Bedroom Inspiration

I was inspired by a friend's plans to paint a striped bedroom...

Aren't these lovely?

We might do our third bedroom in this style. I know it's a lot of extra work, but could be good to do this winter, when it is absolutely frigid out and I'm in hybernation mode.

Do you like vertical or horizontal stripes?

Bathroom - Part 13 - The details!!!

There hasn't been much bathroom progress since the last update. Shamefully little, considering I had a four day weekend and could have gotten it all done. Instead I spent the last few days like a desperate housewife, futzing about the house, and mistakenly going food shopping in my house slippers (the shame! whaaaatt?).

How soon I forget how to function when I have some time off.

But I had some time to think. And I'm slowly letting the accessories for the bathroom stew around in my head.

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For above the sink, I've been thinking about the Simone mirror from ZGallerie for a few months now. I've looked around the discount stores for something similar, but I haven't seen anything remotely close. Most mirrors seem to have a heavy wood frame around it and I like how this mirror is frame-less, with the beveled edges, but also not too feminine, like some of the more ornate Venetian styles can be:
Next we have the lighting. Our bathroom has already been wired for sconces on either side of the mirror. I've been on the lookout for something a little on the historically accurate side. But I'm not married to the idea. I recently found these globe shaped glass shades at Rejuvenation, and think it is an idea to look into:
I like that the lightbulbs aren't visible from any angle. Which was an issue with some of the other sconces. And are the sconces supposed to point up or down? Somebody tell me what to do.

It would be awesome to have one of these babies attached to the wall, just to the side of the sink. I'm filing this under "maybe":

I think we need some softer elements - right now, everything has a harsh angle, or a hard edge (except the shower curtain) and a simple valance like this could do it:
Mom, I am talking to you, and your skills.

A robe hook on the backside of the door could be helpful:
And a ceramic stool next to the tub can be a handy place for guests to place their clothes or pajamas:

There is still a huge blank space on the wall above the toilet. I'm still not sure what to do there, but I've been thinking about a mismatched-yet-similar collection of mirrors, such as these from Pottery Barn:
Or maybe some glass shelves...
With pretty jars and things on it:

What do you all think? Is it all too fussy? Too boring? Too much white and metal? Add more stuff? Less stuff?

Swept Away

I love my dark wood floors. But they show every last little crumb, spec of dust and lint ball. I'm just throwing that out there to anyone who might be considering a darker color finish themselves.

However, I love my floors and if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have done anything differently.

So to deal with my little issue. Cleaning the floor. It has to be done at least twice a week. And I mean every dark corner, the closets, everything. This is why clutter is bad. I have to be able to see the floor, so even our closet floors are kept clear of shoes, debris, etc. But it keeps me cleaned and organized on a bunch of different levels, so I'm cool with it.
Back to the how-to. All I need is a Swiffer mop --- but I don't pay for the official refills. I literally just dampen a few paper towels and insert them into the Swiffer (as above), and I'm good to go. It's practically free, after purchasing the Swiffer handle-rod-thingy. And the best part is, no icky chemical smell or film left behind on the floor.

Bathroom - Part 12 - Sink!

Since I'm technologically challenged, you're just going to have to imagine Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra playing in the background as you peruse the following photos.

Yes, for the first time since Dec 2009, and many, many moments of hemming, hawing and the like, we have a bathroom sink...

After toiling away for hours yesterday, Uncle Ed came to the rescue once again, and got this sucker installed.

At this moment I would like to remind you what we were working with in the beginning:

Gross.

And now:

Yeah!

And what did I do the first time I went to wash my hands in the bathroom?

Bet you thought I went straight to the bathtub.

Nope, I went to the sink.

But the second time, I totally went straight to the bathtub. And maybe a few times after that too.

Old habits die hard.


Thanks Uncle Ed!

Oui Paris

Just got back from my very short trip. Lessons learned?

#1: "Oui" is French for "yes", not "si". But there is no hope of my ever grasping this language.
#2: Break an egg over every food. Add cheese. Eat. Lots.
#3: Keep ordering Kir Royals until the jet lag wears off.

I managed to squeeze in a few photos, in between the shoe-hunting and the credit-card-damaging:

Everything looks like this

Seriously.

Stained glass at the Hotel Lutetia

Ceiling of Galeries Lafayette

I also spent a couple nights in London. But no photos. What happened? I think I was slap-happy at that point. Too much champagne? But London is one of my favorite places ever. (Hi Jordan!) I end up there every few years or so and I'm always so happy to go. Cheers!

Bathroom - Part 11 - Some details

Oh the shame. I looked back at my last bathroom update 3 MONTHS AGO! Ooops! The entire summer without a bathroom update... until now!

My parents helped put some pep in my step last week and working together we got a few smaller, yet overwhelming, projects done.

The first was the toilet paper holder:
Now this may seem like a completely easy task. But it did take 3 of us to install. Of course, because we were going through drywall instead of the beam we needed to use those little plastic screw things that scare me. You know what I'm talking about? But after reading (and questioning the accuracy of) the directions like 20 times (the directions were right, I'm just insane) we did it.
Now let me get this thought out: the vertical holder is weird. Really weird. I never thought in my life I would have to get one of these. However, that small space between the window, the radiator, and that weird corner-thingy is really the only place to install it, and that space is just a tiny bit too narrow. So that's how we ended up going the vertical route.

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The next project was the back of the door. Now unfortunately, I do not have a before picture. But what happened was at some point about 30 or so years ago, someone decided it would be a great idea to cover the back of the original door with plastic laminate that resembled a dark wood:
This is not our door, just an image I found on the internet that accurately describes the kind of mess I was dealing with. So the inside of the door was this, and the outside of the door was original to the house with the paneled look (same as all the other doors - you can see in my old post here).

When we had a contractor working on the bathroom, back in like March or something, I, pretty please with sugar on top, asked him to see if they could crowbar the laminate off. We were left with a solid wood door that had some gashes on it. But it was much more workable. I can bore you with the details of what I did next, but thankfully I didn't take step-by-step photos. Basically, I filled in the cracks and gashes with wood filler, sanded down, then put a layer of plaster over that and sanded down again:

Then I waited about 6 months. Maybe the bathroom door fairies would finish this one night while I was sleeping? I decided I was tired of waiting for that to happen.

We picked up a few pieces of decorative wood and started cutting them into frame pieces. Everything needed to be cut on a 45 degree angle, while keeping mindful of what side was what.
Try to form the frame on the floor as you're cutting each piece (as above) and you'll see what I mean. Also buy more wood than you need. Just in case.

We followed the frame sizes as they occurred on the other doors in our house. There was also the faint outline on this door of where the framing used to be, so we used that as a guide and a few 3/4 inch nails to attach the wood pieces to it:


Next came caulking (I can't emphasis the caulking enough! It makes such a difference with woodwork!) and painting:


I even replaced the doorknob with a new one from Anthropologie - it matched the silver colors of the room much better than the existing knob. I do need to someday replace the door plate, since it is rusting a little. But it is ok for now:

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Next up is our sink area:

Psych!

The chair and plant are holding it's place. But we do technically OWN a sink, which is light-years ahead of where we were a few months ago:
To be continued...

Re-plant

Yesterday my parents brought me a bunch of beautiful plants. Mom and I went out to the front yard and pulled out some old plants, moved some things around, planted some of the new ones.

Here's what it looked like this morning:
And for the record, this what I'm thinking when I look at the garden...

(if you click on the photo, it will open larger in a new window)

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I'm off to finish a project in the bathroom and hope to update back here in the next day or so!

Just a flower

backyard, early this summer

I'm gearing up for what may be a fall season full of projects. We have been pretty lackadaisical what with all the gorgeous summer days.

Actually I'm hoping for an Indian Summer. Then maybe I can wait a few more weeks before really digging into the paint rollers and drop-clothes again.

Shadowboxer

These are John's Pop's World War II patches, pins and ID tag. We've kept them in a zip-lock bag in the bottom drawer of a nightstand dresser for the past year. I've been wanting to do something special with them since they are a piece of history (both national as well as familial).

And the zip-lock bag was just not cutting it.

So I bought a shadowbox frame at Target.

(Side note - I am the queen, the absolute ruler of the universe of people who say they are going to frame something, and never get around to it. So actually buying the frame was like a giant leap for mankind. Fast forward a few months later to now...)

I bought a piece of black board, cut it to size and added a few Glue Dots to hold in place.

Next I started fooling around with the layout of the patches...

When I was satisfied with the layout, I began, one at a time, adding Glue Dots to the back of each patch and pressing into place...
I just discovered Glue Dots while on line at Michael's yesterday. Did I mention they are amazing??

For the ID tag and key chain, I hammered a small hole through the board and added a couple of paper fasteners...

And...

More attic dreaming...

I have so many things to do in the main part of the house. I have no business even thinking about this space.

But look at what Shaunna did to her attic. Seriously. This is my dream!

I never thought about using board on the walls/ceiling of the attic, but it really works.

In other news, our bathroom sink is expected later this afternoon. I know. That is over 8 months in this house with no bathroom sink. Will keep you all posted with more bathroom progress soon!

In the meantime, have a great weekend...