Friday, December 9, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
MBR Update
This is going to be pictureless, I'm sorry. There's still so much to be done and I'm never home when the light is good for taking pictures.
Here's how the to-do list is shaping up:
Here's how the to-do list is shaping up:
Brutally clean out closets and donate approximately 143 bags of clothingOrder/alter* Circles duvet and shams from Smart Bargains.Procure/Make red-theme printed king pillowcases- Procure/Make green-theme printed king pillowcases
- Procure/Make green-theme cover for throw pillow
Line silver poster frame with khaki-theme printed fabricOrder bossy artwork for fabric lined poster frame**- Brutally clean out closets, again, with an eye toward getting rid of IKEA wardrobe and (haw, haw, haw!) consolidating our crap into the single built-in closet
- Build a floor lamp***
- Measure and order supplies for Evil Closet Door Plan****
- Scour Craigslist for a wall shelf
* I have a problem. When I find a duvet cover or comforter or whatever on sale online, and all of the sizes are the same price (this happens a lot on Overstock and Smart Bargains)--I feel morally obligated to buy the largest one, even though we have a Full/Queen comforter. It's extra fabric for the same price, people. This is the second duvet in a row that I've "taken in"--and it's just one seam, yo. I opted to leave the extra fabric in it, this time--it's there, if I ever need extra coordinating fabric, but I haven't made any cuts if the thing needs additional adjusting in the future.
**This is a reference to my incredible inability to get up before 8am. This poster reads "imperative" to me. In my mind, I add "...you complete SLUG." We'll see if it helps.
***I'm gonna write a big post about this. The gist is that I wanted a certain kind of floor lamp for the "new" bedroom that's ridiculously expensive just about anywhere you can find one. We're gonna DIY one for about $50, but as it's still in pieces... stay tuned.
****This'll probably be another post too. If we follow through with our plan to share we're gonna need every inch of space we can get from our one (not very big to begin with) closet. The bifold doors take up four or five inches on either side of the opening even when pulled back as far as they go. I want to take 'em out, and install curtains on a center-split traverse rod. That way, we can open the closet with a yank of a cord, and--if I can mount it like I want to--the fabric will move completely out of the way to either side of the closet opening.
I bought the red pillowcases and some fabric to make the green ones; I plan to use this tutorial. That's about all for now: more pictures in the next one, promise.
**This is a reference to my incredible inability to get up before 8am. This poster reads "imperative" to me. In my mind, I add "...you complete SLUG." We'll see if it helps.
***I'm gonna write a big post about this. The gist is that I wanted a certain kind of floor lamp for the "new" bedroom that's ridiculously expensive just about anywhere you can find one. We're gonna DIY one for about $50, but as it's still in pieces... stay tuned.
****This'll probably be another post too. If we follow through with our plan to share we're gonna need every inch of space we can get from our one (not very big to begin with) closet. The bifold doors take up four or five inches on either side of the opening even when pulled back as far as they go. I want to take 'em out, and install curtains on a center-split traverse rod. That way, we can open the closet with a yank of a cord, and--if I can mount it like I want to--the fabric will move completely out of the way to either side of the closet opening.
I bought the red pillowcases and some fabric to make the green ones; I plan to use this tutorial. That's about all for now: more pictures in the next one, promise.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Dresseramalamadingdong
.. or whatever.
Welcome to the third installment of my "it keeps on coming" series regarding master bedroom plans.
Part of the new plan involves space planning. There's not much we can do with the bed and nightstands (the wall they're on is the only wall that will fit them)... but the wall opposite the bed is currently wall-to-wall IKEA antique brown.
Don't get me wrong... IKEA antique brown--which is getting hard to come by? My dresser is still available, five years later, but not in antique brown--actually fits into my new color scheme like a champ. There's just a lot of it. We have a HEMNES tallboy and a huuuuuuge (apparently discontinued) LEKSVIK three-door wardrobe crammed together. The wardrobe seemed like a necessity moving in, because the MBR only has one (small) closet, and WHERE WOULD I PUT MY JUNK!?
I got inspired by Sherry's 'less is more' philosophy .. and the Mr.'s desire not to look at the wonky LEKSVIK doors anymore,* and we're tossing around the idea of getting rid of the wardrobe and sharing the tiny closet. (Cue scream track).
This is turning into more of an essay on the furniture in our bedroom than I intended.
ANYWAY, we're left with good ol' Hemnes. I've said it wasn't a bad color, but I'd love to rejuvenate it a bit and do it in a way that drives home the new color scheme.
My first idea was to paint/stencil a fun motif on the drawer fronts. Just the drawer fronts. I found this awesome-looking chest over at Cassandra Design:
My idea was to leave the antique brown wood as the 'backdrop', but to use white/yellow on top.
THEN, as I am wont, I got freaked out about it not being reversible. I guess an IKEA dresser isn't, like, heirloom furniture, or anything, but... one day we might like to try and sell/donate it for a more traditional complement to our bed set.
So I thought, what if I wrapped the drawer fronts with fabric? The Hemnes drawer fronts fit flush into the facade of the dresser, but there's actually a good-sized lip around the back side of the drawer front that doesn't interfere with either the slider mechanism or the sides of the drawer itself. I thought I could staple-gun some fun fabric, and screw the knobs back on over the top. Voila!
THEN, I thought, maybe it could be easier than that, even. "Surely somebody makes chic-looking shelf liner paper these days." At first, it seemed I was wrong... then I found the ridiculously appropriately-named chicshelfpaper.com. They offer repositionable/self-adhesive fabric, paper, coated paper, vinyl, and coated canvas papers in lots and lots of fun prints. (Some are even color-matchable!) I ordered four free samples in all but canvas, to see what they're like:
So that's where we are. Plans, plans, plans... and I still haven't revealed my evil closet door ideas. Muah-ha-ha-ha. (This is happening a lot, isn't it?)
*He's spent maybe eight hours, all told, trying to get the blasted things to hang correctly. After that kind of investment, I think he views the wedge-shaped cracks alongside each door as a personal affront. The wardrobe is a great storage solution (and one that's not easy to find anywhere other than IKEA)... but for The Love Of All That Is Good don't try to put one in a corner with uneven floors/walls/carpet/whatever.
Welcome to the third installment of my "it keeps on coming" series regarding master bedroom plans.
Part of the new plan involves space planning. There's not much we can do with the bed and nightstands (the wall they're on is the only wall that will fit them)... but the wall opposite the bed is currently wall-to-wall IKEA antique brown.
Don't get me wrong... IKEA antique brown--which is getting hard to come by? My dresser is still available, five years later, but not in antique brown--actually fits into my new color scheme like a champ. There's just a lot of it. We have a HEMNES tallboy and a huuuuuuge (apparently discontinued) LEKSVIK three-door wardrobe crammed together. The wardrobe seemed like a necessity moving in, because the MBR only has one (small) closet, and WHERE WOULD I PUT MY JUNK!?
I got inspired by Sherry's 'less is more' philosophy .. and the Mr.'s desire not to look at the wonky LEKSVIK doors anymore,* and we're tossing around the idea of getting rid of the wardrobe and sharing the tiny closet. (Cue scream track).
This is turning into more of an essay on the furniture in our bedroom than I intended.
ANYWAY, we're left with good ol' Hemnes. I've said it wasn't a bad color, but I'd love to rejuvenate it a bit and do it in a way that drives home the new color scheme.
 |
| This is a Craigslist picture, for color reference. |
My first idea was to paint/stencil a fun motif on the drawer fronts. Just the drawer fronts. I found this awesome-looking chest over at Cassandra Design:
My idea was to leave the antique brown wood as the 'backdrop', but to use white/yellow on top.
THEN, as I am wont, I got freaked out about it not being reversible. I guess an IKEA dresser isn't, like, heirloom furniture, or anything, but... one day we might like to try and sell/donate it for a more traditional complement to our bed set.
So I thought, what if I wrapped the drawer fronts with fabric? The Hemnes drawer fronts fit flush into the facade of the dresser, but there's actually a good-sized lip around the back side of the drawer front that doesn't interfere with either the slider mechanism or the sides of the drawer itself. I thought I could staple-gun some fun fabric, and screw the knobs back on over the top. Voila!
THEN, I thought, maybe it could be easier than that, even. "Surely somebody makes chic-looking shelf liner paper these days." At first, it seemed I was wrong... then I found the ridiculously appropriately-named chicshelfpaper.com. They offer repositionable/self-adhesive fabric, paper, coated paper, vinyl, and coated canvas papers in lots and lots of fun prints. (Some are even color-matchable!) I ordered four free samples in all but canvas, to see what they're like:
So that's where we are. Plans, plans, plans... and I still haven't revealed my evil closet door ideas. Muah-ha-ha-ha. (This is happening a lot, isn't it?)
*He's spent maybe eight hours, all told, trying to get the blasted things to hang correctly. After that kind of investment, I think he views the wedge-shaped cracks alongside each door as a personal affront. The wardrobe is a great storage solution (and one that's not easy to find anywhere other than IKEA)... but for The Love Of All That Is Good don't try to put one in a corner with uneven floors/walls/carpet/whatever.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
AAAAAIGH OVERLOAD
This isn't really a news post, but I just wanted to say.. Fabric.com has a "design wall" feature that lets indecisive sorts like me trip merrily through pages and pages of fabric swatches and end up with something like this (click to view full-size):
My quest for fabrics to support the new master-bedroom-color-scheme has come to a standstill here. Now what? I WANT THEM ALL. ALL! MUAH, HA-HA HA. HA.
Okay. Seriously though. I need a curtain fabric (more on that later... I have evil plans for the closet doors), and I'm thinking of making some pillowcases in fun prints. There's actually not a lot of opportunity to coordinate things--it's a small space--and I figure the pillows are sitting there on the bed anyway, so... might as well. In addition, I'm thinking of doing some weirder things (matting some artwork with fun fabrics... wrapping drawer fronts... etc.), which I think would be good outlets for the more graphic/expensive prints, since I wouldn't need much.
I did order the duvet cover from my "inspiration" post, and would like to take a moment to thank the Mr.. This will be master bedroom duvet number four, I believe (don't fret: I'm an Overstock/Smart Bargains/IKEA fiend), and thus far he's demonstrated incredible patience with my bedding schizophrenia. This one's the one, folks. I can feel it.*
*By this I mean both the man, and the duvet.
My quest for fabrics to support the new master-bedroom-color-scheme has come to a standstill here. Now what? I WANT THEM ALL. ALL! MUAH, HA-HA HA. HA.
Okay. Seriously though. I need a curtain fabric (more on that later... I have evil plans for the closet doors), and I'm thinking of making some pillowcases in fun prints. There's actually not a lot of opportunity to coordinate things--it's a small space--and I figure the pillows are sitting there on the bed anyway, so... might as well. In addition, I'm thinking of doing some weirder things (matting some artwork with fun fabrics... wrapping drawer fronts... etc.), which I think would be good outlets for the more graphic/expensive prints, since I wouldn't need much.
I did order the duvet cover from my "inspiration" post, and would like to take a moment to thank the Mr.. This will be master bedroom duvet number four, I believe (don't fret: I'm an Overstock/Smart Bargains/IKEA fiend), and thus far he's demonstrated incredible patience with my bedding schizophrenia. This one's the one, folks. I can feel it.*
*By this I mean both the man, and the duvet.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Lavender Woes
Our bedroom is purple.
There's a picture of it here. Well, that's the guest bedroom, but it was the same color before we repainted it.
Purple walls are a tiny bit problematic. First, it's not very manly. Second, most things that coordinate with it aren't very manly. The Mr. is manly, and this is his bedroom too.
So... "why don't we paint over it?" Yeah, that would be (relatively) easy. The problem is...
we've grown attached.
The Mr. might mind me admitting to the world that he likes his purple, but I feel like I'm right there with him. Never in a million years would I have chosen any shade of purple for my bedroom walls, and given the "coordination dilemmas" it poses I thought I'd want to get rid of it a.s.a.p.
In college there was a whole building whose insides were painted salmon pink. I'm not talking "ahem, ahem, excuse me, I'm pink"--this was full-on, Pepto, hold-on-to-your-retinas pink. Somebody had done a study where they found that particular shade to be the most intellectually stimulating or something.
Turns out, our light-gray-lavender walls do exactly the opposite. It's relaxing... that room feels calm and cool at all times, which is actually a welcome respite from the gold-and-orange tones of the rest of the house. The color is tricky, too--it changes throughout the day, and where there are shadows can look bluer or grayer.
Bottom line, we don't want it to go away. That still leaves the problem of finding a way to "pull the room together" without making it look like a princess playroom. After a couple of years of having the Mr. come around the corner to find me standing in the middle of the room staring at nothing in particular and stuck in a thought circle ("purple." "girly." "blue?" "girly." "purple.") I think I've finally come up with a way to de-privilege (?) the purple but keep it around:
There's a picture of it here. Well, that's the guest bedroom, but it was the same color before we repainted it.
Purple walls are a tiny bit problematic. First, it's not very manly. Second, most things that coordinate with it aren't very manly. The Mr. is manly, and this is his bedroom too.
So... "why don't we paint over it?" Yeah, that would be (relatively) easy. The problem is...
we've grown attached.
The Mr. might mind me admitting to the world that he likes his purple, but I feel like I'm right there with him. Never in a million years would I have chosen any shade of purple for my bedroom walls, and given the "coordination dilemmas" it poses I thought I'd want to get rid of it a.s.a.p.
In college there was a whole building whose insides were painted salmon pink. I'm not talking "ahem, ahem, excuse me, I'm pink"--this was full-on, Pepto, hold-on-to-your-retinas pink. Somebody had done a study where they found that particular shade to be the most intellectually stimulating or something.
Turns out, our light-gray-lavender walls do exactly the opposite. It's relaxing... that room feels calm and cool at all times, which is actually a welcome respite from the gold-and-orange tones of the rest of the house. The color is tricky, too--it changes throughout the day, and where there are shadows can look bluer or grayer.
Bottom line, we don't want it to go away. That still leaves the problem of finding a way to "pull the room together" without making it look like a princess playroom. After a couple of years of having the Mr. come around the corner to find me standing in the middle of the room staring at nothing in particular and stuck in a thought circle ("purple." "girly." "blue?" "girly." "purple.") I think I've finally come up with a way to de-privilege (?) the purple but keep it around:
The real newcomers here are the second and third from the left. Fourth from the left represents the curtains we already have. The "accent colors" are the last on the right, and they're coming from two quilts that we leave at the foot of the bed and swap out partway through the year. We already have a red pillow that we use with the red quilt; I think a small pillow or some shams could be swappable items that would mean we'd get two totally different looks from the same palette.
NOW I need to find a comforter cover that brings in the linen-y/khaki/light-brown I'm looking for. Maybe some art, that I can put in a big frame with a yellowy, decorative paper backdrop? I'd appreciate any help finding yellow-and-brown things:
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Kitchen, Continued: "Back to those things we said we'd do when we toured the house the first time"
Ever since we moved in, there's been this strange cabinet-where-a cabinet-used-to-be-or-something, next to the refrigerator. The previous owners put their trash can there; we opted to put the trash can elsewhere so we could pack it full of crap:
I kid. Anyway, the first time we toured the house, we were all like "we'll put a wine fridge there!" Sure. Only.. a "wine fridge" has never been anywhere really close to halfway down The List. ("The merest thought had not the inkling of a possibility to begin to cross my mind...") We'd halfheartedly "measure" any wine fridges we stumbled across at Target, decide they were too wide or something and go buy popcorn.
BUT.
We're trying to shape up the kitchen, if you hadn't noticed. What with the new and refinished countertops, new sink, new faucets, and tiling project--it seemed like time to do something with the un-cabinet. THEN we just so happened to find the cheapest and most-appropriately-dimensioned wine fridge we'd seen yet. So, Merry Christmas to us:
If anyone's looked into these things you might be thinking to yourself, "but those aren't meant to be 'built-in'! It says so on the side!" Welp, thanks to the weirdness of this cabinet area (I still don't know why the door got cut off, whenever it did), there's actually built-in dead space to the sides and back of the unit. Its little vents have all kinds of room to do their thing. So, uh, chilled beverage anyone?
I kid. Anyway, the first time we toured the house, we were all like "we'll put a wine fridge there!" Sure. Only.. a "wine fridge" has never been anywhere really close to halfway down The List. ("The merest thought had not the inkling of a possibility to begin to cross my mind...") We'd halfheartedly "measure" any wine fridges we stumbled across at Target, decide they were too wide or something and go buy popcorn.
BUT.
We're trying to shape up the kitchen, if you hadn't noticed. What with the new and refinished countertops, new sink, new faucets, and tiling project--it seemed like time to do something with the un-cabinet. THEN we just so happened to find the cheapest and most-appropriately-dimensioned wine fridge we'd seen yet. So, Merry Christmas to us:
If anyone's looked into these things you might be thinking to yourself, "but those aren't meant to be 'built-in'! It says so on the side!" Welp, thanks to the weirdness of this cabinet area (I still don't know why the door got cut off, whenever it did), there's actually built-in dead space to the sides and back of the unit. Its little vents have all kinds of room to do their thing. So, uh, chilled beverage anyone?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Today's the day: Countertop Installation
Well, here we go. We are waiting on the countertop dudes to arrive. Before the chaos ensues, I thought I would memorialize the laminate-that-was:
And here's the view from the other side of the "Cheeseburger Window:"
We got inspired the day the guy came to template the countertop and asked him to measure for the piece in the opening of the Cheeseburger Window, too. I'm excited for that; because it was less than 5 square feet, it didn't affect the cost of the project at all. (!) I've removed the moulding from the sides; the countertop guys will take off the sill-piece that's there, then we'll trim the old moulding and put it back.
So... that's where we are right now. I'll update as I can get more pictures. In the meantime, party in the dining room:
In the foreground are tools integral to the job: drill bits, a spray nozzle, and a spoon.
UPDATE: Old counter is out.
UPDATE: OMG, SHINY! Also, the new sink is HUGE.
UPDATE: Slight hiccup with the faucet-hole placement. Offset sink with bowl on left + faucet with attached lever on right + soap dispenser + sprayer thingie = interesting combination.
FINAL UPDATE: It's dooooone!!! Yaaaay! We love it. Sorry for the blurry/dark/grainy/cropped pictures, we have a good bit of 'touching up' to do on parts of the cabinets that had been covered by the lip of the old counter and I was trying to find an angle that looked as complete as possible. We're not hooking anything back up tonight.. we figure we should let the silicone cure or whatever. Also, the fumes are killing our brain cells and we need a beer to celebrate.
The installation guys were great--they did a super job with topsy-turvy cabinets, walls, and cutouts. Can't wait for y'all to see it!
And here's the view from the other side of the "Cheeseburger Window:"
We got inspired the day the guy came to template the countertop and asked him to measure for the piece in the opening of the Cheeseburger Window, too. I'm excited for that; because it was less than 5 square feet, it didn't affect the cost of the project at all. (!) I've removed the moulding from the sides; the countertop guys will take off the sill-piece that's there, then we'll trim the old moulding and put it back.
So... that's where we are right now. I'll update as I can get more pictures. In the meantime, party in the dining room:
UPDATE: Sink is out; the Mr. spent awhile on the floor.
The enhanced Cheeseburger Window (it's like a wee breakfast bar!):
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