Above is what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house. Notice the lovely brown cabinets, off white appliances and linoleum counter top. My favorite was the time machine sized microwave (that didn't work) and overall dark and depressing feeling! We didn't have the budget for a fancy shmancy full overhaul, so I had to get creative. We did a couple things right when we moved in a year ago. We painted the cabinets right away, then got a new counter top and some new appliances as the year went on. The past two weekends have been all about the final touches! I decided to move around some of the upper cabinets and we're adding some open shelving and a new backsplash as you can see from the pics below! I can't wait to share the final room when it's all done! I feel like it's finally all coming together to be exactly what I wanted! (How much do you love that picture of my Dad? We had been doing the backsplash all weekend and were both feeling the aches and pains!)
Home Before and After: Stairs
Not too long ago I put together a little post for
. I knew I wanted to do something with my stairs, as you can see from my "Before" photos, the white risers don't do too well against shoes and dogs in our house. Even when I scrubbed them they would never truly be clean. The railings were also a wierd bulky shape and the paint was peeling off regardless of frequent touch ups. I taped off the risers and painted them a mid-tone grey, it's a nice contrast with our wall colors and the wood steps all while remaining neutral in the very likely situation that I decide to change the color of the walls at some point. To keep them from staying TOO neutral, I bought new banisters (you can have them cut to length at Lowes, and are only a couple of dollars a foot) and painted them a lovely mint color. Banisters like mine are so easy to repaint or replace since they are strait, so I figured why not? I also took down the rod iron railings to the basement and spray painted them white so they would look a little cleaner and blend better with all the white trim. I'm so happy with how they came out, our house looks cleaner already!
Bedroom Gallery Wall
Finally! I have hung some art in our
! I had a variety of things that I was excited to hang on the wall, but I knew it would be a tricky orientation as some of the pieces were three dimentional. So as I described when I hung the gallery wall in our
, cutting out pieces of paper in the same size as what you want to hang on the wall is a great way to insure that you are not putting too many holes in your walls! By working with the paper versions, I could move them around and end up with everything right where I wanted. Knowing where the lamp was going to be made me think about where I wanted the art to go. Sometimes people hang art without taking into consideration where their furniture and other accents are going to be. Something that may look unbalanced on the wall can be balanced by other items, like windows, doors, a high backed chair, or in this case, a lamp. You really do have to take into account everything in the room when you are hanging art.
As for the art, the ice cream cone is by my super talented college room mate, Claire Moore. Then I have a little calligraphy I did on the fly to fill the little wood frame. It's nice to have a basic sized frame that you can switch out the artwork every once in a while, which is what I intend to do with this little frame. The metal C is from Urban Outfitters, and the woven basket from West Elm. The wood type box is a Brimfield find that I painted and talked about in a
. Mixing various types of art always makes for a lovely and dynamic wall. I am so very happy with how this came out.
Polka Dot Bedroom
Our guest room is finally done.... kinda. I'd still like to hang a bit more art by the rattan chair in the corner, and the desk chair is a place holder stolen from our dining room for the purpose of this little photo op. Right now though, I'm 95% happy with how it came out! Most of the items in the room were things we already had or DIY projects, it's a guest room, I can't buy all new things!
It started with paint. the room was an off white which made it feel kind of dingy. I painted the walls a pure matte white and made a polka dot template and painted the same pure white in a glossy finish across all the walls. It's a lovely effect that really plays with the light and made the room feel so bright and happy. I also painted all the trim the same glossy white which helps update the look of the room.
Then came a series of projects! The mirror was $30 from Ikea and originally black, I spray painted it this lovely coral color to make it feel a bit more fun. The blue drawer pulls were another little project that I described in an
. The headboard was also a fun $50 DIY described
. The curtains were cheep and basic from Urban Outfitters, I sewed on pom pom trim to make them a bit more fun, I talked about doing that in on of my
, I also list where I bought some of the items in the room in that post as well. I got the arrows over the bed from a great
, she custom made them in the pattern and colors I wanted, I LOVE how they look next to the denser gallery wall over the desk (I'll go into more detail about the gallery wall next week!) The "desk" is a wall mounted shelf with drawers from
. As guest rooms often serve as multi purpose rooms, this is just the right size to serve as a desk and night table. The rattan chair was a $25 find from a local antique market, as were the hobnail lights on the dresser. So, all in all, for a room of hand me down furniture, DIY projects, and antique store finds, it came together pretty well!
Virtues of Vintage
I thought today I would write about the virtues of vintage and antiques. When it comes to design, my eyes are often much larger than my wallet. I want unique and well crafted furniture, but my budget doesn't allow for crazy spending. Shopping for antiques is always a crap shoot, whenever I am planning to drop some dough, there is nothing to be found, it's when I'm least expecting it that I tend to stumble upon something amazing. That being said, antiquing is fun, the prices are never really fixed, I'm not a great haggler, but as long as I'm friendly and smile I always seem to get a good amount off of their "listed price". Below are some pieces of furniture I have scored at antique markets. I've put them next to an image of the comparable mass produced item so you can see what you would pay for them if you bought them "new" or "reproduced" from a regular store.
Furniture cart coffee table. New from
, mine from a vendor at the
who salvages them from old factories in North Carolina and refinishes them. I actually think mine is better quality and quite a bit sturdier, I also think the color variation is amazing on the vintage one.
Eames lounge chair. New from
, SUPER pricy. Mine, from the
, I had to reupholster it, you can see the before and after
. This is a classic piece with knock offs up the wazoo, but it always looks good and it very comfortable.
This dresser was a huge score for me, I actually got an the entire bedroom set (this dresser, a tall dresser, and two nightstands) for $500, also at the
. It just needed a new coat of polyurethane and it was good to go. After I bought it, I was browsing online and stumbled upon
which is EXACTLY the same, but about 10 times more expensive, it made me feel like the savviest shopper ever.
The
above is something I've been drooling over for the past couple months, but $500 for a lamp is just silly and not even in the realm of possibility for me. This weekend, I was browsing around a
full of antiques which I discovered a couple months ago, and I found this lamp and almost died. One of the good things about living in the burbs, is that there is not a big demand for mid-century modern design, which means whenever I find it, I tend to get it for a deal! When you're looking at vintage lamps, always imagine them with a new drum lampshade which can take it from grandma to glorious! I bought the lampshade pictured at Target to give it a little oomph.
SO, morale of the story, find your local antique dealers, visit them often, smile and shoot the shit, and more often than not, you'll be taking home something better, more unique, and cheeper than you could ever find in a box box store.