Dining Room Project: Complete!

Here’s some pics!!

BEFORE

After - the final "Dining Room Project" was the 10 frame gallery on the back wall.

Another shot

The frames include black and white pictures of some of our favorite artists (Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Aerosmith, Ramones) and lyrics from some of our favorite songs (You're My Best Friend, So Happy Together, Banana Pancakes and Here Comes the Sun).

Some close ups....

Still on a bit of a hiatus

There's so much we have here ready to do but time has not been on our side! At the earliest we'll do some next weekend as this weekend we will be with family and at Austin's grandmother's visitation/funeral... then Austin flies out Sunday to Thursday for work so... it's definitely going to be slow going as we like to do it all together. (especially when it comes to hanging things... I can't do it without him!!).

So... more good things are to come but it will be a while!!

I know, I know... where have I been??

This always happens. I get the buzz. I do a bunch of shit. Then NOTHING. I think the problem is that we've lost momentum. I'll see if I can get Austin to hang some shelves tonight in the half bath. Just for the blog... :)

LOVE my New Euros!

Yay for West Elm, and for Devon for getting these pillows, introducing me, and getting me a GREAT deal. I LOVE them!!

Do you like it better like this?! One brown pillow only....



OR like this, with the little pillow, too?!

I think the little pillow may not be little enough. :(

Merry Christmas to Me!!! And Austin of course... :) hehe

I'm loving it. I made about 22 meals yesterday and stocked it up. I think it's going to be SO GREAT! Now I just want the other 3 in stainless.... hmmm. :)

A New Housekeeper!

Taize just came over for a walk through, to give a quote, etc. LOVE her. She is adorable and so sweet. Reuben loved her, too. And she even hugged me when she left - love fellow huggers!

She will start next week - WOO! And, I think she's going to do a great job - she is very into details and was pointing out lots of things that weren't cleaned properly (by her standards). She's too cute - so happy to have her - YAY. Thanks for the great rec mom - she says you're SO sweet!

In other news, my fridge is not coming today and i've been all over them and still haven't heard about tomorrow. GRRRR.

Hall Closet... Slowly but Surely

The wine rack is in.

The hooks are put together.

The umbrella stand is put together.

Now we need to hang the two shelves and hang the hooks... then I need to find some accents (galvanized buckets; cubes, etc.)

Maybe tonight? I don't know. My day sucked.

Hall Closet Items...

It's coming together! In the meantime, check out what i'm going to go pick up today at Ikea!

Three of these hook sets - love them! Only $10 each!



Two of these shelves - only $6 each!



Four of these brackets - only $4 each!

One umbrella stand $15

All of these items, as well as a galvanized bucket from Ace Hardware (for shoes) and a few baskets for the shelves will be it! Well, this will be in there, too.

Silver wine rack

I think the black/silver stuff will look good with this wine rack! I, personally, didn't want to have the wine rack in there, but Austin really wanted it in there and he pretty much lets me do what I want when it comes to home decor so I said no problem! :)

New Euros for the Master - woo!

I copied my sister and got these West Elm pillows! Mine are like the light brown one in the front/right in a 24"x24" size - Euros!

Another shot... LOVE!

A close up on the color we chose!


I’ve been meaning to replace the swirl Euros in my bedroom – and she got these and I LOVE THEM! I actually like the other side better – it’s burlapish. But I also like the corduroy side – it’s super soft and like Chenille I think – love! So on to the amazing sale…the pillow covers were $28 each – so $56. However, they were on sale for $25 so $50. And, I had design dollars, basically a $25 gift certificate, so $25 for TWO West Elm Euro pillows! So I try to order online but need to use my West Elm credit card to be able to use the design dollars. I can’t find the card anywhere. So I call, and they’re on a “phone sale” so they’re $20 each – so $40 with $25 off so $15. However, free shipping didn’t apply on this item, so add $8 to $23. I ended up getting them with tax included for $25 – WOO! I can’t wait to see them!

In other news:

• We wanted to put together the other ladder shelf for Austin’s office but we couldn’t find the hardware. Found it! Putting it together today.
• We cleaned out the hall closet (which was how we found the hardware0 - it's now TOTALLY EMPTY. I also worked with Austin and we put together the final plans for it. I’ll post tomorrow – LOVE IT! I’m going to hit up Ikea tomorrow to get everything.
• I’m working on the dining room project today – WOO!

Thanks again, Dev, for telling me about this great find - you rock!!

One Stainless Appliance Down.... 3 to go!

This is mine. Or at least it will be on Thursday when it's delivered, and officially next month when Amex sends me the bill and we pay it. Whatever. It's mine. I mean ours. Of course. hehe

Yes, we went for the Samsung french door stainless fridge - hello 26 cubic feet of food storage. This model is the RF268ABRS... here's a back story of why I ended up with this slightly out of no where.

• Austin found it on sale for $1,400 at Best Buy, Sears and Lowe's through Slickdeals (originally $2,200) for Black Friday.
• Me, mom and Dev were sitting around on Black Friday chillin'. I mentioned it. Mom told me to go buy it at that amazing price and Devon said she would go with. We left.
• Best Buy: there is a sign on it - it's not $1,400. THAT was an error. The white one is $1,400... stainless is $1,700. But Sears has it at $1,400. I prove it. He calls to price match and they say no price matching on Black Friday. We leave.
• Sears: it's $1,700. We show him the ad. He says it's white. We are like um, no, it's stainless. He says the model # (RF268ABRS) is for stainless... so even though the picture is stainless the white is what's $1,400. We leave. Pissed off.
• Lowe's: it's $2,400. Wah??? The guy says he'll price match the $1,700, but that the model they have is better than the one's at Best Buy/Sears - it has two icemakers (as opposed to just the one in the door). I don't need two icemakers. I tell him this. He says I do, and makes a good point. So he says this one is $2,400 ($200 more than the other one). However, he'll give me the $1,700 price. At this point, i'm like well... $1,700 is still a $500 savings... but now it's a $700 savings and I get an extra icemaker for free. Shipping is free. Installation is free.
• I buy it - $1,825 out the door for a $2,400 fridge (would have been $2,568 with tax) - so a cost savings of $743.
• WOW. I'm happy. I love it. I love that it will really fill the fridge space our house has. I love the ice/water in the door. I love the digital screen. I love the french doors. I'm just LOVING it.
• When does it arrive? Thursday - the first day available which so happened to be my work from home day. LOVELY.

I'm still on a total rug cloud... swoon... but seriously - a fridge?! I'm PUMPED. Now it's time to begin researching the stove, dishwasher and microwave. No, I won't be buying Samsung. But I will get the other three in the same suite/brand!

I'll post pics once it's in. I. Can't. Wait.

Rugs... And Lots of 'Em Thanks to Devon + PB

So… my rug was delivered today around 1:30 p.m. I was SO excited. My sister was even over and couldn’t wait to see it, too. The guy takes it out of the fedex truck and I’m like oh shiz… it’s THIN. He takes it in, leaves and I roll it out and it’s WAY too thin, not at all what I had in mind. More like an outdoor rug. Total FAIL. My sister’s like come on, we’re going to the Pottery Barn Outlet now! So we hop in her SUV and ride up to the outlets.

I find one I LOVE for the pool table area and I’m still looking and looking and then they come over and say an additional 30% off all rugs. Then, a guy says if you go to the food court you can get a 20% one item at Pottery Barn… um, that’s it! We start pulling out so many rugs. I ended up with FOUR rugs:

1. Pool table area: 8x10 Natural Stripes Rug; Originally $549; on sale for $200, with 30% off… $140!


2. Dining room: 8x10 Chanille Rug; Originally $400; on sale for $250, with 30% off AND $20 off… $140!


3. Living room: 5x8 Links Rug; Originally $429; on sale for $130, with 30% off…$91!


4. Entryway: 3x5 Links Rug; Originally $179; on sale for $34, with 30% off….$24!

So, yes, I got FOUR Pottery Barn rugs for $395, with 7% tax a grand total of: $422.65. And, I had a leftover wedding gift card for $58.14… make that grand total: $364.51.

The other rug (the one that I ordered but was thin – blah) was $350 ($374.50 with tax). So yes, I got FOUR rugs for $10 less than the one I didn’t even like and isn’t nearly as nice/high quality as the Pottery Barn ones. I feel SO lucky today – yesss. So, here’s pics… I hope you like as much as we do!!

Ah... who doesn't love a fabulous sale?!! Clearly i'm still on a shopping high!


The seating area/pool table area rug and the new side tables!

The new dining room rug!

The new den rug (same as entry way rug - just a larger size!)

Entry way rug (smaller version of livign room rug)

Dining Room Idea...

So me and Austin thought about doing metal birds, white ones, on the long wall. We can't find them anywhere. And i'm slightly worried it's too modern for the rest of the house. :(

Then we thought of art... art is expensive. They're nothing we like that much to spend the $.

So I saw this at Ikea and took a picture. I liked the look of it.



I shared it with Austin, and while he liked it, we agreed that for us to do something similar, we needed:

• Two rows of five rather than three because of the woodwork in the dining room.
• We needed birch not silver - silver stuck out too much and it would be the only silver thing in our house aside from my office.
• We wanted to put music in it. Kind of weird, but I love the idea of black and whites of our favorite musicians with lyrics in other frames staggered similar to the above.
• For the pictures, we talked about buying this book - only $20 at Barnes and Noble, and framing pics from it.
• The frames are 17"x13", which I think is a good size, and only $10 each so we can do the whole wall for $120 + tax! (which, when I go to Ikea today, i'm taking back two throws and three gallery lights, which cost $95 before tax so REALLY i'm only spending $25 + tax... right? haha

K - hope you like the ideas!

If you have thoughts on the filler or think music in the dining room is a disconnect - holla! I'd love to hear your feedback!

Good News + Bad News

Good News: I got the house bug again - yay!
Bad News: I haven't taken any pictures or really finished any projects.

Good News: I bought new end tables for the seating area!
Bad News: They need to be on a rug... and I looked everywhere for a rug.

Good News: I found a rug and bought it today!
Bad News: It won't be delievered until "2-3 weeks."

Sigh.

Here is a photo of the end tables and of the rug. Hopefully in 2-3 weeks you can see the final product!

I got this in an 8 x 11... I'm nervous I'll hate it in person! haha But they did free shipping and to take it back I just have to take it to the store which is, conveniently, 15 minutes from my office and my house!

The end tables. LOVE them. They're already out but I think they'll look a bazillion times better once they're on the rug above!

Have you done anything to your homes lately? My list of wants is getting longer and longer! Notice I said wants not needs. Blah!

Hooks, Hooks and more Hooks

This is... hmmm... not my taste. So ignore the floor, and ignore the bench/basket as these don't make sense for me. However, I like the 2 rows of hooks but here they make sense as they're on horizontal boards. Lucky ducks! These are fancy hooks, too. I think i'm going for more casual hooks. Must keep thinking... this did help though.

Another Closet Idea

Ignore the hat rack, but I want to do something like this. Rack with shelf, space to hang (with hangers or with just hooks), and something on the bottom. Maybe shelves? We can put shoes down there? I dunno - I think this looks nice and clean. (Ikea, of course).

Buckets!

This inspires me to use galvanized buckets - cute, cute! They're officially added to my inspiration board (in progress). :)

Closet Dimensions

I Austin took the measurements! j/k It was Austin. Anyway, it's 41" wide, 64" long and.... ooopsie, didn't write down height. I'll get that. I can't do shelves deeper than 8.5", unless I do them on the back wall. Hmmm not what I had in mind. Must rethink. Sigh. I'm putting way too much time into this...

I Still Need to Measure the Closet...

And the more I think about it the more i'm anti-wine rack. Hmmmm.

My Eyes are Bigger than my Ideas

So.... I worked on the hall closet a lot yesterday. Like... a whole lot. I had tons of ideas (mostly Ikea) and made some pretty solid decisions. I'm all pumped to get home and measure the closet. Austin opens the door and i'm like oh my. He's like what. I'm like in my head this room was HUGE. The ceiling was higher this wall went back farther and so did that one. I'm going to have to make some edits...

Does this happen to you? Are rooms just HUGE in your head and then you're like WTF was I thinking?! LOL

Hall Closet Ideas... wine rack??

So i'm not doing great with this whole closet thing... eek! Oh well - i'm all over it and vow to post every day this week! Anywho - this clearly isn't a closet. But this 'mud room' look is what i'm going for. I LOVE the hanging cubbies with the hooks below it and maybe a shoe rack below it? (not for guests - i'm fine with them having shoes on - but for me and Austin to keep flip flops/old tennis shoes/etc. by the door for when we take Reuben out, etc.). Also, thanks to your comments, I can use this room/the cubbies for:

• Reuben's extra leash/collar; treats for downstairs
• A beach bag filled with towels/sun screen for when we go across the street
• Two blankets (for when we sit outside - like to watch TV like the other weekend)
• Some sweatshirts (for again, outside)
• Tennis rackets/tennis balls (yes, I want to start playing again and it's cooling off and the court is across the street - i'm in!
• Toilet paper (for the guest bath)

Also, when we were in Birmingham Austin's mom offered us these wine racks. She had 3 - two big and one smaller. Austin liked the idea of having the smaller one in there. I'm open to it -what do you think? It looks JUST like this one - i'd say it's about 4' tall:

Garage Ikea Ideas!

Yes, i've already gotten sidetracked. In my quest to find organized hall closets I stumbled on this organized garage from Ikea. Then I found more, but kept coming back to this one (probably because each "heavy duty" shelving unit is only $30). What do you think? I would love to get these and some bins to get the garage organized before it becomes a catch-all!

October 2009: The Month of Closets

Yes, you heard it here first. Nursery month is officially over and closet month is just now getting started! Why closet month? Well, first of all, closets rock hard. They do. AND one of my goals this month (per my fittingbackin blog) is to clean out the hall closet (downstairs near front door). I envision it empty, but with matching hangers, shelves, hooks, etc. - for guests? I dunno! I need to see what's out there so I'll know EXACTLY what to get and how it will look once I install what I get. I think this has been my reluctance with getting started on this project - not knowing what I want the final results to look like. So, let the games begin!! A few things to note:

• Our hall closet is a walk-in closet.
• It currently has one shelf/rod at the far back.
• That's about it!

Things I want it to be able to do:

• store guest jackets (long space)
• store guest purses (shelves? cubbies?)

I think that's it? Maybe have additional hidden storage? I dunno... am I missing something? What else are they supposed to do?

Cute Teel, Green, White & Black Girl Nursery

I love lots of things about this room!

• The light is awesome, and of course polka dots - i'm in!
• The window treatments with the valance are adorable.
• The LONE wall decal looks nice.
• I like the color palette.'
• I like the print on the pillow and blanket, and how she combined prints to make a unique look.
• I LOVE all of the pillows in the crib, especially the dog.

Things i'm not feeling...

• It's cluttered to me - too much stuff everywhere (pics I didn't include showed small pieces of white furniture everwhere - eek!
• Is that rug brown? If so - i'm not a fan.
• The clothes rack by the crib seems like a waste - would you use that?
• I'm not a fan of the bedding - the stripes and the ribbons - not for me.

Overall - I think she did a GREAT job - but for me, I would need to edit it... too much for a small space!

Modern, Clean, Colorful Bedding

Loving this bedding - so modern and clean, but yet colorful! Would be easy to find curtains and solid pillows that coordinate. Thoughts?!

Awesome Bedding

Awesome bedding! So from a distance it's like okay - brown, green yellow.... nice.

But upon closer inspection it's freaking mushrooms! Love it! "Retro Mushrooms" they say - whateva - I love it!

hehe