Subject: Catching Up

Melissa! My long-lost friend!

I am so, SO sorry for my silence. Last week I literally needed a few days to recover from the big party (which was perfect, BTW, and I cannot wait to share pictures when I get them!) and then on Wednesday I got hit with a head cold/sinus funk thing thanks to every tree and flower in town bearing pollen! So that carried me into the weekend, and now this week Suz has decided she no longer needs her morning nap. I don't know how I am going to deal with this! Good thing I painted my kitchen and stained my grout when I had the chance! So now I am figuring out life with a once-a-day napper. It's a new experience and season for us, but I'm kind of excited about it too. I'm also banking on a really long afternoon nap now, which hopefully will afford me enough to time get everything done that I can't do when she's up and crawling around in the morning. So, yeah. Here I am - finally!

First, I love your new bedside tables! They are exactly what you were looking for! Ours also have a drawer with a little shelf underneath. It's nice because you can hide stuff you don't want people to see in the drawers, and then do a nice display of books or boxes or whatever below. Excellent choice! I'm not looking to get anything new for our room anytime soon, but if I was, I would consider these night stands from Pottery Barn:



I think they look really light (vs. the black wood we have now) and would reflect so much light. Of course, from a purely practical standpoint, they would be impossible to keep clean. Suz is way into seeing herself in the mirror right now, so I am picturing all the baby handprints on them!

Your curtains are perfect too! I am thinking about doing curtain panels in my room as well and have been trying to locate some fabric with gray in it - or bed sheets, per Jenny's suggestion. I will show you pictures soon of everything I am talking about one day, but I am still concentrating on my downstairs until June, so nothing until then!

Also, your laundry room turned out amazing! I just saw the episode of Sarah's House where she created her laundry room. She used a tray to corral all the detergent and soap bottles. It's hard to see from this picture, but here is the 'after':

Maybe you could find a low basket or something for your detergent and other bottles? Maybe a wicker tray? Or something clear? Just a thought. I also loved your art selection. I love pictures that elevate everyday homemaking chores into something beautiful and artistic. It makes me feel like the mundane task I am doing is actually really beautiful...which I guess in a way it is? Have you ever seen the prints on Smitten Kitchen? They do the same thing with cooking and everyday ingredients.

And lastly, I love your new bedding inspiration. Describing it as something you found at a market in another country is the perfect way to describe that fabric! Let me ask you: is this your house, or a picture of the bedding from the Internet?

Whatever it is, I love the composition of pictures above the bed! I am trying to figure out something to so above our bed (not 'til June!) and pictures like that would be an interesting idea. I have also thought about doing different sizes of plates and platters in varying shades of white and cream, but I haven't really looked at all, so that is a discussion for the summer!

Okay, I think I am all caught up. Look forward to a post from me tomorrow with all the treasures I found at one of our favorite craft stores!

'Til then,

Kara

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