A couple of weeks ago I showed you the basket that I turned into filing storage. Since January, as time has allowed, I have been working on organizing my office space. I started by getting rid of old fabric samples and reorganizing the ones that I wanted to keep. I ordered 8 of these locker baskets to help out with this problem and they have worked out really well. Here is my progress so far….
I started with the Expedit shelving unit that I purchased from Ikea a couple of years ago, but until recently, never took the time organizing it and using it to it’s fullest potential. Now, I think this thing is worth it’s weight in gold! The filing basket stores old files and freed up space in my desk filing cabinet. But the hardest part was weeding out the old magazines! This is just a portion of the magazines….there are lots more in the living room. Why is it so hard to part with magazines? Of course, The Cottage Living ones aren’t going anywhere.
It’s amazing how a little organization can make life easier. I just noticed that I did not label each basket by fabric colors. Oops. My next goal is to show you the entire space, so that means I need to get working on my desk, but you guys are good motivators. 
Right now, I can’t even find a pencil.
****************************************
I recently started working with a client on her master bedroom and master bathroom remodel. We spent the morning looking at tiles and beautiful rugs. Since there is a chance they may have to relocate in the future, I am putting the emphasis of the design budget on things that she can take with her if she does have to move. We selected 2 hand-knotted Persian rug options, one of which will be the foundation of the design for the bathroom and the color palate for the bedroom.
This will be a tough decision!
Notice the short fringe on the rugs. The store owner told us that people are bringing in their old rugs and having them sheer down the long fringe to the more update short fringe. What a great idea.
********************************
While I was on the Ballard’s website, I came across a contest they have going on. Have you heard about this? If you pin 4 furniture items under $1,000 to a “Pin it and Win it” board under your Pinterest account, you will be entered into the $1,000 merchandise giveaway. Sounds fun! Here are the rules and how to enter. (I’m not getting paid to promote this, I promise!)
I wanted to give you all a peek at my daughter’s room the other day when I posted about the rugs (btw, thank you for your encouragement!) but I ran out of time. Just wanted to show you how it’s starting to come together!
What started off as taking a few pictures of her room, turned into an impromptu photo shoot when Ellie jumped in front of the camera.
The lamp I pulled from another part of the house, I have two of them. The lamp base is from Home Goods and the shade is from Jamie Young, which is available through Lauren Leonard Interiors. And the starburst mirror I pulled from my room until I can find one for her’s. Don’t you love shopping the house….it’s free!
Some artwork is going up this weekend, I’ll post it on Monday!
Have a good one, friends.
A while ago, I posted about one of my recent antique shopping trips, and I asked you to guess which “treasure” came home with me. Do you remember that? I didn’t mean to leave you hanging for so long, but you know how one thing leads to another when you start a project.
Well here is the little treasure that I brought home.
It even had a big, red bow on it waiting to go home with someone for Christmas. But no takers. It was still waiting for me in February. I know, you are probably think…ewww honey-gold?
At the time, I wasn’t looking to change up my foyer but I fell in love with the unique style of the bench and the spool-style legs and back, and didn’t think I would ever come across another one…you know how that get’s you every time you’re at an antique store. Plus, I got the dealer down to $125….I think that was a good deal??? What do you think?
Yes, the color was hideous but after many cans of spray paint, I am very happy with how it turned out.
(I probably included too many pictures, but I have hard time editing out pictures)
The two cream and blue block-printed pillows I made from napkins that I purchased from World Market for $4.99 each. I am crazy about block printed fabrics and they are usually very expensive so anytime I can get my hands on some at a decent price (even napkins!), I snatch them up. I backed them in a cream linen fabric that I already had on hand.
I also made the ikat pillow out of a fabric remnant, I believe it is from Kravet, but it has been discontinued. The gingham pillow is from Ballard’s and the seagrass stool is from Target from a few years ago. The floor lamp is from Circa Lighting.
I wanted to mix the block print fabric and the ikat (1 trendy fabric…wink, wink) with the other elements to keep the look from becoming too “sweet”.
I also gave the walls above the planking a fresh coat of paint and went with BM Indian White, a soft, creamy yellow. I’ve been wanting to paint my foyer a different color from the rest of the house for some time, and I’m so glad I did. Funny how a quart of paint can help make a space feel new again.
I’m laying off the “treasure hunting” for a while…too many good things out there!
Hello there. How was your weekend?
For the past couple of months I have been training for a 15K run that includes 2 bridges….one affectionately known as the “green monster”. It’s big and scary and at the end of the 9.3 mile race. Well the race was on Saturday and I’m happy to say that I conquered the beast! All of the training paid off. I ran with my mom a.k.a. running partner and my niece, who is home from college on spring break. We had a blast!
Those are big smiles of gratitude that it was over!
After I rested my legs, I tackled one of the projects on my never-ending list. Please tell me you have a project list, as well.
This project started with these………..
A set of 4 pictures from the antique store. They were $10 each. I liked the colors in the prints but the 1960′s frames had to go. But before I tossed them, I painted them, white-washed them, even spray painted them. No luck. Didn’t like how any of those attempts turned out.
I purchased 4 of these frames on sale at Pottery Barn. I was not looking forward to hanging these frames because each frame has 2 hooks on the back…which means you have to be very precise with your measurements. Precision and measuring, neither of which are my strong suit. So this time around, I thought I would try something new….I cut out 4 “frames” from old wrapping paper, which happened to have the one inch square cutting lines…yes! That really helped when it was time to measure and mark where the nails needed to go.
One down, three more to go.
And here is the finished project….
You can see Barbie’s dream house in the picture. She moved in at Christmas time and has no plans on leaving anytime soon.
It’s the start of another busy week. Hope yours is a good one!
Hello there. Thank you for all of your help with the Anthropologie pulls and for your kind offers to check your local stores. I am happy to say the hardware crisis is over. One of my e-design clients found them at her local store and now those babies are on their way!
The other day I told you that my boy, Parker had a birthday, and today I’m very excited that his room has been featured on Holly Mathis’ blog. I think if Holly and I lived in the same town we would probably be hitting up World Market together on a weekly basis. We both also have a thing for lights. She posted about this light from Circa Lighting and that is the same light that I used above his bed.
( I really need to learn to take better pictures!)
Please check out Holly’s blog for the scoop on Parker’s room. Thanks Holly!
Here’s a hint….it’s pink. Ok, ok, just kidding. Do you remember that I mentioned that I was going to spray paint the handles that came with the dresser. Well as you can see, I tried it. Still don’t really love them. Last week, I was in Anthropologie and picked up one of their ceramic pulls in pink…the only had 2, and the other one was a little chipped. I thought if it fit the dresser I could order the rest online. LOVE how it looks with the dresser. Very sweet and girly.
I was so excited. I went to my computer to place the order and guess what friends…..they’re SOLD OUT!!!! WHY????
So now I come to you. I spent some time on Amazon and Ebay with no luck. Do you have any suggestions as to where I can find something similar to this? I appreciate any and all suggestions!!! Thanks friends.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the progress in my daughter’s room and that’s because, not a lot of progress has been made, unfortunately. I wish I had a beautiful “after” picture to show you but sadly, I do not (yet!). This is what has been done so far…..
I had the headboard shape cut out and I got as far as covering it with the foam and batting. After all of my deliberating on the fabrics, colors, etc., you may remember I decided to cover her headboard with a raffia fabric that I have had for a while.
This was my inspiration for her headboard.
Only to discover that the raffia fabric that I have has a thin foam backing which I learned is not suitable for upholstering a headboard, especially with the shape of her headboard with a lot of curves and flats. Knowing what I know now, I should have gone with a simpler shape, although I love the shape of the headboard. Let’s all say it together class….”hindsight is 20/20“. Very good.
So it’s time to regroup on the headboard. I did decide to go with the John Robshaw fabric for the bed skirt and accent pillow…which of course is on backorder for 5-6 weeks.
I think the design gods are taunting me. Trying to see if I will cave in and change my mind, yet again. But I will not give in. The check has been mailed, fabric has been ordered, and now I wait.
Here is the headboard in it’s current state.
For those of you have done this before, does this look correct so far? Seeing how I have the time to fix it, if it’s not. I have to be honest, this was a little stressful for me. I definitely felt outside of my comfort zone. But I think the most challenging part is still to come…covering it!
Moving on….I have finally painted her dresser. I changed my mind decided to paint it white versus off white so that it will match the trim color.
I haven’t had the chance to look for new hardware for the dresser, but my friend Maria sent me this picture that she found in a magazine.
(She took the picture of the page with her phone, but you probably already figured that out)
The hardware is identical to what is currently on the dresser and it was simply spray painted! I’m going to give it a shot. If I’m not happy with it, then it only cost me a can of spray paint.
In other news, the bedding has arrived from Overstock, and the rug is on order, well, back order, that is. Baby steps, my friends.
On one of my many recent trips to the antique store, I came across this little table.
I was drawn to the size of it and the price…$24! So I began asking myself….do I have a place for this? Do I need this? And the answer to both of those questions was of course, yes.
The small size of the table got me thinking about where I could put this little number. There were so many possibilities. Then it hit me….the landing at the base of the staircase. You can see in the picture above that the stain on the table matches the wood on the stairs, so I knew that would need to be changed. I started thinking about what type of finish to give the table and this is what I came up with.
I am really happy with how it turned out. I was going for a driftwood finish and think I got pretty close to it. I started by mixing white paint that I had on hand with some water then I simply brushed it on…..
and then wiped it off with a cloth.
When the paint dried, the table looked too gray, so I decided to lightly sand it. This made all of the difference and gave it the driftwood effect.
A perfect fit.
One of the projects that I have wanted to get to for while but haven’t had the time for is my daughter’s room. You may remember a while ago I posted my ideas for her room, but I hit a road block when picking the paint color. Originally, I was thinking of blue-gray, but never could nail the right color. The accent fabric that I want to use in her room has a very, shall we say, “complex” color in it……
At first, it appears blue-gray, but against blue-gray paint, it looked periwinkle blue. So after I painted 12 samples on her walls (no kidding), I finally picked the color……BM Violet Pearl. Bingo. We have a winner.
And the best part is the painter’s are here painting her room as I type! The trim getting a fresh coat of BM White Dove. So far, so good.
While I was out scoring my favorite new chair at the antique store, I also found this dresser for her room which is getting made over this weekend in SW Creamy. I plan on changing out the pulls. My mom and I debated on this…she likes them but they are a little too ornate for my liking. Not sure what I am going to go with yet….any suggestions?
I love the details on the sides. You can see where I tested the creamy paint on the dresser(please don’t mind the mess). The size of the dresser fits perfectly in the space. Some of the smaller dressers I looked at were a good size but didn’t offer adequate drawer space. The top drawer even has dividers which will help keep things a little more organized. I hope.
Oh ,and I almost forgot, her headboard frame is getting made today (wow…this is turning out to be a lot of progress for one day!) A sweet reader sent me this link on a DIY upholstered headboard. Maybe I’ll get the chance to cover it this weekend.
Hope your weekend is productive and relaxing.
I don’t know what it is about this chair that I have always liked.
Martha’s Vineyard Chair from here.
Maybe it is the coastal New England feel of it.
image from here
scanned from Cottage Living
image from here
So I was pretty excited when I stumbled upon this little number in an antique store a couple of weeks ago while I was out Christmas shopping.
I was a bad blogger and forgot to take a ‘before’ picture of the chair prior to spray painting it, but it was a dull gray, taupy-brown color. But 10 minutes and a can of espresso spray paint took care of that. The chair has one little defect as you can see here. But the chair only cost me $47 so I can live with it and I can add making a chair pad to my project to-do list and no one will ever know it is there.
The chair is the perfect size to fit pretty much anywhere which is a good thing, however, it can be a problem for someone like me who likes to move things around. It has already made it’s way around the house but I think I’ve decided to keep the chair in the family room…..for now.
Leave a Comment (7 Comments)