Holiday House Rules

Oh, oh, oh, I have an idea!

As I said yesterday, the Bun's room is oh-so-close to being the warm kind of pink room and not the bubble-gummy kind of pink room. And one of the things holding me back is her duvet cover. 

It is hot pink. Hot. 

It was fine as a pop of color in the green room, but now it's just baaaad. How bad? Even the semi-color-illiterate JWH called it out. That kind of bad. 

But the kid? She looooves it. I might have almost had her okay with a light pink flannel one...but not really. She knows, she senses, she feels when I am trying to take away her pink. I have to play it really cool, people, really cool. I have to duck and bob and weave. Or else she is like, "nooo, I love my pink thing that I have never before even expressed an opinion about or seemed to even notice!"

Well, yesterday I posted that same old time-worn picture of the pink room that made me feel like a pink room could be done in a semi-ok way, and it hit me. There is some darker pink bedding n that room, but it's a cooler pink. And by "cooler" I do not mean hipper or trendier, I mean a color with more of a blue base than a red/yellow base. And that, my friends, is when the idea hit me. Maybe I could strategically fade the duvet cover I have. Hit it with the RIT?

I have never done this sort of thing, but the internets, they are alive with possibilities:

1. I can use RIT dye remover and make it less hot and paler (maybe, results are not guaranteed)
2. If that fails I can hit it with RIT "Wine" and got for a cranberry color, or
3. If the remover removes too much I can hit it with the "Petal Pink," but just a touch...

Hmm. This is an interesting turn of events. 

"Oh, honey, the washer turned your duvet a different color...hmmm."

Off the curtain thing for a while...

But still in the Bun's room - we made another little tweak while we were in there with the drill already. 

See, the Bun got a necklace for Christmas. A real big-girl piece of jewelry. And she adores it. She wears it every day and puts it in a little ceramic pot at night. Easy-peasy.

But then my dear mother, not to be outdone, perhaps, got her three more necklaces for her birthday. Three. 

The ceramic pot was a tangled mess every morning. What to do, what to do? My dear child looked to me for an answer and I wracked my brain. 

I came up with this:

Two bunny-shaped ceramic knobs that I got at Anthropoligie last year for $2.99 each. JWH used a toggle bolt and we put them on the wall in her closet above the hamper. Totally accessible, totally out of the way. 

She now chooses her own jewelry each morning. Like I needed that?!?!

Oh, I'm on a roll.

This is what happens when you manage to actually take the photos off the camera and even remember to put them on a flash drive. 

Crazytown.

Behold my mudroom:

I've added a few pillows since, but, let's not wait for that photo to make it online anytime soon...but really, the main gist is that I moved to bench into the corner. Oh, and I made JWH cut the legs down so it's now bench-height and nt media-center-height. And,. since it's n the corner, it needed to be corner-shaped, or, you know, everything would just nd up n the floor behind it.

This was actually really easy. I bought a piece of MDF at Home Depot, cut off the corners and did a dry fit:

Then, I bought a few brackets at the hardware store and attached the new piece to the back of the unit:

Then, I wedges a few 2 x 4s into the corners to give it a little more support:

It's hard to see, but without them, the stress on the brackets was a bit much and it drooped:

With the supports, it's fully able to hold the weight of a kid and, really, mostly the back just holds pillows, since, you know, it's a media console and quite, quite deep:

Now I just need new (insulated, double pane) windows. 

Sigh.

Bedrails that do not suck.

(Apartment Therapy)

Yes, this loft bed is, like, ahmazing. But, really, it's the bed rail that got me. I mean, the rail just has to keep a kid from rolling out, and they tend to look all the same. This, though? Niiiiiice.

And that led me to wonder what else was out there that did not suck. This!

(Amazon.com)

Otherwise, the bed rail thing is kind of dull. And I'm kind of glad we are done with them at Holiday House, as ours were blue and hideous. It never occurred to me to look further or go custom. Do not make that same mistake, intrepid readers!

One little problem.

As usual, my little curtain fix-up came with it's own problem of minorly-annoying proportions. The middle bracket. It had to go. 

And that left me with some droopage. See it there? The rod kind of does not have the mojo to stay straight as you go from the thicker part to the tinnner bit with the finial.

 

What to do? Well, I went to Target and bought a cheap ($20!) new rod that was meant to 84-144" or some such. Basically, it just has longer sections of poles. It's a crap rod, really, I would not recommend it for real life. But, for this? It worked since I had existing actual metal finials that I could screw in and actual metal brackets to use. And, even on more expensive rods, the middle metal rod part is basically crap. So, I kind of just bought it for the longer middle rod...

If it sags over time I'll replace it with a thicker pole version of the same thing. I probably would have gotten the thicker option this time, but my Target only had it in silver and I could not really be bothered to go further once I got this up and not-sagging.

I would have taken some non-sagging pictures, but I had a little more to do before the whole thing was photo-ready. See tomorrow for that little can 'o worms.

Ikea hacking at Holiday House.

Hello and welcome to mudroom week at HHR. Yes, it's time to wrap this sucker up! Really. Truly. Let's call this done. Or at least done for now???

So, the cushions for the bench are something I have been talking about, thinking about , Googling about. And then? That last trip to Ikea? Well, I went ahead and bought some cushions. 3 of them, in fact.

They look nice, right? Yeah, from a certain angle.

But, I'm not silly enough to think that 3 little Ikea outdoor furniture cushions are really going to do the job, straight out of the bing box store, as it were. We will need to modify. See the gaps?

I need to address those gaps. I'm thinking of sewing the three together to make one long bench cushion. Or, I might use velcro to make them stay in place. Or I might do both of those things.

Crazy times here at HHR, I tell you, crazy times.

 

Oh, note the shovel leaving against the window in the top picture? Classy right? I mean, I'm all anal retentive and such about some things, and then I go and let a crappy blue shovel sit next to my front door for 4 months. 4 snow-less months. What is up with that?

Make a LEGO Travel Box Finley and Oliver | Apartment Therapy

Consider this results #3. Not home decor, but crafty as all hell. I saw this:

via www.apartmenttherapy.com

And I did it:

Yep, in that pile of stuff I showed you on Tuesday, under the linen and ribbon, was this box and a Lego baseplate. A few coats of primer, spray paint, ModgePodge and superglue and Bob is, indeed, your uncle.

I even "improved" on it a bit, by adding a way to hold the thing shut. No one wants a backpack, or car floor, full of loose Lego. No one. So see that little flap of ribbon on the end? It's just a scrap that I stitched some velcro to, leaving a little "tail" to grab on the other side of the velcro:

Then I put the adhesive-backed mate to my velcro on and placed the non-velcro end between the Lego base plate and the box lid. It got pretty well glued in there when I attached the plate to the lid. The velcro bit dangled over. I removed the backing, stuck it on down and she was good to go!

The Bun is delighted. Now we just need a roadtrip to test it out!

*The decoration of this box was done by putting some pink (of course) paper on it with ModgePodge and then letting the kid stick on a bunch of random scrapbooking pieces that I had in a drawer. The front edge also has her name on it. Then I ModgePodge'd it again. If it seems to show wear and tear I'll coat it all with some poly.

Results #2. The out of doors.

More actual results of my guilt induced "buckle-down and do some damned projects" spree:

For three years running I have hated the toys-in-the-yard situation. The Bun likes her sandbox. A lot. And since our yard is not terribly child friendly, I'm inclined to let her do her thing out there pretty unimpeded. Hence:

Yes, that is a backpack and bunny ears. Why not have festive attire for a sandbox session? Try it sometime, I hear it's all the rage in Paris this spring.

But, really, my point is about the toys. They scatter. And putting the little bits in a big bucket only serves to convince her that big buckets are where it's at. She must have it. Over there. The little bits need not come along.

Sigh. This is today:

But, as I mentioned here, we picked up a better* storage solution when at Ikea a week or so ago. I started here on Sunday morning.

And in just about 10 minutes I was here:

Pretty speedy, huh? But, not done yet!  I suspected that, to weather the, ummm, weather, this sucker would need a little help. In the basement I had a few half empty gallons of Australian Timber Oil - the stuff used on our wood steps and landings.  So, I gave it a little coat of water seal love. I'm hoping this small step takes us from a 1 year Ikea fail, to many years of storage wonderfulness.

I also had JWH put some hinges on it. Because, really, it should have had hinges from the start. Ikea, get the memo, no one wants a "storage bench" with a lid that slip slides around. Unless you are going for a Three Stooges sketch at your next BBQ, that is.

Whoops, there goes Curly into the beverage cart...

Stay tuned for pictures of it in action next week once the timber oil dries and I con JWH into carrying it out the hatchway!

 

*"Better" implies that this storage will allow enough permeation of A) water: to disperse spider webs and bugs and grime, and B) air: to dry said toys and prevent collection of muck in crevices

Okay, okay, I sucked. Mea culpa.

Last week I really did suck at blogging. And I'm sorry. I had no time for the prior 2 weekends to do any projects... and work has been busy... and my knee hurts. Might as well blame solar flares in there, too. And Republicans.

Yeah!

The good news? This past weekend was "dude, get something done" weekend.

And I had a whole pile of stuff ready to get cracking on. And I did some actual projects, and then I also photographed them and I plan to tell you all about it. Really, that's what I do here...normally. 

See? That's my pile. Oh...you thought I was being metaphorical? Nope. There was a real pile of stuff. See if you can puzzle out what went down and check in tomorrow to see the first part of the results show! 

Another "duh" moment.

...happens a lot lately, really...

So, on Friday I posted about how I was suddenly smacked in the head with the reality that I could get some pretty nifty curtains going on in the mudroom without spending too much buckage on it. Since the mudroom is in it's nascent stage, and so much still depends on the window situation (they are, yes, still drafty as all hell), so I really am not looking for custom drapery at this point.

So I was going no-sew faux. Say it three times fast if you can.

Saturday morning rolled around and I happened into the office, where my usually-in-the-guestroom pile of in-process projects was living due to a delightful visit from Pete...well, I went in there to open the chest to see what fabric samples I had on hand. (Sometimes seeing what I have on hand and why they will not work, helps me focus in the fabric store. Like if I have a grey fleck and I'm thinking "hmmm, maybe grey?" it helps to have one in hand that I have already discarded as "too blue" or "too nubby." I'm scientific like that.) But, really, before I even cleared off the chest, it hit me. Duh. I have yards and yards of flax linen at home. The leftover West Elm curtain panels - 2 of which are in the living room, but 2 more of which are folded up in the guest room closet. 

So, I rounded them up. Will this work? Dunno. Let's try and see. Stay tuned!

A little sumpin' sumpin'.

I'm talking about curtains. Of course. You knew that. Or at least you could have made a reasonable guess that it was the case, I suppose.

So, anyway, I didn't get my ribbon-edged project (inspiration here) done this week, due to 2 small problems in planning:

1) I did not get quite enough ribbon

2) I went to Sharla's class last Saturday morning, following what could only be regarded as a very, very light workout schedule since I got pneumonia diagnoses #1 in November, #2 in December and, yes, # 3 in February.

So, while I was all gung-ho to cut the ribbon – and discover I was a tad short – I did not have the strength to do the actual project. And by "did not have the strength," I mean simply that my ass was hurting. As were my arms, hamstrings and calves. I did clip the long bits of ribbon up, though, to see if I was going to like the final effect.

I do like it. Looking forward to getting this done!

Things that are not as pretty as I'd like.

In order to wrap up the mudroom project, ar at least this current iteration of the mudroom project, I have three remaining to-dos:

1. saw the legs off the bench
2. paint the coat rack
3. get a cushion for the bench

The order above is actually reversed, since the cushion color will partially inform the coat rack color and the sawing of legs will, to some degree, relate to the height of that eventual cushion...  So, first step is really the hunt for a cushion to go on my Ikea Hemnes media stand hacked as a bench. It's 58.375" long and 18.5" deep. Should not be too hard, right?

Right.

Cushions are actually pretty easy to find in all shapes and sizes, but, well...cushion makers of th world seem united in their mandate to use floral patterns waaaay more than is strictly necessary. It's a nauseating sea of Bahamian palm fronds, azaleas and a few things that could actually have been remade from Amy Donegan's bridesmaid dresses circa 1996.

Still, I did find a few that I liked the look of at West Elm. Where else? They are kind of plain and modern, as far as a tufted cushion can really be either of those two things:

 (West Elm)

This is a the Carroll Farm bench cushion. But, alas, the 58" is sold out...and it's too narrow anyway (15" not 18"). Same dealio for this one, even though I'm loving the gray/coal color:

(West Elm)

So I looked further. These folks had the value prop hands down ($38!). But the fabrics? Ugh. Just ugh. The striped ones were okay, if that is your sort of thing, but not what I needed. And the sea of floral choices I was subject to in surfing this site nearly burned my retinas beyond repair.

(Viva Paradise)

Nearly defeated at this point, I went back to an old reliable favorite in the outdoor category: Plow & Hearth. They had a slew of sizes, and I thought the chocolate brown might be okay...but I have some suspicion that the outdoor fabric might be plastic-y and kind of cheap looking? Crudballs.

(Plow & Hearth)

So, I keep going back to the West Elm on up top. That is the line I'm looking for. The tufting, the knife edge with piping, the natural feeling fabric (although I'd prefer it in gray). Sigh. I may have to hit up the etsy and have one made just for me. None of this outdoor fabric stuff is really going to make me happy, now is it? 

It's just not as pretty as I'd like. 

Bathroom vanity conversion.

The reveal, take two.

Okay, so after some minor, and annoying, problems with basic math, we have installed the drawer fronts, and pulls, and we have a fully functioning mac-daddy bathroom vanity hack.

To review, we started with this, a builder-basic MDF vanity, topped with an after-market granite top.

The goal? To get that $&@*@ Ikea stool off the floor, while still enabling the small person to access the sink. We do, after all, value cleanliness. The Anna White tutorial provided the inspiration, but we took it a different place. We built a shallow box to slide into the cabinet area (making this easy to "undo" btw, if you are in a rental).

Inside the box we put drawer slides. The bottom slides were capable of holding 50+ lbs.

 Then we put in some homemade drawers, the bottom of which has a lid, making it a handy step.

Oh, and I painted it too, for detail on that process see here. 

Anyone need an Ikea step stool, main talent: always being in the way? It's yours, free. Just come by and pick it up off the lawn below the window I chucked it out of.

 (I'm sharing this project over at Thrifty Decor Chick's party, too, come on over!)

What did I do with a whole week off?

I struggled. I mean, really struggled, to complete the semi-secret bathroom vanity project. It's not done yet...but I might as well share some progress so the week does not feel like a total loss.

The idea, which you might remember, came from an Anna White tutorial. I have dreamed of building a step into the vanity ever since my fantasy of getting a console sink (so a stool could just tuck under it) died*. I have to work with what I have. A stunning (not) MDF vanity with an aftermarket granite top.

Okay, so back to Anna White. Her vanity had a larger toe kick, I think. But, regardless, I needed more step. My peanut is, well, a peanut. She needs a good 12" leg up to reach the faucet. And will, well, for a few more years. Let's just say she's not rocketing up the growth curve. Anyway, the project...I decided to take the cabinet part of the vanity and replace it with drawers, the bottom one being built to hold 50+ lbs and have a closed top; i.e., a step.

The way we tackled this is to have my dad build a box at home (where his tools live). The box would slide into our cabinet opening, but be only as deep as the plumbing junk would allow. Behold the box during install (day 1):

Why the box? Beyond being easier to build and fit the drawers in all in his shop, my dad thought the drawer holding the step would be sturdier if screwed into real wood, rather than just the MDF wall of the existing cabinet. Smart man.

After installation of the box and a dry fit of the drawers, I removed all the faces and went to the basement to prime and paint. My bathroom looked like this for a few days:

How did I paint: I first deglossed, then primed, then put 3 light coats of Benjamin Moore Matte finish paint (Iron Gate is the color), sanding between coats. I put a satin varnish on the top of the step only, but if the matte finish paint fails to hold up, I can always seal the whole shebang. I'm kind of in love with the matte finish, though, so fingers are crossed it cures well and is durable.

Here's where we stand now.

Stunning, right? Yeah. And will totally rock once we manage to get the drawer fronts cut to the right size. Install Day 2 was us discovering that the first batch, which I lovingly painted, was too short. Install Day 3 was us discovering that the second batch, which I also lovingly painted, was too thick.

Yeah, we are thinking that we will do a dry fit on batch 3 before I, um, lovingly paint.

*I can't find the link where I may have mentioned this, but the hall bath is held together with chewing gum and baling wire, it seems. Greg, my former contractor, let me know that it would be very unwise to go removing things like mirrors or vanities or floors or wainscoting without the budget to go down to the studs and back up again. Ummm? No. So, that's why the hall bath renovation dreams of 2010 became the hall bath refresh of 2011. You get what you get and you don't complain.

The day between sick and well.

You know, the day where you still feel uggy and tired, but just not as sick as you were? It's a tough day, at least for me. I tend to over do it. I'm just not great at lounging on the couch. Sue me.

So, this time I decided to really limit myself. I said one project, and it could not involve stair climbing or paint. Little project. Like cleaning the fan. Yes, I just said "cleaning the fan." Soooo sexy. See, I moved the fan that lives on the bookcase in the family room, to make room for the Spode tree. And, whoa, it was so dirty that I was physically unable to put it into storage until I cleaned it.

Now, you say, didn't I know it was dirty? Well, yes, but I would run a dustcloth over it and turn away. Honestly, it overwhelmed me.

But, on the gap day? It seemed like an ideal project. Just stand at the sink and meticulously clean the damned thing. Right? So, I carried it in and made a plan. The front popped off. Nice! Into the sink and strainer. Progress!

And then...I got overwhelmed. The insides were some how greasy. And cat-hairy. Gross. So, I needed soap. No mere wiping would do. So, I started carefully scrubbing and rinsing each blade with alternating soapy sponge and clean sponge, trying to control the water and suds, to keep from completely flooding the motor part. Total pain in the ass. Really. I don't say that lightly.

And then it hit me. I actually said out loud, "No one ever got thrown out of the happy homemaker club for having a soapy fan." Yes, yes I did. And so I wrapped the base/motor in a towel, flipped it on it's side and soaped the hell out of it.

And then? I didn't even rinse it. Embrace the suds! Embrace the power of evaporation!

If it smells like Dawn Liquid when I turn it out in June, so be it.

I'm not a fan of moose.

And neither is Martha Stewart, it seems. At least that's why I suppose she put rocks in her boot tray...oh, wait, maybe it was because the rocks kick ass as a way to get the shoes to dry out overnight?

Oh, wait...Martha probably does not say "kick ass." Well, whatever. I copied her idea last year in a kind of low-budget way (plastic boot tray from Target), and it worked. Really well. So this year I went on the hunt for a nice long metal tray in white. 

Nope. Nada. 

So I did the next best thing - I ordered the cheapest metal tray they had on Amazon.com. Moose and all. And I painted it.

Pretty fancy, right? Totally Martha. Until you get to the part where I stood in the garage and primed and painted the thing. She probably has a spray booth. Wait, no...a spray staff. But, anyway, it was not a big deal. The nice neighbor Nellie did comment on how I was standing in a haze of paint fumes at one point. But I simply took that as cue to move the car a little farther away from the garage door. 

Priorities.

Anyway, the how-to:

• Purchase ugly boot tray.
• Lay it out on some paper or the grass, or wherever you are okay with a collection of paint fumes and perhaps some paint spillage.

• Spray on a nice coat of primer. Note the instructions on the primer. Mine told me to put the real coat of paint on something like 20 minutes after the primer. I had not expected to be on such a tight time frame, so plan accordingly.

• Put 3-4 coats of spray paint on. All coats should be light. Do not attempt to get full coverage on your first coat. Take it slow, or the fumes will overtake you. And you will have a gloppy mess, btw.
• Pop this puppy in your house and fill it with rocks. 
• Oh, and another note, since it's metal, and the rocks make it heavy, put some of those foam pads underneath it to make it easy to slide. You cannot easily pick it up once it's full of rocks!*

 *Note, sine I needed to be able to slide my tray away from the sun room door on occasion, I actually sat it on 4 Flor tile samples, thereby making it the same height off the floor as the rug, so it slides over to the rug and onto the rug with not so much as a stone disturbed. It's the little things like this that keep me up at night...

Dippin'.

Jenny over at Little Green Notebook recently highlighted a mini-trend of furniture with "dipped feet." Well, I likey. So I went ahead and tried it out. With my usual super-detailed planning, and all, I decided to use the leftover tester of orange paint from my frame fix-up, and my existing IKEA stool. I mean, what the heck, right? If it's terrible I'm out like $10 total. No biggie.

So, step one was to prepare my lazy-woman's-diy work surface: the soapstone counter in my bedroom. Yeah. so hard core, I know. But, it requires no bending, no shoes, and no stairs. And in between coats of paint I could take 2 step s back, fall onto the bed and get all jiggy with Words With Friends. That, my dears, is a heckuva afternoon.

So, my set up:

First step: drink coffee and peer out the window to see what the neighbors are up to. Turns out, not much.

Next, put the blue tape at the edge of where you want to dip. I went with 4.5" of dipped goodness. Then prime it.

Then paint! I did 2 coats with a smal faom brush. Then I removed the tape when the paint was still not 100% dry. Gave me a nice, clean edge. Then I went ahead and put new tape on, just a smidge below my new "dip" line. Why? Well, I planned to seal it all with some polyurethane, and I thought I might as well seal the edge. But I still did not want poly dripping down the legs, so a barrier was needed, just a offset a tad. See:

Then, 1 quick coat of poly, and Bob was my favorite uncle.

Now, stoollie back home, looking all fresh and exciting.

Be sure to head over to Little Green Notebook to see the how the pros do it, too.

More ideas for the hall bath.

Okay, you may have figured out by now that I'm not going to be renovating the hall bath any time soon. So I have been freshening it up a little bit at a time. First, there was the little repair-fest, the frosted window, the roman shade, and the shower curtain, then the art, and finally the frame around the mirror. And paint. Oh yes, paint. That's coming next.

Still, though, the one thing that all this freshening up is not helping with is the damned Ikea stool that is always in the way. The kiddo needs it to get at the sink. I understand. She's small. (And at this rate, likely to need a leg up to brush her teeth until she's 12. Sigh.) So, you can anticipate my utter and complete delight upon seeing this:

(Ohdeedoh)

Wow. Just wow. It's a hack. With a DIY tutorial here. My vanity is an MDF piece-o-junkeroo. (Yeah, lady, I see beyond the fancy marble top and right to your crappy quality core.) The good news about that? No harm in effing it up. I saw we go for it! JWH, you in?

Well, it ain't a mudroom.

So we might as well use it. 

The sun room, I mean. We seem to have stalled out on any plans to make it a powder room or a mudroom. So, for this winter at least, we are thinking that we'll use it or bike storage. We have 4 adult bikes up on racks in the garage, but it's a damp garage - what with bing mostly underground and all. The nicer bikes, the road bikes, are showing a bit of rust.

Want to nip that in the bud. 

So, what to do? Sure, I could just park them in there. You know, go with the whole "storage shed" theme I've already got going...

But, I'm tempted to do something a little cooler. Something that we can maybe work with going forward. Like this.

Except the price. $300? Yowsa. Maybe I can make one?

(Knife and Saw)

Or get this version instead?

(Cycloc)

Slightly better at $115 with delivery from the UK. JWH is going to the UK in October, too, he could maybe check them out?

But when I saw this...well, I knew we had a some potential coolness coming right up.

(Apartment Therapy)

Up is right. Mounting the bikes high would mean the space could still (sigh) someday be a mudroom. We totally have the space up there...

Hmmm, time for a little measuring...

IKEA Hackers: Modern dining room lightning

via www.ikeahackers.net

OK, best part of this hack? The title. "Lightning," rather than "Lighting." Not totally sure it was unintentional, but it made me smile. And I'm usually such a grammar fuddy-duddy.

Anyway. Totally the best hack ever. Way cheaper than my own beloved spaghetti lamp, and still really nice. At least in pictures. 

IKEA Mandal Headboard Hack | Apartment Therapy Boston

via www.apartmenttherapy.com

Apartment Therapy again highlighted a project I am envious of. A great IKEA hack. This really appeals to me as a "someday" project or the guest room. It would give the space great texture and storage, and yet be clean and easy to un-do when the mood un-strikes.

To see the original how-to, go here. To see the (pictured above) non-wall damaging double-hack, go here. 

 

Glowing Outdoor Orbs from The Art of Doing Stuff

via www.theartofdoingstuff.com

Okay, so Apartment Therapy is a daily read. I have very little time, and it's a good, quick filler for moments while I'm waiting for something to happen at the office. Like for someone to run screaming into my office. Or for me to decide I need to run screaming out of it. 

So, in between bouts of screaming, I browse the 'ol APT. I do it via Google Reader, too, so I just get a snippet. I'd say I click through to an actual post about once every few days. 

Today was one of those days. And it led me to this fantastic, simple, gosh-why-didn't-I-think-of -that, idea. This smarty over at The Art of Doing Stuff found a solution to my front stair lighting woes. A $3 solution. Angels are singing in my bank account. 

Pictures to come when I try this out. But, for now, check out the how-to for yourselves. Perhaps angels will sing in your bank account, too.

A doily in a modern home?

Okay, so I have these doilies, you see. They were wedding presents - made by the mom of a bridesmaid. In her home, doilies are used. I've seen them. In actual use. And it was so thoughtful of her to make them... But what have I done with them? Nada. Well, I carefully put them in ziploc baggies and toted said baggies on 3 house moves. So, that's technically not "nothing."

But I feel badly. I feel like I should use them somehow. So I have been on the lookout for some inspiration on how to integrate doilies into a modern home. So far i've come up with a few contenders:

1. Get some fabric hardener and dress up a vase, I do like hydrangeas.

2. Sew (ha!) them on to pillows. I might not go as bold and contrasty, but they could add some nice texture in a tone-on-tone kind of way. 

3. Hmmm. This intrigues me because I could use all of them together. I highly doubt I'll accomplish more than one doily project, so perhaps I should link them?

4. Oooh, and this, although I have nowhere near this many, leads me to a new and exciting place. Dye them! Again, oooooh.

5. And this one, again with the stiffener. While it does not appeal to me in the iteration below, once I had the dyed fabric idea in my head, it kind of became a real option. I could see a steel-ey gray bowl? Or a sage green? Something unexpected, for a doily anyway.

I'll keep you posted on where I go with this. I have to dig out the doilies and see how the actual patterns would work with these ideas. But, I'm officially inspired!

(Images: Country Living, Quiet Riot Girl, Apartment Therapy, Freshome, Inhabitat)

20 x 200. Art for you and me.

Okay, if you read any design blogs, you have likely seen the banner ads for 20 x 200. 

I'm here to say, I'm a fan. Nothing like a little art to brighten your day. And at $20 a pop? Can't go wrong. But, when the art is so inexpensive, how do you display it in a way that makes it look real and fabulous, but does not bust the budget ($300 frame around $45 Deibenkorn print, I'm looking at you...)

You go to Ikea, or HomeGoods, or your local Goodwill. Wherever you can get a nice frame that compliments your chosen picture.

Now you need a mat. A real, custom cut mat makes anything look good, and they are easy and relatively cheap. I use these folks. For $0 they will even send you a little baggie of sample color swatches. Totally handy.

Then, you need to measure. I take the backing piece out of the frame and use that as my overall dimension. Then I measure to the edge of the actual art as my window dimension. I give myself  1/8" of wiggle, meaning I ask the mat maker to make my window 1/8" smaller than I wanted it. That way you have no pesky white edges.

And? Viola!

Art!

From not martha — a shoe rack

via www.notmartha.org

Not an IKEAhack, but even better - a DWRhack! Over at Not Martha, they whipped up this really handy way to get shoes off the floor. I'm not saying I'd put in in the main hall, but in a closet or a mudroom? Sure!

Some other shoe storage solutions:

Surprisingly elegant, courtesy of akainteriordesign:

Playful and modern from Minor Details:

Fully integrated from Apartment Therapy:

And, something entirely simple from Martha herself that I plan to do at home this winter:

I am Carrie Bradshaw.

No, I'm not wearing a tutu or $600 heels, but I did steal an idea from her apartment. A steam radiator shelf. Hers:

 

Mine:

I did do a little research, beyond watching TBS. Most folks recommended a marble slab for this shelf (apparently the most economical ways to get that done is to go to a stone place for scraps or to a local flooring store and buy a premade "threshold"). I agreed that a cararra marble slab would be lovely, but I really wondered if it would fall off, onto a certain little person's toes. I know they are heavy, but the radiator is rounded on top, so I predicted a little movement. I went with wood. A scrap piece from Home Depot, painted to match the trim. And then my dad made a little u-shaped bracket to wedge between the sections. Perfect.

Chalkboard Paint can be good...sometimes.

The black wall with oh-so-artful doodles on it, it's been on-trend for a while now, right? But, fastidious me always wondered about the mess. You know, the dust, the chalk bits rolling around on the floor, the chance of brushing up against the wall when wearing a black sweater.. But then something happened: I ran into a few instances where it was not only charming, but kind of practical and nicely done. The first was at the sports massage place my husband so kindly sent me to this past weekend. I used the powder room and was practically so agog at the antique porcelain sink in there that it was not until I was leaving that I noticed the back of the door had been done in chalkboard paint. It coordinated nicely with the black tile trim (And the periwinkle wall, btw, why does everyone pair black and white tile with periwinkle? Just stop, okay?). The door was mostly blank and the matte finish was a nice reprieve from the glossy tile. At the top, the owner had put a simple inspirational quote. It was nice, it made it homey and friendly, and I did not get anything on my black coat.

So, today I took to the interwebs with a new sense of "why not chalkboard paint?" and found some pretty nifty examples. This slightly dark photo is of a boy's room in Norway, I think, and I love the matte look of the paint, the sparing design on it and the wallpaper made of funnies!

via www.bolina.no

And, while I hate postings that have products you can't buy, I regret to inform you that the rocket ship lamp is not attainable in the US. But there has got to be an IKEA hack for it!

Then, there is this much-loved Martha Stewart chalkboard perpetual calendar.

And the uber-practical-mom chalkboard inside the cupboards (as if you would remember to open them and look before heading to the grocery...)

photo and how-to at Bhg.com: http://tiny.cc/2rwiv

And, then there was this guy, who was inspired by a fireplace surround that was made of old chalkboards and replicated it all fakey-like.

Photo: Pacific Northwest, via Destination Seaborn

I'm still not sold on the chalkboard fridge, dresser, or even kid's play table, but in some places it's cool. Go for it.

Thrifty Decor Chick's Staircase - oohlala

Thrifty Decor Chick makes over her stairs!

From this:

To this:

Okay, anyone who knows me will be shocked at the inclusion of a post advocating cutesy words on a wall. And, while it is not my style, the staircase project is fantastic. Way to take a plain new-construction-ey stair and give it a little depth. I'm advocating that my sister do this in her home. If she does, I'll report back on the ease quotient and the result. Well done, TDC.

Oh, and I just found another great example - perhaps even more striking!

Decor Chick's Makeover

To this: