An Adorable Addition

I'm not talking about the baby, though I bet he's gonna be pretty cute :); I'm talking about the Madison 4-Shelf Bookrack for the baby's room that my oldest sister ordered this weekend as my shower gift! 

I showed her a different bookcase on Land of Nod's website, which was on sale for about $150, just to see what she thought, but then it turned out you could no longer get it in white even though it said you could - blah! So then I showed her the Madison Bookrack from the Pottery Barn Kids website and she thought it was great and said she wanted to get it for me. I was like, Heck yes! 

This one is back-ordered until May 3 (booooo!), but worth the wait, in my humble opinion. And in this case, it's my humble opinion that counts! (It doesn't hurt that she and Brad love it, too.) 

We're getting it in white to go with the rest of the furniture, and it should be super fun to fill it up with books to read to and with baby. (Any suggestions of favorites?!) Strangely enough, two people who write fiction have managed to buy not one book for their little guy just yet . . . we'll get there though. And with this awesome bookrack, we'll have even more inspiration. 

I'm so glad I held off on getting the ladder bookshelf I was thinking of. I'm not a super huge fan of the style (though I do think the ones in the Pottery Barn catalog look great - like most of what's in that catalog), but I liked the open-ness of it since the nursery's not the biggest space in the world. 

I was this close to ordering the one pictured above from Amazon when I thought, Hmmmmmm, something this open and not-so-sturdy isn't going to hold small and/or floppy children's books so well and it might not be the best idea for a baby's room where a little guy will be toddling around and shaking things in the not-so-distant months to come . . . . 

So I gave some websites a look, laid off my super cheapness for a minute :), and found the PB Kids for the not-so-steep price of $129 + shipping. Not half bad, given the fact that the Amazon one wasn't super high quality and cost $70 anyway - and especially since we didn't end up paying for it! 

Take that (!), Craigslist

Well, I finally did it: I found my chest of drawers for the nursery! And with no help from Craigslist whatsoever. 

As a matter of fact, I am officially sick of CL b.s. and glad to no longer be relying on it for my secondhand furnishing needs at this moment. (Though I must say I snagged a beautiful second-hand convertible stationary crib - Storkcraft in a sort of honey oak color - for my mom's house this weekend in a snap - and it came with a Sealy mattress, all for $75.) 

After a month and a half of searching for a chest multiple times a day, with approx. 18 e-mails sent and 3 phones calls made, I got a grand total of 5 e-mail responses and 1 return call. One of those e-mails was to say "sold"; another to say "selling as a whole set"; another to repeat what was written on the ad and not answer my questions; another to which I responded with a when-can-I-come-see-it and then never heard back; and another to say he wouldn't send me pictures. 

Wow, great. Thanks so much, everyone. 

So basically, I'm ticked at the Craigslist culture that says it's okay to treat potential buyers like idiots if you feel like it. 

But there's happy news . . . the chest! Found it at the ReStore last Friday (my 6th trip there in a month and a half), tried all the drawers (they work), imagined it with white paint and knobs (looks great in my mind!), paid my $55, and was on my merry way. 

Honestly, I thought the price was a little steep, about $15 too much, but for that measly amount I couldn't pass it up or think twice about it given all the looking I have done and all the hours I have spent on said looking. The principle didn't matter one iota in comparison with the joy I knew I would feel once Brad hauled this baby upstairs. And oh yes, I did feel (and am still feeling) joy. 

This chest meets all the necessary size requirements, required no driving to distant lands (okay, distant towns) to see/pick it up/possibly pass on it, and I was already in the Blazer, allowing for immediate transport. 

Basically it's about chest height and narrow-ish - which is just what we need for the space under the slanting of the ceiling - the style is simple and therefore versatile, and it will clean up nicely with a few coats of paint. SOLD! 

Finding this gal made for a much less stressed-out weekend last week, though this weekend I'm stressing about the need to get it and the dresser painted . . . but first we've got finish the whole board and batten thing. And right quick, too, since the 3rd trimester started Monday! Yikes - where has the time gone?! 

Scoping Today's Sales: Home Decor Sites

Urban Outfitters 

--If you're on the hunt for curtains (or maybe a new duvet cover), head on over to Urban Outfitters and check out their sale in the "Apartment" department. In addition to like 15 different curtains, there's a ton of cool stuff on sale - like an adorable whale toothbrush holder that would be perfect for a kid's bathroom (for $1.99!) - so it's worth spending 10 minutes if you're looking for home-y stuff with a bit of a contemporary kick. And, there's free shipping on orders over $50 - a major plus. 

Anthropologie 

--While Anthro always has a ton of really lovely and cool stuff, everyone knows their prices are atrocious. Sometimes silly, actually. Their home sale can sometimes - sometimes - turn up pretty decent deals, and I've really liked some of their sale hardware in the past (doorknobs, cabinet knobs, etc.) 

Currently, though, the sale stuff stinks, and it's a little hard for me to take this "sale" section seriously when, flanked by two little knobs on sale for $2.95 each is this (ugly, in my opinion) mirror 

Venus Mirror from Anthropologie 

for $1999.95. ON. SALE. What?! The original price tag is $2898, so I guess they think they're doing us a favor. 

My verdict:  if you've got an Anthropologie nearby, shop their in-store sale which is, like many in-store sales, much better than what you'll find online, though of course you won't find the big ticket items in the store. And if you don't have one, save yourself the irritation and skip this site's sale (at least at the moment). 

Pottery Barn 

Tons of Christmas stuff in the Clearance section - a lot of it is still very pricey, but the ornaments and stockings are pretty reasonable. 

They're also having a limited-time 20% off sale on baskets. While the sale prices are nothing to write home about, Pottery Barn does have some lovely baskets (and, as Brad says, I loooooove containers - baskets are no exception), so if you've been eyeing up any in particular, now's a good time to pounce. I especially love this Jacquelyne Recycling Bin Basket (on sale for a not-at-all-cheap $71), though I would certainly use it for something other than recycling! 

PB Jacquelyne Recycling Bin Basket 

The whole Jacquelyne line looks great, and the Beachcomber baskets are also really cool - their name makes me think of summer! I won't be snagging any of these because they cost as much as I'm willing to pay for certain pieces of furniture, but that doesn't mean I can't look for look-alikes in brick-and-mortars around here!

Treasure Chest

You know how you always find stuff when you don't need it/have nowhere to put it - but as soon as you're looking for something, it's nowhere to be found?! 

Yeah, well, that's currently the story of my secondhand-chest-of-drawers-for-the-nursery hunt. 

I've looked on Craigslist. Been to the ReStore. Hit a local thrift shop. Craigslist again, back to the ReStore, back to the thrift shop, stopped at Goodwill, Craigslist, Craigslist, Craigslist. Nothing!

Or, not nothing, but nothing that's got the right look, the right quality, for the right price. Which, admittedly, isn't a very high price. But, it's also not a particularly specific look or super-duper high quality I'm searching for. 

Ultimately, I'm looking to spend $60 or less on a tall (but not too tall) chest of drawers. This seems pretty reasonable to me, given that I'm perfectly fine with (in fact, I'm expecting) an older piece and not dreaming of anything with a super great finish/paint. I plan on painting it myself - unless by some strange twist of fate it's exactly what I want, which is highly unlikely at sixty dollars. 

I'm searching for something along these lines, though obviously not brand-new looking. And I'm certainly open to a wide variety of variations on this theme. 

The weekend approacheth and, with it, I can only guess another round of hitting the secondhand shops and scouring Craigslist. Maybe the furniture fates will look kindly on me this time around - if I pretend I'm not hunting a specific type of piece . . . . 

You know you're cheap when you say,

"Yeah, I want that Hemnes chest of drawers, but I don't want to pay the full Ikea price." 

    or, even worse, 

"This Goodwill is expensive!" and "There was this adorable onesie, but it was $2.00 and I was like, No way!" 

    or, perhaps even worse, 

"That Salvation Army is ridiculous. It's too expensive - I'm not going back there again." 

I think we can officially say I've taken design-on-a-dime to a new (absurd?) level. 

Nursery Woodwork Plans and Inspiration

So, as I mentioned yesterday, our nursery decorating plans have been tweaked (okay, so more than tweaked; how about slightly turned on their head). I'm so excited: we're going to install board and batten! 

Originally we planned on putting chair rail about 3 feet up the wall and painting the bottom half white and the top part a color. But then last week I saw a lovely nursery from Cottage Modern featured on House of Turquoise, and . . . the wheels started turning. Kristen from Cottage Modern and her husband did this board and batten themselves over the course of a few weekends. 

From Cottage Modern 

Some Googling of "DIY board and batten" revealed to me that Brad and I were definitely up for the task, and, happily, that's it's very much within our budget (as much as anything else is, haha :)). 

(Side note: weeks before even seeing this pic - and the map-covered letters of Kristen's little boy's name - I bought cardboard letters for our little guy's name at JoAnn's with the plan of covering each with a different color/print of scrapbook paper - I bought the paper this weekend and started with the first letter Saturday night!)

Here another lovely inspiration photo, this one from Beneath My Heart. I love this one b/c it features dark brown on top, which is what we're planning to use as well: 


Mudroom from Beneath My Heart 

Brad and I did some pricing of 1x4s and 1x2s at Lowe's yesterday (very reasonable prices, btw), though we've got to determine our exact needs before we buy. Although we haven't purchased it yet, we've settled on a shade of white for the board and batten second of the wall; it's a Behr color called (if I remember correctly) "Snowy Pines," a very close but softer white than the really-really-true white of the crib. And we're still in the process of picking out the brown for the upper part of the wall - we've got 4 maybes up there right now. 
At any rate, we're going to start the painting and b'n'b-ing project this weekend with the help of my very helpful mother, so stay tuned for progress pics!

Lamp Fetish

It's true: I've got an undeniable thing for lamps. Big lamps, small lamps, lamps with shades, lamps without shades, metal lamps, glass lamps, ceramic lamps. You name it, I either have it or want to have it - and am secretly plotting to get it next time I step foot in a Target or Goodwill. 

This past weekend at a local thrift shop, I indulged my lamp obsession with this little guy who came to $3.59 after a 50% discount on pink tags: 

The shade was horrid, which is mostly to be expected from a secondhand lamp, so I ripped off the fabric and now it's just this little cheap-o plastic dingy thing that I may nor may not be able to do something with. But I figured the shade was a throw-away when I put the lamp in my cart, so it's no biggie if I can't make it work. 

I'll give him a coat of spray paint (since I don't need a black lamp anywhere) and he'll be good as new. I'm thinking something bright or bold and definitely glossy. This little luminary might end up in the nursery, though I've got other nursery lamp ideas bouncing around in my brain, so we'll see. 

Hopefully he doesn't become yet another one of my I-don't-need-one-more-and-have-nowhere-to-put-it-but-I-just-can't-pass-this-up lamps that I've brought home over the past year or so. I've got like 5 or 6 of those floating around this house - well, they're mostly on the table in the upstairs hall, taunting me as they collect dust in their disuse.

The Ikea Experience

On Sunday Brad and I experienced Ikea together for the first time ever. And I do not use the term experience lightly; the venture was definitely an experience, as "shopping at Ikea" can't quite convey the goings-on. 

Each of us remembers having been there once before, but not together. Brad vaguely recalls a visit during the early part of college, something like 12 years ago (yee-ikes!). My trip was also more than a decade ago, when my soon-to-be freshman roommate came down from Erie for a visit and a bit of shopping so we could coordinate was was to be our (very unhappy) dorm room. 

Anyway, I can safely say Brad and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we set out for the Ikea in Robinson, which is about 15 minutes west of the city and a 50-minute drive from our house; we had no idea what we were doing while we were wandering, lost-feeling but nonetheless pleased, around the store; and we still had pretty much no idea what had happened after we got to the car with our un-bagged purchases. (They don't give you bags - ?!) 

But, it was still a great success, as we managed to buy what we set out to buy (and quite a few other goodies to boot, without totally breaking the bank) and you better believe we will be returning. 

The inspiration for this shopping trip was the Ikea Erslev rug, a white, almost 5x7, steal of a rug at $39.99. You simply can't beat that price, especially if you're looking for a rug to paint. Yes, I said paint. 

It's simple with a soft texture and only $40 - excellent! 

Recently, as I've been mulling over rug options for our nursery decorating project, I've looked at a lot of painted rugs around the blogsphere - and about 80% of these tutorials make use of the Ikea Erslev rug. Painting a rug - a low-priced one, of course - is an economical way to customize the look you want for a price you can live with (and mixing fabric medium with your paint keeps the rug nice and soft). I love me a pretty rug right straight from the Pottery Barn catalog as much as anyone else does, but I have a very hard time with the thought of parting with two hundred and fifty or three hundred dollars to get said rug into my home. (I did find a Dash and Albert rug for $104 that I liked well enough, but it wasn't perfect.) 

When I checked the Ikea website a few weeks ago, I found either that rug or something comparable (I can't remember now), but when I looked on Friday, it was gone. Nowhere to be found. Nada. Dis-a-ppeared. The best I could get from the Ikea site was an error message. I was not pleased, to say the (very) least. 

A call to Ikea, however, revealed that the rug was still available in the Pittsburgh store (but for how long?!), and so Brad and I planned a Sunday trip to snag it. Actually to snag two (b/c you never know where/when you might need a nice, cheap, versatile rug!). 

Anyway, I guess I expected Ikea to be like a normal store where you walk in, see the labeled areas of the store, go to the area you're interested in, and browse products lined up on shelves or hanging on racks. Maybe this was a dumb expectation? Regardless, it was not the case.

Instead, Brad and I found ourselves in a maze of rooms, wondering if we had gotten lost in the course of our wandering, writing down product names and locations (e.g., Rugs and Textiles) with a little mini golf pencil provided near the entrance, snapping smartphone pictures of things we liked but that I felt I could do a better (read: cheaper) job making. 

Then we took some stairs (I think) down to what (I think) was called the "Market." Here we traded in our (empty) over-sized, yellow shopping bag for a much more practical shopping cart. And then the real shopping began. We got some apple-scented candles. We picked up a few BPA-free plastic 365+ food storage containers to aid in our kitchen cabinet organization project (which has been going for, er, um, oh, like 6 months now). We got some $.59 drinking glasses and a beer mug. 

And of course, we gleefully grabbed our rugs. I also wanted a handful of Ribba frames for the little guy's room and into the cart went those as well. 

These white 9x9 shadow box frames come with white matting, and you really can't do better than their $9.99 price tag. I was tempted to cheap out (after all, $60 for frames isn't exactly my style), but for matching frames of just the right size that require NO SANDING, PAINTING, OR OTHER EFFORT ON MY PART, I was willing to part with the moola. Plus, as my mother pointed out, they can be used over and over again. So, they're well worth the investment in my mind. 

And so with 19 items we (illegally) went through the self-checkout (limit: 15 items) to avoid the heinous lines (this place was packed), then loaded our goods straight from our cart - remember, no bags - into the Honda. It was a whirlwind experience, with people everywhere, and several moments where I was sure we were never getting out of that store. I'm sure I missed like 15 cool things; I definitely wrote down the names of some items that mean basically nothing to me at this point. 

I'd give the Ikea experience a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Less than perfect b/c you (seriously) had to read directions (and pay attention to them, which I didn't do) to figure out how to properly shop there - but a pretty darn good score regardless.

The Friday 4: House Projects 2012

So, 2012 is going to be a nutso year. But in a good way :). Even so, I've got some projects on my radar. Actually, a bunch of projects, but I've included the four most pressing below. Some are before-baby projects, and others are fine to be after-baby projects if that's how the cookie crumbles. 

Here goes - in the order they need to be tackled, not the order of importance: 

4.  Turn the second bedroom into a nursery. 

This is a continuing project over the course of the next few months. And there's lots to be done! 

The floor's finished, but we haven't moved all of the stuff back in yet b/c we wanted to give it extra extra time to dry since the weather is so brrrrrrcold. We did put the crib together in there tonight, though, which is so exciting! 

Next comes painting the walls (I have a color in mind, but right now it's a secret!) and painting the thrift store dresser we bought a few months back. I've got plans to revamp two of Brad's old bookcases (and make them into one bigger bookcase if possible - ?). Plus I've been doing some online searching for ideas about bedding/window treatments/etc., and Brad ordered the quilt for the crib today. And of course, there are all the little things like lamps and wall hangings. I even got an adorable old-school garbage can from the ReStore yesterday for a buck. So much fun stuff! 

3.  Refinish the upstairs hallway floor and replace the dangerously unsafe wrought iron banister with a new oak one. 

This is going to be a massive (un-fun) project. 

Our current banister is not suitable for man nor beast (well, Cookie actually loves it; she does a little gymnastics routine that Brad fondly calls "the bar routine"), and certainly not for baby. It's loose, too low, and the spindles are too far apart. So, yes, it's going to be replaced. We're not in any way equipped to do such a task ourselves (believe me, I've researched it quite a few times but I usually get lost at the word joist), so we'll be biting the money bullet (hopefully with the help of our tax return) and bringing in a carpenter, likely sometime in February. 

Before that, we're going to remove the old one and have our floor guy come back to sand the hallway, then Brad and my mom will undertake the same (arduous, absurd, agonizing) process they engaged in with the nursery floor. (Cue: collective weeping.) This will probably have to happen over spring break so we can be uprooted and scoot over to my parents' house with the least disruption to our schedules. Hopefully by the time baby arrives, our upstairs will look less like "hovel" and more like "home." 

2.  Remove the hall/stairway wallpaper and paint the walls. 

Gag. I already started this. Months ago. Nevermind the fact that it was part of our plan for summer 2011 . . . . Anyway, a few weeks ago, I scored a ton of the wallpaper, making it even uglier. But my sister's steamer stopped working about 35 minutes into the removal project. So now the wall along my stairs looks . . . about as ugly as you can imagine. 

Yes, this is really what we've been looking at daily 

But it has to get worse before it can get better, right? RIGHT? 

1.  Get frames (with things inside them) behind my couch. 

Until this summer we had two large frames behind our couch. But the wall is hugely long (something like 19 ft.) and two frames just looked lost. So I moved them to the left of the TV piece, where they look a lot better. They've still got the stock photos in them, but . . . things take time . . . sometimes, lots of time. 

Anyway, now we've got this (don't mind the mess). 

You know, a big empty wall that stretches on and on and on. There's even about four empty feet to either side. 

I searched and thought and searched and thought some more about what to put there that would be nice and cost-effective. Big picture frames ain't cheap, and I was having a hard time parting with something like $125-$200 just for six or seven frames. Add the matting and stuff to put into the frames on top of that, and the price tag could come in at well over $200. (And we're not even talking first-rate frames here.) 

Then my beloved JoAnn's had one of its million sales, and I had a few of their million coupons, and I hatched a picture frame plan. B/c my plan involves spray paint, we've got to wait till the weather warms, but those babies should be hanging in my living room by the end of spring - hopefully by the time our baby arrives in the living room!

The nursery is under way!

The floor is D-O-N-E! The house (though not the nursery itself) is smell-free, and we are back in our space (a day earlier than planned)! Love hanging out with my mom a bunch, but it's sooooooooo nice to be home. 

Brad snapped these pics in imperfect lighting, so they're not 100% accurate representations of the redone floor; the huge improvement is, however, still noticeable, and once we're able to move some furniture in there, I'll hopefully be able to get some great shots. 

Speaking of furniture: I ordered the crib tonight! 

From the beginning, I've had my eye on a Jenny Lind crib. I love the old-fashioned spindle look, and the style is timeless and simple without being dated and boring. As another benefit, several brands make Jenny Lind, and they're all relatively reasonably priced as far as cribs go. 

We got the DaVinci Jenny Lind stationary side crib in white through Amazon. DaVinci is one of the better brands that makes the Jenny Lind style (though they all seem to get generally good reviews), and while it's normally about $200, it was discounted on Amazon to $150 with free shipping. I was beginning to doubt that we'd be able to avoid paying $25 or more for shipping - which was infuriating and totally not my style - and I couldn't find it in a conveniently located brick-and-mortar, so the free shipping was a major score. 

Why not a secondhand crib? This was a decision that Brad and I spent a lot of time discussing and researching, and I'm glad we did. My original plan was to buy a crib secondhand on Craigslist - as is my general trend whenever possible. I searched for months and months for a Jenny Lind, and I found a few within a reasonable distance. They were all drop-side, though, which meant they would require a repair kit (to make them stationary) from the manufacturer given that drop-side cribs went through major recalls in 2010 due to injuries to babies. In the midst of this search, one of my older sisters offered me her children's old crib, and when I learned that it was a Jenny Lind, I was like, YES! 

But upon researching, I found out that the manufacturer had gone out of business and thus there was no repair kit for her crib. And after reading that site, I started reading another about the not-so-great aspects of secondhand cribs, especially older and drop-side cribs. The more a crib is put together and then taken apart (like, for a second or third child), the looser the hardware becomes and the more likely that hardware pieces go missing. With a drop-side that's been "repaired" to be stationary, this is especially problematic, as the side may not be as stationary as it's supposed to be. 

In general, the recommendation is to not use a crib older than 10 years old b/c safety features change so much over time. But even for those newer drop-side cribs that I could've found through Craigslist, there was a distinct chance that the crib had been dis- and re-assembled one too many times to be ideal. 

Ultimately, it's a risk I didn't want to take, and Brad couldn't have agreed more. There are a lot of ways we're saving with this nursery - we got a steal of a rocker, we did most of the floors ourselves (okay - "themselves"), we bought a vintage dresser ($25!) that we'll paint and use as a changing table, etc. But when it comes to issues of safety, the extra $75 for a new crib is more than worth it, especially when you think of all the many many hours baby will spend sleeping in that crib over the next couple of years.

Baby Furniture!

I should be working on the most pointless end-of-semester project ever (sigh), but instead I'm geeking out over awesome baby furniture online and getting ideas for the nursery - as if I don't already have a million. 

Of course I'm not planning on buying any of this lovely over-priced stuff. No no no, that's not thrifty old me. I'll be looking for second-hand and imitation styles to save mucho moola. In fact, I've already found some - and it's proof that you can find great stuff at great prices if you put in a little (sometimes a lot of) effort and have patience. 

Case in point: after searching online like 7 different times over the past few months, last week I found this amazing rocker on Craigslist, and the next day Brad went to the city to see it (I was too sick), liked it, and snagged it for less than $70. Sciz-ore! 

Isn't it fabulous? It's in great condition, so comfy, and rocks super smoothly. Plus, it's a light khaki color - i.e., totally neutral and goes with anything. 

While the typical nursery-style rocker/gliders are nice (and Amanda's is quite comfortable), they're not really my style.

Dorel rocker from Target 

I wanted something that looks like - for lack of a better word - real furniture. As in, furniture I might have elsewhere in my house. And hopefully, once the baby gets older, I will have this elsewhere in my house! 

Anyway, the inspiration for our rocker was the Pottery Barn Dream Rocker, which PB stopped making recently and ran upwards of $800 (yiiiiiiikes!) but was supposed to be super comfortable. It also reminds me of a current rocker at PB, the Charleston rocker, which starts at $599 and goes up to $899 depending on the fabric. The Charleston has an $80 delivery surcharge - that's more than the price of our rocker! 

PB's Charleston rocker 

The room we'll be turning into the baby's room, which is across the hall from our bedroom and currently the second bedroom, is 10x12. So, it's a fairly good size, though obviously not huge. I was a tad worried that an upholstered rocker might be too big, but it fits beautifully and I'm sooooooo happy with our purchase! Hopefully the little one will love it as much as we do!

Why Pinterest is Daaaaaangerous

If you're anything like me, the internet could suck your entire day away and the only way you'd know anything had happened was the raging headache/neckache/backache that comes from sitting in front of the laptop for 6+ hours. 

I've had my share of internet addictions over the years: eBay, Craigslist, decor/design blogs, clothing websites (esp. J. Crew). And let me tell you, they're fun and they're not fun. 

So naturally, as I've seen mention after mention of Pinterest - the "online pinboard" where you save pics of things you love - on some of my fave. home decor blogs recently, I've been both intrigued and wary. Pinterest is open for everyone to see and comment on, meaning that you save whatever kind of pictures you want and organize them however you want, and other people can browse through your board. They can also re-pin things to their own board. 

Why does this make me wary? Well, b/c it sounds like exactly the sort of thing I could get addicted to. A good board would be like a home magazine with all the ads and articles eliminated - just picture after picture of beautiful rooms and furniture and, basically, great ideas. Or, maybe picture after picture of cool clothes, outfits I want to replicate, pieces I covet, must-have styles. 

See why it's oh-so-very dangerous? Sounds like the sort of thing an internet junkie like myself could lose whole weekends to. 

Until about 15 minutes ago, I've managed to stay away from Pinterest and all it's enticing pictures. But I decided to check it out - I mean, for purely educational purposes - and while I must admit I don't quite understand the nuts and bolts (like, how do you search for things?), I like what I see. 

I will, however, temper myself and keep that pointer finger - which is itching to click click click the mouse - in check. I'll grade papers, since it's Sunday, and I haven't done a bit of work all weekend. I'll put yesterday's Target purchases in their new rightful places. I'll . . . do something other than scour lovely photos. At least till later :).

Unreasonable question

Can I take, oh, like 3 months off from school to craft fun things and decorate my house?

. . . 

Oh, no? That's not feasible? Darn you, Reality. You're such a bum. 

In leiu of that enjoyable prospect, how about a quick picture (details to follow) of the dining room drapes I finally finished last night. I started this project - which involved fabric dying, ribbon, and stitch witchery - in, oh, July? Let me tell you - it was one tedious effort. But so worth it when you consider the cost (less than $25 for a pair of floor-length drapes) and the finished result! 

Alright, off to Amanda's for the day, then a poetry reading with Butcher tonight . . . just like a good grad student. 

Pottery Barn Vanessa Bedding

So I'm super siked: I just ordered the PB queen duvet cover and matching shams in the blue Vanessa print on eBay for $49.99 + shipping! What a steal! 

On the PB website, the duvet cover (in full/queen) alone is $129 and the shams are $39 a piece. That's $207 - meaning I saved $157! And me, the super second-hand shopper, totally doesn't mind that this set is pre-owned - I'm not sleeping on it! 

This set it beautiful, and I've had my eye on it for like a year and a half. But I just couldn't bear spending the money, and I've never found a good enough deal on eBay (until today). Just yesterday I gave in and re-bought the Simply Shabby Chic set at Target that I've really liked since this summer ("re-bought" b/c months ago we bought it, I decided I didn't want to spend the money on it, and we returned it). 

But, it has pink (which Brad and I both oppose), it was $90, and I love the Vanessa print so so much more. Plus the Vanessa set was almost $30 less. Basically, I'm really pleased with myself right now (haha). 

Here's to happy bedroom decorating! 

The Friday 4: Tacky Trends

Okay, so they're not really trends in the usual sense, but I really liked the alliteration. Whether I'm witnessing these things or just hearing about them, I find them to be unacceptably ick and surely I'm not just being a prude (?). 

4.  Leaving up outdoor Christmas decorations year-round 

I will admit it:  I've got a thing for interior Christmas decorations, namely the tree. In fact, I just asked Brad the other day if we could put up the tree. His response? "It's a little early." He's probably right - especially since we'll likely have it up from after Thanksgiving till March. 

Your house should not look like this in March. 

That said, my family and friends are the only ones who have to suffer my out-of-season indoor Christmas decorations, whereas leaving up your blinking lights and icicles 365 days a year affects not only your neighbors but all passersby. It's jarring and confusing to those innocent bystanders, and it's just plain laziness on the part of the offenders. Take the darn decorations down, you tacksters; take them down. 

3.  Having a "sprinkle" 

That is, a smaller baby shower for a second (or third, or fourth) child. 

I never even heard of such a ludicrous thing until Amanda got invited to one (and then another and another and . . . ). I'm sorry, but you had your shower for your first child - and if you didn't, sorry, but the time has passed. Suck it up and buy what you need yourself. Your good friends and close family members will likely shower you and your little one with presents when the big day arrives anyway. Why should people, many of whom dropped $50+ on you the first time around, be expected to do so again? 

Nope. Sorry. It's tack-ay. 

2.  Parking on your lawn 

Veto. Veto. Veto. 

Really? Is your driveway so short, your garage so crowded, your street so narrow, that the only place you could feasibly park was in the grass? Cars, however nice or small or shiny or whatever they may be, are not lawn decorations. They are means of transportation, and last I checked, the appropriate repository for means of transportation not currently in use is not the front yard. 

Unless you're living out in the wilderness (Shannon, this means you), you've got neighbors who have to look at that car on your lawn. So get the keys, turn the thing on, and move it somewhere else - preferably to a paved surface. 

1.  Wedding shower without the wedding 

No, I'm not referring to when someone has a shower and then the wedding doesn't happen. I'm talking about when a couple has a wedding in an exotic location, or maybe even a courthouse ceremony, and no one is invited - but the bride-to-be also has a shower to which everyone is invited. 

Look: most people, myself included, hate going to weddings and hate going to showers, too. They're tedious, eat the entire day, and after about the second one, start to seem inane and identical to one another. 

If you're not having this, 
don't have a shower. 

But we nevertheless attend, when we can't come up with a good excuse to get out of them, b/c, well, we have to. The wedding deal is "I give you $/a present and you feed me and provide me with terrible music for 4 or so hours." The wedding shower deal is "I give you more $/another present and you feed me probably really bad food and we play dumb games for 2+ hours in anticipation of my giving you $/a present and you feeding me and providing me with terrible music for 4 or so hours." The wedding, as you see, is crucial to the shower logic. 

Everybody likes presents. It's as natural to human beings as breathing air and criticizing others. But if you're not wasting your money throwing a big bash for other people to not really enjoy (I do so love mocking the wedding industry), then it's not right to ask them to come on over and give you some stuff. To do so takes the tacky cake.

Summer Show-Off: Re-Booted Bookcase (and window seat)

We're bookish folks here, and there seems to be no design notion more beloved by bookish folks than displaying their books. And beloved books deserve a lovely display space. So, it only made sense that our first major DIY project of the summer was a reboot for our living room semi-built-in bookcase. Well, except for the fact that it wasn't on our list of top summer to-do's. But whatever. 

Here's the before, first with books, then once we removed everything: 

I say "semi-built-in" b/c while the bookcase (and the window seat with it) were not movable, they also weren't true-blue built-with-the-house built-ins. How do I know? I looked at them, that's how. Legit built-ins are nice, high quality things, usually topped off with molding of some sort (crown or otherwise), and they typically look like they are seamlessly integrated into the room. 

Anyway, the project, from start to finish, actually took months b/c it involved making a valence and my mother making a (fabulous) new cover for the window seat which didn't happen for some time; but the bulk of it took about 4 days, one of which included my mother's effort. Here's what we did and then, of course, the results. 

First we painted the back of the bookcase the same color as the walls (a Martha Stewart color called Burlap in Behr paint*). Then we painted everything else white. We used leftover Behr interior satin paint in Blizzard Fog (BF). This alone was a huge improvement for 2 reasons:

1. The "before" color was a nasty shade of glossy "dinge" (short for "dingy"); and
2. The doors our friend Jack made for us out of the goodness of his heart (read: for free; we didn't even pay for the materials) had never been painted and obviously clashed horribly. 

Third, we used the BF on 2 pieces of decorative molding from Lowe's and 4 decorative wooden squares with a flower design. 

Everything was going smoothly until we tried to remove the ugly bracket-holder thingies that were holding up the shelves: they simply would not move. They and the screws holding them in had been painted over so many times that they were seriously ATTACHED. I thought short of risking ruining the wood by prying them off (which I was NOT prepared to do), we were stuck with them, when Brad ingeniously thought of the heat-gun. Boy, was that a bright idea. Those babies came right off.




Once they were outtie, we sanded the area and painted in BF.

I've kind of lost count, but we'll go with fourth: we measured the length and width of the bookcase, subtracted the size of two of the decorative wood squares, and Brad cut the pieces of molding to fit. We then used wood glue to secure a square in each of the four corners and to secure the pieces of molding to them and the outside of the bookcase. 

We next used leftover beadboard wallpaper to paper the side of the bookcase and make it look more upscale. I measured all the individual doors and cut and applied squares to fit the centers. We then painted the doors and the centers.

Finally, we determined where we wanted to place the shelves, screwed in new brackets, and painted them BF.

At that point the bookcase proper was done - except for the necessary books and other accoutrements. Styling was the fun part. I went with a sort of color scheme. But only sort of. 

We also made a bunch of other changes: 

-a new valence in Ralph Lauren Eleanor fabric (made by yours truly); 
-a new window seat cover in the same fabric (made by my mother, who spent - gulp - at least 20 hrs. on it); 
-two new pillows I'm not nuts about but that work well enough for now; 
-we switched the old horrible blind for a less horrible one from the upstairs hallway until we find something we like; and 
-we painted the wall (indeed, the whole wall, which stretches from the living room to the hall to the dining room) Bone Folder, another Martha color in Behr paint. (Don't ask me about this atrocious name.) It's a creamy color without two much yellow, and although it's hard to tell when it's nighttime (which is when I took the pictures), in the daylight there's a nice subtle contrast with the color of the bookcase. 

One more shot, this time farther back, just for good measure. (Don't mind the weird paint-less spot to the top right of the valence; that's getting painted very soon, my friend, very soon.)

So, that was our first big task of the warmer months, and we now looooooooooooove the whole area. It's much more "together" and makes the room more "complete" feeling, and it's definitely more convincing as a built-in. I'd say it's finally worthy of all those wonderful books that we've spent years acquiring! Now, we've just got to read them . . .hmmmm, that sounds like a lot of work . . . maybe I'll just admire my bookcase from the across the room . . . 

*We got the Martha color, as with all the Martha colors we use, color-matched in Behr paint b/c the quality of Martha paint ain't what you would expect from the home goddess herself. It goes on too thick, and I can never get rid of the tiny bubbles despite endless stirring. Plus, it's more expensive. 

The Friday 4: Amazing Stores

As an ode (lament?) to my shopping ban, I'm doing a Friday 4 on my favorites places to shop. Do note that only one of these is exclusively a clothing store (although even it sells shoes and bags, which are decidedly not part of the ban); I basically just love to shop in general. 

Anyway, the following are my fav-or-ites: 

4.  Pottery Barn 

I've only ever bought about 10 things from PB - 2 area rugs, some candles, a box/basket thingy - b/c they're horribly over-priced (and the furniture quality is not nearly what it should be for what you pay), but I can't tell you how much I LOVE looking through their catalogs (which I swear come in the mail every 2 weeks). Their room displays are totally inspiring, and I love trying to recreate aspects of their look for less. (Don't get me wrong, I would love to not include the "for less" part there, but c'est la vie.) 

Besides, one of my favorite parts of their catalog (and their website pics) is the incorporation of non-PB items - antiques, random wire baskets, old chairs, etc. - and this is the kind of stuff I love hunting for at thrift stores, on Ebay, and, yes, in people's cast-offs (i.e., their garbage. See picture below.) 

3.  Gap 

While Gap makes an endless number of ugly things that I simply can't understand, they are my go-to store and have been for years. I worked at the Gap my senior year of high school and was super-spoiled by the discount - who knows how much of my earnings I gave right back to that darn store . . . . 

Gap makes great jeans (got two pairs - black skinnies and white boot cut capris - for my birthday), lots of nice sweaters and cute skirts, and their in-store sale rack can't be beat as far as mall clothing stores go. It's gonna be tough to resist that sale rack for the next 345 days. 

$8 for this stellar lamp. Fully working, no 
scratches; would've been $25+ at Target  

2.  Red, White, and Blue Thrift Store 

This is the second-best thrift store I've ever shopped in - second only to its identically named sister store that was, one upon a time, a huge, glorious, obnoxiously lit place just up the street from Kennywood. (Which is an amusement park, for those of you who don't know. And for Shannon - Kennywood is awesome, so lock it up, b.) 

This RWB (which is located just outside of Pittsburgh, through the Liberty Tubes, on Rt. 51) is crowded with stuff and shoppers and workers and, 9 times out of 10, verging on the chaotic, but I've only ever walked away empty-handed once. From dishes, to furniture, to picture frames, to clothes, to shoes, to books, this place kicks booty - and you can come away with a lot of fab-o booty. (I had to, okay?) 

1.  Target

Matching vases, on sale for a total of $20 

Come on: who among you doesn't own a home good or piece
of clothing from Tarjay? Who among you doesn't love wandering around that store, perusing the many items? Even Brad loves going to Target - though he did attempt to ban it for the summer since we can't leave the store without spending $100+ (I guess we're big on bans this season). Said effort failed in no time, however, given that we just bought three throw pillows, an over-priced but lovely hand towel, party supplies, cat litter, and a bunch of food stuffs a week ago. 

We got 2 of these puppies about a month
ago - $12.99 a piece, orig. $49.99 each 

Target combines a variety of styles, a wide selection of products, and reasonable prices better than probably any store I remember shopping at. And there's new stuff practically every week, so you really can go back again and again and again and . . . . (It's like the TJ Maxx slogan from all those commercials in the early 2000s. You know, "Never, ever the same place twice." TJ Maxx is great, by the way. My mom, Brad, and I just enjoyed a little trip there on Monday. Not to be lame, but it really is considerably different every time you go.) 

Honorable Mention: Gabriel Brothers. A discount clothing, shoes, and housewares store my family has shopped at for longer than I've been around. Watch out for holes, snags, or seams that are a bit off. "Irregular" is not an uncommon word there. But man, can you find some cool stuff at great prices. They even have a website now (you know, in 2011), even though, from the looks of it, it's pretty useless. 

Powder. Room. Reveal. Finally!

I've been majorly MIA in the world 'o blogging as of late, but not without good reason - we recently undertook the Epic Clean of 2011 in preparation for what Brad calls the Great Validation '11. Which, in more colloquial terms, is known as my mom's birthday party at our house this past Sunday for which my sisters and their families came over and our house was on display and under scrutiny (at least in my mind). 

BUT ANYWAY, all of this is important with regard to this post b/c of the fact that it motivated Brad and me to finally finish the powder room remodel that we started, oh, like 3 months ago. Ah! 

In the long, long process, we were stymied (as my mother and my German teacher would say) by about every possible sink/plumbing problem that total amateurs might encounter. Otherwise, this whole thing would have been done in about a month. Brad estimates that we made, between the two of us, 7 total trips to Lowe's solely in relation to the sink. But it's too exhausting to even think of chronicling all those trials right now, esp. when there are pictures to show . . . 

So, quickly, here's what we started with (when we moved in in August '09): 

Then, here's where we were after we started removing the wallpaper (which turned out to be much more difficult and time-consuming - even in this 2x4 of a room - than we imagined) in July or August 2010 (it looked like this for the next 8 months): 

Finally, sometime this February, we got back to work. And where once there was this terrible yellow wall-mount sink 

now there was this disgusting-looking wall 

Here's my beloved with the reciprocating saw on one of the many, many days of sink tribulations: 

Once everything old had been removed/scraped/sawed/sanded/or-otherwise-dismantled, we began the "reconstruction process." Which went a little something like this:  

1.  Brad and I painted the top part of the walls with 2 coats of the same color as the living room. (It's an awesome Martha Stewart color in Behr paint, but I can't find it at Lowe's anymore and don't remember the name.) 

2.  Next my mom helped us apply paintable beadboard wallpaper on the bottom part of the walls (read: she applied it. Although to my credit, I did all the cutting with the utility knife). 

3.  Then the three of us had the most difficult time ever figuring out how to cut the chair rail accurately without a mitre saw and mitre box - or even a compass. After much folly, and some wasted chair rail, we figured it out, and affixed it to the wall with finishing nails. I filled in the nail holes with paintable silicon for a smooth look. 

4.  After the beadboard had been up for 24+ hours (I guess that's drying time - ?), we painted the beadboard, chair rail, interior door frame, and baseboards (which we didn't replace) with Behr paint in Blizzard Fog. It's a soothing white with (I think) gray undertones, and it matches the sink and toilet pretty perfectly.

5.  Next came the faucet and sink drama installation. Through eBay we'd gotten a brand-new Price Pfister faucet, towel ring (perfect for the small space), and tp holder - all for $65! The pedestal sink (which I'm in love with) was under $50 at Lowe's - the smallest and, conveniently, cheapest one they had. 

Getting the faucet properly installed was more than a bit of a challenge. I can't tell you how many different times I had silicon on me (yes, Diplo, Brad was quite wary), but we managed to make it happen eventually. Attaching the sink basin to the wall was likewise a sh*t show and not easy on our backs. I installed the new tp and towel holders with ease though. 

6.  Bullcrap, etc., annoyance, dysfunction, etc.: that about sums up getting the sink in working order. But it's done now, so let's (please) not dwell. Although I should note that there exists unanimous agreement in our house: our plumbing adventures have come to completion. Even the cats concur.

7.  Brad painted the nasty, greasy-looking ceiling the same color as the beadboard and totally brightened up the room. 

Okay, now that you've indulged me, here is is (!) . . . 

Doesn't the floor look so much less unstylish now? 



Like those blurry babies? I made 'em using two of my thrift store frames and pressed flowers! (More on that in another post.) Regarding the blur:  it was hard to get a clear pic. from that position in the bathroom. 

And another . . . 

So - what do you think of our thirfty powder room remodel?! We LOVE it, and every time I'm in there, I'm amazed that Brad and I accompished everything on our own (with, of course, a bit of physical labor courtesy of my mom, some plumbing advice from Amanda's plumber bro, and lots of discussions with Lowe's employees). Soon enough I'll estimate the costs - you'll be impressed, I swear - but right now I'm still recovering from all the cleaning of last week and this weekend . . . yawn.