Den: Closet Organization (Part 1 of 40?)

There are loads of projects to be done in the den closet. This is and always will be a catchall closet for, well, everything.  One of its purposes is to hold all of my wrapping supplies. With 2 kids at prime birthday party ages, we use this stuff constantly.  I wanted to first tack the ribbon which was exploding all over the closet. 

I even found more ribbon in the dresser that I made over for the room a couple of weeks ago (more on that here).  This stuff has been in the attic for a couple of years but still perfectly useable for all sorts of upcoming crafts and gift wrapping.

I corralled everything by making use of the clothing bar which runs the full length of the closet. Fortunately we have Elfa closets in here too, so I was originally going to switch it out for a shorter bar like I did in Alex's closet (more on that here).  Instead, I decided to just keep the long bar and use it for my large and most frequently used curling ribbon.  It's so easy to pull a long strand and snip off the right amount!

 

I also used some inexpensive baskets and boxes to keep smaller rolls of ribbon, scissors, tape, tissue paper, and small cards and labels.

I also cleaned out my gift bag collection and corralled the remaining bags into a basket that I "won" at a school auction last year. It held a collection of children's books before but it's size is ideal for this purpose.

My rolls of gift wrap are still kept in another basket on the other side of the closet. Nothing special so not really worth a photo but I'll try to get one soon! It works really well for me because I like to quickly grab a roll then toss it back in the basket when I'm done!

Any great gift wrapping organization ideas?  What are you organizing this week?

Porch: Demolition

Demolition started yesterday. It was pretty awesome to come home to work and see this...

When we saw this corner, we knew we were doing the right thing by ripping this off and replacing it with something more solid. I'm not an expert but that looks like termite and water damage.

I find demolition so satisfying even if I'm not the one with the sledgehammer. Even watching other people do demolition is satisfying because the progress is so quick.  Of course, it's even better when it's outside and doesn't effect your daily life... and it's 80 degrees. In March. Yes, I love this weird winter and you will never hear me complain.

Den: A little burst of yellow

Although I love the cool tones of the gray and teal in our den (office/guest room), I really enjoy yellow. Actually, yellow is my favorite color with blue as a close second.  Anyway, since I made the cornice board with the bold yellow fabric (more on that here), I am working on some other ways to bring in pops of yellow and fun to keep the room from getting too serious.  

While browsing Crate & Barrel for a housewarming gift for a friend, I stumbled upon the "last chance" rack of deeply discounted merchandise. I found this little vase which I had actually been eyeing at the full price.  It had a little chip at the top but since I knew I wanted to use it on the bookshelves in the den, I figured I could save the $4 and buy the slightly flawed version.

I made the chip slightly less noticeable with the help of a Sharpie.

It doesn't disappear, but it does disappear when you put it on a shelf with the chip to the back!

Sorry about the funky color!  I'll try to fix it later today.

Screen Porch: Jumping in!

Here we go...

These are the official "before" pictures. We took the dive and signed a contract with a builder (Jim Cole who built our addition and finished our basement). Despite getting several bids, his was competitive and since we know we like his work it made sense to use him again.

Work should start this week! The whole project is projected to take 4 weeks.

Den: Adding a Door to the Bookshelves

Fortunately 99% of the work involved in transforming our nursery to a den (home office + guest room) was cosmetic.  The one exception was that I wanted to add a door to the lower right shelf. I love open shelving but we had more than enough in this room, and sometimes you just need to store ugly stuff like extra paper, labels, and other office supplies.  Yes, I understand you can buy pretty storage for this stuff but it doesn't always go into those pretty containers the way it should - especially if you have kids!

You can see the shelf at issue in the lower right hand corner of the above picture.  A few hours of work by Handy Hubby and we had this.

I got lucky and found another knob like the others at our local hardware store. Then I need to paint it all white and it will blend in a bit more and seem more seamless and intentional.

Other than the knob (about $2), we had the wood and door left over from our old kitchen. Handy Hubby rounded it over with a router to mimic the drawers.  I'll be sure to share once it's painted out - hopefully by next week!

I have a whole bunch of other tweaks I want to make in this room. Next up is a rug I think. Sofa will have to wait a few more months but I have it picked out I think.

Family Room: Sectional Love

So, we bought a sectional for our family room. It arrived last Thursday only about 12 hours before we left for Pittsburgh. It was love at first sight.

So, why did I replace a 2 year old couch which had nothing wrong with it?  The truth is that it never felt like the right sofa for our family room. It was small - like a love seat - so there was never enough room. Even my two little kids would fight about who had more space on the couch. It drove me nuts. That sofa is going to have a good home in our play room.  Handy Hubby is investigating 12-step programs for furniture buying addictions.

Back to the family room. Here's our sofa-less family room waiting patiently for its new leader.  Handy Hubby would not let me include a picture of him vacuuming the rug!

And now with the new sofa...

I started looking for a new sofa in the early fall. I realized that what I wanted more than anything was a sectional that our little family of four could snuggle up on to watch movies on a Friday night.  Once again, I took a huge leap of faith and bought it without sitting on it. I looked at a lot of different brands but finding a sofa that was small enough for our family room was the most challenging part.  I couldn't find anything locally, so I went for it.  Like the green chairs in the family room, it was made by Lee Industries that also made the green chairs in the family room.  This is a high-quality brand made in North Carolina.  I love the fabric which is a blue-gray with threads of of gold-tan. So pretty, and perfect with the other colors in our house. It also works really nicely with the rug.

For those interested in the details, it's model number 3970-23RF Cornering Sofa and 3970-19LF One Arm Love Seat in fabric Bart Sea. It's almost the same size on both sides - about 88" so it fits nicely in our room without dominating the space.   We can also move it to the other side of the room if we choose to, but I like the view towards the back of the house more than the view towards the front!

Of course, this purchase invites all sorts of other purchases like a new coffee table, throw pillows, and a new accent chair... but all in good time.

In the meantime, if you are interested in purchasing our play room sofa or chair, please let me know. :) 

City of Bridges & Fun at Home

I took the kids to see my old friend Anne and her adorable family in Pittsburgh this weekend. Handy Hubby had to work and take care of some things at home, so I packed up the kids early Friday morning and headed west.  This was our first trip to visit Anne in her new city so we were excited to check out.  My kids also enjoyed 4.5 hours of movie time thanks to our minivan's DVD player, and I enjoyed 4.5 hours of near silence!  I have finally come around to early morning departures for road trips. You get most of the trip out of the way before most people are awake!

Once we got there, we spent lots of time hanging out with Anne and her daughters at their beautiful brand new house in Wexford, but also got a chance to really check out the city from a trip down (and up) the Duquesne Incline. From there it was really easy to see why Pittsburgh is known as the City of Bridges.

My kids counted about 10 bridges from there which was great fun for them of course.

Next we hit the Carnegie Science Center which was completely amazing. We could have spent 6 hours there!  Instead we spent 4 and saw a ton of stuff - our kids were TIRED by the time we left.

We are already looking forward to our next visit!

Of course, just before we left, I turned our house upside down. Here's a preview!

Can you guess what's up?

Have you ever been to Pittsburgh?

Fast Fix Friday: Updating a Painted Dresser

This is a great low-effort project that made all the difference in our upstairs den, which is a combination home office and guest room. We’ve made a lot of progress in our den, (it was previously our children’s nursery) but most of the work so far has focused on the desk and bookshelf wall – basically “the office” part of the room. Now it’s time to start looking at the other parts of the room.



Throughout the nursery-to-den conversion process I’ve been trying to keep the costs low or non-existent. This project is no different. We started with a pretty blank slate, but knew that we needed some storage for our guests when this is used as supplemental sleeping space for visitors. I may end up using the bottom drawer for craft storage or giftwrap supplies currently stored in the messy closet. We will have some hanging space in the closet once it’s cleaned up, but a dresser is handy too. Fortunately, we had this old dresser hanging out in our (very messy) attic. In fact, when I opened the drawers, it was still loaded with giftwrap supplies. I guess I bought new ones and totally forgot I had these!

The dresser lived in our guest room prior to our renovation and in our two apartments before that – both as a media stand and as a dresser in our second bedroom/office. The dresser originally came from my grandmother’s basement and may have belonged to her mother before that. It was originally painted a hideous brown/black color that I stripped off before moving it to our apartment. So, long story short… it’s really old. (My blog readers may also recognize the mirror that now resides in our half-bath!)
Unfortunately the dresser was not in great shape. My Handy Hubby went to work regluing joints, fixing the drawers, and making sure the drawers slid more easily and didn’t fall out too easily. It wasn’t much work fortunately. I decided not to fill any of its exterior imperfections because I liked its rustic-ness.

These dovetail joints are so neat, I had to show them.

Next I gave the whole thing a very light sanding. Then I brushed on three thin coats of metallic dark gray-silver paint with about 2 hours of dry time between each.

It didn’t look so hot after the first coat but my experience with metallic paint on my bathroom ceiling taught me that the coverage is poor but patience pays off. Fortunately it dries quickly so you can do multiple coats in a day. Honestly, this could have probably used one more coat but I’m not going to sweat it since this is the guest room.
Just a few hours before my parents arrived for the weekend, we moved the dresser into place.

The hardware was picked up at a local hardware store for about $20 for 10 knobs. I only needed 6 but it was a better deal than buying them individually. I love how they highlight the metallic paint. With a little bit of styling I think it really works in this room both for function and design.

I purchased the original watercolor from a wonderful artist at the Adirondack Balloon Festival. It has been waiting to find a home in my house until now. The mat works perfectly with the wall color and the frame was given to me by mom for another project but it works well for this one so I decided to use it here instead.

I still want to line the drawers with pretty paper so guests do not have to worry about snagging their clothes on the slightly rough drawer bottoms. Now I just have to save my pennies for a rug and pull-out sofa!

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Linking to: Primitive and Proper

Family Room: Dresser Accessories Switch-up

With our recent reorganization of the second floor and regaining office space in the upstairs den (more on that here), the family room no longer needed to prominently house our rather large all-in-one printer. I'm fairly certain printers do not qualify as home decor accessories so this had to go.

I quickly moved the printer upstairs to the den (thank you wireless printing). I then reassessed the lamp situation and realized that the lamp that was previously in Alex's nursery was way too nice to live it's life out of the public eye, so I moved it to the family room, and the brass lamp you see above (a gift from my alma mater, St. Lawrence University) moved to the basement desk area (which I have never shown you).

If you can ignore the droopy flowers and the not so neat files, I think it looks quite nice. I still can't bring myself to remove the files because they are so handy for putting various receipts, coupons, trip information, school papers, and other things that I love to keep close at hand. Not sure it would really work to put it upstairs in a room that I don't have a habit of using daily (yet).

If you want to read more about the dresser restoration project, click here.

P.S. Don't forget to vote for HOUSEography on Apartment Therapy's Homie Awards! Click here...PLEASE!

A new view of our Living Room

I took some new pictures of our living room over the weekend. After retaking photos of my kitchen, I couldn't resist some new views, especially since I reorganized the bookshelves so they look less heavy. I hope this gives you an even better view of how this space works. You won't see a view towards our family room because I am going to be making some imminent changes. More to come!

After looking at these pictures, I need some sort of a "centerpiece" for the coffee table. The little ceramic dish from Mexico is not working. It definitely needs something with height and interest. Being unbreakable would be handy too. Ideas welcome!

Please vote for HOUSEography in the Apartment Therapy Homies (THE design blog awards!).  Thanks!!  Click here, and scroll down to you find HOUSEography!

The Den: Hand-Painted Desk Blotter

Somehow I got a little crafty last week. It came out of nowhere and shocked me as well. I wanted to add a fun detail to the plain white desk.  I had been thinking about getting a blotter but decided to save money and paint on a blotter-like detail.

So, I grabbed a roll of basic blue painter's tape, and taped out a rectangle on my desk. I did not use a tape measure and just eye-balled it. I figured if the taped lines looked okay then the painted lines would be fine.  I had to do a second coat of white on a few spots on the top, so I decided to try the "lock-in" method of painting the base color over the tape so the feature color won't bleed through. Sorry, forgot to photograph the first two steps but I did photograph the part where I painted the teal rectangle. It's the same English River (California Paints color matched to SW HGTV paint) as the back of the bookshelves on either side of the desk.

I painted on three coats because the semi-gloss is a little difficult to cover with flat paint (that I already had on hand).  I was impatient so painted the first two coats within a couple of hours and then the third coat int the evening.  After the third coat, I pulled the paint up. I only had tiny touch-ups to do, thanks to the lock-in method of painting the base color over the tape.

Here's the result.

I like the effect. At a minimum it needs a coat or two of polyurethane. It may need a piece of glass cut to fit the space so that we have a hard and kid-proof service which can withstand a lot of abuse.

What do you think?

p.s. Please vote for HOUSEography in the Apartment Therapy Homies (THE design blog awards!).  Thanks!!  Click here, and scroll down to you find HOUSEography!