Blog Bitten

Dots & Stripes

2011-03-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I owe you a bit of a back story. In the last basement post, the seating/sleeping area looked like this.

(Note: All photos were taken using my camera phone. I apologize for the quality)

But I conveniently left out that I'd purchased a rug and bench sometime ago before I found the convertible sofa (DaN). So the area where the movie screen once hung really looked this way first before Mr. DaN arrived.

Enter Lucy. I found this bench one day when I made an impulsive pit stop in World Market. The fact that it was on sale for $160 made my heart skip a beat. And then when I sat my bottom down on her generous cushion, we became one and I knew I didn't want to go home without her. You wouldn't believe how soft and plush this bench is. I'm actually sitting in it now as I write this post and loving every minute of it. I'm over the moon that Lucy's wide enough for two people to sit in it at once AND I am even able to stretch my legs comfortably from end to end. (Yes, at 5'3" I'm a shorty) I loved this bench so much I considered buying two so that I could hack them together (lengthwise) to create a really long bench for the basement. But realistically speaking having this bench as the primary seating just wouldn't work out. Besides she didn't meet the needs of all of my planning requirements. Anywho, so I moved her away from the wall and swapped her out with Mr. DaN.

As far as flooring goes I'm really not happy with my current choice. Ideally I want a rug that has a high profile and plush texture that can hide any dirt from foot traffic. I purchased this chocolate shag rug from Ikea. At 4'x6' it's also not the ideal size for this space. I think 5x7 would fill out the area a little better. I had big plans to return it for a larger size only I couldn't find my receipt and if you're and Ikea shopper then you know that you can't return or exchange anything without your original receipt. Poo! So since I'm stuck with it, I guess I'll end up using it somewhere else in the house. But for now he'll stay put.

Gaser

Here's what the area looked like before I moved the drum set to it's current home.

You can catch a glimpse of Lucy (top right) after I moved the drum set across the room. The white table you see in the background was my old desk that I have yet to get rid of. I'm hoping to sell it soon.

And this is what that area currently looks like once I moved the drum set and added Mr. DaN. You can see from this shot that the rug and bench are way too close in color and I honestly don't like the look of the bench with the sofa. An even closer inspection you can see that I threw in my new thrift end tables and Yep! new curtains.

Henny Rand

Also an Ikea purchase. I chose thes because the stripes were a perfect compliment to the polka dot pillows resting on Dan. And since that window is so small and off centered, I hung the drapes as high and wide as I could. This makes the basement feel much more like a normal living area and much less like a basement. Things are starting to come together nicely if I do say so myself. *patting myself on the back*

Lately my mind has been set on reupholstering the bench I purchased. I have made a few fabric selections. I picked up samples from Joanne Fabrics and an online source. I'll share photos soon. And will try to use a better camera too. Although, I'm not actually sure when I'll be able to tackle that project because I've been really innudated with my daughter's dance competition practice and cheerleading schedule. Making sure that she is fed and in the right place at the right time seems like my second job.

So that's all for now. Thanks for checking in. Yet still more goodness to come.

Hooked on Houses: Brothers & Sisters Edition

2011-03-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I come across design that oozes perfection. So tonight I am randomly watching the REELZ channel. They were playing a show called Brother & Sisters. I've neither heard of this channel nor the show before but it's been on tv since 2008. Talk about out of the loop. But I digress. Now if you're a fan of interior design like I am then you will be able to relate what I'm about to say next. I can NEVER keep my eyes off of the decor of the homes in the sets. And the set of this show was certainly jaw dropping.

I was so excited about the designs of this show that I wanted to blog about it. But then I remember one of my favorite go to blogs, Hooked on Houses. The owner of this blog (Julia) was once a freelance writer who had an affinity for homes and decided that she would begin to write about her home fetish hence the creation of Hooked on Houses. Julia writes about the celebrity homes, real estate listings and my favorite, the sets of tv shows and movies. So I stopped by her blog tonight and to my extreme delight she'd written a post about this amazing home. **wiping the drool from my mouth now***

Please check it out here. You'll be happy you did.

Thrifting

2011-03-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

One of the deals I struck with my husband when he agreed to go along with ~~the inevitable~~ allowing me to furnish the basement was that in doing so I wouldn't break the bank. As a result, I've been looking for ways to find budget friendly vintage pieces that I can make my own. One of the places I love to check out is an antique store near Howard University called Mom and Pops. It's owned by a charismatic guy named Bill Sims. The set up and feel of the store is reminiscent of the Sanford and Sons set... really. There's literally tons of stuff haphazardly strewn about. While the store may be really small, it's loaded with tons goodies for the DIYer. You've just gotta pack your patience when looking around. But like I said, I love seeing what new things he ~~drags in from the street~~ brings in. I've been there three times as of late and I found a few things I want to share with you. Enter suspect number one.

This bench had me at, "Hello!" It was priced at a $69 but Bill met in the middle and I was able to take it home for $35. It's a little tattered up but nothing a little sanding and spray paint can't fix. I am so looking forward to tackling this project. I've got plans to upholster it and trim it in nail head. I have a thing for nailhead and have been waiting for the right project to experiment on. You can read about my nail head fetish here and here. Outside of the labor, the hardest part of this project will be selecting fabric and paint.

I love furniture that pulls double duty. While I plan to primarily use this bench as a coffee table it will also serve as extra seating whenever the need arises. It's definitely stable and sturdy enough.

Lemme also introduce you to my new end tables. They say good design always has an element of repetition. And what I love most about the bench and these tables are the legs. They all share that same ~~sexy~~ tapered style like my new boyfriend Mr. DaN which I'm hoping will create a collected but cohesive vibe.

They only set me back $16. Not bad eh? Are you feeling the retro/futuristic vibe they are giving off like I am? I'm not sure what I want to do with them yet because I love just as they are. But if you have any ideas, I'd be happy to hear your input.

They have interesting hardware too. Although you can't really tell from this picture, the hardware is a little rusted and I'm not sure how to reconcile this issue. (My apologies for the picture quality. I've been capturing this entire project with my camera phone.)

Now I just have to find the time to work on them....so many things to do...with such little time. I'll post the afters as soon as I can. Sigh.

Thanks for checking in. Until next time.

Ready to Assemble (RTA)

2011-03-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I'm back with another update on my basement project. The last two items I'm in the process of completing are the guest and home theater space. And that's exactly what I want to share with you on in this post. One of the biggest decisions I had to make was selecting furnishings for the seating/sleeping area. There were several major issues that I had to consider in making a selection: size, affordability, duality and comfort. Let's talk about my size issues. Outside of the space being small, I had to overcome the obstacle of finding a piece of furniture that would fit in the door. I've been told that most DC basements were never meant to be finished spaces. This is because most of the ceilings are low and the doors are way too narrow. While ceiling height wasn't one of my issuess narrow doors were and this significantly reduced my seating choices. I spent alot of my waking hours trying to find options that would eke it's way through my doors. My widest door is a whopping 29" and the other is a mere 22". Woo hoo!
The second issue was price. I only budgeted $800 for the right piece. And since this space is so small I wanted something that could serve double duty and be comfortable. I'd considered this daybed from Ballard Designs because I like the upholstered look of it. But buying this meant I would have to also purchase a mattress --majorly busting my budget.

Ballard Designs

Then I had my heart set on purchasing a sectional. I wanted one that was very low profile and comfortable. I found plenty of eye candy at West Elm but most of the options I liked were (1) out of my price range and (2) wouldn't fit through the door.

Lorimer - West Elm

Blake - West Elm

I had better luck with affordability when I checked out Ikea. I was completely enamored with Kivik. I loved everything about him. Yes...I said him. I even went to visit my beloved in the store several times to make sure he was THE one. But once I realized they didn't have my prefered slipcover color option and I double checked the height measurements my enthusiam waned. I didn't want to risk getting Kivik home and not being able to get him through the door and down the stairs. That would've hurt both of our feelings. (Mine and Kivik's of course.)

Kivik

And then I looked at Karlstad. To my surprise, he would actually fit. But to be honest he just didn't give me that warm and fuzzy feeling like Kivik did. Why? Well...style, comfort, slipcover options and I just didn't like those square peg legs. I love a nice pair of legs on a guy and his...well...they were kind of punie and square. So I quickly eliminated him from the equation.

Karlstad

So the search continued. My excitement perked momentarily after watching an episode of Color Splash Miami with David Bromstad. I learned about ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture. Buying a sofa that I could assemble at home would be the perfect solution to my narrow door issues. While it was exciting to learn about new angle to solve my entrance issues, I didn't like many of the options that I was finding. Poo!
Then one day I was going through old photos on my cell phone when I came accross I picture I'd taken during one of my lunch time expeditions. One day I stopped by Urban Outfitters in China Town. I just wanted to look around to kill time. And that's when I saw this convertible Night and Day sofa. A bed and sofa all in one. The modern lines of this sofa was something I'm not ordinarily drawn to. But it was simple enough that I was willing to experiment to see how I could make it work especially with a $589 price tag. And the legs, while slim have oodles more style in comparison to the Karlstad.

The one I saw on display was beige. (I deleted the photo. Sorry) I remembered sitting in it to test it's comfort and thinking that it wasn't too shabby. (That's probably why I photographed it.) What I liked about this guy was his length, convertibility and price. Since Mr. Day and Night (DaN) folded down into a bed I quickly deduced that I could use this feature to get him through my basement door. Yay! So I placed the order for Mr. DaN in the timberwolf fabric because I couldn't find him in the beige online. To my surprise, the Universe intevened. About 2-3 days after I ordered him, I got a promotional sale email from Urban Outfitters with Mr. DaN in beige. With his sale price and a coupon code, he was about $160 cheaper than the timberwolf fabric. I wasted no time cancelling my original order and replacing it with the color I really wanted. And so Mr. DaN arrived in all his RTA glory.

He came in one big box.

I remember reading online reviews from folks saying that one of the screw holes were out of alignment. I was hoping that this project wouldn't give me any issues.

Here's one of the arms with the three bolts screwed in. Now I just need to marry each arm up with the predrilled holes on the sofa and attach the feet. Apparently the screw hole thing is a defect because I wasn't able to dodge that bullet. I had to pull out the drill to get one of the holes in proper alignment with the hole on the arm.


My handy drill.
I pulled back the under fabric and drilled just below it in order to widen the hole.
All decked out with my new Ikea polka dot pillows. Oh yeah...check out my plug in sconces.

The Basement with Multiple Personalities

2011-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that once I set my mind to do something very little can stop me. And this project I'm preparing to share with you is no exception. Every since we decide to stick around in the DMV I've been itching to get my hands on furnishing our basement. You last read about it here and here.

To say that it's come a long would be an understatement. Recapping it's history, we decided to finish it just before we put it up for sale believing that it would be more competitive. And as fate would have it, we didn't get any bites. All this means is we get to call it home and give it more love for a little while longer.

I have great expectations for this tiny room. My visions of grandeur include creating a laundry room, media room, music room, guest room and home office all in one space. After tossing a few ideas around in my head I created a plan of attack. The first thing I wanted to tackle was curtaining off the washer and dryer and storage space beneath the stairs. The washer and dryer have always been in the basement. However, my biggest gripe with them were that they were on full display 24/7.

So I purchased and installed a curtain panel system from Ikea. I used six of these blue panels and two of these panels installed on a Kvartal a triple track rail. It was love at first sight when I saw the blue panels. They were almost a perfect match to the paint color on the walls AND they remind me so much of grasscloth. And I lurve grasscloth. So they went home with me as fast as you could bat an eye. (Keep scrolling to see it fully installed.) Do you see that white cabinet in the picture above? Well, I needed to find a new home for it because I had plans to move my daughter's drum set in that space. And I had just the spot.

There's a niche to the right of this desk and it was the perfect width for the white filing cabinet. I was hoping that it would also be the perfect depth but it was a about 6" too shallow. I guess you can't win 'em all huh? Anywho, the Galant table we currently owned was now too big to accomodate the file cabinet. So I found a smaller desk for just $20 to use in place of it. Instead of trying to explain in words how I shuffled things around I'll simply show you with a picture.

I purchased the artwork from Homegoods months ago and have been waiting to hang them. The sconces are from Ikea too. And the little file cabinet was tucked away under the Galant table. We've got tons of stuff in both cabinets. One of these days I'll make time to go through them again to make sure we're not holding on to stuff we don't need. But that's a whole other post. I digress.Moving right along, I purchased this desk to replace the Galant desk I already owned. The Galant desk consumed this entire corner and I desperately needed a place to move the file cabinet. And like I said before that niche was the perfect width. So once I moved the file cabinet I happily placed the drum set there before that spot got cold. I guess should also share with you that the drum set used to hang out along the wall perpendicular to the wall the screen once hung on. I'll have a photo of that in a later post.

Isn't the drum set adorable? Believe it or not it was a given to me by an old coworker. He'd bought it for his son only his son no longer wanted to keep them because...get this..he said they made too much noise. Ba dum dum! (That's my drum imitation) So I surprised my daughter with them for her birthday. She'd been asking me to buy her set for while. It was a win-win situation.Oh and now you can get a shot of the curtain panels I installed to block off the washer dryer. I was really happy with the end result.

This is where I want to create the home theater and guest space. So far we've removed and dismantled the movie screen because it was taking up valuable wall real estate. And since hubster built it from scratch, I figured he could say his goodbyes by dismantling it himself. Ain't I sweet for thinking of him? After the screen was removed, I began considering more "convertible" options in lieu of the old one. (Details to come soon) I'm getting excited just thinking about it. The black box was also moved. My husband uses it on movie nights. It's one of those cases musicians use. It's basically got lots of outlets inside of it for hooking up sound equipment. Ya know...boring electronic stuff. An eyesore if you ask me but now it's nicely tucked away out of sight beneath the staircase and behind the curtain.

I know this is alot to take in so I'll recap. So far I have accomplished three of the five identities project for the basement. Laundry room. Check. Music room. Check. Office. Check. I'm excited with the progress thus far. But stay tuned for how I conquer the guest room and home theater.

So do you have any rooms in your home that have multiple personalities?

Testing...testing...Is This Thing On

2011-03-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

Hey there!
So...I've been on a blogging hiatus for about eight months now. To be quite honest, I haven't had the motivation to blog. After we decided not to renew the listing for our home and our plans to rent didn't pan out Plan c went into action. Plan c meant staying put. Besides all this, I accepted a new job here in DC which offers the potential to relocate just about anywhere in the country should we get the bug to up and move again.

My husband has always affirmed his preference for the Washington area over Tampa and was happy to ask his boss to transfer back home again. We were lucky that he obliged. So we are both permanently under the same roof again. And I'm happy.

I have to admit that it was fun house hunting in Florida. I had so many fantasies about our new home and decor styles I wanted to try. Who knows...we may decide to relist the house and just move to another part of the city. I've got an itch to have a true master again. In the meantime, all is well and I am beginning to shift my focus back on our home.

Which brings me to a little project that I was happy to do. An associate was gifted pair of lovely oak queen anne chairs that she wanted to reupohlster. So I volunteered to help her with them.

Click to enlarge

The chairs were in excellent condition. Sturdy to the max and have tons of charm. So Denise and I took a trip to Joanne Fabrics and she pick out a beautiful crisp white damask fabric that would take these chairs from granny to all things fabulous. Denise also wanted to paint out the wood to make them a bit more modern.

In this shot I've begun cutting off 2" vertical segments to accomodate the cording that would need to be reattached once the old fabric is removed. I snapped these next photos in order to document the process I used to disassemble them because my short term memory isn't the best at times.

First I ripped off the cording.

And then I removed the front layer of fabric...exposing the internal stuffing and where the staples were inserted. Once I saw where the staples were I immediately knew that getting the new staples back into that groove would be challenge.

This the seat. Do you see that black mesh? Well that was stapled to the bottom of the chairs and I had to remove the staples in the mesh just to reveal what you see in the photo above. I honestly believe that both of these chairs had enough staples to wrap the earth and back twice. Yeah it was that serious!

So as you can see in this shot, I've already spray painted the chairs a deep glossy black. Don't they look better already? By the way your eyes aren't playing trick on you, I snapped these using the blk/white option on my camera phone. Anywho, I should also mention that I didn't take photos of the cutting process (sorry). But I can say that I cheated a bit. After carefully removing the old fabric, I used it as a template to cut out the new fabric. I simply traced the outline of the old fabric onto the new fabric and cut along the line. Then I began carefully stapling the fabric back onto the chairs.

Creating the cording for the chairs was something I'd never tried before but found to be really fun.

After I stitched and trimmed the cording, I simply hot glued it into place.

As I fast forward a bit (this post is really long...I know) now the chairs are completely covered. These close ups show just how beautiful this fabric and paint combo are.

And I'll leave you with a before and after shot. I think that this new finish makes these traditional chairs more modern and glamorous. Don't you think? So what projects have you been working on lately?

Seeing Double

2010-07-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

I snagged this lovely photo from Tracy Interiors blog. Isn't that double vanity amazing? I love that it feels like a piece of furniture. Makes me wonder if it was a console table in its past life.

I love the overall soothing look and feel of this space, however, the jury is still out on those mirrors. I would've chosen something more on the lines of this one below but without the frosting. I think the framing on the two above are just to skimpy for the dimensions of the mirror.

One thing's for sure... their generous reflective surfaces help satisfy my curiosity about what else is happening in this room. I can juuuust make out the soaking tub in the background. I like imagining that it might be a claw foot tub though...simply because I'm partial to them. We kept the original cast iron tub that came with our house. So, they kind of have a special place in my heart.

And as I inspect further, just to the right of the tub I can clearly see the freestanding armoir painted in a soft sage. The website has a clear shot of the cabinet and tub if you want to see more.

*sigh* This bath has me longing for our own personal on suite. Most of these older homes my neighborhood don't have them. If this were my bath I would selfishly want to keep it as my own sancutary--refusing to share it with my husband. Okaaay...I might let him in once in a while. Until then, I just keep dreaming.

Doing the Limbo

2010-05-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

So back in December we took our house off the market. The primary reasons for this were (1)our contract ended (2) we didn't recieve any offers and (3) the endless cycle of starting high and lowering the asking price every 2 weeks or so became old quickly. After taking our home off the market we planned to sell our condo and rent the house to family.

Then began the process of prepping the condo. The kitchen and bathrooms were my main focus. I was able to complete the master bath before this project also came to a screeching halt. Meanwhile the hubster and I are living in two separate states. Fortunately we have a wonderful relationship and the distance seems that it has cause to become even closer.

But all this stop and go has us in a state of limbo and left me questioning if we were really meant to relocate to Florida. I guess part of me is a fatalist while the other half believes that we should seize the day. I have to admit there are only two things that give me pause about taking the plunge...our real estate and my career plans. Until we either sell one or both properties and/or rent our home, purchasing a new home is completely out of the question.

As far as career plans go, I was planning to go back to school and/or start my own business once we settled in but that has been delayed too. The reason...well...I accepted another job and begin on Monday.

So that's what been happening.

TTYL

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-04-09T04:07:00.000-07:00

I'm turning 30...*cough* again.

Salvageable

2010-03-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

One of these days when I grow up I'm going to be more ecofriendly. Becoming more conscious of how we treat Mother Earth is a worthy cause and a great undertaking...so right now, it's baby steps for me. The idea of reusing/repurposing/reclaiming (however you care to slice it) items is not new to the design community. I'm discovering that there is a whole other world out there. So imagine my intrigue when I came across this website.

Planet Reuse has tons of reclaimed building materials for just about any project you can imagine. Like this old pine flooring.

It could have a new life as a cart like this one at Restoration Hardware.

I have a fettish for old weathered brick. So naturally, these old Chicago bricks caught my eye.

I would give amost anything to have my own English style patio.

And if you're really handy and itching for a project this Pecky Cypress would look fantastic reborn as a door.

If you're interested there is alot more to see and imagine. Enjoy!

Nail Me to the Wall

2010-02-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Clutch my pearls! I didn't realize until now that I have a thing for nailhead trim. First the headboard and now this. I guess I would have to chalk it up to its traditional and classic appeal. Here's the scoop. In the midst of my daily dose of blogstalking I came across these images of a brilliantly stunning kitchen on Elements of Style . The designer is Elizabeth Kimberly and you can find more of her work here.

I'm always amazed at the creative mind. Who would have ever thought to use nailhead trim to ouline cabinetry!? As my daughter would say, "Hello!...Goregous!" What makes this even more special is that you have to be intimitely close to the cabinetry in order to see and appreciate the detail.

*Fans face* Okay. I'm better now.

Women Working in Trades

2010-02-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was watching an episode of Holmes on Homes. It's a Canadian based show. Holmes is the super hero of the show wherein he comes walking in, with toolbelt in tow, rescuing distraught homeowners who were taken advantage of by General Contractors. I need a Holmes in my life too.

Anywho, there was a short segment of the show where he spoke with a young woman who mentioned that she is a product of a program called Women and Enhanced Skill Trades. After a quick web search I found out that Ontario, Canada offers a program that provides women with training in carpentry, welding, horticulture, painting-decorating, cooking and landscaping.

Learning this just makes my heart flutter. I wished we had this opportunity here too.

Lovely Bathroom

2009-12-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

When I grow up I want a shower in my home just like this. The shower base is very clever and makes my heart sputter. Simply Gorgeous!

My Daughter's Room

2009-11-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Gosh! I've been busy these last few days. I looooove decorating. I get such a high looking at new things and trying them together. So, today I took a trip to Homegoods to buy a few new things for my daughter's room. I purchased three new pillows, a bedspread, a rug and a couple of pictures. All in neutral colors. The only thing I think it still needs are a pair of beige curtain panels to frame the window. When I initially posted about her room I new that I wasn't 100% pleased with it. Instead of purchasing a new rug and pillows I reused what I already had. You can look back at it here. I'm not sure what happened to the setting on my camera so please bare with the grainy quality.

The black desk was a Pier 1 purchase. It folds in half to a simple nightstand and expands to be used as a desk.

The rug was a snap decision. I was torn with buying a large 5x8 rug that I spotted at Homegoods with a clearance tag on it for $147. It was on sale from $199 I think...maybe a little more I can't remember exactly. The only thing that stopped me in my tracks was my budget...or the lack thereof. Keep in mind that this was purely a spur of the moment shopping expedition. And I was already having buyers remorse about Saturday's Ikea shopping trip.

I did all this while my daughter was at school. All I heard were screams of joy when she saw what changes awaited her. In fact, she was so excited that slept in her own bed last night. Kids...gotta love 'em.

Staging the Master Final Edition

2009-11-14T21:23:00.001-08:00

So it's been more than 120 days and my home still hasn't sold. I must say that I am not discouraged but I am really surprised that we haven't gone under contract by now. There were other homes in my neighborhood that settled relatively quickly yet ours hasn't. The feedback I recieved demonstrated that our home shows really well. The biggest concerns were price and bedroom size. So at the suggestion of my realtor I staged my old bedroom. Here are the final results.

If you recall. This was the original plan but I cut my plans short and just threw a few miscellaneous pieces of furniture in there. Here's a quick look back.

The room originally had vanilla berber carpet and beige walls. Neither me nor my husband are the tidiest people in the world as you can see from the photo above. And the carpet was killer to keep clean.

So I ripped up the carpet.

Sanded and restained the floors.

Painted the walls soft blue gray (Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware) and filled it with furniture that didn't really have a home otherwise. You can view this post here.

And today I made a run to Ikea and just bought a bunch of white stuff. Not much innovation here but I like the outcome nonetheless.

So whaddaya think? A room fit for a queen...and a king to I suppose.

Curb Appeal

2009-11-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

I finally have an updated shot of the exterior of my home. I'll start off by showing you photos that I already posted which show how our home looked before we bought it. Narrow steps. Unpainted rail. Dated storm door. The bushes/vines above the retaining wall (on the right) are overgrown.

The next two show a progression of work. You can see in the shot below that we added in a driveway.

This one shows a faint image of the new fence and the retaining wall that has yet to be painted.

This picture below is how my home looks today. Here's what we did. Painted the front porch. Stripped and stained the front door. Removed the storm door. Added new house numbers and mailbox. Widened the front steps. Removed the old dated brick under the porch and replaced it with lattice. We capped off the center block retaining wall with brick and painted it a soft neutral shade.

Installed the miniature retaining wall that connects with the sidewalk. A project the hubster undertook.Took him forever but he got it done nonetheless. Funny this is the only project that I have him take his sweet time on...not sure why but I digress.

We applied slate to the riser of the lower steps. Removed the old iron rail. I layed brick pavers over sidewalk. Threw in a few new shrubs. Et Voile!

Next I'll show you the back yard. In a few words, it was a mess. Click on this picture to get a life sized view of the challenge we faced. It's not pretty.

Here's the after. Aaahh. Isn't this much better. I couldn't stand looking out my back window before. Now that things are cleaner and a little greener I can rest.

Back of the house before.

Here's the after. Don't mind the bricks that are skewed. We never permanently affixed these to the retaining wall. The main thing that I want to convey is that we closed in the old door and placed a new set of french doors where the two windows were. These doors take you into the kitchen. You can have a look see of our kitchen here.

And the driveway. We painted the retaining wall and capped it with brick.
I love my Forever Hydrangeas.

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Dramatic Eclectic

2009-11-04T07:45:00.001-08:00

I rarely take these What's your Style quizzes but I endured this one because there's a chance to win $150 bucks from HomeGoods. Here's my style. I'd have to say that I agree.

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Dramatic Eclectic

Posted using ShareThis

Katie Couric interviews Michelle Obama

2009-11-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

Many who know me personally know that I am a healthnut. I'm a vegetarian and believe that food is truly our medicine. Our nation has veered off the road of traditional healthy meals to quick empty caloric meals. So when I saw this video of Michelle Obama talking about how one of the causes she has undertaken is to promote healthier meals at school and in our homes I had to share it. I've seen the Whitehouse garden that she created along with the children at Bancroft Elementary and it has really warmed my heart. This is a necessary cause and I hope people are watching, listening and learning.

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Nail me!

2009-10-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

I just spotted this beautiful nailhead headboard on House Beautiful's website. Seems easy enough to create. I wish there were more photos shot head on so that I could get a better view of the design. Of course, one could get very inventive by creating there own unique design. I would probably use a gigantic stencil though. Anywho, I just thought it was lovely and decided to share.

Isn't it delightful!

Strip It

2009-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I want to share with you yet another project that took I undertook in my house. The main reason is to share with you an ecofriendly product I learned about at a woodworking fair last year. It's called Soy Gel. This product is so mild that you can put it on your bare skin and it not burn you like the regular paint stripper does. But best of all it really works. All the woodwork in my house has been painted over and over and over...well you get the picture...for many years and more than likely contained lead. There were upwards of 10 layers of paint on my old doors. This stuff pulled it off like a dream. The only downsides were cost and that I had to let it sit on the door for at least a day or 2 to be sure it penetrated all the layers. Once it did it peeled off easy breezy.

In the picture above I layered the Soy Gel only on the outer perimeter and the center panel of the door. I let it sit on each section for a day or two and then I went to town scraping it off. Instead of adding fresh Soy Gel I would use the old stuff mixed with the paint that it pulled off to coat the areas that hadn't received any product. Again I let it sit for about a day or two and worked like a dream even with the paint caked in it.

You can imagine that it took some patience. So if you are in a hurry this is probably not the product for you . Anywho, after I finished both sides I lightly sanded the door just to smooth it out. I have three different sanders, belt, orbital and a square one which I can't think of proper name right now. I probably would've prefered to use my orbital sander for this project only it was in the shop at Sears at that time. I waited months to get it back from them and they wound up losing it. But hey...they replaced it with a brand spanking new one so I wasn't unhappy...but I digress.

I would create such a mess in the backyard. In the beginning some of my neighbors were always curious with my projects...mainly because of my gender. Now I think they've gotten used to me. This just goes to show you that women can do anything that men can do.
*Wink

2009-09-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

The Hardships of Homeownership
There are times when being a homeowner rears its ugly head. That time for me is now. Yesterday I received a call from the company who manages the property of my condo. My condo is currently rented out. It was my first place before I graduated to the home that I currently reside in and I still love it...but I digress. Back to the phone call.I was informed a of leak coming from the HVAC closet. The homeowner below stated that she has a leak in her ceiling of her HVAC closet which is directly below mine (she has an identical floor plan). After work I hung out in my unit for several hours waiting until she got home so that I could see the leak for myself. It was bad. There was floor to ceiling mold covering one of the walls and the floor was wet.Most of my morning has been focused on making calls in an effort to secure an emergency appointment with HVAC contractor. She has a young infant child and because of the mold issue she is naturally concerned about the health and well being of him.The property manager sent over one of their technicians to inspect the issue this morning. I've been advised that the problem is being caused by a clog in my condensation drain. This is a big lesson for me. A clog is a very minor issue to be rectified but because it went unnoticed for so long it has caused far greater damage that it ever should have.The saga continues....
Posted by Barbara at 8:10 AM

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No Excuses!

2009-08-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Please check out this post on Getting In: The Okey Doke over at the Get Togetha blog. It is so on point. In case anyone is wondering what the okey doke is check out this online urban dictionary.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Matthew 14:31

Staging the Master Part III

2009-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

I know that it's been a month of Sundays since I originally posted about this project. It seems that I've been a little carried away posting photos of other areas of my home. As we look back on all the things that I had in mind for this room you will quickly deduce that I didn't complete all the things I set out to finish. Once we moved our furniture up to the attic I soon realized that I liked having my room in that space. So we never moved back to this room. There was some consideration made into the idea of purchasing another bed just to fit in this space but again I opted not to go that route. Why buy more furniture having no idea what our house will be like in Florida.

This shot shows the new paint color, Light Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware. The ceiling was painted white - ceiling white by Behr. The roman shades were homemade by moi and the ceiling fixture is a CB2 plug-in lamp that I hardwired.
My agent didn't think it was a good idea to leave this room empty so I stored the hubster's favorite leather recliners he purchased years ago in Peru. The mirror is Ikea and the lamp is the same I had in here before. Oh yeah, and the rug is a remnant of the old carpet that i took out to begin with. This was the best compromise for my husband to feel as if we weren't throwing our money away.

I also installed the dentil crown molding. This was my second time working with crown. It took some adjusting but once I had all of my templates that helped me identify the inside and outside corners and figuring out what to do where the a/c vents were, it was all good.

I had grand plans of adding Ikea's Merete panels flanking each window but I didn't like the look of it and I've been too lazy to unscrew the rods. I also opted not to purchase the wall TV cabinet which is why the cable wire is entirely exposed. I know that it's not a good look. The console the tv is resting on came from my daughters room before I made her room over. Anywho...that's it. No big reveal just some odds and ends pulled together to keep an empty room from feeling empty. Yet I love it still.

Settlement Day

2009-07-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

This is a shot of my back yard the day we bought the house. As you can see we had a lot of work ahead of us. The hubster really didn't want to buy the house because he couldn't get past the condition it was in. He just didn't see my vision for it. The home was owned by an elderly lady who apparently never lived in the house. She went home to be with the angels and the house was part of her estate sale and sold in as is condition. This was November 2005 at the tail end of the real estate boom; it was still a sellers market. Settlement day we later learned from her family that she was sick and she often stayed with them.

When we started working in the back yard we hauled out over 20 bags of leaves. I suppose that noone ever did any yardwork in the back either. Here's a shot of how the front appeared. The wood on the front porch was bare. There was a set of narrow steps with dated iron railing. And I wasn't a big fan of brick pattern that framed the lower portion of the front porch either.

Here's the back of the house. Just plain and simple. Nothing to write home about. Most of the windows had been replaced possibly in the 90s because they weren't original to the house. All the exterior windows appeared to be original to our home. We replaced all but one of the windows on the back of the house, sealed off the old exterior door and replaced the two lower side by side windows with french doors.

Open House

2009-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

All this business with selling our house actually has me excited. Yesterday driving home from work as I approached my house I instantly saw the Long & Foster for sale sign. Reflecting back to that moment there were two emotions that I felt immediately the first was, "This is it!" and the second was "Oh I hope my neighbors don't try to snoop around in my house for Sunday's open house." Come on...all of you have done it before. There's a house(s) in each of your neighborhoods that you would love to snoop around in to see how your neighbors are livin. Go on just admit it. I'll go first, if given the opportunity there are a number of houses that I'd love to see first hand and not just in a photo.

Last night as I watered my hydrangeas I had another moment of excitement as I gazed over at the for sale sign. I kind of liked the way it looked in my yard...tall, slim and sculptural. Oh yeah and it matches my house. Who would've thunk it! Me in love with a for sale sign. Wow!

Completed Basement

2009-07-14T20:59:00.001-07:00

These are shots of my completed basement. You can take a look at the before here.

My husband made the movie screen hanging on the wall in the above picture. We used it for Movie Nights in our back yard. There were two long cables that he thread through eye hooks that were screwed into the top and bottom of the screen. At each end of the cables were hooks that clamped onto more eye hooks he'd screwed into two trees in our yard. I have to say that it was pretty cool. We now have an inflatable screen purchased from WalMart. So for now this will be the handmade screens temporary resting place.

We're Listed!

2009-07-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

O' happy Day! We are finally on the market. This means that we are one step closer to relocating to Florida. This has definitely been an arduous effort for the hubster and myself. He's actually been working in Florida for several months now returning once or twice a month on weekends and special occasions. Although it seems like he really doesn't need a reason just to catch a flight back here. I'd like to think that he misses me but it just might be his sleep number that he's missing more.

I'd love to post the listing altogether but I'm just not quite ready to relinquish my anonymity. I'm sure I'll get there one day soon; I can feel it.

Anywho, after following all of my agents instructions I'm really pleased with how well the place shows. I'm sharing with you snaps of my once home office that has now been converted back to a dining room.

I just bought this table on Craigslist for $85. I fell in love with the ornateness (is that even a word) of legs. Once I saw it in person I thought the size of the table top was too large for my space but I managed to work it out. I just sanded the top and parts of the trim. The original plan was to restain the entire thing but I loved the natural look of it so I decided to leave it alone.

All that's missing is a chandelier. *shrugs. I'll leave that for the next homeowner.

Personal Reflections

2009-06-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening there was a major crash on the District of Columbia's metrorail system in the middle of rush hour. It occurred on the Red Line in my neck of the woods. Both trains were traveling in the same direction. One of the trains were at a standstill due to a signal ahead. The other train came up behind the stopped train and plowed into the back it; opening it up like the lid of a can. An investigation is underway and more details are forthcoming.

Many Washingtonians place our blind faith daily in the hands of these trains and its operators. I normally don't ride the Red Line trains but began to yesterday as a result of my daughter's summer schedule. I was alerted of this incident after I began to receive phone calls from family and friends checking to see if I'd made it home safely. It's incidents like these that really...REALLY make you understand how life can be taken away in the twinkling of an eye. My heart and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones yesterday. And I thank the Creator because it could have been the other way. Selah.

From Closet to Guest Bath

2009-06-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house there was only one bathroom located upstairs with the bedrooms. Although my family is relatively small -my husband, daughter and myself - we absolutely needed a second bath. Given our budget constraints the most ideal place we thought to have one installed was on the main/entrance level. So we looked to the coat closet. The closet was really tiny and I unfortunately do not have any before shots of it. The initial thought was just to create a powder room but our real estate agent encouraged us to make it a full bathroom instead. After all bathrooms add value. Right?

To give you an idea of spacing the original closet was literally as narrow the picture shows below. So we decided to use some of the space in the adjoining dining room in order to add a shower.

We used neutral soapstone tile on the floor and shower walls. Also pictured is a flower medallion. When I bought the medallion I wasn't sure where I wanted to use it...on the floor in the foyer, on the floor in the bathroom but then I settled on using it in the shower. Neat huh?

Lovers of home design should understand me when I say that your home is never complete. Many like minded people often get bored with their furniture layouts, accessories or color schemes. I can honestly say that once I completed this bathroom I never changed one thing about it in the three years we've lived here. I guess I'm really pleased with the end result.

My Unfinished Basement

2009-06-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of my basement before we had it finished. It's really rather small. The dimensions are a mere 20' x 22.5'. We appropriately called it...dun dah dah dun...The Dungeon. The concrete floors had accumulated tons of dust and efforts to clean them were futile.

This area to the left in the picture below is where we did the laundry. And the cute plastic bag hanging from the stair stringer was used to catch the dust from the lint trap. We never had the dryer properly vented out of the house so we attached a sock to the end of the metal vent duct. Primitive...I know. I also layed rubber mats on the floor because I hated walking on the concrete floor. The dust would stick to the bottom of my shoes and track all over the floors upstairs.

The blue device is an Aquasana water filter. When we bought the house the home inspector pointed out to us the the main water line leading into the house was lead. My husband did a little research and found this one. It filters the water to the entire house. All we have to do is to change the filter every 6 months or so. You can also see the elelctrical panel in the foreground. The long horizontal pipe above the water filter is for the waterhose.

The lighting was also horrendous. These shots were taken on a pretty nice day which helped to illuminate things a little better. Here's a shot of our old and faithful hot water heater and boiler. If were were going to keep the house this area would be ideal for a bathroom. We didn't include that in the work because that would've really blown our budget.

Rugby Anyone?

2009-06-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

The good folks over at Thisyounghouse.com posted yesterday about how they spruced up their second bath with a fresh palette of stripes. I loved their end result. But I may be a little biased. Last year I painted stripes similar to their design on my foyer walls. Previously the foyer walls were entirely yellow. The shade of yellow I chose didn't tickle my fancy but I lived with it for months before I decided change it.

Initially, the plan was to paint beige with a darker shade of beige. I liked the color combination but it didn't give the punch I was looking for when I opened my front door. I also had big plans of painting a clear stencil on the stripes to add a touch of whimsy. In fact, if you look closely at the corner of the second dark stripe you can see a faint image of the knot stencil from Sunny Goodtime. I first heard about them through this post over at thisyounghouse. After giving it some thought I opted not to use the stencil.

So then I got to thinking some more....hmmm. Could I make the yellow work? Well I decided to give it a go and I was really happy with the end result. In fact, the stripes reminded me alot of a rugby shirt - preppy, fun and classic. Pardon the holiday decor.

I decided to keep the yellow because it matches my sofa located in the next room. Check it out.

Labor Pains are Over

2009-06-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

I finished the major labor in my daughter's room but still have some tweaking do on the decor. I've been finished for about a month now and been hesitant to share the outcome only because it's not fully complete. Here's what I did:

Yanked up the carpet like I did here.
Sanded and stained the floor. This time I used an orbital sander and it worked beautifully because it didn't gouge the wood.
Painted the ceiling (Ceiling White - Behr) and walls (Buttercreme - Restoration Hardware).
Installed crown molding
Hardwired new light fixture
Spray painted the radiator white.

I intend to change out her blanket with a simple white one. The lamps were from my room. I'm not sure how I feel about them in here so I may swap them out with something else. The headboard that I ordered from Walmart was too dark. So I reordered this one in oatmeal. I'm not expecting them to match perfectly especially since I purchased the upholstered platform bed from Westelm. I'm just hoping that the eye will be tricked into thinking that they belong together.

Like the blue blanket, the rugs are also leftover from the way her room looked before I redid it. And finally, a larger rug would really pull things together but I'm not sure if I want to make the investment. Sorry folks, I consciously didn't take a before snapshot because I didn't want to remember how bad it looked before.

*Note to self: Never put light carpet in a kids room EVER.

Tool Time

2009-05-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hey there blogosphere!

I want to share with you a really simple project that will help you organize your tools. You'll need peg board, screws, drill, saw, peg board hooks to complete this project.

Step 1. Measure the area where the peg board will be installed. I purchased precut peg board from Home Depot. It was a little wide so I cut it down to the size I needed using a saw. I used a table saw but a regular hand saw would suffice.

Step 2. Gather all your tools and separate them by group. (i.e Screw drivers, levels, hammers, putty knives, paint brushes etc.)

Step 3. Determine which peg board hooks work best with each tool type and begin to do a rough placement of all your tools onto the peg board. Peg board hooks can be purchased at your local hardware store. They are sold in individual pieces and in variety packs. I bought the variety pack because it allowed me to play around with the hooks to ascertain which worked best for each tool.

Step 4. Once you are comfortable with the placement use a sharpie to trace an image of each tool onto the peg board. This is an important step. Tracing the image of the tool onto the peg board ensures that you will always return it back to the exact same place it was retrieved from.

Step 5. Remove all the tools from the peg board and mount onto the wall with your drill and screws. Once your board is securely fastened you can move all of your tools to their new home. Here's how my project came out. I still have tons more tools that I still need to add which is why the peg board on the bottom doesn't have any tools yet.

Oh and I'm not sure what this little doohickey is called but when I saw it I new that it would work well with all the screwdrivers that I've accumulated. It clips right into the holes of the board.

I really looked forward to this project because most of my tools were scattered throughout the house or in some random container or bag. Now they are tucked away in the basement behind a door.

So that's it. Simple. Quick. Easy. And I even have room for more.

Bitten & Smitten

2009-05-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was perusing through one the many blogs I subscribe to. There was a post about George Stephanopoulos' (I always wanna say Snuffaluphagus) Georgetown home. Anywho, I noticed a beautiful orange african headdress displayed on the wall. I found one on the Modern Dose website. I think I've fallen in love.

This was the first time that I've ever heard of the website. So I perused it a little longer and found this beauty. I imagined it being in my daughters bedroom since orange is her favorite color.

And I looked a bit more and found more goodies. Check them out.

This "O" pendant light is out of my price range...a whopping $1,320. Maybe someone with deep pockets will gift it to me. Shrugs. A girl can dream can't she.

And finally this beauty! I've seen similar table/wall lamps like this at Reincarnations here in DC. So whaddya think? Are you as infatuated as I am?

Hooked on Brookland Multi-Family Yard Sale

2009-05-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

This weekend my neighborhood is having a HUGE multi-family yard sale. Upwards of 50 families are expected to participate - myself included.

If you are in the DC area please stop through...out of towners are certainly welcome too!

It is scheduled for Saturday from 10am - 2pm. The rain date is Sunday (Mother's Day).

Click here to see the map of all the homes that will be participating.

See you there!

Been Busy

2009-05-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

These days I’ve often pondered if I’ll ever make it to Florida. I still have so much to do before I feel comfortable placing our house on the market. I read that the DC market hasn't been hit as hard as many other parts of the country but in my neighborhood there is steep competition. The good news is that there were two homes in my neighborhood that recieved contracts within weeks of them going on the market. So to say the very least I am encouraged. Our fall back plan is to rent it if it lingers too long. Fingers crossed and saying a little prayer that it won't come to that.

I'm sure that I'll miss our little house. During these last three years, we've worked so hard on it to make it comfortable for us. Yet there is one major project that needs to be done in order to be competitive with the other homes in the area-- the basement.

We affectionately call our basement the dungeon because that's what it looks and feels like. Equipped with cracked concrete walls, decayed looking pipes and a concrete floor so dusty that would even make PigPen from Charlie Brown feel like he needs a bath. I really, really, really hated going down there but if I wanted clean laundry I had no other choice.

Here are some pictures of the work in progress.

There is only about a 7ft clearance of ceiling height.

In this last picture you'll see that there is almost 2" of water on my floor. It's been raining for almost two weeks here in DC and one of my contractors thought it was smart to pull the plug on my sump pump so it flooded. Yippee!

The bright side was that there wasn't anything of value down there. Once I plugged the sump pump back in it immediately began to do it's job and sucked all the water up and out of the house. To keep the wood from rotting my contractor brought in a fan to help speed up the drying process. So no progress was made on Monday. However, when I arrived on Tuesday I was pleasantly surprised to see that 90% of all the drywall was done.

After everything is done, I'll share the finished job.

BTW...I am still working on my daughters room. I didn't bother taking any before pictures because I'm giving it the same treatment as I did my room. And of course I can't wait to share the final outcome.

TTFN

Side Tables

2009-03-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

These sidetables are from the House Beautiful website. Aren't they just gorgeous.

This one is my favorite.

And this one is completely cute.

I need a small circular dining table. No bigger than 36" round. Anyone know have any good suggetions on where to find a cute and inexpensive table? It would need to go with these chairs. Preferably black or white. I'm all ears.

Blurred Vision

2009-03-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy the process of decorating. The mental pictures I get during the creative process are exciting especially when I'm trying to achieve a certain look. So one could only imagine the feeling of frustration that overcomes me when I put selected things together and they just don't jive well together.

My master makeover is slow going but I've enjoyed the final results of the floor, the rug and the wall color. I even bought fabric so that I could make roman shades and they're turning out pretty cool too. BUT when I added the white Merete drapes that I purchased months ago from Ikea my vision began to fade.

I loved how they worked so well in my living room. Maybe it's how they melted into the soft cozy cottage wall color...the higher ceiling... or the plain white mini blinds.

I was expecting these drapes to really begin to transform the space only now everything is beginning to feel flat and lifeless. I need some bling in the boudoir! Silk dupioni drapes crossed my mind but at this point I don't see myself returning the Ikea curtains and I really want to make them work.

The duvet I'm using looks a bit like this. Only it's majority white not blue. It was hard to find the exact match since I picked it up some time ago from HomeGoods on the cheap. Love HomeGoods!

I bought this simple drum pendant lamp shade fixture from CB2.

My designer friend, who will give Candice Olson a run for her money, gave me two of these shelves last summer. I've never taken them out of the box. I'm thinking about using them as bedside tables. Think it'll work.

I've decided that I'll paint the radiators white instead of investing unnecessary funds in radiator covers that will be left behind.

Add in a few pieces of art and accessories to pull it all together.

I realized that the final reveal will take some time because my daughters room is next on my list of projects to tackle. So I'll move her things into my room for now(my temporary room is up in the attic). This way I can start the process all over again. Remove the carpet, refinish the floors, paint, install crown molding...yada...yada...yada. You get the picture.

SNL Does The View

2009-03-16T13:28:00.001-07:00

This is random and has nothing to do with home but I think it's hilarious. All of the parodies are spot on.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Kitchen Transformation

2009-03-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

Of all the projects we've undertaken since we bought our house the kitchen undoubtedly had the biggest transformation. Before we moved in we had a general contractor knock down a wall that joined our galley style kitchen to what we called "the sunroom."

Here's a photo of what the kitchen looked like when we purchased it.

The cabinets, stove and diswasher were dated and seemingly unused. As you can see from the picture above the diswasher was never connected. The cabinets flanking the stove were not connected to the wall. And there was an exterior door that led to the sunroom. I guess it could've been used as a mudroom...who knows. *shrugs.

Here's a before picture of the sunroom. You can see a bit into the kitchen as well as into the dining room from this shot. In the foreground of the dining room you can see a door on right that led into the kitchen. It's now closed off because we used a portion of that area to add a bathroom.

And then we had the contractors knock down the wall that separated these two rooms and install recessed can lights. We lived with the kitchen like this for some time. I wasn't a happy camper and refused to have house guests.

Then we hired a contractor to update the kitchen and he basically took our money and didn't come back. Since then we've become very leary of contractors and attempt to do most work ourselves. The floor came first. The inspiration for the floor came from a magazine. I simply saw it and told my husband what I wanted to do and assured him that we could do it ourselves. It took us a month to finish. We used brazilian cherry wood and ceramic tile. The pictures below shows how we layed out the floor first before we installed it.

My apologies for the picture quality. I believe this was taken with an old camera phone.

Here are some after pics of the kitchen. With the exception of the countertop, plumbing and electrical we completed all the work ourselves.

There were two windows where this door exists now. Oh yeah, we hired a contractor for this as well. He closed in the old exterior door and made a wider opening for the new door to be installed.
Cozy right? The old exterior door used to be where the picture is hanging on the wall in the foreground of the shot below. As you can imagine we hit alot of bumps along the way but we persevered and we are extremely pleased with the outcome. Although it's been over a year since we've stopped working on the kitchen there are still a few punch list items that haven't been completed-the biggest one of them all is the crown molding. The molding is still in a box in the basement.
I tend to be a bit rebellious at times which is why I intentionally didn't follow the trend to buy all stainless appliances. Considering market conditions I hope I didn't make a bad decision.

Staging the Master - Part II

2009-03-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

Hello there!

I know that it's been a month of Sundays since I've posted anything. In short, there's been alot going on. This project itself is taking me a while to complete and now I have to contend with the needs of a sick parent.

Since I find blogging and/or decorating to be therapeutic I figured that posting an update on my project would be just what I needed to get my mind off my troubles.

So I rented a belt sander from Home Depot. I was advised by a professional not to rent a belt sander because they tend to gouge the wood only to be later talked into to it by one the associates at the tool rental counter. I should have listed to the professional because it did exactly what he said it'd do but over all the outcome could have been worse.

Then I taped off the closets, doors and vents. Then we removed the baseboards. We (me and the hubster) damaged some of the drywall during this process.

And then I began to sand.

Took me three days but I finally finished. This picture makes the floors appear orangey. Please excuse. I'm still learning how to manipulate the settings on my camera.

Here's the finished product.

That's all for now. I've been taking my time with the everything else. I've finished painting the walls and installing the crown molding and baseboards. Now I simply have to paint them both.

Mold Me

2009-01-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure where i found this photo but I absolutely love the treatment on the wall. I'm a big fan of molding/chair rail/wainscoting and an even bigger fan of grasscloth. In an ideal world I'd love to make an attempt at installing this type of treatment in the bedroom that I'm making over-my master. I'm sure my real estate agent would suggest otherwise given that it may be to taste specific but I truly do love it. And Oooh how I wish my ceiling looked like that! Oh well...a girl can dream can't she?

Anywho, I bought two double rolls of this grasscloth about 6 months from this website. The thought was to apply it to the walls in my living room. Only now I've reconsidered because we are moving. So they will make the trip with me to Tampa.

Everybody's budget is different and in my opinion this stuff isn't cheap but well worth the value.

Staging the Master Bedroom

2009-01-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

I mentioned here that I had plans to spruce up my bedroom before we put the house on the market. Well, I started the project Sunday. So far I’ve moved all the furniture up to the attic and removed the carpet so that it can be cut and bound into a rug. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the hardwood floors underneath and I wasn’t pleased with what I saw.

So here is the lifeless room before we moved the bed to the attic. FYI…this is the hubs side of the bed. (side eye*)

And here is our wretched ceiling light that I should have changed a long time ago. Umm…yeah

Shhh! Don’t say naythin about the broke down roman shades. They are most certainly on their way to file 13 aka the trash.

The TV on the wall was his idea. I plan to take it down after it’s all said and done.
Also, we really don’t have grown up furniture to make it feel like a master.

Here’s the room without furniture.

And the floor reemerges. I gasped when my eyes saw this. It looks like a really bad patch job because the planks are supposed to be laid in staggered lengths.

Here are my tools. A flathead to remove the staples.

And a crowbar to remove the carpet tacks.

So that's all for now. Next up, paint the ceiling white, remove/replace the floor molding, refinish the hardwood floor and install crown molding. I'm doing all this myself. It's not rocket science but it does take a little bit of muscle.

Better Late Than Never...I Beg to Differ

2009-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

I was so close...so close! I couldn't believe that I missed out on a chance to get an awesome deal at a Pier 1 store closing sale. Don't panic not all stores are closing just the location in Greenbelt, MD. If I'd have gotten there just a little earlier I would've received an additional 25% off of the sale price for two of these beauties.

So here's the short of it. I attempted to buy the last four in stock at the Crofton, Md store only two of them were damaged. One had what looked like an oil stain and the other the cushion was already beginning to separate from the base. I bought the two good ones for the sale price $119. and figured that I'd head to another store to find the last two. So no big...the clerk gave me another store that had them (which also happened to be going out of business) and all I had to do was mosey on over there to get the goods. But noooo I had to make a pit stop at Ikea to pick up more of these curtains first. Oh yeah AND to HomeGoods for two more baskets for the shelves I installed in my bathroom.

Anywho...by the time I arrived at the Greenbelt store my two would be $99 chairs were G-O-N-E. Sigh!

Not so Fast!

2009-01-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'm fasting. Each year in January my church has a 20-day corporate fast. We do this for our own individual spiritual reflection as well as the for the state of the church as a corporate body. We've done this for the past 5 years. The terms of the fast are always different. This year our instructions are to drink water only throughtout the entire fast. We can have one meal of vegetables only. On Fridays we are permitted to have two meals and one of them may include fish.

In the past I've had varied success rates with staying the course. Yesterday was the first day of our fast and I did pretty good. Although, I did have a slight moment of weakness that I acted upon and much to my chagrin the door was shut in my face.

Here's the short of it. Yesterday I walked several loooong blocks at lunch in order to buy a shot of wheatgrass juice from a store called the Juice Joint. I know...I know...not exactly a candy bar run but the thought was to get a quick natural energy boost. Well when I arrived at the counter to order I was told that they were out. What a bummer! Ugh! I could've screamed especially since that was all I wanted to buy. So I politely turned around and left slightly deflated. And I'm sure your thinking that straying off to buy liquid dirt (that's what it tastes like) doesn't sound so sinful, the point is that I'm not supposed to have any liquid outside of water. Naythin!

Maybe I'll try again...God willing. :-)

The Sunshine State

2009-01-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

We're moving to Florida. I've known for a few months now. If all goes well we'll be able to sell our house here in DC before the summer begins. So in the spirit of moving I've been making modifications to the house in preparation of putting it on the market. Since we bought this house 3 years ago we've updated the kitchen, added a bathroom, updated the original bathroom, refinished the attic, put in a driveway and a few other modifications. We've come a long way to say the least but there is still more to do. Given market conditions I don't plan to spend too much prepping it - that just wouldn't be wise.

However, there is one small project that I plan to take on in the coming weeks. It's my bedroom. Our house doesn't have a true master suite. This is typical of older homes in DC. So I plan to work my mojo on our room as best as I can to make it presentable as possible. It's very modest in size maybe 12x14. This is an estimate of the top of my head but hopefully you get the idea. If I am courageous enough I'll take some before and after pictures and post them up after it's done. Here's a list of things that are on the to do list:

1. Remove carpet and send off to have cut and bound into a rug. (We had the carpet installed just before we moved in. It's a very light cream almost white berber carpet. I find it very difficult to clean so I want to take it up)

2. Refinish the hardwood floor.

3. Install crown molding.

4. Paint

5. Purchase radiator covers.

6. Frame the TV. I like this one from Pottery Barn.

7. Add drapes, new lighting and accessories.

Cross your fingers with me that my vision comes out better than I am hoping.

Releasing Your Potential

2009-01-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

For the past two months I've been reading "Releasing Your Potential" by Myles Monroe as part of a bible study series at my church. It's been an enlightening experience thus far. Chapter 11 of this book entitled, "Work: The Master Key" has really spoke to me on a personal level. It starts off by illustrating how so many of us today are unfulfilled with what we do for a living. For most people our 9 to 5 is simply a means to and end. The chapter further describes the common mindset of today's worker is to get home rather than get ahead which is demonstrated by our attitudes. Mr. Monroe sums it up best.

Since we spend most of our waking hours working, driving to work, or thinking about work, it is no wonder that depressive attitude characterizes our feelings toward work. Indeed, the only joy many workers get out of their jobs is quitting time.

Our discussion in bible study of this chapter has revealed to me that up to now I've simply been spending my time at a job...not working. Most of my working days I am anxious to get home to do something around the house like decorating, gardening, painting, carpentry or even a little masonry. THESE to me are some of the things God has gifted me to do and for this reason alone is why when my hands are occupied in any of these manners they are always the happiest.

Days before the New Year my best friend sent out an e-mail to friends and loved ones recapping her year's highlights, lessons learned and upcoming milestones. She began the message by telling us that her Pastor informed her that '08 was the Year of Transition and that this year ('09) is the Year of Harvest. As I began to contemplate her message I thought in order to harvest something you have to have planted a seed(s). A seed is a source of development or growth. This year I look forward to harvesting the seeds of growth that I've planted so that I may continue to work as God sees fit for me.

Bitten

2008-10-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

I've officially been bitten by the blog monster. After reading and enjoying so many other blogs I couldn't keep quiet any longer. I'm really into interior design...really into it. It's a career path that I wish I'd pursued earlier in life. Now I just drive my family crazy because it's all I ever think about. Ordinarily I'd probably be ashamed to admit it but I know that I'm not alone. There is so much that I want to share. So I'll begin slowly adding...or maybe all at once...projects that I've worked on at home. This is the only way that I can let out my creative energy. Otherwise I think my head would pop open. So I hope that each of you will find something in this that you will enjoy...at least I know I will. Cheers.