Built-in Bookshelves (Update 6A)

One quick late night post to make-up for this morning's totally lame post.  That didn't really count as an update so this is Update 6A. My hand is completely cramped up from painting so it's amazing that I can even type. As Jim said last night (after doing some painting) that this is the biggest thing we have built by far and he is so right.  We were really hoping to have everything done and reassembled by Friday but that is looking impossible at this point.  I want our playroom back!!! 

So, here's a fun picture of Jim wearing his coveralls from the early '90s when he was in the Navy working as an aircraft mechanic on carrier. I'm fairly certain it was his favorite job ever. Before I knew him thankfully!  He would like everyone to know that they still fit.

 And a few pictures of the bookshelves fully primed and in the process of being painted.

 The large rectangle is for our new television.  I cannot wait to start doing my work-outs down there instead of in the family room.

 

I need to go to bed now so I can do more painting tomorrow night. Jim started building the shelves and the process is going quickly so hopefully we'll be priming and painting those before the weekend.  We'll give everything a few days to cure before putting our junk all over it.  So close!!

Built-in Bookshelves (Update 6)

We are really getting near the end.  Jim worked his butt off this weekend and it really shows!  So, here's where are now.  All trimmed, holes fills, and primed.  Paint going on very soon.  Hope to be mostly done by the end of the week!

Sorry for the lame-o, picture-less update!  I want to keep you in the loop so if you plan a project like this you'll know the time it takes to make the whole thing work - while we both do our day jobs as well!  I'll try to post a few pictures tonight. 

Living Room Art and a CSN GIVEAWAY!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Our was busy and we made lots of progress on our built-ins.  I'll have an update post in the next day or two so stay tuned.  Last week I updated you on our new living room furniture - we love it.  I need to figure out some art issues in there, and I stole some pillows from other rooms for now.  If you are having similar accessory and wall decor issues, check out the CSN giveaway below!

Here's what I have going on right now.

First over the fireplace, I have this pastel original which I LOVE and is not going anywhere.  Fun story about how we came to own this one.  Not too long after we moved into the house, I first saw this piece at a local cafe where they have a rotating display of local artists.  (Cassatt's on Lee Highway for those who are local).  I loved and admired it on several visits after that.  Then, it rotated out and I kept thinking about it, but I remembered the artist's name, Cynthia Gilmour so I found her information online and I called her.  She still had the piece and it was still for sale.  I think I paid about $300 framed... for an original pastel work of art.  Yes please.  I picked it up from her at the cafe a week later.  I was elated and it was perfect over our living room fireplace and still is. 

Across the room, I have this piece which I bought an annual Boardwalk art show in Ocean City, New Jersey (where we vacation every summer).  I still really like it although I'm not sure this will continue to be its permanent home.  We'll see though.

This is a little map print that we bought on our honeymoon in Bermuda.  I like it but I am fairly certain it's going to move on out of here and maybe head upstairs to the guest room.  With a new mat, it could work in our room too.  So, I'll need something new for this corner... but this whole corner is going to get a little make-over stay tuned on that front. 

What better way to start a Monday, than with a CSN Stores Giveaway! What's so awesome about CSN Stores?  200+ online stores where you can find pretty much anything.  Personally, I'll be checking out their wall art and decor over the next few days for art and throw pillows for my newly redesigned living room, and one piece left in the dining room (over the bar in case you're curious).  Fortunately for you, CSN is giving one lucky HOUSEography reader a $35 credit towards anything in ANY of their stores!

Here's how to enter! 

1. First entry - you must be a HOUSEography follower!  Let me know how you follow HOUSEography.
2. For extra entries (please leave a comment for each one of these that you do):

- Become a Facebook follower (or let me know if you already are) - click here

- Tweet about this giveaway

- Post about this giveaway on your Facebook wall or fan page 

- Vote for HOUSEography on Picket Fence Blogs by clicking here (just click the link and you're done - the easiest online voting you can ever do!)

Rules:  You must be at least 18 years old and have a US or Canadian mailing address.  Drawing will be made using random.org.  All entries must be posted by Thursday, February 10th at 11:59 p.m.

Good luck!

On the shopping list...

It's Friday... well, almost.  It has been a long week.  I have several things on my shopping list for this weekend but not sure I'll get any of them done.  In the mean time, I'm also thinking about new bar stools from the kitchen island.  I really HATE the stools that are there - the style, the swiveling, and the size.  Just all wrong for what I want in there.  We moved them to the basement for Jim's party last weekend and everything felt so much lighter.  So, I think I need something smaller scale and that doesn't swivel.  Other than that, I am at a total loss for which direction I want to go in.  I am scouring Craigslist daily but haven't stumbled on the right thing but I'm not losing hope just yet.

So, here are some options I'm considering (yes, I'm all over the place on this one!):

Overstock - $89 for the pair

Ebay - $255 for the pair

Ebay - $200 for the pairs

Bar Stool Super Center - $249 each

See?  Told you I was all over the place on this!  I was kind of hoping that someone will just show up with stools like with the console table!!!

I really do like the backless options (black wood or stainless) but will the kids have problems sitting on them?  I like that people can sit on them easily and face the kitchen or the family (and the TV) without having to swivel or pull them out or anything.  

Do you have backless bar stools?  Do your kids have any issues with them?

Living Room Re-Do Reveal (Sort of!)

Well, I'm finally ready to reveal our new living room furniture.  Here is where I started a few months back. 

The living room was basically unused except as a toy room and no one had much of a desire to hang out in there.  The furniture is a mishmash of stuff that we have had for a while.  Well, except for the red chair which was my grandfather's so we inherited that about a year ago.  I wanted to keep the rug but the rest had to go.  Fortunately I think I have space for everything in other rooms in the house at least in the short-term. 


First I got a new coffee table from Pottery Barn which I think set the stage for the rest of the room.  It's round - something I have always wanted.  It was $300 so not super cheap but I had some coupons and credits. 

Then I started thinking about the upholstered furniture.  I considered getting two loveseats and various combinations of couches, chairs and loveseats.  Finally, I decided I wanted a totally different look than what I already have in our family room ( a large loveseat and 2 chairs) because the rooms are interconnected.  So, I decided to try four chairs.  It was going to be an investment because I knew there was almost no chance that I would be able to find 4 chairs in good condition used.  And, I am always wary about used upholstered furniture because I have horrible allergies. 

So, I went to loads of furniture stores and sat in loads of chairs.  I have always loved English roll arm furniture so this was my opportunity to introduce this style into our house.  Good.  Style settled on but where to get it from.  I have always liked Rowe furniture and I know the quality is good.  I found the Caldwell chair and liked the look and it wasn't too large which is always an issue when buying new furniture in an old house!  I started pricing it out at stores around Northern Virginia.  Of course no one carried the Caldwell line on the floor so I couldn't sit in it!  I have no idea why because it's gorgeous!  I was prepared to buy it sight unseen... again.  I was really close to ordering from a store nearby when I decided to call a few stores in North Carolina to get a price.  All of them were cheaper but Town & Country Furniture came through with the best price and service.  I ended up saving more than 30% even with the shipping cost (less than $200 for an unlimited amount of furniture). 


Once the new stuff arrived, our living room looked like a furniture warehouse!  I thought I took some pictures of that stage but cannot find them!  The kids loved it though.

I also picked up the console table from my friend Amie.   It's absolutely perfect with the coffee table and will be part of our living room for many years to come.  Don't worry - I told Amie she could visit! 

So, now here are the "after" pictures. 

I'm still playing around with the side tables, throw pillows, grandmother clock, and the exact location of the console table and other smaller details, but overall, I love the change!

I'm really hoping this room will be a great place for games, reading, and enjoying the fireplace. 

Built-in Bookshelves (Update 5)

Progress on our basement built-in bookshelves was a bit slow over the past week although we have been doing some things to move the process along.  I put a coat of primer on most of the bookcases and cabinets late last week.  Painting is generally my job in these things but I am not a great painter by any means!  We did one coat of primer on most of it so we'll have to finish that this week.  Then we'll sand the whole thing this week.  Finally, we'll add 2 coats of white paint which matches our trim.  I considered doing a color but I think I want to keep it white since the room is fairly small to begin with.    

Jim has also been working on putting in the face frames.  One hiccup was that our usual crown molding won't fit with the can lights so, we'll have to use something smaller.  I'm actually fine with that because I want the basement to have a more casual feeling - thus the bead board backing.

Jim still needs to finish the pull-out shelves and the cabinet doors.  Hopefully those will be done by the end of the weekend so it will be all painting from there on out!

Did you work on any projects over the weekend?  Planning any built-ins in your house?

Party Time! Happy Birthday Jim!

Although Jim's actual birthday isn't until mid-February, we celebrated on Saturday night.  Really celebrated.  Probably a little more than we should have.  Yesterday was long.  But, Jim is turning 40 so there was good reason.  I think the party helped ease the transition.  hahaha.

We had about 70 revelers at our house which made for a great time.  Amazingly the kids slept through pretty much the whole thing!  We used Paperless Post this year after having loads of problems with Evite this year.  I was so happy even if it wasn't free - still more reasonable than sending an invitation.

We hired a caterer with serving staff for the first time and let me tell you - it makes a WORLD of difference.  It was a little bit hard to give up control of the party for about the first 15 minutes but then I realized I could actually enjoy my own party.  I never once worried about whether people had enough drinks.  The only issue was that we ran out of ice but we had some great neighbors who were willing to fill up some bags of ice at their houses and bring it over.  Gotta love your neighbors!

 The food was amazing.  Here's a sampling - mozzarella and tomato on pesto crostini. 

 And the birthday cake.

 

We generally have one big adult cocktail party every January.  We used to do a big Christmas party but finally decided that December was too complicated for everyone.  So, it became a January party a few years ago and I don't think we'll go back. This year we combined the winter cocktail party with Jim's birthday for double the fun!

Here are a few things that we generally do to prepare for a big party besides the usual stuff like clean the bathrooms:

• Move any furniture which may be a tripping hazard or which might get in the way of traffic patterns.  This includes small foot stools, small side tables, etc.  
• Eliminate as many chairs as possible - you want people walking around and mingling, not sitting.  Put the dining room chairs in the basement so the dining room is completely clear for drinks and food.
• Create an area for coats if it's a winter party.  We use the garment racks which also come in handy our annual yard sale.  This year we put them in our basement playroom which worked perfectly.
• Set up a bar area but also a satellite bar for wine and maybe a small cooler of beer.  We set up the bar in the dining room but people are always welcome to grab a beer from the fridge in the kitchen as well.  We set up a small wine bar in the living room as well.  
• Put as many toys as possible out of sight.  This is particularly important for an adults only party which this one most definitely was. 
• Turn off all overhead lights and turn on a few lamps.  Dim the chandeliers.  Much more festive.
• Lock up the dog so no one has to worry about their food being stolen when they go for another cocktail.
• Make punch and serve it from a punch bowl.  This certainly adds to the festive nature of the party.  This year's recipe is here.
• Clear kitchen counters as much as possible.  I put our toaster and coffee pot away this year as well as all of the usual clutter.  You'll need the space no matter how big your kitchen is (unless you are RHBH Lisa Vanderpump).
• Set up a recycling area.  You'll probably need more recycling space than trash.  No matter what the weather, we usually put a big bin outside the back door, and then smaller one somewhere near the bar.  Fortunately our recycling does not have to be separated and all plastics are recyclable so ours was easy to do.

What are your party tips?  Any big parties coming up?

Happy Birthday Honey!

Big Changes Around Here

Just wanted to point out some changes on the main blog page.  First, I created a new blog header. Not sure I'll keep it for the long haul but I like it better than the nothingness I had before! 

I added a tag menu in the column on the right so you can find all of my posts about say the dining room. 

I also updated my blog roll which has expanded A LOT!  I need more hobbies maybe.  Here it is for those who are reading on reader. 

• 320 * Sycamore
• 6th Street Design School
• A Well Dressed Home
• All Things Thrify
• Aubrey + Lindsay
• Bower Power
• Brooklyn Limestone
• Centsational Girl
• chezerbey
• Coastal Charm
• cottage and vine
• DC Rowhouse
• Emily A. Clark
• Emily Henderson
• Gus & Lula
• hi sugar plum!
• Holyoke Home
• Honey We're home
• House of Ficek
• Inspired by Charm
• Isabella & Max
• Life Begins at Thirty, Right?
• Making It Lovely
• Meridian Road
• Miss Mustard Seed
• Nesting Place
• Our Portland Foursquare
• Perfectly Imperfect
• Pretty Handy Girl
• Primitive & Proper
• Pure Style Home
• Rambling Renovators
• Red Door Home
• Remodelaholic
• Russet Street Reno
• Sand & Sisal
• Simplified Bee
• Southern Hospitality
• Tart House
• Tearing Up Houses
• The Lettered Cottage
• The Little Orchard House
• The Painted Home
• The Painted House
• The Stories of A to Z
• Three Men and a Lady
• Thrifty Decor Chick
• Velvet & Linen
• Victoria With Roses
• young house love

Finally, I updated my house tour photos to reflect the changes in our kitchen (backsplash), dining room, the kids' rooms.  I still need to add some more exterior photos and do a real "tour" through the house.  Maybe I'll even do a video... or not since I hate my own voice.

Happy Sunday!

High Impact Updates for Alex Too!

If you tuned in yesterday, you saw some updates in Elizabeth's room.  Of course, the updates in her room were interconnected with some necessary updates in Alex's room.  For those who don't know my family yet, Alex is my rambunctious 20 month old.  (Lots more about Alex's nursery here and here)

First, I stole the light from Alex's dresser for Elizabeth's nightstand.  It was definitely a little girly for a boy's room and it really needed to be removed.  It looks so much better in her room.

 All of this was spurred when I found this great lamp at HomeGoods a few weeks ago for $35 on clearance.  I love everything about it.  Not sure it will end up in Alex's ultimate big-boy room but I will certainly find a place for it in our house because it's so great.  

Just FYI - I often have about 10 things in the back of my mind that I shop for whenever I am out.  As soon as I see something that fits one of those bills at a great price then I am all over it.  The great thing about this method is that you don't often end up settling for something you really don't like and you can wait for a good deal since it's not an immediate need. 

In addition to the new lamp I framed a poster that I had for a while.  It's from the National Book Festival which is a great annual event on the National Mall in late September.  The posters are free.   

I cheated on the framing though because I didn't want to make a big investment.  So, I bought a big frame from AC Moore (with a coupon so about $25) and a large dark blue mat (less than $10) on which I then just mounted the poster.  By "mount" I really mean that I just squashed the poster between the glass and the mat and stuck a couple of tiny pieces of two-sided tape on the top.  Very unprofessional but it looks quite good actually!

So here's how Alex's dresser looks now.  Much more boyish and fitting for his room.

 

I love how the poster really fills the space and the colors go well with the rest of the room.  I think this poster will likely be a major jumping off point for Alex's big boy room next year.  Also, the "A" was a fun find from the Marshall's clearance shelf. 

P.S. Some day I'll fill you in in on my current mental shopping list but that will take a whole post!

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Growing Up: A Little Girl's Room Evolves

It's a snow day here today!  Can't say I'm particularly happy about it.  I really hate it tomorrow but today the kids will exhaust themselves climbing around in the 8" or so we got.  

We went to kindergarten information night on Tuesday night.  It's hard to believe my baby girl is going to be in kindergarten next fall.  It feels like she was just born!  I know... soon we'll be talking about college.  Honestly, I love each new stage of her life more than the last.  One of my main goals with her room is to have it grow with her so she doesn't grow tired of it.  One of the easy ways to keep things updated is to change up the wall decor as she grows.  Changing out her bedding would be another good option but I chose bedding that is not babyish so hopefully we won't need to change that any time soon.  (To read more about her room, click here.)

Elizabeth's room was one of the first room that we finished after the renovation.  We wanted her to have a place to get away from the craziness of settling into our house.  Here's how it looked last spring.

I liked it but I felt the wall decor was definitely lacking.  I was mostly using what we had around.  I love the gallery walls that people are doing - it's a great way to fill a tough space without a huge piece of art.  So, I created a gallery space in Elizabeth's room over her arm chair. 

I love this because I feel it can really change as she changes and he interests evolved.  The best part is that it didn't cost a dime!  The small green board with the pink stripes is a magnetic board - so adorable.  I bought it a long time ago but hadn't found the right place for it.  The pink and green frames were left-over from a baby shower I threw years ago.  The "sugar and spice" sign was in my room when I was a child.  My grandmother made the embroidered piece on top and the frame on the right was hers.  She always loved Mary Engelbreit.  I have a second Mary Engelbreit frame to add but I need to find a way to hang on the wall securely.   

Over her bed I added a cherry blossom branch decal which is probably very "last year" but I love the effect.  I moved the bird and watermelon print over here as well.  She picked it out and loves it.  I think it feels more special in this location and I definitely wanted one piece over the bed now that we have the cherry blossoms on the opposite wall.

A quick update on the nightstand.  There is no update!  It needs updating and something needs to happen but I haven't figured out what exactly, but I plan to do something soon.  Really soon. 

You may have noticed the change in the light fixture on the nightstand.  I think it needs to be punched up but this was in her nursery as a baby and has lived on there in Alex's but the floral shade was not cutting it in there and definitely was not going to work in his big boy room which we'll be putting together next year... or sooner since he jumped out of his crib last weekend!

Check back tomorrow for some fun and easy updates to Alex's nursery.

Linking up to: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Built-in Bookcases - An Awkward Corner (Update 4)

Hubby is still working away on the bookshelves and doing a super fantastic job. (Go Jim!) We're having a few friends over on Saturday for a little party so we really need to get things in shape so we can at least put some spare furniture down there and clean-out the guest room for visitors! Yikes!

We did run into a bit of a dilemma with how to deal with the corner.  Backtracking a bit - we originally were just going to fill the nook in the back of the family room with bookshelves and call it a day.  But, then we started thinking about where to place the TV and sofa, and we realized that putting the TV on the back wall would cause us to put the sofa in the middle of the room and really cut it off.  So we changed it up and moved the TV to the right wall.  

I thought about just putting a piece of furniture under the TV and calling it a day.  A little more thinking and talking and we realized we have a LOT of books still in boxes and if we filled this wall with bookshelves too then we would be able to unpack more boxes.  And, we could use the lower shelves for more toys and kids books.  MORE toys. 

Now we had to create a true corner in the built-in and this was a first for us.  Hubby did a bunch of searching online and in his many woodworking magazines.  We didn't want the span to be too large there or the shelves could not be supported properly.  So, we played with moving the bookshelf to the right of the corner back and forth. 

Here you can see the shelf on the right pushed up to the base cabinet on the back wall.  Jim and our friend Nick thought it closed off the corner too much and they were right (so glad I listened to them). 

So we fixed it by pushing that shelf to the right which creates a more open feeling on the top as well as a set of supportable corner shelves. 

Initially we thought the narrow space on the bottom right of the corner would be a wasted space.  After thinking about it for a few minutes I realized that smaller toys could fit in this space easily, but also small bins or baskets to house toys and later video game equipment or DVDs. 

Out of a problem came a solution and hopefully a really useful space!  Ironically, I think the shelves are going to make the space feel a bit larger because they will contain the stuff and it makes the room feel less long and narrow.  Can't wait to get these painted out and the TV mounted!

What's your latest DIY problem that you are trying to solve?

The Case of the Leaky Water Dispenser - SOLVED!

This is a random DIY post for a Tuesday. Everything is in flux here. Bookshelves are moving forward, and the living room looks like a furniture store. Yikes. So I'm posting about something completely different.  Our fridge.  I love our fridge.  The French doors are great and I love the bottom freezer.  Not sure I could go back to a top freezer.  It fits perfectly in the corner next to our stairs.  It's a Samsung similar to this. 

The downside?  The internal water filter drips.  First, you are probably asking "Why don't you have a water and ice dispenser on the door?"  First, I like the clean look of the plain door.  Second, it's cheaper and it felt like we were bleeding money while renovating our house last year.  Third, I could imagine our kids holding the button down and letting the water and ice flood the kitchen.

Anyway, the internal water dispenser was our choice.  We loved it until it started dripping for about a minute after we would fill a glass. Annoying.  Of course, I changed the filter and then had a service call from Samsung (it was still under warranty).  The service guy fixed it for about a month but then it started up again - after the warranty expired.

After thinking about it for the past 6 months (and leaving a small paper towel in there to catch the drips), I started to think about the filter.  It was an after-market version.  So, I bought some filters name brand filters.  Bingo.  Fixed. 

I think it has something to do with the seal the filter makes.  The name brand filter was much harder to push and turn into place which leads me to believe the other filters were too loose and let the air in.  I guess this is one place where being thrifty did not pay!  Wish I had figured that out a year ago!!

Built-in Bookcases (Update 3)

Happy Monday!  Well, hubby really outdid himself this weekend with work on our new built-in bookshelves in the basement.  He spent every spare minute working on them and they are looking really good.  (See the first two updates here and here)  Here's where we were last week. 

That's our cardboard "TV" which we are using to find the perfect location on the wall for the TV.  The bookshelves will go around it. 

Here are some progress pictures over the course of latter part of last week and this weekend. 

 

We are adding two small pull out "desk drawers" for extra play space or even a laptop.  This is a first for us but Jim said it was fairly simple to build.  I can post some close-ups of the underside if anyone is interested in the construction. 

We are also adding bead board behind the built-ins for a little extra interest.  It's fairly inexpensive but adds some additional architectural interest.  Everything will be painted ultimately.  Instead of attaching the bead board to the back of each set of bookcases, Jim attached the bead board directly to the wall.

 

Jim installed 2x6 blocking between the studs where the TV mount will go.  We have finally learned our lesson on this - so much easier than searching for a stud.  Not pretty but it works. 

 The bead board was then installed over the top. 

The area looks really great and I can't wait to see it trimmed out and painted. We have a busy week and weekend ahead but hopefully I'll have another update later this week. 

Did you make progress on any major projects this weekend? 

My Winter Mantel

I have finally finished my winter mantel.  It took me forever and I'm still not sure it says "winter" but I really do like it.  It's definitely not a variation on Christmas which is what I was going for.  The great thing about winter is that there really are no preconceived notions of what winter colors have to be.  That may be the only good thing about winter for me.

The candlesticks are new from HomeGoods.  I found them on the clearance cart for $18 each.  They are really heavy and they add some interesting height around the TV.  I already had the two green vases and you may remember them from previous mantelscapes.  The short blue glass vase was $5.99 at Marshalls and the brown/blue ceramic flower vase was $4.00 on clearance also from Marshalls.  The glass lidded jars were used in my living room Christmas mantel.  I bought them for the guest bathroom but haven't put them to use yet.  More on that soon. 

The oblong silver bowl was a Christmas gift from my mom this year.  I love that I could use it for the mantel, a centerpiece or even as a bread basket!  The fun silver artichoke candles are from a local drugstore, Preston's, here in Arlington.  I love to check out their great gift and home department while I wait for prescriptions to be filled!

Is your mantel still empty after Christmas?  Where are you finding inspiration?