The Joys of Decorating « Sharpredpencil’s Weblog

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A Hodgepodge of Things

January 21, 2010 at 5:28 pm | Posted in After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 1 Comment

So, I’ve been a complete blog slacker. I don’t feel like I have much to blog about, really. It’s not that I’m busy or that nothing has happened, it’s just…blah is the only thing that comes to mind. Maybe this post will jumpstart my 2010 blogging.

A few things here and there have been going on. I haven’t completely finished my lapghan, but I did replenish my yarn supply and I completed two rounds of edging. I started the third, but promptly set the project aside after 10 or 15 stitches and am contemplating undoing those and calling the lapghan finished. See, the third and final edge is supposed to be stitched backwards. Backwards?!? I definitely do not have the hang for that, or the patience to struggle through it. I think no one will be able to tell the difference and the lapghan will look fabulous. But finishing that is on my to-do list.

We walked into a furniture store fully expecting to buy two black, leather swiveling bucket chairs for the sad, bare area in the living room behind the couch. They were going to be perfect. I was in love with them and super excited. And did I mention they swiveled? Swoon! Apparently the chairs were discontinued, though, and there weren’t any available. At all. Anywhere. Boy, was I bummed. Until we saw this and came home with it:

The “bare” area I’m referring to is the one where the Christmas tree and bench are in this pic. The bench is staying there, but obviously the Christmas tree is not. We still have a sorta bare area there, but that’s where the coordinating chair to the sectional comes in. We ordered it in beige (it’s on back order, wouldn’t you know it?), and will place it across from the sofa and move the chair that’s currently there to the corner where the Christmas tree was. I’m not convinced the chair/bench thing will work there, but it’s a start. I’m sure tinkering will be involved, including repositioning the current artwork and adding more as pieces continue coming together. I’m happy, and the whole sectional/chaise thing is genius!

We painted the master bedroom and got new bedding. I’ll take more pictures as the room progresses (I’m thinking a DIY headboard, new nightstands, drapes, and one of those large mirrors that leans against the wall). We have one accent wall, which you can see in this pic. The other walls are a light putty color.

This room has been interesting. During one of our many late-night discussions about what to do with the room, we realized we had two very different visions for what we wanted. I don’t think that’s happened before! I wanted light, fresh, crisp, clean, and airy. He wanted a bold, dramatic, high-impact look. How the heck do you combine those two visions? I think we’re on the right track. The orange, white, and neutral wall color are definitely fresh and crisp,while the teal is high-impact for sure. We’re brainstorming artwork ideas now and looking for some nightstands we can refurbish. And of course I have two table lamps already staked out at Ikea.

Next up, besides forging ahead with the bedroom stuff, is replacing the half bath hardware and painting. If we can ever agree on a color.

P.S. I had two great-looking tomato plants on the brink of flowering, then we had over a week of cold weather (I don’t know if it ever officially froze, but my tomato plants are not happy). So not what I signed up for when I moved to south Florida.

Dining Room

November 17, 2009 at 12:19 pm | Posted in After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 2 Comments

I realized I haven’t shared any photos of the dining room. I had my excuses. First, I was waiting for the new light fixture and dining table/chairs, then the wine bar, then items for the wine bar, and then something I haven’t even thought of yet. Here’s our dining room as it looks today (It still drives me nuts that the pictures don’t show the color very well. Darn my photography skills.):

I’m not crazy about the table setting and the drapes, but I’m not sure what to do differently with either of those things. Wait. I do know what to do about the drape situation, but the ones I want gave me sticker shock. Maybe they’ll go on sale…

A Picture-Free Update

October 26, 2009 at 2:24 pm | Posted in Gardening, Sewing, South Florida living, The Joys of Decorating | 2 Comments

It’s too bad I don’t have any pics to share, but I’ll sum it all up and hopefully take some decent pics to share soon. (I really need to amp up my photography skills. It’s sad, people.)

Gardening

My Aurora pepper is doing fabulously. There are a couple peppers growing already, but the one that’s been around the longest doubled in size over the past day. I’m excited to be getting to this point of gardening; I feel like there’s a little treat waiting for me each time I check my plants for new developments.

My two tomato plants are doing quite well, too. No flower buds yet, but I keep scrutinizing daily and will let out a little “woot!” as soon as I see them. Maybe I’m being naive, but I’m thinking I’ll have better luck on my open-air patio.

I had a minor run in with powdery mildew on all my plants a few weeks ago, but I spritzed the undersides of the affected leaves with my mixture of baking soda and water and brushed off the mildew. I haven’t seen any of that sneaky stuff since, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Again, I’m hoping less humidity + open-air patio = bountiful results.

Home decor

Our dining room is almost done has taken one step backwards, as of last night. First, the good news: We have our beautiful dining room table, complete the table runner, placements, and pumpkin centerpiece. We have our light fixture (which a couple strangers said they loved last weekend, so score!), and a whole leaning bookcase/wine bar unit. We’d like to add a few more accessories to that piece of furniture (a white initial for our last name, a white vase/bowl/sculpture thingy), but that will come in time. We had custom-made curtains, sewn by yours truly, that I was really digging. Until last night.

It was rainy the other night and we followed our usual routine of carrying Peanut inside so we can wipe off her paws. One curtain panel had a minor run in with a muddy paw. No biggie. The panels are all 100% cotton, so I just threw the one panel in the wash (cold water, gentle cycle) and let it air dry. Paw print out. All good. We hung the panel back up last night. It’s a good 6 inches shorter.

&$%*@!

I am still mad. I can’t even talk about it anymore.

Moving on.

We finally found an entryway table. We had such a hard time with this because our space isn’t large enough to allow a typical entryway table generally sold in furniture stores. We were starting to give up, but then stumbled upon a tall, square table for $50. Score! It was originally oak, which does not fly with our style, so we got out our trusty power sander and went to town. Then we painted it black. It’s perfect. We’re still looking for the perfect accessory to place on top of it, but it works in the meantime. We hung a piece of artwork above it that we already had but weren’t using, but decided we prefer a mirror. So, we’re on the quest for the perfect, budget-friendly mirror. I have spray paint and I’m not afraid to use it, so I’m keeping my eyes open.

We’re saving for a couple bucket chairs to add to the living room. They’ll fill our open space sorta behind our main TV viewing area. The open space will serve us nicely by providing a reading nook, guitar display area (gotta keep the husband happy), and board game nook. Plus, we’ll gain more seating. I can’t wait to get those chairs. They swivel, and I swoon.

Crafty projects

I’ve been doing a little bit of sewing and trying to get back into it on a regular basis. Besides the curtain panel customization I did for the living and dining rooms, I did manage to finish one skirt that’s wearable. I’m planning on wearing it to church next Sunday, and I’ll try to get a good picture posted. I started on a second skirt with some minor adjustments, but I lost steam. I did sew a baby blanket for my good friend who is having a baby boy in December. That was a fun, meaningful project, but what I’ve been hankering for is something to keep my hands busy when I’m otherwise being a couch potato. I did some digging and found a site that gives easy crochet patterns for some really, really cute animals. They’re supposed to be baby toys, but I worry they’re too small (any mom readers who want to weigh in?). At the very least, they’re cute, out-of-baby’s-reach decoration for a nursery, so I’m going to try my hand at it. I could stare at the penguin all day:

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Check out the Web site to see the patterns and other pictures. If you never hear from me again, you’ll know I wasn’t successful with crocheting these cute little guys. And if you’re my friend in real life and pregnant, forget you saw this post.

Edited to add: Shoot. I guess my title doesn’t work anymore, but what I really meant was pictures I took myself.

::Swoon::

October 23, 2009 at 5:01 pm | Posted in The Joys of Decorating | 2 Comments

I’m starting to get into the holiday spirit, and think some sort of party in December is warranted. (‘Cause I really need an excuse to buy these and so many other things, right?)

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Kitchen nook

September 4, 2009 at 9:18 am | Posted in After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 3 Comments

Except for a new window treatment of some kind, the breakfast nook area of the kitchen is finished.

Note: I’m not a good photographer, so the paint color looks quite off in the second picture.

Here’s our new artwork from Ikea:

And, on the opposite wall, our chalkboard/herb garden project:

The rod and herb pots came from Ikea. We used chalkboard paint from Lowe’s to paint a rectangle on the wall. We also used some unfinished molding from Lowe’s that we cut to size with a miter saw, nailed together to assemble, painted white, and nailed to the wall.

Now I’m just hoping I can keep the herbs thriving. Fingers crossed!

Casa Zavala has been Ikeafied!

September 3, 2009 at 2:23 pm | Posted in The Joys of Decorating | 1 Comment

Oh yeah, I just created a word: Ikeafied.

We went to Ikea for the first time ever on Saturday. Three hours later, we giddily returned to our car with lots of loot and a couple projects in mind. To be completely honest, I went a little nuts and went to Ikea again on Sunday–that time with a friend (also visited Crate and Barrel Outlet, but that’s a whole other can of worms). And now I’m obsessed. Here’s the rundown:

-A new office chair for $15. $15!!! It’s very comfy, and the best part is we don’t have to deal with WD-40ing it because…wait for it…it doesn’t squeak. It’s made my conference calls much easier.

-Several super-cute knick-knacks for the wine bar/bookcase unit we’ve ordered from Crate and Barrel (and are impatiently waiting for; it’s on backorder).

-A framed black-and-white poster that’s perfect for the breakfast nook.

-A magnetic knife strip to hang on the kitchen wall, with three spice jars to stick to it (this looks great with two sets, so we’ll head back another time and pick one up!).

-Three baskets; two for our living room bench cubbies and one for Peanut’s toys and leash. The baskets were only available in a natural color, so I spray painted them black. They look oh-so-good, even if I do say so myself.

-A great project idea: A framed chalkboard area on the kitchen wall for writing entertaining menus, love notes, shopping lists, etc. Under this we’ll hang a rod with three small hanging pots for herbs. We’re working on it, but it’s taking longer than anticipated. We’ve painted the chalkboard rectangle, planted the herbs, and started the frame. Tonight we’ll finish assembling, painting, and hanging the frame around the chalkboard area (we’ve got mad woodworking skills, yo). Then we’ll finish by hanging the rod and plants. I’ll post a pic when it’s finished!

-Another project idea: Instead of buying a new lamp for my office (we can’t find one we like, anyway), I’m going to spray paint the base of a lamp we already have. It will be perfect, and something I’ll be proud of.

I think that wraps it up. I’m anxiously waiting for everything to be more or less finished so I can take great pics. We might even post the kitchen and dining room on www.ratemyspace.com.

*happy sigh* Oh, Ikea. I can’t wait to go back.

It can’t all be easy…

August 28, 2009 at 4:55 pm | Posted in The Joys of Decorating | 1 Comment

Three or so weeks ago, I ordered some lovely grommet drapes for the dining room from JCPenney (love them for curtains–great styles, economical, and speedy). I ordered the drapes 95″ long, realizing I’d have to shorten them 6″ to fit my room the way I want them to. I ordered my four panels, hemmed and hung them, then realized I wanted two more panels. The four panels didn’t give me quite enough fullness, especially when drawing the drapes closed. So, back to jcpenney.com I went and happily ordered two more panels. They arrived today and I even more happily set about hemming them 6″. This time around, I didn’t bother hanging them first because I knew from the other panels to hem them that much. I hung them, stepped back to admire my handiwork, and realized that one of the two new panels is too short. By quite a bit! I looked back at the packaging and I think the package was just mismarked or mispackaged or something. So, now I have five panels that are the right length and one that is too short. Ha.

There’s no despairing in my house, though, because the one too-short curtain confirms the plan I’ve been toying with all along. I’ll add a band of contrasting fabric to the bottom of all the panels. Wahlah! (Is that how you spell that word?) More custom (almost) curtains for me. Woot!

Next up: a trip to the fabric store. Gosh, I just hate that.

Adjustment period

August 13, 2009 at 1:32 pm | Posted in The Joys of Decorating | 2 Comments

The new dining room set arrived today. It’s big. I’m so used to seeing apartment-sized furniture that my brain doesn’t know what to think when it sees adult furniture. I started getting a little nervous so I called my husband:

Me: The dining room set is big.

Huz: Good!

Me: Really big.

Huz: Great!

Not quite the reassurance I was looking for, so I called my mom:

Me: The dining room set is big. I’m worried too big.

Mom: *laughs out loud* Well, my design class said bigger is better. Can you pull out the chairs and still have room to walk around?

Me: *pulls out all the chairs and walks around the table* Yes.

Mom: I’m sure it’s perfect.

See, that’s the kind of reassurance I was looking for. Thank goodness for moms.

Now I must get back to staring at my new dining room to get my brain used to it.

Kitchen

August 9, 2009 at 3:22 pm | Posted in After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 1 Comment

The kitchen feels much more put together after the fresh paint. A couple more accessories, a black and white valence for the window, and a small arrangement of red flowers on the table will complete the look! I’m digging my new kitchen.