Lighting the Way

Thank you all for your well-wishes yesterday! I’m feeling much better now, and I’m turning my attention away from Grey’s Anatomy & How I Met Your Mother reruns and back to house-related topics, like exterior lighting.

It’s a subject I’ve touched on before, but we have yet to actually buy any. When we left off last time Robert and I had been planning on getting a couple of lights like the upper left for the backyard. Having looked at them in Lowe’s several times since then, we’ve decided  that we prefer the style of the  lower left light for the backyard (slash Robert used his veto power, and I agreed that the galvanized will look nice with the outdoor shower and eventual tank pool).

The light in the lower right is what we already have near the top of the driveway (we replaced it last year pre-blog when the old light began letting rain water in, which besides being generally unsafe was causing the bulb to shatter) and the upper right is what we are currently considering for the front porch. (Sidenote- we replaced the “boob” light from the former owners on pre-blog. Below is a super-old, super-crooked iPhone picture of our previous solution.) We also have these lights from Target strung across our porch.

cheap HomeGoods lantern turned porch light; worked like a charm for over a year

The  style we’re going with for the exterior of our house (at least for the front, but we’ll get to that later) is rustic & electic modern with traditional & Spanish influences*. Yes, that’s a mouthful. (Please, someone invent a design term for my style! If I have to coin a term it’s going to end up something like Dowisetrepla.)

So the question is: should our exterior lights on the front of the house coordinate with the ones in the backyard, or does it not matter? Generally speaking I’m a “buy what you love, the rest will fall into place” kind of person. I think the galvanized lights will fit better with the plan we have in mind for the backyard. We do have a corner lot, but for the most part you won’t be able to tell that the front and back lights are different styles.

What do you think? Do the front yard and backyard have to be cohesive? And also, does your design style mesh bewteen the interior & the exterior of your house or are they totally different?

*The direction of the backyard is a bit more rustic modern while the front of the house is (currently) more traditional. we’re working to make it more modern, with Spanish influences. (Both because of the area of town we live in, and the fact that we love some of the elements of Spanish houses, but more on that in another post.)

Undecided

I was at Target earlier today without Robert (which doesn’t happen very often) and saw this rug for $20.  Rather than stretch it out on the floor in the store and snap a pic to text him, I just decided to get it and we’d return it later if he hated it, especially since it was the last one.

Well, we can’t decide.  I think I like it, but sometimes I think it’s too brown.  Robert thinks he likes it, but isn’t sure either.

I thought that it might be the floor throwing us off, and finally had the idea to use some of the floor samples we have to give us an idea of what it would look like in the kitchen with something other than tile.  It probably also would have worked to just put the rug on the wood floor, but it’s a different color and I wanted to see it with the kitchen lighting.

What do y’all think?  Is the rug a winner or not?

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.

Panel Judges

Does anyone have Urban Outfitters curtains?  Robert and I are considering new curtains for the art room and the library because sometimes our blue and white Alvine Trad curtains from Ikea look a little too “granny”.

Woodland Garden Curtains from Urban Outfitters

Woodside Block Print Curtain from Urban Outfitters

If price weren’t an option I’d buy these in a heartbeat (the first one, although it would have to be shortened, for the art room and the second for the library).  The problem is that they are sold as single panels and we’d need three panels in the art room and five panels in the library.

I’ve also looked for curtains at Ikea, West Elm, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, Crate&Barrel, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Linens ‘n Things but nothing has really jumped out at me.  I’d love some opinions on UO curtains.

Mid-week Slump

In lieu of the real blog post (because the pictures are on a different computer), I am putting together a to do list section (mainly for myself) of projects that need to be tackled, and a question about the hutch for readers.  I’m thinking about moving the hutch back into the dining room space because I feel like it’s a little weird walking in the front door and seeing our china.  And also, when I walk past the hutch in this location it makes a nerve wracking nosie because the floor is off grade (I admit that I probably just need to get used to that noise, since the house is off grade).

Thinking about moving the hutch back over here. Thoughts?

In other news, I’m having one of those weeks where I sit down to write a blog post and end up paying Robert’s campus parking ticket and figuring out what classes he needs to take in spring instead.  It is almost at the point where we can stop saying he has two years of school left and start saying a year and a half (after what feels like years of  saying “two years left” this seems like a major accomplishment.  And in my mind’s eye when Robert graduates his dad will have a scotch and an air horn.)  I’m also having a week where I’m trying not to panic that I haven’t heard anything back about the exciting guest room news.  Sigh.  Maybe I jinxed it with my post?

Faux Brick or Faux Pas?

It’s no secret that I love these sconces, but that’s a story for another day.  Today I want to talk about the lovely white brick wall the sconces are hung on.

From West Elm

I love exposed brick walls in houses, I don’t care if it’s “overdone”, it’s one of the things I always wanted in a house (or even just a studio space).  Our house doesn’t have any brick walls (painted over or not), but I have been contemplating the thought of making a faux brick wall behind our tv and painting it white. 

I know there is some awful looking faux brick, but does it matter what quality it is since I want to paint it a nice, glossy white ?  I’ve seen some pretty expensive faux brick panels online, and I’ve contemplated brick tiles, and I’ve brainstormed some other ideas, now I need y’all to give me your opinion, faux real! (Ok, that was just bad…)  But seriously, should I figure out a way to faux brick the wall or curb my enthusiasm for exposed brick for 10-15 years until we build a garage with studio space above?

Is It Crazy That

Hello, slightly boring space.

Is it crazy that I want to paint the wall behind our second table in the living room and then paint white trees on it?

I’m thinking that I could probably freehand something like this fairly easily.
(image from etsy)

I’m leaning towards something like this, but with a — wait for it — grey wall (because I’m still on a grey kick).  Luckily I have a husband whose attitude towards paint is “if we hate it, we can paint over it” instead of being the kind of person who would freak out and act like I’ve ruined our house.  And he likes the idea of the grey and the trees, woohoo!

Question for Readers: Ceiling Fan vs Light

Our guest room is nearly done, but one of the things that still bugs me about it is the ceiling fan.

Don’t worry, this is just a placeholder that shows the fan.

I don’t think we can take it down because this room doesn’t get fantastic (you caught that, right?) airflow, being an addition and all (and we live in Florida).  I’m hoping the perfect ceiling fan will magically appear at Lowe’s, and be on sale, but I think that is kind of unlikely.  Maybe we should do something like what YHL did here?  Although, after the way we redid the lighting in the room the ceiling fan light isn’t really necessary.  Maybe we could get a simple (not hideous) fan without a light?  (They have to make those, right?)  Or should we just get a retro looking table fan and find/make a sweet ceiling light fixture?  Maybe the Fado pendant from Ikea?

Matthews Fan Co, image seen on Urban Grace Interiors

Fans like this are completely awesome, and completely out of our price range.  Also I doubt it’s the best option for the style of our room.  Something rustic yet modern would be perfect.  Now where do I find soemthing like that, or what do I make it out of?

Question for Reader: Dish Soap and Hand Soap

Dear The Interwebz,

From Mrs Meyers

I recently discovered that Bath & Body Works discontinued our favorite foaming hand soap, Wild Honeysuckle.  Maybe this is old news (it probably is, since I can’t even find a picture to post), but because I only ever go in B&BW when 1) we run out of soap, 2) they have sales and/or 3) when I’m with Emiley.  And I say “when we run out of soap” as if we buy their soap a lot, which we don’t, we just bought four bottles the last time we were there and it was on sale and it took us awhile to use all of since we’re never home.  But it did smell really, really good, so we were kind of addicted while it lasted.

Anyway, point is, we need a new hand soap. We’re trying to go greener, so I’m pretending not to be too crushed about the loss of my BFF Wild Honeysuckle, and I’m thinking about getting some variety of Dr Bronner’s soap, but I have never seen any in person so I wouldn’t know what scent to buy.  (Or maybe I have seen it at Whole Foods and just don’t remember?)

Which brings me to my next point!  We also just ran out of our unscented Mrs Meyer’s dish soap that we bought a while back at TJ Maxx (along with our Geranium scented surface wipes), and when I went to their website to browse their products neither of those were on the site.  I assume this is because things go to TJ Maxx to die when they’re being phased out, but my question is, are they phasing out my beloved Geranium altogether, or just in surface wipes?  I saw an article in O at Home (yes, it was from a two year old magazine, I got it from my mom, we trade magazines and then leave them in waiting rooms so that someone else won’t be waiting for their friend to have a c-section and be forced to read “Loving Your Grandbaby”, but I digress) about the maker of Mrs Meyer’s and how supposedly people don’t like to clean with floral scents, so now I’m scared!  Hold me!

Why does everything I like get discontinued?!  I live in Florida, of course I like floral scents!  (Ok, maybe that was a stretch, even with the Spanish meaning and whatever.)

The title of this post should probably just be “Old News” or “Behind the Times”.  Please, five readers, inform me!  Is Geranium going away?  What hand soap do you use?  Am I insane for liking floral scented soap?

XO,
Cait

To Paint, or Not to Paint?

We all know that painted wood is a trend right now, but there are certain pieces of furniture in our house that I would never think of taking a paint brush to.

Like my grandmother’s dresser,

my great-grandmother’s cedar chest,

and my grandparents’ tv console.

There are also other pieces that I can’t help but consider painting.

Our liquor cabinet.

While mismatched wood doesn’t usually bother me,  I’ve been thinking that our liquor cabinet would look nice in grey.  Maybe the same grey as the hutch. What are your thoughts? Should I leave it as-in or paint it?

Edit: Ok, the verdict is that parts of the liquor cabinet are real wood, and parts are particle board. Does that change anyone’s opinion?