I am kicking this laminates booty. Way. To. Easy. LOVE IT! Love power saws. Love sawdust. Love new flooring! Full results soon to come!
Monthly Archives: November 2009
craft area :: the plan
The “craft area” is really just a small corner in our FROG (finished room over the garage). Basically, when we moved in, the cabinets provided a great place to store all my DIY crafts and scrapbook stuff. I have lots of it. My first thought when we moved in was “Yay! An already built in craft area! HOW AWESOME!” I giddily started to unpack my junk when I quickly realized that this set up was a| not going to work b| not really inspiring. There weren’t enough shelves. The cabinet doors didn’t provide me with quick access to my supplies. The counter top was nice, but nothing else was really working out. I went into design mode right away.
Since this area is also sharing a room with a “den” and office work space, I wanted someway to close it off and easily block off the mess when friends came over. My idea was to install a curtain rod system on the ceiling so that in times of need, I could just close the curtains around the area and VOILA! No mess and pretty curtains! I also needed a good table space. Something large and study as well as plenty of storage, preferably open storage so I could easily see what I was looking for. Here is what I have decided to start with in the space ::
1 | It all started with the Circle of Life brackets(no longer available online) from Urban Outfitters. On sale for $5.00 a pop, marked fron from $20. Alas, I knew I had some open shelving brackets already. Point. Click. Ordered.
2 | Ikea supplies already cut and ready to install wood planks for shelving. All I had to do was measure and purchase on my next trip.
3 | Lack Bookcase from Ikea gives me a lot more sturdy open shelving. I wanted a pink one, but I will have to settle for blue.
4 | I wanted to recycle my old craft table by giving it a face list with the purple and black paint colors.
5 | A handy little work lamp to place on my newly painted table for those long nights crafting.
6 | Baskets and Boxes to help store away supplies and make the shelving not so overwhelming.
7 | Tundra laminate flooring from Ikea. This will end up going in the whole upstairs and eventually downstairs, but I wanted to buy enough to at least get the craft area ready for some furniture.
5 | Vanuatu Twilight Wallpaper from Anthropologie is really just a pipe dream right now. Way out of my price range, but it would be oh so pretty on the wall behind the table, bookcase and shelves. Anyone have a good resources for a cheaper version?
First things first. Remove the built in cabinets, prime the walls, make a trip to Ikea and install the flooring. I’m gonna be busy.
fireplace :: before + after
Filed under Before + After, House, Living Room
Here’s our fireplace in the downstairs living room. After painting the wall white (Zen Garden Sand by Martha Stewart carried by Valspar), the fireplace just kind of faded into the wall. The mantle is nothing to get really excited about, but it’s not hideous. I wanted to go with a black mantle, to break up the white and blend in with the black insert.
Here’s the finished look. I went with Benjamin Moore’s Black Satin paint in a semi-gloss. It went on like a dream and no one even thinks the mantle was ever white. Even Jason came home after I painted it and took him about 10 minutes to realize that it wasn’t white anymore. It certainly looks a lot cleaner in black.
want 2009 :: xmas edition
Filed under Uncategorized
i know, i know, i haven’t posted in forever, but it’s been busy around here + i do have lots to share in the next few days. here is my NON-HOME related wish list. Jason says i shouldn’t ask for house stuff for Christmas because he knows i’ll end up buying house stuff eventually and i rarely buy stuff just for me (ok, well that’s a bit of an over statement…).
1 | an iPod touch. it has all the bells, whistles and apps that the iPhone has, but no one can call me and i don’t have to switch cell phone providers.
2 | Fujiilm Instax Mini 7 because i miss polaroid.
3 | NorthFace Oso Jacket. It’s warm and fuzzy and oh so pretty in white. the hood is a big +
4 | Mini Juliette Satchel from Dooney and Bourke. It’s the only purse I like right now that is attractive and has a long cross-body strap.
5 | a JCrew gift card because i neeeeeeed some new clothes.
6 | For Like Ever poster. It was on my wish list last year and it didn’t work out. I still really want it.
7 | Cannon Powershot in gold because it’s a pain to bring a D80 everywhere with me.
8 | Studded Ballet slippers. ::sigh:: whats not to love?
Office Upgrade
Filed under Before + After, House
I guess you could say that this is more of a office furniture upgrade. The office still has a lot of work that needs to be done(ahem…like paint and a floor…)
Lets set the stage. The office is really our unfinished room over the garage. It currently has a plywood floor and plastered Sheetrock walls. It’s one of the many rooms that we are working on getting up to par. But it’s heated and huge, so we have been using it like it was a normally floored and painted room.
Here is our sad little computer work station before the trip to Ikea. Pitiful, ain’t it? The pink table is really a vintage vanity I got for Christmas one year back in high school years. I painted it that great pink, but it has seen better days. It’s been our computer table since 2007. That’s our dinosaur desktop PC(not that old really, but acts like it) that we hope to replace soon on top of it. The striped boxes aren’t of any importance. They are holding some DVDs from the move (they aren’t staying in the space).
Here’s the after. A nice large and stylish work station. The great chair + rug combo to make a comfy seating area. Please ignore the walls and the floor. We haven’t decided if the location of the items are going to stay in that spot, but for now it works well. A big difference from that itty bitty desk and stationary chair. I’m happy to say I’m blogging from that chair right now!
Ikea Adventures
Ikea is not new to us as a store, but it is new to us in a sense that Charlotte just got an Ikea store not long ago. We have been getting catalogs for years, but had never actually been inside a store. Until last Thursday.
Our plan was to just enjoy the experience and check out some things that we had been wondering about. Was the couch we wanted as good looking in person and was it comfortable? Were those pretty curtains well made or just flimsy cotton? We spent a good 2 hours strolling the display aisle, picking up good ideas, see furniture we liked online in person. It was pretty darn cool. We certainly enjoyed our selves.
My plan wasn’t to eat at Ikea, but Jason had been drooling over the Swedish meatballs in the back of the catalog for, oh I don’t know, like 5 years? So we ate at the cafeteria. Not bad I must say. My favorite part was the sparkling peach drink and the princess cake. Yum!
We ended up purchasing office furniture. I don’t know why, it just seemed like the thing to buy. Honestly, I was tired of blogging on a mini pink vanity I had since I was 16. We came in with a shopping list, but we changed things and pick up a few other items along the way. Here is what we picked up ::
1 | Vika Glasholm w/ Vika Lendved :: I fell in love with this desk the moment I saw it in the catalog. I just adore the table top design and the minimalistic clean lines. I knew it would be hard to pull off with an old school desk top PC (which I hope to soon replace), but I just couldn’t say no to it after I saw it in the store.
2 | Lerberg Shelving Unit :: We ended up buying 3 of these, but are currently only using 2 of them. I had originally wanted to spray paint them red, but am leaning toward the white right now.
3 | Jules Swivel Chair :: We didn’t plan on buying a desk chair, but I really liked the natural color of this chair. After some persuasion, Jason agreed to it.
4 | Ludde Sheepskin Rug :: I purchased this to act as a cushion for the Jules chair. Really I just love sheepskin and the softness went well with the contemporary table, but it’s one of the reasons Jason let me buy the Jules chair. The promise of a comfy bum.
5| Knuff Magazine Holder :: I liked the naturalness of the wood against the white shelving. Plus, I collect a lot of magazines and need a pretty place to store them. I will eventually add tabs onto the front of these holders.
6 | Dokument Letter Tray :: Just to hold all my papers and pads and such.
7 | Helmer Drawer Unit :: (not shown) A draw unit to hid all our bits and pieces that seem to collect on our work surfaces. In red and on casters, it fits easily under the desk and is movable. Plus it has 6 drawers!!
We purchased other items as well. I’ll get to those later. Look out for the office transformation post that is soon to come! It’s not totally dramatic because our office lacks painted walls and flooring, but it’s a transformation!
dining room inspiration :: part ii
Filed under Inspire, dining room
yellow doors + purple + black
shelves!
wood + white
chalkboard!
pendant lamp
dramatic long table
white + green + wood
swoon! that table! that green!
stumps as seating!
vintage red pendant
___________________________________________________________________________
[click on photos for source]
dining room inspiration, a random collection :: part 1
Filed under Inspire, dining room
white + red + wood + stripes
love the table and chairs
rustic wood + yellow + white
rug + bench/pink
soft + modern
rug + red + wood
____________________________________________________________
[click on photos for source]
Food ♥ :: SAS Cupcakes
Filed under Food ♥
jason and i discovered SAS Cupcakes while driving to target one morning. basically it was jason going “hey, i think that’s a cupcake shop over there.” as we zoomed past it. everyone loves a cupcake, me included. hell, any cake will do for me! we stopped of coarse, though we weren’t expecting them to be open at 11 am on a sunday morning, but they were.
walking into the store, it’s cute and fun and very girly. would be a fun place to have a little girls birthday party. the girl behind the counter looked like she was in high school, but she knew her stuff. she introduced us to the flavors they had that morning, and explained that all the cupcakes were made fresh each day. i wish i had snapped a few photos of the display because it was very well designed.
i decided to get a 1/2 dozen. we split the decision making process 50/50. jason grabbed up the bailey’s irish cream, the cinnamon apple and the red velvet. i chose the pure vanilla, triple chocolate and the chocolate mint. yumm…..
here i am, sans make-up, chowing down on the BEST red velvet cupcake i’ve ever had. it was amazing. in fact, they were all amazing! we shared the 1/2 dozen over a few days. they stayed moist and delicious for almost 4 days. the girl at the store told us not to refrigerate them. we haven’t been back yet, but rest assured that it will be our first stop when we are craving something sweet!
the store in located at Blakeney Crossing @ Rea Rd. very convenient to pretty much everything.
IKEA virginity :: gone
yesterday, thursday november 5th. jason and i went to IKEA for the first time ever.
more information to come. as you can tell, we had fun.