Friday, September 30, 2011

Decorator Books ~ A Custom Order

I put together this post right before we left New York.  I am buried in boxes at the moment; pictures to come and advice to seek!   I hope to be able to squeeze in some blog reading time over the next few days.  Lost one follower, but thanks to the other 976 for hanging in there!

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I haven’t had much time in recent days to do much of anything in a creative sense, except draw on the packing boxes.  I was able to have some outlet though, by putting together a custom order I got from my Etsy shop for some decorator books.  The theme ~ purple and grey/silver.

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I went with a wide range of these colors and added embellishments to about half of them.

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These have been shipped off and should be in the purchasers hands now.  I hope she likes them!

Kathy

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hitting The Highway

Well, we’re off!  By the time you read this we will be on the road to Ohio!

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I won’t have computer access for a few days, so save my seat!

Kathy

Friday, September 23, 2011

Apartment ~ The After

Yes, just the “after”.  I was there twice and twice I forgot my camera!  This past weekend we moved my son into his apartment.  The walls were freshly painted white and white they will stay, but we will bring some color in with the furniture, bedding, window treatments and some décor.  Keep in mind that we had little time and used what we had to get this done.  This is the living room when I arrived this morning. 

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Here it is when I left.

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He took our old recliner loveseat for the living room and my den area rug.  I purchased the drapes at Target along with the rod.  The windows are not very big and I had a length of 70 inches to work with, so I got 63 inch drapes.  His Goodwill find on one of our first trips was this storage ottoman.  It will work perfectly as extra seating and he’s even got some clothes stuffed in there.

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A floor lamp from my master sitting room that wasn’t getting much use works well since space is at a minimum and he could use the lighting.  Getting rid of the rest of the boxes will make it even better for him.  There was enough room with the furniture set up this way for a side table next to the couch and he had the tray table set up when I arrived.  They basically will have to eat their meals sitting on the loveseat.

We realized that his Queen size bed would take up practically all of the room in the 9x9 bedroom, so I ran out Saturday afternoon and managed to purchase the last Full size bed the store had.  I had to run out because my hubby rented a U-haul that day to move his things over.   Here’s the room when I arrived this morning.

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That, of course, led to a trip to the nearby Marshalls to get some sheets and a mattress pad.  Very tight, but he can move around and he got the furniture he wanted to bring in here.

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Here it is when I left.

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I used clip rings for the rod I installed in his bedroom to hang the large “flag” he has for his favorite football team ~ The Colts!  We used the soccer “flag” over his bed since he has no headboard.

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I found a rug and towels on clearance for the bathroom.  I decided for him {and his roommate} that they were doing blue and green in here.  Nothing on this window, except the blind it came with.  There isn’t much room to hang a rod and the blind provides enough privacy and light control.

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He tells me these are girls towels with the color and design.  I just liked it because it had the blue and green I wanted to bring in for them.  I mean, sheesh, it’s not florals for Pete’s sake {“girls towels”}!

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In the kitchen I chose red as an accent color for them.  Again, everything in this apartment is white.  Excuse my mess but this has been my landing area when I come in.  

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Red valance from Target, red towels and pot holders from the Dollar Tree.

DSC03202_2603A cute little seasonal touch that I just had to get.

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Pantry and shelving area. 

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Having to put this together somewhat rushed, I think it’s looking pretty good! 

Kathy

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Thank You Giveaway ~ Coming Soon

While I am in the midst of moving and don’t have much to share with you right now, I thought I’d let you know that I am planning a “Thank You Giveaway”.   A little thank you for listening to me go on about the never-ending move here on my blog and also to those who I’ve emailed and vented my frustrations to.

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I’m gathering a bunch of goodies together, including these two brand new pillows. 

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Thanks for hanging in there with me! 

{Just found out we are closing on our house Friday; we should be in Ohio by next week!}

Kathy

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Paper Trail

I found this letter tray in our garage while we were packing things up.   My husband would have just thrown it away, but I yelled “Good God, man, have you learned nothing in all this time I’ve been blogging”!   Under my craft cart it went awaiting its turn.

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It’s a nice solid piece and made of wood.  I know it will come in handy once we are moved to keep things neat.  While I am working on a custom order for decorator books, this tray was really calling out for some help.  So I grabbed the can of Espresso spray paint and headed outside.

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Gave it two quick coats.  You can’t see it here, but the wood grain on the sides shows through a little bit.

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Then added some scrapbook paper which I wound up centering because the tray is longer and narrower than the paper.  I didn’t glue it down because I could see changing the paper out every so often as the mood strikes.

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I then added an embellishment I got from a new Bo Bunny package to the front. 

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Now I have  a neat place to keep paperwork on my desk in an organized yet pretty manner!

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I had the tray, the scrapbook paper and the paint already.  I recently bought the package of embellishments, on clearance for $3.99.  I used one of about 6 or 7 embellishments so this cost me about $.50 to do.

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Linking up with

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Treasure Hunt Thurs. at From My Front Porch To Yours

Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous

Kathy

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Before Tour

The countdown to closing continues!  I took some of the better pictures off the internet of the condo we are buying.   I probably won’t be in there again before furniture and boxes are in the way, so these may work as my “before” pictures.  These are pictures of our actual condo and not random shots like the previous post.

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You’ll notice the front exterior almost makes it look like it stands alone.  I did like that about these condos.  Some of these bushes look like they need to be trimmed. 

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When you first walk in the front door, there is a small entry/foyer area and then the living room or den {there’s only the one and we’ll probably refer to it as a den}.  Gas fireplace and, on the opposing wall, the cable hook-up.  This view {above} is from the kitchen.  I’m thinking of doing a gallery wall on that long wall as we will probably put the TV over the fireplace.

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To the right is the sunroom.  I pretty much like all the colors in the condo, except for this green.  So, I will probably live with it for a little bit, but I’d like to change that color.  There are french doors that close this off.  If you can see that small wall area {that looks like there is a light switch and an outlet on it} that is where you come in the front door.  I may have enough room there to put either my redone French chest or our hall tree {which I showed you here and here}.

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When I first saw it online, there was a paint treatment on the walls in the den and kitchen that looked like wallpaper.  It looked enough like wallpaper that they even put in the description “there is no wallpaper”.  Thankfully, by the time we saw it in person, it had been repainted to solid and neutral colors.  You’ll be able to see a little bit of the old paint in one of the kitchen shots below, but you can also see a little bit of it framing this doorway into the sunroom.

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To the left of the den is the master bedroom {shown above}.  The master bathroom has double doors {really a regular size door, but split in the middle to make it a double door} leading into it, and continuing through is the master walk-in closet.  The picture below is just one side of the closet.  The other side has the same set-up but with rods for hanging clothes.

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The kitchen is a light grey with grey countertops.  I’m thinking of changing the cabinet hardware.  What do you think?  Of course, that won’t happen right away, but just something I’m thinking about.

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If you look closely here {below} at the backsplash you can see what the paint treatment looked like before they painted it light grey.

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Off the kitchen is another set of double doors that lead to the garage door, the laundry room and . . .

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. . . just beyond that a storage room that will become my craft/sewing room.  My intention is to take the wire shelving down in both areas.  I forgot the laundry room was yellow.  I will probably paint that, too.  I have a lot of yellow in my present home and I’d like to do something different here.

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That’s the tour for now!  I’ve still got the master bathroom, second bedroom, bathroom and study/office to show you, but I’ll save that for another post.

Thanks for being patient with me on this.  I’ve been in my current house 21 years this October so this is very exciting for me!  I keep coming back to these pictures to look at how I might arrange my things.  Of course, all that could change once we are actually there {it should be middle of next week}!  I’ll be needing some objective opinions as well, once I start decorating, so I hope you are up for it!

Kathy

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Young Man’s First Apartment

He’s not a kid and he’s not quite a man, but he is my son and he’s moving into his first apartment!  Ack! 

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This is my baby; my son who shares a “psychic bond” with me; neither of us can stay mad at the other and we both always apologize right away; the boy who didn’t ride a bike until he was almost 10; the little guy who didn’t want to go in the pool by himself and was just as content to sit on the stairs into the pool with his Mom; the toddler who instead of crawling scooted on his butt, making sure he wasn’t missing anything that was going on while he made his way across the floor; and the 8-year-old who was signed up for football {and that I wanted to wrap in bubble wrap every weekend game} and who continued to play all the way up through his high school years!

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Here are some shots of his first apartment ~ the second floor of a house which has a history of being rented to students.  He will be rooming with a friend.  The rent is within our budget and it is a neat, clean place.  Freshly painted and the floors refinished for a new tenant.

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The apartment is quite small.  The kitchen opens to the living room.  The two bedrooms are 9x9.  The bathroom is not a bad size and there is some nice shelving storage along one wall where the kitchen and living room meet. 

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Each room has a window and there is a skylight in the kitchen. 

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It is light and bright with wood floors throughout.  So much for giving my son the point and shoot to get steady pictures.  They’re steady but not very good shots of the rooms.  I’ll try and get better ones when we are actually moving him in.

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A nice first apartment for a young man.  With some touches from Mom, we will make it a home.  We sign the lease Thursday and get the keys.  Stay tuned!

Kathy

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Hall Tree Makeover

We have a hall tree that we are bringing with us when we move, but I’ve been wanting to paint it for awhile and this seemed like the perfect time.  I figure the more pieces I can paint now and put right into place when we move, the better off I’ll be.  Eager to try another Annie Sloan chalk paint color, I ordered two sample paint pots of Old Ochre.

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I tried to remove the hooks, but they weren’t budging, so I tried to be as careful as possible around them.  I put some newspaper under the fret work area so I could paint it without worrying about messing up the mirror.  It is not removable so it was my only option.   Here it is after one coat {dark pictures ahead, it was 9:00 at night}. 

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Not bad, but knowing how the Old White looks after one coat, I’m hoping the second coat will do the job.  Here she is ~ ready for her close-up!

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I have to say that right now the Old Ochre is my new favorite color!  I think it was the right choice to go with for this hall tree and works really well with the marble table top.  What do you think?

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If you’ve been wanting to try the Annie Sloan chalk paint a sample pot is a good way to go.  Mine was only $6.99 per sample pot and it took almost two to do the whole hall tree with two coats and a little bit of touch-up in some areas.

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After I applied the Annie Sloan clear wax {no dark wax on this piece}, I just had to play around with some of the things I still have out that aren’t packed up yet.

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I’m probably going to get more of this color to do the small table/desk I have that will be going in my craft/sewing room.

Linking up with

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch

Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

 

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