For all of my friends who are tired of hearing me whine about beige paint...
So a year ago I was hoping to be building a different house in a different neighborhood with nary a HINT of builder's-choice beige paint anywhere. But our house was one of the few regular for-sales on the market in a sea of
foreclosures so, rather than give it away, we decided to stay (I keep trying to tell myself it was just meant to be and that I'm destined to live next to a house who has "massage" clients coming and going all day long but that's another story). So I tried to spice it up with some color, new fabrics and finally some of the prints I've been collecting for a while. It's a work in progress but here's a few ditties for you:
The living room is now a fantastic shade of green and the lamp was from Target but it had a straw shade so I made a new one out of poster board and wire hangers and there is probably some packaging tape in there, but don't look. I then covered it in this delicious fabric.
The couch is from Urban Outfitters and it's so cute but nobody can sit on it because I think it will fold (like my dad says) like a cheap lawn chair. In other words, Lucy's about the only one who meets the weight limit. I got the yellow fabric from Calico Corners, which, coincidentally is the same fabric on this
settee that I've been wanting for my bedroom forever. The brown pillow is one I got at Pottery Barn a long time ago and the fun
pinky fabric was a find at Home Fabrics for $2 a yard.
I had a piano bench that didn't match the stain on my piano so I
Craiglisted that and replaced with this fun chair, the baroque-
ish frame is from
Ikea but it was originally black so I painted it white. The cute green chair you can see the corner of is also very cute but the husband calls it a step stool since it's so low to the ground. I keep trying to tell him it's just
uuber modern... and to stay off of it. The yellow vase was $3 at Salvation Army and the vintage wooden tray was $8 at an antique store.
Nothing great here except a picture of the Peonies that I am finally able to enjoy. I say finally because I planted them almost three years ago. Mac destroyed the first bunch (shocker, gasp!) and this year I was all excited because there were so many buds on each plant and Toad, sweet little Toad, pulled all but these off, before they bloomed. I tell you, it's complete anarchy at my house when it comes to anything I try to keep nice. Or at least in one piece. My grandma made the little pots in the window, aren't they so cute?
I've been searching for a stainless steel dome light for over my kitchen table and of course the ones I really loved were around $40o. Then I realized the look I was going for was a basic barn/stable light. So I found one online at a ranch/barn product superstore for $60. I had also purchased a vintage school room clock online, then found this at
Ikea which looked almost identical and was 1/10 the price so I returned the first one.
New bar stools to go with my ORANGE island. My kitchen cabinets are still the plain (boring) finish the 50 year-old male builder picked but soon they will be crisp and white and oh so, so lovely.
My brother sent me this quilt from Zimbabwe and I was so excited to finally display it because of the fun, bright orange, blue and green tones. The entire quilt is hand stitched which I just adore because of all of the uneven,
imperfect stitches.
Okay, the family room is still in progress. So first we had the kitchen and family room painted an awesome grey/blue shade. Then I had an electrician come (when His Royal was out of town) to move the TV outlet to an adjacent wall. As it used to be, the TV was where you see this couch, which meant the couch had to be directly in front if it, which created a divider between the family room and the kitchen area. Now it's all opened way up, even though you have to turn your head to the side (HRH likes to exaggerate and
practically twists his head off as a way of telling me he's a man and needs his couch DIRECTLY in front of the TV. Oh, and the GLARE. The glare, sweetheart, it's like
Beyonce's ring, it's just so bad. Only it's not, it misses the TV by inches and besides, he's gone during the day when the supposed glare is there so it doesn't even matter.
But now its, "Honey, what's the score?"
Him: "Well, as you can see, I'm in the kitchen and, oh, wait, can't see the TV unless I walk allllll the way around the island."
And the boys have had to rearrange their seats at the table in order to be able to watch Caillou for the 55th time during lunch. But we're surviving.
Why? Because of the chair. The chair. The chair. The "beige" chair you see in most of our pictures (see Lucy/quilt above). This was the chair that
happened to be right under
HRH's bum when, after four hours in RC Willey trying to decide on washer/dryer/fridge/and-oh-my-gosh-someone-get-me-out-of-this-
faux-lodge-nightmare-decor-showroom, he plopped down in exasperation. But that turned from exasperation to complete lust when he realized he'd just sat in a full lounge (I mean, I can sleep on the blasted thing) chair filled with down. DOWN people, it's so comfortable. Yet so ugly. But he loves it so it stays. Could be worse. Could be a navy blue recliner. With Cosmo's face on it or something wretched like that. Nothing an orange quilt from Africa and a phsycotic black and white pillow can't fix.
I searched forever for a new couch that was clean and modern and lovely and I found about 200 to pick from, but not one that would withstand two boys and two dogs. So I was happy when I finally found a modern leather couch that is actually really comfortable and I don't have to worry when Toad and his 14
th Gogurt heads its way. Also, the prints above the couch aren't final - I actually have others to add to it to make it more of a collage wall and break up so much bright orange. They're also hung a big high so I could make sure the boys would get used to the idea of getting their hands cut off if they touch the pictures before I lower them and add the others. I hate a picture that's hung too high, don't you? Oh, the light fixture is new too. It replaced the
gaggy ceiling fan fixture.
The last big project I want to finish besides having the cabinets painted, is redoing the fireplace facade. It's just flat and surrouned by mother-effin beige tiles! I think recycled glass tiles up the wall would be divine, but I'd love some ideas! Carina??
By-the-way, after selling the furniture and stuff I wanted to "refresh," I actually almost came out even as far as the cost. I think it's amazing what a new paint color and some fabric can do. And some crying. And broken wrists from putting together and moving furniture. But whatevs.
