My Office

My office is still a pretty big work in progress. I haven't even been in it for very long.

We didn't do much other than paint when we first moved in. The carpet is brand new. We set it up as a guest room and then we had a room mate up until about a year ago. I hemmed and hawed forever about whether to keep it as a guest room or not. Finally my husband said "how often do we have guests? You would use it as an office everyday." Truer words have never been spoken.

This is right after I moved in. I sold the expedit shelf on craig. I liked it but I wished I had gotten the white one instead but I got several years use out of it still.

Not long after I moved my stuff in I got to painting. I wanted a really dark gray. The color is Gray by Benjamin Moore. This room has big beautiful leaded glass windows. I had a fabric picked out for the curtains that I picked specifically to go with this paint color. I was, still am, in love with it. I could have sworn it was $25/yard but when I called to order it was actually $50/yard aka out of my budget. It still gives me the sads when I think about it and obviously I haven't found anything else yet.

Sorry about the night shot, but this is really how it looked for a while.

My husband got me this big beautiful mirror from Ikea as a christmas gift. I love how it opens the room up and the silvery finish is pretty.

You couldn't see this chair very well in the Houzz tour. It's a parsons chair I got of craigslist for $60 as a gift to myself last year. The original orange fabric is actually kinda cool and in good shape. I'm sure I'll upholster it eventually but the cost on chairs like these is pretty steep.

I added my chinese dressing screen to give me little privacy. I work in here a lot at night and people on the street can see right in! It's a sample I snagged from my days at JCP.

You can hardly recognize this dresser can you? It was an absolute mess. I purchased it at Canton for a mere $45. Most of the handles were missing a piece of bamboo was broken off (but luckily still in one of the drawers), plus the color was just awful. It's a real Thomasville piece though.

When I bought this piece I had no idea where I would put it. Pro-tip: You don't have to have a plan for things. It was too good a deal to pass up and I knew I could find a place for it somewhere. It sat at my parents farm for months before I brought it up and even then I still wasn't sure what I'd do. For a long time I thought I would put it along that art wall in our living room. But then I decided I needed some storage in here and this piece would fit the bill.

It's a spray paint called ballet slipper.

I got the knobs at a local hardware store called Elliot's. I highly suggest you check out your locally owned hardware stores. They have very unique home improvement items you can't find at big box stores. Their employees are very knowledgeable too. I think I spent $50ish total on the hardware.

I even added a little surprise. The color is apricot from valspar.

The blanc de chine lamps I scored at an antiques store for $38 each. Always visit the antique stores in small towns people! They are well priced and have great shit. The desk we got from a friends garage sale. I will replace it someday when "the one" comes along. My chair is Ikea, I plans to recover it as well. Just need to pick curtains first.

 The vintage chandelier is from, you guessed it, Canton. It was $120. Actually a good deal for a vintage chandelier. You can only tell it's missing a few crystals if you look reeeally close. The artwork is by me. It took forever to layer like that but it's one of my favorite pieces (as evidenced by my blog header). Also that's a Tivoli radio, if you don't own one, get one, they are amazing and they look retro to boot.

Also I'm seriously considering this for my curtains in here...

Its a white linen with fuzzy black dots. So cute. What do you guys think?

Any questions? 

Photo by Sarah Greenman

Happy Wednesday lovers!

Entry Way

The entry way was one of the first rooms I painted and decorated in our new house. I still love most of it but naturally my design mind is ready for a change. I'm waiting for the right console to come along to determine what will happen in here. What am I looking for you ask? Well I don't know. It's one of those I'll know it when I see it things. Ever get that?

So this is what it looked like when we moved in, post ceiling scrape. The lady who lived here before REALLY loved Texas things. There was star and cowboy shit everywhere! And again with the peach walls! So we scraped off the cowboy hat border, repainted and changed the light fixture first thing.

Soooo much better. We did a little two tone thing on the ceiling to show off the architecture. Pro-tip: When you have nice ceilings (or any feature really) like this use two different paint colors to show them off. It really highlights the details.

The paint color is Pillow Mint by valspar. It's a nice crisp mint color. The console is from Target and I've had it since college. I painted it glossy black with white drawer fronts and knobs from Antrhopologie. It's a nice piece but I think I'm ready for something more substantial and unique. I think I want to go dark with the walls.

Eventually I was gifted this wonderful light by my Mother in Law. I love it so much. It's from Ballard's.

I gradually added on little details here and there. A basket for mail.

Hooks for dog leashes.

Some inexpensive art.

                                                                                      Photo by Sarah Greenman

I spent forever collecting the vintage beveled edge mirrors. They can be quite pricey but I didn't want to pay over $40 for any of them. Most are from Canton, I think one or two my mom found in random antique stores. The two littlest ones are from Target though. It's hard to find tiny antique ones. I wouldn't mind adding more if I ever come across a mirror I loved. This is one feature I will keep when I re-do the space.

The hat boxes are vintage and the pink one is Schiaparelli of course. The stool was a canton purchase that I recovered and painted.

The lamp was a sample I scored from days working at JcPenney corporate. The mask is from our honeymoon in Venice. The little bottles with stones on top are from Wisteria. The cup holds my husband's keys and I got it at goodwill.

And as you can see there is a giant 5 foot star in the floor. I hate it so much. Can't wait for wood floors!

Let me know if you have questions!

The Kitchen

Not much I can really say about this room. After we finish our hall bath remodel this will be the next big project. And when I say big, I mean big. As in scale and price tag. It's going to be a long road...

I took this when we first moved in. All we did really was clean and paint the walls. 

Since then we've gotten a new fridge and a tiny island cart. The layout of this kitchen kinda renders the only usable counter space in the corner, which is difficult. Also the dishwasher to left bumps into the front of the oven range when you open it. I plan to move it to the other side of the sink when we reno. Having the dishwasher there also makes that corner cabinet a black hole. It could be a nice corner with a swivel rack or something. That would give use so much more usable space!

A few  months ago I added this great vintage turkish rug I found on craigslist for $100. It was more than I'd usually spend on a rug this size but duh its vintage and the colors are great! Money well spent methinks.

Up until about 4 or 5 months ago our breakfast nook was pretty much empty. I had other areas to focus on so this fell by the wayside just like putting on mascara did after I decided I didn't care anymore...back to the topic at hand though.

Actually for a really long time I had my office in here. Silly right? We had a good friend renting out our third bedroom (which is now my office) for almost two years so I moved my desk in here since the space wasn't being used anyways. I kinda liked it really, the room gets great light.

I thought a round table would be perfect in here so naturally the ever affordable Ikea Docksta caught my eye with its mid century stylings. I ended up snagging it for $100 off craigslist, which saves $80 as opposed to buying it new.

Then I stumbled on these chairs at one of my favorite antique dumps in Dallas, Richard Hecht on Oak Lawn. It doesn't look like much at first, no shelving, kinda smelly, stuff piled here and there. But I've found some really great things there. When I can catch it open that it. The guy keeps no hours, at least that I know of. I usually just drive by and stop if he happens to be open, which he is about 1 out of 10 times I try to go there. 

 Anyways they are real Danish chairs in great condition and I got all four for $40! No you shut up, yes that's $10 a chair! Absurd!

I recovered the cushions myself with a bit of fabric and a staple gun. The fabric is from one of the best fabric stores in Dallas, Fabric Factory. I didn't need much so I splurged a bit on $50/yard fabric. I think I spent about $85 total for fabric. So with the cost of the chairs that's custom chairs for not a lot of moola!

Something you didn't see in the Houzz tour was the light we have in here which I absolutely love. I need to put it on a chain so it will hang lower but thats a project for another day. I got it at White Elephant. I had seen it for like $175 late last year. I took a picture and just could not stop thinking about it. For MONTHS I thought about this light but I couldn't afford $175! I finally decided that two months had gone by and I still wanted it so I knew it wasn't impulse. I would go back and if it was still there I would put it on lay away, if it wasn't then it just wasn't meant to be. Well I went right before Christmas and not only was it there but it was on sale! I paid $120 for it right then and there.

                                                                                    Photo by Sarah Greenman

                                                                                       Photo by Sarah Greenman

Our cigar store Indian guards this corner of the house. My husbands family owned a furniture store in Witchita for decades. I wish we had more pieces from their store. When they sold it he was able to get this Indian and I love it. It used to freak me out in the dark but now I've grown fond of him. His name is "Chief Mucho Mango", yes that would be the name of a certain beverage made by the Arizona Iced Tea Company.

                                                                                         Photo by Sarah Greenman

                                                                                            Photo by Sarah Greenman

Reno also includes plans the turn the china hutch area into a pantry and the current pantry (its to your left in the above photo) into more cabinets that will house a small appliance center.

So there's our kitchen/breakfast nook. If you have any more questions please ask! Next up is the entry way/hallway!

The Dining Room

The dining room was one of the biggest attractions for me when we looked at this house. The wall of windows opening up into the living room was so wonderful. As someone who had been an apartment dweller for 7 years I wanted light so badly.

Some befores...

This is when we first bought the place, post popcorn scrape. The light fixture was gaudy brass-tastic. The walls were a deep red and the wainscoting (along with all the trim in the house) was a beige-y off white color.

This is after the initial coat of paint, nice white wainscoting, and new light fixture. The table and chairs were another borrow from my parents. It stayed exactly like this for probably a year.

Then I saw this beautiful black lacquer table on clearance at Pier 1. And I knew it was the one. The curve of the legs, the shiny black goodness, the size, it was all perfect. So I brought it home with me for only $300.

The wall color was one of the first things I painted an actual color in our house. The color is Purple Basil by Martha Stewart for Home Depot. I probably went through about 5 different purples before I chose this one. I knew we could go dark in this room because of all the windows and the fact that the wainscoting covers half the walls. So I decided to go bold and I totally love it.

Then after months of searching on craigslist I finally found the perfect chairs. Only $100 for all six. Huge score!

I painted them white, which took forever because the Texas summer started right when I got them. It took me six months to paint all six. It was just too damn hot to work during the summer, so they just sat there.

 I managed to find a thin black and white stripe fabric from High Fashion Home for only $10 a yard, so I spent $80 total. Then we saved up for upholstery which cost about $350. If you're keeping track including spray paint we spent about $600 total on the chairs. $100 each for custom chairs? Not bad if I do say so myself.

Then came one of my ultimate scores. The bar cart. I snagged it at, you guessed it, Canton. For only $55!

It needed some TLC but I thought that was all the better. I polished it up with some brasso, tightened the screws and bought some pretty paper from paper source to cover the shelves. The shelves were some fake faux wood or something.

I made a template for the shelves out of plain paper to make sure I got it just right. Then mounted the pretty paper with spray adhesive.

And bam, a whole new piece!

I do love it so.

Meanwhile I managed to score this beautiful art deco china hutch from some friends who were having a garage sale. I don't remember what we paid for it exactly because we bought several things altogether but it was stupid cheap. I had plans to cover it with paper one day.

Again the paper in the hutch is from Paper Source mounted with spray adhesive. Its amazing how much I use that stuff. Definitely a good item for your tool kit.

The fabric was a splurge. I had been searching for the perfect thing for months and on a trip to NYC I saw this fabric at Mood and just knew it was the one. It was my birthday gift that year. We needed a lot and it was $40/yard. I think we spent over $600 for everything. Then my mom and I sewed them together ourselves. It sounds like a lot but again, when you think about how much Anthropologie charges for curtains, it really is comparable. And no one else has these curtains. They MAKE the room!

The light fixture still has that generic home depot light we originally installed under there. I just wired a giant drum shade I got from a showroom at Dallas Market over it. 

The curtain rod is a cable system from Ikea that I highly recommend. It's cheap, easy to install and can extend really long. A curtain rod long enough to cover these walls would have cost easily $100.

                                                                                    Photo by  Sarah Greenman

So that's our dining room. If you have any more questions leave 'em in the comments!