Archive for April, 2009
Burning Question: Yourself On A Shelf
Oprah has inspired me (how many guys have ever said that sentence?).
A few days ago, I was making dinner. Sherry was watching Oprah in the other room (i.e. drooling over Nate Berkus in the other room). That’s when I overheard Oprah say “I love seeing what’s on people’s bookshelves.” I realized I do too, and so does Sherry, so we thought we’d ask.
Pick a bookshelf or bookcase in your house and tell us 3-5 items on it that say the most about you (and why, if you’d care to explain). Maybe there’s a book you’re especially proud to have read, or one that you’re slightly embarrassed to own? Perhaps there’s a special family photo, travel souvenir or collection that you like to display? Or heck, it could even just be a decorative accessory that you think is especially telling of your style. We can’t wait to peek into your world through your bookshelf description. Sound off at the beep. Beep.
Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy.
It’s A Cinch Freebie Winner!
Well it sounds like you guys have a range of tips and tricks when it comes to dressing up your home in a flash, based on the comments left on our latest giveaway. But it seems to be some simple combination of cleaning (dusting, vacuuming), tidying up (emptying sink, hiding toys) and setting the mood (lighting candles, spraying air fresheners) for the most part. And although, EvY did bring up the cat lamp idea again (if anyone’s feeling adventurous), we’d highly recommend sprucing things up with this week’s prize from Fresh Leaf Designs instead.
The prize, as you recall, is one of Fresh Leaf Designs’ innovative Cushion Corset pillows that comes with a coordinating throw pillow for an extra punch of color. Our lucky winner will have their choice of these three sets (black, green or rose) so we’re very curious to see which set it will be. But I guess you guys are more interested in hearing about the big winner. Well, the randomly-selected lucky person is… Melissa Anderson. Congrats!
Melissa, we hope you’ll share your pillow pick with everyone (not to mention photos of them in their new home). And for everyone else, better luck next week. After all, this giveaway was a cinch but next week’s will be pretty E-Z too (hint, hint).
PS: Since we have Twitter to thank for this giveaway, we thought you might want to follow the mastermind behind these Cushion Corset pillows here: @freshleafdesign. And of course you can follow our decorating and home-improvement related musings right here: @younghouselove.com.
Got questions about this freebie? Learn more on our Giveaway FAQs page. Images courtesy of Fresh Leaf Designs.
Eve’s Design Dilemma: Solved
That’s right, we have after pictures for ya! We’re over the moon about Eve’s stunning dining room makeover and we’re here to share her amazing transformation. Back in February, Eve contacted us for some decorating help with her dining room, so we supplied paint color suggestions for the fireplace, wall, and trim around the room along with a few accessory ideas for the window and the table that would really make all the difference in her space (without breaking the bank). Here’s her letter:
When I first contacted you for help I promised myself that not only would I implement your recommendations immediately, I would also immediately send the after pictures. Here I am three months later – but I have an excuse… I cannot believe that such a simple thing like paint color can have such a grand effect. I LOVE MY ROOM NOW! The change was so immediate and so wonderful, I wish there was a way to capture the feeling of the room in my pictures. The new curtains made quite a difference too, and a quick trip to the basement helped me to uncover a white mirror I had purchased for my daugther’s room and never hung (it found a home on the fireplace wall). The paint colors you suggested are colors I would never have chosen, even as I made the purchases I was nervous of the end result. I’m so happy I trusted you. Walking into the house now gives me a sense of peace and order. At first my family and I felt like we were living in someone else’s house. Now we want the whole house to feel this way! You guys are awesome, THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! – Eve
Here’s the before picture of Eve’s dining room (she wanted our help making it more “glamorous and luxurious”):
And here’s the super fabulous after thanks to a few easy and affordable recommendations:
The difference is night and day, eh? But if you look closely you’ll see that it only took a few inexpensive changes to totally transform this room: painting that dated fireplace, bringing in a new wall color, adding a larger mirror above the fireplace, hanging new curtains and blinds on the window, and bring in a pretty tan runner to break up the large wooden table. And because we love a good budget breakdown, here’s Eve’s:
- Wall paint (Glidden’s Silver Plum): $23
- Fireplace paint (Glidden’s Ready Mix White): $23
- Mirror: free from basement
- Curtains & blinds (Ikea Ofelia Rund curtains, Target clearance jute blinds): $33
- Plants & planters in window (planters from Ikea): $28
- Tabletop accessories (from Pottery Barn & Ikea): $50
- TOTAL: $157
If that’s not proof that style is accessible at any budget, I don’t know what is. Fabulous job Eve! We actually also suggested that Eve stain or paint the table more of a mocha color but she has yet to tackle that project as she feels it’s a bit more involved than painting the walls or hanging new curtains! And although a darker table would really polish things off nicely in the future, we love the room just as it is- and we’re so thankful that Eve sent us the fabulous after pictures!
What do you guys think? Did Eve not do an amazing job executing the big dining room transformation?
Update: We sadly can no longer find the time to take on client commissioned mood boards (we now whip up general inspiration boards instead) but if we ever reinstate them we’ll make a big announcement!
How To Paint A Wood Deck Or Front Porch
At this point you’ve probably all seen the big front porch makeover that we recently completed for the 48-Hour Challenge with Better Homes & Gardens and Home Depot. And now we’re back with a super simple tutorial for anyone looking to spruce up an old timeworn wood deck or breathe new life into a seen-better-days front porch. Back when we decided to pull the paint trigger on our front porch, we actually opted to go with some subtle tan and cream stripes. Here’s how it all went down.
Step 1: Pick A Color… Or In Our Case, Colors. We took home a bunch of paint swatches and laid them out on the porch floor so we could look at them in the same natural light that the front of our house gets every day. Looking at a number of tan and cream swatches in place helped us to decide that Behr’s Harvest Brown (tan) and Ralph Lauren’s Greenwich (cream) were the perfect combination, so we had them both color matched to a gallon each of Behr Porch & Floor Paint (which is meant to handle foot traffic and exterior conditions). We were given the choice of a glossy paint finish or a flat one and we opted for the flat finish since we reasoned that it would be less slick in wet conditions so that’s definitely something to consider for your project as well (we’ve since marched around the deck in the rain and we’re happy to report that it’s the same texture as unpainted wood).
Step 2: Hose Things Down. You want your deck to be nice and clean before applying the paint, so you may want to scrub things down with a wood cleaner (available at Home Depot or Lowe’s) before you get down to the business of painting (especially if you have severe mildew or grease and oil stains anywhere on your deck or porch). Our deck was already pretty clean, so we just sprayed each plank down at close range with a hose and a nozzle that was set on “full spray” which blasted any pollen, old acorn pieces and other debris off of the deck for a nice clean slate. We also used a flat head screw driver to knock out any rocks or leaves from between the wood planks before we cracked open the paint. Here’s our porch right before we hosed her down:
Step 3: Protect The House. You’ll definitely want to use blue painter’s tape to tape off the side of the house that meets the deck or porch so you have no worries about getting any of your floor paint on the siding, stucco or brick facade of your home. This will give you a nice clean line when you remove the tape, and it’ll also make it a lot easier to paint each plank of wood without worrying about staying in the lines. At this point you can get out a good quality angled brush (it’s much better than a roller since it’ll get in the cracks between the wood) and your paint because it’s go time… as long as the deck is thoroughly dry from your hosing off session (the last thing you want to do is attempt to paint moist wood).
Step 4: Start Painting. In our case we had two colors of paint, so we opened them both and used two different brushes to apply each stripe of color (being especially careful not to mix up the brush and the correlating can of paint). Whenever you’re painting a floor you have to strategically start painting at a point that makes it easy to paint yourself out of the area, and in this case we started at one end of the deck and worked our way to the center where the stairs are:
Step 5: Keep Painting. I’m not gonna lie. The striped effect took a substantial amount of time, so just keep at it and paint each plank and listen to your iPod and get into a rhythm so you’re not constantly thinking “two down, fifty nine to go”- which can really kill the excitement factor.
Step 6: Plan Your Escape. I decided early on that in the case of our front porch, the best approach would be to paint myself to the front steps and then stop and restart from the opposite corner of the deck so I could finish by painting myself down the front steps and enter the house from the back door while the front dried. Due to the striped effect it meant one thing. It was IMPERATIVE that I correctly calculated which planks would be tan and which planks would be cream so I could accurately restart painting at the opposite end of the deck without messing up my pattern (I counted “tan, cream, tan, cream” down each plank three times just to be sure before I grabbed my brushes and went to town).
Step 7: Be Edgy. After I painted myself off the front porch, you can see in the picture above that I still had to paint the side of the wood planks all around the porch for a finished look. I opted to stick to tan on the sides of each plank instead of alternating so that only the top of the planks boasted alternating colors while the side/front of the decking was all tan for a crisp look (which was a lot easier to apply than alternating colors would have been).
Step 8: Dance it out. You’re Done! Once you paint the edge of your wood planks all around the perimeter of your porch or deck, you’re finished. Well, assuming one coat does the trick like it did with ours. We actually liked the subtly weathered look of one coat, but for a super solid and opaque effect you might want to apply a second coat 24+ hours later when it’s safe to walk on the deck or porch again.
Oh and you may have noticed two photos up that we’d previously painted the front of our steps and the wide plank of wood around the deck in the same tan tone that we used for our stripes. This is an excellent way to accent a front porch and break up a whole lotta wood, so if anyone’s on the fence about painting their entire porch or deck, painting just the fronts of the steps and the trim around it can be a super simple way to add a bit of crispness to your entryway. Here’s the before picture of the front steps totally bare last fall:
To keep the paint from getting on the actual planks of the stairs, you can tape things off or even use a piece of cardboard to block any drips or accidental swipes like we did below:
Here’s a picture of the front of the steps after we painted them tan along with the wood “front” that encircles the porch. It took less than an hour and we didn’t even have to use porch and floor paint since it didn’t need to withstand foot traffic (we just grabbed some leftover trim paint from the railings and went to town without spending a dime). The lesson? Whether you’re interested in adding a little bit of zing with some painted porch “trim”…
…or a whole lotta polish and personality with a painted (and maybe even a striped) porch floor, there’s really nothing hard about either process. If you can paint a wall, you can definitely paint a deck or a porch floor… and you’ll be doing the happy dance in no time.
Wanna learn more about floor painting? Check out two old tutorials to learn how to stain a concrete floor or even paint one for a more polished and finished effect.
Nice Rear
This weekend we went garden crashing. And it was totally legal. We jumped at the chance to tour a bunch of lovely backyard gardens thanks to Richmond’s annual West Avenue Garden Tour in the historic Fan district and we can’t wait to share the glorious eye candy. The Fan is a gorgeous downtown neighborhood (think brownstones with killer architecture and quaint little back gardens in the middle of the city) where many swanky people tend their swanky gardens.
And once a year they throw open their back gates and let total strangers like us poke around in their petunias! Here’s what we were loving this year.
This amazing yard had a gorgeous hand-carved arch that stood in the back of the space with breezy outdoor curtains, a babbling water feature, and even an outdoor couch for relaxing alfresco. Doesn’t it look like an exotic island paradise?
And just a few houses down this back garden boasted a gorgeous koi pond. Gotta love how they made such excellent use of a small, narrow space (that otherwise couldn’t be accessed).
This backyard had a built-in fireplace. Uh. Mazing. And we love the cheerful yellow and tangerine accent colors that were applied so liberally to liven things up:
Meanwhile, this garden reminded us that even with a smaller budget and a narrow area, four Adirondack chairs can come together to create a totally inviting outdoor room:
This rear view totally amazed us because they were in the process of training ivy to grow in a sophisticated x-pattern. Can you imagine the effort it took to create that perfectly balanced grid of wire? The ivy really seemed to be taking to the idea, though. We can’t wait to check on its progress next year…
This garden made us smile instantly thanks to the cheerful turquoise paint that was liberally applied around the perimeter. Talk about embracing a small space and making the most of the border.
This lovely archway was just dripping with feathery foliage. Imagine walking through that every day! I felt like Alice in Wonderland slipping through some magical door. So pretty. Note: nope, that’s not me in the doorway below, it’s just some other neighbor who’s happy to be traipsing through such lovely backyards. And look how cute and “Richmond” she is with her sun hat and Sunday dress.
Last but not least, this yard was less about weeding and watering and more about monkeying around. I actually took a cute picture of some sweet little girls playing on these hanging chairs, but this one of John just cracks me up. He was loving it more than the eight year olds.
So that concludes our little annual garden tour. We really loved how a shot of bright color instantly cheered things up and everyones instinct to go vertical in such a modest space really inspired us (with vines, hanging swings, arches, or trellises). All in all, another great garden tour. Just 362 days til the next one.
Jonesing for more mouthwatering back garden eye candy? Check out our pictures from last year’s West Avenue Garden tour right here.
