A New Rug for the Living Room

When I got my house 3 years ago, I bought a new rug for the living room from Rugs USA. It's great quality and I got it for an insanely low price (I think it was about $125). I still love this rug and it's a great striped pattern, but I've been noticing lately my living room is a little too bright and energetic for where I'm at in life right now... I'd really like something a little more soothing. I think the floors have a lot to do with this. My wood floors have a very strong red-orange undertone and fairly bold grain pattern. I'd love to change them out someday, but that definitely won't be happening anytime soon. Sadly, I think my beautiful rug also contributes to how visually busy the space feels. So, right now, I'm dreaming of something a little more sedate for my living room rug.

My living room, as it looks now.

I'd love to get another rug from Rugs USA, since I really love the prices, quality, and selection...

This is the rug that I really like. It got great reviews, but they say it's a little silvery. Not sure that a metallic will help my problem...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOUSE!

I absolutely can not believe that I closed on my house THREE YEARS ago this week. Time really does fly. 

I'd been house hunting for about three years before that, so finally finding a house and closing after all that time felt pretty crazy. I wanted to get most of the interior painting and cleaning done before I moved in, so I didn't actually end up living here until Bastille Day (I'm a Francophile, what can I say) of 2012. 

We've done a lot of work and it's changed so much, but there's still a lot more to be done! I don't live here alone anymore either... that's a nice change :) I gather my house likes B too, because he's accomplished more around this place in his few months of residency than I did in years!

I got a cake to celebrate. Buying a house is a big milestone that is worth celebrating to me!

In honor of my house's birthday, here are a few more photos of the interior! We'll be updating the kitchen soon (thank God) and I can't wait to do make even more improvements around here. We've done a LOT on the sunporch/office/craft room area, but none of it is particularly photo-ready, so I'll spare y'all's eyes for now.

My dark grey almost black bathroom. I think it works well with the original yellow tile.

View into our bedroom. I love my ceilings.

Ravenclaw felt banner that B and I made hanging from the door knob. I need to do a DIY tutorial on that.

Updated Kitchen Room Mood Board

As I've talked about before, my kitchen was all yellow (well, just about the whole house was a yellow nightmare, but I digress) when I bought my house.  I painted the icky walls white so that at least I could stand to be in there, but it hasn't gotten a lot of other love yet.   Hopefully soon.  Anyway, I did a little tweaking to my mood board for it by adding in some accessories, changing the cabinets to all dark grey (I'd originally had the uppers white and the lowers grey), and showing the tile wall with open shelving that I'd like to do on the stove wall.

Yay updates!

-Robin

My craft room/work space

I have to admit, I can get jealous sometimes when I'm reading design blogs with huge readerships and I look at some room makeover and think, I could totally have done that if I had more money for accessories, new furniture, project materials, the list goes on. I'm usually operating on a non-existant to tiny budget, so a lot of times, if I don't already have it or I can't make it for a few bucks, it's not happening.  Necessity is the mother of invention though and my blog IS about design on a budget, so haha yeah...

My craft room was definitely one of those low budget projects.  I'd been meaning to get it organized and usable for awhile, but when Scout Mob asked for some photos of my workspace, it gave me a good reason to get it done ASAP.  I actually had about $100 to do the whole thing (thanks Mom!), but considering the scope of work that needed to be done, it was tight. I have a small sun porch off my living room that serves as my guest room/craft room.    There are windows on 3 sides of the room and in the summer that room gets SO. MUCH. SUN.  And thanks to the fact that I live in Florida, we're talking scorching rays, making the room pretty much unusable.  

After 

Post mortem on Christmas

In the theatre world, we sometimes do what's called a "post mortem."  After the show closes (or literally after the death of the show), the production staff gets together and talks about what worked and what didn't.  This post is my post mortem on Christmas....

As I said in my post about holiday anxiety, I get easily overwhelmed during the month of December and generally try to keep the decorations to a quality-over-quantity minimum.  Still, I usually get a big tree.  This year, however, there was just no time.  I was stressed at the idea of trying to find time together to not only go get it, but to set it up and decorate it.  I had seen some cute little tabletop trees at Publix, but I knew B really wanted a big tree.  Mid stress out (on my part) one day, B suggested we go get one of the little ones instead.  It meant the world to me and we were able to get a tree much earlier  and easier than expected.

Christmas tree 2014... so little :)

New Year, New Look

I can't believe it's 2015 already!  We had a great Christmas, but I'm ready to get back into the swing of things and start working towards new goals for the new year.  As I mentioned briefly last week, it took most of December to get a new look for the blog, but while it may have taken a little longer than I originally hoped, I'm super excited that it is debuting for the new year.

My goals for the new year mostly focus around continuing to grow the blog, especially through better, more targeted use of social media.  I even had the crazy idea of (finally) going back to grad school to get an MBA in Marketing, so I can learn to do this the really, really legit way and maybe be able to help other small businesses along the way.  We'll see, haha.

It's been almost exactly a year since I officially debuted my blog on Facebook with a feature of a wedding that I'd worked on.  I've come along away since then, but there's still a ton of room to grow. I'm excited for lots of new content this year, including more Shop Local features, more Florida Day Trips (super excited for that one, the research is fun!), more How To projects, and as always, lots of wedding and home fun.  

So to start the new year out with some new content, in addition to the new look, I give you... house photos!  We've worked really hard to learn how to use our new camera and while we're still not pros, we've gotten a lot better.  I still have a lot more to take, but here are some of the living room!

I'm happy to have some photos that could actually pass as 'afters'... there are still some 'befores' and 'durings'  on my house tour page.

Happy New Year!  Anyone else have any goals (maybe instead of resolutions per se) for the new year?

-Robin

Home Improvement Around My House: A Window Seat!

B and I had a blast doing the Parade of Homes this weekend.  The Parade is made up of open houses around the county, showcased by local builders and renovators.  It's a great time and an opportunity to get some awesome inspiration for home improvement.  One of the (absolutely gorgeous, expensive luxury) homes had a beautiful built-in window seat.  I've wanted a window seat since I was about 8 years old... and I'm 30 now!  While I was gushing, B said very matter-of-factly, "You know I could build you one."  Um yes.  So now, of course, I'm going nuts planning it all out.

This is about what we're thinking:

image: Tar Paper Crane

Shop (and Eat) Local: The Barn

The Barn in Lake Alfred, Florida is one of my favorite places ever.  We've been going there for years! The Barn has several shopping options, as well as a cute lunch spot, The Back Porch.  

Thrifting to Decorate My Kitchen: The Corner Cabinet and the Girl Scout Fiestaware

When I was house hunting, I wanted built-ins.  Oh my goodness, did I want built-ins. I craved cute little fold down ironing boards and bookcases and cute corner hutches.  One of the main things on my house wish list was one of those cute wood scroll things above the sink that were so popular in 50s kitchens and seem to be ripped out constantly on those awful remodeling shows.  Alas, when I found the right house for me, while it did have the original wood cabinets that I so desperately wanted and a nice built-in bookcase in the living room, there was not a cute scroll-y thing in sight.  

A few months ago, my mother and I were at an estate sale (we do love a good estate sale) and I saw this corner hutch.  All the fun scroll work I could handle, plus it looks like something that could have feasibly been built into my 1947 house. It had a few coats of old flaking paint on it, but a fresh paint job and it’s good as new.  Here it is mid-paint job:

personal photo

Around the same time, I scored an awesome stash of Fiestaware at a Girl Scout fundraiser garage sale.  My mom had gone to the garage sale before me and told me that I had to go back.  They had Fiestaware... cheap.  We got there just as they were closing and luckily, they reopened just for us.  There was tons of Fiestaware, much of it brand new and never used.  I scored all of this awesome stuff for about $25.  Super exciting.

And here is my new corner hutch with a piece or two of Fiestaware, some awesome family pieces also by Homer Laughlin, a few other pieces, and my (fake) raven lurking at the top.

Obviously, it’s not totally done looking, but it’s well on its way.  This corner was the catch all for a long time, so to get it to this point is a victory. 

HOW TO: Make a Potted Felt Fern

I love having potted plants in my home and for the most part, I'm pretty good at keeping them alive.  The sad exception was a poor little aloe plant that I had in my bedroom.  There's not much natural light in there and the plant didn't fare too well.  I love the look of houseplants though and I was determined to have one in the bedroom... preferably without killing anything else.  Then I got to thinking... I make things with felt, why not make a felt plant?

SHOP LOCAL: Thrifty Chix

I love cute little shops and small businesses and it's always exciting to see new ones in the area, it seems like we just don't have enough of them.  Mom took me to a new shop in Winter Haven this weekend called Thrifty Chix.  It's located in a cute little house on the corner of First Street and Avenue A NE.

Thrifty Chix is operated by a retired nurse who had "open a shop" on her bucket list.  She's got a good mix of vintage items, new decor, and repurposed furniture.  The prices are reasonable.

I got a graphic, colorful pillow that says 'I am the light of the world' for only $15.  It's also weather treated, so I can use it inside or outside.

I also got a vintage wood and brass wine rack.  I've always wanted a wine rack and this is a good one, plus it was a steal for only $7!

Thrifty Chix is open Tuesday- Friday 10-6 and Saturday 10-3 and is located at 98 Ave A NE, Winter Haven, FL 33881.

Shop local!

THE PAINT CHIP BEAST

This commercial came on TV today and B told me that my paint chip hoarding tendencies would unleash the Paint Chip Beast upon us!  Yikes!  I wouldn't say I'm normally paralyzed by color choices though.... just for front doors!

PART TWO OF HOUSE PAINTING: The door color saga

So as I posted about last time, I've been painting my house and generally revamping the exterior.  We just got back from a (much needed) vacation, so in the time before we left, it was quite a push to get as much done as possible.  We got the shutters built and stained (tutorial to come later), most of the body of the house painted, and the front door painted.  I had done a Photoshop mock-up to see how everything would look together....

Photoshop mock-up

The quality isn't great, but you get the idea.  The Robin's Egg Blue door looked great with the ashen, cooler-toned wood on the shutters.  HOWEVER, when we went to pick stain, that wasn't quite what we ended up with.  There were some great options in transparent stain, but we couldn't get those in a tester size.  So we decided to go with a semi-transparent color instead.  None of the options were great, but we decided on Cedar Naturaltone.  It looked super orange when we put it on a test board, but when we held it up to the house, it looked great.  So, I proceeded to stain all 6 shutters in the Cedar Naturaltone.  We hung them on the house and I also painted the front door in the the blue color.  Then... I was working in the yard one morning and I saw the shutters in full shade for the first time and freaked out.  They were bright orange.  And they really didn't look good (to me) with the blue door.  Everyone else thought I was crazy, but it was bugging the crap out of me.

A quick photo that we took of the blue door.  Not awful, but not great.

PART ONE OF HOUSE PAINTING: it's spring and my house's birthday, time to paint....

It's spring (and has been for awhile, I'm kind of behind, I guess)! Spring and Easter are associated with new beginnings and I've recently taken a leap of faith and I quit my awful job.  If all goes as planned, I'll have a job waiting for me when we get back from vacation in May, but for now, I have a few weeks of downtime to work on the Etsy shop, blog, and my house.  

Bizarrely, we've had beautiful weather for the past two months, which almost made me forget that we live in Florida.  It actually felt like real spring for a little while.  We were able to take advantage of a few oddly cool days to paint the house.  (The nice weather is all over though... it's 95 today! Ugh.)

I've been wanting to paint the house forever and with time off from work right now, no time like the present, I guess. The exterior of the house is kind of like the kitchen, in that beyond basic repairs, it's been put off at the expense of everything else.  Last week was my house's "birthday"-- it's been two years since I closed!  I'm celebrating by giving the house a new look.  When I bought it, the house was all contractor white.  It was obvious that they just sprayed it all down in the white.  I hated it and it got dirty so easily.  

I went back and forth for months on what color to paint the house.  I wanted green for awhile, but decided that would blend in too much with all the foliage surrounding my house.  So, of course, I took to Pinterest to attempt to figure out what I wanted instead.  

Some of the pictures I pinned...

via kbhome.com

MY HOUSE! The kitchen....

I'm finally writing about my house! When I bought my house about a year and a half ago, almost every surface in the entire place was yellow.  And not light, cheerful, sunny yellow... icky, sickly, mustard-y yellow.  The walls in the bathroom, sunroom, and kitchen were all painted the same shade of yellow, the kitchen had yellow countertops, and the bathroom had vintage yellow tile up the walls (in addition to the yellow paint).  Anything that wasn't currently yellow had clearly been yellow at one point, since when paint chipped off of doors, cabinets, or anything else, there it was underneath. It was a lot.  I'm pretty obsessed with keeping original details in vintage houses, so the kitchen countertops and the bathroom tile are staying.  The sickly yellow walls had to go though.

Before I moved in, I painted every wall in the house (including the weird green bedroom) to shades of greige, grey, and navy.  I ran out of time though and the kitchen languished in yellow purgatory for a few more months.  Eventually, I couldn't take it any more and painted the walls a light ivory just to make it more bearable.  Still though, it remains the room that has gotten the least attention.  It got a pretty corner hutch (which will get a post of its own) and a new stove that I love, but while it's a vast improvement, it's still the most overlooked room of the house.

The rest of my house is about 90% finished inside (the exterior is a whole other story... we spent the entire day yesterday planning what we want to do out there, but I digress).  The interior needs a few decorative finishing touches and some organizing, but it's mostly the way that I want it.  The kitchen is the major exception though and I'm excited that its time is coming.

So now for my design plan, some before photos, during photos, and some inspiration photos....

vintage hutch, Grow House Grow wallpaper, similar table to what I have: Saarinen Dining Table from hivemodern.com, similar bentwood chair: Sweetheart Bentwood Chair from americanchairs.com, similar houseplant from houzz.com, my kitchen cabinets, mint canisters from Pier 1, grey cabinets: marthastewart.com, appliances are from GE.

WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM.

Merry Christmas! This has been a stressful holiday season for me, mostly because of work. I'll be working on both Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Sometimes that can be hard, but I have a lot to be thankful for.  We celebrated Christmas a little early and we've done fun things here and there to be festive in our own way.

While it may be cliche, Jesus is the reason for this season.  I pray that we remember Him in this often hectic time.

I'll close out this post with a few pictures from my home decorated for Christmas.  I didn't do a whole lot of decorating this year, but we got a real tree (a noble fir, I had never had one of those before) and I put out a few other little things.

(personal photos)

Christmas tree!  With a train!

My adorable, but creepy, reindeer.  I swear she moves when I'm not looking.