Subject: Accent Walls

Hiiiiiii - 

Today, I have the first of many house projects to discuss with you.  Our new family room is essentially a big rectangle.  The couch will go under the window wall, which is one of the longer walls, the fireplace is on one of the shorter walls and then the tv wall is on the other longer wall.  I want to say the tv wall is about 8 ft. long, and doesn't touch any other walls in the room.  We are on the hunt for a great tv stand, but that's another story for another day.  For now, we must discuss the actual wall....it is in dire need of some sprucing up.  My mom and I, mostly my mom, have been finding accent wall pictures for inspiration.  When it comes to the overall look of the house, I want the vibe to be industrial chic and feel like Anthropologie when you are inside.  Does that make any sense??  Well, despite whether it does or doesn't, the inspiration for the entire house, color palette and all, is this overpriced, but AMAZING, shower curtain.  (Which has yet to be purchased, but also another story for another day!)

Anthropologie - Flamenco Shower Curtain

 

So, now that you have the visual of the room, my overall inspiration and color palette, what are your thoughts on the following accent walls?  Have you come across any others that you thought would be great?  HELP!  Okay, it's not an emergency, but I have to say this accent wall dilemma sometimes keeps me up at night.  :)

Domino Magazine

Okay, so you know where this is from!  And no, I did not bring a camera with me.  I got it offline.

Apartment Therapy

Centsational Girl

Design Sponge Online via We Love Indie

Decor Pad via Material Girls Blog

Apartment Therapy

HUGS!  Have a fab weekend!
Mel

Re: Subject: Lampshade Project

Sooooo.....small world, kind of sort of.  The blogger who runs Once Wed and the original creative mind behind your lampshade project, Ashley of Dolci Odille, happen to be great friends with one of my most favorite people in the whole wide word....my uber-talented wedding florist and one of my coolest friends, Amy Osaba! 

Now back to the lampshade....AMAZING!  You did such a great job!  I don't know if I'd ever have the patience?!?  I wonder what other items you could use this technique on??  I'm thinking maybe little votive candles??  And I have a fireplace and mantle in the new casa so I may just have to try it out!  Any other thoughts of household items to pom pom?


I'll leave you with this gorgeousness to brighten your Thursday!  Hooray for it almost being Friday!!

xxx,
Melissa 

Flowers by Amy Osaba - Photographs by W. Scott Chester

 

Subject: Lampshade Project

Hello dear! Do you remember how I told you last week I didn't feel like doing anything around the house, but I managed to finish a project that had been hanging over my head since before Suz was born? I'm so excited to share with you...finally.



Here is the before:



It's just a boring old lampshade. I have had it and the lamp since college (I went through a major blue & yellow phase) and now it's on my dresser, which I like because I needed some height on there and the yellow is nice with my bedding/headboard AND I enjoy lamplight more than the overhead light, so this works on so many levels. But the shade was just so eh.

Here is the after:

Do you LOVE? I am obsessed. Seriously. It took so, so much work, but I love the results so it was totally worth it. I just checked my computer, and the date for the 'before' picture was January 9, 2010 - yikes! This project was so tedious and time-consuming, I felt like I was never going to finish.

My inspiration came from this wedding post. I used white muslin and just followed the instructions for creating each little ruffle. I used close to 10 yards of muslin (I kid you not) and there are probably more than 1,000 ruffles on this thing. I only know that because when I was pushing through to finish, I cut out over 300 circles and used all but, like, five for a pretty small area. I put the ruffles really close together to give it a "packed" look and if I hadn't done that I probably could have finished sooner and used less material, but I love the overall effect. You'll notice in the 'before' picture how there were cut-outs along the bottom of the shade. I was able to glue the fabric close enough to the holes that it covered them completely when the fabric puffed out.

Here it is with the lamp on:

I love the way the light shines through. I think this would be so perfect in a nursery or child's room because the light is so soft when it comes through the shade. I think it looks like hundreds of rose petals.

Ahh...it feels SO GOOD to be done with this project. And I love that I was able to take something I already owned and make it into something new. My only cost - besides hours of my life I will never get back and hot-glue burns out the wazoo - was for the muslin, which was pretty cheap. So, yeah - all in all, not bad.

Yay!
Kara

Re: Re: Subject: There's No Place Like Home

Inspections and closing dates and we are almost homeowners, OH MY!  So, we made it past the inspection and due diligence period, and our officially closing on Friday.  This process has been an absolute whirlwind, but SO exciting!!

The move in advice is great, and I can tell you, for right now, I am keeping the walls the neutral color they are!  I also agree with waiting until we get in to the house until we start buying.  Living in our apartment, half the stuff we own is in my mom's basement.  It will be fun to go through and find everything!!

Guess what I did purchase though?!? A couch!  Here it is, except I was able to customize it a bit.  I made the bottom straight across instead of scalloped and added the nailheads only on the the arms.  Also, I was able to choose my own leather and went with a milky, chocolate brown.  I can't wait to send you pictures once it gets delivered.   

I came up with the nailhead idea on the arms only after coming across this Anthropologie beauty.  If not for the $6,000 price tag, I would have loved  to have this as my family room couch.  But I am THRILLED with what I am getting.

That's all for now.  Wish me luck on Friday.  Not that I think anything could go wrong.  I assume they just take your money and you sign your life away.  :)

Love,
Mel

Re: Subject: There's No Place Like Home

Oh my gosh - I love it!!! What a great looking house! Seriously. It's stately, charming, classic - all of the above. Have I seen it before? Oh yes, it was the picture next to "All American" in the dictionary :)

Where to start? It makes me dizzy to even consider! Do NOT get overwhelmed...that would make two of us and that is not helpful at all. Here are some initial things that come to mind:

1. Don't try to do it all at once. And by all at once I mean all in one weekend. We had 72 hours between when we closed on our house and had to be out of our apartment, so we: put down hardwood floors; painted the kitchen, living room, master bedroom and guest room; AND had to move all of our stuff. It was ridiculous. We wanted to have everything painted before we moved in, which was crazy. I'm glad we did the flooring, but everything else could have waited. And I think I would have made better choices and not had to go back and re-paint rooms that I was "eh" about the colors but felt like I had to pick something so we could paint before moving in. Again, crazy.
2. Not to sound repetitive, but on a lot of things I would wait until you move in - from fabrics to paint colors to even some big pieces of furniture. A house is so different once you live in it and you see which rooms you use the most and how you use them and how the rooms interact with each other...all that takes time to figure out, so give yourself that luxury. The reality is it will be a work in progress FOREVER, so taking your time and enjoying the process of picking things is so much more relaxing than feeling like you have to everything done Right Now.
3. Furniture is so expensive. It makes my stomach hurt it's so expensive. You could make a game of it, though, and see how much stuff you can get for cheap and then paint and customize yourself. There are so many steals on Craigslist (especially in the Atlanta area), you could practically furnish an entire house from that site alone. Plus you have the benefit of a Pottery Barn outlet and an Ikea. I would measure every wall and just carry those dimensions around with you wherever you go so anytime you see something you like, you'll know instantly if it's the right size for the space you have.

Um...this is getting kind of long-ish and I'm starting to not like the teacher-y tone I'm taking. Seriously - congrats and I cannot WAIT to start decorating with you. (Can I say 'with' even if I'm 500 miles away and you're just sending me links? Of course I can!)

Subject: There's No Place Like Home

Good Morning Sunshine - 

Guess what one week from yesterday is?!?  That's right, Hubby and I will be homeowners!!  Here she is...

So, as one of my few friends who is a homeowner, where do I start??  And I mean where do I start when it comes to everything!!  Here's what I own:  A bed for the master bedroom, a kitchen table and chairs, a desk (It's my mom's from Pottery Barn, but she said I can continue to borrow it) and a flat screen tv.  Oh, I also picked up an AWESOME dresser at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  It seems like it would be great in a nursery.  You know, the nursery for my non-existent child that I won't be having for a few years.  My thoughts when it comes to decorating an entire house...fun, overwhelming, expensive, never ending, amazing!  Yes, I'm all over the place.

This weekend, we have our inspection on the house and we want to go couch shopping.  I would like to go tv stand/console shopping too, but I don't want to overwhelm Hubby.  Advice, comments, suggestions are all welcome.

HOORAY FOR FRIDAY!!  HOORAY FOR A NEW HOUSE!!  HOORAY FOR A MORTGAGE?!?  :)

xxx,

Melissa 

Re: Subject: The Beginning

Hiiii!!!

Over the past two years you have had some brilliant ideas, but this one ranks very high on the list.  My only hope is that the readers aka "millions of adoring fans" find us as amusing as I know we are!!   Fingers crossed!!  (Gosh, this post has a lot exclamation points.  The punctuation is anything but peachy!  Sorry I couldn't resist!!) 

Okay, enough for now.  I'm going to blame my ridiculous comments on the fact it's after midnight!

Nighty, night!

xxx,

Melissa

Subject: The Beginning

Melissa -

I am very excited about this project with you! Even though we are in two different states, I love that we stay in touch via email, sending each other links and pictures of our latest projects, ideas and inspiration. And now we're taking it public.

I think a blog is such a fun idea, but it always seemed so awkward to start: who was I writing to? who was reading and giving me feedback? And now it's you! (Along with our millions of adoring fans, obviously.) I've always said that I wish my job could be home projects and sharing my cooking adventures, but how do you make a living doing that? Exactly. B-L-O-G.

So the awkwardness ends here, except for maybe whoever is reading this - they have access to all of our thoughts and conversations! Yikes! But hello - who wouldn't be interested in our brilliant dialogue dissecting Mad Men and the evolution of JCrew from college staple to luxury brand? (I really do miss the JCrew of old!)

Looking forward to it,
Kara