Have a Seat!

Left over from Chris's bachelor days, we currently have a fabric loveseat.  A loveseat that lost his partner in crime (a matching sofa) years ago but has nonetheless served us well. Guests sit on the loveseat.  And the dining room chairs.  And the staircase.  And the random cushions we throw on the floor. We joke our place is a byos (bring your own seat). We've had our eye on this guy for quite some time.  Placed our order this weekend.  While I wasnt crazy about just one giant couch against the wall we couldnt come up with any combination of furniture we liked that could be configured otherwise.  Our house is long and narrow so the popular "sofa and 2 flank chairs" set-up just wouldnt fit.  We considered just 2 kick-ass deep and compfy but stylish solo chairs but we like to sit together, plus that wouldnt offer any further seating for guests, so that was out.  There just seemed to be no other choice but a "sectional" which Ive just never really been able to get behind (just not my style).  So we present you with (drum roll please):

 

 

 

Kensington 118"

luxe depth

down fill

glove color



We chose glove as it's like a blacky browny combo that we hope will look nice with our industrial tool chest pieces nearby.  You can see the color better here on this bizarro chair:

Reminder what the industrial tool chest pieces look like:

 

We arent really framed picture people.  That said, since our passion is travel, we are thinking of framing a handful of our favorite travel photographs (in sepia, maybe?) in some perfectly "us" frames on the blank wall behind the couch.  Maybe 3-5 large rectangular frames.  Perhaps a theme-since we love nature and the outdoors I was thinking trees.  Travel and nature (sighs in contentment).

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N.B. She fought a good fight for an animal-free sofa.  She lost...

 

 

 

So Many Shoes So Little Space

We have one closet in the entire house (small-too shallow even for a hanger) which currently holds linens and sundries. So where to put all our shoes? 

Because it's "storage" I feel like the majority of people dont care what the container looks like (how else to explain aisles of "plastic tubs" in home stores). Not so for me. Why deprive ourselves of pretty things just because nobody else may ever see it?

I thought about using the area under our bed-the only existing unused space in our home. 

I created in my mind the perfect option: cute baskets with some wheels for easy use.  I figured Id have to build this myself b/c if it isnt on the Restoration Hardware website it doesnt exist right? I searched google images to get some ideas and surprise!

Thanks Pottery Barn! It wasnt marketed for under-bed use but it was exactly what I had in mind.

I had envisioned the baskets having a lid or cover of some sort b/c I was afraid dust would make its way inside.  I had some ideas on how I could fashion something tasteful, which of course I researched (here), but lets get those baskets ordered first.

We have a king bed and after very careful cuckoo measuring ordered 12 baskets.  

They fit absolutely perfectly, 3 rows of 4 from the foot of the bed to the head, coming right to edge but not sticking out on any side. Though the baskets are flush with the bed you can of course see that they are under there.  It looks so much nicer than mismatched boxes, plastic containers, or, for those unfortunate souls who lost their boxes long ago, tens of shoes smooshed and piled upon eachother. 

The baskets nearly reach the underside of the bed so dust isnt a problem and our shoes are happy with their new home (~6/basket for her size 7, ~3/basket for his size 13).

My shoes utilize 8.5 of the 12 baskets.

Attention to Detail

We have long discussed the need to replace the standard hinges that were installed with our wooden doors.  After much research we decided on Emtek brass (in flat black to match the interior knobs) heavy duty ball bearing hinges.

Similarly, the creamy plastic switch plates and the white metal walled register vents needed some attention (the floored registered vents already blended nicely).  We considered, and were fairly certain, we wanted to dress these up in scrolly wrought iron, however, we decided to instead blend them into the background rather than make them pop.  We have a small space and agree less is more.

Note that we *did* order the switch plates in iron and something to consider, which we had not previously, is the color of the switch itself-that you flip or push on and off.  Meaning, ours are cream colored and contrasted horribly with the black metal.  The cream color can easily and inexpensively be changed to grey or black (or whatever color you like) to better match the plate but nonetheless this was still just a bad look in our opinion and is what drove us to blend instead of pop. (Same issue with the color of the plug portion of outlets.)

Once in the "blend" mode we continued with the register vents.

Walled register vent painted latte to blend with wall:

Black brass hinges on door, switch plates painted latte to blend with wall, floored vent blends nicely as is:

Up Next

His and hers matching armoires-I hate that word (http://tinyurl.com/this-is-how-you-say-it):

For use as nightstands (2 of these guys as well):

For use as....sleeping:

 Curtains (decided to go with a gray rather than a brown):

And then our tiny room will be packed with no more space for a thing!

Its About Time

After 2 years of living in Ty Bach Twt it became clear we needed to actually affix items to the walls.  Something we were hesitant to do until we were really, really, very, very sure we needed it.  Because despite what everyone says about it being easy to caulk/puddy/sand/repaint/whathaveyou a no-longer-needed drywall hole we were pretty much terrified to ruin things.

So in addition to the basement landing storage which will hopefully make it easier for us to put our stuff away at the end of the day we stuck more things into our walls in the name of organization.

For years our bathtowels in progress had no home.  They'd be bunched up on doorknobs or thrown over the hall banister.  It just seemed logical to finally put to use the Baldwin Alsace hardware we purchased in 2008 for this very purpose.  Yes, we have had "the answer to our problems" since 2008.

Though these are technically "robe hooks" they were so much less invasive than the "towel racks."

And no more will our hand and mouth towels (dry mouth after brushing teeth) be slung over the back of the tub.  They now have a place of their own.  Which looks like heaven in this picture...

These nicely accompany our existing potty paper holder.  He is happy to have matching friends.

Some other additions to the bathroom.  You can see my reflection in the glass but Im not naked.

Further, my fluffy RH monogramed robey robe now has a permanent home also.  No longer will he be balled up on the closet shelf or thrown across the foot of the bed.

Basement Landing-Storage

Our house has a single closet.  Which is so small it cant even house a hanger.  We desperately needed a place to store our coats, bags, and other everyday castoffts so we created the following.

Pottery Barn isnt usually our cup of tea but I happened upon this bulletin board and decided it was the perfect addition to help keep things organized in our gingerbread house.

We used leftover floor boards from our reclaimed wood floors along with some rusticy hooks to create the perfect coat racks.



We have the following light that will replace the current standard one initially installed by the electrician.

It is currently sitting in our kitchen because Hubs is afraid he will elecrocute himself so we have to phone a professional.

Ta Daaa!

So, a little disappointed we couldnt paint the muntins on the kitchen casements like we could on the french doors.  Both are true divided light but the kitchen casement is by Marvin Windows-wood with aluminum clad-that shouldnt be painted over so...stuck with those creamy muntins (that sounds dirty).

Obligatory pictures of our cute dog...

 

More Painting

Our first wildflower blooms!

And another visitor-pollinate and be merry!

Painting Has Begun!

Ok so-only the stucco was painted so far in the front so the white trim and the green door are on their way outtie (as is the wrought iron set on the porch-we put it there kind of just to see how it looks and I dont like it).

You can see a bit of the trim color in these pictures on the front of the upper level and on the left window.  Again, green door (such a pretty shade-sorry to see it go really) and white trim are on their way out.  (PECO will be out to raise those ugly power lines up a bit.)

 

Another Step Taken In Our Outdoor Oasis

We returned home from the garden store to find folks taking pictures of our front yard-in particular, our stone path and creeping thyme.  Turns out there was a garden tour in our neighborhood-we were not a house on the tour but these nice ladies said we should be. They said our style was simple and classic-that made my day!!  Especially since there really are some gorgeous properties in this area and we are really just getting started.

So, here is an update on what has taken place out back:

We love the difference of texture here-the light flowing yellow coreopsis moonbeam (the yellow guys) contrasting with the more defined salvia.

Then we added some sage in the side pots and some lavender in the little guy up front.

We added some flat stones to give this corner more texture and placed them out a bit further than necessary to house the pots in an effort to "pull" the space out and join the rest of the seating area.

Morgen stops to smell the flowers (and then drink the rain water accumulated in the saucer).

Our first visitors-butterflies!  (...or moths)

It is hard to see but the two feathery marks mid left below are the guy above doing a little butterfly dance with his friend.

And because she is so cute...