months.

Thankfully, our love for the backsplash inspired us to clear our countertops. Only things we use daily are staying. Which means the coffeepot can go! And the fruit will stay in the fridge (Brett prefers it cold anyway). Veggies that need to stay room temp are going in the cookie jar, and the catch all above the fridge has been condensed into an accordion folder beside the microwave. We consolidated two junk drawers down into one, which gave us an extra drawer for cooking utensils.

That catch-all from the microwave? Now it's on top of the fridge holding our bread and bagels. The glass jars hold coffee and cereal, so we have all of our breakfast stuff ready to go.

You know, after hating my kitchen for what seemed like so long, I'm just happay as a muddy pig in the sunshine to spend a lot of time right here.

Splish Splash!

2010-05-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we realized that it had been SIX WEEKS since we ordered our backsplash tile. The tile that was supposed to take two weeks. So I called for what seemed like the millionth update on timing, and instead of hearing "a few more days" they told me it was being unloaded from the truck!

I made a stop on the way home from work to get all the necessary supplies, and on Friday morning, we picked up the tile and got to work. We also realized that we forgot to order bullnose tile for the edges, but it should only take a couple of days (white bullnose is very common, unlike the gray glass that took six weeks).

We started with the stove wall. We used a tutorial from This Old House and found it to be very helpful, except for a couple of exceptions.

Our first step was marking a level marking between the two runs of countertop. Then we found the center and marked a vertical level line all the way to the top and in DARK pencil. Since we went with a running bond pattern, we measured 3" over from that, and made another dark vertical line. Both of these lines need to be seen through your adhesive once you notch it.

Then, we passed the point of no return and started slathering on the tile adhesive. We used Omni brand adhesive. You need adhesive for wall tile since gravity isn't helping it out. With just thinset, you would have a harder time getting the tiles to stay up. We put the adhesive on with a small, wide putty knife and then used a notched trowel (the smallest size. They are labeled based on which size of tile you're using) to spread it and make the lines. Apparently these lines are really important because they cause suction and help the tiles stick.

And let me tell you, these tiles really stick! I was really pleasantly surprised at how easily they stayed up.

We started with the center line and went out from there. It's a good idea to generally start in the center of your focal point (in this case, the stove). But you should lay out your tile before you begin to make sure you don't end up with a tiny sliver on one side or something. Basically, I found that a lot of tiling is using your judgment.

So we were rolling on the white subway tile. Once we got three rows done, we were ready for the glass. The glass came in sheets of 18 tiles. We trimmed them into three strips of two rows each for our stripe.

After we had most of the wall done, we were feeling pretty spiffy!

Note: this is probably the best picture of the color of the glass tile. It's a smoky gray with a touch of brown that almost perfect matches our countertops.

But while we were trying to do the cuts underneath the upper counters, things were not going well. We did okay on the cuts around the outlets. (This picture isn't upside down. The outlets are. I'll try to remedy that tomorrow).

But the cuts at the top required long, very skinny pieces. And the $14 tile scorer that This Old House assured us would be enough was, well, not enough. For shorter cuts, it was okay (although we ended up with quite a few jagged pieces). But for longer cuts it ended up breaking the tiles into pieces.

After a lot of frustration and a glass tile shard in my leg, I called Home Depot and rented a wet saw. We hoped it would be a breeze. We started small with an easy straight cut.

And it worked! The tile saw is my new best friend. But Brett may love it even more. He would barely let me touch it! I'm sure this had nothing to do with me sticking my hands where they are apparently NOT supposed to go.

Once we had the saw, we were ready to roll. Filled with confidence and hunger, we did all the cute for the oven wall, finished it up and had some dinner and went to bed.

We woke up early and antsy this morning. For the second wall, the focal point is our bumped out window above the sink. It might be the very best part of the kitchen, and it brings in the light that makes me love being in this room so much. We wanted to feature it the way it deserved to be featured. And painted drywall wasn't cutting it.

So we tiled it. We went with a running bond pattern going the opposite direction, and I'm in love. Even if a few tiles fell on my head in the process (the secret is to press REALLY hard when you put them up). It's really stunning.

After the window was done, I climbed out of my 11 by 35" jail cell (I had to set all of those tiles because my 6'2" husband just wasn't going to fit. Since getting in and out from behind the sink was less than easy, he cut all the tiles and I didn't get out until I was done) and we made a quick run for more adhesive.

Then we were ready for the easier stuff. Now that we had our tile saw, straight runs were easy peasy. We even had enough time leftover that we tiled the fireplace surround!

I can't wait to see it all done. It makes us want to have nothing on the countertops!

My newest hobby

2010-04-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've touched on it a bit here before, but a couple of months ago, a new hobby came into my life. It's part of my main squeeze, decor and design, but better.

It was right about the time I heard about Knock-Off Wood. Ana said something about "If you can sew, you can build." Well, I wasn't worried about whether I could build or not. I knew I could build. I was blessed with a natural mechanical inclination and a dad who never shied away from letting me help in his projects.

But I wondered if I could reverse that statement. If I could build, could I sew?

It turns out, the answer is yes.

Now, to be honest, I haven't tried anything too difficult yet. But there's a lot you can do just sewing straight lines.

You can make drapes (if you use clips, you don't even need to do the pocket, which is the most difficult part).

Or other window treatments! I just used an old store bought topper to eyeball the dimensions for this and went to town.

You can also embellish plain store bought stuff for a cheap update. Like this $10 shower curtain that's now oversized and upscale.

Or how about some quick change envelope pillow covers. These are so easy and FAST. I'm actually going to change them out for spring, hopefully this weekend!

I already have plans for an apron and an ironing board cover (to brighten up my laundry room) with the leftovers from the office drapes. And I have seven yards of light gray ticking stripe in linen all ready to go for the living room and dining room drapes!

Last week my mom called and asked if I would be available for a couple of days in late May. She and my grandparents are going to Houston for a visit, and they wanted to know if I would come along. The company I work for has a plan that goes there twice a day, so it's not big deal for me to hop on and be picked up at the airport.

We used to live in Houston, but we moved away when I was 5 so I barely remember it. This trip is to visit the old houses and basically see how it has all changed, but my mom only had to say one word to get me ready to burn some vacation time: Ikea!

I've only been once, but Ikea is still my favorite source for affordable and modern fabrics/textiles. You really can't beat $6-8 a yard for upholstery grade fabric, especially in these beautiful prints. When my mom mentioned that she wanted to visit one, I knew I had to come along (I'm excited for all the toher stuff, too, I promise!).

I already have a list a mile long of things to check out. Like this dining table and this graphic rug. But by far the lengthiest part of my list is for fabrics!

I've got plans racing around, and after this trip (and a couple of other already chosen fabrics that I haven't purchased), I'll be ready to outfit my entire home in window treatments and throw pillows.

I've already touched on a couple of these with my mood board this morning. But oh, there's more.

For the kitchen window, I'm making a red and orange roman shade with a little whimsy (and for a total cost of around $8!)

In the laundry room, I'll put a topper similar to the one in the bathroom. This one will tie in the red and orange from the kitchen and the laundry room accessories.

And speaking of Gunvor, I'll use one of the black/white options for pillows in the living room, and tie it in to the guest room (and possibly the guest bath) as well.

Throughout the living room, I'll be using a mix of blacks, whites, and grays, with a touch of yellow. For the chair, a bold graphic print in black and white will really help it stand out!

Upstairs, the guest room is going girly with pink houndstooth (I already have it) and black and white stripes. A little orange and pink floral will tie it together.

And in the sunroom, the futon will be covered in a solid with a bold stripe of octopus! Add throw pillows in red, black, and yellow and you've got a bright room with a touch of whimsy!

It's hard to believe that just four months ago, I never would have considered any of these plans. I was limited to what was in stores, already made. I didn't even know how to hem curtains that were too long. Sewing has opened me up to so many choices!

Do you sew? Do you love it or see it as a chore?

Mood Board Monday! A cozy chic living/dining room

2010-04-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to be a part of today's Mood Board Monday. When I heard it was being sponsored by one of my favorite (possibly my very favorite) decor-related companies, I was so stoked!

When I imagine my dream house, there's one thing that kind of sticks out. Lots and lots of West Elm furniture and decor. It's modern, it's fresh, it's young, and best of all, it's affordable!

Now West Elm has teamed up with PATCH NYC to create this gorgeous collection of prints, pillows, and serveware! I spy lots of my favorite things: animals, botanicals, black, white, and of course, gray!

Since I snagged a new (to me) china cabinet last week, my mind has been racing with ideas for our living room and dining room. Normally, I like to make "fantasy" mood boards, but I was so excited about our newest acquisition, I decided to create a mood board that I can actually see myself putting into action!

Our living room and dining room are one big space. We love how open our home is for it's time (early 90s)and we want to highlight the largest room in our house. I've been inspired by our new china cabinet and my wardrobe lately. I'm absolutely loving this color scheme, inspired by some of my favorite outfits!

I'm so excited about these colors! I started with my very favorite color, a light gray for the walls. This is Benjamin Moore Early Morning Mist. It has a touch of beige that warms it up beautifully, and it will really coordinate with our even lighter gray kitchen!

Immediately when I saw the china cabinet, I knew I wanted it to be dark. I thought a dark navy, like Benjamin Moore Old Navy would be stunning. From there, I went to bright yellow. I've been loving navy and yellow together lately, wearing a yellow sweater and dark indigo jeans at least once a week. I just can't wait to see it in my house! I'll line the back of the china cabinet with this Sofia fabric from Ikea. The stripe gives it a touch of nautical but the yellow keeps it fun instead of stuffy.

To complete the dining room, a light and airy glass dining table from West Elm along with six of these gorgeous slate gray chairs. I would love to bring in some of that fiery orange we love, and a big white vase filled with orange tulips on the table is a great place for that!

I would love a large, abstract piece of art for the dining room that brought in the navy, the grays, and a big pop of yellow. This painting is in the home of the geniuses behind Workstead. It's a family piece, but I would love to try my hand at something similar in color!

In the living room, a flokati rug from Ikea will be perfect to plush up our ceramic tile floors. Topped with an 88" Goodwin Sofa in Charcoal from West Elm, it's the perfect place to relax. Doesn't that pigeon pillow cover from West Elm's PATCH NYC line look like the perfect place to rest your head?We'd also add our vintage chair and some glass and metal end tables for an eclectic look.

We'd also love to do a collage of prints above our vintage console/record player in our living room. I started off with a nod to the not-so-subtle animal theme we have going on in our house. These two prints were the jumping off point for the entire room. The mix of gray, black, and white just sang to me!

I'd add in this gorgeous pen and paper drawing of Paris (someone's getting excited about vacation this year!). I love the subtle vertical lines, and it would bring the vertical stripes from the dining room and window to the other side of the room. For a little pop of yellow, this Sugar Plum Vines print would look right at home. And we know I love birds, so this Parking Lot Fields print is just the perfect thing. I love this gray and navy Anchor Block Print card for only $4! Add a cheap Ikea or Target gallery frame and it will look like a million bucks! We'll finish off the grouping with this gorgeous shot of the ocean at sunset. This beautiful photograph brings in all the colors I'm going for!

Last but not least, my favorite part of any room lately, the fabrics! It's hard to beat Ikea fabric prices. If you're looking for modern and graphic fabrics on a budget, it's the best place to start. I can't wait to make the trip in a few weeks to stock up for my sewing! For this room, I think a mix of black, white, and gray with touches of yellow and orange is just the ticket. Let's go left to right.

First is Ikea Gunvor. I'll use this for a couch pillow and maybe some table linens. I love the stark black and white shapes. It kind of reminds me of high school geography!

The second fabric is Ikea Britten Nummer. It's a steal at only $6 a yard, and it's a perfect marriage between my love of numbers, and my husband's love of words. This will make an excellent pillow for the couch! Since it's 100% cotton and washable, I'd also think about making a cat bed for the little ones!

Next is Ikea Majken. We already have the orange version of this fabric in our office, and the scraps are destined to become an ironing board cover and a new apron to grace our laundry room. But I love this black on gray version. It would be perfect to bring in the "orange" theme into this room in a less than literal way.

Next is the Sofia Stripe in yellow. In addition to the backing of the china cabinet, I would make a lumbar pillow in a vertical stripe for the vintage chair.

The next fabric may be my favorite in the room. The Ikea Saralisa in white is a beautiful bold print in black and white. I can't wait to use it to recover the vintage chair we bought for $3 this spring! I want to gold leaf the wood parts on the arms and legs, and I think they would really pop against this print.

Next comes this orange Ikea Gunilla, perfect for a throw pillow on the gray couch. I already have this fabric and have been on the lookout for the perfect use for it. I think I've found it!

For window treatments, we'll use one fabric for the living room and dining room windows, and on the front door for a cohesive look. I scored the gray ticking stripe linen on the far right from Jenny at the Little Green Notebook for a song. I'll do drapery panels with clip rings for the windows, and an easy roman shade from the existing blinds!

So what do you think? Two cohesive rooms for a grand total of about $3250 (not including paint), not so bad in my book!

Smurfette

2010-04-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Has moved into our dining room.

But in seriousness, I called Brett at work today on the verge of quitting and buying a quart of black paint. I really was not a fan of the blue.

We picked a nice navy and decided we wanted blue. But when I went to the store I chickened out and went a step down on the strip, to the darkest color. Which was seriously black. With maybe a single drop of blue.

Well, when you take that little black swatch and multiply it by many thousands, it is BLUE.

I really only hated it when the light was turned on. So I decided we would just never turn the dining room light on again. Good plan, right?

Brett had other ideas. When he got home, he convinced me that another coat might deepen the color, and we should finish the job and give it a real shot. Even after two good coats. Even after it was pretty much dry, it was still BLUE. The weird thing was, the doors looked like exactly the color we had in mind. But on the cabinet itself, smurf city.

But we put the lovely original hardware back on and spent a long while figuring out the weird hinges.

And it wasn't so bad.

Actually, it wasn't so bad at all!

We have a hard stop at 8 for Brett, so we had to wait on the glass doors until tomorrow night. But I held them up and it looked pretty darn good! I'm in absolute lust with that gorgeous brass (?) hardware. The flash totally blows out the blue, but you can see that gorgeous metal!

We also painted the base and legs of our (once grandma's, once mom's) dining table. It was painted a flat brighter blue. I think the slightly deeper color and the high gloss really ups the chic factor! It's still not my dream table, but this will extend it's life in our house. Probably.

This picture shows the difference in the old (right) and new (left) colors.

Overall, I'm happy now. I think once I line the currently wood gran back with some modern paper and get my china in there, I'll love it.

It's definite work in progress, but it's none too shabby for a $120 investment and two days of work!

Here's one last blurry, flashless picture that shows the colors as true to life as I can get them.

Oh yeah

2010-04-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

That's why I haven't done my nails in a year.

But the china cabinet is primed and ready for painting tomorrow!

Today, we removed the doors and took off the hardware (actually, Brett did that while I put all the little parts and pieces into baggies).

Then I made a quick trip to Lowe's for some glue to fix one broken piece inside the cabinet. I also got a philodendron and a little pot, which will be a nice job for me to take care of after supper. I'm excited to add some green to the sunroom!

Once I got home, I glued the piece in and waited (and ate lunch) while it was drying. Then I set to work!

And let me tell you. Painting something with glass doors is a total pain in the ass. There is very little I wouldn't rather do than wake up in the morning and paint the china cabinet and table legs.

But even just primed, it looks so much more modern. I can't wait to see it all painted!

I'm Giddy!

2010-04-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Every time I look in my dining room and see this:

We picked her up and drove her across town on the interstate last night!

I'm in love. Now I just have to figure out how to figure out her facelift. Does she look like more of a blue cabinet or a purple cabinet?

Color Inspiration

2010-04-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

I always thought those articles you see about choosing paint colors were kind of hokey. Just because I like a color on my shoes doesn't mean I want it on my wall, you know?

I thought the only places I really found color inspiration were pictures of actual rooms, and my collection of fan decks and paint swatches. And that's been mostly true, at least for walls.

But when I started working on my submission for next week's Mood Board Monday (SO excited that I couldn't WAIT until this weekend to work on it), I realized something. My color scheme was coming pretty much directly from my wardrobe. That day, I was wearing a indigo jeans, a gray tee shirt, and a yellow sweater, with flame orange shoes. In fact, I have a similar outfit on today (minus the yellow).

Trust me, these colors (navy dress, gray nails and sweater, black buttons, orange shoes) will look very familiar come Monday. And hopefully, come whenever we redo our living room/dining room since that's what my mood board is for!

And then I started thinking about other places I've drawn inspiration from.

My patio chairs are painted Safety Red, which just happens to be the color of these babies:

And I'm busting at the seams to add some pink to my guest room and guest bath after seeing all of the gorgeous azaleas this spring!

And I'm dying to make this yellow iPhone case my own. But it's not the only place I want lots of yellow. I want large doses in the dining room and I'll add some to the guest room too!

Where do you find color inspiration? Do you stick to the conventional shelter mags and decor blogs, or have you ever taken your sweater for a color match?

China

2010-04-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we'll be making the journey across town and paying $100 for this thing!

God love Craigslist!

It looks so substantial, and I love that the rounded doors mimic our kitchen cabinets.

The finish isn't terrible, but it's not quite what I had in mind. Between scoring this piece and an upcoming trip to Ikea (!) my head is swimming. So what's the plan?

First I'm going to line the back with this yellow stripe from Ikea.

I just started making a list of fabrics I want to pick up and I'm up to twelve. TWELVE. I need to cull, but they all have a point and a purpose and if I buy them all I'll never need to buy another fabric for the house ever ever ever(except for the master bedroom curtains and the futon cover). But we'll see. Ikea fabric prices are hard to beat.

I actually kind of like the gold grill that you can barely see in the picture. If it's gold, I'll probably keep it. It will depend on how I feel and how difficult it looks to remove.

For the finish? We're going dark. Plum or Navy, but either way I want to be in "almost black" territory.

These walls are Benjamin Moore Old Navy. I think that would look just divine with the yellow stripe. Kind of nautical, kind of eclectic. And with light gray walls and a different gray stripe in the room for window treatments? And a glass table with yellow wrap chairs?

I think I'm in decor heaven.

Don't you just love it when your mind races with the possibilities for a new project? It's just the best feeling out there.

Slackin'

2010-04-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'll admit, I had few home related plans this week. But I was so excited to get my new fabric from the Little Green Notebook (I snagged enough of the gray stripe for our living room chair or LR/DR curtains and a yard of the pink houndstooth), I was hoping to bust out the machine and make a couple of changes to the guest room.

And... I got nothing.

Friday I took some me time and had a salon/spa/shopping day. My eyebrows are waxed and dyed, my eyelashes are tinted, and my hair is gone. I realized that I've had a bob somewhere between my chin and my shoulders for the last two plus years. I was ready for a change. And with the weather changing, I was ready for something short.

Friday night we had a great time at a Zydeco concert. Then yesterday, I spent all day baking for today. Brett's work had a crawfish boil and a dessert contest today!

I went with s'mores and cherry limeade cupcakes. Even though I didn't win, we made a strong showing. And I may have eaten a few mouthfuls of toasted marshmallow frosting.

We had a great time, though! But this week I'm hoping to get back to some small projects nd some craigslist stalking.

Hope everybody had a great weekend!

My secret weapon

2010-04-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself staring at a throw pillow or a bolt of fabric in a store, wondering if it will match a certain color scheme? Or looking at a credenza at a thrift sale wondering if it's too big or too small for your dining room?

Yeah, me too. And I got tired of it.

So I made this:

It goes everywhere with me. And it has everything I need to be very, very confident shopper. Thanks to this little guy, I make very few returns when I find something just doesn't work.

Each room has a section. There's a floor plan, with some key dimensions.

Then, for rooms that haven't been painted yet, the square footage of wall space. This can come in serious handy on those on-a-whim trips to the paint store.

Then, some information about fabric needs for the room, along with dimensions of the windows.

And then, a page on furnishing needs and ideal sizes.

Rooms that are farther along have details about the colors I've chosen. I also plan to add fabric swatches, once I figure out how to attach them.

And for things that are less than permanent, I use post-its. Here's a list of the many, many grays I'm considering for the living room and dining room walls.

And by far the most useful page is this one.

It's perfect picking out the nuances between blue-grays and blue-greens and green-grays when I'm picking out fabrics and furnishings.

For such a minimal investment, this tool has given me so much in return.

Do you have any tools that save your butt on a regular basis?

Also, we completely overhauled our home tour site! If you're interested in how our house looks as of this afternoon (and finally pictures of the kitchen that show the actual color), go on over to the top of the sidebar, and click on the picture of our house.

Or just click here.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-04-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago, we were sitting at Waffle House nervously pushing eggs and grits around our plates listening to the guy two tables over brag about what a chauvinist male he is to his friend. We were so nervous about the decision we were making that day. We started out in our totally packed apartment, and quickly realized that we couldn't handle sitting there staring at the now blank walls of our tiny duplex. So we hung out at Waffle House, and then went to the bank to get the biggest certified check we'd ever written. Then we headed to the lawyer to wait for our mortgage broker to finally get her act together and send over the papers, and we signed until our hands cramped and our eyes glossed over.

We bought a house.

That night, as we tried to fall asleep on an air mattress on the floor of our new master bedroom, we just couldn't stop looking at each other and smiling. Even when the WHOOSH of water from our in-laws brushing their teeth upstairs rocketed by our heads. Even though our stove was beeping ever 20 seconds from the minute we walked in the door. Even though the refrigerator the sellers graciously offered to us was approximately 55 inside. Even though the previous owners' giant furniture was covering up some pretty gnarly carpet stains.

It was ours. And we were so happy.

Of course, reality hit us a few months later. Owning a house is expensive. Owning a house is a lot of work. Owning a house can really, really suck.

But oh, owning a house is so rewarding. This place is mine, in a way an apartment never was. It's more than paint and furnishings. That ugly tile floor? Mine. Giant crack in the driveway? Mine. Hawthorne bushes in the front flowerbeds? Mine. A carport big enough for TWO cars to park in it?!? Mine.

When we put the offer in on our house, we knew it wasn't perfect. It's not our dream house. It's a little farther from my office than I'd like. I's prefer if the upstairs bathroom had a shower. I'd prefer a bigger kitchen and wood floors instead of tile.

But it's mine. And in the past 365 days, I have fallen completely in love. I love my house. I know Brett feels the same way. And although we can't wait until we're "done," I know there's a huge part of us that will really miss the time spent working on this place.

Sometimes it seems like we're moving so slowly on the house. I feel like I'm not doing nearly enough, or the budget's just not there, or I've made a mistake, but when I look back at the transformation of our home in the last 12 months, I'm pretty freaking happy.

We started out with the pukey yellow bathroom upstairs. I think we lasted less than a month before we painted it green on a whim.

From here:

To here:

And then after about six months of being assaulted by the GREEN, to here:

Next came our bedroom. My birthday present was new bedroom furniture and bedding, and from my parents I got a gift card to repaint the room (and my mom's help in stenciling the pattern near the ceiling).

From here (with the seller's stuff):

To here:

Then, we decided to take on our leaky, hot sunroom:

And turn it into a bright, breezy screened in porch:

When our oven broke in November, we decided to go ahead and redo the kitchen for Christmas, taking it from this:

To this:

Then, thanks to some Christmas gift cards, we painted the guest bedroom:

Before

After

And the guest room (plus my first sewing project!):

Before

After:

And then we rounded it all off with a quick update for our bathroom, from this:

To this:

When I look back at all that we've done this year, I'm so proud. I really think buying this house was one of the best decisions we've made, and I'm so happy with how much we've grown to love it. I can't wait to see what another year brings us!

Ooops

2010-04-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

So, my waffling on paint colors has been very well documented here. We've gone from this:

to this:

with about a million choices in between. And we thought we were done, with the caveat that we might move up and down on the same swatch for the living room/dining room/hallway (all one big space) and the powder room.

But the I found Revere Pewter.

I. WANT. THAT.

And its slightly lighter friend, Edgecomb Gray.

Can you hear me swooning? You're swooning too, aren't you?

And for the powder room? I just keep going back to dark colors. And I mean DARK.

Like Ralph Lauren Mercer.

And Benjamin Moore Dragon's Breath.

And then I found something else. My tile guys also sell paint. They also sell Pratt & Lambert paint, which I've always dismissed assuming I couldn't get it here.

And now I have a list of 37 paint colors between Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Ralph Lauren, and Pratt and Lambert that are all options for either the living room, the powder room, or both.

And I haven't even looked at Martha Stewart's new line yet.

Brett is going to KILL me.

Master Bathroom Mini Makeover

2010-04-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

For the past two days, I feel like I haven't left the bathroom. My back is aching, my butt hurts, and I have paint in my hair and under my fingernails. I can't remember the last time we worked so hard, and mostly, so fast.

But it was 100% worth it.

Our bathroom used to be dark pinkish tan, with a mish mash of stuff all in tones of brown and tan. Throw in towels we've collected since college (from navy blue to hot pink) and you've got one ugly bathroom.

Saturday we had plans to wash the cars, and then planned to paint that afternoon. We woke up to a rainy day, and decided to go ahead and start on the bathroom. After running some errands and prepping the room, we got started around noon. We were able to get the ceiling painted, the walls painted, and I was even able to squeeze in the vanity and cabinet doors before making a quick run to Target for the last of my supplies. I'm glad I remembered they would be closed today!

Last night, the situation was much improved (and oh so much brighter!), but there was still a ton of work ahead.

This morning, Brett went in to work at 3:30, and I woke up when he was getting ready. I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind was racing. I finally got out of bed at 5 and got to work painting the trim. After a quick break for a bowl of cereal, I got back to it. I did some quick touching up in the bathroom(luckily not much was needed) and started on the art work. I did one big piece and two smaller pieces. The aim was to mix the greener gray of the vanity with the bluer gray in our bedroom and in the fabric for the room. I think I did pretty good!

My little sewing table was the perfect spot for a large painting to dry!

Then I decided to brave threading the bobbin again and got to work on the sewing.

I had scored a greenish blue stripe fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby Saturday morning. It was regular $29.99 a yard, on sale for $7. Plus they gave me the 30% off, even though I think they weren't supposed to. I also got the canvases for 50% off, a tube of black paint for the art, and some knobs for the vanity for 40% off. I love Hobby Lobby so much!

For the window, I just did a small topper with a bead trim. I don't love toppers, but for a window behind a toilet, I really didn't have many options. I wanted to be able to filter light with the blinds, but I did want a decorative touch. The topper's just the thing!

I also wanted to tie this fabric into a shower curtain, but didn't want to go for the whole curtain. I got a white shower curtain at Target for $9.99 and added a huge cuff on the bottom in the stripe.

A custom extra long shower curtain and a window treatment for under $20? Not too shabby! Plus I have enough extra fabric to make some throw pillows for the bedroom!

With the sewing done, it was time to clean up and put the room back together. We were very happy to put the toilet tank back on. We're so spoiled now, but one night without a toilet in our bathroom was enough for us. Hard to believe we lived in a 1 bathroom apartment for two years!

Tonight at roughly our normal bedtime, we finally finished! As usual, there is still a little work to do. I need to hunt down a 96" shower curtain liner, and switch out the outlets and switches for white ones. But other than that, we are DONE. And it looks fantastic!

We painted the walls a light gray, the same color as our kitchen. The trim went white (it was white, but just dingy and gross), along with the ceiling. We painted the vanity a dark gray with a touch of green, Sherwin Williams Hardware. Actually, thanks to using what we had leftover from other projects, that was the only paint we bought! We also decided to paint the weird strip of wood that runs around the room the same color as the vanity. I was doubtful last night but I LOVE it now.

The color alone made a huge difference. The room is so much brighter and calmer now. It looks bigger and is just so much more relaxed. From there, with art, linens, and accessories, we layered various tones of blue, green, and gray for a gorgeous tonal look that's 100% us. See the header colors in my blog? Yeah, that's pretty much the color scheme of our bathroom (and let's be honest, pretty much our house).

So without further ado, here it is. The work-with-what-you-have, lovely, now totally a Master Bathroom.

The best part was adding up the costs at the end. Thanks to using supplies we already had, and scoring everything else on sale (or buying with a coupon), we managed to pull of the entire thing for just $96. Not too shabby, huh?

Let's get it started!

2010-04-03T10:35:00.001-07:00

After some errands this morning, and prep work just before lunch, our bathroom is torn apart.

Yes, this quick makeover will include organizing the vanity. It's totally out of hand.

Here's the plan:

Today, I'll paint the ceiling, paint the walls, and hopefully paint the vanity, which is going dark gray.

Then tomorrow I'll put the room back together and make some artwork for the room. If I can thread the bobbin on my sewing machine (oh please!), I'll whip up a little window treatment. We've also got new hardware for the vanity, which I can't wait to see!

Out with the old!

2010-04-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the three day weekend by starting out with some long overdue yardwork. And I remembered something from last year. I really, really like mowing the lawn.

side from mowing, we also did some edging and pulled a TON of weeds. Our big trashcan was empty when we started, and now it's totally full. I hope we don't need to take out the garbage before Monday!

We also took care of some much needed bigger jobs. The banana tree is now gone!

Pro tip: If you have a half dead banana tree, you may want a mask or a bandana or something. It smells kind of like a rotten banana, but much much worse.

We also took out the beautiful hibiscus we lost this winter.

RIP Hibiscus Friend.

Someone was very interested in our progress.

Then we made a quick trip to the nursery for something to fill the hole. For under $50 we came out with a new plant for that spot, plus enough to fill some pots for the front porch.

For the front, we went with white petunias and some orangey-ping begonias. I love the way they cheer up the front porch. Someday, we'll have some seating out here and we'll actually be able to enjoy it, like we enjoy the back porch.

Check out that flowering hawthorne. Love!

In the back, we went with a deep pink azalea. We got an Encore azalea, which blooms longer and more often. They also get a little bigger, around 4.5-5 feet. Perfect for this space!

I'm inspired now. I want to edge the flower beds and redo the back yard beds and get some potted plants for the back porch. Too bad those projects aren't on the radar anytime soon.

Tomorrow, hopefully I'll be painting. I still have some decisions to make, but I think I can get away with supplies I already have.

The Bath

2010-03-29T06:12:00.001-07:00

Oh, the master bath. It's possibly the worst room in the house. That distinction was likely bestowed on it when we redid the other, also terrible bathroom upstairs.

It's dark, tan, has terrible lighting, ugly window treatments, the vanity top is scratched and discolored, the tub and surround is also discolored. Not the mention the piece of wood randomly running around the room. And like the kitchen and laundry room, somebody fancied themselves a tile layer and effed the floor right on up.

It needs help. And we'd like to give it that help, someday. Unfortunately, that day is not today. And it's not next weekend either. But while the bathroom is waiting on her insurance to approve the major surgery she needs to be beautiful, we can take her out shopping for some pretty dresses and shoes.

So if we're not ready to tile this weekend, instead, we'll be painting the bathroom!

We're using leftover paint from the kitchen, which is by far our favorite color in the house. We can't wait to use it again.

We've also been itching to switch out our bedding for something lighter for the summer, so I'll be on the lookout for some cheap, white bedding to bring in some light.

In fact, light is the name of the game in this mini makeover. Here's the plan:

Phase 1 is to cover up the currently ugly tan on the walls and hopefully brighten the space. That phase will commence this weekend, unless we're ready to tile this weekend. I'm also hoping to paint an art piece to bring in the bedroom color.

Then we want to bring in lots and lots of white, with some accents of blue gray to brighten up the space. I would love to paint the (currently white) vanity a dove gray to spice it up a little. Then we'll bring in lots of glass accessories and maybe some new lighting to finish the look.

Boo

2010-03-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went through that once yearly ritual that millions of Americans do every year. Taxes.

Now, let me get something out. I actually like doing our taxes. I'm a math nerd, so I don't mind doing the relatively simple math by hand in a way that actually affects our lives. I usually do them twice by hand (jointly and separate) and then check it with Turbo Tax. Unfortunately this year we had virtually no refund. As in, I can answer the question "What are you going to buy with your refund?" with "A couple of Diet Dr. Peppers out of the vending machine." But I know this is the best strategy for us.

Tax time is also a great time to look back at the year and see how we're doing financially. We were happy with a couple of areas. Retirement savings and investments are doing great, and our income is coming back up after a major pay cut last year thanks to the recession (we're back to pre-recession levels!). But there's one area that is NOT doing so hot at all.

Our general savings has dwindled. Even with our huge tax refund in 2008, our savings are much lower than they were after we bought the house in March. Of course, buying the house took out a sizeable chunk, but owning the house has taken up just as much. So here it is: the moment of truth:

Our house reno/deco budget has majorly shrunk for 2010. We thought our bonuses would carry us through with the projects we wanted to do. But within days of receiving those, we found out that we needed to some non-fun structural work on the house, and that I needed oral surgery, which would cost me a pretty penny out of pocket. So for now, the plan is to take care of that major work, have the outside trim painted (another thing that desperately needs to be done), and then slow waaaaaaaay down.

So my goal of "finishing" the house this year? Not going to happen. But luckily, we still have plenty of projects that we've planned and bought for, just waiting for some sweat equity.

1. Kitchen backsplash. The tile should arrive sometime this week. Maybe with the long Easter weekend, we can knock this one out soon!

2. Master Bath. No, we're not doing the mini-reno we have our hearts set on just yet. But a quick facelift with some paint we already have will take it from dreary to bright.

3. Sewing. I've got plenty of fabric and materials for various DIY projects. I've already got plans for a roman shade in the kitchen and an orange themed laundry room pick-me-up.

4. The yard. Well, we don't actually have the materials for this one, but it's a priority for us this year. We may not actually be able to get to the prettier stuff, but we'll be fighting the never ending battle with weeds and vines in a poorly maintained back yard. And hopefully prettying up the front yard and porch on the cheap.

We're going back to a strict high savings budget (eerily similar to the one we were on when saving for the house), so there's little room for wiggling in big projects. But you can bet I'll be saving my pennies for additional projects, and asking for paint and hardware gift cards for any and all present related holidays. Maybe we'll end up rid of the pukey tan living room after all.

Are you ready?

2010-03-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Because I know I am!

For what? SPRING!

Today is the first official day of spring, and I'm so thrilled that it's finally here. Even though the high today was 51 (weird!), I'm going to willfully ignore the freaky weather and worship the fact that sunny days are on the horizon. Even if stepping outside was a reminder that it's not quite flip flop weather, I have a reminder that's doing juuuuust fine.

Brett brought me these gorgeous beauties after my surgery on Thursday, and they've been cheering up our kitchen ever since. He did a not so shabby job arranging them in my favorite pitcher, right?

They're just serving as a gorgeous reminder of one of my favorite parts of spring. The flowers! I love flowers so, so much. Too bad I have the blackest thumb on the planet, right? Regardless of my terrible gardening skills, I'm ridiculously excited for gardening season to start back up.

We've already started with some weed killer for the cool season weeds that are killer around here. And one of our neighbors actually cut their grass last week, so I'm sure it won't be long before I'm pulling out the mower (one chore I surprisingly don't loathe!).

But thanks to the wacky weather we had around here this yer, we'll also have a couple of bigger jobs round here. Our normal weather allows us to have some plants that are normally reserved for tropical locales, like palms, citrus trees, and hibiscus. One of our favorite plants in the yard was the big, beautiful bi-colored hibiscus on the back of our house.

Gorgeous, isn't she? It was blooming well into November, and looking great in December and early January. But then we had three days of hard freezing weather, where the temp never rose above thirty. Which hadn't happened in something like 50 years. And the poor old girl didn't make it. Along with a ton of other hibiscus in our neighborhood. I imagine there will be a shortage in nurseries this spring!

We also lost a banana tree (which we didn't love anyway), but were relatively lucky. But on the docket for this spring?

1. Replace the hibiscus (we haven't decided if we're doing another hibiscus or something different. We definitely want something with color. An azalea maybe, or a hydrangea. No idea if those work with our climate, though)

2. Redo the edging on the front beds. We're tired of the plain green strips of metal, and we're planning on doing red stone.

3. Redo back beds. This will involve getting rid of A LOT of cast iron plants (Seriously, we have SO MUCH it's insane), mulching, edging, and maybe some stone? Maybe? I also want to highlight the gardenia more than it is now. Mmmmmmmmmm, gardenia.

I also would love to do something with the patch of grass between the house and the carport. I'd really love to start a garden, but I think there's not enough light there. I'm also aching for a citrus tree, but have no idea where to put it.

Are you excited for spring? Or would you rather hide under the covers, far away from the lawn mowers and weeds?

No fun

2010-03-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

There will be no projects this weekend.

Yesterday morning, Brett drove me to the oral surgeon and I spent a couple of hours blissfully unaware as they cut out my wisdom teeth. The afternoon and today have been mostly spent on the couch/in the bed looking like this.

I'm feeling surprisingly good though. I took a trip to the library for some vegetarian cookbooks (a very new thing in my life that may or may not be long term), and even took 30 minutes to make a red lentil curry. I thought rice + creamy beans would be perfect for my aching mouth, but it's really not. The curry is delicious, but hard to eat.

Still, the rest of the weekend is not looking good for decorating. We'd like to go to garage sales and the farmer's market tomorrow, but it will all depend on how I feel. I'm still hoping to tackle the dreaded space above the fridge Sunday!

Oh, and!!!!! I bought the tile for the backsplash before my surgery Thursday! We went with 3x6" white subway tile and a 2x4" accent stripe in a muddy gray glass called "mink." I can't wait to get it up on the walls. It will be here in 7-10 days, so I'm hoping we'll get to it in about two weeks.