Chair Rails, its Happening!

While I was diligently scraping the popcorn off the ceiling I decided our bedroom definitely needed a white chair rail, with white paint below, or maybe just a different hue of the color that will be on top. I've been reading about chair rails on the web, and many people say to NEVER paint the lower portion white or even a lighter shade then what is on top. Well I must disagree, I think these images from a house tour on Young House Love show that a lighter shade on bottom looks fresh, clean, and elegant... so there! That was mature of me, wasn't it? 

 younghouselove.com

 younghouselove.com

This is almost exactly the color scheme for my bedroom (or will be). The blue ceiling, white below the new chair rail, and a beige wall. I want to paint my walls a bit more gray beige though.. much less tan.

remodelingguy.net

Here is a good example of a darker color on bottom. It is suppose to make the room look larger rather than "cut it up visually" like white is suppose to. But I really like the white below, I can't lie. Cut that room up!

designwithchristine.com

Don't forget to enter to win $40 towards CNS online stores... Enter  here...  you have til tomorrow night! 

Pack it Up... Vintage Style

When we moved into our new yet old (1947) house about a year ago, we found a few treasures laying around in the garage. One of those treasures was this great vintage luggage trunk.

It was love at first sight. Do you ever see something that makes you think "This is SO me!"? That is how I felt about my newly inherited trunk. So in honor of my wonderful free trunk I decided to bring you a day of Vintage Luggage put to good use...

Apartment Therapy

TheBeddingSnob.com

countryliving.com

FCH magazine

Oakland's Waterfront Hotel

Eric Piasecki for Elle Decor

The Pand Hotel

 Apartment Therapy

Velvet & Linen

Kelly Rae Roberts House Tour via Decor8

Okay, So THIS is my idea... I want to take my trunk and put in on to of a vintage looking luggage rack. Like this one for 29.99 from Bed Bath and Beyond...

Or like this Potter barn Luggage Rack...

And set my old trunk on it to use as a flat screen TV stand. Is that a stupid idea? I searched for "vintage trunk tv stand" under google images and did not find anything like what I am imagining. Now I'm thinking this is weird idea. But at the same time I can't help but think I would love it. The problem would be where to put the DVD player and the Wii, and all those cords...! Ahh. I hate cords, they are all over my house. I dont how to hide them. I should work on that one day.

These are the closest images I found, but imagine a trunk instead of a suitcases with a TV sitting on top. Would that be weird? Help!

Country Living

HGTV.com

Sampler.com

CountryLiving.com

Check back early next week to win a $40 gift card to some great online stores! I'll post more about that soon. 

Wishing Upon a Slipcover

Right now, I actually have a patio chair in my living room. Yes that's right.... a white scrolly iron patio chair in the living room. I'm dying for more seating, comfortable seating that is. No more wooden chairs, no iron chairs. I've been reeeeaaaallly reeeealllly wanting a cute white, or off white slip covered chair. The problem: I'm not much of a seamstress; other than really simple stuff. A slipcover seems C-R-A-Z-Y to me! All the piping...I wouldn't even know where to start. I wonder how much it would be to have one made? Probably too much. Does anybody know of a ridiculously easy slipcover method, step by easy step? I need Slipcovers for Dummies...can someone write that please? I found this chair on my local craigslist and really like the lines. I haven't purchased it though. It's listed at $30. I'm sure I can probably get it for a little less too, since it is so attractive.

I think it would be perfect with a slipcover like Miss Mustard Seeds...

 

Here are some other inspiration chairs that are making me drool.

 

 Country Living

  

Source not found

  

House Beautiful Photo Eric Piasecki

Wisteria.com

The best tutorial I can find so far is by Portland Domesticity

And actually this is a pretty good tutorial here at Blissfully Domestic, DIY: Laziest Slipcover Tutorial- right up my ally! The tutorial was written by Kristi at Pink Polka Dot.

I'm beginning to feeling hopeful now

 

Decor Pad.com

Country Home

Maybe I'll just take a short cut and throw a white sheet over it?? Noooo I can't do that. Even if it does look really good one this chair...

I like the wrinkled-a-bit look. Some pleats on the bottom maybe?? As long as it can come off and be thrown in the wash, I'll love it. With three dogs, two black dogs, one golden that sheds like crazy- there is no way this white will last long unless it is washable, washable, washable.

If anyone has some good ideas, or sites out there, I would LOVE to see them.

My first Mood Board...

I've been sick in bed lately and sleeping the days away. My drug of choice lately has been NyQuil and lots of it, therefore my sleep pattern is pretty messed up. Yesterday I slept super late, napped in between, and couldn't get to sleep at night til after 3am! Dang you NyQuil... but oh how I love you. I'm starting to feel a bit better.

With all this extra time at night, I had the computer all to myself. (We have one computer and it is Ryans work- lap top, so he takes it with him during the day. I'm left computer-less until the evening.) So from after Law & Order til about 2 am I decided I was going to try and get a mini lesson in Photoshop and Illustrator. Ryan gave me a lot of good pointers, poor guy had to put up with my technological impatience. Sometimes I just want to throw the computer. Why don't they make these things more user friendly? Or maybe I'm just a little slow, very plausible.

It took me waaaaayyy too long, but I created my first Mood Board! I've always wanted to do one of these, but always got stuck. With Ryan's help in the beginning I got the basics down. When it was all said and done, I was so proud that I had finally done it!

So without further adieu, I introduce you to my first Mood Board (can you hear the drum roll?)....

1. Paint colors, I messed up here because I didn't save them. I could always go back and track down the colors from my fan deck. First time mess up. Whoops

2. Laboratory Flower Vases from Urban Outfitters

3. Canary Print Arlmess Chair from Target

4. Graphic Flat Weave Rug in Red from Wisteria.com

5. Kiev Laterns from Z Gallerie

6. Vintage Riveted Door Coffee Table from Wisteria

7. DIY burlap curtains made by Layla at The Lettered Cottage.

8. White canvas Streamlined Sofa from Wisteria

9. Chad Barrett Songbird Prints from Art.com

10. Enzo floor lamp from Anthropologie

11. & 12. Red Panama Cafe Pillow from Pottery Barn and Blue and White Linen Stripe pillow also from Pottery Barn

Sketchy Art

I've never been much of an artist, and that's an overstatement... or under? Any ways, I'm terrible. But I can still love to look at it right? I've always had a thing for sketches, pencil or charcoal sketches. Honestly I'm not really sure if I would even know the difference. I love them though, there is something mysterious, raw, and beautiful about sketches. Without sounding like a weirdo- I really like sketches of the female body. Most look so classic. Now as far as what I would hang on my walls, I don't think boobs would really fly. =)
Even something as simple as this little tree, I love!



A little more bold...

Foggy, and mysterious.... I like it

Not sure what these are, but I like the grouping.

After the Chad Barrett post, you may be on art overload from me. I promise I have a rhyme and reason to this. See the thing is I took down the mirror that was previously hung in my living room to move it to the kitchen. It is currently hiding a huge hole in the wall as we wait for repairs to begin.  So what was I to do with the space in the living room now? Well I have another, larger mirror that I put in its place. It is not quite large enough to stand on its own, so I wanted to keep with the mess of framed art all around it. However, I'm going to need new nail holes since the old ones were placed around the smaller mirror.  And not so much black... to dark and depressing. Bring some wood in... light and dark.... Mmmmm that would be much better.

 BEFORE

  

In the following photo, I just hung up frames on existing nail holes to see if I still liked the frame idea. Hence, the crazy positioning. So... no I wasn't drunk and decorating. The mirror may stay, or may go- not sure yet. It sure does give the small area a feeling of bigger space though. 

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

Instead of whatever random pictures I already have (like I did previously), I want to create more of an "art wall" if you will. Now, I'm no art junkie so I'm just going to put up what I like. So this post is one more step closer to finding out what kind of things I want to frame for my wall. 

Sketches are definitely in.

I want every frame to have different sizes of white matting. Also, not every frame needs to match, which is why the white matte, to tie them all together.  

More inspiration...

LOVE this

Not a sketch, but I like the idea. Must steal.

 

all images from decorpad.com

Inspiration for New Countertops

I had the idea to put a butcher block counter top on a section right next to my oven. Then I thought, would it look wierd to have just one section of butcher block and it not match with the rest of the counters. I decided No, it would look fine - BUT wouldn't it look great if all my counter tops were done in butcher block? So I started googling some butcher block images to see how much I really liked it in other kitchens.

image from Duir Designs  

image found here 

Isn't this kitchen grand?I like the darkness of the butcher block here. It looks so warm and rich.  Also I love, love, love those diagonal black & white floors. Hmm... maybe something to think about. Our kitchen floors are definitely on the list of things to do... although I'm sure that's pretty far in the future.

image from artistic furnishings

can not find image source 

The following three photos are from the cutest blog ever, called A Country Farmhouse. Take a look around her blog and you can't help but want to live in this house! Its like she lives in a dream. Ohhh sooo beautiful and classic.

image from The Old Painted Cottage

 

Again, I am liking the warmer wood much better than the light beech color. This all white kitchen is instantly cozy with the dark wood.

can not find image source

I love the brightness, openness, and cheeriness of this kitchen. It looks like nothing bad could ever happen in there. It doesn't look possible to burn the toast when your kitchen looks this light. =)

Maybe a little too perfect... like Martha could live there.

can not find image source

This picture makes me want to paint my cabinets...

image from Design Sponge

image from decorpad.com 

After looking all over for exactly what I wanted, and what is attainable... I found it!

Drum Roll Please.......

From the wonderful blog This & That written by Vanessa I found my ultimate inspiration. It was then I made my decision that yes I will do this. Even if it takes a while to save up and get it all done DIY style. I LOVE these counters, they are different, timeless, warm, and surprisingly really affordable.

Ikea sells 96" by 26" butcher block counter tops for $59. and 49" by 26" for $39! I did the math and I would only have to spend $157 on the wood. Of course then we would need a new sink. We really like this undermount stainless number that Vanessa and Eric have. 

I did some "ebaying" and some "craiglisting"... and I found one just like it on craigslist for $80. I'm not going to buy it yet, but that at least tells me the deals are out there.

This is sooo on my To Do list for 2010. Hopefully before my birthday in March... maybe FOR my Birthday (hint hint Ryan). We'll see how that works out.