Adventures in Wallpapering…again.

After my experience wallpapering the inside of our living room bookshelves (here), I concluded that I would probably hire a professional to do my future wallpapering projects.  But when Husband and I decided to wallpaper a wall in our home office , we decided to save money and do it ourselves.  After all, it was only one wall.  Plus, we blew our budget on the wallpaper.  So yeah, we could do it!

Husband and I were excited to get the wallpaper hung and embarked on this adventure with optimism…or so I thought.  Unfortunately, my husband’s friend Brian told him that wallpapering projects cause couples to get divorced.  So, instead of approaching the first run enthusiastically, Husband was a quaking ball of stress who could barely function for fear of messing up.  Thanks Brian.  We finally got all the paper hung (with the help of a bottle of wine) and are pretty proud of our work…and we still love each other!

Here goes:

Whew, OK, we can do this.

Our little helper.

The Don and Sonny approve.

Next step: ceiling paint.  I wanted it dark, Husband wanted it light…

We met in the middle with a Benjamin Moore color called Iron Mountain.

Cassius approves.

Stay tuned for the next step in our home office transformation!

Project Bedroom, Part II

Throughout this whole home decorating adventure, I’ve learned that Husband has opinions about our decor.  This of course means we don’t always agree on my ideas for the house.  But I’m learning to look at our disagreements as challenges; decorating puzzles to solve…especially when I lose the battle.  I can see now that concessions are OK; they make our home feel like ours not mine.  Often he just looks at me like, “Are you serious?  You want to do what?”, so it’s probably good that he keeps me on track.  Otherwise, we would probably own a black and white paisley chaise lounge (it would have been awesome!)

One of the first concessions I made when we moved into our place was whether or not to have a TV in our bedroom.  I was really against the idea…and what an eyesore it is!  So, here is my attempt to work the television into our bedroom decor.

Laying in bed…this is what we’ve been looking at.

Husband suggested we hang a collection of artwork like I did in the stairwell, but I saw the image below in my Domino book and immediately knew I wanted to hang a collection of our photos.  We have a computer full of snapshots from our travels that rarely see the light of day, yet make us so happy when we occasionally flip through them.  I’m really not into displaying personal photos around the house (I’d rather display artwork), but I thought if I hung the photos in an art-installation-kind-of-way then it might feel more like art than just a bunch of photos.

My initial inspiration, but a bit too casual for what I ultimately wanted.

Once I had decided to embark on this photo project, I started finding all sorts of other photo projects online that people were doing.  One of my favorites actually comes from a friend I went to college with and his girlfriend.  They’re photographers living in Portland, OR and posted this ridiculously cute video of their photo project on their blog.  Check it out!

I love how Whitney and Dave organized their photos by color, but I had envisioned using all black and white photos in my project.  Alas, another concession…Husband wanted color.  FINE!  Here’s my photo project, in color:

I employed the good ol’ wrapping paper trick again.  I decided to hang the photos horizontally at the same width as the TV to make the wall appear longer.

Lots and lots of IKEA frames.

This is about the time Husband’s words were resonating in my brain…”Are you serious?  You want to do what?”

O-M-G…I will never get these 2 billion frames to hang level.

After my power drill this is my favorite tool!

Measurements were off…Why didn’t I just buy some multi-opening frames from Pottery Barn??

This is it?  This is all I got done in one weekend?  And each one is crooked…nice.

I’ll call this the end of phase 1.  More photos will be hung, and mounting tape will be attached to the back of each frame to keep them straight.

It was an ambitious project, but I’m liking it…and so does Husband!  Unlike Dave and Whitney who did a little dance when they finished their project, I poured myself a stiff cocktail.

Tune in next time for my friend’s Bachelorette Pad…

The Best Nest

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve lived most of my life with a stereotype about people who decorate.  People like artists, designers and architects liked making their home look stylish and enjoyed decorating it; and people like doctors, lawyers and accountants didn’t care, didn’t know how or didn’t want to bother.  Happily, my friend Evelyn Best blew my stereotype to pieces.  She’s a lawyer, and she can decorate!

Evelyn and her musician husband rent the bottom level of a Spanish Colonial Revival style residence that’s perched on a cliff overlooking the beach.  And she definitely doesn’t let living in a rental hold her back from personalizing it.   She’s got an amazing canvas to work with, and paints it with style.   Her eclectic, yet cohesive, mix of furnishings only heighten the character of their unique apartment.  Evelyn draws inspiration from many things, and impressively brings it all home; no matter how big, how heavy, how intricate or how difficult to make.  And equally impressive, she does so for a steal!

 

 That awesome chandelier was inspired by a similar fixture Evelyn saw in a local restaurant.  She found a manufacturer to build and install it.  See, impressive.

That fabulous table was a score at an estate sale.  The white upholstery of the chairs and sofa connects you to the light, airy beach setting right outside those doors.

This regal chair was Evelyn’s gift to herself on her 30th birthday.  I love the pillow with it!

This gorgeous flush mount ceiling fixture was an antique market find.

Do any of you remember that (not for sale) swing bed in the Anthropolgie catalogue?  Evelyn found someone to make and install one for her!

She saw a similar heart sculpture on Apartment Therapy.  So, guess what?  She found someone to make and install one for her!

A gift from Musician Husband…fellas, take note.

Evelyn’s super sweet vanity and her solution to necklace organization…her closet rod!

This is where Musician Husband listens to records.

Their personal art gallery.  Love it!

Inspired?  Me, too.

Tune in next week for a Bit of Boo!…

A Decorator’s Guide to the Galaxy

No projects this weekend, but lots of ideas.  I spent some time hunting and gathering inspiration for our bedroom, and some more time just staring at the walls.  Following are some fun references I like to turn to when thinking about new projects.

When the decorating publication Domino Magazine closed its doors in January 2009, I plunged into a deep, dark, decorating depression.  All I had to hold onto were stacks of past issues I’d been collecting for three years…the same issues that my husband actually had the nerve to suggest I throw away during our last move.  Blasphemy!  But there was a light at the end of the tunnel…the editors of Domino wrote a book!  Domino: The Book of Decorating: A Room-By-Room Guide to Creating a Home That Makes You Happy is my decorating bible.

Another bright light, and my current obsession, is Michelle Adams’ online publication Lonny Magazine.  Michelle is a former editor at Domino, so of course I LOVE her site www.lonnymag.com.  I sometimes order hard copies of the magazine, just in case.

I received my copy of the Design*Sponge book this week.  Yep, cover to cover in one sitting.  I can’t get enough of the “Sneak Peeks”.  And Grace Bonney, the creator/author, is an inspiration herself.

The Well-Dressed Home is one of my go-to books, too.  It makes so much sense; decorate your house the way you put an outfit together.  I love that.  It makes me think of the What Not to Wear mantra, “Color, pattern, texture, shine.  Color, pattern, texture, shine.”

I usually grab my books and magazines for inspiration first because the online decorating galaxy has a seemingly limitless amount of decorating blogs and websites.  Something from one site, leads to another site, that leads to a blog, where I read the name of a designer, which leads to a google search, and back to a blog, and another website, and so on.  It’s virtually impossible to avoid being sucked into the vortex.  It also means my Bookmarks list is totally out of control.  I won’t bore you with my list of favorites, but I’d love to hear what your go-to decorating site(s) is!

Weekend Decorator is going on vacation, so tune in next time for some decor from the road.

Adventures in Wallpapering

During the 80s and early 90s I recall that wallpaper was the go-to wall treatment for many homes.   In addition to the Laura Ashley floral explosions, there was a lot of teddy bears, Mallard ducks and baseball gear.  My first wallpaper memories start with the Strawberry Shortcake border lining the top of my pink bedrooms walls.  Once I grew out of my Strawberry Shortcake phase (not soon enough), I remember poring over books upon books of wallpaper samples with my mom at the local paint store.  Every year or two we would map out the next iteration of my bedroom décor, and it always seemed to start with wallpaper.

I come from a family of talented DIYers, which means my mom was the one who hung the wallpaper in our house.  The outcome was always tasteful and perfectly hung wallpaper, however, the execution was not necessarily a joyous occasion.  There was usually a lot of cursing involved.  There was also the time she sliced through a tendon in her finger while trimming wallpaper with an X-acto knife!  Needless to say, I entered into my first wallpapering project with great trepidation.

After about a twenty-year hiatus, wallpaper is the trend in wall treatments again.  But I think it’s back better than ever.  The graphic patterns and edgy images that you can paste onto your walls now, are really awesome.  (no ducks or baseballs!) The problem I have with the new trend, though, is that trends fade and wallpaper is a b*tch to remove.  So, I decided that wallpapering the inside of our bookshelves (they’re from IKEA by the way) would be a great way to indulge in the current trend in a non-committal sort of way.

I spotted our wallpaper years ago in an Anthropologie catalogue.  The wallpaper wasn’t for sale, it was just in the background of one of the sets.  But I HAD to find that wallpaper!  I finally tracked it down at Walnut Wallpaper http://www.walnutwallpaper.com.  (Yes, I have looked at every wallpaper style on that website at least twice and have an embarrassingly large stack of their samples.)

Here it is,  the wallpaper:

Here are some instructions from Design*Sponge:  http://www.designsponge.com/2008/03/before-and-after-ambers-bookshelves.html

And here is my wallpaper project:

BEFORE

AFTER

 I happily made it through this project without cursing, and with all of my fingers intact.  But I will tell you, it was challenging enough to know that when/if I decide to wallpaper our powder room, I’m hiring a professional!

Tune in next time for A Decorator’s Guide to the Galaxy…

Dog-Gone It

About 6 months after we moved into our new home, we brought home a puppy.  Yes, that’s him up there staring back at you.  We have an unusually shaped pocket off our dining room that the previous owners used as an office/sitting area.  We saw it as the perfect puppy area.

For the past year, this has been Cassius’ home base; His Domain.  This is where he ate, hung out during the day (aka slept) and trained.  Now that he’s a year old, he is able to handle his freedom during the day and conduct himself responsibly outside of the gate.  And we, of course, want to reclaim the space.  So, down came the gate!

For the time being, I chose to turn the former puppy play pen into a sitting area. I always have my eye out for occasional chairs, and usually get discouraged by the outrageous price of them.  But when I found online a couple of tufted upholstered chairs on sale at Restoration Hardware, I got really excited.  They picked up the color and style of a living chair I already have, and did I mention they were on sale?  I knew they would be perfect for our new sitting area.  However, when they arrived, all I could think was that they were the perfect size for a hobbit.  No wonder they were on sale!  I set them up as I imagined anyway, but will likely use them elsewhere eventually.

I hung drapes to enhance the window.  The bookshelves are from Crate & Barrel and came from our last apartment.  The metal side table is, wait for it, IKEA circa 2003.

Sadly, Cassius didn’t like Mommy messing around in His Domain.  He would run downstairs every time I was tinkering in that area.  Ultimately, he made it very clear that he HATED the new decor.  Not only did he target the area as his new potty spot, but he decided to dismantle the decor as you can see below.

I think stripes on stripes is better, Mommy.

Currently, the new sitting area is pending a new plan.

Tune in next time for Adventures in Wallpapering…

The Garden of Eat When?

One of the compromises we made when buying a town home was to live without a yard.  As a Landscape Architecture student, some couldn’t fathom how I would survive without the opportunity to garden.  The beauty of our place is that it’s the front unit of the building, which means we get an abundance of natural sunlight upstairs.  It also means we get an abundance of natural sunlight on our balcony.  So, who needs a yard when you’ve got prime growing real estate right outside your sliding glass door?

When I was a kid my parents and grandparents always had fruits and vegetables growing in the garden.  It was such a fascinating experience for me as a child, and I get very nostalgic when I think of those summers filled with daily garden surprises and the amazingly delicious bounty it produced.  I love that I experienced what it’s like to nurture a garden, and revel in the results.  I also love that urban gardening is becoming fashionable.  I won’t get on my soap box here, but I feel that at-home/local/urban/community supported agriculture is great for all.  With that said, can you guess what I’m using our sunny balcony for?

This is my first go at a vegetable garden of my own, and instantly I was transported back to that excited kid looking for new veggies everyday.  When my husband saw the start up costs of my balcony garden, however, his cost benefit analysis didn’t compute.  (He didn’t understand the cost benefit analysis of our dog, either, but now he does!)  After purchasing all of the cedar boxes and the electronic composter, I do agree that growing and composting in the ground is far cheaper than doing it on your balcony, but the rewards are still the same.

Here is our garden, and my gardening assistant:

We don’t have a huge balcony, and would like to keep enough space for BBQing, so finding the right growing containers was important.  After months of searching for the right planters, I found these 10″ square cedar boxes and knew they were the solution.  They blend in well with the building, discourage pests and rot, are easy to move and don’t take up too much space.  Plus, I like the way they look.  And I still can’t believe how perfectly the composter fits out there…even right next to an outlet!

So far we’ve had basil, lettuce, spinach, green beans, chard, rosemary and garlic come from our new garden.  And my Meyer Lemon and Mandarin trees are blooming like crazy!  I’m still waiting on zucchinis and bell peppers, and I’m afraid the artichoke is not going to happen.  Despite our bit of bounty, though, we definitely still need a CSA box each week!

Tune in next time for Dog-Gone It…

IKEA? You bet!

When I was a recent college graduate and living in my first apartment by myself, I thought nothing could beat IKEA.  I spent hours scouring the catalogue and couldn’t wait to bring that lime green corduroy futon sofa home with me.  As time went on I moved from apartment to apartment and the IKEA furniture came with me.  Much of it got updated from place to place with paint or new “upholstery”, but in the back of my mind I knew that IKEA furniture didn’t belong in a “grown-up” home.  At some point I would say goodbye to IKEA, and my twenties, forever.

Now I live in a “grown-up” home.  I did say goodbye to that futon sofa, but I’ve discovered that some IKEA items absolutely belong here!  And the funny thing is, it feels like my little secret.  Who would guess that side table, those bookshelves or those chairs are from IKEA?  Unless you are a twenty-something version of myself (who had the catalogue memorized), you wouldn’t.

Now, let’s talk about drapes.  If you have perused the drapery section of the Restoration Hardware catalogue recently, you may have noticed how ridiculously expensive drapes can be!  If you have perused the drapery section of the IKEA catalogue recently, you may have noticed how awesomely affordable drapes can be!..especially when you have as many windows as we do.  My go-to drape is the white cotton grommet top style from…yup, you guessed it, IKEA.  I have them hanging over just about every window in the house.

I lucked out with drapery rods because IKEA drapery rods are not ideal.  The previous owners left really nice Restoration Hardware rods behind, so naturally I put them to use.  I’m a firm believer in the power of drapes, and what they can do for a window and room.  In our case, I wanted to use them to make our windows look bigger and our ceilings look higher.  By re-positioning the rods an inch below the ceiling and extending the rods far beyond the edge of the windows, we got both larger windows and dramatically higher ceilings.

Check out the before and afters…

LIVING ROOM:

(The previous owner used this room as a dining room, but look at the drapes)

(We use it as our living room, but look at the drapes)

BEDROOM:

The previous owner hung drapes at just the size of the window.

 

 

I  moved the rod up to the ceiling and extended it a foot or two on each side of the window.

Tune in next time for a walk through our balcony garden.

Stairway to Haven

Our stairway has been screaming for some excitement since we moved in.  It’s been sitting blank and boring for far too long.  So, here is my weekend staircase project.  It actually took me two weekends to complete…well, a year and two weekends.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to stick with a neutral palette.  I first considered an all black and white scheme, and started collecting and gathering only black and white artwork.  But I decided some warmth would make a stronger connection between upstairs and downstairs.  Using a combination of brown, beige, black and white frames I was able to achieve my goal and still use all the black and white artwork.

Once I had a collection that was large enough, I went to work on some frames.  Years ago I went through a gold gilt frame phase.  Fortunately those days are over.  I spray painted the gold away without remorse.

With the artwork all framed, it was time for wall placement.  In the past I would have just eyeballed everything and started hammering away.  I mean who has the time, right?  Well, since I’m not hanging Gustav Klimt posters in a one bedroom apartment anymore, I decided I should think this through.  So, I dug out a Costco sized roll of wrapping paper and went to work.  By cutting out a piece of paper the size of each frame, it allowed me to arrange and re-arrange “artwork” on the walls without all the random nail holes.

Once I resolved the placement of each piece, the rest was easy.

I’m happy with the results, and see this as a great start to what I expect to be a continually evolving gallery.

We’ll get to those sconces in another post!

The Entryway

This is how the entryway looked when we bought the place…

I wanted to get more use out of this space, so I added a bench, some storage space and a coat rack. We still have an entry table for flowers and keys, but I think it’s used more efficiently than before.

New paint came first.

Decorator’s White by Benjamin Moore.

Rug came next.

The rug is from West Elm and was bought as a tester for the living room.  Turns out it was a perfect anchor for the entryway.

Addition of photos and entry table.

I enlarged four stunning photos my husband took during our cycling trip in Norway.  The table is from Room & Board…I think I need another one on the other side of the door, too.

For Like Ever

Color splash!

Tune in next week for Stairway to Haven.