craving warm weather

I am really sick of cold weather.  Today is the nicest day of the week, 60 degrees and sunny.  It is making me crave summer.  I want it to be hot.  No more jackets on Aiden.  We have been having a lot of discussions around here about the back patio/yard.  Here are some pictures that make me daydream about an outdoor living space.  

(shootfactory)

(livingetc.)

Done

The wallpaper and frame are finally completely finished.  I love how it turned out.  It is exactly how I pictured it.  It is good to have the dining room project completely done.  It was also a lot easier and less stressful doing it in stages.  I tend to want everything done at once and I feel like this was good for me and makes me appreciate it more.   Here are some pictures of the wallpaper process.   Enjoy...

Here is the wall primed and ready to be papered.  Rob and I measured out a space using a level.  We wanted it to start just above the buffet and go all the way up to the ceiling where the molding is on the doorway into the kitchen

My wonderful mother (an experienced wallpaper hanger) came and hung the wallpaper.  This was a huge help as it would have taken us probably 4 times as long.  I was so impressed with how you can't even tell it is 4 different sheets.  She matched it up perfectly!  Thanks Mom!

The wallpaper is up, but no frame

Next step was getting up the frame.  Our original thought was that we would stain the wood for the frame the same color as the buffet.  However, when we attempted to get that color, it looked bad.  It just looked dirty and I thought that it would ruin the clean feeling of freshness that the wallpaper has.  So we opted to just paint it white, which at first I was skeptical about, but I really like how it turned out.  The reason why I like it so much is that I feel like the frame is barely noticeable, you just see the wallpaper.  I think with the darker frame, your eyes would have been drawn first to the frame, so, it all worked out well and came together.

Here is a picture of the frame pieces that we painted.  Rob helped me A LOT with this project and I couldn't have done this without him!  He got the wood, measured, cut, and got it up on the wall.   (one thing I just realized in this picture is how ugly our patio looks-this will be an upcoming project this spring/summer)

Here it is complete...

One of my favorite things about the wallpaper is that when you are sitting on the sofa and looking into the dining room, you can see the wallpaper in the mirror that is on the left wall!

Well, here you have it!!  I hope that you enjoyed reading about the dining room and that it inspires you to take on a project in your home.

off to the city

So, I know I owe a post about the wallpaper.  The wallpaper and frame are up, but there are still a few small finishing touches needed on the frame.  And I don't want to do a post until it is 100% complete.  Things have been a little busy around here this week and Rob and I are heading to the city today for a birthday celebration.  I am super excited!  Since Aiden was not quite 2 mos. old last year on my birthday, we didn't really do anything too exciting, although of course it was nice because I had our sweet baby boy here.  Now that Aiden is over a year old, I finally feel okay about leaving him (at least for one night).  I am looking forward to the Mates of State concert tonight, comfy hotel bed, and brunch at Parc tomorrow morning.  Also, our hotel is around the corner from the West Elm store- so of course we will be stopping in there at some point.  And hopefully today (although it is pouring rain out right now), we may try and swing by fabric row.  Rob and I love the city and dream of some day living there, but for now we enjoy the times that we get to go and spend time doing fun things, like this weekend.  So, I will leave you with a picture of this book that I would like to help me dream about living in the city.   Have a good weekend!

closet project

Rob and I have been talking for awhile about redoing our walk through closet.  It's fine how it is- functional, and meets our needs.  But I think it can be better with a few simple changes.  We would like to get better shelving and storage eventually, but there are some smaller things that can be changed before we even do that.  I think it is good to have small projects to work on that are simple and inexpensive.   

First step would be to paint the closet.  It is painted a tan color that basically our whole house was when we moved in.  We have a good amount of the yellow color left over from our dining room and I think it would look good with the blue that our bedroom is.  So, I will prime and then paint the walls yellow-cost: $0

Then  I would like to get this dresser from IKEA.  It comes unfinished so I will paint it and it is only 12" deep, so it would fit well in the closet.  Right now I have some bathroom related items in a 3 drawer plastic chest that I had in college.  It is ugly and not big enough.  So at $39.99, I thought this would be a better fit.  I think I will paint it white and maybe paint the knobs the blue color of our bedroom.  

Lastly I would like to get this pendant light from IKEA.  Right now there is just a lightbulb in the celling with a shade over top of it. 

I am not even going to put pictures of the closet because there is nothing exciting about it and it is kind of a mess right now.  One thing I do like is there is a half window in the closet which gives some natural light.  I don't think I will cover it with anything because it is kind of high and it just faces our driveway.  Like I said before, eventually we would like to change the shelving and racks, but for now it is fine.  Especially with switching in the summer wardrobe, which doesn't take up as much room.  

Maybe I will start painting this weekend- we'll see!

Have a good weekend!!

bittersweet

I have a love/hate relationship with our sofa.  I absolutely love our sofa in that the style is perfect.  I LOVE this style sofa and I really do love the color.  However, I was not really thinking when we bought it that we would one day have children.  Don't ask me why, because I have always wanted kids.  I also knew when we got married that I wouldn't want to wait more than a couple years before getting pregnant.  However, when I saw this sofa, it was like all other rational thinking went out the window.  I fell in love with it immediately.  It was the first piece of large furniture that we had bought, and it seemed like it was something that would last a lifetime.  I am still convinced it can and will-but some days, I get so annoyed with it.  The one thing that I really honestly do hate about it is the buttons.  I wish I never got a sofa with tufted cushions.  The stitching on occasion has started to come out near the buttons and I have spent lots of time figuring out how to repair this and re-stitch them.  It is successful, however, very time-consuming and somewhat frustrating.  We get our sofa professionally cleaned about every 16-18 mos., which has helped keep it looking bright.  But some days I am honestly ready to just throw it out the window.  Okay, maybe not actually throw it out the window.  But, I think to myself, maybe I could sell it on Craigslist and we could buy a new sofa that is the same style but more practical-  like this one from Room and Board.   Other days I think, maybe I could completely get rid of the tufted cushions by reupholstering the whole thing and making slip covers for the cushions.  When I mentioned this to Rob he says "oh, you could do that- you sew, I'm sure that you could do that- it would be like making one big pillowcase for the cushions".   hmmm-  while I love his encouragement and enthusiasm in my sewing endeavors, I am pretty sure that I could not do that.  Don't worry, I probably will not make any rash decisions about our sofa at any point in the near future or maybe never- but some days I think about it and look at sofas online that I wish I had bought instead.  

We did recently purchase a chair and ottoman on Craigslist a couple weeks ago for $20.  The thought was that I could try my very first reupholstering project.  It is a great chair, with simple lines - and it is sturdy. I think it will make a great first attempt.  

Our original thought was that we could make room for it in our living room for additional seating, but after trying to move around some furniture- there is no way that it can fit and not seem as open enough as I would like.  It is currently sitting in our basement and our thoughts were that we will put it in our guest room to replace the IKEA Poang chair which is just not a great chair for that space. 

 

I think the new chair will be prefect for that corner and comfortable for overnight guests, or us, to sit and read in.  I also have plans for this room some day (not too soon hopefully!) when we have a second child and I think this chair will fit well into those plans.  Now I just need to find some fabric.  

On a completely non-furntiture-related note, Rob and I just traced out where the wallpaper will go on the wall in the dining room.  I am hoping that maybe my mom can come over in the next week or so to hang the wallpaper and then we will just need to get the frame up.  I am really excited about getting the wallpaper up because I think it will really pull the whole space, including the living room, together.  

I'm stil here...

I know it's been awhile since my last post, considering there was 6 inches of snow on the ground at that time and now it is 55 degrees out.  Things were a little crazy around here last week.  I was sick for a few days and that seemed to throw off my whole week.  I also have recently been obsessed with watching the show Alias.  I know this show was on years ago, but I never watched it at the time and I have been getting the dvds from Netflix, and well, let's just say I am addicted.  This happened around this time last year with the show Felicity, which was also created by JJ Abrams.  I am convinced the man is a genius, however, I really hate the show Lost.  Rob loves Lost and we have decided that I just can't be around when he is watching it because it may result in us needing marriage counseling.   Anyway, I digress....if you never watched these shows, I highly recommend getting your hands on the DVDs.  

Ok, so things have been pretty low key in the decorating world around here.  I need more projects- or people who want help with their house.  But, our new ottoman arrived last week which is exciting.   The coffee table we have had since we moved in is from IKEA, and it was cheap.  Don't get me wrong, it served us well all that time, but I always dreamed of getting a new, modern, really nice coffee table.  But, when Aiden started becoming more mobile, I realized that perhaps a coffee table  with sharp edges and corners is not such a good idea.  It seems like Aiden is constantly bumping his head on things, falling, climbing, etc.  So, I actually got the idea from my in-laws because they got ottomans when they got new furniture last year and got rid of their coffee table.  It seemed like a much safter alternative.  So, I was really excited when I found this great ottoman from Urban Outfitters that seemed to match our furniture so well.  AND, it had storage, which is always a plus.  When I started making plans with the wallpaper, I realized the color of this ottoman seemed to match the wallpaper.  So, I got a swatch which confirmed my thoughts, and a few weeks later, here it is.  I really love it.  I think it looks so great with our furniture and it is not as wide as our coffee table, so it makes the room feel a little bigger.  It is nice to have a place to put your feet up and our only worry was, where do we put our food if we decide to eat in front of the TV?  This doesn't happen very often anymore because we have Aiden, but we do occasionally like to get take out and watch a movie on a Friday night.  But, we realized that this is still doable with a tray and placemats.  The top is not too cushiony so, you can still set things on it pretty well- phew!  Here's some pics.  

and some pics of Aiden to show how baby proof it is.  In the second picture he is actually in mid-fall.  

 

And to end my post, here is a great deal I found at Target.  This lamp was originally $59.99.  It was on a shelf with a bunch of lamps that were originally that price but reduced to $41.98.  However, this lamp was marked $14.98.  I think it was actually marked wrong, switching the 1 and the 4- my gain!!  

Snow and Sew

Yesterday was a snowy day here in Phoenixville.  It was kind of nice to feel cozied in our little abode, not feeling any pressure to go anywhere.  So, I decided to take advantage of the snow day and while Aiden was napping, I whipped up some pillow covers.  This Tina Givens Treetop Fancy fabric arrived in the mail over the weekend.  I ordered it off Etsy.  I really like it.  The background is a pale yellow, like the new walls of the dining room.  And there is a little bit of red in the flowers on the wallpaper which the birds will bring out.  I needed something to tone down the sofa a little bit with the patterned fabric.  I had the brown pillow, so I got the blue fabric which I also planning to use to cover the seats of the 2 dining room chairs.  

The blue matches  the wallpaper.  Which, by the way, also came over the weekend.  

The wall is just waiting to to be covered with the wallpaper.  This weekend we may try finding what we want to use for the frame, and measuring out the space.  It will probably be another week or 2 until my mom can come over hang the wallpaper, which is fine.  I am just glad the room is painted.  

I also put the fabric in the frames in the dining room.  I like the idea of our living room and dining room feeling more like a conjoined space.  We are already using the dining room more, which makes me happy.  No matter what your decorating style is, I think it is important to really feel like you can use and really "live" in the space you have.  

I also orderd this fabric which matches the bird fabric, but without the red birds.  I had originally planned on using this to cover the dining room chairs, but it was way too busy.  So, instead I plan to use it to make a curtain for our front door, which I have been meaning to do since we moved in almost 2 years ago.  Our house is 2 steps up off of street level, however if you are walking by, you can kind of see in.  I just have to get a magnetic curtain rod.  I will save that little project perhaps for another snowy day?!

On a completely different note,  we got a new TV that arrived yesterday.  Our other TV was much smaller (20 inches).  This is 32 inches.  I am not "big" on big TVs because I feel like they can be such an eye sore- even a flatscreen.  However, I am really excited about this TV for a couple reasons.  First of all, it is white so that it matches our decor better.  Black would have drawn too much attention.  Also, it is an eco TV.  It uses 44% less energy, which is always a good thing.  We also got it on sale.  I never really felt like we "needed" a bigger TV, but the one thing that annoyed us about our old TV was there was a thin blue line on the left side of the screen.  It appeared a couple months after getting the thing and it wasn't that noticeable, at least to us anyway.  We probably should have looked into the warranty after it happened, but we never did, we just got used to it.  We now moved that TV into our bedroom, and we are glad to have this new TV.  Rob is especially excited, and that makes it worth it to me!  It is funny how huge it seems to me, I can't imagine having a bigger TV that this one!