we need bar organization…

We need somewhere to put all our wine glasses and liquor so that’s my next project (along with curtains). Right now we have a shelf ladder thing that’s a bit too small…

I found this kitchen bar on Craigslist which is exactly what I’m looking for, but I’m clearly not looking to pay that kind of price – especially when I’m just going to repaint it.

I really like Emily‘s bar cart

I like this sideboard from IKEA – I just can’t bring myself to spend that much when I know I’ll want to paint it:

This would be PERFECT!

china cabinet re-do: part 4

Minus a little more waxing and some paint touch-ups, I finally finished my cabinet! Woohoo! Here’s my cabinet after we brought it home and I removed the doors and hardware:

And here it is after we hauled it up the stairs into the dining room! I decided to leave the big door off the top. I like the shelf look more, anyway.

 We FINALLY have somewhere to put all of our wedding china!

The dining room has a long way to go, but it’s getting there. 

summertime visitors

What could possibly get old about a brand new townhouse in the warm weather? These guys:

Blughhh… They only bother me when they surprise me. And coming up the stairs from letting the dogs out is one of those times. Even Riley is afraid of them. And of course this one has to be hanging out two feet away on the wall:

Really? Are you that lost? I chased the first one back out into the garage. I know – I’m such a bug nerd. If I could go back in time, I may have chosen entomology over finance. Spiders are good for the environment. The second one wasn’t so lucky.

Last year, Phoebe decided to chew on one and this is what happened:

A 5am emergency vet visit and hourly Benadryl administration is not my idea of a day off from work.

I try really hard not to kill them, but needless to say, I remind myself how expensive Phoebe’s spider snack was and don’t feel so bad when I do…

thanks again for the lens, daddy g – it helps when I don’t want to get so up-close and personal to take a good picture :)

hummingbirds galore

I think I’ve gone through more sugar this week than I ever have – and it is not because of baking. It’s because of these guys:

They literally drain this thing in a matter of two days. One cup water, 1/3 cup sugar. Sugar water. They aren’t shy either – they buzz around our heads while we grill and land on the feeder while I’m trying to refill it.

I think there are at least 4… probably more. And tons of these guys:

I’m slowly learning how to use our fancy Nikon in manual mode. Slowly but surely….

erin condren life planner

I just ordered my Erin Condren life planner…

I’ve been assured that all the fuss and praise is worth the money. I’ve purchased agendas from Target here and there but don’t keep up with them. I’m hoping this extensive planner helps me keep track of the to-do post-its and outlook calendar print-outs I have floating around between my house and my purse. I really need something to keep track of our schedule (what do we have to do next weekend??), the things I want to get done when I get home from work and my ongoing house projects.

The “keep it together” section will be a life-saver too.. for when I know I tossed that receipt into my bottomless purse and now I can’t find it…

Oh Erin Condren… don’t let me down!

china cabinet re-do: part 3

I made some serious progress this weekend. While I had planned to have this cabinet finished, moved into my “new” dining room and filled with our wedding china, I did get a lot done and realized that painting a china cabinet is NOT an easy or quick task.

Here is the cabinet with one coat of paint:

I changed my mind at the last minute and went with a darker color paint, Mountain Ridge instead of Cheyenne Rock – I’m glad I did because it doesn’t even look as dark as the swatch and I can’t imagine if I would have picked the ligher color in the first place:

IKEA had a few knobs I liked, but nothing quite what I had in mind. I wanted a bronze-y brown. Something more antique, but not as aged looking as the hardware that was on there to begin with. Target had several selections and I found some that I really liked. The nice thing about Target is that the handles and knobs came in sets and I didn’t have to buy them seperate which meant some cost savings! I got these knobs and these handles:

The handles are a little too wide, which is what I was afriad of. So I patched up one of the holes in the drawers and will have Brandon drill me a new one.

I painted the cabinet interior a lighter shade of Mountain Ridge by adding some cream colored acrylic paint I had left over from wedding DIY’s. Did you know you can mix acrylic paint and latex interior house paint? Niether did I… but it worked. Hopefully I can get a second coat on there and give the whole thing a good wax so I can post the finished version by the end of the week. (fingers crossed!)

bedroom inspiration: floor mirror

I want a standing floor mirror really really bad. We have a bare wall in our master bedroom between Brandon’s closet and the bathroom – it’s a good 7 feet of space, slightly curved. So I think a huge standing floor mirror and a sitting chair would look great.

Like this from The Shabby Nest:

This mirror is from IKEA – in fact the exact same one I’ve had my eye on for over a year now…

 

Here’s the bedroom that belongs to Sherry and John of Young House Love:

Their floor mirror is from West Elm and can be found here – it is also $100 more than the one at IKEA.

I just love the simplicity of the look. Here are a few more inspiration pictures. Click the image for the source.

the search for affordable curtains

I never realized it would be this difficult to put up curtains in our house. We have a TON of windows. We have four in the living room/sitting room and two in the dining room. Then one large window in my office, the guest bedroom and our bedroom, followed by two additional small windows in our bedroom.

Let’s start with our “new” dining room. We’ve lived in our house for almost a year and a half and have never known what to do with this “nook,” as we call it. The model home had it set up as a family room with a TV, couch and chairs. We made it a sitting room. But this room got no use – until we got married and it served as an area to store our gifts.

Last weekend, after a marathon cleaning session, Brandon and I decided to re-arrange things. We moved the dining room table into the “nook” and so it became the dining room. We moved our couch, loveseat and TV into what WAS the dining room (before and after pictures coming soon).

And lastly, we will eventually turn the area that WAS the living room into a seating area.

Back to our topic – curtains. I think the most logical place to start is the dining room – mainly because I know what color scheme I want. The medium-to-dark wood of the floors and the table will be complimented with my grayish brown china cabinet. Furthermore, I have decided to add purple accents. We looked at curtains at Target this weekend which proved to be exhaustive and frustrating. I don’t think I ever realized that only ONE curtain panel comes in a package. So one package would accomplish this:

So this is going to cost more than I thought AND even if I were ready to purchase curtains, three packages would not be enough for two windows where curtains need to be hung. And furthermore – we have high ceilings so the typical 84″ curtain isn’t going to cut it.

Back to the drawing board. I have Plan B and C. Plan B will be to take a trip to IKEA to see what lilac and gray look like in person. The Petersik’s rave about their Ikea Vivan panels so I think it’s worth checking out (only $9.99). Plan C would be to make my own curtains. Our dining room windows are skinny and curtains would serve more of a decorative purpose than a functional purpose. So if I could find a fabric I liked at Jo Ann’s and use my 40% off coupon – the cost savings would be substantial. This straight forward tutorial shows how to sew curtain panels so I think I can handle it.

To be honest – I am REALLY excited I found this great tutorial on how to DIY curtain rods.

 

china cabinet re-do: part 2

I used some wood filler to try to fill in these imperfections on the china cabinet. I haven’t sanded yet, but I’ll be sure to post the outcome. It won’t be perfectly restored, but with a coat of paint, you shouldn’t even notice the difference.

Brandon and I searched for paint colors this weekend. I had an idea in my head – I really wanted a grayish purple color, similar to this color in the HEMNES line at IKEA:

I found a color called Deer Park at ACE, but unfortunately, we couldn’t find someone to help mix up a can of paint for us, so we gave up and went to Home Depot. I picked up every color I could find to try to match the Deer Park, but I couldn’t. Most were too purple. Frustrated, I decided to take my colors home and think about them. This is probably a better idea since colors look different outside the store. I’m thinking Cheyenne Rock by Behr. The one on the left is the ACE color, the Behr on the right.

Our wood floors are a medium brown and our dining room table is a darker brown. I’m hoping to incorporate dark purple curtains and stick with a brown/cream/purple theme. I think china cabinet a little darker than this will look nice:

I’m planning to mix up a batch of chalk paint for a more distressed look – but we shall see!

wall inspiration: picture frames

I am terrbile at decorating. I’m also terrible at trying to figure out how to create a “gallery” of pictures on the wall – more specifically – up the stairs. I like this idea by Kate from The Small Things Blog:

 

I have a feeling that most of this comes from ikea. I’ll add it to the long list of things that I need to pick up from there already!

For a bigger wall, I like the look of these neutral, mismatched frames on apartment therapy:

Here is a detailed diagram with several options, from InteriorsPL: