Posted by Amber on June 3, 2010 – 9:00 am
While enjoying ourselves in Uptown Charlotte over our anniversary weekend, we happened upon a great little junk shop called Clark’s Antiques & Stuff (not making that up). It’s run by a funny man named Clark who has owned and run the shop for the last 30 years. He had two of these little beauties. Though not in the best of shape, the pink has faded an awful lot, it was the perfect size and shape to fit into our smaller downstairs living room.
I have plans on re-upholstering it in some kind of yellow fabric, preferably one that does not attract pet hair easily. I really love the velvet, but finding that in a bright yellow might prove to be kinda hard.
Getting back into the decorating mood. Dropped off there for a while. Starting to want the house to feel more like a home than a house.
Posted by Amber on January 15, 2010 – 7:00 am
I originally wanted a lovely nelson bench to go in this little nook in our entry way, but with a hefty price tag, it’s going to have to wait. Luckily, we found this beauty at Urban Outfitters while out Christmas shopping. My mom surprised me with it at Christmas. Online the photos make it look dull and very brown. but in real life, it’s very vivid and colorful.
It’s a perfect place for Jason and I to toss our keys, bags and purses when we get home at night. Also a great place to store some easy access shoes as the back door is just to the right of this photo.
The silver bowl is a TJ Maxx find from forever ago. The wire basket was a red sticker find at Target a few months back. It’s holding magazines and our video camera right now.
I’m contemplating what I want to install above the bench. A large poster would do the trick, but a coat rack would be much more convenient for us. Would the Eames hang-it-all clash with the bench? Maybe something more industrial?
Posted by Amber on January 13, 2010 – 7:30 am
Forever ago I bought the Frames wallpaper from Graham & Brown. I even installed the wallpaper within a month of getting that package! BUT, little ole me never got around to taking a decent photo of the wallpaper to show. Well, I finally did. Woot!
This was my first time installing wallpaper and I did it all by my lonesome. It really wasn’t that hard. A little messy, but it turned out great. I used a normal wallpaper paste and a paint roller. Rollered the paste onto the paper, let it soak for 5 min(ok maybe less, I was antsy) and then stood up on a 6 foot ladder and squeegeed the paper down the wall.
Only problem I had was trimming the ends. The paper was moist, so even a very sharp exacto knife tended to tear the paper instead of slice it. I ended up trimming it a little longer than the boards and went back after it was dry to trim it up nice and clean.
I have plans on wallpapering the downstairs bathroom. I only had to go around two outlet covers on this wall. Easy peasy. But that bathroom is going to be a PAIN! Wallpapering around a toilet and pedestal sink? fun.
Posted by Amber on November 24, 2009 – 7:00 am
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.
Posted by Amber on October 23, 2009 – 12:00 pm
The Graham & Brown Frames wallpaper that I ordered arrived yesterday! I can’t wait to start hanging the paper, but I’ve never hung wallpaper before, only taken it off. I’m wondering if I’ll be resorting to Google and youtube for information, or just ask my mother to come up from Columbia and help. Mom, wanna come up and help?
Any tips on hanging wallpaper? Luckily I am only hanging it on one wall with no corners or anything. Should be a little easier, right?
Posted by Amber on October 20, 2009 – 12:00 pm
Why do we need a hand rail to get up the stairs?
We don’t!
Ah…the small changes that make such a difference.
Posted by Amber on October 19, 2009 – 8:43 am
Literally just clicked the order confirmation button! It will be going on one wall in the living room. Can’t wait! So exciting!