A weird thing I never thought about until I tried to do it
May 22nd, 2012 § 3 Comments
I’m quickly learning that while I love to look at pretty things and can recognize something pretty when I see it, I am not so great at coming up with something pretty myself. Case in point, beautifying my dresser.
Until recently, my dresser sat in front of a window, practically negating any need for some sort of artful display of eclectic whatchamacallits on its surface. But in preparing for Bro’s arrival, we did some room switching and I was left with a simple dresser against a bare wall. I knew I wanted needed to do something to give it some gusto, but figuring out WHAT should go there was more difficult than I anticipated. Giant artwork was out of the question (I don’t own any) as was a television (we only have one and it’s in the living room). What I did have on hand though, was lots of mismatched junk. So I figured I could probably find some way to make several random pieces look good together. I mean, if Pinterest can do it…
I started fooling around with some of my favorite little pieces, but that’s when I figured out that, while some of the items in my inspiration images look like they were casually placed there, it actually takes a lot of thought to make several elements with varying characteristics work together cohesively. For example, when I tried to pair a framed map with a a jewelry stand, it looked more like a bag lady’s campsite than quirky but beautiful dressing table. I played around for a good 45 minutes before I finally threw in the towel and googled “How to dress a dresser.”
I felt like a chump.
Fortunately I am not the only person who has had this weird “problem,” and I found a great step-by-step guide to creating an area that is fashionable and functional.
And with that little maneuver, I came just a little bit closer to having a grownup house. Move over, Martha.
Map Attack!
May 17th, 2012 § 7 Comments
Other title options for this post included, “Na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na MAP WALL” (like the theme song to the Batman TV show) and from Arrested Development, “The Blue Part is clearly land.”
Despite my terrible choice in headlines, the map wall has made a comeback! Not in the dining room, like I initially planned, but instead in the new office.
The map wall in the new office
As of now, the maps have not been permanently affixed to the wall via wallpaper paste or Mod Podge; I wanted to see how much I liked them there first. But I’m thinking it’s going to be a permanent fix for a couple of reasons.
1) It is undeniably awesome looking.
2) The office is the perfect place for a map wall because, for us, the office is the room we visit to get some work done and to appear intelligent and studious, and everyone automatically looks and feels smarter standing in front of a map. “Oh me? What am I doing? I’m just committing some political geography to memory. It’s sort of my thing. Go ahead, ask me about the largest river in Cambodia. I can tell you all about it.”
I’m definitely feeling it in here. I know there are others who agree with me. Behold other humanoids who also enjoy a little map with their office.
Muah ha ha, yet another project crossed off the to-do list. I love our house.
Bar carts, please and thank you.
April 25th, 2012 § 4 Comments
Fact: Bar carts are super classy and useful and very grown up.
My mom and my grandfather both have always had these fantastic vintage bar carts that serve as focal points of the house, and I want one. Badly. We don’t keep a ton of adult beverages around other than beer and wine, but what we do have is all stashed away randomly throughout the kitchen. How much cooler would I look if I had a fancy cart topped with high caliber apéritifs, after dinner brandy and other libations? Pretty darn cool, as a matter of fact. It would be very Mad Men of me.
The bar cart at my grandfather’s house.
Oh the possibilities…
Heather’s Handsome Hideaway
April 24th, 2012 § 2 Comments
This weekend I finally FINALLY got to set eyes upon my friend Heather’s gorgeous grownup apartment in Dallas. She’s been telling me tales of her fabulous abode for a year or so now and (because I’m the worst friend ever) I finally got around to seeing it. She wasn’t kidding. It was pretty spectacular. Decor was thought out and premeditated…not purchased on a whimsy like some folk do (moi). Way to go Heather, on being a real deal grownup and having a covetous apartment that I want to tell the world wide web all about.
Was blind, but now I see: A five-minute kitchen fix
April 19th, 2012 § 6 Comments
Mini blinds in the kitchen are just plain stupid. They collect dust and oil and keep out the natural light and are just about the most hideous things ever. So last week I decided to scrap the blinds on the kitchen door for a scarf I purchased for 25 cents at Goodwill. I definitely got my money’s worth out of that one.
Hooray for thrifty finds AND trashing blinds.
Surprise! Special art for a special occasion.
April 6th, 2012 § 6 Comments
This Sunday, Heath and I will celebrate 5 years of couple-dom. Not 5 years of marriage, but 5 years of deciding that we kinda like each other. It deserves a nod, for sure. I’ve spent more time with Heath than I have spent living in any house, attending any school or working at any job. So dang it, I want to celebrate!
To tell Heath, “Thanks for putting up with me for this long” I wanted to surprise him with something special. On a recent visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, I got a little carried away pretending to be a photographer, but Heath fell in love with three of the photos I took. He tolerated me obnoxiously snapping photos of every tiny thing over the past few years, so I wanted to do something special with these nature photos he said he was particularly drawn to.
I headed over to Canvas Pop to have the images blown up and printed on heavy-duty canvas. The graphic designers there did a terrific job cropping and creating the prints, and Heath was Über excited when he opened them. I selfishly have had the final word on what art we get and where we place it in the house, so I gave Heath free range when it came to deciding where to display his new goodies. He decided the dining room was the ideal spot to showcase his favorite photos, and I agreed. It definitely gives the dining room some oomph.
I’m so thrilled Heath liked the prints. The photos remind us of the natural beauty of Austin—our city, a place we’ve explored together from our first days as a couple, and of a wonderful spring day spent walking through the Wildflower Center just appreciating nature. Heath’s even started picking out other photos he wants to have printed to add to the display, so it looks like this gamble paid off. I’m lucky to have such a sweet and supportive mate who loves me and my silly little hobbies.
Happy 5 years, Heath. I love you tremendously!
Project idea: painting cabinet interiors
April 5th, 2012 § 7 Comments
I’m like a shark. I can’t stop swimming (or in my case, home improving) or I will die.
So my newest survival project is to paint the interiors of the kitchen cabinets. I love how some background color makes the dishes pop and feel as though it adds dimension to the kitchen (which ours desperately needs).
It’s sort of an unconventional idea, but it’s one I’ve been obsessed with since I first saw the idea in practice while attending a neighborhood block party a few weeks back. I played the role of kitchen creeper, taking photos of my neighbor’s way-cool kitchen for a majority of the party. Theirs was similar to ours as far as size, layout and and cabinet finish, and I was very impressed with some of the things they did to give it some gusto. But the cabinet paint took the cake. It must me implemented!
Seriously, how fun does that look?
White kitchen gets spunky with lime green cabinets.
Blue wallpaper is another idea that's kinda cool.
Walpaper backing used in a cupboard.
I love the affect of painting the entire cabinet interior, not just the back but the sides, bottoms and tops, too.
Splashes of color without being overpowering.
Cabinets with green. I'm on the fence on whether to go lime green or turquoise.
Yep. Painting the insides of the cabinets is the way to go.
Lunchtime Lookyloo
March 23rd, 2012 § 2 Comments
Sometimes on your lunch break you have to grab a sandwich. Other times you have to grab some good design ideas to get you through the weekend. No, I don’t mind if I do spend 30 minutes of the lunch hour perusing the rooms of Uptown Modern, my favorite vintage furniture shop in Austin.
There’s a lunch where I won’t mind asking for seconds.
A Puzzling Prospect
March 22nd, 2012 § 11 Comments
There were 293486234 things I didn’t like about the rental kitchen: the counter tops, the layout, the cabinets, the floors, the HEAT (have I mentioned we didn’t have Central AC?)… I could go on and on. But there was one thing I did like. My map wall.
Love maps. Always have. Always will. Not only are they colorful and pretty without being overly girly (your welcome, Heath), they are also educational and serve as a friendly reminder that I need to get out-of-town and be more of a world traveler. Win-win.
Of course, with a rental…maps were affixed with thumb tacks (the tack stands for tacky) instead of officially wallpapered or glued to the wall, which is what I would have ideally preferred to make me appear more like a classy lady and less like a serial killer plotting out the location of her next murder.
I couldn’t wait to resurrect the map wall the RIGHT way in the new house. Inspired by my friend Maggie, I even mapped out (get it…MAPPED out) the perfect location on a wall in the dining room.
Maggie's map wall she placed behind her repurposed headboard bar. Seriously, how cool is that?
I'm hoping to put mine on the wall with the shelving to give the dining room some pizzazz.
The only thing preventing me from busting out my map box and picking up some paste is the fear that I will like it for a few months, get tired of it and then want something completely different. I have been known to do this. After all, we have only lived in the house 5 months and I’ve already rearranged the living room once, painted it twice and changed the curtains at least 3 times. So what’s to keep me from getting “over” the map wall that I, at least for right now, think is so cool? I’ve never gone the whole wallpaper route before and it’s a project that I find extremely intimidating. Changing a papered wall is so much more of an ordeal than just slapping on a new coat or paint or switching out linens. So I’m in a tough position.
I loved the map wall before, and expect that I will love it again, but I also fear my own capricious design tendencies. So to map wall or not to map wall? That is the question.
Papa’s Hill Country Hideaway
March 5th, 2012 § 7 Comments
As kiddos, visits to the grandparents’ house were always looked forward to with great anticipation. Like most youngsters, I relished the time I had to spend with my grandparents because, of course as grand parents do, they doted on me incessantly and spoiled me rotten with baked goods and mouthwatering, artery clogging four course meals. Getting there was half the fun too. My Oma and Papa lived 5 hours South of us on the freeway–a trip that was actually more like 12 hours once you factor in a stop at the outlet mall for an obligatory road trip souvenir and a not-so-speedy run to the Czech Stop to purchase more fruit and cream cheese kolaches than should ever be consumed during a lifetime. But sweets and treats aside, I still loved visiting their home in the Texas Hill Country.
As a chubby tot I loved their home for very different reasons than I do now. A pier and beam craftsman with a giant wrap around porch, being on the deck at Oma and Papa’s felt like being a passenger on a cruise line sailing over a sea of wildflowers. Few sensations beat the one that came with dangling my little legs over the side of the porch while looking over blue bonnets and pear trees and making a mess of my mango juice and Sloppy Joe. Yes, as a kid (and maybe a little bit as an adult too), that was pretty much as good as it got.
Inside was great too. A Franklin stove in the living room set inside a special elevated stone nook proved to be a great stage on which to perform scenes from my favorite storybooks for the family after dinner. A house that features spectacular views of nature and spectacular views of me? Of course I loved it.
But today I love the house for more reasons than its potential to be a platform for post-dinner performances. It’s the house my grandparents built and lived in together for nearly 25 years, and where my grandmother said she was happiest. After touring the country for months in an RV, they reached the Texas Hill Country and could think of no better place to spend their retirement together than in the rolling green hills in the New Braunfels country side. They designed and built the home from the ground up, focusing incredible detail on every aspect from the gingerbread trim on the exterior to the stain on the kitchen cabinets. They did it together and ended up with a beautiful home that acted as the perfect setting to display their love of art, enable their love of food, drink and entertaining, and enjoy their love for each other for the last years of my grandmother’s life.
So while I’ll always love rocking on the porch and looking over wildlife–now with a glass of wine rather than a plate of sandwich–I think even more I’ll love the way the house makes me and anyone who enters it feel. It’s warm and stylish and loved to its bones. It smells like fresh bread and always sings of happiness.
