Archive for November, 2008
Fab Freebie: R Home Giveaway
You guys asked for some giveaways and contests, and Sherry and I have been working hard to bring some your way – starting now!
Our good friends at R Home magazine, Richmond’s glossy source for home inspiration, are offering up two prizes to two winners. Each winner will not only get a one year subscription to R Home (where you’ll catch our regular column about fresh and fun DIY ideas) but also a yearlong subscription to Richmond Magazine, Richmond Bride and R Life. But wait, there’s more. Those two lucky winners will also receive a complimentary ticket to R Home for the Holidays. This inaugural event will feature holiday entertaining tips and tricks, a holiday marketplace, professionally decorated Christmas trees and book signings by Bon Apetite editor Barbara Fairchild and professional stylist Matthew Mead.
Oh yeah, and we’ll be there too – so we can hopefully meet you in person!
Entry is simple – just comment on this post with the words “PICK ME” to throw your name in the virtual hat (be sure to supply a valid e-mail address too, since that’s how we’ll contact the winners). We’ll select and announce two random winners (using random.org) next Monday, Nov 10th. So be sure to enter by Friday, Nov 7th at Midnight EST!
And we promise we’ve got more national (and international) giveaways on the way, so if you can’t be in Richmond to enjoy R Home for the Holidays, don’t get discouraged. Just stay tuned for more free stuff coming soon…
Christan’s Color Conundrum
When Christan wrote to us in search of a clean and current yet soft and subtle kitchen color scheme, we grabbed our paint swatches and got to work. Here’s her letter:
I’m so excited that I found your website! It has been so inspirational to read and I have many, many rooms I need consultations on! The first room that needs your help is the kitchen. You’ll see that there are a full set of cabinets on one side of the kitchen, and then on the other side, just past the fridge, are another row of cabinets. The cabinets are currently painted white and have become stained with coffee spills, etc from the previous owners. They are in desperate need of being repainted. What color combination would you recommend for the walls and for the cabinets? My fiancé, Dan, tends to have a very modern style and I tend to sway a little more towards French Country and warmer colors (although I love cool tones and neutrals, too). We need to find a happy medium… if that’s possible… between the two styles. Please keep in mind that I cannot afford to change the flooring or the counters at this time but we are planning to get new cabinet hardware soon and new appliances sometime in the future. Oh and eventually we will sell the house so please keep resale in mind when you’re developing the color palette. We look forward to hearing what you think! – Christan
Those walls are certainly bright against those white cabinets, so we’re sure this is going to be one of those insanely dramatic before and after stories. Of course we have to mention that the color schemes below look a heckova lot more dynamic in person, so bear with our paltry attempt to recreate them in Photoshop. The best thing for Christan to do is to grab all of the swatches that we recommend below and hold them up in her space to see which grouping suits her fancy. We can hardly wait to see what she picks (and of course peep the after pics!). So without further ado, three different color palette ideas to spiff up her kitchen in no time:
Here’s the color scheme breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
You Might Want To Sit Down
We hooked you guys up with an easy breezy chair upholstery tutorial a while ago, and we’re back with some more fabulous chair overhauls for your viewing pleasure.
John’s frequently mentioned sister Emily recently recruited me to go fabric hunting with her in hopes of stumbling upon the perfect new fabric to cover two old chairs with serious transformation potential. First we pounded the pavement to find the perfect complement to this sleek, low slung chair (with worn orange fabric that had seen better days). Here we are testing out a few swatches before calling the upholsterer:
And here’s the well dressed “after” proudly sporting a tiny black and white checkered fabric that gives off an overall gray effect with some movement (and a super fun pillow to keep things interesting):
But the upholstery party didn’t end there (in fact, we cleverly negotiated a discount rate thanks to the fact that we had two chairs that needed recovering). Here’s a chair that Emily and I discovered for a mere $15 at a thrift store (The Love Of Jesus, here in southside Richmond- and yes it’s really called that). The bones were there but it needed some major work. Here’s the granny-esque before:
And a progress shot after we spray primed and painted the wood a bright crisp white:
Then we sent her off the the upholsterer for a sexy little makeover (in ever so classic black suede) to compliment her new white paint job:
So there you have it. Two fab chair makeovers thanks to some timeless fabric selections and some much needed upholstery assistance (many thanks go out to our local upholstery guy Bruce Thorton: 437-8853). We hope you’ve been inspired to rescue a sad, droopy looking chair or two! If they have the right bones you’ll be well on your way to sittin’ pretty. And send us your chair makeover pics if ya got ‘em- there’s nothing like a little eye candy in the morning.
Tales From The Crypt
Ok, I wouldn’t really call it the crypt exactly, but we do have a couple of funny Halloween anecdotes to share.
#1: We don’t get too many trick-or-treaters, but we stuck around Friday night to hand out candy to the two dozen kids who braved our dark, sidewalkess street. Most of it was uneventful, except for the four pre-teen girls who were surprisingly obsessed with home decor. Instead of “trick or treat,” we opened the door to hear “we are in love with everything in your house.” We were a bit caught off guard, so we just smiled, nodded, and forked over some M&Ms. As we closed to the door we could still hear them mumbling about our interior design decisions as they moved on to the next house. Guess we’ll take the compliments where we can get them, even if they are from a group of twelve-year-olds dressed as fairies.
#2: Sherry and I didn’t dress up this year, but Burger sported a glow-in-the-dark skeleton t-shirt so at least one of us answered the door in costume. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a big fan of wearing it and sporadically burst into crazy, wiggling attempts to get it off. Luckily, we caught one such attempt on video. Enjoy:
Hope everyone had a great Halloween. And of course feel free to sound off about any and all goulish tales of your own.
Top Design: Eddie’s Exit
This week’s Top Design took some unexpected twists and turns. Nathan got a lukewarm reception, Ondine was praised and woah, did Eddie really just get the axe? I guess the judges felt his granny-chic designs (like his losing room below) were getting, well, old.
Were you guys sad/shocked/not surprised/gleeful? What do you think did him in? His aesthetic or his attitude? Do tell.
(PS: This also means that no one in our little contest guessed the top three contenders on the nose. And there are a few of you that should be grateful that Ondine managed to squeak through. Should be an interesting finale…)
