Archive for July, 2009
Under My Umbrella-ella-ella-eh
Remember our fun playdate with Katie & Jeremy of All Bower Power back in May? Well, here’s a never-before-seen look at what happens when you put two female home bloggers in a room together. Within minutes they start ordering the boys around and before you know it you have a little mini makeover on your hands. For precisely zero dollars and zero cents.
But let’s back up. The room where the sprucing took place was actually Katie & Jeremy’s bedroom. Which is poetic since it’s the room that brought us together in the first place (we virtually met Katie back when she shared her bedroom makeover which was inspired by ours). We became fast friends and before we knew it we were spending a weekend in the guest bedroom, just steps away from the room that brought us together (happy sigh). Anyway, if you ask me the room already looked lovely when we arrived:
See? Gorge. But before I could even say “gor” Katie was a blur of motion, chatting about how she’d been meaning to move a few things around and how we should redecorate a bit together. Uh, where do I sign? So we called on the boys to lift a heavy dresser that was once in one corner of the room and place it in the other side of the space where a slipper chair used to be. Here they are demonstrating their masculinity. Then we just popped a mirror from the hallway and a vase on top to add height and bounce around even more light.
There, doesn’t that look nice? Now instead of entering into the side of the chair there’s a more open flow from the door into the room and even around the bed. But where would that slipper chair go? Why in the corner that previously housed the dresser of course. And we didn’t even need the boys for that task so they were dismissed to go watch some strange TV show about restaurants who serve giant pancakes and twenty pound burgers. We also added an old floor lamp Katie had laying around next to the chair, but it didn’t have a shade. Yet.
Then we decided to tackle that blank wall. We already borrowed a mirror from the hallway to put on top of the dresser so we were fresh out of things on hand to hang. Until I stumbled upon an old parasol tossed in a basket in Katie’s office. Katie explained they were actually left over from her wedding day and she had quite a few laying around. And then we both got the same glimmer in our eyes and decided to make a little 3-D art with it. Katie took me down to her basement (yes, people used to speculate that she might hold me captive there if I ever visited her but that was far from the actual course of events) and we got to work playing around with power tools. And you bet your buns we didn’t call the boys for help. When it comes to power tools we’re all about girl power:
As you can see, we cut the stem of the parasol off so it only protruded about three inches from the wall. And then we flipped it over to see if there would be a way to hang it from the opposite side so that super cool string pattern inside of the parasol could face out into the room. Lucky for us, peeling back the paper on the top nub of the parasol revealed a small hole which was perfect for slipping over a nail that we could hammer into the wall to hold it in place.
Here’s Katie getting her hang on. Oh and check out the light. Although we didn’t find a drum shade while we ran around readying the parasol for sculptural status in the room, we did see a blue wire basket candle holder (pictured a few photos up on the brown ottoman to the right of the chair) and placed it atop the floor lamp to create a cool wire “shade” that was just as graphic and linear as the parasol we hung behind it.
Then we did a quick pillow change for a bit more contrast with the tan chair (which happens to be the same Dolce Lounge Chair from Target that we have in our living room and den) and presto. A sweet little reading corner (or a place to toss clothes if you’re me). And all for no money and a bit of weird blogger x 2 creativity. Ah the memories.
Sure a parasol probably isn’t usually used as art and a metal candle holder isn’t typically thought of as a lamp shade substitute… but we had too much use-what-you-have fun not to share our odd little corner creation. And that my friends, is the magic of fostering internet relationships with strangers and then agreeing to a three day sleepover.
Wanna see me and Katie Bower in almost-3D? We whipped up a fun little table setting video that you can laugh at/watch right here. Let the mispronunication and potty humor begin!
Fab Freebie: Stick It
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries***
After practically living and breathing home improvement and general house sprucing for the past three years (and blogging about it non-stop for nearly two) it sometimes feels like we’ve considered how to transform every nook and cranny of our space. But when this week’s giveaway sponsor contacted us, we suddenly realized there was one surface that we had overlooked…
Kodu Design makes custom graphic stickers of all sizes, and therefore practically all surfaces, but they specialize in designs for laptops and refrigerators (yes, refrigerators) so this week we’re giving away some pretty amazing instant art.
Our six lucky winners will be able to choose from the variety of graphics and colors shown on Kodu’s product page - from crisp stripes for your computer to an oversized fork for your fridge. These removable stickers (did your ears perk up, renters?) might just be the perfect way to breathe life into an aging machine or add some extra punch to your workspace or counterspace. Or you could go rogue and use the large fridge sticker for another big surface in your house, like this decal-turned-showstopping-backsplash. Ah-mazing.
- PRIZE: A graphic laptop decal (valued at $14) OR a side-by-side fridge decal (valued at $134) in any design on their site.
- TO ENTER: Comment either “STICK IT TO MY COMPUTER” or “STICK IT TO MY FRIDGE” depending on which prize you prefer and tell us…
- BONUS QUESTION: … how you’re currently bringing some personal flair to your computer or fridge? Maybe it’s a simple desktop wallpaper that makes your day? Or a photocollage on your fridge?
- GIVEAWAY CLOSED: Friday, July 24th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: Six lucky winners will score one of five laptop stickers and one refrigerator decal.
- PRIZE SHIPS: Globally- so everyone’s in on the fun this time.
- THE USUAL: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Saturday. Good luck!
Get more info on our freebies at our Giveaway FAQs page. Images courtesy of Kodu Design.
Easy Upgrade: Dish It
If you have marble or granite in your kitchen (and even if you don’t) keeping oil rings from seeping into your counters is definitely an important war to wage when it comes time to cook. But we’re too lazy for all that obsessive wiping and worrying, so we devised this super easy “system” to keep any oil that drips down the bottle well away from our counters once and for all:
Yes, it’s just a simple white square dish placed under our bottles, so even if we don’t thoroughly wipe them before setting them down, they’re sure never to drip on our beloved granite counters again. We like to keep things that we use so often right out on the counter at arm’s reach, so it’s really a nice solution to not only keep oil rings at bay, but also to help three disparate bottles look tied together and polished. Gotta love how one dish-turned-oil-bottle-tray = instant organization.
The best part is that it’s a dish we already had laying around so the cost of this easy upgrade was zero dollars and zero cents. So that’s our intro to a totally new category that we’re calling “Easy Upgrades.” Do you guys like the idea of fast and affordable ideas that you can implement in a snap? We’re all about DIYing something fabulous, but sometimes switching something out or slapping something down is all it takes to add function and beauty to your home. Do you have any of your own easy upgrades up your sleeves? We’d love to hear what types of quick fixes make your home a better place!
