Archive for September, 2010
Switching Swatches
John and I were both staring at our stack of Martha Stewart paint swatches and almost simultaneously the light bulb went on. Why not have some fun with them on our postcard wall in the office? One of our favorite features about that wall is how easily it can be switched out at a moment’s notice. So here’s what the ol’ postcard wall looked like before we went swatch crazy:
And here it is now, after we added some fun rectangles of color for a nice change of pace:
MMmmmm, I just love staring at all of those rich hues. Seriously, we’ve never been so inspired.
Of course the postcards will be back soon, since we love to rotate things around and keep it interesting in there. But for now we’re loving all the delicious hues that we stuck up for our enjoyment (for $0, which is always a plus).
Oh and we just leaned them against the wall (and thanks to the notch that John routed with his Dremel they have stayed put) but you could also use white sticky-tack to keep them in place if you’re taking on a similar project and worry that they’ll blow around.
So what do you guys think? Do you have a favorite color out of the bunch? Have you created any free art or other home decor with paint swatches from your local home improvement store? Share and share alike.
Psst- Wondering how we made our post card shelves? Learn how here. And check out the full office makeover reveal here.
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Olympic Color: Freebie Winner
Ok, now it’s time to find out who’s about to get painted thanks to this week’s giveaway from Olympic. And hopefully you guys had fun playing with the ColorClix tool like we did. Anyone come up with any great or unexpected color combos?
As for our winners, we’ve doused random.org in zero VOC paint and it revealed the names of the three folks who are getting a room full of paint…. Mira Williams (who has some paneling to brighten up), MLJ (who has a patched living room wall that needs painting) and Margie M (who has two new grandkids on the way, meaning two nurseries to paint). Congrats everyone! We’d love to know what colors you’ve got your eyes on.
And don’t worry if you didn’t win this week. Monday’s giveaway is coincidentally also paint related, but it comes from an artist unlike any that we’ve ever seen. Stay tuned…
See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from Olympic Paints.
Mood Board Making: Smoky & Sophisticated
We’re back with our weekly mood board and this time we tackled a serene and gender neutral bedroom full of moody grays, blues, yellows and whites. From clothing storage to display space for jewelry, books, and more, we really tried to squeeze in a ton of function without breaking the bank (affordable Ikea furnishings definitely kept the make-this-room-yours cost down). And we love how the happy doses of yellow add a bit of energy – so it might be a smidge easier to slide out of bed – while the muddy grays and blues paired with sleek white furnishings really keep the room feeling breezy and restful.
1. When it comes to the color scheme, we’d love to see dark charcoal grays, pops of lemon yellow, and a few dark wood pieces mixed with some crisp white furnishings. Painting the walls in the subtle blue-gray color (Benjamin Moore’s Silver Lake 1598) that we added as a thick stripe across the top of the mood board would add instant depth and moodiness- plus it would look amazing with crisp white trim and doors. And you might notice that the numbers in the board are a rich navy tone, which can definitely be added to the scheme if yellow, grays, and whites aren’t enough hue for your liking.
2.These geese ($25 a pop) would add energy and movement along with a sweet serene feeling to the space, especially when hung in a cluster above the white dresser(s).
3. This plate (under $8) would be a nice splash of our accent color when placed atop the dresser to display jewelry and watches in a charming and casual way.
4. This print ($21) and this print ($29) would look gorgeous hanging on the wall… or even leaning on the wall atop the bookcases that we’re about to mention.
5. Two of these bookcases ($129 each) placed directly behind the bed’s headboard will create a stylish and functional feature wall (and painting the wall behind them two shades darker than the rest of the room, Benjamin Moore’s Timber Wolf 1600, will really add posh dimension and interest). Then just load them up with books, baskets, and accessories like planters, vases, candlesticks, and other beloved collectibles in tones of gray, white, blue and yellow. A good friend of mine has two bookcases behind her bed’s headboard (kind of like this) and it really does make such an amazing impact and create a ton of storage and display space. And thanks to the bed having a built-in headboard there’s no worry that you’ll lean back into something on the shelves.
6. This bedding ($79 for a king sized duvet) works perfectly with our scheme- and the price for such a large duvet is pretty darn good.
7. Two of these striking and sophisticated yellow clip lamps can be attached to the bookcases behind the bed so they shine down for easy in-bed reading just like wall-mounted sconces (without the complicated wiring).
8. This sleek and affordable dresser (just $79.99) provides tons of budget-friendly storage – and can even be placed next to a second dresser of its kind for the look of a spacious 6-drawer piece.
9. This chic patterned rug that doesn’t break the bank (just $179 for a 6 x 8′) complements everything from the comforter to the wall color while adding some nice texture and geometric interest when it’s placed under the foot of the bed. Then hanging crisp white curtains (Ikea sells a number of affordable options) would finish things off nicely. Of course soft yellow or even gray and yellow banded curtains would work too. Or for anyone looking to add extra drama, rich velvet navy curtains along with a navy throw at the foot of the bed would add yet another hue to the room for that super luxe look.
So there you have a sophisticated and wallet friendly bedroom in a box- er, board. In fact, adding up every item in this board along with an additional $20 for paint and $20 for Ikea curtain panels brings the whole-board total to just $909. Not bad considering you can spend that much on two bookcases and a dresser alone – and we also squeezed in a rug, two lamps, tons of wall art, paint, curtains, and even a jewelry tray along with those three major furnishings. Does anyone out there have anything else they’d love to link to that would work well with this bedroom setup? Is anyone planning to snag anything in the board for their own sleeping space (send us pics please!). Is anyone already enjoying a gray, yellow, navy, and white palette in one of their rooms? Do tell.
Easy Upgrade: Side Table Tweaking
Sure it might just be a small change, but sometimes switching up the way a table functions can really make all the difference. And our house is not a museum. Pillows and accessories are swapped out all the time, and nothing’s too precious to get relocated or edited down whenever the mood strikes. So as our life evolves (ex: we added a baby girl to the mix and John now also works from home) we like make sure our house evolves with us. Which meant it was high time we reevaluated the way that we use our side table in the den. Here’s what it looked like back when we introduced it to the room (read about that here and how we built the table here):
The only functional needs that we had at that time for the table were:
- A spot for a notebook (I like to jot down ideas in the evenings while we’re sitting on the sofa watching TV or reading)
- Room for a drink (which could easily be accommodated)
- A place to display some decorative items as well as a stack of “keeper” magazines for reference
- A plant for the air purifying perks that it adds to the room
But our lives and the way that we use that side table have changed over the last year and a half. So our once useful and clean table was left looking like this:
Yikes! Clearly the old table setup wasn’t meeting our new-ish needs. So we had to reevaluate what we really wanted:
- A container to store all of that unsightly junk out of view
- Fewer decorative items to free up more space to drop a teething toy or an errant rattle
- A spot for a snack (snacking on the go is definitely something we do these days)
- A coaster to indicate exactly where a drink should go (no more wiping up after glasses that sweat on the table)
- A stack of “keeper” magazines for reference
- A plant for the air purifying perks that it adds to the room
So here’s the newly tweaked table as it looks today. We pared down the mags, removed a lot of the decorative items, and placed the notebook on the nearby desk (now that a lot of space has been freed up over there since we moved my computer into our new home office). Then we added a few new items like a clutter hiding box and a coaster. Thank goodness for concealed storage huh?!
Granted, adding a decorative capiz box isn’t rocket science, but sometimes something that simple can really clean things up and make for an autopilot tidy look. But it did take a bit of creativity to get everything that I needed to fit into said box (which is an old Target purchase of yore by the way).
First I went through all the clutter from that insane before shot and paired it down to just the things that we actually used on the regular. For example, the bulb syringe could be put back in the bathroom since it didn’t need to be in the den at all times. The thermometer could be moved to the bathroom too, but because we already had one in the bathroom (and I’m paranoid enough to take Clara’s temperature once a week or so when I think she’s feeling warm) we decided to keep the spare one in the den. So other than cutting out the bulb syringe, we decided to do our best to accommodate everything else.
I’m on a few postnatal vitamins these days so the only way I remember to take them is at night when Clara’s tucked into bed and John, Burger, and I are decompressing with a bit of TV. But I reasoned that I didn’t need to keep both vitamin bottles and the tin vitamin sheet on hand (since all three would never fit into the box). Instead I found an old Target bottle (from an ancient prescription that we no longer needed) and filled it with all three types of vitamins. Now I can easily take them each night without devoting half of the side table to my vitamin bottle and tin collection. I was also happy to see that the nail file (Clara has some crazy sharp nails!) would fit, along with a few other things that we appreciate having nearby. Yes, I do floss on the sofa every night. Right after taking my vitamins.
The point is that I’m weird, but my side table meets every odd need that I have now that we’ve removed some things and added a few others. And it didn’t cost a thing or take more than about a half an hour to decide what functions I wanted to gain (and lose) and to reorganize things accordingly. Oh and you’ll notice that we have the pistachios in two nested ceramic bowls. This is because it’s so much easier to bring both bowls over to the sofa when we want a snack and use one bowl for the empty shells while we pick pistachios from the other. So there’s a nut-eating trick for you. What don’t we cover here at YHL?
Oh and it’s worth mentioning that anyone with little people who are a tad more mobile than Clara should be careful to store things like nail clippers and vitamins out of reach- safety first! On another note, just to show you what I’m dealing with these days, here’s an outtake from the photoshoot for this post. Yes, John thought it would be funny to duck into a shot with Clara and then run away. Oh the hilarity.
But it looks like Clara approves of the new side table sitch. What about you guys? Have you corralled a collection of pills in one bottle to cut down on wasted counter space? Does anyone else floss on the sofa? What are your necessary items to have on hand? Lip balm is a given right? That’s my one non-negotiable-must-have. What’s yours?
Reader Redesign: From Library to Living Room
I worked in a library all through high school, which means that things like microfiche and the Dewey Decimal System have a special place in my heart. So of course I was excited about this DIY project from Jeremy & Adrianne that involved turning a Craiglists find from an old public library into a signature piece for their dining room. Here’s Jeremy’s letter:
My wife Adrianne and I love your site. I thought I would send in our before and after pictures as we took a vintage Phoenix Public Library card catalog (purchased on Craigslist for $150) and turned it into a buffet for our dining room. Here’s a quick breakdown of what we did:
- Removed the 72 drawers, numbering each with tape as we went so we could place it back in the correct corresponding spot
- Removed the outside plywood casing of original cabinet
- Separated the four sections of 18 slots that were stacked 4 X 1 and reacquainted them with each other in a 2 x 2 buffet setting. Screwed the sections back together.
- Purchased two 4′X8′ sections of oak plywood and had Lowe’s cut them to size for free. These would be the new top and base, but we used the original casings for the sides to preserve the character of the piece since they have great splits and dents already.
- Secured 8 legs purchased from Lowe’s for $8 each to base sheet of plywood in a diamond pattern (the card catalog is probably 350 lbs so we were really really relieved when the base withstood all of the weight.)
- Added 3/4″ trim purchased from Lowe’s and cut at home with our miter saw, then patched the nail holes with wood putty.
- Sanded, re-sanded, and sanded a little more to smooth things out.
- Painted with Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer in one from Home Depot (a blueish gray color call Rhino).
- Then we rubbed some stain (Minwax Dark Walnut 2716) all over with a small brush and a few rags to give the antique look, followed by a little more sanding and then some Minwax Wipe On Poly to seal it.
- Lastly we placed all the original hardware back on each drawer, moved it into place and we now have this great, extremely unique buffet.
We keep bottles of wine in one section, napkins and utensils in another, and still have many drawers to fill with whatever will fit. It was a tough project since the unit was so heavy but we are so happy that we put a little time, a little energy, and a few dollars ($345 to be exact) to have this great conversation piece. -Jeremy and Adrianne at The Lentine Family
We’re totally digging this transformation (not to mention the meticulous refinishing that went into it). And it’s fun just to think that if we were ever lucky enough to score a similar discarded card catalog we could fill it with tons of fun stuff (from Clara and Burger’s collection of toys to Sherry’s extra lip balm tubes and my favorite ties and belts). Great work you guys- it’s a total showstopper akin to some 3K piece from Restoration Hardware or Anthropologie (but it’s even more one-of-a-kind). What do you guys at home think? Isn’t it quite the makeover? Who’s craving a trip to the library?
Psst- Don’t forget to check out our weekly BabyCenter post right here. We switched up Clara’s art wall again- we just can’t help ourselves!
