At Home: Changing It Up

Surprise! The master bedroom is now the office and the office is now the master bedroom. Bet you didn't see that one coming. I barely saw it coming. The thing is, the master bedroom is the largest of the three bedrooms in our home. One of the other two bedrooms serves as our office and the third one serves as a guest bedroom. The room we were using as our office only measures about eight feet by eleven feet, which is pretty small. Scratch that. VERY small. This meant that a lot of office-related furniture started spilling over into our bedroom. Zach suggested we swap our bedroom with our office so we would have more space. I thought it made sense. So we did it.

Here's how it all went down
We moved all our office crap, minus the furniture, into our guest bedroom.

We moved some of the office furniture into what would become the new office.

Then the room looked like this (note the hideous blue rug):

We left the rest of the office furniture in the old office for me to trip over and walk into while I painted that room in preparation for it to become our new bedroom. I didn't want to spend more money on paint when I already had a million gallons leftover from other painting projects. I'm exaggerating. I probably only have about nine-hundred thousand leftover gallons. To avoid adding yet another partially-used gallon of paint to the mix, I did just that - mixed. That's right. I mixed about three different paints together. I found a whole gallon of a creamy white paint left by the previous owners and I added a bit of teal and black to it, to get a bluish-grey color.

After I finished painting, we moved some more furniture and waited for the nasty paint smell to dissipate so we could move our bed into our "new" bedroom.

While I was waiting, I hung some curtains, centered the rug, and vacuumed.

A few days later...
At this point we got tired of waiting for the paint smell to completely dissipate, so we disassembled the bed in our old bedroom (the new office) and reassembled it in our new bedroom (the old office).

And now our bedroom looks like this:

I told you the room was small! I still have to hang some art and decide if I like the dresser in front of the bed. Here's my pile of art waiting for me to do something with it. Note the ugly blue rug again. Man I hate that rug.

At Home: Living Room update

I think it's probably about time to update everyone on the living room progress. Earlier this summer, I decided the room needed a major change, so I went to Home Depot with a sample of my rug and found a color I thought would be perfect. From what I can determine, most people spend a lot of time deciding on paint colors for their home. They go to the store, get paint samples, bring them home, tape them to the wall, think about the options for a while and eventually select a color. I am not one of those people. Once I decide to do something with my home (and actually start the process), I'm rather impatient, so I tend I go with my gut instinct. I definitely spend a bit of time looking at my options, but once I figure out what I like, I just go with it. Such was the case with the new living room paint color.

Before we get much further, here's a couple before shots, so you can see how heavy and dark everything was.

Pretty bad huh? Don't worry, it gets better.

Our rug is a blue/grey color so I wanted to select a paint that picked up on the rug but in a much lighter shade. I ended up going with "Limelight" by Behr. It doesn't exactly sound like a good match based on the name, but I find paint names to often be grossly misleading. I decided to get the paint and primer in one because the sales associate recommended it and because my new paint was MUCH lighter than my old paint.

Once I started painting the walls, things began to feel much more modern. The new color really brightened things up and I started to think maybe I should paint the built-in bookcase too (in a glossy white). I talked about it and pondered the idea for a while. I knew it was going to be a HUGE project. The built-in is pine which is full of knots that are notorious for bleeding through paint. I definitely needed to prime that sucker first. In order to save a bit of time I again sprung for the paint and primer in one by Behr. It's a bit pricier, but that stuff is pretty thick and although I still had to apply three coats, I think it would have taken even more had I gone the traditional route of separate primer and paint. In the end, I think the living room turned out really nicely. Quite a change from the old version.

It's Party Time

Two weeks ago, while chatting over lunch at a local cafe, my friend Suzi and I decided to throw a party. We thought the following weekend would be a good time, so we quickly set up a Facebook invite and got to work inviting our local friends. Unfortunately, we forgot our selected weekend also happened to be Father's Day weekend. As the week progressed and more and more people told us they couldn't make it, we started to have second thoughts. In the end, we figured it would be fun to plan regardless of the number of attendees so we just jumped right in and went for it. We settled on a Pizza and Prosecco party theme. I got the idea from this article that I read in Bon Appetite magazine about a year ago and have wanted to try ever since.  We didn't make any of the appetizers or the fancy toppings but we did have a nice selection of fresh veggies, herbs and pepperoni. The pizzas were delicious and it was lots of fun decorating Suzi's front porch.

This is what the front porch looked like before we got our hands on it:

And here's what it looked like after:

We found these adorable REKO glasses at Ikea. At $1.49/6 pack, you can't beat the price. It's cheaper than plastic! We loved that they can be reused over and over again.

Suzi made this delicious punch. I love the floating berries.

We decided to try to keep the decorating budget under $20, so all the flowers are from my garden. The votives below are covered with hostas (also from my garden) using this tutorial from Martha Stewart's website.

The "vases" below are actually tin cans spray painted white.

In the end, since there only ended up being four of us at the party, we viewed it as a sort of "dry run." It turned out great and was a lovely evening hanging out on the front porch with friends.

At Home: The Etsy prints are finally up!

You may remember the master bedroom used to look like this:

And then it looked like this:

And then this:

Well now it looks like this:

Yes, I finally decided what to hang above our bed.

I bought these adorable prints from a shop on Etsy called Bee Things. It's run by a husband and wife team and is filled with the hippest collection of animal and bird prints reminiscent of Charley Harper. I first fell in love with the terns, but then I saw the cute little owl hovering over the snowy barn. And then I saw shipping was free on the second item, and that sealed the deal.

When my two prints finally arrived, I pulled them out of their paper mailer and admired them for a while and then carefully slipped them back into their safe little cardboard home. I repeated this process every so often for quite a while until finally deciding it was time to order some frames. After carefully weighing my options (you must know by now, I'm a VERY slow decorator.), I decided I wanted a silver metal frame with no mat. I always choose to mat artwork, so this was a major departure for me. But I really liked the way they looked in just a frame in the sample photos on the Etsy site and decided there was enough negative space around them to go the sans mat route. So I sent away for a selection of silver frame samples from Graphik Dimensions, my favorite frame supply shop. Then I took some more time deciding on which silver frame looked the best. I finally selected a simple, slightly frosted version. I think they "terned" out great. Wow. Did I just type that?

Sewing Projects: Ruffled Shirt Refashion

It's time for another thrift store find refashion. I bought this shirt at Goodwill almost a year ago with the intension of refashioning the sleeves, and now I'm finally getting around to working on it. This is how it started out:

I really liked the collar but wasn't so excited about the three-quarter length sleeves. I wanted to shorten them so they hit just above the elbow. The cuffs had these adorable little fabric-covered buttons on them and I didn't want to lose that detail. I had to figure out a way to include them in the refashioned cuff, so I cut the cuffs off the bottom of the sleeve and then sewed them back on the newly shortened sleeve to get this:

And here's the final look:

In The Garden: Front Yard

We bought our townhouse in the fall of 2005, and the following spring I started the arduous task of cleaning up the front yard. A task that I continued working on for the next five years. To be honest, I'll probably never really finish the front yard. It seems to be a constant work in progress. Today I was looking back over my blog posts, and I ran across a post I did back in 2006 about beginning the clean up process. I can't believe how different the yard looks today compared to five years ago. Check it out.

This is what the front yard looked like in the spring of 2006 before I started digging.

And this is what it looked like after about eight hours of digging. See those little green plants lining the rock border I created? Believe it or not, I actually dug those out of the lawn. They're violets and were essentially weeds growing in the lawn. Nothing like a few free plants to make the garden look nice.

And this is what the front yard looks like today. Holy crap, Batman! Pretty incredible what a few plants and some time will do to transform a space. My cousin gave me the yellow and purple irises and one of my dear college friends gave me a few of the other plantings. Check out those bushy green plants lining the perimeter. Those are the same violets I dug out of the lawn back in '06. Amazing, huh?

Sewing Projects: H&M Avocado Green Blouse Refashion

I found this top at Goodwill a few weekends ago. I love the overall look and color of it but I'm not a fan of the sleeves. So I cut them down and created a modified tulip sleeve. Sorry about the before shot. I had basically just rolled out of bed.

Sewing Projects: Polka Dot Shirt Refashion

Like many sewers, I have a huge pile of clothes waiting to be tended to. Some need simple repairs, but most are items I plan to refashion, so they will require a bit more work. For some reason this pile seems to grow instead of shrink (I can't image why that is.), and some days I wonder if I will ever be able to see my sewing table again. Well, I'm happy to report that I tackled my very first refashion yesterday and I think it turned out great! Check out the before and after shots below and let me know what you think.

One down. About ten to go. Baby steps.

At Home: It's curtains for you!

I was planning on making curtains for our bedroom but ended up at Ikea again. Sound familiar? Perhaps you're reminded of the duvet cover that I was going to make but ended up buying at Ikea. It seems like Ikea is zapping my sewing creativity. In reality, it's probably helping me to actually complete this bedroom. Knowing my tendency towards perfection which leads to procrastination, I don't think I'd ever get this room done if it WEREN'T for Ikea.

I ended up choosing the RITVA curtain panels in a lovely charcoal grey. I only bought one pair because I'm cheap I wanted to hang them on the outer side of each window so they would flank the bed. At first I hung them on the two separate curtain rods, but they looked ridiculous (sorry I forgot to take pictures.), so I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to go back and buy a second set. But then I found a bunch of curtain rods in the attic - score! I was able to take two rods and push them together to create one really long curtain rod. It made all the difference because it framed the entire wall and made the windows look like part of a larger picture, if you will.

I hung those little decorative cones (also from Ikea) to add some visual interest and to cover the connection point of the two curtain rods (clever, huh?). I'm not completely sold on them, but for now I like them well enough. I'm wondering if it would help if I put some flowers or herbs in them. What do you all think?

Next up, I need to figure out the artwork above the bed (notice I removed the Matisse print?). More on that soon.

At Home: the couch!

Well, as you may have guessed, the couch arrived months ago. I know it was pretty annoying of me to build up all that excitement around it and then not show you pictures right after it arrived. Well, I hope you agree it was worth the wait. Before I reveal her in all her glory, here's one more reminder of what the old couch looked like...

Hey, where'd you go? Oh there you are - hiding behind your computer chair. I know. I know. She was a monster. At the time, this over-sized sectional seemed like a good idea. We ordered it from a local furniture store about five years ago. Each piece was sold separately, so we were able to choose whatever configuration we wanted as well as fabric color. You may have noticed she's got TWO chaises. This is because my hubby, in all his kindness, was convinced we needed two in order to guarantee that all our guests were comfy when they came over. The one part of that equation he forgot to consider is that we don't have people over that often, so most of the couch never got used. Gotta love the guy for his thoughtfulness though. About a year ago, we started to realized how overwhelming this piece of furniture was becoming and decided it was time for a change. I mentioned in this post that we sold the sectional to a lovely couple, which made me so happy to know it went to a good home. After all, it was the most comfortable couch in the world and had served us well, even if it had been too big for the space.

Now it was time to start the hunt for a replacement...enter this beauty...

Isn't she fabulous in all her mid-century beauty? We couldn't be happier about our choice. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

At Home: master bedroom update

One of the biggest hurdles I face when it comes to my work is a constant, sometimes crippling, quest for perfectionism. "I'll post pictures of my bedroom when it's finished and perfect." "Before I upload this new item, maybe I should change the name of my Etsy shop to something better." And the list goes on. I can't tell you how many times I've wasted months of my creative energy stuck in "perfect."

The other day it occurred to me, one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, never waits to post updates of their home. In fact, that's what makes their blog so great. They take us along for the journey. And isn't the journey the whole point? So I'm going to start embracing the journey and try not to get caught up in making everything perfect before I share it with you.

To begin with, I'm going to share some photos of our bedroom. If you recall, it used to look like this:

Ouch! Some serious adjustments need to be made here! I had already painted the bedroom the purply grey (Behr Manhattan Mist) a while back. Well, mostly painted...check out the area above each window - stellar! It's actually hard to see from the photos, but trust me, it was left unpainted for about four and a half years and it looked terrible. I didn't want to spend more money on paint, so I decided to keep the bedroom the same color and just give it a second coat (or a first coat if we're talking about the area above the windows). It's amazing how a fresh, clean coat of paint can make a world of difference. I then repainted the window trim and baseboards with a fresh coat of white. Things were finally starting to look good around here!

Once I finished the painting, I needed to re-address the duvet cover dilemma. For months, I had been looking online and at Joann's for fabric to make a cover myself, but I just couldn't find anything I liked. And the fabric I did like wasn't even close to within my budget. I also started to realize I was making things harder then they needed to be, as usual. When was I really going to make the time to sew this duvet cover? I mean my sewing table is practically buried by fabric and clothing that needs repair. So I finally relented and bought a lovely cover from Ikea for about $50 (including two pillow shams).

With the duvet cover dilemma resolved, I turned my sights to curtains. Yes Mom, I said curtains. Yes, those things you've been trying to get me to hang throughout my house since the day we moved in. Needless-to-say, I'm not a huge fan of curtains, but I decided our bedroom could use some softening (something curtains would do nicely). The previous home owners had kindly left all the curtain rods with the house, because they assumed I was a normal person and hung curtains. Instead, I took most of them down and stored them in the attic. But I left the rods in the master bedroom because I liked them and had plans to use them one day.

However, there was one thing about those curtain rods I didn't like: their placement. From the year I spent working in the Decor department at Home Depot, I knew they needed to be hung several inches beyond the window trim, but these were hung directly on the trim and they looked terrible. It's been annoying me since day one. So I started measuring and drilling. I should mention that at this point in the story I've already told you I painted the trim around the windows, and I want to assure you I'm not a total idiot. I didn't paint AROUND the curtain rods. I took the rods down, spackled and painted. So in actuality, the rods are not hanging on the trim at this point in the story, but I wasn't talking about curtain rods and curtains three paragraphs back, so it didn't make sense to bring it up then. :)

Once I finished hanging the curtain rod brackets, I grabbed one of the old curtain rods and placed it over the window. At which point I realized it wasn't long enough to bridge the gap between both brackets! Crap! And I was doing so well, too! I should qualify the statement above. Technically, they ARE long enough, but as you'll see in the photo below, they dip down in the center because they're about a half an inch shy of completely separating. Trying to hang curtains on them would most certainly result in catastrophic failure. Not to be deterred, I decided to use the old finials (decorative ends of the curtain rod) but to replace the rod itself with a longer wooden dowel.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Why doesn't she just move the brackets?" Well, I thought about that, but the thing is, even if the rods had fit width-wise, they still needed to be replaced with a solid rod (or dowel) because the rod itself was made out of two metal tubes, one smaller than the other. The connection where one half of the rod slips into the other larger half of the rod will show, and we can't have that! So I went to Lowe's (the horror! Remember I said I used to work at Home Depot?) and bought a couple dowels. When I got home I realized they were also too short. I have now done what I should have done from day one - MEASURED! Pesky math! Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to buy longer dowels yet. For now, the old ones are just hanging there (by a thread) until I can replace them with my dowel version, so this is where we stand. I promise to update you all when I make more progress, but for now this is what the bedroom looks like:

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Product Details:
• duvet cover: Ikea
• framed print over bed: Henri Matisse. You can find it here.