Bookcase Before and After

I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to try Krylon's Looking Glass Spray paint on the glass of these cabinet doors.  Here is the cabinet before painting.

And, here it is now!  

It has the look of an old mirror which is exactly what I was going for and it was really easy and fast.  I just removed the doors, taped off the glass and sprayed a few light coats.  I needed 2 cans since the cans area  little small.  It was all dry in less than an hour and the doors went right back on.  Done!

I'm really happy with it.  As you can see, the cabinet is filled with books, mostly belonging to the girls so I won't have to keep it as straightened up as much.  I hope to add more embellishments and some new hardware soon.  

To be continued ...

Living Room Changes

Over the weekend, my livingroom underwent somewhat of a transformation.  Not only did the furniture get rearranged, but that big armoir got a paint job.  My husband actually suggested it after he saw how great our kitchen table turned out.  I don't think he expected me to do the job at 9PM, but that's just how I do things.  I love how it turned out and think it fits better with the idea I had in my head for how the room should look.  I also painted the shelf with the baskets which was previously black and even the background of the fish tank went from black to white.  Now if only I could find an Arc de Triomphe for the tank!

Here's the armoir before.  It really didn't take me long to apply 2 coats of whitewash and distress.  A couple of hours and I was done!

The chair and loveseat in the corner are special to me.  This piece belonged to my grandmother and when she moved, she gave it to me.  There is a matching love seat that will be delivered next week.  I'm so happy I finally found the space for it in my house.  

And, the French desk.  I've had this desk for several years and the top was terrible.  Our guess was that there must have been a leather top on it that was long gone, but how to fix it?  A leather replacement would cost more than the desk was and I wasn't willing to make that kind of investment.  It finally occurred to me to get a veneer, adhere it and finish it to match the rest of the desk.

I could not be happier with how it turned out.  It's not perfect, but it's a pretty close match.

My next project is this bookcase.  It certainly serves a purpose for the book readers in the house, but I felt like it could be better.  I added the embellishment on the bottom and ordered Looking Glass spray paint to paint the glass to be mirrored.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Finally, it's been a while since I posted pictures of my entire house.  Since I took such a long break, most of the pictures are very outdated.  A house tour will be on the agenda soon but likely in a couple of weeks.  Next week on June 6-7 I will be selling my the Annapolis Arts, Crafts and Wine Festival in Annapolis, MD.  Come see me!

Peonies and a New Project

It's rainy here in Northern Virginia today, but yesterday I cut these peonies from my garden yesterday.  I don't normally like to cut them because I prefer to enjoy them in the garden for the short time they bloom but these are in a corner where they can't be seen.  Transplanting them is on my to-do list.  

You can also see the French desk they're sitting on that I still haven't worked on.  

The plan was to fix the top somehow.  I believe it was likely a long gone leather top, but replacing the top would cost more than the desk so I've ordered a wood veneer to hopefully match the top to the drawers.  If that doesn't work out my back-up plan is paint.  I think it would be equally gorgeous in white.  To be continued ...

Kid Clean Up

I'm starting to realize that with kids it's inevitable that their rooms will evololve over time.  A room with merely a basic cribs and changing table ...

... became a big girl room. 

I thought I would be done for a while, but not quite.  Babies have a lot of "stuff" like swings, bouncers, jumparoos, etc.  I was glad to be rid of these things and to lose the changing table, but those seem to have been replaced with lots of toys.  We try to buy more books than toys but somehow they just accumulate between grandparents and holidays. 

Up until this point, we managed to store it all reasonably well in 3 places. Our basement which rarely looked like this anymore was one place.  I'll spare you the frightening reality it had become but the shelves were empty on daily basis and the contents where strewn everywhere.

We kept a few things in a basket in our living room.  Again, the basket was so full it barely fit under the table and it was typically emptied daily with the contents scattered everywhere.

This was a not-so-bad area. 

And this ...

The first thing I did was to go through the toys for a long overdue trashing of broken or useless toys and donated toys that were perfectly good but the kids had outgrown or lost interest in.  Next, I decided that it was time to put more of these things in the kids' rooms and less all over the house.  They aren't babies anymore and they like to play in their rooms.  The room above is pretty small and probably better suited to a twin sized bed, but we've got what we've got so I had to work with it and find a way to make the room flow reasonably well without constantly having to trip over things that had no home.

This is how the bedroom ended up. 

Most of what is here was in the basement and the blue bins have plenty of space to store things. The trunk is filled with dress-up clothes. These shelves aren't anything fancy, but they're inexpensive and, well, they work great for storing toys.

I can't remember where I saw this idea but these are actually planters with the liners removed and painted white.

Nothing changed on the other side of the room, but here's a view looking that way.  I just noticed that a certain someone added a Mickey embellishment to the bed.

I'm still working on rearranging the basement and Zoe's room but this has already made a huge difference.

To be continued ...

Going Grey

I'm not talking about my hair although I did find my first one a few weeks ago.

My living room has been yellow for about 4 years now ... an eternity for me! 

I'm a big fan of yellow especially for a living room.  I think it brings warmth, light and cheer BUT the rest of my house has taken on a cooler color palette and I really like the peaceful calm of the pale, cool colors so I've been thinking of extending that into my living room since it's where I spend the most time.

I asked Mr. T about grey last night and he immediately said "No." but that's always his response so like the considerate wife I am, I put two grey paint samples on the wall. 

The darker color is the same color we used in our bathroom.

Mr. T wasn't the only one opposed because my daughter saw what I was doing and immediately gasped and said that she liked the yellow that was "like mac-n-cheese".  Well, this grey was a definite "no" since it almost looks like the same color of the dining room.  It also looks so much darker in the living room than it does in the bathroom.  The other color is the pale grey in our hallway.  Way, way too light.  Not the look I'm going for.

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect color.  More samples in the works ...

Christmas Birdcage

I added this little bird to my birdcage for the holidays. I have several white birds on my Christmas tree and in other places around the house.  I'd love to do an entire tree of birds someday.

I've been a busy bird myself this week in the final days preparing for a performance this Saturday. Hopefully, next week I can get back to focusing on the holidays ... or at the very least getting my cards sent out.

Have a good weekend!

Mom Decor

I haven't had anything on my coffee table since my oldest daughter became mobile ... 4 years ago.  At that age, she loved to either destroy things or put them in her mouth.  I'm not the type to keep things completely bare like some parents I've visited, but for my own sanity adjustments were necessary.

I left the tray below with a few magazines and noticed that they stayed in pretty decent shape.  I decided to expand my experiment adding some candles, books and one of my hobnail milk glass pieces.

This was a failure.  I returned from work to find one of the tapers in 3 pieces.  I can only imagine how much fun it had been for my 2-year-old to snap, snap than candle to pieces the second dad turned his back. 

I decided on a modification.

The experiment has been in progress for a few days now and so far so good.

Its been so long that I've forgotten what I used to even have on my coffee table. 

In my Giveaway post I mentioned the studio where I belly dance competing for two local awards.  Today is the last day to vote and I would so appreciate it if you could help if you haven't already and don't forget to enter the giveaway while you're at it.  Ends tomorrow!

Lampshade Love

There was an unfortunate "slipcover incident" in my house not long ago that necessitated a trip to Ikea for a new slipcover.  Ikea isn't around the corner, so I wasn't happy about this trip, but I figured that since I had to go, I may as well look around.  As I walked through the lighthing, a lampshade jumped out at me. 

Upon further investigation, I realized that like so many lampshades these days, this one did not use a harp.  Instead it had one of those ring-thingys that slip over a socket.  I stared at the lampshade, then the wall at Ikea that listed a million options for said lampshade except how to use it on a non-Ikea lamp. 

I still wanted it.  I brought it home refusing to be defeated and channeling Tim Gunn, I made it work.

This lamp came as a set with other lamps including the lampshades which is something we purchased as new homeowners.  They worked to give us light, but didn't do much in terms of interest. 

I think the new shade completely changes how the lamp looks.  I think its a little small, but I can live with that since it adds a little life to this corner.

How did I make it fit?  First, I removed the harp.  Easy enough.  I crossed my fingers and tried to place it over the socket.  No luck, of course.  The hole was just barely too small.  I wondered for a while how I could make the hole in this plastic ring just a little bigger. 

Then it hit me. 

 I called my husband at work and asked, "Where is the Dremel?"  His response was "Basement, left cabinet.  Okay, bye."  After I got off the phone, I smiled because he didn't even want to know what I was doing.  Using the little sander attachment I grinded away and after a couple of minutes.  Eureka!  Success. 

Take that Ikea. 

Weekend Shopping

Over the weekend, I made a trip to Ikea for some new pillow covers and to browse the curtains.  The windows in my house aren't the easiest to buy curtains for so I like that Ikea sells extra long curtains you can hem.  I ended up with a sort of washed denim blue pair.  I also took out my blankets and throws again.  The nights are getting cooler and its  nice to have them out to curl up with. 

Previously, I had white curtains, but I felt like something was missing.  I never took a picture (probably because I wasn't crazy about them) so I can't share a "before" with you. The blue seems to work with the other blue accents in the room and the adjoining dining room so I really like them.

I also did get pillow covers ...  A pair of green and a pair with a pattern on it that has blue, green, and several other colors.  The funny thing is that with fall here, I want some curtains that are a little more in line with the season so the blue is temporary.  I'll probably take them down and save them for spring.  If I'm unsuccessful with my curtain hunt, I'm considering the old drop-cloth curtain solution. 

My favorite nook with a make-over ...

I just pulled out a new apron for Grace (my dining room dress form) that I purchased back in July while we were in Vermont.  I'm doing a bit at a time and taking a slow approach for fall and I need to dress things up in my dining room a little more but I hope to have more to share soon.

Blizzard in Progress

I posted the red I added to my dining room for Valentine's Day and thought I'd share my living room. I wish I could do more but we're snowed in and shopping isn't an option.

My "nook" with a bit of red ...

I don't think I've ever shown a full picture of my Ikea Ektorp so here it is in its full glory. I LOVE my couch. The wooden train was a recent Ikea purchase for my little one's birthday. I love wooden toys and was happy to find them at Ikea.

One more shot of red with the blanket on the chair. I have 3 of those Indian-style blankets and my kids love them. They're very warm.

The view from my front window. See the snow plastered to the window? Its pretty much been snowing sideways here.

I love snow, but I could do without the wind. I'm starting to get cabin fever and I'm running out of things to do that don't require going out. I'm starting to gain weight from just sitting around and eating. I think I'll go bake some brownies now ...

Temptation

I was doing my periodic magazine organization when I came across this picture from Romantic Country magazine.




I thought of my desk and how I could easily achieve a similar but less ornate and simplified look with a little paint and maybe some embellishments.


But, I love my desk and the two toned wood matches the different wood tones in my living room. Can't do it but its oh, so tempting.

A little in the Living Room ...

Its been raining acorns on our driveway so last Saturday, despite the fact that it was a gloomy day, I went out and collected a bunch of them to fill one of my apothecary jars with. I need to go back out to pick up more that have fallen to fill the jar.


I was also able to move a trunk that was previously used as storage in our half bath into the perfect spot in the living room. I had never used the liner so I pulled it out and reattached it. We can definitely use it for blanket and pillow storage in addition to my extra sofa slipcovers. I always thought it was so empty under the console before so I'm happy I have something to fill the space now. Speaking of slipcovers ...


I realized that I never shared my Ektorp Sofa from Ikea while snapping pictures in my living room.

We planned to keep our old one until the girls were older. It was pretty beat up but not horrible with the slipcover. However, the non-slipcovered parts had been so abused by the kids that I couldn't take it anymore. I figured that for $399, I couldn't lose. I also got the ruffled throw at Ikea when I was shopping for patio curtains.

So, what at do I think of it? At first, I didn't like it. When you sit on it, its hard compared to most sofas where you sink into the cushions. The cushions are very firm, but after sitting on it for a while, I realized that its actually quite comfortable. I've already washed the slipcovers numerous times thanks to my two monkeys. I'm very happy with it and hope to eventually replace our basement sectional with an Ektorp sleeper sectional.

I promised my girls brownies today and they're just about ready. Happy Thursday!

September Flea Market - Part II

This is my favorite find from my flea market trip on Saturday. A vintage wood and wire birdcage (that still needs a serious cleaning).

When I saw it, I thought it was beautiful, but I'm cheap and the price was more than I'd normally pay for anything like that. I walked away planning to return, but only made it a few feet before I turned around and went back. I have always wanted one. I loved this one and I just couldn't leave it to chance. It still has the perch and water/food trays inside. The paint is chipping quite a bit. I've mentioned before that I love chippy paint, but having little ones that put everything in their mouths I worry about lead. I'm hoping I can scrape off the loose paint and not have to paint it since I love the finish - especially the little blue highlights.

I think the same one is here on eBay for nearly double what I paid (before adding shipping!). That one includes the stand but that's not something I wanted. The tag on mine said it was Moroccan while the one on eBay says its Japanese. Who knows where its really from? What matters to me is that I love how it looks in my living room.

My French Desk is Here!

My parents came to pick me up for the drive to a funeral in NY over the weekend and they took that opportunity to drop off my desk! Here's it is in its new home along with my French lamp. The arm rests on my thrift store chair don't fit under the desk unfortunately. Luckily, there's plenty of room for it to stick out.



I love the detail and two different colors of wood which match the other furniture in my living room.

I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the top. Someone suggested in my previous post that this may have once been a leather top. That's pretty expensive to replace, but I'm also finding that my other idea - inserting a stained piece of wood veneer - is also expensive. We'll see what I end up doing here.


The console that was previously behind the sofa is now on another wall.