On the Table

I’ve been thinking a lot about patio/deck furniture recently, especially since the weather is warming up. Our current set is fine (comfortable & in great condition), but I’m very tempted to Craigslist/garage sale it and start over. I have no idea how much we’d be able to get for our set, but it’s $299.00 at Target.

our current set

If we had an unlimited budget I’d probably go with something like the CB2 Encore chairs and Darjeeling dining table. (I know these pieces aren’t meant for outdoor/patio use, but if we had an unlimited budget, who cares?) Since we shockingly </sarcasm> don’t have $1500 to spend on patio furniture, I’m considering chairs from CSNstores.com or Ikea.  The CSN set is $159.98 for two, and the Ikea ones are $49.99 each.

Left from CSNstores.com, right from Ikea

As far as tables, I’m debating between DIYing one, and buying something. If we opt to buy something, these are the styles that I like:

Top from Ikea, bottom left from Target, bottom right from Target 

I don’t want our set to be perfectly matching (that’s part of what bothers me about our set now), so I’d probably pair the CSN chairs with something like the Target Schou table (bottom left), or the Ikea table with the Ikea chairs.

If we were to build something, it would be similar to the Schou table, metal frame with reclaimed wood top. Kind of a table version of the Crate&Barrel Fulton desk, but with chunkier legs. I have dreams of having a friend weld the frame, but I might take the easy way out and use Ikea Moliden or Vika Lerberg legs with a reclaimed wood top. (Kind of like this desk except, y’know, table-like. And not with white legs.) Ana White has good designs, too, but I really like the metal&wood look.

Does anyone have any of the pieces we’re considering?

Not So Mellow Yellow

Ever since we changed up the curtains and added a new pillow to our master I’ve been wanting to add more goldenrod to the bedroom.

After seeing this tour linked on Apartment Therapy, I became convinced me that what I really need to do over the shoe cabinet (above this) is hunt down an ornate oval frame to go over the shoe cabinet.  We already have two mirrors in the bedroom, so I’d probably back the frame with screen  to hold my earrings.  We’ll see if that happens, I’ve been scouring eBay, Etsy, and a few thrift stores but I haven’t found anything yet. 

I also want to add a few goldenrod accessories to the dresser to help balance things out.  Maybe something like a laquered tray, or a bright picture frame.  Probably whatever I can find at HomeGoods or Goodwill and spray paint.

Oh, and after reading Russet Street Reno I am about 85% certain that I need to head to Ikea soon for some new bedside tables.  (Sara recently replaced her table with something else and you should go look at its cuteness!)  Don’t worry, I probably won’t paint them yellow– but I make no promises about a distressed finish blue.  (Distressed because with the recent jewelry holder addition I feel like the room needs more rustic.  If i wasn’t so in love with our bed I’d do a rustic headboard like these.)   I would love to add a chevron runner to our hallway like the one Sara has, but I don’t think West Elm has those anymore(my bad, they do still have it!) Helper Dog would have far too much fun sliding on it (do they make really, really sticky rug pads?)

Build-in Envy, Part 2

As I alluded to in my last post*, I’ve been rethinking the idea of the build-in in the library.  We were going to use Expedits, but I started having second thoughts about how that would look and those are “last chance” at Ikea now.  I know we can probably make our own build-in a lot cheaper than our former brilliant plan (of buying six Expedits), but I have no idea when we’re going to get to that.  What’s the line about the best laid plans…  (The real line, not the Eddie Izzard line involving mice putting all the cheese in the back of the Mini.**)

We are currently discussing the idea of making something that is sort of a cross between the CB2 3.14 shelf, the DIY version featured on AT, the Expedit and a build-in like the ones below in Kara Paslay’s bathroom & the living room of one of YHL’s house tours.  We like the idea of molding at the top & bottom, but we also like shelves that are not perfectly symmetrical.  The whole eventual process should be interesting, to say the least.

Left from AT, right from CB2

Left from Kara Paslay Designs, right from YHL

Other build-ins that I love are the one in Sara at Russet Street Reno’s den/woman cave, and of course we’ve all seen YHL’s painted bookcases.

*Ok, my last post was random and fueled by coffee, this one was random and spurred by tiredness & Eddie Izzard.  Oops.  Meatier, heartier posts soon.  Hopefully.

**Don’t sit there, there’s a mouse making a plan!

Tabling the Issue

Ever since we swapped the living room around in August we had been wanting to get the Hemnes Sofa Table from Ikea to make this area like a little entryway of sorts.  Granted, this part of the house is technically the back, but we often use this door when we walk the dogs or take a bike ride.  At the moment the compartments in the table are pretty disorganized, but we plan to store magazines, books, and maybe a shoe basket for shoes that tend to only get worn in the yard.  Down the line we may add a Stall shoe cabinet from Ikea behind the door for those shoes and the leashes that are hanging right now.  I’d also really love to add this rug from World Market, but probably not until the wood floor we bought goes down (I would need to Scotch Guard the heck out of it, of course – thanks dogs).  For now the rug my mom gave me for my birthday last year is hanging out there (after moving all around the house)

This is what the rest of the living room is looking like these days.  We of course still need to work on our curtains for the windows and the back door.

Does anyone else have an entryway somewhere other than next to their front door?

Living Room Curtains Revisited

Edit: After I posted this morning, the West Elm curtains sold out again (probably because YHL apparently wants them too, and reposted their new master mood board this morning).  Now I really, really need suggestions! 

For the year and a half that we’ve lived in our house, the living room windows have been bare.  This really didn’t bother us too much at first (you can’t really see through them from outside anyhow, since our house is off-grade), but recently it has been annoying me.  I chalk this up partly to the fact that our neighbor recently bought a chain saw and ended up cutting down a tree on the property line that had been making our backyard very lush and private.  (I think he bought the chain saw and then wanted to cut something down, so he attacked the poor, defenseless, shade-and-privacy-providing tree. Thanks, guy, now we can see your house from ours.  Ugh.)

I still have not taken a new picture.  The recliner is gone now.

Also, imagine less greenery in the third window from the left.

Since I had recently posted about wanting new curtains for the library and art room, a few people wondered where I’d hang the West Elm ones I mentioned when I confessed that I have fallen hardcore in love with graphic print curtains.  Well, as you may have guessed now, the ones I was considering were for the living room.  (And I envision them with bamboo blinds as well, sort of a la YHL’s old living room, minus the light-and-airy.)  When we discovered they were out of stock decided to use the library’s old curtains (more about its new curtains soon) until we found something that we a) LOVED and b) could afford.

Well, West Elm brought back the 84″ curtains (ok, technically they are allegedly going to be available 1/17).  Insert explative here.  Thankfully(ish) I still do not really want to buy eight 48 x 84 inch panels, even at $19.99 with free shipping.  Moving on…

These Vilmie curtains are $29.99 for two 57 x 98 inch panels, which makes my wallet cry a whole lot less.   I kind of love them, but I really wanted grey, especially with the accent wall I just painted (I haven’t done the trees yet, but I’ll try to post pictures of the grey soon).  I swear Ikea had a grey graphic print curtain that I LOVED but I guess they are gone-zo.

So, getting to my point…  Remember how I said not to recommed similar curtains?  I lied.  Pretty please with extra whip and sprinkles, help me find something similar to the West Elm curtains!  I canot stomach spending that much, my BFF RetailMeNot has failed me this time, and I am le tired of scouring The Interwebz (all the curtain options are running together).

PS- I really want these curtains from Anthro, but I am not paying $128 a panel because oh-my-god-do-you-know-how-much-that-is-for-eight-panels?! Insanity.

One Nightstand

As I mentioned here, we recently brought home two of my beloved Tarnby rugs.  Fortunately I can say that I am even more smitten with this rug now that we have it in our living room.  Unfortunately the second rug has remained rolled up in the guest room because just when we thought things were slowing down they started speeding up again.

I’ve been buried under a mound of Tylenol Cold and Kleenex drafting posts on the guest room mini makeover.  I’m tracking down a few receipts for the cost breakdown, so I decided to post this incredibly easy Malm nightstand hack while I work on that.

The idea was born when I saw a picture of a workspace made from a three or four Malm nightstands wall mounted next to each other.  The website for that hack was in Spanish, and it looked overcomplicated, but after seeing how Jen over at The House of Wood hung her headboard it seemed so obvious.  A french cleat.

After stumping the guys at Home Depot by asking for a french cleat (we overlooked it in the hardware section and they had no idea what one was) we used the hardware that attaches the Malm’s shelf to level this part of the cleat.

Then we screwed the other piece into the wall.  Since a lot of french cleats come with a handy built in level and drywall screws, all you need is a drill and whatever you’re hanging (unless you’re hanging it on a plaster wall, but that isn’t the case in our guest room).

Cost Breakdown
French Cleat: $14.97
Malm: $49.99

Total: $64.96

ZOMG

Things are starting to slow down around here. The CJ-7 runs, but is having axle worked on (long, not-related-to-house story possibly to be told later), we had a belated anniversary Date Night at one of our favorite restaurants on Friday, and thankfully my managers mentioned the words “minimum amount of overtime”. While the large paychecks were nice, not having any time to spend the money or work on the house was getting really old.  This weekend we took a Sunday break from football trip down to Home Decor Mecca — otherwise known as a city two hours from us that has an Ikea, a Crate and Barrel and (as recently discovered, and by “recently” I mean “today”) a Z Gallerie.  We bought this tea light holder, which looks great on the cleaned off coffee table with the box that holds our remotes in the living room.

Part of the reason we went to Ikea/etc was to finally get the Tarnby rug I’d been rug stalking at Ikea.  We checked the inventory and saw there were four in stock, so we decided it was time to put the generous anniversary gift from Robert’s parents towards the rug for the living room.  And then we bought one for the guest room, too.  Turns out you can fit two 5’11” x 8’2″ jute rugs in a Beetle.  Now the only question is, should we get this console table to go behind the sofa, or try to get one of the last remaining Expedit 5x5s?  What do y’all think?

Jeepiversary?

It’s been a slow week for home improvement at around here.  The closest thing to a project has been unloading the dishwasher, as we’ve been spending the past few nights (even our anniversary night) concentrating on getting our newest addition, an ’81 CJ-7, to our house.  Any spare time is spent eating, sleeping, and (for Robert) doing schoolwork.  Despite the fact that I’d like to mainly focus on the house, I’ll post pictures of the Jeep if anyone is interested.

Robert said he wants to work on the pallet project this weekend (woo hoo!), and I’m working on convincing him we need to go to Ikea to pick up a rug (yes, still rug stalking).

Until then, I will leave you with this teaser from our last trip to Ikea.

Please ignore the ugly phone cord box hanging out of the wall, that will be fixed later.

Easy Update: Picture Ledges

On a recent trip to Ikea we picked up three of these, because while we loved (the beginnings of) our asymmetrical arrangement in the library, we wanted to be able to change it up more easily.

The process of hanging the ledges was fairly self explanatory, we just used a level and then marked where to drill through the screw holes.  The main trick was to make sure the top ledge was directly above the bottom ledge.  Enter Robert’s homemade plumb bob (Robert…bob… oh the irony)

Yes, that is twine and an Anthro rosette. No that is not its final use.

This time he simply repeated the process with the level while hanging the plumb off the edge of the ledge this time and moving them until the twine hung straight down and touched the bottom shelf.

And like I said, we bought three ledges.

And to anyone who misses out asymmetrical arrangement, don’t worry, we still have to finish the other one mentioned here, and we have another one up our sleeves.

Total Cost: $45, and since it keeps us from having to patch nail holes when we want to move things around, it’s totally worth it.

Easy Update: Art Room Organization

Our Art Room is office space for both Robert and me, and although we aren’t currently lucky enough to work from home, the space still needs to be functional as a place to blog, create, and in Robert’s case do homework.  With those three functions taking place in one room, it can often get a little cluttered, so on our recent Ikea trip we picked up some things to rectify this situation.

Those of you reading since Day 1 probably recognize this photo.

We decided to get some (ironically named) Ekby Robert brackets, Ekby shelves, a Grundtal rail and s-hooks, and a couple of Asker containers.

Robert was excited to get started.

We started by putting the Grundatl rail together, sticking our magnetic level to it, and marking inside the screw holes once it was level on the wall.  We hung it will screws and wall anchors, because we like to be excessive.

Then we marked where we wanted the brackets to go on the shelf so that we could put the shelf together, level the whole thing on the wall, and mark where to attach the bracket.  It might seem like sort of a bass-ackwards way to go about it since we have to take the shelf back off to hang the brackets, but we decided that would work best for us.

After we had the bottom shelf hung, we simply used the tallest object we were planning to put on the shelf as a gauge as to where the top shelf should go, and repeated the process.

The whole process took about twenty minutes.

Cost Breakdown:
Ekby Robert Brackets: 7.50 each
Ekby Östen shelves: 4.99 each
Grundtal Rail: 8.99
Asker Container: 5.99 each
S-hooks: 2.99
Screws & Wall anchors: already owned

Total: 63.97