Archive for January, 2009
Real Simple Art
Just had to share the latest little addition to our desk. While browsing Real Simple magazine, I was struck by one of their “inspirational quotes”- so struck that I actually tore it out. Then I found an old frame leftover from John’s college years in our “decor store” (a kitchen cabinet where we store lots of vases, frames, candles, and other home accents for easy rotation whenever the mood strikes- it’s like shopping at home) and popped the magazine cut-out inside:
Isn’t that a sweet little quote? I love the peaceful image and the simple sentiment so much. And now it’ll serve as a daily reminder that life is good. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and (most importantly) each other. It’s always nice to remember that we don’t need an abundance of stuff to make us happy. You know what they say: mo money, mo problems. And best of all this little smile-inducing work of desk art was absolutely free. Further proof that money doesn’t buy happiness.
UPDATE: Don’t have any issues of Real Simple hanging around? You can download their free Daily Thought Wallpapers for your computer’s desktop here. They’ve even got one for this “Happiness” quote that we love, but a heads up that the photo’s different for some reason. Enjoy!
Dear Kitchen,
Even though it’s been a full 12 months since you were finally completed, we appreciate you just as much as we did back on day 1 (yes, even after those 4 challenging months of eating fast food every night). So a few words of thanks…
Thank you for being our home’s centerpiece. You’re beautiful (but we’re your parents, so of course we’d say that). You set the bar high for our house, and gave us the motivation to make sure the other rooms were up to par.
Thank you for introducing flow into our home. You can try to gloat about having the widest doorways in the house, but that’s not about you – it’s about you making it easier for us to breeze through you, letting us hear each other from across the house and (my favorite) allowing me to watch TV from the stove. Speaking of which…
Thank you for enduring my attempts at cooking. For the most part, you help make those attempts more successful (bless you bonus prep space and storage for extra pans). And when they’re not, your dishwasher makes cleaning up my disastrous culinary messes a lot less embarrassing.
Thank you for turning us into bloggers. We figured you were worth sharing with the universe, and lucky for us, the universe cared enough to listen. Young House Love owes you one.
And, most of all, thank you for being done. Designing you and watching you come together was fun, exciting and educational- but it was really, really exhausting.
As we hear about my sister and her husband’s current kitchen remodel or read about other bloggers going through theirs, we’re excited for them… but can’t say we’d die to be in their shoes. But we’d happily join them in admiring their new, beautiful kitchens once they’re done (and eat any leftovers they care to share).
So dear kitchen, thank you. Here’s to a delicious year #2.
Love, John & Sherry
Reader Redesign: From Granny To Glammy
When we feasted our eyes on Rhoda’s guest room overhaul, we could only describe the transformation as dramatic. Here’s her letter:
I really enjoy reading your blog & congrats on the success and press you’ve gotten this past year! I know you have asked for redesigns before from your readers, so I thought I’d share a recent project with you. This is my newly redone guestroom, which I titled From Granny to Beachy Glam. In its before state, I just used some old linens that I had to make the room comfortable as a guestroom for a couple of years. Then, I found a great black/white damask comforter set (at a yard sale) and that got the ball rolling on the whole room redo. Thanks a bunch, and enjoy! – Rhoda
Here’s the before:
And the super swanky after:
What a change, eh? And to think that Rhoda found a few things at yard sales along with hitting up discount stores like TJ Maxx (her entire budget came in under $500!). We also love that she repurposed things to work with her new design (she painted the bronze mirror in her before pic, and also slipcovered the chair in the corner). Gotta love a makeover that’s industrious and cost effective. Thanks so much for sending your before and afters our way, Rhoda! We do love a dash of zebra in the afternoon…
The Simple Life
I don’t know if it’s the economy, the downsizing trend or just my obsessive compulsive personality, but lately we’ve been more into living with less than ever before.
From paring down our closets and cabinets for a soul-cleansing Goodwill run, to sorting our files and folders in an attempt to whittle down our paperwork, we’ve officially been bitten by the “it’s-a-new-year-so-lets-organize-the-whole-house-for-real-this-time” bug. But not only do we find ourselves striving for a clean house with everything in its place. Lately I’ve actually been craving less. Less to buy. Less to clean. Less to store. Less to use.
For example, here’s what we now see when we step into the shower:
We recently realized we both liked the same shampoo and conditioner (Burt’s Bees) so why not stop buying our own bottles and share? Purchasing a single bottle of each breaks the constant cycle of someone needing shampoo or conditioner every time we go to Target (or worse, someone thinking they do and realizing they don’t when we get home). And using the same body wash (Jason) allows us to pick up a jumbo sized bottle every once in a blue moon which saves us money, time spent replacing smaller bottles more often, and even cuts down on packaging waste. We also share a loofa, a bar of face soap, and a pumice stone (ok, the last item’s all me) so other than the razor (also all me) there’s nothing else cluttering up our shower or frequently appearing on our shopping list. Just the small decision to share shampoo, conditioner, body wash and a bar of soap has seriously cleaned up our act in the shower. But there are a few more places that we’ve opted for less. Update: we’ve since switched over to Avalon Organics shampoo & conditioner and Dr. Bronner’s body wash (which is even more natural) and we love it!
Thanks to a lot of our eco-related changes, pairing down in a few other areas has gotten downright automatic. Relying only on Seventh Generation laundry detergent (no bleach or fabric softener) makes shopping for laundry products few and far between (and makes storing a single bottle a breeze).
And now that I only use all natural eco-friendly and organic makeup, I find that I no longer amass a pile of new products in my makeup bag that I never use. Presto- no more impulsive purple eye shadow or bubble gum pink lip gloss purchases that seemed like a good idea at the time. I’ve also permanently passed on painted fingernails (and painted toes most of the time) and must admit that I love the clean and never-chipped-and-in-need-of-a-touch-up look. Of course there are water based non-toxic formulas (like Honey Bee Gardens and Zoya) but something about completely eliminating that expense and the time it takes to maintain painted fingers & toes feels like more of a gift to myself than polished ones ever did. And I still keep ‘em clipped and buffed for a polished appearance so I hardly feel like I’m “letting myself go.” Not that John would even notice if I was (love ya for that, honey!). And in the rare event that I do paint my toes, I use one of three vegan non-toxic polishes that I own (soft pink, deep red and punchy coral are all the colors I’ll ever need). No more spending money on the trendy hues or having to store dozens of bottles.
Here’s another example of the simplicity bug. Ladies (and gents?), I give you my makeup bag:
You’ll have to excuse my $5 fake Louis purchased in Chinatown over six years ago (can you believe the zipper still works?) but the point is that all the makeup that I own lives in this little bag. It’s not a travel bag, it’s my only bag (which makes it easy to pop into the suitcase when we do hit the road) and it only holds a handful of tried and true products that get me through the day and the occasional fancy schmancy event.
Here it is all emptied out:
Organic Wear bronze and blush (in recyclable paper containers) not only add a bit of color to my too-pale face, but the bronzer also doubles as shimmering tan eye shadow when applied with the little padded brush. Then I just curl the ol’ eyelashes, slick on some mascara and polish things off with a little brow gel and I’m good to go. I’ve never been great with anything like liquid liner or fake eyelashes, so for those of you who are, maybe I don’t know what I’m missing. But either way, my simplified makeup bag facilitates super speedy makeup application, which actually results in my looking more polished than ever before, thanks to a streamlined process that actually appeals to an on-the-go girl like me.
In short, I’ve never felt like less of a slave to beauty products. Or hair products and perfume for that matter. I’ve always been a wash and wear girl, so hairspray and pomade have never been my thing, but I’ve recently made the decision to forsake perfume as well (after years of somewhat religious use). All those chemical fragrances can be irritating and can actually contribute considerably to indoor air pollution, and I actually love the smell of my organic soaps and lotions so I hardly miss the alcohol-riddled scent of perfume hanging in the air before I leave the house. And now there are entire sections of magazines about makeup, perfume and polish that I can gloss over entirely. I can’t tell you how nice it is to not always want everything I read about.
By choosing to covet less (and only buy organic and all natural) it cuts way down on the products that can jump into my cart on a whim. And it doesn’t feel like I’m missing out on anything at all, on the contrary, it feels like I’m gaining so much more. A healthier and more pure lifestyle, closet and cabinet space to spare, more moolah in my wallet, and extra time that I can spend doing things other than shopping and obsessing over every new product to hit the shelves.
It’s official. Life is good when it’s simple. And I’m dying to know what you guys do to make life easy and live with less. From sharing products and even making your own to forsaking certain things and purchasing specific items in bulk, we’d love to know what you guys are doing to clean out your closets (and your lives) for 2009! Dish the less is more dirt.
*Check out this great post over at decor8. There’s something in the air! Everyone’s getting back to basics.
**For an exhaustive list of our favorite certified organic/all natural/chemical-free products, check the comment section of this post for specific names of everything that we use and love.
Erica & Keith’s Color Conundrum
When Erica and Keith called on us for some hue help, we grabbed our paint decks and got right to work. Here’s their letter:
We’re looking for colors for our kitchen/living room, cabinets, and trim. I’d like to paint the top and bottom cabinets different (but well suited) colors assuming you think this is a good idea. Another question- would you paint the knotty pine wood panels in the kitchen? We are considering painting the walls in the kitchen, living room, and pantry “Hanging Moss” by Valspar, but we’re open to other ideas. I find our pine wood floors a bit brassy, and would like to choose wall and cabinet colors that tone it down some. We love the Hanging Moss because it is warm and semi-neutral without being gray. We also love creams, beiges, greens, and golds. We’re indifferent to blues but would consider the right one for accent color. We love warm and neutral colors that lend themselves to natural outdoor scenes. – Erica & Keith
We love the view of the living room from the kitchen (and not just because there’s an adorable pup in the pic). And we actually think the paneling can work in this space (with some well selected colors around it). So we whipped up three color palettes (two that leave the paneling unpainted, and one that calls for a coat of color) for Erica and Keith to choose from . Oh look, here they are now:
Now for the disclaimer: each of the recommended paint chips should be brought into the space and viewed in the room since the color depictions above are only as accurate as your monitor (and not nearly as rich and vibrant as the real thing). Oh and it bears mentioning that we recommend white trim for each of the following palettes and each tone that we suggest for the wall color is meant to be carried over into the adjoined living room and pantry. Now on with the show. Here’s the color scheme breakdown.
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