Sometimes you luck out.

I bought this chair, and immediately had buyers remorse.  Because I paid $5.  And thought I should have paid $2.  That's how crazy good and cheap the Watertown Mission Thrift shop was.  The prices and selection over the last year and a half have ruined me for all other thrift/antique shops.  Their prices have recently undergone a HUGE inflation for them, so all of us that were used to the 'good old days' have to try to re-adjust :)

The chair had clearly received a poor quality spray paint job.  

I kept the chair around for a while, and then chastised myself for another random chair purchase, and it was during Lent, and I was purging, so I talked myself into listing it on CL.  The moment I listed it, I had a sinking feeling that I needed to check the chair to ensure that it was not a 'real-deal' Eames chair.  I could see some sort of sticker on the bottom that had been sprayed over, so with a very fine sand paper, I knocked the orange paint off.  I quickly got up to speed on what I should be looking for and I lucked out...real deal.  Next stop - remove from craigslist and apologize to interested party for changing my mind!

I wasn't sure of the best way to restore the chair to its former glory, so i decided to try some Citristrip.  I tested a small portion...and thankfully, it did the job.

It took a lot of Citistrip...

What a change from the matte paint job!

I love the filament running through the 'elephant hide grey' design...

And to think, I was mad that I paid $5 instead of $2.

Chelsea's Living Room

An uber stylish, beautiful and intelligent friend had asked me to help decorate her living room.  She flatters me, as I feel that she really doesn't need help.  She is a dream client on all accounts.  Despite their family no longer being in the Army, they seem to move just as much as we do...so I have had the good fortune of also helping her with a dining room in her latest home. 

The living room was a room with great bones, light and size.

Here is the before...

I found a couple pieces for her at West Bottoms while we were living in Kansas...they were those pieces that were so fun to buy for a client, but oh-so-hard to part with.  Chelsea - if you ever tire of that lamp, let me know :)  You can never go wrong with a lampshade lined in gold.


I did some sketches, and Chelsea was surrounded by some great antique/thrift stores, so she went scouting and was very successful.

She was the perfect stopping point on one of our long drives from Fort Drum to Chicago when I was driving solo with the boys, so it was a treat to see her place in person after our long distance designing...

The walls are BM Gray Owl.  We kept her existing couch, and she had some of the pillows recovered in a kelly green velvet to go along with the other fun pattern play pillows.  It was a top priority of Chelsea's to have interesting fabrics/colors incorporated into the room...

The tray was also a West Bottoms find at Good JuJu - I may or may not have bought one exactly like it.  The amazing lucite table is from an eBay seller.  Similar to the CB2 Peekaboo, however, Chelsea's is thicker, and that extra width really kicks it up a notch.

Chelsea is a Montana girl, and she had this stunning cowhide rug.  The rug is a PB sisal.  
I adore the layered look.

We dreamed of big fiddle leafs for the side of a parsons table.  Score, and score.  Chelsea found a vintage parsons table in very good condition, and the trees!  They may be everywhere these days, but they still aren't getting old to me.  The Target threshold ombre drapes are such a nice soft finish all around the room.  I may or may not also have those in my house :)
 
The side tables are from her grandparents and were freshened up with paint.  She scored the two pairs of side chairs during her hunting, and had the barrel chairs recovered in green velvet.  I love her choice of leaving the original fabric on the modern chairs as the colors add a dose of whimsy and play nicely with the accessories.  





The colors  on that lamp are so luscious, saturated and perfectly mottled.




These are beautiful and meaningful for this talented pediatrician...

I am humbled to have been able to work on this project with Chelsea - such an honor!

Trash to Treasure!

Years ago, Sean expressed an interest in having a luggage rack.  My diligent parents have been keeping an eye out for one for him ever since.  My dad snagged one out of the trash one day.  It just needed a little love...

Some ivory paint freshened up the base first.  We had talked about having a fun new fabric/trim for the straps.  I was on an animal hide kick, so I found some cow hide straps on clearance (intended to make belts).  Then I picked up some brass tacks at the local hardware store.  They were out of the tack hammers, but one of the employees from the store lent me one that the store had in the back.  Gotta love small town kindness!

Once I finished it, I didn't want to fold it up and stick it in a closet to only be used when we have guests.  So...side table?  I debated between getting a thick slab of plexiglass cut vs. buying a lucite tray.  After searching high and low, I settled on the biggest tray I could find for a reasonable price (Mark & Graham).  Score.  

For now, we have a side table, and if this doesn't work in the next house, we have a fun tray for serving and an updated luggage rack for our guests.

Birch Fix

Sarah has provided lots of creative inspiration for which I am so thankful.  Unfortunately, I have not been great at execution over these last several months.  Thus, lots of coffee straws, incomplete arrows, cans of spray paint, etc. are laying around the house patiently waiting for attention.

We had talked about some projects using birch slices.  My dad was kind enough to beautifully slice and sand multitudes of birch for me.  I just loved the feel of the slices, and I wanted to figure out a way to share them with others for Christmas.

I decided to make ornaments that depicted states with a heart where the recipient lives.  Being fixated on ombre, I busted out the pastels and made an attempt.  I probably should have sealed these with a clear laquer, but let's be real.  Living in the frozen tundra, spray paint season is exceptionally short.  Big frown.

I drilled small holes and used baker's twine as the hanger...Sarah - we have a few left...what can we do with the leftovers?




Little Green Notebook Feature!

One of the best days of my life was the arrival of our third son.  For a lady who is terrified of labor, I had the ultimate gift of my husband arriving home safely from Afghanistan three days before Declan's birth.  We had planned for and did not expect Sean to be home, but his kind boss threw him on an earlier than planned flight.  We certainly felt very spoiled that he made it in time.

All that being said, the cherry on top of Declan's birthday was our family room being featured on Jenny Komenda's Little Green Notebook! What an honor, for sure. I was already on Cloud 9, but this just added to it!  Thank you, Jenny!





Sheffield School of Interior Design

It was a goal of mine to finish the Sheffield School of Interior design program while we were stationed in Kansas.  Thankfully, I met my deadline, even if just by the skin of my teeth.

Here are a couple of the rooms that I submitted for my final project...you will see that this living room is reminiscent of our current Fort Drum living room: 



This was supposed to be a formal dining room for a 'pretend' client that was given to us...


Thanks to the My CAA program for putting me through this program to promote portable careers for military spouses!



Fireworks Family Room

When we were moving to Fort Drum, I couldn't shake my obsession with Albert Hadley's Fireworks wallpaper.  How could I do something similar for a lot less money? 

How exciting to find Fireworks in one of my favorite stores for constant inspiration, Kate Spade!

I figured I would attempt a custom stencil.  I bought the biggest plastic quilting template I could find, which was only 18x24".  I then got to work tracing and cutting with an Exacto knife.  Let's just say I have never been good with those in the first place and I DEFINITELY hope I don't have the need to use one anytime in the near or far future. 


I spent lots of hours and glasses of wine cutting/carving/messing up.  But, I finished.

I somewhat avoided starting when we moved in.  Let's just say, slowest process ever.  After using entire stencil for the first column of the room, I quickly realized that I would only be using about 60% of the stencil on the rest of the columns due to the way the pattern fell.  Sweet. 

I also have never stenciled before which is very clear when you let you eye start where I started and follow around to the end.  I didn't clean off the stencil between paint sessions - rookie mistake.  The pattern is much darker/bolder at the beginning than it is at the end.

In the process...




I was certainly ready to celebrate when I finally finished!


A DIY sunburst that I learned about from Jenny...








Fort Drum Interior Decorating Contest - 1st Place!

When a sweet friend recommended that I enter the Fort Drum Interior Decorating contest, I decided I would go for it.  It was good motivation to get a few things done that I was wanting to do anyway.  Then, another friend with super photography skills so generously agreed to help me get some snaps of the house.

I was in Syracuse running errands and got a call from our Community Center telling me I could pick up my gift card.  Hmmmm....I asked, 'Is this for the Interior Decorating Contest?  Did I place?'  She said, 'Oh, I am so sorry...I thought you already knew - you got first place ($500 to Pier 1)!'

The news totally made my day.

We were only allowed to submit five pictures.  Sarah took some amazing shots, lots of incredible detailed ones.  I am such a detail junkie, it was hard for me to not use all those shots, but given the few pics we could send in, I felt that they had to be of the whole room.

Here are the pictures that I submitted...

The Family Room...
Boys' Bedroom...

Dining Room...

Eat In Kitchen...

Living Room...


Small victories, friends.

Twin's nursery

I have had the privilege of helping some friends design some rooms lately.  April and I spent lots of time creating a space that she loves for their sweet new additions, Addyson and Kynley.

***

I started this entry close to two years ago.  What an awesomely consistent blogger I am.  Ha!  Back to the nursery for the twins.  Brandon is an amazingly helpful and detail oriented husband.  He also loves NEUTRALS.  He is all over anything khaki, khaki, or more khaki.  So, when we broached the subject of pink walls, he was pretty hesitant, and not sure he was ever going to speak to me again.  While painting, he was sure there were holes burning through his retinas. 

this pink definitely has more spunk than Brandon's preferred khaki...
April and I concurred that a favorite part was the fabric for the curtains.  Home run.  I had the privilege of seeing them somewhat recently in DC, and we still agree.  Three cheers for the curtains!  Rocker is from April's childhood.  Twin owl pillow looks on :)

sweet hats from Etsy...I gave the girls these antlers after giving them a good coat of white paint...

 more paint chip art...

I made them birth art and designed art for a quote that April wanted to make sure to incorporate into the nursery.  The owls are copies of precious onesies for the girls.
Gotta love Brandon - he was so super exact when hanging the gallery wall.  I need to hire him to fix all my wonky gallery walls.
Love the whimsical NY art...and the curtains.  We took off closet door and added a curtain.  Much more practical with space constraints.

April and Brandon's utensils from their childhoods.  Love the history.

 April just LOVES me for trying to make her have living plants in their house.  Many plants have rested in peace, but we will forge ahead. 

This was such a fun adventure, all done out of love. 

The fun part is they have baby #4 on the way - and a BOY!  Time to start talking new nursery :)

Inspiration - West Bottoms

My friend clued me into the West Bottoms...once a month, a dozen or so stores open up for a weekend of treasure hunting.  I was lucky to get some time to myself yesterday, so I went and soaked it all in.  My little brain was on overload from so many inspiring little pretties. 

My ebay and CL search lists have just exploded with all the things I will be looking for :)

Here were a few of the things that got me going...

 old flashcards...

 have been wanting to try this....like PB kids...
 can't seem to get enough of MCM lamps...
 Swoon.  I will never stop loving these.  Wish I could get one for a STEAL!
 the architectural elements were some of the most beautiful things I saw yesterday...
 love the pool balls...my mom did a fun display with some mini ones at her house...
 Yes.  I am looking for a large disco ball.
 lockers on the brain.  Potential bookshelf for sean - then could be toy storage later?!
 vintage tool bag - awesome toy storage?  want one for under my coffee table.
 Krissy - this reminded me of your grandma :)
 always a sucker for a white display.
 checking out these metal spacers as potential risers for bookshelves?

 loved the globe display.
 I couldn't stop coming back to check out this art deco fixture...
 this whole set was only $30!
 liked the deer covered in maps...
 if there was one totally useless but drop dead gorgeous thing I would have bought, it would have been this bottle.  A-MAZING.
 still thinking about this tray - should have bought it.
 really have a thing for silver bowls with a pretty color lining...
 perfect.

Craigslist find - Eames Chairs/Tulip Table

My tolerant husband high-tailed it out to an estate sale with me on one of our last days on vacation in Michigan.  We snatched up a tulip table and four Eames style chairs.  I was wishing for a white tulip table and white chairs, but for the price, we could not pass this up.  Good thing we already had to get a u-Haul :)

I contemplated painting the table, but because of the different surfaces, I decided I would probably ruin it in the process, so we will embrace the table as is :)


I spent too much time searching for fabrics...of course immediately drawn to geometrics, but then wanting something easy to wipe clean with kids (faux leather, vinyl, oil cloth), then looked into laminating the fabric either by a service or by myself.  UGH.  Too difficult.  Just want them to be ready when we get to Kansas.

Randomly stopped in at a Jo-Ann fabrics yesterday and stumbled upon some houndstooth suiting fabric. After seeing my friend's houndstooth upholstered chairs, I have been hooked and wanting something on houndstooth ever since.  I liked the large scale of this print as it made it feel a little more modern to me.

My mom helped me this morning, and I couldn't be more happy that they are done.  Now...stain proofing this material....hmmm, I see a lot of moments of frustration with myself in the future as I know these won't be fun to clean.  That's why I bought extra fabric :)




Metal Cabinet Stripping

Okay.  Now it all makes sense why the lady only charged me $15 for this cabinet.  I practically ran out of the store with it b/c I thought it was such a steal...little did I know that this 'what was supposed to be 3 nap project' was going to turn into such a time suck.

After lots of sanding and ZERO progress, I decided I might have to strip the several layers of paint off.  My dad had a bottle of Citistrip, so I gave it a go.  It took me quite a while to get the hang of this stuff, but I found that it worked the very best on the hottest days.  And, I learned to goop it on...at first I did a very thin coat and barely made any progress.

It took round after round after round of Citistrip, washing, steel wooling, mineral spiriting, washing, scraping, etc.   After all that, I did use a rust remover (this worked wonders on the huge rust spot on the enamel top!) and did more steel wooling and washing.  It seemed at every turn, there was another tool or product that I needed.  Thankfully, my dad's stocked work room was full of most of the things I needed.  Phew.

In short, If I don't do another stripping project ever again, I won't be sad. 

And...at the end, there were still paint spots that I couldn't get off and scratches around the piece.  I was torn on whether to leave it as is, or cave and paint it two different tones of cream.  In the end, I settled for clear gloss paint, and I will live with it for a while.

Original...the women we bought this from in Sharon Springs, NY (where the Beekman 1802 store is) said it had just been pulled out of an old barn.  It was filthy, but we loved it.

After sanding and attempt at scraping...not much different...
 After some Citistrip...
 I intended to leave the inside alone, but then I couldn't help myself.  
Had.to.get.that.paint.out.of.there.
 Final...

DIY Vertical Succulent Garden

I really wanted to incorporate some sort of living wall into the new place (on a budget, that is ;)).  I found an old frame for $2 at a garage sale, and figured that would be perfect.  It has been fun being home and getting to work on projects with my dad - I am very thankful for all his help on this!

I followed this tutorial (check out the follow up pictures...big lush success!)...and here is where we deviated a bit...

1.  We still used the 2x2 pieces of wood, even though Luna-See said she would have used more shallow pieces.  Once we saw how successful her garden has been - Sean encouraged me to stick with 2x2s b/c he figured the plants may just need that much soil. 

2.  We added metal L brackets to the back of the frame on all 4 corners.  Then, my sweet dad notched out the 2x2s so that they would sit flush against the frame.  We thought this may provide additional support.

3.  After seeing that Luna-See used 4 coats of urethane and the paint looks to be flaking off a lot after a year, I figured I wasn't going to break my back to prevent peeling.  I only did two coats.

4.  We did use screws instead of nails (lots of them).

5.  I stapled a black contractor trash bag across the back of the frame after it was filled with the moss/soil just as a small buffer for the plywood.  Not sure that it will help at all, but figured it couldn't hurt.

I forgot to put hanging hardware on the back before I planted the succulents, so we still need to do that.  It is VERY heavy.  I am hoping to put on a wall in the new house; however, if it seems too heavy, I will prop it somewhere.

I planted some of the succulents that I already had, and I intend to get some more varieties for additional color, but I will do that once we settle.  Let's hope these little plants make it in the car/u-Haul :)

Fingers crossed that this takes...

We glued and screwed the 2x2s in...

Ready for plants...

Let the planting begin!

Take 1...

Kansas, here we come...

Hmmm....I wonder how long this blogging attempt will last.  Bets?

Quick recap - We said goodbye to West Point and oodles of fond memories and dear friends.  I became way more attached than I had anticipated.  We trekked to IL for time with family, trip to the cottage, time with family, trip to Colorado Springs, more time with family, trip to Indiana, and more time with family.  I am beyond thankful that my parents have welcomed us for such an extended period of time.

Next stop...Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  Due to a shortage of on post housing, we have to wait a few extra weeks to get our house.  We will now be there for ~ 9 months before heading to our next home (location TBD).

So, thus begins the design challenge....
1.  I want to get the house up and running as quickly as possible due to our very short stay in Kansas.
2.  I have never lived in a new house...this is a newer home with an open floor plan.  As I was sketching out rooms and furniture placement, I am shocked at how much furniture won't fit, despite this being the biggest house we have lived in.  Good thing that there will be storage room in the garage :)
3.  I have chosen to not paint...so I need to figure out other inexpensive ways to bring in color...

I have very high hopes for Kansas.  I have heard nothing but great things about it, and I am chomping at the bit to get out there, settle in, explore as much as we can, and soak up every second of family time.  I personally hope to focus on my interior design class and also simplifying/organizing our home (Sommer gave me this book recommendation...loved it!).  We will see how that goes (along with the 50 other goals floating around in my head!)  :)

This summer, I have managed to fill up a lot of my parents' garage with new finds/projects...which I probably shouldn't have b/c of #2 above.  I thought, as always, that there would be more downtime than there has been, so now, I am in crunch time with all these endeavors.  Hopefully the pressure will help :)

A few things that I need to hop to...

 recover these seats...

finish cleaning this up...

finish DIY vertical succulent garden....


clean up this old beauty...

Lamp Love

I'm pretty sure the that I am the only one that is completely in love with this lamp, but I am.  My sweet friend Jen picked it up for me on a thrift store run, and I am smitten.  I just need to decide what to do with it.  The sweet 70's colors match my current decor, but the gold flecks could probably go :)  I like the shape of the shade, but it could use some updating...was hoping I could follow Jenny's DIY instructions for painting a shade...

Since buying these, I seem to have a new obsession with honeycomb lamps.  Most I have found since this one have been very expensive, though!


 It has a little crack at the bottom that doesn't bother me...but check out the gold flecks :)  genuine 70s, right?

Saw this pair last week in DC while out with Hallie....so fun!
 

Terrariums

I have been slightly obsessed with terrariums lately.  After being completely inspired by this brilliant booth at Brooklyn Flea, Twig Terrariums (you MUST check out their work), I came home and got busy.

I have always loved moss...and I attempted a terrarium with moss and rocks in early 2009.  It lasted for a while, but I over-watered it, probably suffocated it, and who knows what else.  In short, I botched it.

Since West Point boasts plenty of moss, pretty rocks, driftwood and pine cones, I figured I would use Mother Nature's gifts.  I have had these for over a month a few months now, and they seem to be doing well.  I sprinkle them with water every 4 days or so.... I have pretty much just left them alone...every once and a great while when I happen to be walking by with my glass of water, I may share a few drops with the terrariums.

Twig Terrariums @ Brooklyn Flea

couldn't get great photos, but one of the ones I made...


NYC Half

Yesterday, Sean and I ran the NYC Half.  I really wanted to run a race in the city before we move, and it was a blast.  I am so thankful to so many wonderful family and friends who helped me get through all the training...Michelle, Lynette, Lindsay, Suzanne, Haley, Ryan, and my pace man yesterday, Sean.  My dear husband trained by running a total of 3 miles before this race, and he was still able to stay in front of me the whole time...how is that fair?)

I had mixed emotions when I was selected in the lottery for the race as I was dreading training, in the winter no less, and while I was sick (I seemed to have something wrong during most of the training...but that is a whole post in and of itself!), breastfeeding, etc.  BUT...I really needed some motivation to lose some baby weight. 

The course was absolutely fabulous.  I took pictures throughout the run and tweeted them (only b/c that was the fastest/easiest way that I could figure out for posting pics).

I didn't 'PR' as my runner friends talk about, but we ran much faster than I had trained or thought I would...2:22. 

A special thanks to my dad who came out to watch the kiddos while we went to the race...thanks so much, Dad :)

scenes from yesterday...
getting ready to run!
 good morning, central park...
 guggenheim...
 so many gorgeous buildings to check out as we went by...
 Hello, NYC. 
 When will we ever have the chance to leave Central Park and run straight up 7th avenue to times square with no cars around again? 
 Pretty sure we stayed at this hotel for one of the dance weekends back in the day...
 we are still moving!
 times square, here we come!
 hard to see, but we had just made it out to the west side highway, right by the Intrepid...
 this was a long stretch...all the way down to battery park...
 I liked this 'You go, girl' message...I needed it right about then!
 Oh, how I was hoping the Novogratz's were outside (not even sure that they still live here)...but if they were there, I was going to try to go sneak a pic with them :)
 I got choked up around the new Freedom Tower that was disappearing up into the fog.  There is truly nothing sweeter than our great, free country.
 Nearing the end...the acoustics in the tunnel were perfect for the end of a race...
 here we go!
 there is the light at the end of the tunnel!
 
800 M to go!!  Yippie!
 Brooklyn Bridge...one of my favorite NYC sites.
 getting the medal...
Now...will I keep running or quit cold turkey? :)

Sunburst!

After Jenny posted about DIY Sunburst mirrors (by the way, Jenny, when are you going to have your own book?  You need one, and I would pre-order!), and we heard of an impending snow in, Michelle and I decided we would get our glue on and attempt to make these suckers!

All you need is a good friend, a glass of wine, a LOT of shims, and a LOT of wood glue :)

We followed this tutorial the most.  I won't recreate all the wonderful tutorials that exist, but just a few extra notes...

--Holding rays together - some people recommended craft tape - we just used rubberbands, and they worked just fine...

--To prime or not prime: I had some extra half used cans of white spray paint laying around, so I used those as a pseudo-primer.  The shims, especially the large ones, are very porous, and I just wanted to make sure that the gold really popped.  I don't think this step is necessary though...Michelle did not prime, and hers looks fantastic.

 -Assembling the rays:  We spent a LOT of time trying to figure out how to push the rays perfectly into the middle and not have gaps around the sunburst.  We did break off some of the long shims that were pointing into the middle to allow the longer rays to fit more snugly. We finally decided that 80/20 was good enough, and we both had some gaps in between the rays, but once the mirror was on, the gaps didn't bother us.

-Hanging:  We both just had our husbands put some screws into the back of the mirror.  Sean screwed right into the shims, and it seems to be pretty solid.  They didn't screw the screws all the way down to allow us some space to wrap hanging wire around the screws. 

 We are both happy with how our mirrors turned out.  It cost us about $42 to do the whole project.   Michelle painted hers silver, and I went for gold.  I made this knowing that I didn't have a huge open wall to hang this on right now, but hoping that in our next place, it may find the perfect home!

For now, it spices up the basement a bit...

Paint Swatch Mobile

I had some fun with paint swatches for Jamie's baby shower back in September...I copied an idea I saw on Pinterest...it was a fun project and very inexpensive - just had to buy the embroidery hoop!  The sewing was a little tricky for me...it probably wouldn't be for most people but I had to make lots of extra strands as I ended up throwing some away because they were just jacked up.

I still can't seem to get paint swatches off the brain.  Walked out of Home Depot last week with a ginormous stack.  Got a couple of strange looks, but I just held my head high and walked out :)




Wreaths

I'm not very good at changing out wreaths.  Case in point, I made an acorn wreath (the final nesting project before Cormac arrived) back in October, and it wasn't taken down until yesterday.  All the grand plans that I had to spray paint it white and change to a red ribbon for X-Mas never materialized :)

My friend had pinned this wreath, and I had all of the supplies except for the wreath form, so I made this during nap time the other day...