House Project- Greta’s Room Dress Wall

I didn’t really know what to do with this space above the end table that I bought at a flea market. When you walk in her room it’s that space to the left of her bed. Here is what it was before the end table. Empty wall.

And then we got the end table, which I posted about before.

And now I finished what’s above the table. I put together a little wall of Greta’s dresses, and one of my dresses from when I was a baby. Mine is the one on far right, and Greta’s are the other 2. I figure I can rotate her clothes too if I want to change the colors of the room a little.

September House Project- Living Room

I made this whole post and then lost it somehow. Sooo frustrating. I have been waiting to take photos of my living room until the boys went back to school. I couldn’t keep it decent long enough to snap the photos while they were all home. So here we go. Before the mantle was cluttered with all these little frames, and I am over it.

And see that quilt on the ottoman. Yeah, that was covering up some stains. And the chair had a hole in the side. The kids lived in this chair and thus the inevitable kid damage happened.

I took away all the little frames and used some big frames from our previous place. I put artwork from each kid in each. How happy does that tear collage piece make you? It’s by Sawyer, and he even has glasses! And I blew up a family picture of us. So much less cluttered. Better.

This new chair was courtesy of an ebay seller from Seattle. Aaron had to drive to this creepy Greyhound station to pick it up since he wouldn’t let me go get it myself. But at least I didn’t have to recover the original cushions.

We have always wanted a coffee table in this room, but with the oversized chair and ottoman, it just never worked. I found this awesome Danish furniture store in Silverlake. I am obsessed with all their pieces.

New pillows courtesy of Pier 1. Highly recommend them for pillows. Great selection.

And here is the whole shabang. I know this may not please everyone’s tastes, but I absolutely adore our living room now. Every time I walk through it or come down the stairs, I smile. I definitely need to spend some more time in it, especially lounging on the comfy couch.

House Project- Master Bedroom

I am so excited about my bedroom. It has been the barest of all the rooms. Everything just kind of got pushed to the bottom of the list and deemed unnecessary. So we’ve spent 4 years with nothing on the walls until the recent television mount. It’s a big room and we love it, but just didn’t know where to begin. So along with my living room, I spent some time this summer turning it into the room I really wanted.

Now, I would have loved brand new bedding, but I settled for new pillows. I thought I took some before pictures, but this is all I found. Darn that photo reorganization project on my computer!

You’ll get the idea from this photo. Bedding was chocolate brown (winter bedding) and there was nothing on the walls, and there was this leather ottoman in this corner. Above the bed was just a big blank wall.

Living Room photos to follow next week, hopefully when the kids start school I can keep the living room in decent condition long enough to take a photo!

Here’s what it looks like now. I finally got my polaroid wall. The bedding is not new, it’s just what we use in summertime, the pillows are from Pier One. Corkboard is from Anawalt Lumber.

This bookcase is from Target. Probably my favorite purchase for the whole room. And I had much fun decorating the shelves, I move things around on them almost daily. That’s the record player I blogged about last week. The old camera was an ebay find. We had all the books. The birds I blogged about as well, from West Elm. The owl is from Pier One. Typewriter is a Craigslist find.

I replaced my old lamp on my end table with this Sheesham lamp from West Elm. Ultimately I would love to get new end tables, but not now.

And there you have our new living room. We didn’t change anything on the wall where the dresser and TV are since we just did that wall a few months ago. You can see that blog post here. I hope to be on a better schedule of house projects once the kids are in school.

loving

Quick Note: Saturday from 2pm-4pm the kids are having their first lemonade stand. There will be lemonade and homemade cookies for sale for 25 cents each. If you know where I live and are reading this, you better come. If you don’t know where I live and want to stop by, send me an email. The kids have already painted their signs and all the ingredients are bought. It will be pretty darn cute and the cookies, I promise will be awesome. See you there!

What I am loving right now.

Listening to this non-stop.

Watching the kids peck away on this, courtesy of Craigslist.

My new pillows, courtesy of Pier One. Soon I will share my new living room, well, it’s not new, but I made a bunch of changes. Some of these are in my bedroom, which has also seen some changes.

These guys, purchased at West Elm.

These shoes. Thank you Endless.com

And last but certainly not least. Check this out, our new record player! How fun is that. And it’s portable! If only we had some records to play. . .

House Project- Garage

Awhile back I posted how we had invaded Aaron’s garage and turned it into a pseudo playroom. Well, it just got a little cozier. We put down Flor and now we can roll around and play on the floor and not freeze out butts off with the concrete floor. I got a good deal on a huge lot without knowing what the patterns/colors were, but I think they worked. 

As you can see, Greta is already making good use of floor time with some more fabulous old school Little People.

 

House Project- April & May

I am really behind on posting these. And I won’t go into all my excuses, but our landing at the top of the stairs is complete. You may remember the before photos from this post. Wow, that was back in October when I started this wall. Well, it’s finally done. Last month I framed the last of the photos and art projects by the kids. It seriously makes me smile every day as I walk by it into Greta’s room. Well, maybe not every day, because some days they are actually nights and I walk by it very angrily and cursing quiet utterances under my breath to go see why my daughter is screaming at 3am. But all other times this wall makes me very happy. The little elephant/seal templates were found on Sarah Jane Studios blog from my blog roll. So easy to make and so cute. 

And this is a new addition in Greta’s room. I have been working on her room a little bit. We got rid of the rocker and ottoman. Just taking those items out of the room makes her room look so grown up. I purchased this end table at a flea market and the knobs are from Anthropologie. They have the most amazing knobs. In fact, after I bought these I went around my house looking for knobs I can replace. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of knobs. But if you need knobs, go to Anthropologie, you will not be disappointed. I also got the cute little doll high chair at the same flea market. It is so well made, and get this, only cost me $12. The little tray lifts up and everything. Next on my list for her room is a little doll cradle/bed. I prefer it being vintage but I haven’t seen any yet. I guess that just means another trip to the flea market. . .

House Project- March

Wow, it’s been awhile since a project has been completed in this house. And this isn’t so much a project, but a “necessity” according to my husband. We never watch TV in our bedroom, we have this really crappy TV from 8 years ago that we’ve been using. It’s just not worth it when downstairs is a beautiful plasma to sit and watch your shows on. In fact, I’d rather watch TV on my computer than on that junk.

For years we’ve wanted to mount a flat screen up there but there has always been a more important purchase. Like diapers, food, electricity, you get the point.

Well, each year we receive a tax refund and we usually renew our annual Disneyland passes, take a small weekend trip somewhere with the kids, pay down a credit card bill if it got out of hand near the end of the year, and buy a piece of electronic equipment that Aaron has been eyeing. Last year it was our new Mac, the year before camcorder. . .

I told Aaron he should price flat screens for our bedroom, and I should’ve known something was up when only hours later he asked me how much I expected to pay for one. Interesting question, but I wasn’t expecting deceit so I answered him honestly. No less than 24 hours later, I came home from work, walked in our bedroom and it was done. On the wall, mounted, boxes dismantled. Very interesting. And when I looked at the screen I noticed my photos from my library on the computer changing on the screen. That’s when I noticed the little box on the floor, Apple TV. You see he took the number I gave him and apparently that was too high for reality. So instead of us saving the extra few hundred dollars, he went and bought an Apple TV, and therefore came in $4 under budget. So scandalous. And I hope that Apple TV was worth it because that’s the last time I fall for that trick.

The Apple TV is awesome however. Awesome. The first night I went to sleep watching old home movies of our trip to Mexico. I can scan through any photos or movies. And then I can go to the apple site and purchase any shows or movies to watch. Too easy. I didn’t realize how convenient watching television in bed is. 

      So here are a few BEFORES of our ugly wall and television.

And the AFTER:

I know, it’s not terribly exciting. But at least we’re making progress. Our bedroom is the least “lived in” as far as furniture, decorations, and wall art are concerned.

House Project- November

Ever since Greta got her own room and moved out of our bedroom, the kids lost their playroom. It has been fine and they never really complained, but slowly over time they have been taking over the guesthouse. First it was an innocent toy chest of Legos, then another toy chest full of my old Cabbage Patch dolls and their clothes, then it was their ride on wooden airplane that Grandpa made for them, and lastly it was the ginormous Foosball table my mother so lovingly bought them. Needless to say, another plan was put into action. And my lovely husband totally offered out of the goodness of his own heart, and completely voluntarily, the use of his garage. When he mentioned that he would be willing to take his truck out of the garage and sacrifice it for Foosball . . . something must be up. 

Little did he know that it would involve my rearranging of certain things, and the need for it to be a little cleaner than the garage has been in the last 3 years. So here is some photos of Aaron washing the floor of his old garage.

I had been storing some of the things, like the kids’ train table, and others I just moved in there, and it was as if the kids were celebrating every birthday and holiday that we don’t celebrate! Just a little repositioning and it was as if they had walked into a brand new toy store. Needless to say, they wake up now and immediately ask to go play in their new playroom. Aaron too is reliving his lego days of his youth and the foosball table has him pretty enthralled as well. I bought a cheap rug at Ikea and repurposed some other things. There is still some tidying up and organizing that has to be done. But I have learned not to intervene, the wrath of Aaron when Deborah touches a “tool” or god forbid an empty box! Ouch.

House Project- October

We have been in our home since renovating for over 3 years now. And our landing when you walk upstairs has been incomplete for 3 years. Okay, not incomplete, but nothing. Nada. Empty. A big ugly wall space. Originally we were going to have built in cabinets put in for holding linens for the upstair bedrooms, but as most understand, if you don’t do it before you move in, you will never do it. 

So bare it has been. And finally I decided I would find the right piece of furniture for the alcove. It’s a tricky space because it is very long but shallow. Here is the before pictures, we were just using a spare antique dresser to hold necessities. 

And here is the landing now. It isn’t 100% done, but the spaces I will fill in gradually with the kids’ artwork and more photographs as I take them. This is kind of them through my eyes. My favorite pieces they bring home or what they create at the art table, and them just being them through the lens of my camera. I love the lamp and the dresser style. I think it is one of my favorite spaces now in my home.

Project- End Table

Aaron and I made this table together the first year we were married, when we were living in New York. Since we have moved into our house it has just sat in the guest room in a corner, doing absolutely nothing useful. And it’s not that pretty to begin with either. Coincidentally, my children have been bringing into our house many lovely items, like spiders that they catch with their bug vacuum. The spiders sit in their canister all over the house, waiting for my forgetful children to remember to feed them some kind of other live spider or mosquito. Needless to say, I did some table rearranging and used a beat up end table that used to be in our living room as our new porch table. Which now houses all living things so when we walk to the front door we can be reminded of the starving spiders awaiting their dinner. Then I had a missing end table in my living room. This is where this table came in. 

After putting to use my handy power sander, love that thing, I decided to prime and paint it in my favorite color, which I never really liked until about a year ago, orange. I found this gorgeous paint by Benjamin Moore called Navajo Red. I know, it’s not red. This is the first time I bought the paint without sampling it first, I chose it straight off a color card. And fortunately, it was just the right orange that I envisioned. I had them mix it for exterior paint with semi gloss since I think that’s hardier for our furniture which is used daily. Aaron wouldn’t let me use the saw, so he sawed about 7 inches off the legs to make it the right height. Here she is.

And here is our repurposed porch table, already housing a spider family. Although, I’m not loving the black, so not sure how long that will remain black. Maybe for next month’s project. . .