Tag Archives: interior design

Rug Realities

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When Heath and I were looking for a house, one thing on my “must have” list was wood floors. Both of our houses prior to this one had wood floors, and we adore the sleek appearance of it so much more than we like the look of carpet. Wood has clean lines, light reflecting properties and brilliant color dimension within its brown hues. Plus, and this is were practicality comes in, wood is just better when you have two mud-slinging labradoodles traipsing through the house. But as house hunting gets underway and reality starts to rear its ugly head, you realize some of the “needs” are really more like “wants” and you give in some places to get in others. I gave up my wood floors.

The thinking was that ripping up carpet and putting down wood is something we could do ourselves. (And we know it’s possible because we helped friends Mark and Ranjana tackle a wood-laying project last year in their home, which is documented here.) It would be a project that would take time, but it was something that could realistically be done by Handyman Heath and myself at a reasonable cost. The problem, like with any home renovation, is getting finances in order before the project can get underway.  I’m not particularly patient, so knowing it might be a year or two before I can get my hardy, shiny, beautiful wood flooring has me in pouting toddler mode.

I have grown to like carpet more than I originally thought. For one, the carpet in our home had recently been installed when we bought the house, so we didn’t have other people’s stains or wear and tear to deal with. It’s also a neutral color so it’s not horribly offensive to the eye. Plus, it’s remarkably  soft and feels good on bare feet, especially in the winter. As far as carpet goes, we could have done much worse.

Where I get bummed (and yes, I know this is a stupid, STUPID thing to get “bummed” about),  is that with wall-to-wall carpeting, I feel like it’s a design faux pas to decorate with rugs in the house. I imagine my friends coming to visit and thinking, “Oh snap, you put rugs over carpet? Girl, what are you hiding?!” (In this fictional scenario I have really rude friends with a background in interior design.) But  I loves me some vibrant, colorful, sensationally patterned rugs! Since we were wooden people before, I has acquired quite an impressive (“impressive” for someone in college with practically no income) collection of these darling area rugs to decorate with.

Woven multi-colored green rug from Crate and Barrel

Abstract floral from Target

Graphic yellow from Ikea

So, as I am known to do with any problem, I Googled it. Can a girl decorate with rugs if she’s already got a house full of carpet? Answer: Sometimes. Check out what other carpet cursed designers did. (Photos courtesy of my design bible, Apartment Therapy).

All is not lost! There’s even some modern eclectic vibe happening in these inspiration scenes. Maybe, just maybe, I can work with this carpet business.  Seriously, I have to overcome so much in this cruel, cruel world. But as Frederick Douglass once said, ” If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Wise words, Freddy D.You must have been referring to this same issue.

Living Room Re-Do

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Not so long ago I posted here about my disgust with the TV set up in our new living room (our lives are filled with monumental levels of adversity). Boring, drab and uninspired it was. Fortunately, I found a solution–one that involved a major overhaul of the living room layout and resulted in a much more feng shui entertaining environment. The before and after photos have me breathing a sigh of relief.

Ultimately the TV had to change walls. Instead of sitting against a blank white canvas, I repositioned it in front of an oversized window framed by a green accent wall. Now all eyes are on the bright “retro avocado” wall and dramatic curtains rather than an expansive plane of icky nothingness. Me Likey.

Customized shelving, made by none other than Handyman Heath, went against the white wall, which gave the room the personal pizzaz it needed.

You might recognize the shelves from the office in the old house. I loved them so much, I thought they deserved to be front and center rather than tucked away in the office or guest bedroom. Here’s how they looked pre-move and pre-stain.

The empty wall turned out to be the perfect backdrop against which the shelves and their various knick knacks could pop.

We also changed the wall color from the same neutral beige that I wrote about in our office to a bright white that packs a nice punch. The difference is subtle but, again, keeps the beige cloud feeling from creeping in on us.

Plus, against the green accent wall, the new white looks much crisper than the beige color did.

I also finally made the effort to focus in on some of the smaller details, like creating an entryway table. Sadly our house lacks an actual foyer, so a decorative little side table next to the front door has to suffice for a barrier between the living room and entryway until a more established room divider can come into play. Fortunately, it’s a pretty cute interim set up.

I never stop being amazed at the difference a coat of paint and a little rearranging can make.

I’m clearly not winning any Pulitzer Prizes for obsessively blogging about my new and improved living room, but I’m a big believer that a happy environment makes a happy person, and our new space is very happy.

TV Tricks

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For better or for worse, in American culture a sign of status, wealth and “making it” is getting a large flat-screen TV. I remember fondly the day Heath and I maneuvered our way through screaming babies and angsty teens at  the local Walmart at 9 p.m. on a Saturday to pick up ours after I got myself a Big Girl Job. “Yeah,” we thought to ourselves. “We’re doing alright.”

The funny thing is, while every blue blooded American is expected to have a flat screen, most designers tell us not to display it.“A Television should never be the focal point of a room.”  and “Overtly displaying a large flat screen is tacky.”   What gives? First you tell me I have to have one, now you’re telling me it’s lame. Not cool, society.

I wouldn’t normally give too much thought to this conflict of interest, opting instead to take on Eric Cartman’s “Whatever, I do what I want” mentality, but the problem is that I really have no idea how to gussy up the vast wall of nothingness behind my television.

It’s the antithesis of good design. In fact, it’s no design at all. It’s just there. This big black box in front of a big white wall. Uninspiring.

I can’t mount it over a fireplace (we don’t have one) or buy some ridiculously expensive piece of art to put behind it, but I can create a photo wall to bring some semblance of character to this otherwise drab portion of the doodle kingdom.

I suppose this weekend I will be whipping out the hammer and nails. Expect the “after” photo in the near future…

La Condesa

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I COULD go to trendy new restaurants soon after they open and THEN blog about them, but I much prefer waiting a few years until everyone already knows how awesome Eating Establishment X is, and then write about it like I’m the first to know. I’m talking, in this case, about La Condesa.

I ventured to the downtown TexMex restaurant for lunch recently and was pleased to see the hype wasn’t for nothing. I have no trouble believing this place will be a regular contender when the mister and I find ourselves in the “where should we go for date night” predicament.

Right off the bat I liked La Condesa for the location (across from Austin’s super cool City Hall, The W Hotel, Moody Theater and Lamberts). At night the trees light up and the people watching is superb. So kudos, LC, for picking out some pretty prime real estate in which to serve tacos.

Besides being situated in the heart of mucho A-town action, the architecture and interior design is jaw dropping, astounding even. You could sit inside and stare at the textured walls, vibrant murals, swanky lighting, everything…before  you realize it has been 10 minutes and you haven’t even opened your menu. I’m not overselling either. In fact, the restaurant won a people’s choice restaurant design award from AIA Los Angeles. Pretty nifty.

If you weren’t already intrigued, allow me to go on. I’ve always heard you can tell how good a TexMex restaurant is going to be by the chips and salsa. Perhaps forecasting this very school of thought, the brains behind the La Condesa menu offer not one, but four salsas on which to over indulge before your meal begins. There’s a classic salsa roja, as well as a fresh and creamy avocado tomatillo, chipotle salsa and a super spicy but delectable option. Four salsa choices AND a generous helping of warm chips. Don’t mind if I do.

The main meal itself (fish tacos, my go-to taco when breakfast tacos aren’t an option) was splendid as well. The serving wasn’t too massive, but was still plenty filling and the tacos themselves really hit the spot. The best part about the entree, however, was the extra tortillas that come with the meal. Some places (no names) up-charge for extra tortillas (not cool), but La Condesa included two additional corn tortillas right on the plate, just like that. It was an unexpected treat and came in handy for scooping up extra salsa, black beans and rice. It’s such a small thing to do, but that alone would have tempted me to return for another visit.

By lunch hour’s end, I had been converted. The tasty array of  salsas, visually entrancing atmosphere, and surprise bonus tortilla had me singing the praises of La Condesa to anyone that would hear it. Unfortunately I can’t speak on behalf of their margaritas. I guess I should return for happy hour in order to tell that tale.

Going Gray

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This weekend I finally decided on a color to paint the office. Glorious Gray!

It might seem slightly pointless to change a wall from one neutral color to another, in this case beige to gray, but I love the feeling of calm a gray room brings on. Plus the beige walls paired with the beige carpet had me feeling like I lived in a beige cloud, which just isn’t as cool as it sounds. I was also inspired by some of these images that show how gray can make all of the other colors in a room seem a little more vibrant.

It’s not ready for any magazines yet, but I’m pleased with how the new color turned out and look forward to many days of curling up with book in my gray getaway.

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

 

Phase One = Complete

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Fancifying the kitchen is a three-step process. When we moved in, the kitchen looked like this.

 

Please note:

  • the dated knotty pine
  • the old fashioned black hinges
  • the bland countertops/backsplash
  • the aged cabinets
Not ideal for the modern, color loving family we are. A plan must be developed. Why not exchange the drab countertops from this…
to this…
Beautiful, bright, white quarts countertops….muah. It’s so crisp, so clean, so shiny and pretty and happy. I lust for them. Durable, practical, life changing. It’s not exactly normal to have a crush on a countertop but never you mind. The counter tops will be changed. As will the backsplash, from “landlord neutral” to fantastic blue subway tile.
Imagine it. The shiny white surface surrounded by iridescent blues and rich wooden cabinetry. It looks good, feels good, heck…it smells good. It is a far cry from the original. Despite at first HATING the knotty pine (and blogging about it here) I ultimately decided to keep it.  One reason for keeping the O.G. cabinets is to salvage something that is perfectly functional. No “out with the old and in the new” for this little lady. I wanted to keep something in that kitchen legit—in true 50s era style. The other reason for keeping the color was rooted in me wanting to prove the internet wrong. Search after search would furnish results which would have me believe that no one in their right mind would keep the knotty pine look in a modernish kitchen setting. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. So phase one does not include demolishing the worn but still in-good-condition original cabinets.
Instead, it consists of doing some stripping, sanding, staining and hinge replacing. Switching out hardware like this…
For this…
Resulting in something like this…
It’s a look that’s a little old school and a little modern; a little eclectic and a little chic. So we spent the winter break refinishing the wood and bringing the fixtures up to the 21st century.
It wasn’t easy and we are still cleaning up saw dust, but what a difference a hinge can make! We are thrilled with the glossy new stain and shiny metallic hardware that now adorn our kitchen. Only two steps to go until the kitchen transforms into my cooking fantasy.

Modern Eclectic

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And the answer we were looking for folks was “modern eclectic.” Yes, “modern eclectic” is the correct answer.

In the past couple of weeks I have become somewhat of an expert at performing google image searches. (It’s a very difficult process. Needless to say, many of you will never be able to master the art.) The primary objective of said searches is to find interior design inspiration for *ahem* someone’s upcoming relocation project. Yep, we are buying our first home and I’m needing some decoration guidance without having to actually READ anything or put in any intellectual research.

Finding the key words that get you to the most applicable images the fastest really might be some kind of a weird talent, and it took me a long time to find the right mix of random interior design-ish adjectives to produce photos of scenes I can realistically imitate. Like Goldy Locks, I combed through the internet searching for those key phrases that would get me to to inspiration images that were “just right.”

“Mid Century Modern” turned up some awesome shots that ultimately were too minimalistic or ridiculously unattainable. ”Colorful Interiors” lead me to images of what appear to be fun-houses. And a slew of other randomly placed together words got me close, but not quite there.

Enter MODERN ECLECTIC—the term vague enough to encompass all things modern, traditional and in between. The wishy-washy, bi-polar, ADD wannabe designers like myself finally have a designated style to call their own. Modern Eclectic it shall be. Behold the fruits of my labor.

That last one is a real-life inspiration from my friend Maggie. Check her place out on airbnb.

 

Cheers to Modern Eclectic, and hopefully soon you’ll be seeing real photos of the doodlehouse 2.0….

Naughty Pine

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I didn’t think I would ever perform a google search for the term “knotty pine,” or as I more commonly think of it, naughty pine, but certain recent developments, which shall reveal themselves in greater detail later, have had me on a mission to figure out how to make knotty pine look not so naughty.

Normally I love all design components from the 1950s-60s, but knotty pine is one element I would be happy to leave in the midcentury. Don’t get me wrong, in a log cabin or other woodland retreat, I would welcome the rustic look no questions asked. But for some reason it is just not a look that says, “Hello, an urban Austinite lives here.”

The knotty pine kitchen from Mad Men

The knotty pine kitchen on Mad Men is probably the only room from the show I didn’t want to emulate. But I guess when you embrace the midcentury look you must embrace it all.

Fortunately, the great beast we call Internet had a few suggestions that gave me hope for a knotty pine kitchen.

Knotty pine brought up to date

Bright colors lighten up a knotty pine pallet

A midcentury kitchen


And that will pretty much do it for the knotty pine spaces I can aspire to. I haven’t written it off yet, but let’s consider knotty pine on probation.


Chilling

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I didn’t know you could lust after refrigerators, but it turns out you can. Especially when it’s one of these Big Chill puppies. Mark my words, when we buy a house, I’m gettin’ one. And I will serve each and everyone of you so many popsicles, jello cups and other chilled treats, you won’t know what to do with yourselves.