Category Archives: House Into Home

05.29.12

A Sneak Peek…

As you may already know, E wanted her room redone for her 7th birthday (which isn’t until September, btw.. but at the rate I am going I am lucky to have it done by Christmas.)  So, while the painters were at the house, I had them paint our guest bedroom, and I couldn’t be more in love.  I chose Silver Chime by Duron.  It’s so calming.  When I first painted a swatch on the walls, I thought they forgot to mix it and gave me a can of white paint.  It’s ever-so-grey and ever-so-calming.  Of course, I am a color girl and plan on turning up the color with artwork and accessories.  My quest for color started with my framed Vera Scarf that I bought months ago.
 I finally found the perfect frame (I had to save up for it) and couldn’t be more excited with the outcome.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to give you a full reveal much sooner than Christmas. 😉

05.22.12

From Blah to BAM!

Let me take you through the transformation of a cabinet….
This picture is just plain embarrassing.. We used to use this in our family room to store our baby arsenal of diapers, wipes and burp cloths.  I actually took these photos three years ago because I was going to sell it on Craig’s List.
as you can see, it was distressed..
I decided to give her one more chance, so we moved it to the foyer as a catch all for everything that comes into our house.  Chinese Red was the color that came to mind.  It was really hard finding the perfect red.  It turned out to be Red Geranium by Glidden.  (That’s the sample smack dab in the middle.)
I painted on a sample to make sure it was just the right color.
And it was!  I removed the starbursts from the existing draw pulls and spray painted all of the hardware in Rustoleum Brass spray paint. As you can see, this needs more styling and I still need touch up some areas but nonetheless I am super happy with the results.  It brings a smile to my face every day when I walk in the door.
Last image taken by Ryann Colleen Photography

05.14.12

The Problem With Interpretation.

You say purple, I say blue.

I am so happy with the way E’s walls have turned out.  I ended up paying my go-to painter Corinne, to do the walls because I honestly had no idea when I was going to get to it.  At first I felt like a failure because I love doing things myself and feel like I should be like all of the other bloggers who do EVERYTHING themselves.  Then I realize that I have a full-time job and two kids and I would rather spend the weekend playing with my kids that painting a room.  Thus, the decision was made.  Here is a teaser picture (taken with an iPad) while in progress.

Obviously, these pillows were a huge part of my inspiration.  I saw them and just had to have them.
Next up.. I was looking for a bench that would be the perfect size for her bed.  At first, I insisted on a storage bench, so I scoured HomeGoods to find one.  I came home with this leather one, thinking I would reupholster in it a beautiful purple velvet.
However, the gorgeous purple velvet that I wanted was far more than what I wanted to spend on a bench for a six-year old so I continued my search and found this. 
Perfect, right?  And who can beat the price!  SOLD.  So I bought it and it showed up at my doorstep the next day.  Only problem is that it wasn’t purple as advertised… it was clearly Navy Blue.   

Looking a little more like this 
BUMMER.  Can you say false advertising?  When I called BJ’s they said that the color is actually Navy, not purple.  As you can see they have now edited the posting to more accurately represent the actual product.  That doesn’t help my situation.   They now have a p-i-s-s-e-d six year old to deal with.

04.17.12

Happy to Inspire.

While perusing on Pinterest I came across this picture.
Reminded me a lot of this
As it turns out, Shannon of GoogieMomma saw this picture of Lou’s room and used it as her inspiration to redesign her daughters’ room.
I am so happy that my work was able to inspire someone.  Shannon did a great job on her daughters’ room.  Check it out for yourself here.

03.07.12

My Living Room Lamps.

As many of you saw in my Living Room Project mood board, I was planning for something like these Westwood Gold Lamps for my new Rast end tables.  
But at $318 each, I think Mike would have a seizure. So, here’s how I got the look for MUCH less.  Remember these cable knit lamps from HomeGoods?
Well, obviously, I spray painted them. 
 I had to stray from my go-to which is Krylon’s Gold to Rustolium’s Brass to match the gold foil on the new shades I ordered.
As you can see these new black shades were bigger than the old navy ones
so I had to buy new harps too.  The old shades were two inches shorter than the new, so I increased the harp size from 8″ to 10″.
and voila!  I put them back together and couldn’t be happier with the final result.  And at $170 for both lamps versus the $636 that I would have paid for the Westwood lamps, I think Mike couldn’t be happier either!

02.09.12

Trim it Out.

I seem to be all about trim this week (its all in the details!) Adding a custom trim to a pillow is like adding a pair of designer heels to the perfect ensemble.  It takes everything up a notch. In looking for the perfect jacquard for a project, I came across the most amazing online trim wholesaler and couldn’t wait to share it with all of you.  Here are some of my favorites:

01.10.12

My Living Room Project.

Last week I showed you all my beloved God Bless Our Pad pillow that I had made from a needlepoint that I found on Craigslist.  I had mentioned that we have some exciting things in the works for our living room…Here is what it looked like a few years ago.  Clearly I was in to cottage florals.

 That sofa was the last piece of furniture from Mike’s bachelorhood.

 All of the upholstery was from our old townhouse, I had the chair and window treatments made before we even got married.  The wall color in the living room was chosen by the original owners of our house. I chose the red in the dining room- Drama Red by Behr.  I still love that color.

Here are the plans for our new living room…

While I hesitate to show you all the picture of what it looks like right now, after so many of you mentioned how you loved to follow the design process of Lou’s room, I decided to unveil this train-wreck of a room. 

So many things in this room will be 86’ed.. The skirted table, the sofa, the ugly throw pillows (not the GBOP pillow, of course) will all be going.  
The honeycomb mirror over the piano will be moving upstairs in our hallway, to be replaced by my Louis Vuitton dumpster find from our trip to Charleston last summer.  I have finally unwrapped her and now need to figure out how the hell to hang her.  
Here are the HIDEOUS chairs that I bought off of Craig’s List.  They will be reupholstered in this delicious turquoise linen.
As you can see, the living room and dining room are connected (no wall.)
So I tried to unify the space with some custom curtains that I had hand-painted by Corinne Marlow, who also painted the stripes in Lou’s room.  I love the color.  I searched for months for the perfect yellow and I found it.
  I told Corinne what I wanted and she handmade the stencil herself.

The only regret that I have is that they are linen and wrinkle quite a bit. 

Right now we have 12 dining room chairs (two different sets) all of which are being sold and replaced with something very exciting.
Stay tuned!