Archive for August, 2009
Gail’s Design Dilemma
Gail’s living room is primed for a posh pink makeover. Here’s her letter:
I’m absolutely thrilled to have your expertise on board for the makeover of my living room (I have an unhealthy obsession with your blog!) I live in a modern apartment block here in the UK (Glasgow in Scotland to be precise) and all the rooms are fairly small & boxy. Sadly I don’t have direct access to stores like JC Penney and Target but you can make your usual magical suggestions (regardless of store location) and I won’t rest until I’ve found the nearest possible equivalent here in the UK. Also, my dad is visiting the US soon so he may be able to pick up some things for me. As you can see, there are full-length glass doors leading out to a dinky little balcony and a sliding wooden door to the kitchen. I live alone so don’t need lots of seating (the two chairs you can see never get sat on!). I’d be interested to hear any ideas for displaying my collection of large-format design books. My style is modern/ scandinavian/ mid-century/ boutique hotel chic. I like uncluttered, clean lines but don’t want the room to look too sterile. As for what can go – practically everything! I need to keep the flooring and TV. I’d also like to keep the plant. I’m happy to have new wall colour suggestions. Thanks in advance for taking on my little room – I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Very best wishes -Gail
This space will be completely unrecognizable when we’re through. In a good way. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
Burning Question: Co-Closets?
We got to thinking about sharing with your other half this week, especially when it comes to your closet situation. Do you each have a side or do you have completely different closets in the same room? Do you have one of those awesome walk-in dealies or a smaller space with all of your combined clothing jammed in? Or is the man relegated to a totally different room entirely (I feel your pain, that was me until we added our Ikea built-ins to triple our closet space). No matter the arrangement, do tell. Because we can’t all have this baby to call home to…
And speaking of closet arrangements, check out how we organize ours right here (nothing fancy, but it does the trick).
Image courtesy of The Bee Hive
Reader Redesign: Take A Load Off
Alison’s gorgeous chair makeover had us green with envy. We love that she noticed the stellar lines of these formerly mediocre pieces and transformed them in a big way. Here’s her letter:
I thought I’d send over the before and afters of a pair of awesome chairs that I got at an estate sale for $5 each and repainted, recovered, and now have in our living room! I saw one of the chairs first, liked it, was interested, walked away, and found another tucked away in the attic of the house. Half price on everything — SOLD! I got them home, dusted them off and spray painted them with some Satin Black spray paint and was off to find some fabric! I live near Minneapolis, MN and there is this awesome little fabric store hidden away called Crafty Planet and they had just what I was looking for: zebra animal print in my favorite yellowish green color. A few staples later and I had myself a set of awesome awesome chairs! Hope you enjoy! I sure am. Love the blog! -Alison
Isn’t that one fabulous double chair makeover? You can’t beat the DIY affordability- and they look like a million bucks! Thanks so much for sending the lovely and inspiring photos our way Alison! And if anyone needs a chair upholstery lesson here’s the play by play.
Eat Bright Freebie Winners!
So who else is hungry after reading this week’s entries to our Bright and Bold giveaway? I’m always curious to read what others do for lunch because I feel like I’m terribly boring and unimaginative (sandwich or chicken salad if it’s summer, soup if it’s winter). Though I am able to sneak home for lunch every so often since my office is only about 10 minutes away. It’s the closest Sherry and I come to recreating some of our first meals together as just co-workers taking lunch breaks together.
Before we get to announcing our three winners, let’s first announce that Bright and Bold is offering 15% off of all purchases between now and August 24th, just enter YOUNGHOUSE at checkout. That way you can snag a Fresh Snack Pack or a Klean Kanteen (or one of Bright and Bold’s eighty other bottle varieties in stock) at a discount. Woo hoo!
But for the biggest discount of ‘em all, we’ve got a totally free eco-lunch pack for three lucky readers. And this week random.org decided that the A’s should have it. Our three winners are…
- Arissa Mehta
- Amy Wolf
- Amy (she of little planning, but much faith)
We hope you three enjoy tons of reused lunches in the coming weeks. Well, I mean lunches involving reused bottles and bags. Not reused food. That’s just sounds gross. Unless they’re leftovers, I guess. Anyway, moving on…
If your name wasn’t on this week’s prize (perhaps because it didn’t start with A?), something tells us it might just be on the next one. And yes, there’s a hint about next week’s prize in that last sentence somewhere. Feel free to try to crack the code.
One Whirlwind Weekend
It’s about time we told you about our adventures this past weekend. In a little over 48 hours we traveled through four states, made four stops to see various family members and even hit up two Ikeas located nearly 400 miles apart. But out of it we got some fun new posts that’ll be coming atcha as soon as we’ve recovered enough to write them. Here’s a timelined recap of the who, where and what-were-we-thinking (!) of last weekend:
Friday, August 7th:
- 6pm: Kick off our trip by heading two hours north to stay with my parents overnight in Northern VA.
- 8pm: Have a nice, home-cooked meal and spend more quality time with my cousins’ new baby girl.
Saturday, August 8th:
- 8am: Leave Northern Virginia, headed towards New York City. Stop at Target to pick up baby gift for our new nephew John who we’ll be meeting for the first time that night (gotta love babies- and Target!)
- 9am – 2pm: Sit in various traffic jams in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Surprisingly, still arrive early to destination in New Jersey (for an annual family barbecue with Sherry’s family).
- 2pm: Kill time before BBQ starts by visiting Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ. Spend an hour scoping out all the new products and snapping inspiration pics. Collect images for an UPCOMING POST about what we’re digging at Ikea.
- 3pm: Make our way over to nearby family event where lots of eating, chatting and bocce ensues.
- 7pm: Another family dog arrives (named Yoda). Burger and Yoda do not get along. Burger makes lots of embarrassing sounds. We forgive him.
- 8:30pm: Say goodbyes at family picnic, head towards Manhattan with Almost-Dr. Dan and his new fiancee in the backseat. Brainstorm UPCOMING POST where Dan dishes more science-meets-home-decor advice.
- 9:30pm: After some unintentional detours around New Jersey, finally find ourselves headed over the George Washington Bridge to drop off the smarty-pants lovebirds at their apartment near Columbia. Head towards Inwood where my sister, brother-in-law and new nephew John await.
- 10pm: The Johns meet for the first time. Sherry and I instantly fall in love with our newest family member. Burger and their cat Lulu, however, do not seem as enamored with each other.
Sunday, August 9th:
- 10am: After remarkably sleeping through the night with a newborn in the next room (!) Sherry hops up early to snap photos of my sister’s kitchen remodel (before breakfast starts cooking) for an UPCOMING POST featuring the before and after of a tiny NYC kitchen nearly doubling in size. Here’s the room when it was completely gutted (don’t worry, it doesn’t look like that anymore…):
- 11am: Breakfast is quickly devoured because it was delicious, but also so we could squeeze in more time ooohing and aaahing over the new baby. It’s a miracle that we don’t smuggle him back to VA with us.
- Noon: Leave Manhattan and after a few more unintentional detours around New Jersey, finally get headed in the right direction on the NJ Turnpike.
- Noon – 6pm: Spend car ride absorbing new Ikea catalogue and calling my little sister Carrie to strategize decor for her new apartment (now that her job has transferred her from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia).
- 6:30pm: Meet Carrie and her roommates at Ikea in Woodbridge, VA to buy supplies to spruce up her new space (like we did for her last place). Here’s what we’re dealing with this time. Yes, it’s technically a sunroom and not a bedroom, and those are sliding glass doors that made her room completely visible to her other roommates (made being the key word in that sentence).
- 8:30pm: Arrive back at Carrie’s apartment in Arlington, VA. Get strange looks from concierge as we haul lots of tools and Ikea boxes past the front desk (not to mention a chihuahua hiding in a pooch purse)
- 8:30 – Midnight: Furiously assemble Ikea furniture, hang curtains, and do our best to work miracles in one of our most challenging rooms yet. Hit many many roadblocks. Fight exhaustion.
Monday, August 10th:
- 1am: Carrie’s room is finally finished. “After” photos are victoriously snapped for an UPCOMING POST. Two weary travelers and one semi-hyper dog hop back in their car for one last leg of the never-ending weekend trip.
- 3am: Get home. Check blog. Collapse.
- 9:30am: Wake up. Go back to work…
So that’s a rundown of our crazy weekend and all the exciting posts headed your way in the coming week. What about you guys? Did you do anything intense and exhausting last weekend? Anything in the hopper for this weekend? Do tell.
