Archive for August, 2011

440

Nine Dolla Pillows + More Free Art

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August 10, 2011

We all know I have a pillow problem. And true to form, I couldn’t resist grabbing two of these boldly striped 26″ x 26″ euro pillows for just nine bucks a pop when we came across them at HomeGoods. In my defense, John walked off and came back holding them, so he might have a pillow problem too. But come on, $9? For giant 100% cotton euro pillows? Sold. In our house, pillows are definitely nomads, so these guys could end up doing a little tour (hitting up the guest room, the playroom, and even the sunroom or living room). But right now we’re loving them in our bedroom with the similarly toned flower & berry prints from Alaska that we hung a few weeks back:

It’s sort of like adding a completely temporary boldly striped headboard without doing anything more than spending $18 and tossing them on the bed. No muss, no fuss. And no commitment. We really like how they work with everything from our garage sale botanical art and the lighter toned greeny-gold curtains to the green potted plant on the other side of the room and even Sir Ram. Because when you stop to think about it, what really works with a giant ram head over your bed? Am I right? Oh and as for the smaller greeny-gold pillow, it’s sure to pop up in other places too, so it’s not always destined to be layered with the new striped pillows for those who object (although in person it’s really nice pairing that further ties in the curtains). Here’s a wide shot of the very unfinished side of our bedroom:

I know, I know. That picture looks crazy. So check out all the doodled changes that we’re planning to make as we go:

To further expound upon my doodles:

  1. We hung the twig & berries art on the same center-line as the ram (just so they wouldn’t look like they were riding high and because the lamp shades only overlapped the written flower/berries names and not the illustration) but once we get new night stands that are hopefully taller (since those old living room side tables are way too low and don’t have any concealed storage) we’ll probably scooch everything up a bit.
  2. The ottoman is necessary for Burger to get in and out of bed (yes, we pander to him, although we refuse to buy doggy steps) but it’s a little short and chunky and dark (although it does tie into our leaning mirror and dark chair) so we might get/make something lighter and longer (perhaps with dark legs but a lighter fabric top).
  3. The wheat colored lamp shades sometimes read as a little dirty since the bedding, trim, light fixture, and door are so white. Mehaps a little makeover or upgrade is in order.
  4. We’d love some sort of big chunky cabinet to the left of the bed for function, balance, and to make sense of the odd little nook there.

So that’s the long-term plan in there. And just as new additions to a room often inspire some tweaking (ex: in a surprise turn of events our twig & berry art spurred us to lose the ol’ printed duvet cover), the addition of the new striped pillows sparked a little art tweak on the other side of the room. Ever since we added the matching framed botanicals by the bed (along with the matching wall plaques on either side of Sir Ram and the matching new striped pillows at the head of the bed) the horse art somehow slipped from feeling nice and balanced (since it had two different items under it – a chair and a dresser) to feeling a little too balanced and mirror-image since it was one of many things that were now in pairs…

So because we were itching for a little less symmetry (while still wanting to maintain some semblance of balance to help the new-ish chair and the very old dresser relate), we decided to play around with stuff that we already had to see if we could come up with a free alternative:

  1. Down came the horses above the dresser (which now reside in the playroom but will hopefully find a permanent place somewhere else down the line).
  2. Up went two differently sized old Ikea frames that we had sitting in the playroom, waiting to be hung for almost 8 months.

We immediately liked the less symmetrical arrangement but the oddly mismatched frame colors weren’t doing it for us (one was a clashy reddish brown and one was white). And since the botanicals looked so good with a little oil-rubbed bronze spray paint I decided to quickly pop the glass/art out of them and give them a few thin and even coats of leftover ORB. You know, so they’d tuck into the room a bit more and look more integrated with the stuff going on across the wall. So outside I went with my sexy spray painting socks (see those here)….

… and soon enough the frames were bronzed and beautiful…

Then I needed something to put in them. So I dug through the old art stuff we already had and found a simple little green dandelion print from Ikea (it used to hang next to our front door in our first house). I also decided to make some always-appropriate-for-a-DIY-couple’s-bedroom “paint chip art” with old Ralph Lauren swatches that I had in my basket (yes, I have a paint swatch basket since I hate throwing them away, which is also where I house all of my paint decks except for my favorite one that hangs in the hallway). Home Depot doesn’t even sell Ralph Lauren paint anymore, so I figured “recycling” the old swatches was better than hoarding them or just trashing them, so I pulled out all of the little colored squares…

… and just used tones that reoccur in the room so it would tie in (I didn’t need something that screamed since that would compete with the botanicals and the remaining horse photograph over the leather chair). I was left with a little pile of browns, grays, blue-grays, greeny-yellows, soft sand colors, creams, and whites. So I just arranged them in a gradient from darkest to lightest (this photo was still a work in progress since I switched out a few of the chips that stuck out too much or looked out of order).

Little loops of scotch tape on the back of each one held them in place on four pieces of card stock that I taped together to create a big 16 x 20″ background to fit the frame. Ta-daaa.

We love that the paint chip art looks like a pixelated photo and the dandelion pic is a nice little “neutral” touch in the room as well (so it all layers in nicely without conflicting too much with anything else on the walls). Yay. We’re fans. Although we’ve learned that art posts are definitely the most not-everyone’s-boat-is-floated-by-the-same-stuff kind of thing. But we sleep in that room and we like it mucho. Hurrah! Clara’s favorite part? The pig of course (she runs into the room squealing “piggy!” and pointing while oinking). Very cute.

For another version of paint swatch art, check out what we did with leftover swatches in our old office (on our postcard ledge) and drop in on Jessica Jones’ awesome paint chip art project here on How About Orange.

Oh and since I’m in a doodling mood, here’s a bit more about why we did what we did:

See, it’s not as perfectly balanced and mirror-image-ish. But it still kind of goes. And it’ll work a lot better after some tweaks over time (get ready for more doodling)…

… like this…

We really like that the white mirror in the nook relates to the glossy white window trim, and the art hanging on either side of it is dark enough to feel balanced but not exactly the same size/shape anymore. So that’s where we are.

Who knows what else we’ll change as we go though. We’re definitely fans of the trial and error method (since we never seem with it enough to get things right on the first try, haha). Although this corner view is still my favorite for some reason. Probably because the mirror reflects a ton of window-light and the big chandelier is floating overhead with the neutral-ish-but-not-white curtains, the dark moody leather chair, and the horse art in the background.

So anyway, it’s nice that something as simple as two cheap-o pillows and some fast & free art swappage (I must be in a free art mood this week) could add a bit more interest while taming the super-symmetry that seemed to build and eventually boil over as we added art and accessories.

Have you guys bought cheap-o pillows lately? Or decided to switch out art and accessories as you toss in other additions and slowly build a room? Any favorite pillow sources in general? Oh and has anyone out there gotten it totally right with everything from the furnishings to the accessories in one shot? That must be amazingly serendipitous. We’re more of the learning as you go slash bumbling along type. Haha. But at least we didn’t break anything this time…

Decorating Lessons, Easy Upgrades, Our Current House, Stuff We Bought
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192

Ceramic Dog Flashbacks

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August 9, 2011

To make room for our DIY-ed clothespin light, first we had to give the current fixture the ol’ heave-ho:

Well, not literally. Since there’s actually something kinda charmingly retro about that puppy, we wanted to give him a new life somewhere else in the house instead of sealing his fate (aka: donating him to the Habitat For Humanity ReStore). That’s where this hallway that leads to the guest room, hall bath, playroom, and nursery comes in:

Clearly our hallway screams “nothing to see here folks, move along” for the time being, so there’s certainly a lot to be improved upon. But our attention kept going to this 18″ wide (I’ll pause while you digest just how wide that is) behemoth of a swirly ceiling-fan-ish glass shade. This picture does not do justice to its sheer size and resemblance to a giant serving dish for a twenty pound turkey or five million brownies in a pyramid. Be careful not to stare too long, you might fall under its hypnotic spell…

Are you getting sleepy? Well, if you aren’t – apparently I was. Because moments after turning off the power, taking that honking twice-as-large-as-the-soon-to-be-installed-light down, and readying myself to install the smaller and more streamlined retro laundry fixture in its place… this happened:

No sooner did the loud shatter stop ringing in my ears did I hear this from the other room: “John, PLEASE tell me was the old light.”

Sadly I couldn’t. As I raised the metal base of the laundry light towards its new home in the hall ceiling, I failed to notice the glass cover had accidentally come with it – barely hanging on by one screw. Call it working too fast. Call it butterfingers. Call it errant flashbacks from cleaning up after someone who pooped in the bath that morning (hint: it wasn’t me, Sherry, or Burger). Whatever my excuse, this current all-my-fault situation…

… was giving me crazy deja vu to this previous all-my-fault situation…

The lesson here? Don’t let me near anything fragile in a hallway. Ever.

The other lesson? Bless Home Depot for selling similar glass bulb covers for seven dollars. A quick trip out to the store followed by some much-more-careful light fixture installation left us with this (don’t mind the ugly attic pull-string in the background- we’ll have to upgrade that):

It’s not quite the same as the original (which had subtle frosting on all sides, whereas this has a more distinct white band and a translucent base) but we don’t really mind the slight difference. Sherry’s considering the whole spray-frost option down the line if she changes her mind, but we’re happy to live with it as-is for now.  And at least finding something similar spared us from having to reinstall the old light again. Which is basically the DIY version of the walk of shame.

We’ll be the first to admit that the new fixture hardly qualifies as a “room transformation,” but maybe we’ll do something fun with it down the line – like paint the base a fun color, or add stripes a la this $75 version from Schoolhouse Electric:

We learned from our other hallway (where we hung a ton of frames) that this type of small space can actually be a fun spot to do something semi-dramatic. So we’ve talked about DIYing some wainscoting or some other architectural detail (and maybe even using a bold-ish color above the rail). The only challenge will be working around all the other wall acne. Like this oh-so-attractive doorbell for example:

Maybe when it comes time, we’ll shop for a new doorbell at this place…

Random side note: when I briefly studied improv comedy at the Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre in New York, that girl was in my class. Clearly we followed similar paths in life.

Oh look, now I’m all sidetracked. Where was I? Oh yeah, apparently I break stuff. You?

Easy Upgrades, Our Current House
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312

Bridges, Butterflies, Big Foam Rocks

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August 9, 2011

Is anyone else getting a little “Beets, Bears, Battlestar Galactica” from that title (a la Dwight Schrute)?

Just me? Anyway, on Sunday we took Clara on a little weekend adventure. And one of our stops was a butterfly exhibit with all sorts of real live butterflies who were doing their thing:

And thanks to something that we picked up while there, I was able to make this new framed art for our built-ins as soon as I got home:

Wait, it’s not what you think. My little craft isn’t made from real butterflies. It’s actually cut from this information sheet we were given at the exhibit (I asked if I could buy it with this idea in mind and they said that they didn’t sell them but I was welcome to take the one I was given home with me – so nice of them, right?).

See, ever since seeing this post over on Little Green Notebook and a few cool faux butterfly shadow boxes on Pinterest (like this one) I was ready to try my hand at some faux butterfly taxidermy.

So my first step of the whole oh-heck-let’s-see-if-this-works process was to cut out the butterflies (the paper was double sided so I flipped it back and forth and picked out my favorites on each side. Oh and the little flier was laminated, so if anyone wants to try this at home, you might want to print out some small butterfly images on glossy photo paper and cut them out so they have the same butterfly-like sheen (or even get regular printer paper with butterfly images on it laminated at a place like Kinkos for the same effect). I was also thinking that folks might be able to get this look with realistic stickers from a craft store stuck to printer paper or cardstock and then cut out.

Oh and my cutting method was just to use my good sharp scissors and go slow. I wasn’t perfect or anything (and all of the antennas had to go since they were too thin to keep) but it worked out pretty well. And I was left with these babies:

They weren’t especially convincing at this stage. So in another fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-and-see-what-happens move, I decided they would look more convincing if I could get them to fold a little. So I very carefully folded each wing back like a taco:

When I released, they looked like this:

They were suddenly looking a lot more convincing. Then it was time to pad around the house to look for a shadow-box-like frame to use (something with some space between the paper and the glass so they’d have room for the whole folded thing). This old one from Ikea that was already sitting on our built-ins in the dining room fit the bill. And I had zero attachment to the green leafy print inside (an old Ikea poster) so I laid out my nine favorite butterflies atop the glass to play around with different layouts. I decided the three-rows-of-three approach was my favorite:

Then I just used Aleen’s Tacky Glue (it’s the same tube of craft glue that I’ve had since before making Clara’s nursery mobile 17 months ago) to adhere them to a piece of white cardstock that was cut to fit the opening in my frame:

All I did was dab it on the back crease of my butterfly (don’t be thrown off by the blue butterfly image that you see below – that’s the back since the flier was double sided)…

… and then I just stuck them in place (by eye, I didn’t measure but they look pretty good since I tweaked the spacing until I liked it beforehand, and then just glued them down):

I let them lay flat like that to dry overnight before attempting to hang them (I didn’t want them sliding or popping off before the glue had fully cured).

Then in the morning I put my little frame of faux butterflies right back up on the dining room built-ins:

I love how the white frame, mat, and backdrop pop with the moody teal paint behind them (sort of like how all of my other faux animal friends like Mr. Horse, Sir Rhino, and El Bird stand out).

And even if you get pretty close, they definitely don’t look like a free flyer from a butterfly exhibit. In fact I think they could fool my mom (which has been a measure of success for me since I was a tween).

And in case you were wondering where the heck this butterfly exhibit was, I’ll tell ya: Natural Bridge. It’s just shy of three hours from Richmond in Southwestern, Virginia. We picked it as a good little weekend activity because (1) we’d never been there and (2) it was a good place to meet up with John’s BFF Kevin (who’s currently teaching/in grad school at Virginia Tech).

The bridge was more spectacular in person than we had expected. If we understood the guide correctly, it’s what’s left of an underground cavern that collapsed on all other sides. It’s got cool history (involving American Indians, Thomas Jefferson and some “G.W.” initial carved into the side that may or may not be George Washington’s). So it’s totally worth the visit if you’re ever in the area.

Seeing the giant stone bridge was only a portion of the visit. There was also a really beautiful (though humid) path that we all hiked (well, Clara got strollered). It led to a scenic little waterfall, but our only good pictures from that spot ended up being of this butterfly (foreshadowing of the butterfly exhibit to come later, perhaps?)…

We also learned that we have a future geologist on our hands. Seriously, Clara was inexplicably obsessed with this rock:

Speaking of rock obsessions, these beauties in the gift shop did catch my eye. Everyone say it with me: “Oooooooh, shiny.” I didn’t take any home with me (the big ones I loved most were around $80-100) but mark my words: giant shiny rock fragments are the new coral when it comes to natural decorating accents, methinks.

And since we hate to ruin the illusion that we rank up there with only the classiest of travelers, you’ll be glad to know that we most certainly did not visit “Foamhenge” while in the area…

Sure, visiting an all-styrofoam full-scale replica of Stonehenge for free right here in the Virginia mountains a would be tempting for less sophisticated sightseers, but not the Petersiks. No-siree-bob.

And even if we had, we definitely wouldn’t have taken pictures with a life-sized Merlin statue that was constructed to illustrate one of the theories of Stonehenge’s mysterious creation. Please, give us some credit people. We’re mature adults.

Good thing Clara doesn’t have embarrassing parents, right? I’m sure she’ll thank us for being so poised and level-headed when she’s 16 and treasure this picture always.

So that was our little Sunday adventure this weekend. Gotta enjoy summer while it’s still here, right? Especially when you can score a free souvenir-turned-project in the process. Has anyone else out there made any faux butterfly crafts? Mobiles? Art? Jewelry? Tattoos? Foam replicas? Speaking of foam, someone else out there has to have witnessed the hilarity that is Foamhenge. Anyone…?

Psst- My BFF Cat is working on her three month old son Edison’s room, so I dug up ten of my favorite nurseries to inspire her over on BabyCenter. So much cuteness, so little time.

A Day In The Life, Art We Heart, DIY Decor, Our Current House
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2,472

Fab Freebie: Channel No. 125

Posted by
August 8, 2011

*** This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – see who won below! ***

Random.org has done it again and selected our winner as… Chelsea (who loves the smell of coffee in the morning). Congrats!

The only fragrance we’re giving away this week is that of sweat and elbow grease (yummy, right?). Because this week’s prize comes from Channellock, who not only makes some of our favorite tools but is also celebrating 125 years of forging them right here in the USA. So they’re giving away 1 + 2 + 5 tools (that makes 8, btw) to one soon-to-be-sweaty guy or gal. That lucky lady or lad will be getting a five-piece Tool Roll, two Ratcheting Wrenches and one Professional Laser Level. Can’t ya just smell those projects in your future?

Note: We weren’t paid or perked for hosting this giveaway, we just do ‘em to thank you awesome folks for stopping in. See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics courtesy of Channellock.

Bonus Freebie: Hey Richmonders – we’ve got a local prize for you over on our Facebook page (you might have to scroll a bit to find it – just look for the elephant). You can enter to win a pair of tickets to next week’s ASID White Elephant Designer Auction right here in RVA!

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314

The Laundry Room: Done (For Now)

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August 8, 2011

With the addition of a light fixture and shoe storage this past week (and deciding to nix a window covering for now and just frost the window when we convert the carport into a garage), we just had one last item on our tig ol’ bist (which is how I would imagine Missy Elliott would say “big ol’ list”):

When it came to what to put on the wall besides the hanging ironing board, Sherry and I bounced around a lot of ideas throughout the whole laundry room process. And ultimately we decided we need something else bouncing around in there: light. Lucky for us, we snagged this awesome $10 mirror at a neighborhood yard sale a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, it was the same one where we got our twig & berry art – so imagine us walking home carrying two big frames and a heavy mirror while pushing a stroller and walking a chihuahua. Yeah, that’s how we roll.

We decided it was perfect for that big blank wall next to the door, since whatever went there had to be relatively flat or risk getting slammed by the door (which is why the narrow open shelving left by the previous owners made us nervous so we removed it and frosted that side door for privacy).

Anyway, the mirror was perfect. Except that hanging it was going to require some planning because my screws in the wall would have to be perfectly placed thanks to this “do not hang with wire” warning (complete with accompanying illustration):

So I tore a piece of printer paper in half, and taped each piece partially over each hook (with that tape facing the mirror) and partially hanging out the sides (with that tape facing away from the mirror). Basically, I gave the mirror dinky paper wings.

And yes, my Dr. Pepper shirt is campaigning to become The Official Shirt Of Doing Projects With (Or In Front Of) Mirrors. That or I just wear it a lot.

Back to the winged mirror. First I poked a hole right through where my screw would need to go:

That way when we held up the mirror in place (making sure it was centered and level) we could slap the exposed pieces of tape against the wall and have an instant guide for where the screws needed to get a-screwed:

I definitely recommend two people for this method. One to hold it up (me) and one to step back and make sure it’s placed well/not wonky (Sherry). After that step it was also Sherry’s job to hold down the taped wings as I pulled the mirror away from the wall to ensure that they successfully separated and remained in the right spots (as opposed to shifting or unsticking as the mirror was pulled away).

After quickly drilling through my guide holes to make small pilot holes, those paper wings that we had taped to the wall came down and a heavy duty anchor and screw soon took their place on each side:

Just as I had hoped (but didn’t expect), it worked and the mirror was hanging in no time. Total shocker. Quick tip: never expect that something like this will work on the first try because you’re practically ensuring that it won’t and you’ll be pissed. I went into this expecting it to take a fortnight (which resulted in “pleasantly surprised John”).

Sherry and I are still a bit undecided about the finish on the mirror. Our usual instinct was to paint it white (or ORB, or even the same deep teal from the built-ins), but lately we find ourselves appreciating a mix of finishes more and more. And letting “old pieces” add to the collected feel of a room without always slapping paint on them right away. I know, another shocker. So, for now, we’re living with this crackled gold dealio. Although down the line when we get stainless appliances in the adjoined kitchen it might look clashy and call for a paint job. We’ll keep you posted.

So far our random $10 yard sale mirror is turning out to be an AWESOME addition to the room. Not only does it allow for that last look at ourselves before heading out the door, it also reflects a lot of additional light into our windowless kitchen. Heck, it even makes the laundry room look bigger too thanks to “visually doubling” the space when you stand in front of the dryer (now the room seems to go on and on).

But that’s not our only addition to the laundry room walls. We also hung two textured frames (from the Pottery Barn Outlet a few years back – they used to live in our old office slash guest room). And we decided to use them to proudly display some of our favorite family pictures above our new shoe cabinet. As for Burger’s leash, we just tucked it into a white bowl from the kitchen. Oh and we got that pink vase on sale at Target for $7. I actually found it myself and recommended it to the wife since it reminded me of the colors in our ironing board cover. Who knew I had that in me? The laundry room is evidently helping me branch out in ways that I never imagined.

But back to the art. I actually owe my mom for inspiring the framed family pics. She always had a collage of family photos tacked up in our laundry room growing up and I loved looking at it. Functional spaces like laundry rooms can so quickly become just that – functional – so it’s easy to overlook bringing something personal in. Wow – how lame was that last sentence? To put it in less “TV decorating host” terms: it doesn’t hurt to look at a cute baby while, well, washing diapers for said cute baby. And the rest of the fam doesn’t hurt my eyes either.

The top pic is a family portrait (Burger included!) from our Outer Banks trip last month. And the bottom is one Katie Bower snapped the last time we visited her in GA. Lucky for us, the yellows in each pic accidentally work nicely with the room’s colors scheme (although we’d probably hang them up even if they clashed because they’re favs). Oh, and next to the top frame is a little iron bee (you know we love us some bees) that we got a while ago while thrifting in Delaware. And once again, we opted to leave it as is (even though we mentioned painting it white in the thrifting post). That, my friends, is our form of rebellion. Yup, we’re bad. Bad to the bone.

Wow, just realized that wall comes from a lot of states. Pictures taken in NC and GA, frames purchased in SC, and a hook found in DE. Though the miscellaneous keys are for things like local PO Boxes and family members’ homes – so that kinda ruins the streak. Oh well.

And with that fine ladies and gentlemen, we are calling the laundry room COMPLETE… for now at least. So let’s take one more look back at how we got from before…

…to done (for now):

It’s actually the first room we’ve made this much progress on. Quite possibly because it was only about the size of a bathroom stall. Oh well, you know we’re all about taking the whole house makeover thing one tiny project at a time.

And for all you number crunchers out there, here’s the whole budget breakdown of all of the updates we’ve made in the past few weeks:

* which is pretty thrilling considering our new front loading washer & dryer alone were originally $1198!

Oh and we don’t factor in the cost of things that we have leftover from previous projects or already own since they’re usually already “counted” in other budget breakdowns (ex: the wall paint we used was already counted in the kitchen painting breakdown, so using the remaining paint for this project and saying “$20 again” would be double-counting). But a few folks commented to say that it might be helpful to mention the cost of those already-owned items in case someone at home was planning to do the same thing (but had to buy everything from scratch) so adding about $25 for some caulk & a quart of paint, $25 for frames & accessories, $3 for the plastic laundry basket, and $5 for the iron bee hook that we found thrifting should do it (for a grand total of $682).

Thee cheers for appliance deals and DIY built-ins and ironing-board-covers-as-art and thrift store hooks and clothespin chandeliers and all the other odd calls that we made for our tiny laundry room. And now I’ll toss in this awkward monkey-toed picture, lest you forget just how narrow this space really is:

And so ends the laundry room makeover. We’re currently enjoying diaper-washing-day a little too much. And my mom and dad saw our clothespin light in person and proclaimed it “the coolest thing we’ve ever made besides Clara.” Which got us all awkward and blushy. Have you guys done any laundry room revamps lately? Or made any cute babies? Or done some owling on a windowsill? Apparently owling is the new planking.

Art We Heart, Before & After, Our Current House
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