2013 Decorating Projects In Review

Even before we bought this house, there was so much I wanted to do.  2013 has been a good year!!  We accomplished a lot in the house and I'm one happy camper.  I wanted to do a few 'before and after' photos and also show some other projects that were completed this year.

Below is a picture of our tiny living room. We wanted to (and did) knock down the wall to the far left and make our porch part of the house.  We did it right this time!  (Meaning in all of our project history, we did not get permission.)  We got permission from the neighborhood association AND paid a walloping fee to the city to get their permission.  (I posted it in TWO places outside just to prove all the noise and work was legit!  And also because I had paid so much for those pieces of paper, they were way worth putting on display! 

This is obviously during the construction!  It was amazing how great it felt!

 

One Saturday morning, my husband and I were sitting in the dusty mess and he mentioned something that I had been wanting to do for a long time; tear out the closet under the steps and open them up like they were originally when the house was built in the '80's.  So that we did.  It probably took us an hour, at most, for the demo.  He tore down, I cleaned up. I can't tell you what a fantastic idea that was and how much space we added to our living room.

Below is a before picture.  There is a closet under the steps, behind the wall.

Another before picture.

During demo!

Almost done with demo..

Pretty much done!

Really done and ready for Christmas!

So this before picture is/was our tiny dining room.  We brought our 'beloved' antique dining table, formerly library table, with us from Kansas City.  It's pretty big and weighs about 350 pounds, so the movers said.  We wanted to buy a home that would accommodate this piece that we love so much.  Instead we bought for the our little guest house and our fantastic location.  We knew we could always knock some walls out. It took about two years to be able to do this financially because we wanted to pay cash.  But we did it!

So, again, below is the before picture of our dining room.

Another before pic.

The after picture here is a Thanksgiving toast to our son and his new fiance!  I LOVE this space now.  I couldn't be happier!

And another after picture on Christmas Eve.

The back of the house was also done "right".  We chose to have the once flat porch roof, tie in with the roof line so it looks as if it's always been there. Below you'll see the beginning of the transformation!

It's starting to take shape.

All it needs now is the tile.

And voila!  All we have to do is paint and it looks as though the house were built like this. We need to wait 30 days to paint stucco.  

So, right after Thanksgiving I found this beautiful chair at Goodwill for under $13.  I loved it but thought it looked really dated.  I bought it anyway.  My husband was really hesitant about me painting it!  (He's very, very slowly learning to trust me.  He freaked when I took the carpet off the stairs and told him that I was going to stain the wood and not carpet! It turned out to be beautiful and he loves them.) I wanted to sand it down to light wood, sort of weather it a little and then wax it.  When I began to sand, the wood was an orange-ish.  I believe it's mahogany.  I really hated it and sort of panicked a little.  Although I love painted objects, I do hate to paint over wood.  But now, I had to do something.  Of course my husband said something to the effect, "It's HORRIBLE!"  Which, unfortunately, it was horrible.  So, I got my turquoise Annie Sloan paint and decided to paint it.  It was really scary to do because I truly wasn't sure.  After the paint was on, it still didn't look right.  I went for my gold paint and decided to play around a little. 

Before picture below.

I don't have any 'during' pics, so here are the afters:

Okay, the next project is also one that we wanted since we bought the house. We have a nice little courtyard at the front of our home.  But it didn't have any gates and it looked like it should.  It actually had some originally, but they weren't anything to write home about.  I checked on craigslist for a long time and found some BEAUTIFUL, vintage, iron gates. We went to see them and they just didn't look 'do-able'.  They were connected and laying by a swimming pool. They were also very, very heavy.  They wanted $350 for seven huge gates.  Not bad, but we just didn't have it in the budget.  About a month later, the owners called us and said we could have all of them for $175, and they would deliver!  SHA ZAMMMMMMMM!  Well yeah, of course we wanted them.  two and a half years later we have beautiful gates.  We also have also have five left over for whatever.  Anyway, here is the finished product of our gates.  I LOVE them.  The welder who helped us out said they were hand done.

The last project I'll tell you about is our little guest house.  I wanted to get rid of the carpet because it was showing signs of age.  It was here when we bought the house, and I have no idea how long it had been here before us.  

Below is the before pic.  It doesn't look too bad, but it was, trust me!

We decided not to do carpet, but to tile it.  Neither of us like carpet so the decision was made. 

Below is during the project.

We wanted a sort of, entry way, so we decided on a medallion. 

Almost finished.

Below is the finished project.  However, something was wrong.  The red color on the bed just didn't jive with the feeling I wanted.  It actually was disturbing.  I tried changing area rugs and everything.  Nothing helped.  Then I realized what I needed to do; paint the bed.  UG!!  My husband found a recipe for chalk paint and we made our own.  

Below is the finished product of the bed.  It really does make the room look more restful.  Instead of a cowhide rug, I changed it to a natural fiber rug.  Sort of like a sisal only chunkier. 

So, below is the finished look of our little guest house.




So, what do I want to see for 2014???  Not as much to do and that's wonderful.  But what I'd like is a new master bathtub and sink.  Anything else?  I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas filled with memories.  Happy New Year!!! Let's believe 2014 for health, happiness and beautiful spaces!!!

Chevron Rugs, Suzanis and The Hippy In Me

I have been thinking about  chevron rugs lately; wondering if it's right for my little space. Chevrons are  bold, young and bright, a change from my chunky sisal rug with a cowhide over it and a very earthy feel.

The next two pictures below are not of my home, but I wanted to post them just because they are so great and will give you an idea of why I love what I do.

(tumbler)


I feel it makes the space looks brighter and younger.


(www.decorpad.com)




 One thing I believe I would do over again though, I would make sure it's natrual fiber as in cotton, wool or silk. Not realizing it when I bought it, it's a synthetic material.  But I do like the way it gives my space a whole different vibe, a whole different feel.  Years ago I read in a interior decorating magazine that one thing you DON'T want for your area and that is for it to be boring.  Let them hate it for being out there, let them love it for it's uniqueness, but NEVER have anyone go away from your home thinking it was boring.

So, here's the Chevron rug I bought. I actually like it!





I've also been totally inspired by suzanis.  I have no idea why my youthful days are popping up again, but my taste these days screams hippy.I love anything hand done, bright and bold.  Suzanis! I'm having a love affair with these textile works of art!!!
(mimiandmegblog.com



Below is a pic of the suzani pillow that I made.  I bought the suzani on ebay and made a couple of them. How do you like them?









So, chalk paint, suzanis and chevron rugs, this is what's living our space lately.  I still am wondering if I'll change soon.  If I do, you'll be the first to know.

Take care and look at the bright side!

My Comfort Nest

I am sitting here on the first Saturday of 2013 still in my jammies at 11:30.  (Don't judge!)  My husband is watching soccer, and I'm obsessing, yet again, on decorating, interiors, and loving my space.  Here I sit at a dining table that's too large for our permanent habitat here in the desert.  But no matter how I try, I can't give it up.  It's about an eight foot long, 350 pound oak dining table that used to be a library table in an historic church in Kansas City.  I love this thing; it almost feels as if it has a life of it's own.  It probably does.



We moved here almost two years ago and I thought I'd have this perfect home all in a matter of months.  Wrong.  It's evolved many times since we arrived; colors, furniture, accessories.  Nothing stayed for long.  The reason we bought a house too small to accommodate our beloved table?  We bought a house in a location we absolutey love! You know what they say, "location location location"...and I agree.


Yep, that's pretty much our front yard.  We are in walking distance to almost everything we could ever want or need; including a small mountain where my husband takes our dogs for a walk every day.

But the inside of our home is half the size of our old one in Kansas City.  Really that's fine, we want to make a small "foot print".  (That's what my husband says.)

So, I'm rambling.  The point of this blog is that I have been reading other decorating blogs and am ALWAYS inspired. I especially like theinspiredroom.net  where she talks about Anthropologie, the store, as a major inspiration and why it always inspires her.











See what I mean?  Now a couple of these pics are taken from the Anthropologie shop, but if one were to walk into this store, this is the type of stuff you would see.

I'm INSPIRED.

I haven't written here in a long time...so I want to show you what my home looks like now.  Before I do, however, I want to let you know that I have this love affair with cowhide patterns.  I'm also having this love affair with becoming a bit more modern, loving red, and staying eclectic...eclecticism that works though.  I think there's a fine line between working and just a clutter of hodgepodge.  At least in my house anyway.  Because of this desire to stay modern and young I have found that I really like butterfly chairs.
(below, current arrangement of my living room)








My son thinks I like them only for their looks, and that they're not comfortable, but he's wrong.  When I sit in my new found chair, it's like a lounge chair for people who love yoga.

So, below I'm going to post some pics of my home in it's constant state of evolution.  Enjoy:

Two years ago.









Notice the steps...ugly, worn, ivory colored carpet...Yuck...doesn't work well with dogs and grandkids.




This pic actually is way a gorgeous pic that really didn't do the room justice on it's ugliness. Dirty carpet on the floor (I couldn't even move furniture to vacuum under the bed or dressers.  difficult to keep clean., boring paint color.

Okay, below the pics are from a year ago.  Notice the steps.  I totally tore the carpet off.  My husband freaked and said it would look "ghetto".  It was nerve wracking but I had a vision.  I loved that they were all wood, even though they weren't meant for "showing".  We didn't have enough money to have them re-carpeted, which I would have hated anyway, and we were too poor to have them professionally done.  I knew I could do something. Anything would have been better than the carpet.  So I ripped it off and found thick wood steps and of course, wood risers.  I would paint the risers white, and stain the wood a dark, shiny, color.  I calked all the parts where there were gaps, sanded all the paint off of the steps, prepped and began. I also stained the wood part of the banister to match the steps.  It took me a few days, but here they are after they were finished.  I LOVE them and see them as architectural.


Notice the blue paint.  I never really liked it at all but I tried.  I wanted something entirely different from my taupes, reds, wheats etc.  I should have stuck with what I really love.  But like I said, it's all a work in progress.  Also, notice the cobblers bench.  I had a beautiful coffee table I got on sale at Pottery Barn but it seemed to dominate the whole, small space of my living room.  I still wasn't totally happy with it all.

And below is our 2011 Christmas. The house all decked out and happy.






The chair above we pulled from our neighbor's garbage and painted it, gave it a cushion, and vwallla, new life.

So, now we just finished Christmas 2012.  I have done a lot of different things including getting rid of the old paint.  My husband and I laid a dark wood in our bedroom...(LOVE LOVE LOVE) and painted that room a beautiful, cheery, bright blue.  (LOVE LOVE LOVE).  Here are some pics.....



Soooo...notice the new color behind our faux fireplace.  Also a great new jute (?), or sisal (?) rug.  Our modern steel and red coffee table.  I like the look, it seems much younger and open, yet still eclectic, still me.


We had to buy a new ceiling fan. While my husband was cleaning the old one that he painted black, it just fell.  Yep, it just fell! Thank God he wasn't hurt. Also, don't you LOVE my new clock?  I found it at Pier I and kept going back to visit it.  I finally gave in when it went on sale and bought it.  A purchase I will always be glad that I made!


Nope, that is not a beautiful statue of a gorgeous, above average doggy.  It is my little Tasha whom I love with all my heart.  And yes, she is indeed, in our beloved dining table.  I love them both even where they are. Nothing much has changed in our dining room except we turn the table every now and then.  Someday (???) we really want to knock out the outside wall and enlarge our dining room which will enlarge our common space.


Just something to throw in...I LOVE wrapping packages.  I usually buy brown paper you use to wrap something to mail and then I also buy butcher paper.  it's much cheaper than formal gift wrap and you can do anything to dress it up.  I bought a cookie gun/pastry decorating kit at a garage sale for $2 and use the cookie cutters as stencils.  The white design on the brown package is an example of how it's done.The ribbon, which can be the most expensive, I bought most of it at Goodwill. We have an AMAZING Goodwill.  I also made my own gift tags which was so much fun.





I love my tree ornaments!!!!








Okay...on to the kitchen!!

When we moved here, the kitchen was basically builders grade.  You know, the orange oak cabinets with those dirty looking handles.  First thing that I did was buy some stain with polyurethane in, sand the cabinets, remove the handles and stain the cabinets to make them a chocolate color.  We bought simple, modern handles at Ikea and there ya have it.  However, we still had a grotty counter tops and the back-splash was almost non-existent.   The sink was AWFUL!  It was an off white color and would stain at the drop of coffee.  YUCK.  Not to mention the faucet and sink.  I really did try not to complain, but as soon as we could afford it, I was on it...and now...WOW  we have a beautiful granite counter, gorgeous travertine as a back-splash, and finally, finally, a huge, stainless sink.  We already had this funky faucet we bought years ago and didn't use.  It's one of a kind and rather industrial looking..Yep..I'm a happy, happy person.  We found a great stainless table on Craigslist and I recovered some authentic 1950's steel chairs in a cheery print with happy faces.








And of course we changed the harsh florescent light.  It's a good thing my husband used to be an electrician! AND, can you tell I'm very proud of my new little kitchen?  I am!


Well, I'm almost done if you've made it this far.  I need to mention that the two bedrooms in our main house (We have a little casita) were carpeted with the same dirty, off white carpet. We got rid of the carpet and tiled them to match the tile in our common areas.  So much cleaner!

This is the front room.  We bought a leather futon so the grandkids and whoever else can sleep in that room. We call it the "front tv room".


I love the wood shutters.  We bought those while in Long Beach visiting our son.  We paid $10 for two.  I brought them home and painted them.  I think they add architectural detail.


The back bedroom is our office/guestroom.  We got rid of the carpet in that room as well. It feels so clean now.














Upstairs is our, my husband and my, heavenly domain.  Out our beautiful windows is a fantastic view of the mountains and some red tile roofs.  It's great to wake up to this every morning.

Here is our blue bedroom with it's new, dark wood floor.  I sooo love it.






My handyman husband put in a great shelf in our small laundry room. Even the laundry area can't be ignored.


Last but not least, the outside of our home. We found the most beautiful wrought iron gates on Craigslist. We haven't been able to use them as gates yet and still, we have an abundance of them, so we propped one up in the front of the casita.  I love them!





Our front courtyard with more old wrought iron and a great little table.






So, this is the guest house, where you'll be staying. ;-) I'm hoping to get new carpet in here someday.  If someone isn't visiting this room isn't really in use.  It is specifically for guests to cozy in and be comfortable.  I fill it with goodies and beautiful toiletries, not to mention anything you may need for a headache, anything you need to style your hair and well..most anything.













Well, that's it for now.  I think this is the longest blog I've ever posted.  I usually spend my time venting and blogging my heart felt thoughts on my other blog; Thoughts and Words From the Heart.  But now, in my lazy jammie time, I love keeping you all updated on my castle.

Love and beautiful things to you all...Have a great, beautiful, comfortable new year.  xoxoxo