A really good friend is all you need (and some paint)

I have an ah-mazing friend who supports my not-so-random bouts of insanity. Not long ago I mentioned that I was ga-ga over everything from Dana's Everything Room... one of my favorite parts of that room, though, was the paint color.

Image from Dana's blog, House*Tweaking

The color is Besalt from the Clark and Kensington line at Ace Hardware. While I have heard of Ace Hardware, I had no idea where one existed. So over a lunch break I Googled the closest address and then drove there... only to find that the store didn't exist in that location. If you ask me, if you go to the trouble to Google something and drive there, it ought to have the decency to be there!  In any case, I said something along these lines to a friend of mine (ok, maybe I said that exact thing...) and she quickly Googled Ace Hardware and saw a location that was five minutes from her house. She offered to stop by and pick me up a quart of the paint.  Isn't that Ahhh-mazing!?!

The next day I was the proud momma of this: 

Oh, yes. But now, I have a dilemma. I'm not sure where to put it. I would love to make my dining room mirror a little bit of Dana's room. I've always had the plan to do a wall of built-ins with two tall pantries and a storage console in the middle, on my dining room wall. With all the light upstairs, the room can handle the dark color.  And I also would love to, someday soon, do a small frame/wall partition between my living room and dining room (because while I am a fan of open concept, I am not a fan of open concept. I need some division here, people!!) But that is most likely not going to happen in 2013. So right now, with no separation between the dining room and living room, I do not have a good starting/stopping point for Besalt. 

I also recently stumbled across a kitchen that has me a little more intrigued than a simple white kitchen, and when I saw this kitchen, I immediately thought "wow, that would really look good with a dining room painted in Besalt." 

Images from the March 2013 issue of Canadian House & Home 

The kitchen has some of the basic concepts I have been wanting to do with my kitchen: white cabinets, black counters, stainless steel... (oh yes, and let's not ignore that uber-cute black and white striped rug....) But what I really like about it is they also added a warm element of wood. And that rustic pendant light had me at hello. But can you see it too--a kitchen with those elements right next to a dining room with the Besalt paint and white cabinetry?!?!

The problem is, as I mentioned, I don't have the separation between my dining room and my living room. So were I to Besalt my house, I would actually have to paint an accent wall along the long wall in my living room. Which... would be fine... BUT... it would mean re-painting the entire upstairs (including some very tall 13' entry walls...) since the current color on the walls (Benjamin Moore's Titanium) doesn't jibe very well with Besalt.  Welcome to split-level living, people. I'm not too thrilled to rush into doing that. 

I also love BM's Titanium... you  might remember from an earlier post that my bedroom started out with Titanium, then the color moved into the upper level living area (Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room).. and now... the color may be moving downstairs. Is that insane? That might be insane. But it SOUNDS logical when you consider that my upstairs area has lots of windows and light and can support a dark color, and my lower level has only one window in the Media Room. So really, downstairs needs a light color. 

The only thing is... there is already a coat of paint downstairs that is very lovely--Behr's Southern Breeze. I'm surprisingly reluctant to paint over it. 

Here is the paint palette currently happening in my house: 

1.)  Benjamin Moore's Titanium #2141-60: upstairs living area (Dining Room, Living Room, Hallway)

2.) Benjamin Moore's River Blue #2057-10: Chevron Wall in Kitchen, accent furniture 

3.) Behr's Southern Breeze #450E-3: downstairs Media Room

4.) Martha Stewart Living Lamb #MSL225: Doors and Trim

So now I have a decision to make, obviously...on whether or not Titanium moves downstairs and Besalt moves in. And I have to make this decision fairly soon because we will be looking to start renovations of my Media Room fairly soon here. I did paint a quick one-coat sample of Besalt on my dining room wall: 

(sorry, once again poor lighting and an inept photographer can't capture the color very well... next time I crack the paint can open I'll make a paint chip and scan it in!) 

What do you think, should Besalt move in? 

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of a project I started this weekend...

Stay tuned to see what color I paint it! 

Adding Texture

Lately I've been seeing grass cloth all over. It intrigues me. So the other day I was at Walmart, and I spied this:

It's contact paper, typically used for lining shelves, but it was the perfect color and texture of "grass cloth" (just super cushy and soft). So I grabbed a few rolls and also swung through the hardware isle and picked up a few packs of the small Command Strips. 

picture from www.comand.com 

Then I attacked my bookshelves. I removed all the books and knick-knacks from the shelves, dusted them  and then measured the size of the back of each shelf. Working one by one, I measured the contact paper and cut it out to size.  Then, once I had the sheet of contact paper cut to size, I slapped one little Command Strip on each of the corners. Then I tacked it up to the back of the shelf. 

What I really liked about the paper is that it actually helped hide the little lines that run down the middle of the shelf backs, since these were fairly cheap bookshelves from Target roughly ten years ago. They are starting to show their age, so I had thought a little paint might revive them, until I stumbled upon this idea. It's definitely not long-term, but for the short term, it's a nice little touch. 

I really need to get a better camera. And take some photography lessons.  I actually dropped my camera while taking snapshots of this project. I'm afraid my camera is not too happy with me anymore and it doesn't like to focus now... as you can see from the photo below.  Le sigh. Looks like I'll be taking pictures with my i-phone until I can replace the camera!

But I'm including this photo since it's the only one I took of the shelves showing one completed and one not completed.... it's important to note that at this point I got lazy. Once I loaded up the completed shelf with the books, I started doing one shelf at a time. Remove the books, paper the back, place the books back; do the same with the next shelf. It kept the mess a little more contained. Finally, I was done! 

As you can probably see in the first picture, the books cover up most of my hard work (boooo!) but when you see them in person it looks a little bit more classy than the cheap backs that were showing previously. All in all, not bad for $15 worth of supplies and an hour's worth of time.  

A New Kitchen Rug!

My new kitchen rug came in the mail the other day! I have been looking for a rug for my kitchen floor for a long time now.  Most "kitchen" rugs are very small little rectangles that only "fit" beneath a kitchen sink. But those little rectangles do not do such a super job of protecting my floors from water. See, I have a dishwasher that doesn't dry too well. Every time I unload the dishwasher, there is water still on some of the dishes. So when I take them out to dry and put away, water drips on the floor. So I knew I needed a rug that would fit beneath the dishwasher and sink area since that is where I do my unloading/drying.

So I brought up a rug I had purchased last year,  from Joss and Main.

I quickly realized with my bold chevron wall that the rug didn't work with the wall. So I removed the rug and kept looking for a viable option. I kept looking at many of the Indoor/Outdoor options on Ballard Designs, but they were sold out of the pattern in the sizes I liked. Enter the Braided Jute Rug.

Braided Jute Rug from Ballard Designs

I've never had a Sisal or Jute rug in my house because I am all about softness and from reviews, I assumed that Jute rugs felt like Sisal rugs. Translated: scratchy and itchy and definitely not comfy on bare feet. (Because I hate socks, slippers, shoes, etc.)  But I read the reviews and softness was mentioned, and the only thing that had me hesitating to purchase was the fact that a couple reviewers said the rug sheds often and you should expect to vacuum daily. (Boy, talk about a turn-off. I don't think I see my vacuum but twice a month...)  But then I saw the magic words-Sale! The size I wanted was available for only $60. Sold.

The rug came yesterday. I was a little worried about the rug because when I pulled it out of the bag, the rug backing was damp. I don't know if the delivery guy had it sitting in the snow or if it was sitting in the warehouse accumulating moisture, but the rug was damp and had a bit of a smell to it. So I turned it over so the bottom was face-up and hauled out my blow-dryer and gave it a good dry. (Insanity, you may say, but I was desperate to see the rug face-up and didn't want the wet pad to touch my floor!)  Once it was all dry, I flipped her over and there she lays.

The rug is soft. Bumpy, too, like getting a little foot massage every time you walk on it. And, though it's hard to tell with the lighting in the picture, the color plays very well with the floors. I got the Natural color and it has some darker browns woven into it when you look up close. In pictures, you can see a couple stripes in the weave (which one reviewer did mention), but it's really not noticeable when you are looking at it (well, if you specifically stare at the spot you may see the stripes..but I like stripes so really, I'm not offended.)  What I like about it is that it plays nice with the wall. There's no fighting going on between patterns or color. It also brings some rustic texture into my kitchen, and that, I like.

Also, I tested it out by unloading the dishwasher. There were NO water drips for me to clean up. I call that a successful purchase!

Creating a Gallery Wall

Gallery walls are all the rage right now. I've had them a time or two in the past--in fact, I have two tubs full of picture frames-white, black, silver. The thing is, the frame styles are very traditional. Because that used to be my style before I evolved into this rustic-modern-loving-gal. But, as I mentioned in a previous post, I got inspired by Dana from House*Tweaking. This image below is from Dana's "everything room."

I love everything about it--the dark charcoal upper walls, the white lower paneling, the credenza, the Hoyne pendant... Dana, let's be friends and then it won't be weird if I camp out in your everything room and just drool. But I digress. Let's take a peek through the Hoyne pendant and look at what is behind it. A gallery wall!

This one struck me a slightly different than my previous gallery walls--not traditional at all. The frames are flat and skinny--more modern in appearance.  What I truly liked about this gallery wall is the play of the rustic picture frames and the silver frames with burlap mats (at least  it looks burlapy!)  Dana was kind enough to share her sources on her blog--the rustic frames I liked so much were from Target (Threshold Picture Frame), and the silver frames were from West Elm (Gallery Frames-Antique Silver).   We don't have a West Elm here, but we do have Target so I ran to Target and grabbed a few of the rustic frames.

Then I assembled a hodge-podge of items I had around the house to create a gallery wall. Here are the progress shots:

And please, ignore the mess around the frames. As you can see, I just took different items I owned and tried to make it asymmetrically pleasing.  Finally, I got tired of messing around with it on the floor and just started tacking them up on the wall.  And this is where I tell you I made a new best friend:

This, my friends, is the Hang & Level. I picked it up at Target but online it says it is also available at Home Depot. This little bad boy is such a genius. Basically, you use one of the 3 little hooks on the bottom to hang your picture frame on, you hold it at the top to move the picture around and ensure it is level. When you have it where you want it to be, keep holding the tool on the wall and remove the picture from the tool. Then press gently on the the little button of the peg you initially hung your picture on. What it does is makes a small dent in the wall--the perfect spot to start hammering your nail in. Brilliant, really.

I will say however, it gets tricky to use with a gallery wall--especially if you are like me and just eyeballing the arrangement on the wall. The one problem I kept running into was the pictures I already had hung on the upper wall interfered with using the Hang & Level when it came to trying to place the pictures on the lower portion of the wall. The Level is so long that you can't hold the level to the top of the wall to position the lower pictures perfectly because the frames were up there. And I couldn't easily remove the top frames because I needed their placement to determine where the lower frames would look best. The other flaw I noticed is with heavy picture frames, it got  tricky to hold the level at the top knob and support the weight of the picture frame while trying to ensure it is level. But I am scrawny, so this might not be a problem for anyone of normal weight.

After a bit of bonding with my new pal, I reached a temporarily satisfying arrangement. I say temporary because I feel it needs more. For one thing, I don't have any of the West Elm Silver frames that I loved so much, and for another thing, I feel it needs some smaller, square frames or pieces to balance it out. Right now there are very large pictures/frames up that it needs something smaller to balance it perfectly I also am not crazy about the lamp poking up in the middle of the gap. I expect some re-arranging to happen in the near future. I also have plans to change up the console beneath.  That said, without further ado, here is my new gallery wall.

What do you think? 

Unplugging from it All

This past weekend, my parents, Peyton and I took a road trip to Minneapolis. Our targets: the Mega Mall, the Radisson Water Park of America, and Ikea. Warning-this post is long! Back in January, Peyton and I planned to have a weekend trip to the Mega Mall so she could spend her birthday money at the American Girl store. We thought we could make it a little birthday trip for the two of us since both of our birthdays were in January.  My mom then suggested the indoor Water Park of America at the Radisson Hotel. I was hooked, but we were bummed to find that the hotel was booked up to March. So we reserved a room for March and have been waiting patiently ever since.

Our first stop was the American Girl store because Peyton was a little less patient once we arrived at the mall.  So in we went and she bought the new doll of the year, Saige and her little dog. Then we browsed the mall and did a little shopping to kill time until we could go check in at the hotel. We were all anxious to go to the indoor Water Park!

Once we reached check-in at the hotel it was a madhouse. Everyone checks in at 4pm, so there was a very long check-in line... and apparently a stampede to the Water Park because there was another long line once we got to the room and got our suits on. But wait, let me back up a little here. We checked in and hauled our bags to the elevator to go up to our room on the third floor. There were a lot of half-nekkid people in the elevators and waiting area.  Cue discomfort. I say half-nekkid because they were wearing their swim-suits. No cover-ups. It was a real struggle for me not to put my hands over my eyes and screech that we were in a public place, people, put some clothes on!  Fast-forward an hour and I myself was doing the half nekkid dance in an elevator. Cue more discomfort.  Then we got to the line. The very long line.

Here is the thing--the Water Park is open to the public in the evenings, and on a Saturday night it was packed. So packed, in fact, that there weren't any water tubes left to use. Which meant we couldn't do the water slides and we couldn't do the lazy river. It was very frustrating. We were able to swim in the pool and, swim in the Wave pool (though it was jammed full of people who did have the tubes!) and bask in the hot tub. So I basked in the hot tub. Ah, bliss.

It was the next morning that the Water Park redeemed itself to us. The hotel opens the Water Park to guests only from 9-11 a.m.. And yes, there was still a long line to get into the Water Park, but we got TWO water tubes (ah, bliss).  We did the lazy river (repeatedly), basked in the hot tub (ah, more bliss), swam in the Wave Pool, and we did this:

Radisson Hotel Image found here

After a couple of hours at the Water Park, we packed up, checked out and went back to the Mega Mall. I really wanted to purchase a skirt and shirt I had seen in Athleta the prior day at the mall, and Peyton wanted to see the crabs. There was a little kiosk in the mall with Hawaii Crabs and they sell little hermit crabs. When we walked by we stopped to look and Peyton got to hold one. The girl is such an animal lover that she thoroughly got a kick out of it.  

Let me say a little bit here about Athleta. This is a store I had never heard of before. My mom wanted to hunt it down on the first day because she was looking for a pair of board shorts she had seen in their magazine.  I walked in the store and my head started shrieking out warning bells-- "danger, danger-exercise clothes--this store is too healthy!!" I really wanted to do a 360-degree exit right out the store but I stuck with my mom. Apparently, they sell women's yoga clothing, and it wasn't long before I was doing my little touch test on a few clothing items that caught my eye. MAN! Some of their clothes are so soft!!! I saw three things I wanted, but there was a long line to the fitting room and the prices were a little high. Particularly as I wasn't sure if the items were things I would wear anywhere but home. On day two, I decided I really did want to try them on, so back to the store we went and I tried them on. Two of the items I didn't like, but I did end up purchasing the skirt and a soft gray cardigan. 

Skinny Shadow Skirt

Haven Wrap

Then, we went to Ikea. A few  years ago we went to the grand opening of Ikea in Minneapolis, and with long lines we were only able to do a walk-through of the upper showroom level. This time, we were able to go through the Marketplace. You can buy all sorts of really cheap stuff there--and it was pretty easy for me to be a relatively good girl because all of the things I really wanted were furniture pieces that definitely wouldn't make the trip home this time around. (Me thinks there is definitely an opportunity for another trip with a trailer and some muscle in the near future...) 

I wasn't totally a good girl. I did buy a few things at Ikea... 

It's hard to see in the image, so here is the drill-down: 

• Evior Throw (black and white stripe blanket. Black and White. Stripes. Nuff said.)
• Spontan Magnetic board (two white rectangles)
• Bastis hooks (green, blue and pink doggy tail hooks--SO funny.. I may use them in Peyton's room!)
• Knipsa Baskets (I bought 4--some day I'd like to get the Expedit shelf as well)
• Trones shoe storage cabinet (tall vertical white cabinet on the far right)

In any case, after our little shopping expedition at Ikea we headed home. It was definitely a fun time, and maybe a little splurgy (yes, I did, I just made up that word), but I would totally do it again!!!

the High/Low list

I think I will start a new weekly series-the High/Low list. I have expensive taste. I do not necessarily have the budget to match... particularly since I tend to change my mind every so often. So oftentimes, I'll see something I really want, and then do some shopping to find a similar style that will satisfy my decorating whims.

Crate & Barrel Hoyne Pendant Lamp / Young House Love Large Wire Globe Lantern 7 Colors! SHADES / Suzanne Kasler Set of 3 Sunburst | Ballard Designs / Jonathan Adler Capri Short Grey Glass Table Lamp - #J1782 |... / Requisite Gray Ovo Table Lamp - #X1363-X8993-X9869 | LampsPlus.com / Threshold™ Round Mirror - 3 Pieces : Target

First up on the agenda on the High list we have the Jonathan Adler gray table lamp, the Crate and Barrel  Hoyne Pendant and the Ballard Design Sunburst mirrors. on the Low list we have the Lamps Plus Gray Ovo table lamp, the Young House Love Wire Globe Lantern and the Target Threshold Round Mirror set.

I have already acquired the Target mirror set--for $30 it was quite the steal. I used one of the lamps in a small project I tackled today-stay tuned for that post!  I've been looking at the Lamps Plus Ovo lamps for awhile and have been tempted to purchase two of the gray lamps to go with the Pottery Barn lampshades I bought last month.

Pottery Barn Karlie Ikat Embroidered drum lamp shade

Something tells me they would love fabulous on the Gray Ovo lamps. But I am not 100% sure I am committed to keeping the shades. They were pricey - around $150 for the last two in stock. Which really, is quite appalling, and I am pretty sure I will never spend so much on lampshades again in my life.  But they were discontinued, and I didn't want to regret some day not buying them! 

Which brings us to the pendant. One of my favorite blogs is House*Tweaking. I would say Dana's style most closely matches the style I want in my house some day. In fact, I was am 100% in LOVE with Dana's "everything room." (It's the mudroom, dining room and laundry room in her home.)  In any case, it was there I saw the Hoyne Pendant and fell in love. In fact, I love everything about this room and it has me looking at my kitchen and dining room with a whole new set of ideas... but that's another post for another day. 

House*Tweaking.com 

I love how the lamp brings a slightly industrial edge to the room, but also allows the light to go everywhere, which is important in my house.  Since there are no lights in the living room, so the dining room light is often the central light source for both the dining room and living room.  The only problem (aside from its $350 price tag) is its size. It's huge! My dining room is small, and with ceilings that are only 8 feet, I worry the size of the Hoyne pendant would be far too large for over my dining table. In comes another player, the YHL Large Wire Globe lantern from Shades of Light. It is less intricate than the Hoyne pendant, but here is the key: it also comes in a small size-only 15.75" across in diameter! 

YHL Large Wire Globe Lantern

So there you have it, my first installment of the High/Low list and oh yeah, a lot of rambling.