Chalk Paint Trial - Silver Storage Chest

Happy Day After Labor Day!  (not)  I know there are a lot of Fall lovers out there and while I enjoy the change of seasons and the new clothes and accessorizing opportunities that brings, I truly detest winter.  Last winter was a horrible winter in DC so I am really not looking forward to it.  And we have had the MOST beautiful summer that almost anyone from this area can imagine.  We have had very few days in the 90s which is so unusual.  I kind of like the 90 degree temps though.  Weird, I know.  But, my youngest starts kindergarten today… {sniff}.  Makes me feel a bit old actually - no more preschoolers.  But, life marches on and so shall I!

Back to the blog business…

After years of reading about the glories of chalk paint, I decided to take the plunge.  I won some sample canisters of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at a local craft show so I decided to give it a shot… This stuff is awesome.  I'm tempted to do my entire dining room set!  (Handy Hubby might murder me though…)

I started small.  Here's my silver chest.  Really traditional and just wasn't working for me any more.  If the chalk paint couldn't save it, it was headed to the yard sale pile.  It was a wedding gift though and it served its purpose so I didn't want to totally abandon it just yet.

First, I removed the never-engraved brass plate on top.

Next I taped off the edges of the velvet interior.  I'm thankful the interior is brown instead of bright blue or red.  Then I started painting the whole thing.  I used a regular Purdy paint brush and brushed it on as I would any other paint.  I did not sand the wood first.

Then I sanded mall of the edges down a big.  I should also note that I painted the hardware since it would have required removing the interior velvet liner. No thanks.  I just painted it.  Then I waxed it all with some regular old furniture wax (not Annie Sloan's - sorry Annie, had to use what we had around already).  And here's the result…

It's not perfect with the lamps but both are going to stay for now.  Still a major improvement from the original!

Back in the USSR {Living Room}

My parents had a globe when we were growing up where they would show us places we were learning about and my brother and I would spin it so hard it would fall off the table.  Woops.  Of course, that globe became outdated after the USSR fell, so I'm sure they put it in a yard sale.  I don't know what happened to that globe, but I found a similar one at Goodwill last week and I loved it.  It was a bit grubby (is anything at Goodwill NOT grubby?) but I knew it would clean up fine.  I had no idea where I was going to put it, but I liked it and it was only $4.95.  The kids loved it when they saw it on the kitchen counter so I decided to put it in a prominent place in our living room at least for now.

This cabinet top has always had a bit of an identity crisis, so now it doesn't.  In case you were wondering, I have tons of craft and art supplies stored in here.

Fortunately, I have not yet had to explain the Cold War to my 7 and 4 year olds!  

Keep the Door Open {Screen Porch}

This is quite possibly the best weather DC has ever seen in July and August.  A perfect 78-83 degrees with no humidity - no joke.  My Maine-weather-loving friends would not believe me if they were not here to experience it themselves.  For the past 2 weeks, Handy Hubby and I have been saying "Can you believe this weather?" no fewer than 3 times a day.  One morning I went out for a run and barely broke a sweat - not because I am in awesome shape (I'm not) but because it's actually COOL in the morning.

I love keeping the windows and doors open in this weather.  Of course, the weather has come with a nice breeze - thus causing said doors to slam shut at any given moment!  We have been known to use shoes, small trash cans, and toys as doorstops, but we have never had an official doorstop.  When UncommonGoods offered me this rope door stop from their home decor collection, I just could not say no! (See more of their great home decor items here).

When it arrived, I used it right away to hold our screen porch door open while we ate dinner out there.  It worked perfectly - I love the nautical look and it is genuinely heavy - perfect for holding an outside door open. 

I love that it has a large "handle" that makes it easy to grab and move, or I just roll it with my foot to get it out of the way.

This would make a perfect housewarming or hostess gift.  They have a lot of great gifts under $50 (check them out here).  I also love a lot of their wall art pieces here.  I'm sure I'll be back to do some more shopping in the future!

Note: This is a sponsored post.  UncommonGoods provided me with their products but all of the views expressed are my own.  

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Rug}

When I started thinking about Elizabeth's room redesign, I first thought we could just paint and all would be fine, but alas... no.

The bedding was not going to work, and then it quickly became clear that the rug was not going to work.  There was not a speck of blue in either and the contrast would be too obvious.  Bummer.  Bedding I knew I could replace for under $100 and then sell her old stuff.  I achieved both of those goals so net net I only paid about $25 for Elizabeth's new blue bedding.  I'll show you the new bedding in all its glory week, promise.

But, the rug was a bigger problem.  

First, finding a rug with blue in it that is neither too gray or too teal/green was a more difficult prospect than I expected.  I definitely wanted a pattern and I didn't want it to be too light (she is 6 after all).  Given the chance, Elizabeth would have chosen a light blue shag rug but, as I said before, 6 year olds get to advise but not pick.  I pick.  I promised her it would be cozy like her current rug but not shag.

After a bit of trial and error, and several trips to HomeGoods (no luck there - what has happened to their selections anyway?!).  I found one rug on Joss & Main but it arrived with large dirty footprints all over it.  And it was too green, so that went back.  Then I found the great trellis rugs on Overstock.  They have a TON of varieties, but I liked this one...

I had a 10% off coupon before Christmas so it came out to about $160.  Really not bad considering the quality. I first thought I would pick the blue but then I started to wonder if I should go with something more neutral and settled on the slate.  It has a tan background and the blue was less prominent so it wouldn't be an issue if it was slightly off from the other blues in the room.

It arrived and I fell in love.  The blue is perfect with the walls and the background will not show any dirt.  Woohoo!

If the pile wasn't so high on the trellis, I would order one in another color for the living room!  The best part... doesn't shed. Elizabeth's old Pottery Barn Kids rug shed like CRAZY.  There were tumbleweed wool balls rolling down my hallway for the first 6 months!  Crazy annoying for someone who despises vacuuming (and thus only Roombas).  But, it was in perfect condition so I was able to sell it for $125 on Craigslist.  I swear, there is a resale premium on anything Pottery Barn!  So, the new rug netted out at less than $50.  Handy Hubby does not enjoy my redecorating math because it does not include the value of his time. Hah!

So, that's the new rug. Pretty, isn't it?  

Family Room: Things Coming Together

Since purchasing the new sectional and ottoman, a few months back, I felt like this area really was not finished.  I love both of these purchases.  The ottoman definitely needed a tray (you know I loooove trays), but in this case it really needed one just for its flat surface but the consolidating feature was a bonus.

At the beginning of yard sale season summer, I found a fabulous tray at a neighborhood sale.  The man had $10 on it but I offered $7 and he grabbed the money before I could second guess.  This baby is HEAVY - no lightweight silverplate here.  It's also tarnished, but I don't mind it.  Originally I had intended to use it in the dining room as part of a centerpiece but it seemed just too big and oversized.  Besides, I need my dining room table for junk that has no other home in our house!  So, it sat in the dining room against the wall for 3 months while I pondered its fate.

The other day, I had an epiphany!  The tray could go on the ottoman. Just the right mix of contemporary (the ottoman) and traditional (the tray).  Pretty much exactly my style!  So, I threw it on there and it worked.

Next I plunked on a glass vase that I had just bought last weekend at a flea market, also for $7 (irony?). I saw this vase and although I don't think it is anything particularly special, it just spoke to me.  I had to have it.  People complimented me on it as I carried it around while we shopped for another hour before heading home.

By the way, that's my new Kindle under the artichoke candle.  LOVE that thing but of course, it's now outdated only 3 weeks later.  ARGH!

I love how the tray leaves plenty of room for books, card games, or cars to be run around the ottoman.  I also have enough space to pop my feet up there while I watch my nightly HGTV fix.  It's a tough mix to have functional with pretty so I love when it comes together so nicely.

I'm off to watch Sarah's House on my DVR.  Anyone else watching?  It's Saturday afternoon on HGTV - LOVE her shows!

Kitchen: Color Pop Runner

I love my black and white kitchen.  It's so clean and classic and I hope it won't ever really go out of style. I've made conscious decisions to not do anything too trendy or out of sync with the style of our colonial home.  For example, after a lot of pondering we chose a white subway tile backsplash with light gray grout (more on that here).

At the same, time the black and white is really just a blank slate for any other color that strikes my fancy.  I'm in a blue and green kick which is carrying through the family room, living room, and the kitchen.  Other than my countertop compost container and some dishtowels, I had not found many good ways to bring these colors in without making major modifications.  At various points, I had thought about adding a carpet runner through the main walking area in the kitchen.  Although I had originally envisioned a black and white patterned runner, I came around to adding some bold graphic color in a graphic pattern here.

The rug came up on a daily deal sale on One Kings Lane for $49 (it's called Kau Outdoor Runner in green).  My mom happened to be here when I found it there and she agreed it would be a good choice.  It's an outdoor rug which means I can take it outside and hose it in the driveway when the need presents itself.  

So far, I love it.  It needs a non-slip pad under it but other than that, I don't have any complaints.  The added bonus is that it will help protect the hardwood.  Hardwood in the kitchen can be tough (especially hardwood finished on site).  Although I've chosen to be happy with a more rustic, naturally aged over time look, I want to give our floors every chance they can get!  It nicely covers the area in front of the sink where I previously had a 2x3 black and white rug.  

The nice part is that if I want something with different colors or tones in other seasons, it's a 1 minute costume change!  What do you think?  Did I make the right choice?  How have you added pops of color to your kitchen?

Family Room: Pillow Joy

Not sure why but new throw pillows give me a lot of joy. Since we got our new sectional almost a month ago, it quickly became clear that we needed some new throw pillows. Of course, I have seen some gorgeous pillows at HomeGoods and Marshalls over the past few months but when I go to buy them, they are all gone.

Then I decided it would be better to figure out the additional seating in the room before buying new throw pillows.   Then I stumbled on Target’s new line of pillows and fell madly in love. LOVE. First I came home with these pretty linen and teal embroidered pillows.

I think they were $24.99.  They also had some pretty coral and linen pillows that I left behind. DRAT. Went back to find them again and they were GONE.  So I settled on the basic gold linen which pulls in the gold background in the sofa fabric and of course gold and yellow run throughout nearly every room in my house. 

The great thing about pillows is their mobility between rooms, purposes, and floors. Pillows that once lived in our guest room now live in our basement playroom, and another set of guest room pillows did some stand in work while I hunted for new pillows and strategized about the chairs.

Not sure if the stripes are going to stay because they go better with the old sofa. 

And about the chair situation. I am undecided and it could continue this way for a while. It’s also not a priority because we still have one of our two green arm chairs living in the family room. It’s perfectly fine there but I am watching for budget alternatives at every turn. Believe me.  So, if you see me at HomeGoods body-checking old women out of the way to get to a steal-of-the-century chair, please excuse my indiscretions.

The verdict on the sectional is LOVE. It’s a really small sectional (only 88” x 89”) but it lives much larger. We haven’t had a crowd of people over but I’m curious to see how that all works out. Elizabeth’s birthday party in April should be a great test.

In other news I finally sold my playroom sofa so now I an reorganize things down there. Fun!!

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!

Family Room: Winterizing the Sofa

I have never done seasonal change-outs of my pillows, hanging pictures, or other large decorating accessories.  I had a friend in high school whose mother used to change the pictures on the walls for Christmas.  I cannot handle that kind of Christmas decorating.  I think seasonal decorating should just enhance what you have, but not necessarily replace it.

But... (you knew there was a "but"), I had been thinking that my cute striped pillows on my family room couch from my favorite consignment shop, REFind.  These were a great find last spring when I was struggling with finding big pillows with soft fabric, which could stand up to the torture of 2 kids, a husband, and a dog.

They are definitely not seasonal but they did seem somehow a little light for fall and winter.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I attended my local mom's club craft show and stumbled on a new mom run company called A Needle Pulling Thread which does embroidery work for extraordinarily reasonable prices.  As I checked out their selection (not intending to buy anything of course), I just could not take my eyes and hands off these gorgeous chocolate brown velvet pillows with a monogram.  I walked away from the table at least 2 times but then could not help myself as my friend Elizabeth put in her order at the same store (for adorable kids' t-shirts, not pillows).  And the price - $30 including monogram!

Yes please!

So, I ordered myself 2 pillows (Merry Christmas, self).  2 weeks later, I got an email that they were ready for pick-up (one of the owners lives really close to me).  Of course, during the 10 minute pick-up I talk to Mari (one of the owners) about 50 different things (if you don't know me, you don't know about my remarkable gift to gab) and we realize we grew up about 20 miles from each other in upstate New York.  Small world.

Bring them home, pop them on my family room couch and SHAZAM! My couch is winterized.

And the close-up.

I love the font.  Cannot remember the name but it's so perfect for a monogram.

I considered replacing the striped pillows with these for the winter but when I tossed them onto the couch just to see how they looked, I saw how they brought out the brown stripes in the other pillows and how they are just a wee bit smaller so they sizes worked well.  It somehow works really well and the striped pillows seem more fall/winter now than they did before on their own.  Of course, I am sure hubby is not so happy about yet another couch obstruction but he can just deal.


LOVE!

If you are interested in ordering from A Needle Pulling Thread, please send me an email and I will give you their information.  They are still building their website.

p.s.  Don't forget to register for the Willow House giveaway!  Take advantage of some great deals with an  extra $25 off!!!  Click here to enter.

It's the little things

Knickknacks. Chachkis. Accessories. Trinkets. Stuff.

No matter what you call them, we all have some of these laying around the house.  Some may be artfully arranged on a shelf or mantle, and others may be laying in a dusty box in the back of your attic.  I definitely have some in both categories!

I love the look of a beautifully organized bookshelf with the right mix of books and other things, or a mantle which plays up the architecture and the fireplace but doesn't necessarily compete.  But, what is too much and what is too little.  I admit, my current mantles (family room and living room) are too bare but I am not going out to buy things just for the sake of filling them up.  
 

Instead, I am waiting to find the right thing either on one of the many trips we are planning to take this summer, on one of my many trips to Marshalls, or a neighborhood yard sale (there's a big one next weekend!).  You never know where you are going to find something that you really like, and the perfect place to put it may not immediately present itself.  My advice - unless it's a hugely expensive piece of art - buy it.

Although my favorite little things in our house are things that remind me of trips we have taken, gifts, or family heirlooms, I still have a lot of things that I really like for some unexplainable reason. 

Here are some examples.  The new bookshelves in our family room include a conch shell that we got in Nevis about 8 years ago.  It was our first vacation as a couple after we bought the house.  Great place - I would go back in a heartbeat - but I would definitely get the requisite certificate from the St. Kitts & Nevis Department of Agriculture before trying to pack it in my suitcase!  Fortunately the security guards at the airport gave me a pass when I started to get a bit tearful!  But I digress...

The ceramic pear on the shelf came from my favorite consignment shop REfind in Vienna, VA a few months ago with my mom.  I kept walking by it and liked it - no explainable reason - just liked it.  Bought it.  Incidentally, the glass hurricane on my family room mantle also came from the same store.

Of course, not all of my displays are as glamorous but I try to save those for the top of my dresser in our bedroom.  I think this is a great place for those special things that are a bit more personal and mean a lot to you.  I contain them on my dresser using a tray that I got as a gift from friends years ago.  Most of the things were gifts from my grandmother with the exception of the adorable frame which was a Christmas gift from my cousin Victoria (and fellow blogger!).  The "flower pot" was a Mother's Day gift this year from my sweet 4 year old, Elizabeth. 

In the yard sale category, I found this ice bucket at an estate sale on our street soon after we moved into this house.  I think I paid $3!  It's not really usable as an ice bucket any more because the lining is cracked, but it's a great conversation piece and can be used to serve food with a lining of some sort.  Reminds me that I need to break out the silver polish!

My advice - look around your house and see what you already have that can be reused in a decorative way.  Maybe skip the softball trophy on the mantle but maybe you have an interesting vase, shell, or other small item that would work well in your space.

Family Room: Built-in Bookshelves

I am a HUGE fan of built-in bookshelves. I think they add a lot of architectural interest and loads of storage. Jim has recently finished up the new bookshelves in our family room. This is the third built-in he has built in our house, but I still have a few more planned.

All of our built-ins are fairly consistent: floor-to-ceiling with integrated crown molding and baseboard; painted white to match the trim in the house, and made with adjustable bookshelves. The variations come on the bottom - cabinets, bookshelves, or file drawers. Jim has fully built each set top to bottom with the exception of the file drawers in our home office which we purchased at an unfinished furniture store.

New bookshelves and cabinet are in the corner of our new family room. It was a somewhat awkward corner to begin with because of the shape of our addition. We needed a place to stash our audio/video components for our home theater system. The flat screen resides over the fireplace so nowhere to put the components - although they did look pretty great on the mantle for 5 months or so!

The lower cabinet has 2 shelves and holds the receiver, cable box, Blu-ray player, and subwoofer. There's a little room left for a few boxes of DVDs. Fortunately we anticipated that it would get pretty warm under there so we used radiator cover screen (found it at Home Depot) to give it a paneled look. We also installed a heat sensitive fan to circulate the air. We are also considering putting some holes on the top to ventilate it further because it is definitely very warm in there after we watch a movie or an NCIS marathon (we're geeks).

Next up is filling the shelves with our book collection and other collectibles hanging around our house.