Holiday House Rules

Boo.

Yeah, the snow kinda puts a damper on the Halloween thing. And, really, it's never been my favorite holiday. I did put up a spider, though.

Why so glum, you ask? Well, it's about the basement. See it's wet. I used to say it was "damp," but I got over my optimism. It has it's own personal river:

Yeah, 100+ year old basements are never pretty, but the water? Sigh. It stresses me out. We have never had a problem with mold, but recently we have become a mosquito breeding ground. In. The. House.

So, time to take action. I called a mason and expected the worst. This is what I got:

The little drawing on the bottom left depicts a french drain. And I'm getting 13" feet of that between the sink and the hot water heaters. French Drain - sounds so very sexy. I wonder what the French have to do with jackhammers and channels of crushed stone? Seems like an American thing to me. Or maybe German. Germans like tidy basements, don't they?

Anyway. After touring my basement for about half an hour and pointing out failed mortar and whatnot, I actually gulped when he wrote the "1" and then the "5" on the estimate. In my head, this was going to cost like 8 grand. I pictured myself talking JWH into it. Rationalizing. Talking about resale value. Then the "1" and the "5" and I was like, "Whoa! Fifteen thousand dollars!! No way! I'll learn to love the river. I'll name it. I'll farm salmon in it!" And then he stopped at $1500. And while that is not chump change, it's doable. And so it will be done. This. Week.

We do not mess around here at Holiday House. No we don't.

 

Time to turn on the heat.

I can't help it. I notice it every time I see someone boldly (!?) putting a shelf over their radiator. Bonus points to peeps who let their curtains touch said radiator. Consider this my yearly Public Service Announcement: it's okay!

And, lovely:

(The Boo and The Boy)

(Apartment Therapy)

Finally. Finally?

Okay, so, let's remember my inspiration photo -

(DecorPad via The Boo and the Boy - I have since discovered these are discontinued West Elm ottomans, btw)

And, for the heck of it, share a photo of my "spot in need of a little oomph/seating" -

And, should you really be that interested, links to the other times I have waxed on and on and on about looking for a cube or an ottoman (never, ever, a pouf).

And then, let's come up to today. Glorious today, when I saw something that just might be perfect. Sure, it's intended for little boys rooms, but really, who cares about that? I think putting things outside of the environment they are meant for is a little bit cooler, so picture one of these in my living room. 

(Restoration Hardware Baby & Child)

Fantastic, right?

Paint the weird bits.

I'm kind of thinking about this for the kitchen. It's a kind of blah space. So what if I painted something other than the walls?

Apartment Therapy had a post yesterday about painted door frames between rooms–but the picture was teeny. Still, it got me thinking...

(Cococozy)

(chezerbey)

(The New York Times)

Before and after (the mural version).

Yep, going back to the previous house again. Just because our Lukin mural deserves a fresh round of love.

I mean really, if you have a problem area (or one, as in this case, screams "ghetto tenement") consider a mural!

Another thing about this time of year.

This is a great time of year to be thinking about charity. Yes, charity. Before you get all wrapped up in Thanksgiving, and, then, the hell that is Christmas shopping, think charity. Just for a few minutes, rest on that word.

Then, think about the fact that this is the time of year that kids are starting to feel that first tickle of need for a winter coat. The bun wore hers one day last week. It was a tad chilly, and, heck, she was excited to have a new coat. 

Not every kid has a new coat. Or any coat. 

Honestly, this is the time of year that breaks my heart. I picture little kiddos at recess, not running and playing because they are cold. I picture bigger kiddos at the bus stop, hands jammed in their pockets, playing it off like they are cool. But they are cold. It happens. You know it happens. There are simply too many families where a winter coat is on the "to get" list, but it falls behind groceries, rent, electricity, heat, or sometimes just something unexpected. You think, heck a winter coat at Old Navy is like, what? $20? Who can't do that? But you have to remember that there are families without the resources (the time, the car, the ready cash) to seek out the sales and get the best deal.

Luckily, for 48,000 of those families (yes I said 48,000), there is Cradles to Crayons. This amazing woman named Lynn Margherio started a charity 10 years ago. Charity. Her goal was to provide for the less fortunate children in her community. Since she and her team are wunderkinds of determination, her community has grown to be the whole darn state, and Philadelphia, too.

Cradles to Crayons has a simple mission:

"...to provide homeless and low-income children with the essentials they require to thrive - to feel safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued."

That's it. Seems so easy. But it's not. It takes goods, volunteers, and money. I'll wax on about the goods another time, but for now, let's talk money. For $25 you can outfit a child. Outfit a Child. Really. $25 bucks. That's how efficient they are with their money. Crazy efficient.

And, now, I'll test your patience with even more on this group, by reminding you of a post I did last year telling you about this amazing photographer, Kim Lowe, who not only gives her time, but corrals a bunch of other people (stylists, makeup artists, studio owners, assistants) to give theirs, to organize a daylong photoshoot-a-palooza, all to benefit Cradles to Crayons. Yep, you get a fancy photoshoot of your kids, perfect for holiday cards, and Cradles to Crayons gets all the money.

Kim calls it Two Birds. I call it the best idea, ever. To sign up for this year's event, in Boston on November 5th, email Kim or visit her Facebook page. Bidding for a slot in the event lasts until November 1st. Starting bid is $150, which is a fraction of what a private photoshoot would cost you in the real word. 

I'll be there. Look for this girl with the huge smile:

Seriously. Charity. Think about it.

This time of year.

I can take no credit for my neighbor's gardening skills, but since these hang over the fence, I enjoy them all the same. It's that magical time between weeding season and raking season. Ahhhh.

 

More rug fantasies.

Well, last week I spent a little downtime trolling rugs on Overstock. Well, call me a snob, but I hardly thought I'd buy a rug that I was unfamiliar with in terms of maker and quality. 

And, truly, only the Thomas Paul rugs were making enough of a statement for me. So I thought I'd dig a little further and see what was out there. 

This was:

(allmodern)

I mean, come on! It's so pretty! And they have it in gold, too!

Both of these come in many sizes, including a 6' round. 

I am going home to measure tonight!

 

 

Penny round tile.

Dana over at House*Tweaking is in the midst of a housing down-size. Yeah, she's got a great idea there...but really what caught my eye was her choice of tile for her master bath. It's the same tile I have in my laundry room/nook/closet. 

And then I realized I have never taken any pictures of my laundry area. Harumph. Wonder why not? It was the first, and biggest yet, renovation we undertook at HH. And one that truly makes my life worth living. It was not cheap, mind you, but I really thing it was a value-ad, both in terms of livability of the house and for resale value. No 4-bedroom 3-storey house should rely on a tiny Ansko stack-able washer in a kitchen closet. You had to move the kitchen chairs aside to get at it! And as for folding, storage, drying space? Zero. Zero. Zero.

So, here's what we did. The staircase going to our third floor master was carved out of what had been a small bedroom. The closet from that bedroom remained - and it was deep one, tucked into the eave of the front of the house. It was large enough for a stack-able washer and dryer, and a bit of shelving. Fine. Perfect. Not having to move the kitchen chairs, being able to get a larger machine (it wold have to be a smaller stack-able, but not as small as the Ansko, which seriously did not hold on full set of bed linens at one time...) I was totally up for a "moderately better situation."

And then Greg came over. Yes, Greg. Sigh. My beloved ex-contractor. And he said, "No, you need full size machines and a folding counter and we can take a foot from the kid's closet and get you all that and a large opening with a pocket door that looks like to came with the house in 1898." You see why I love him now don't you?

Well, actually, it was not as easy as that, we had a lot of problem solving to do about pluming vents and what not, but he really was adamant about going to full size machines. The man has something against stack-ables, I guess. So, we went for it!

Here we have the ripped out closet mid-process, you can see how it's in the eaves, and the Bun's closet it to the right of those new 2x4s:

And here are the GlamourShots of the laundry room. 

See how wide that door is? When it's open you can access the whole space. And, Greg was totally right, there is plenty of space to stand in there and fold or sort things.

The paint is Moonshine by Benjamin Moore, the penny tile is for Tile Showcase in Watertown, MA and the whole of it is fantastico!

 

More pictures of the kitchen refresh.

So, In my re-fresh of my family room photos, I started to think about updating the kitchen ones, too. It's on the same side of the house as the family room, and I wondered how different it would photograph in the afternoon. And, well, just like the pillows in the family room post, I had a little update to share. In this case, a little more 20x200 art to liven things up. 

See here for pictures of the whole room.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

So, I troll the internets a bit, especially when a certain someone is out of town and I'm in bed by 9pm. 

Really, it's a harmless activity. Except when it leads to shopping. But I have sworn to stop. Nothing else till Christmas. Any available cash will go toward knocking some of my remaining 2011 to-dos off the list. Namely, the gutters, the ceilings and potentially, the chairs. 

These chairs:

I have a call in to see about re-upholstery. I'm not optimistic, though. So maybe that's why I was so taken aback when the Apartment Therapy Scavenger post slid through my Google Reader pane. Gray? Velvet? Chairs? 

Yes, please. Call me Senora Click-through. To here:

I emailed. I arranged. I went to see. Oh, and such a cute house and cute family they were. All serving to set off the glory of these chairs. As promised they were in great shape. And color-wise? Perfection.

But? Size. 

Sigh, they were too large. A good 8" deeper than what I have now, and about 6" wider to boot. 

Crap. Word of the day. Crap.

 

Somebody stop me.

I should not be shopping. I have a "no spending unless it's for Christmas*" rule in effect here, people! And yet, I'm looking at rugs. I'm fantasizing about the slip covered chairs, and how to make that front hall just a little more of a room and not just a walk-through space. After all, it's called the "living room" on the floor plans. Yeah...marketing.

So, the current blue chair and brown rug set up is a hack. The chairs were ordered before we moved in, and the rug is something I just pulled out of a clearance bin at Crate & Barrel one time. It's really too small. Once I de-pattern those chairs...I think I should get a larger, perhaps even round, rug. Something to warm up the space. Something to sit my tuckus on when we do puzzles, etc. in that room/hall/space. Whatever. 

But, where to look? It's a high traffic area, so I'm not keen to put a lot of money into a rug there (plus I know I'll change my mind). So I happened to just Google "round rug." Yeah. Super high tech like that. 

Funnily enough, Mr. Google took me to Overstock.com. Not somewhere I have spent a lot of time (I found those old "All about the O" commercials far too creepy. Anyway, the rugs, they actually had a lot. I'm not saying I'd buy from there without a little research, but their search engine was dandy and they had enough of a collection to get my wheels turning. 

Her are some of the ones I thought could work. Mind you, the room is kind of a center hall, with the green entrance, goldish-yellow dining room and gray family room all visible. The walls and curtains are light tan. Hmmmm, a challenge to pull that all together and still be a room in it's own right...and, I have an aversion to that kind of fluffy wool rug with the shorn-loop tops? I like a low pile. Call me crazy, but fluffy rugs just remind me of the (carpet covered) suburbs of my youth. I actually had a grade school pal whose dad owned a carpet store and her room was wall to wall, and up the walls...even the bed frame was carpeted. I. Kid. You. Not. I think I'm still twitching from those sleepovers.

Anyway I digress. The rugs:

 (Soho Botanical)

(Watch Hill Camel braided)

(Majesty Light Brown)

(Hand-Loomed Navy)

(Thomas Paul brown floral)

(Oh, and in green...)

As you can see, I'm still a bit all over the place. 

*I'm also allowed to spend on items already on the 2011 Listy McLister. Who makes these rules? Me.

I actually added this...

...to my Amazon wishlist. That's how much I love it. Yes, I know it's October. Good design knows no season... It's expensive, though, so I put that it was for "me and JWH." Yeah, I know he will love it, too*. Maybe we'll get it for Christmas?

 

           

(Stadler Form)

*It's wood. He loves all things wood. Keep it clean, people, keep it clean.

Hell to the yes.

File this under "vacation dream home." Yes, JWH, you can have this. Just need to, ahem, buy the land/win the lotto.

Looks all CGI, right? Because it is. It's a pre-fab house. You can buy the rooms and configure it on site however you wish. You know, like if you have a vista or a lake or a hill, or even a few trees you'd like to encircle. Bravo to the folks at Lake Flato Architects. This series of modular homes is called "Porch House" because they envision the smaller structures as being linked by porches. Yeah. Just yeah.

Images from Lake Flato Porch House.com. Check it out, Fall in love.

The bath lighting (alright, already, it's over).

I waxed on here and here about a new light for the hall bath. And here you saw the newbie. But, well, I have a teeny bit more to say on the subject. And when I say "say" I really mean show.

See, while the new light is not perfection, it is an improvement. It's brighter and less, ummm, gross. Allow me a little side by side.

 

On the old one, the light was just aimed at the wall, and it was kinda weeny for the big vanity and mirror area. The new one, I think, makes the room look bigger and emphasizes the high ceilings. And it kicks out a ton of light. It's like the surface of the sun in there with three 75w bulbs. I came down to 60w, but I really might even try 50's. (The old one was 2 75s, but, again, it basically lit up little circles on the wall. See?

You may note that in ordering this fixture I liked that it cold be hung facing down or up. Yeah, I made poor JWH try it both ways. Down was, as I feared, weird, due to the position of the wiring in relation to the mirror. It just overlapped in an odd-feeling way.

So anyway, more photos of this room (earlier in the day, on a sunny day, perhaps) to come once I finish my mac-daddy vanity project. Stay tuned.

Before and after: the hall bath (the interim edition).

I still have a major vanity project up my sleeve. Don't you worry, it'll knock your socks off. But, all in all, the hall bath I hated has come a long way.

The total "before." Before I switched out the shade for window film, which was huuuuge.

Then, the middle before. With the window film...but, oh so cold and stark and just somehow incohesive and blah.

The "after"? Oh, lala!

What did I do?

The window film ($14), taking out the trim on the top window ($0), the roman shade ($171), the frame for the mirror ($20), the paint ($20, it's Manchester Tan, btw), the light ($150), the shower curtain ($58). The day of repair ($0).

No, it's not the hall bath reno I dreamed of, but it's way more in line with the rest of the house now and I don't cringe when I'm in there. 

Just wait till I show you the coup de grace on this whole shebang. It's in process, and it's why I did this whole thing anyway. A hint? The IKEA stool is going, going, gone!

 

*And yes, I know I have varied above from lights off to lights on and then back. But, really, the thing getting me all grill cheesed about this bathroom is how much brighter and warmer it is with the lights off - which is how I usually see it anyway. I'll do another post soon on the lighting switch to show y'all the difference that made.

This project was also a part of Thrifty Decor Chick's November Before and After Party. Hooray!

Pretty is an understatement.

I almost need no words to describe these pieces of furniture from Pinch. I guess these are all the necessary words: this is furniture from a place called Pinch. I love it.

    


(Pinch)

More nostalgia.

When I was digging through my old condo photos looking for evidence that I really had not dreamt up a Moroccan room, I found a very small number of images from the very first condo we bought, oh, lo, back in the day*. 

We have sort of reconnected with a neighbor from that house, and overall I have fond memories. We left because we thought we could make a buck selling at the height of the market (we could) and because we found a larger, under-priced unit to trade up to (the Moroccan decor seemed to scare of a good number of buyers and the sellers were under contract already elsewhere, and 9.5 months pregnant, so we had them over the proverbial barrel, so to speak). Anyway, the pictures of our little pad on "Ell-um."

I still love that decorative fireplace. And the people watching from the porch was great. Oh, and sweet little Indie standing guard in the kitchen. Sigh. Good times.

I still remember the paint colors: Benjamin Moore "Carrington Beige" in the living room and guest room and "Carbonite" in the dining room. The long hall was Behr "Reflecting Pool" and our room was Behr Chadbury. I was a total newbie to picking paint, but I think I put together a pretty nice palette all the same. 

The "Grellow" is in honor of the folks at Young House Love, thy painted their kitchen this same color, and I can't recall the actual name. It's a great color for a not-so-much-natural light kind of place. As is the Reflecting Pool. That color just bounces the light, I tell you.

*I already shared a few snaps from our diy kitchen renovation at this condo, here.

Oh, wait, that's not a rug.

(sfgirlbybay)

It's tape. I think. I'm kind of a fan, since a rug would be a pain in that space (with the rolling tables), but you probably want some delineation of where they go...hmmm.

 I'm not saying I'd go here:

(Freshome, via A day in the life of Me)

But, really, I applaud their restraint.

 

Rethinking my kitchen (yes, again, but this time I'm actually getting real).

I shared a little love for how far we have come together here. But I hae been fantasizing for years now about ripping out the cabinets and starting over. I have wild dreams of banquets and marble counter tops and such. 

But, truth is, my kitchen works. It works well, in fact.

So, perhaps I need a new direction. A way to think about just tweaking it to get it to the next level. So I pondered, I mean seriously pondered, what really needed to change:

1. the upper cabinet doors are warped
2. the weeny upper cabinets next to the sink are weird
3. the wall with the open shelving is a hack and it shows - I'd prefer concealed storage for the appliances and that the dishes live nearer the sink/dishwasher
4. the back hall (where we ripped out a bathroom) I'd like to see as a pantry
5. the room is dark, lighter cabinets will help fix that

Well, see, that is not a huge list now it it? Certainly less overwhelming that a full kitchen renovation. Could I work with the bones of hat I have, and add to it? Well, while pondering that, I saw this picture:

(bliss)

And, just like that I saw what was possible. See those lower cabinets? I have those. Mine are just 1980s cherry. I could make them gray - I really could! Gray and cream, oh I have new and delightful visions! And no new island or counter tops would be needed. Oh hail the cost savings!

Here's my new thought:

• paint the lowers gray (like the above, see here for more painted cabinet photos)
• replace just the uppers with some that go to the ceiling and are off white/Vanilla Ice Cream (like my trim and island)

            

(Apartment Therapy and Decorpad)

• replace the wall unit with a some cohesive enclosed appliance storage - like this:

(Oh, I will find the link to this image, I know I will...)

• have shallow matching cabinets made for the back hall, to frame the window in there and give us space to store food and cleaning supplies
• replace the cabinets next to the sink with open shelves for mugs and glasses, potentially getting rid of the set to the right of the sink to allow for a wider fridge down the road
• frame in the pipes that run up behind the door to the back hall
• potentially get rid of the door to the back hall so the new "pantry" seems integrated
• potentially remove the closet next to the table, replacing it with shallow cabinets or built in banquet seating (this can be phase 2)

I think I just saved myself $50,000. Just like that. I think I need a kitchen designer, stat.