Textiles and Glass

Remember the heavy curtains we put up in the Perkins living room?  A brown set layered with a steel-grey set?  So dark... so heavy... remember those?

Well, my bff World Market went and had a sale and lo and behold, the shower curtain I have in the dining room was on for $17.  So, I picked up another!  Just one because I knew I'd never actually close the giant living room window curtains...

I carefully cut the curtain in half.  Check out my scrumptious Fiskars sewing shears.  Did you know Fiskars have been around since 1649?  I have no idea if this is true.  I just read it in their wiki.

I own an iron yet we are notoriously wrinkly because...I don't iron.  Except my hair.  Fun fact - my flat iron makes a FAB hemming iron, because you can press both sides at once.

Lalala I pinned and hemmed the unfinished side of Panel 2.  The fabric is wrong-side-up here, btw.  

As the French say... voila!  Looks soooooooooooo much better... bright and airy... 

Wait!  What's that you say?  Where did I get the lamp on the left?  Here's a hint: the shade used to be in the bedroom on the one nightstand's lamp, and the lamp itself... was the old red base!!  I took off the red beads and strung about 8 zillion green beads onto green thread (tied to green bias tape).  Let's just say I have a lot of sewing/beading/crafting supplies.  Only one cat, though.

The extra dangles at the top (and also on the bottom of each strand) are from a bracelet I made yeeeears ago.  I didn't like it.  Beady beady...10 hours later (no joke):

Got out my trusty hot glue gun...

And made myself a little hula skirt:

Isn't that special?

Don't worry, the bedroom isn't too upset I stole the lampshade.  I mean, the lamp IS naked right now.  However, last weekend was tax-free weekend here in SC, so... :)


Shower curtains in the great room, flat irons for sewing... how do you think outside the box?

Dining Room Update

Welcome back!

As my last post said, I felt the dining room needed a little softening to make it flow into the open space of the great room.  So, after toiling for a day or two, I made a few changes.  I think they do wonders for the area!

First, I've been hating on the awwwful brass chandelier since I first saw this house back in September of 2011, so I was more than willing to shut off the power and rewire in a new pendant light ($18 at Lowe's) plus a paper lantern (Pier 1, $10).  

Then, I put the bamboo placemats back on the table.  I also decided the window needed curtains - both for some soft texture and also for privacy.  This is a townhouse and my elderly neighbor sits on her back porch all.day.long and I get antsy about that after awhile.  I could not find any curtains I liked (I wanted greens and yellows to pull together the two rooms) at Target, Kohl's, IKEA online, or Ross... and then I wandered into World Market and found a $30 shower curtain that is absolutely perfect.  

I hung the curtain with little shower clips from Target.

Currently, the curtain's clips are half on one side of the rod's center-bracket, half on the other, which is why it is bunchy on the left.  Eventually I may cut the curtain and hem the cut, then add a band of coordinating fabric to the bottom.  I rather like the casual look right now, though, so I am going to laissez-faire it for awhile.  

And now... the two rooms together, as viewed from the loveseat.  By the way, the temporary new "rug" is a quilt and the green pillows are the old green Pier 1 ones covered with fabric a la this Pin.  Thanks, Mom, for the idea!  

What are your favorite ways to repurpose items?

Eat Your Veggies!

Most of you who know me know that when I get started on a project, I don't like to stop until it's done.  So with the great room finished and looking mighty fine, I was anxious to repaint the dining room because once again, it looked like Perkin's restaurant.  Once again, sorry Perkin's.  Let's have a moment of silence for the awful carcass colors of the dining room before:

I once read a blog where the girl painted five different shades of the same color on her bedroom walls and it took them seven months to decide which one they wanted.  I'm too impatient and too economical for that, so once I chose a green I liked on the card (Valspar's Spring Meadow), I bought it and slapped it on the walls that day.  No arguments.  I chose green because 1) it's my favorite color and 2) it reminds everyone to eat their veggies.  Subliminal messages now in your very own house!

Fun fact - the old owner's left these two giant pieces of plastic in the garage.  Thanks!  So, before painting, I put down plastic on the floors and over the table.  Always make sure you protect your pets from paint, too?! Haha!  All joking aside, Poly crawled in there on her own and I removed her twice... she kept going back.  You can't fight with a cat and I will point out she didn't get a single drop on her.  

It took a full day to paint two coats in the dining area (one real wall, one half-wall, one wall with windows, one half wall with a door), with small breaks for necessities including a game of Mario Cart.  

Ahh that's nice!  It is deceiving, though, because the color is a bit more radioactive lettuce in person, so I spent the next two days letting it mellow to the eyes (aka get used to it) and figure out how to smooth the room together, since it spills into the great room.  I added the mirrors (auction house finds) first... Stay tuned for more... 

Do the rooms of your home flow together, or do you prefer to decorate each area on its own?

Colors Colors Everywhere

As you may recall, the paint job on the first floor of my house was rather garish.  To put it bluntly, it looked like a Perkins restaurant barfed.  Sorry, Perkins.  The best word in that first sentence, though, is "was" - the bad paint job is gone!  I spent about a week agonizing over colors to determine the perfect shade for the great room (living room + foyer).  The dark and gloomy colors were making me so cranky and made me crave sunshine so after considering 45 different shades of yellow, I settled on Summer Sun by Valspar (Lowe's).

I calculated 530 sq ft for the great room, so I bought 2 gallons of the Valspar Signature so I could do two coats.  Remember, anytime you anticipate needing to use two cans of paint for one job, mix 'em together to ensure uniformity!  I poured the two gallons into a bucket and stirred.  I filled my paint tray out of the bucket on day one, then at the end of day one, poured the mixed paints back into the paint cans so I could seal them up properly.  During the day, I had the bucket covered in foil to keep it clean.

Having never painted a room before, I think my first coat was a bit sparse.  In fact, the rose and baby poo-brown showed through a bit, causing the yellow to look highly radioactive.  After rereading some online tips, I put it on pretty thick the second round.  Wow!  Coat Two definitely covered the rose and baby poo-brown very well!  My technique was simple and developed after reading several websites (This Old House and TLC, which I pinned on my Paint Board).  I cut in with a slanted brush, then rolled those bits (plus a good five inch section adjacent to it) with a small roller going as close to the edge as possible, then rolled the rest of the party with a 9-inch roller.  It took 12 hours for the first coat and about 10 for the second.  That includes mini breaks as I finished each wall (snacks, phone calls, clicking on the Pandora music site to say yes I'm still listening to Meat Loaf)...

To refresh your mind, here's a before...

And here's an after!

Poly loves to be in pictures.  What a ham.

For now, I've purchased new sheers for the window and put the red shade back on the corner lamp.  I think the walls looks amazing, if I do say so myself.  :)  Redecorating coming soon! I'm very excited to finish up the dining room, now, and then decorate with a new color palette.  Speaking of which... here's a teaser about the dining room color...

What are your dream colors for your home?

PS

Of course Lowe's didn't pay me to talk up their paint line.  I wish!

Indiana Jones and the Bathtub of Doom

I have a confession to make.  I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately.  Not very glamorous?  Well, I've been in the master bath, actually.  In the bathtub.  Tragically it's still not glamorous.

It turns out the bathtub was not properly sealed and there are giant cracks just asking for a water damage party on my downstairs ceiling.  Last Sunday, I spent a few hours peeling off the small amount of caulk that happened present.  I used a baby screwdriver to 'cut' the seal and it worked pretty well.  While I was at it, I also cleaned off the paint on top of the bathtub, because someone had a heavy hand when it came to painting.  Shocker.  :)

When I got to the section where I suspected water damage (where the tub part meets the shower wall part, on the water end of the tub [see above]), a quarter-sized chunk of wall came off with the sealant.  The drywall was squishy underneath.  Is that called wetwall?

I didn't take a picture of the final 3/4-inch deep hole I ended up creating as I removed all of the squishiness.  Trust me, it was awesome.  I had to keep digging - I just didn't feel right about the pink film I was seeing...

On Monday, I found some leftover Spackle in the garage, so I filled in the hole and cracks with it.  It was surprisingly rewarding.  I've never Spackled before, although I've iced a lot of cakes.  Using Luna Lovegood's movie logic, how different are they really?  Plus, I watched a ton of Bob Ross growing up and he could make beautiful happy trees with a putty knife, why couldn't I fix my wall with one?  After the Spackle dried, I caulked the daylights out of every nook and cranny of the bathtub as well as the baseboards.  I think I did a pretty good job.  :)

Are you a weekend warrior?

Ace is the Place (for Candles)

I'm on a crusade to find a magnetic hook strong enough to hold my aprons.  I've tried Target, Big Lots, Fred's, and now Ace.  Ace has ginormous ones and not quarter-sized ones.  So, Ace is not the place for smallish strong magnetic hooks.

They are, however, the place for candles.  The local Ace Hardware has votives and tapers on for 50% off... and they were only 35c to start!  Since someone burned all the candles I got at the Yankee Candle flagship store in S. Deerfield (who would do such a thing?), I stocked up on colors that match the current decor:

I managed to sneak out a precious antique cupboard from my mom's house when I moved out time #2, I now store my candles in it, just like she did.  Hi Mom!  I keep vases, candles, fancy soaps, and my Hanukkah items in here.  Also, two bags of potpourri Ace gifted me.  Thanks, dudes!

And it sits nicely between the Harry Potter closet and the powder room:

Picture of my lovely parents on the front right.  Unframed Paris art (three of countless) here until frames are located... Mah jongg set chilling on the bottom because I keep forgetting to put it away... :)

Where do you keep all of your smelly-good stuff (and 50lb Chinese games)?

Heat Rises

Before moving into my townhouse, I really only ever lived on the second or third floor of buildings - two apartments, and my parents house - so I never fully appreciated the whole "heat rises" science experiment.  That being said, the upstairs was 68 this morning!!  Brr!  Pretty sure I could see my breath in the kitchen.  Since it is now 84 out, though, I'm not eager to turn on the heat.

My homebound student canceled today, so I was able to get home earlier.  I decided to use that time to update the ol' blogger.  Since my dad said he will check it "on occasion" I want to make sure there are pretty pictures for him to see when he checks in (Hi Pop!).

Remember, this is a work in progress... :)

I think I'll start with a picture of one of my favorite parts of the house thus far: the doorhandles on the first floor:

I'm eating my words from the last 6 months - I cannot believe the (ahem) creative paintjob in the great room/dining room actually goes with my items!  I do have new colors picked out... yet these are tolerable for awhile...

And finally... here's the master bedroom thus far.  Yes, the plastic is still on that lampshade and no it's not plugged in.  I'm not sure if I like it.  The picture would be wider and show the rest of the room except someone still has not unpacked three suitcases...

Poly's so vain - she probably thinks this post is about her.  Seriously, though, she looooooooves to hang out in the baby's bathroom.

XOXO!