Archive for May, 2009
Olga’s Design Dilemma
Olga’s living room is ready for a major makeover. Here’s her letter:
I’m excited to get your help. I need to keep most of the furniture in here. I will be buying a new couch sometime in the near future, but it will be a light color sectional close to the one I currently have, so I would like to use this one for now. The media table and towers I recently bought and I like them, so I would like to keep them as well. The table can go, if it’s better to let it go, as can the art in front of the fireplace. I would like to use as much as I can of what is in the room, along with adding more accessories, but things can definitely go if they don’t fit in. I also purchased some medium brown shelves for the fireplace wall if you think one or more of them would add interest. The chair can go; it’s old. The walls I think are fine color and recently painted. I’m not even sure what style I like as I tend to like a whole lot of different things, but I really do like the way your house is decorated! I think I’m leaning towards traditional with modern twist and interesting items/decor. I don’t like red, multi colored things, flower patterned upholstery, and I do like big, bold, items, in neutral colors. I do need to stay on a budget as much as possible. Hope you can help! Thanks a lot! -Olga
This space is primed and ready for some sprucing. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
Reader Redesign: Nice Chest
When we saw the magic that Mindy worked on an old dresser we had to share the eye candy. Here’s her letter:
I love your website and eagerly look forward to reading it everyday. I just thought I would show you my dresser re-do! The hubs and I really needed a dresser but didn’t want to spend a lot. We like things that are solid and made really well. So, after finding this antique dresser on Craigslist I decided to fix it up. I took the handles off and filled the holes in, sanded the varnish off, primed it, then painted it with two coats of Behr’s “lime light.” Then I drilled the holes for the new knobs and lined it with contact paper. It was fun to do and I did almost everything in one afternoon (but left it to dry for 24 hours before putting the new knobs on). The dresser was $20, paint was $17, knobs were $19, contact paper was $5 which brings the total to around $60! Thanks for all your inspiration! -Mindy
Here’s the seen-better-days before:
And the amazing after:
Anyone who knows us knows that we like a crisp new paint job. And anyone who knows us well knows that we’re actively drooling over this fabulous transformation. Mindy, it looks absolutely amazing! You did a lovely job and the fun contact paper is the icing on the DIY cake. Thanks so much for sending the deeeelicious pics our way.
Burning Question: Sleep Around?
I think we can all admit that sometimes we get bored by our routines and occasionally feel the need to mix things up a bit. Right?
So that’s why we’re wondering if you guys, like us, ever cheat on your master bedroom and spend the night in another room of the house? Maybe you’ve wanted to test out the guest bedroom before the in-laws visit (is the mattress a dream or a nightmare?). Or a renovation has forced you to find another sleep spot for a few nights (like when our recent floor refinishing drove us to a mattress in the den). And we can’t forget the always fun adventure of camping in your own backyard…
We don’t own a tent, but we did celebrate a recent warm night by sleeping on the daybed in our sunroom. It was a good reminder that twin beds are not designed for two adults and a squirmy chihuahua. And that the sun comes up too early. But it was a little at-home adventure none the less. Enough about us – what’s your sleep around story?
Image courtesy of Tenneson Wolf via Flickr.
Sara’s Design Dilemma: Solved
Yessiree we have more mood board after pics for you! Can you hear how squeaky and excited my voice is about this development? No? Well, that’s probably a good thing. Here’s Sara’s letter:
We love our home office after following ideas from your mood board. The green, white & brown combo is perfect and we can’t thank you enough! And the closet, well, let’s just say I don’t dread anyone looking behind the curtain. Everything is in its place and if it isn’t (note the white organization drawers sitting on top of desk) then no one is the wiser! This room has easily become my favorite in our house! Thanks again! And I must confess that this room has been finished for a couple of months. So, this is my note to all other design dilemma peeps out there: if I can overcome my laziness and send in my pics, so can you- I’m not above begging for some of yours! Keep up the great work you two! -Sara
Let’s fire up the ol’ time machine and check out Sara’s office before our little mood board makeover:
And now let’s get back to the present day and feast our eyes on the oh so lovely after pics:
Didn’t Sara do a fabulous job? We’re so glad that her formerly empty office is now her favorite room in the house and we can totally see why. That organized closet is the stuff dreams are made of and that wide high-riding window looks balanced and welcoming with those lovely leafy curtains and the sleek white desk below. Thanks so much for sending the after pictures our way Sara!
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!
Ants In My Pans
Not in my pants. The situation wasn’t that dire. But about a week ago I awoke to find ants marching all over my kitchen counters and some of them even had the gall to traipse right across our lovely eco-friendly skillet that we had left on the stove to dry. Oh and speaking of our teflon-free/petroleum-free nonstick cookware set that we got this Christmas (a set of Greenware from Cuisinart cookware that we got from Bed Bath & Beyond), here’s the update that many people have been clamoring for: we’ve been using them regularly and can’t get over how awesome they are. Seriously, we love them and highly recommend them to anyone who’s looking to green up their kitchen.
But enough about our pots and pans. Back to the ant problem. Can you believe the nerve of those little buggers invading our kitchen as if they were the ones who spent 113 days without a functioning sink or stove during the renovation? Being truly reluctant to bring any toxins or poisons into our home (and especially into our kitchen) we resisted the urge to snatch up a bunch of ant baits, and instead we made like ants and let our fingers do the walking, er, marching. We just googled “natural ant remedies” and learned that there were a slew of non-toxic everyday items that we could use instead. Here are a few of the all-natural anti ant solutions that we found here.
- Sprinkle cinnamon where you see ants congregating to get them to back off speedily.
- Fill a squirt bottle with plain white vinegar or 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% water and spray down surfaces where you see ants a few times a day.
- Sprinkle black pepper wherever the ants are marching, taking care to find their entry/exit point and sprinkle pepper in that crack as well.
- Shaklee’s Basic H (a nontoxic soap made of soybeans) can be watered down and sprayed where ants are entering/exiting to keep them at bay (this formula may bubble paint so it’s best to use it on counters and other soap & water friendly surfaces).
- Placing bay leaves in corners and cracks where ants emerge can immediately run them off (and they can be left behind canisters and in corners for long-term ant repelling).
- Substituting garlic cloves for bay leaves is also said to work.
So which options from the delightful non-toxic menu above did we choose?
We went with a tasty black pepper and bay leaf recipe. We just sprinkled some black pepper around the counters and into the crack behind the counter where we clearly saw the ants emerging and then shoved a bit of bay leaf down the crack along with laying a few of them out on the counter. We loved that both of these dry ingredients wouldn’t threaten to stain our granite counters or compromise the safety of our cooking surfaces in any way. And the best part? It worked like a charm. No more ants in my pans.
Do you guys have any all-natural remedies to share with the group? How do you avoid bringing chemicals and poisons into your home while keeping it pest free? We live for this stuff so spill the (green) beans.
