Archive for February, 2011
She’s here…
First things first. We have a furniture name change to attend to. Our giant 70″ dining table arrived (you know, the one we blathered on and on about here), and he just can’t be called Woody. Because he’s obviously not a he, he’s a she. Given her elegant lines and curvy figure, I don’t know how we ever could have made that mistake. We finally landed on Stella as her new moniker because she’s definitely a stellar addition to the future dining room. Har har. And since we already have Ed (the bed) and Karl (the sectional), I felt like I needed a lady-friend to balance things out.
Update: Everyone’s asking about the paint swatches in the background – but they’re actually really old. Here’s that post for ya.
And here’s the varied carved top that I described more here. It’ll be great for hiding those dings and dents that happen when you live with kiddos. And when you yourself aren’t known to be the most coordinated person in the world. I may have had one or two incidents involving flying salad tongs in the past.
The great thing is that although the top has a nice rough texture – and it’s made of super durable (and sustainable) sheesham wood - that gorgeous hand-carved look isn’t so “dented” (for lack of a better word) that you can’t balance a glass on it or you worry that crumbs will get stuck in the crevices. We’d best describe ‘em as nice mild waves.
We also love that the base isn’t as invasive as something with legs (or even a leggy-pedestal) could have been. So once we pull eight apple green upholstered chairs around it, no one will end up straddling a leg throughout the meal. Nice.
Yup, Stella is nothing if not balanced and poised. She instantly created that casual and inviting vibe that we were going for in the future dining room. We centered her right on the giant picture window, which still leaves some room on the other side of the room to create a nice defined entryway so it doesn’t feel like you’re walking right into the middle of a dining room. And once we add our 6′ opening between the kitchen and the future dining room (which we plan to line up with the picture window for some nice balance) and drop a chandelier or pendant over the table we think it’ll really be a huge improvement.
But back to Stella. Her welcoming round shape isn’t too stuffy, but it’s still classic and even luxe looking thanks to the rich-toned wood (we really really wanted a wood toned table over something painted so it could get weathered and loved over the years while wipeable chairs and colorful art and curtains could add some punch and interest around our big round table). And speaking of those chairs, I’m convinced that Stella will look endlessly more fab when we pair her with some fun apple green leather (or faux leather) parsons chairs down the line. I may have mentioned them, oh, seven or eight times. I’m thinking something like this after we build up the ol’ bank balance. I just love the idea of mixed and matched dining furniture so it feels casual and kind of library-esque (thanks to upholstery instead of lots of wooden chairs paired with a similarly toned wood table). Because let’s face it. This room will definitely multitask as a big surface where kids will do crafts and school projects and all that good stuff. At least if we’re lucky, because I painted that quaint little picture in my head and I want it to actually happen.
Anyway, enough soul baring and dream sharing for now. Until we get those green chairs, Stella will just be hanging out in the middle of our future dining room alone. That is once we figure out where those slipper chairs that used to be in the living room will end up. And after we finally craigslist the white slipcovered sofa (we’ll share the link over to our craigslist ad for any interested locals when that day comes). Yes, this is what the room actually looks like these days:
Feel free to have a little caption contest with this awkward setup. My entry would be: “Gary was such a couch potato that he preferred to eat his potatoes on the couch.” Um, yeah I suck at captions. Please come up with something better.
The point is that we’ll get our little furniture smorgasbord straightened up sooner or later. And then our girl Stella will be the true star of the room. Cause she’ll be the only thing in the room. Hah. But somehow I don’t think she’ll mind living it up in there alone. She’s all woman. And she can totally hold her own. Do you know how heavy that chunky wood tabletop is? Let’s just say it took two muscled men about 30 minutes to wrestle it into place. Gotta love a strong (& sexy) femme fatale. Go on with your bad self, Stella.
Psst- Our babyproofing adventures have begun over on BabyCenter. Let’s just say we’re taking baby steps, so you can check out some riveting outlet cover chatter here. Oh and feel free to share your babyproofing tips – we’re total novices to the point of hilarity.
Relocated
Our entry table from the old house naturally landed right next to the front door of the new house too. It has lived there since day one without much second thought. Until recently.
Just for fun we moved it to a new spot and ended up liking it there more. It wasn’t a major relocation. It just sorta “drifted” down the hallway a bit.
The new spot seems to suit it better for some reason. It’s probably a combination of these 3 things:
- It moved from an unpainted rough looking space to a painted area that feels more polished.
- Visions of the previous owners’ furniture linger in our minds (they had a console there too).
- It was waaay too small to balance out the built-ins on the other side of the future dining room.
The only dilemma we had about the shift was how to center the table. You can actually see in the pic above that it hugs one door frame pretty closely while leaving lots of extra space on the other side (see below).
After looking at it in a bunch of different places on that wall (centered, cheated a little, totally flush on the left, etc) we opted for this “off-center” wall placement because of how it looked from the kitchen – the view we’d be seeing it from most often. See? Looks perfectly centered through the kitchen doorway. Warning: ugly paneling alert.
Of course now we can’t just recreate the same symmetrical frame arrangement above it like we had in our first house because it’ll look crazy crooked. But who wants a house clone anyway? Not this guy (points to self with thumbs). So we’ve hatched a new frame plan to finish off this little vestibule area. Yes, I just said vestibule. 500 points to me.
We’re actually thinking we might go crazy and fill the walls with white frames of all different sizes & shapes for a mixed-and-matched-collected-over-time vibe. We figured taking the collection nearly floor to ceiling will help address the negative space next to the console, while also creating an awesome gallery for personal photos, kid art, old maps, favorite fortune cookie fortunes, and everything else we love to slap in a frame. It’ll almost be like wallpaper since the arrangement will be so dense.
You know, kinda like this (from here):
And this (from House & Home via Emily A. Clark):
But different because those pics are probably full of real (read: expensive) art and most of ours will be DIY & Etsy & images from old calendars. You know, the whole champagne taste on a root beer budget debacle (I’m a soda guy, just go with it, ok?). And speaking of saving loot, fortunately we already have tons of white frames sitting around just waiting to be hung. See them all leaning against the wall in the guest room?
Oh and as for what will go where it once lived near the front door in the future dining room, we’re keeping an eye on cragislist for a bigger more proportionate cabinet or buffet for that zone. Details to come when we find “the one.”
Psst- Ack- we just learned that Facebook changed everyone’s options. Grrr. So if you’re not getting our posts in your feed anymore, simply scroll down to the bottom of your Facebook Home Page and click “Edit Options” and then choose “Show Posts From All Friends And Family” instead of just those people you interact with most often. Leave it to Facebook to keep us on our toes…
Fab Freebie: Oooh, Shiny!
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – scroll down to see who won!***
Thanks to V-Day, we’re straying from our usual home improvement & decor related prizes in favor of some customized and sentimental jewelry from Lisa Leonard Designs. Lisa brings a certain DIY spirit to her necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other body bling – hand cutting, polishing, and assembling each piece carefully for that “made with love” feeling. She actually helped us celebrate V-day last year by giving away $100 gift cards to two winners – and this year she’s raising the stakes and giving away THREE benjamins worth of her meaningful designs to three random lucky winners. Happy Valentine’s Day indeed.
- PRIZE: An $100 gift card towards any purchase at Lisa Leonard Designs.
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: … tell us how (and with whom) you’re celebrating today. Something romantic with your true love? A quiet evening in with a good book and some hot cocoa? A romantic night with your kitty or pooch? Feel free to comment with “Crappy Valentine’s Day!” and tell us why this holiday just ain’t your cup of tea if that’s the case.
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, February 16th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: Three
- PRIZE SHIPS: Anywhere in the world!
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winners will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here on Thursday morning for the announcement of our winner. Good luck…
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Random.org has selected three people to dish out some bling to and they are… Megan (whose husband made her pizza for V-Day), Tera (who was spending the evening at a concert with her husband) and Kyle (who was doing dinner with her husband… after doing some laundry first). Congrats ladies!
Note: We weren’t paid or perk’d for hosting this giveaway, we just like rewarding our lovely readers! See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from Lisa Leonard Designs.
U R Sweet
Did you get that candy conversation heart reference in the title? Those things crack me up – especially the new-aged ones that say things like “Text Me” and “Tweet Me.” Hah. Anyway, the point of this post is just to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. And to share some gratuitous Clara pics. These are actually the same photos that we sent to our family & friends along with a funny little V-day card with a Burger-esque chihuahua on the front (gotta represent for both kids, you know). Heck you guys are friends too, so just pretend these showed up in your mailbox:
Gotta love that $1 stuffed candy heart from Target’s dollar spot. Quite the perfect V-day prop when you have a baby who loves sucking on her fingers in photos if they’re too idle. And yes, there was lots of high pitched singing and frenetic dancing by mom & dad to capture these pics. No shame in that. You gotta do what you gotta do when there are three sets of expectant grandparents waiting by the mailbox for their cards.
And on the subject of Valentine’s photoshoots, of course we took Clara’s weekly photo with some heart-y fabric. John even worked some photoshop magic on the week number (which is usually in a circle). Check out the other 38 pics and project deets here.
Ok, enough baby-pics. I’m like an old lady at the mall shoving a wallet insert full of kids photos at anyone she passes. Anyway, whether you’re celebrating V-day with your pet, spouse, neighbor, friend, whole fam, favorite magazine, ceramic animals, or even throwing an anti-v-day party, we hope it’s a day to remember. And speaking of remembering – in an effort to find more balance (one of our resolutions) we’ve decided to take it easy today and just enjoy each others company and celebrate V-day as a family of four (chihuahua included). Especially since it’s also Clara’s 9 month birthday. We can’t believe she’s been “out” longer than she was “in.” Baking her felt like it took forever, but time has just flown since she was born.
We’re not abandoning you guys for reals though. You know we’re nothing if not blog obsessed. We’ll still be dropping by this afternoon with a love-filled giveaway, and tomorrow we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. We might even have some dining table pics to share. Woot. Until then, big wet kisses are coming atcha from the whole Petersik clan. Don’t worry, we don’t have mono.
Lookie What We Got
These.
Are you surprised that we were thrifting again? I’m not. These were originally $90 a pop ($180 total). Marked down to $70 each ($140 total). With an additional 50% off. So we ended up paying just $35 a chair ($70 for both of them). Not bad considering Ballard sells semi similar metal versions for $199 a pop here and reminiscent-ish rattan ones for a whopping $249 a piece here.
And they’re sturdy little buggers. I sat in them expecting a rickety mess with flat cushions (why else would they be so cheap?) and I was surprised. Not bad. Not bad at all. So I did that “wow, John, they’re really quite nice” thing and I walked around them and scratched my chin and looked at John again and batted my eyelashes and explained how much I’ve always wanted chairs just like this and how we have so many places they could go and on and on. After a while John got sick of listening to me agreed and we carried them up to the cashier with a spring in our my step.
In fairness to John, he might not have been as giddy as I am, but let’s face it, not many people on earth are as unabashedly enthusiastic about life in general as I am. Which I know can be highly irritating. But we have a pact that we don’t get anything unless we both sign off on it and actually like it. So if John hated them it would have been a total no go. Really, he can put the kibosh on things like you wouldn’t believe. And exercises that right on a very regular basis. Luckily, being the freakishly happy person that I am, I usually can be found seconds later lovingly stroking a vase that I want instead or just generally getting ecstatic about non decor things (like the mention that our latest Netflix arrived) and skipping out of the store. But after talking about all the possibilities for a major makeover, even John is psyched to give these babies some love. Cause you know we’re into that sort of thing. It’s better than on par with ice cream and puppies to us.
You can’t really tell from the pics, but the chairs are actually a deep navy color. With lots o’ chips and scratches.
But not for long. We’re gonna repaint and reupholster them with something fun. And we’ll share how we do it all (with pics) when we get there. We’re not sure about what color or even where they’ll live (most likely in the office as our new desk chairs since they’re so comfy and then we can craigslist the kitchen chairs that we’re currently using along with the table when we DIY a kitchen island down the road). We’ll probably just sit on them as-is for a while, since we should be focusing our attention on more dire projects (like the guest bedroom). But I’ve always had a thing for lattice-y chippendale-esque chairs so I’m happy to have them. Oh and guess what? Johnny somehow squeezed them both into the Altima like a true hero. My man.
Oh and I guess you’re wondering where we got ‘em. A cute little local antiques place called the Midlothian Antique Center (which is next door to Hancock Fabrics, where we get clearance yards of bold prints & patterns for our Clara project). So even though we were in the market for a few fabric scraps, I totally did that drag your man next door “just to look” thing. Ten minutes later John finds himself trying to squeeze these puppies into the car and I’m chatting the whole way home about colors and fabrics (while he’s most likely zoning out and thinking about sandwiches or washing the car).
Psst- Yes I still have this rocker to redo. It’s about 15% done (stripped of its old fabric & tacks just waiting to be sanded, stained, and reupholstered. Pics to come when it’s fully pimped.
