Regret

Until this past week when I dropped a little bomb on the hubs, I had been living with a secret. A regret. I hate the color I chose for our dining room walls. I knew almost instantly when it went up that it wasn't the color I was hoping for. The deep, warm, glowing, tomato soup ember that I was hoping for, looked much more like a freshly sliced tangerine. It made me cringe. It made me want to wear sunglasses. But if you know my hubs, you know I could never admit it was the wrong color. Oh, you don't know my hubs and "it's just paint", so why, you ask? For a couple reasons which I'm happy to outline below:

1. It took me forever to convince him to paint the dining room orange in the first place
2. he hates to paint and wasn't going to be a party to any do overs
3. he's never uttered the words "it's just paint, it can easily be changed"
4. and he really hates to paint. Wait, did I already say that?

So yes, I kept that regret all to myself. For years. YEARS! But I think years is suffering enough, don't you? IT'S JUST PAINT, RIGHT?!? And now I am just dying to re-do the walls, and everything else, about our dining room. We've had a lot of disagreements about this room: we used to have a rectangular table and wicker chairs that I swapped out for the round table and cane back chairs which he hates. In his defense, at the time of their purchase I had promised to re-paint the table & the chairs. I DID reupholster the chairs though! I'm blaming it on my spark. It had gone out. I had no motivation to do any decorating. But now it's back, and I want to start with paint.

Initially I wanted black walls. Of course hubs immediate reaction was NO! But I've thought about it some more, and I'd actually love to use the navy I used on the nursery ceiling on the walls in the dining room. It's one of the few colors I feel like I got exactly right, and I just know it would look amazing in there. The room gets tons of light, and doesn't have a lot of wall surface space because of door casings & windows, so I feel like it's the perfect place to try out a dark moody navy. Yes??

In an attempt to convince the hubs, I tried a little color visualizing on Sherwin Williams. Obviously my online painting skills have room for improvement, but nice, right? Who's with me? Who has a paint brush?

And just so you get a feel for the room from every angle, here you go. Now really, who has a paintbrush?! Can you come over tomorrow?!

Things I Love (from around our house)

Do you ever walk by something in your own house and just smile?  Because it's the perfect piece, or the perfect spot, or it just makes you happy?  I have quite a few of those.  Here are some of my favorites...

I found this sunny yellow casserole dish (?) at a junk shop and I fell in love with the cheery color and scalloped edges.  It was crazed all throughout, so it seemed possibly unsafe for food, but a perfect little planter for a few succulents.  I had it on a shelf in our family room for a long time, but I couldn't see it well and sometimes forgot to water the plants (oops!).  I moved it to the marble table in our breakfast room where it gets lots of sunshine and the plants are thriving!  Plus I get to see it everyday.  Babygirl has even taken a liking to it and asks me to bring it down so she can see.

This little white grouping on our mantle just makes me happy!  The pieces came from different places over the years, but they all go together so nicely.  I have a subtle beach-y theme going with the accessories in the family room, I think because I'm a Pisces and love the ocean.  I'm just drawn to them!

I found this sweet little cross stitch of a yellow squash at a thrift shop.  It was in a super dingy frame with even worse matting, but I LOVE needlework, so I scooped it up.  In a simple black frame with a clean white mat I think it's adorable and just the right amount of quirk for our entry table.

And speaking of needlework, I can't get ENOUGH of this radish pillow!!  When I saw it at one of my favorite junk shops, I grabbed it as fast as I could.  The colors are so fresh and beautiful, and radishes- super quirky!!  I love that it was handmade, though I have to admit I HATE the fabric backing the pillow.  Luckily, you never really see it.

How cute are those cows?!  I've always had a soft spot for cows, and when I saw this painting at an antique store I had to grab it, even though I had no idea where it would go.  It spent some time in our stairwell, but it wasn't quite the right spot.  Then I had an idea to fill a little nook/hallway outside of our laundry room and between the dining room & kitchen.  It's the perfect surprise in the quiet little hallway.  (*Note, I have my eye on the perfect table for that space too. Dad, you know what I'm talking about!)

When a favorite shop of mine was closing, the owner sold me a pair of these lamps for next to nothing (if I recall, less than $10 each).  I'm not super into brass, but I do like the brass base, and it cleaned up perfectly.  The asian-inspired design painted on the lamps is really pretty too.  When I went to look for shades, I lucked out at Target with these gold-on-the-inside, black-on-the-outside gems.  They were on clearance too!  I love the glow the gold creates when the lamps are turned on at night.  Perfect for our nightstands!

I really love this small painting in our bedroom- the colors are so pretty.  But I hate the spot it's in.  I've GOT to spend some time sprucing up our master this year!!

Lastly, I just love this spot in our house- the stair landing.  It's such a sunny & cozy spot with a rug that was my great-grandmother's, a painting identical to one that hangs in my parent's house, and my long "linen" (drop cloth) drapes.  Sorry the pic is so dark, there was just too much light streaming in!!

Before & After: Dining Room

Oh goodness, I can't believe I am even showing you that hot mess of a dining room!!  It was a disaster.  After we turned the office into a playroom, all the miscellaneous stuff that we couldn't find a home for landed on the dining room table.  Not to mention the table is also my crafting/project space, and a place where I take a bunch of blog pics!!!  But I kind of like that it looks so terrible, because it makes the after pics look even better!!!

We got to work last week painting the dining room in Daredevil, by Sherwin Williams.  I'm a HUGE fan of orange, it seems to pop up in most of the rooms in our house, and I love the idea of an orange dining room!  We actually painted a dining room in one of our previous homes orange, but I think I got the color much better this time!!  And let me just add a side note, I had narrowed the color down to a couple, and was favoring a darker shade called Cayenne.  My sister suggested I go with the slightly lighter Daredevil.  I am quite sure she will want credit for picking the perfect shade, so there ya go, Cris!!  :)

Without further ado, here is the after:

Another before:

And after:

Before (sorry for the poor light!):

And after:

Those elephant ears are from our garden, love them!!

Feeling like I need to change/edit the top of this little credenza, but for now here it is:

Not sure how long those glass pieces will be able to stay on this shelf with babygirl zipping around the house!  Oh, and I already made a little tweak over here, will be back tomorrow to show you that...

Overall, I am SOOOO pleased with the new color!!  It reads a tiny bit brighter in the photos than in person, but that could just be my monitor.  It's a really spicy & warm tone, and looks super crisp against the mouldings.

So, what do you think?

House Tour: The Study/Playroom

Once upon a time, when we first moved in, the hubs and I each had a room to ourselves.  His & hers offices, though no actual office work was done in them!  Mine was downstairs by the front door.  I insisted on this because my "office stuff" was much prettier to look at. :)  He got one of the spare bedrooms upstairs.  His office doubled as an over-flow guest room, but there was still plenty of room for all his computer paraphernalia.  Then, I got pregnant, and baby things started to migrate into my office- strollers & swings & car seats began to crowd all my pretty stuff.  Although it was pulling double-duty as a storage room for baby gear, it was still MY room.  Until somewhere around my 7.5 month of pregnancy when the hubs got a wild idea to re-arrange THREE rooms in our home one evening.  Though I was verbally able to protest, I could physically do nothing, and so I just had to roll with it.  And in one night the spare bed that was in babygirl's nursery moved into the hubs office (now the "hotel guest room" because of the two queen sized beds in there).  The hubs office gear moved into my office, and my daybed moved into babygirl's nursery.  It did make sense, but My Office was now Our Office.  And I'd have to look at all that computer equipment all the time.  Ugh.

After babygirl was born I began working from home so I could stay home with her.  My my office set-up just didn't really function as a good place for me to work and her to play.  So most days I toted my laptop around to wherever she was.  At breakfast & lunch my office was the kitchen table.  During playtime my office was the glider in her nursery.  During naps I took up residence on the coffee table.  And when I needed quiet time once the hubs got home, my office was on our bed.  It worked okay, but as she got older I really needed a place where both of us could settle in for longer stretches.  So we re-vamped Our Office once again.  Out with my desk & the hubs desk.  In with a spare changing table from the family room, all babygirl's toys and a loveseat from the master bedroom.  Add in a small side table scored at Goodwill, and we had a space for me to sit and rest my laptop and a space for babygirl to play til her heart's content.  Now we don't know what to call the room: The Playroom?  The Study?  Here is what it looks like now...

I'd be happier if the giant colorful plastic toys weren't part of the room's decor, but they make babygirl happy, so I can concede.  My bookshelves stayed, though the storage behind the doors is bursting at the seams.  This is on my list of challenges to overcome: better/more storage!  The bookshelves are Billy bookshelves from Ikea.  I covered another diaper box with cute wrapping paper (like I did in the closet of babygirl's nursery) to use as toy storage tucked away under the changing table.  A side note on the changing table, apart from the fact that it was dirt cheap at Ikea, we figure we'll be able to easily re-purpose it once we don't need a changing table anymore.  I can see it as a great little dry bar in our family room.  Or maybe some sort of art station for babygirl.  Seems pretty flexible though!

I'm itching to re-style the bookshelves, but I know it will be a whole afternoon project.  One of these days...

My comfy little space to sit back and observe the chaos!  The loveseat is a Craigslist find from years ago, but it's a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.  I just checked their website, and it doesn't look like they're making it any longer, but I know I've seen similar ones at big box stores.

The other corner of the room.  When I'm working I can pull the side table in front of the loveseat and it makes a perfect workspace.  Not too big, so can't do too much work.  LOL.  Oh, and a funny note about this corner, there are two pictures hanging on the wall over there.  A cross-stitch my grandad had done years ago hangs on the wall next to the window.  And that other picture up higher on the other wall, well that's the hubs ONE AND ONLY design contribution to our home: a framed picture of the Obama family he printed from the web.  No, I'm not kidding.  Ha!!

Another view.  The drapes are actually painter's drop cloths.  I washed them first so they have a great linen look, and then attached drapery clips from Ikea.  Super easy, super cheap, and they look super good!!

Close-up of the changing table, baby gear & toy box.   The art on the wall is also from Ikea years ago.  Gosh, never realized how much stuff we have from Ikea!!

And this, folks, is the scary reality of clearing out Our Office- the dining room is a disaster!!!  The desk chair and tons of office stuff has been "temporarily" housed on the table, going on a month now.  Eeek.  Got to get working on a better storage solution!!!

House Tour: The Powder Room

Okay, admittedly this is not much of a post.  I wanted to post a house tour room by room, but the only room neat enough to do a tour of today was the powder room!  And you already saw half of it the other day!  Sorry. 

Without further ado, our downstairs powder room:

The walls had previously been painted that yellow-ish brown you saw in the hallway on one of the pics, but I wanted to do something dramatic.  I was thinking black, but then saw Sealskin (by Sherwin Williams) and thought it was much more interesting.  Sometimes it looks black, sometimes charcoal, sometimes dark brown- so cool!!!

The art you see used to hang in the hallway right outside the powder room, but once it was painted such a cool color, it demanded a cool piece of art, so art switch-a-roo!!  I can always find something else for the hallway, but I think it's just perfect in there now.

The turquoise mirror is a 100+ year old antique that was given to me by an old friend.  She had painted it gold years ago, so when she gave it to me I didn't feel guilty painting it black.  It stayed that way for many years, but once the walls in here went dark, the black just wasn't enough contrast.  There are a few hints of turquoise in the painting, so I thought that would be a fun direction to go with the mirror- I love it!  And the Wash Your Hands sign, you read about that the other day.

Behind the toilet is still a work in progress.  I hung the two silver shadow boxes, and have (empty) pots in them, to be filled with succulents, some day.  Do you notice a theme with empty pots in our house?  I'm really not the best with plants.  :(  I think a piece of art needs to be back there as well.  Just brainstorming that one.

So for now this room is done, except that art over the toilet.  And the succulents.  And I'd like to get a new hand towel.   And I'd love to replace the pedestal sink with a small cabinet sink.  And while we're at it, might as well change the light fixture...  So yeah, this room is done. For now.

House Tour: The Nursery

On the heels of yesterday's post about the gallery wall in babygirl's nursery, I thought I'd follow-up today with a tour of her nursery.  I've gotten more grief* from the hubs about this room than any other room in the house, and probably more than any project I've done!  I think that's because, to date, it's the most finished room, and getting there didn't happen overnight.  The hubs likes to call a project done and move on, never looking back. I like to constantly tweak, letting the space evolve and making changes as needs change, and I like spending time on details.  In my mind a space is never finished!  But shhhh, we won't tell the hubs that. ;)

As you saw yesterday, the room began as a guest room with yellow-ish brown walls (most of the walls in our house were painted in this color when we moved in, I'm working on changing that!), lots of nice moulding & trim (unfortunately painted cream instead of white, ugh!), a white ceiling, neutral light brown carpet, and a ridiculously small ceiling-mounted light as the only source of light in the room.  Our house had never been lived in before we moved in, and I like to think of most of the finishes as "builder's specials".  Not because they're special, but because the builder likely got them at a good discount!  Ugh.  Not the worst finishes, by any means, which sometimes makes it hard to justify changing them out after less than 3 years of wear.  But that's another post!

So we left the room as-is for about a year & a half, with the exception of adding some chocolate brown velvet curtains we'd used in a previous home.  When we found out we were having a baby girl, it didn't take me long to decide I wanted to use one of my favorite color combos of chocolate brown, pink & orange to decorate her nursery.  The chocolate brown curtains would stay, but I wanted to make the window treatments a little more special.  That's where I decided to start because I find fabrics to be such an inspiring beginning for a project!  As I mentioned in this post, I went fabric shopping and came away with those three fabrics that I just loved!! The fabric store had an amazing crib display with a custom sewn canopy over the crib, and I instantly fell in love.  It used 3 coordinating fabrics, so my initial plan in picking out 3 fabric samples was to use them to sew the canopy, as well as valances and pillows etc.  The canopy never quite happened, but that's okay, something better did!

We got started by painting the walls in a beautiful neutral taupe shade, and the ceiling in a raspberry pink.  Since I was pregnant the hubs was mostly on his own, and he was NOT happy.  Especially with the ceiling.  But he knocked it out, and it looks awesome!  I made valances for both windows with one of my inspiration fabrics, and was very pleased with how they came out.  Next we installed a new ceiling light** and a closet organizer, both from Ikea.  The ceiling light was easy, the closet organizer almost caused a divorce.  LOL.  But we got through it!  We also picked up a dresser/changing table from Ikea.  I was pretty adamant that I didn't want a changing table because I hate furniture with only one specific and short-lived function.  So far this has been a great decision!!  The last big purchase for the room was a glider & ottoman, and we actually found it on Craigslist.  I was also adamant that I didn't want one of those cheesy gliders you always see in nurseries, again, I don't like single-function furniture!  You never see those cheesy gliders move from the nursery into the family room, because they aren't stylish!!  But I digress... (and apologies if you have one of those gliders and love it, just not my style!).  I also knew that since I planned to breastfeed I'd be spending lots of time in that chair.  I kept an eye on Craigslist daily, and ended up finding an amazing deal on a barely used glider in chocolate brown- Score!  The best part is the ottoman is a storage ottoman!  It's our stash spot for blankets, but it can always be used for toys or other items in the future.

The rest of the furniture and many of the accessories were re-purposed from other rooms.  The daybed & pillows used to be in my office, I just added a cute little elephant.  Eventually I'd like to change out the linen & pillowcovers on the daybed, but for now they work just fine.  The bookcase had been in the room when it was a guestroom.  When we first brought babygirl home I had wire baskets on each shelf full of all her essentials.  But once she began pulling up, her favorite thing to do was to pull those baskets down!  So I found the 2 chevron stripe bins at Target for her books, and moved the large woven basket out of her closet & filled it with toys.  Now she can pull them down to her heart's content!

The wire baskets were moved into her closet and fit perfectly on a sweater organizer which just attaches to the closet bar.  They hold miscellaneous baby care items, burp cloths, bibs, hats, socks & shoes.  I left one basket on the bookshelf for diapers.  The colorful striped box in the top part of her closet is an empty diaper box I covered in pretty wrapping paper.  It's wonderful for storage that also looks nice!  (As you could see in the previous picture there is another empty diaper box on the floor that I intend to cover as well.  Ooops, forgot to move it out of the shot!)  The baskets in her closet hold diapers & wipes, the black & white box is her "baby box" with various mementos, and the clear containers on the bottom shelf hold clothes we've been given that are too big for her just yet.  To the left there is a small bit of storage that holds her pack & play, play tent and a few various other items.

The uppermost shelf of the bookshelf is out of her reach and holds a couple special items- an angel  souvenir brought back from Ireland from my parents, and a beautiful angel sculpture my mom purchased from an artist while I was pregnant.  The top of the shelf holds her headband organizer, a pink pot that still needs a plant, and a cute modern rocking horse.  On the wall I hung little pink buckets I found at Target which hold q-tips, cotton balls & diaper rash cream.  I picked up the abstract art at Homegoods, and the shadow boxes were recycled from another room in our home.  They contain a few special items- a first tea-cup brought back from Ireland from my sister, a treasured photo of my gran & grandad, another (empty!) pink pot, a wooden R, an adorable sock monkey, and a soccer ball!  The autographed soccer ball was won by the hubs at a community event the day after we brought babygirl home from the hospital.  When he got home from the event I was nursing babygirl in the glider and he showed it to me, then popped it in the, then empty, shadowbox, and it's just kind of stuck!

The crib was a gift from my parents, and we didn't bring it in the room until babygirl was almost 6 months old!  Prior to that she slept in a bassinet and then her pack & play.  The crib is just a simple, modern one from Ikea, and I love it!  The curtain hanging behind it was recycled from our previous home where I used it to hide our washer & dryer.  It's a Jonathan Adler print, and was originally a king-sized duvet cover!!  I just took out the seams to create one long panel, and then hemmed up the sides and created a pocket at the top.  I have it hanging on a curtain rod, and think it's a super-fun & dramatic detail!  I made a simple crib-skirt from the same fabric to tie it all together.  The mobile over the crib was made by me. 

Rounding out the room is this little corner with one of my favorite pieces of furniture- an old cigar humidor owned by my great-grandparents!  When I was growing up it was always in my gran & grandad's kitchen and was full of sweets & cookies- probably why I have such fond memories of it!!  It has a hole in the top where an ashtray once was, so I just covered it with a simple marble tile.  Atop it sits another piece from my gran & grandad's home- a vintage orange mushroom lamp.  On this table (though difficult to see) also sit the baby monitor base station, and the white noise sound machine which is a must for babygirl to sleep soundly!

The blanket on the back of the glider was handmade by my sister just for the nursery- such talent!  And behind the glider is the gallery wall, with details in this post.  On the back wall is a cute modern clock I picked up at Big Lots, of all places.  I also have a mirror propped against the day bed so babygirl can watch herself- she loves it!  In the middle of the room is one of the best gifts we received- a wooden activity toy.  It keeps babygirl occupied for ages.  I also popped a couple cute straw hats on the curtain tie-backs just for fun.

So that's the nursery tour!  Below are links for the items I could find links for.

Wall Paint: Natural Twine MSL217, Martha Stewart for Home Depot
Ceiling Paint: Eros Pink SW6880, Sherwin Williams
Valance Fabric: unsure of name, Forsyth Fabrics
Daybed, Crib, Dresser, Ceiling light,: Ikea

I'd love to do tours of all the rooms in our home, that could be lots of fun!!

*The hubs gives me grief about the room, but I can justify it because we actually won a Most Colorful Nursery contest sponsored by the What to Expect When You're Expecting website.  So when he gives me grief, I have to remind him the room is "Award Winning".  Ah, that certainly feels good!!

**Funny note about that ceiling light, I wasn't so crazy about it when Ikea first came out with it.  Then, last summer when we were getting started on the nursery I spotted it in the As-Is section at Ikea for a good bit off the original price.  I thought it could be whimsical & sweet in the nursery, so we got it.  Once installed, the hubs had reservations because it cast pretty cool shadows that he thought would scare babygirl since they looked like spiders.  I had to remind him she wouldn't know what spiders are!!  It's turned out to be a wonderful choice for the nursery because of those shadows, and the light fixture itself- she is captivated by it!!