Take A Dip

This is one of those Projects That Almost Wasn't. Not quite dramatic enough to make the Pinterest Fail page... but it definitely didn't work out exactly the way I had intended.

Our house came outfitted with these lights:
 

Bland. 

Meh. 

They're fine. Whatever. 

They could be lots worse:
 

We have a double set in the bathroom that I gave the teeny-tiniest update to:
 

 

Just dipped the rims in some yellow craft paint. I think they're kinda cute. 

Our hallway also has one of these light; a single one:
 

Now, I think this light is kind of odd to begin with. It looks stuck there, almost like an afterthought. Which it may well have been when someone realized that the space needed a light but the ceiling space is taken up by the door to the attic.
 

One day, if we put in stairs, we will get rid of the attic door and replace it with a real ceiling and run wiring for an actual hall light. But that is a good ways off. We've casually looked at wall mounted lights to replace this one, but we haven't seen anything that we really loved. To me, a lot of them just look like a porch light that you put inside. 

So, while we're waiting, I decided this light needed a tiny tweak. I thought it would look cool to dip the shade in white 

paint, similar to the bathroom light but...more!
 

I assumed that I could just dip the shade into the gallon of white latex-based paint that we had kicking around in the back of the closet. But...

...the shade was too fat. 

So, I thought, I'll pour the paint into a wider container (aka: a glass pie plate, cause...why not?).
 

It didn't coat as much of it as I had originally wanted, but I was just going with whatever worked at this point. (Inside I was already thinking, "I have ruined this lamp shade. It was fine bland and now I am making it aggressively unattractive.) 

My plan had been to hold the shade until the paint was set enough to leave it upside down on the table without it dripping. 

Well, no dice. 

If I had been smart, or just patient, I would have waited until Joseph was home so there was an extra pair of hands for lamp holding/child-minding.

But, lest you forget, I like to do things NOW! (Because my interests are mercurial and I am easily distracted.) 

So, thinking the paint was probably set "enough", I put the shade down so that I could change a diaper/fix a snack/play Firemen. 

Spoiler: it was not. 

When I checked on it a little while later, this is what I found:
 

I promptly texted Joseph:

Me: AHHHH! I can't do this! I ruined our boring light! And everything is painty and I'm a terrible person!

(Or something like that.)

I also sent him the above picture. 

He sent back:

Joseph: I'm confused because what you said sounds like it didn't turn out but the picture looks awesome.

...

How sweet. 

To me, it looked like Albino Cthulhu was eating my lamp shade.
 

Rrraawwrr! Nom-nom-nom-lamp...

I decided to just let it dry fully and then see what I could do. 

I knew I was going to have to remove the paint that had run down the inside of the shade; I didn't want to have swapped out a bland lamp for a fire hazard.  Once the paint was dry, I tried just peeling the drips off to see what happened. 

Oh, the magic of latex paint on glass; they came off perfectly. I still wasn't sold on the drippy look, no matter what my enabler supportive husband said. So, on a whim, I took a paring knife and, veeeery carefully, ran it around the top of the rim of paint, just below where the drips started. 

I don't have any pictures of this step because I was pretty sure this was A: not going to work, B: ruin my shade or C: all of the above. 

But, surprise, it did!

Pretty much. 

It's not exactly the "dipped" look I wanted, but it's much better than I thought it was going to look about halfway into this project. 

I hope writing this experience down will help me remember that, in the world of DIY, not everything works out perfectly. And for every amazing thing on Pinterest, there are dozens of "fails".

And we should hold up our mangled, gluey ball of twine (or poorly painted lamp shade) and say, "Yep. I tried. It didn't work.  I'm awesome anyway."

Five for Friday: Art Attack!

Note: So, I said this last week, but I figured it should probably become a "thing" that goes here. (Also, I just really love putting things in italics.) For the record, none of the products/links on any Five for Friday posts are affiliated with us. They are purely things we enjoy (or dream of enjoying one day). 

Our walls have been feeling a little bare. I tend to think of hanging pictures as a final decorating touch; something not to be done until everything else is finished, like adding sprinkles on a cupcake. However, I'm beginning to think that I'm wrong. Or...I've just gotten impatient. I don't want to wait! I want sprinkles now!

So, here are five things that I would love to hang on our walls:



This print from Help Ink:

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In addition to having really beautiful art, they also donate a portion of each sale to the charity of your choosing. And they print on wood, in addition to high-quality paper, which I think is super cool.



Thiebaud Calendar:

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Thiebaud prints are kind of hard to find. So, when I came across this calendar on Amazon I was super excited. It's like getting twelve prints for $11, which is a pretty amazing deal. 

Ikea Trees Print:

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I love the colors in this and it's  fun without feeling too cutesy. Also, it's $12 (!!!).

Etsy Feathers:

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I mean, who doesn't love feathers? Joseph actually found this one and when he showed me all I said was, "Yes!"

Ali Cavanaugh Print:

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This last one is on the pricey side ($100 for a 12x12) but her work is just beautiful.   Or maybe I just secretly covet those socks... 

So, yes, I think I'm finally going to get past my "Wait! You can't hang art yet! You're not done! You're not at the sprinkle phase!" way of thinking and order some art! 

Anything you guys can't wait to hang? Or already have up and are loving? Share!

I am the Egg-Chair

So this past weekend we went down to the Lakeside Farmer's Market to hit up one of our favorite vendors, Greenway Beef. The name is slightly misleading considering they sell, well, pretty much everything. After filling a couple bags full of produce (they have a sweet mix and match/fill a bag deal for $7) we headed down the street to one of the more popular thrift stores around town, Consignment Connection. Normally we see tons of stuff there that we want but nothing that we need and leave empty handed, but not this time.

When we got there this was awaiting us. The second we pulled in Meredith's eyes lit up and she HAD TO HAVE IT. Better yet? It was $12. The only problem was that they weren't open yet! In fact, they didn't open for another thirty minutes.

Whoops.

So, we decided that Meredith and Alice would stay to stake our claim and Grayson and I would run down the street to get something from Hardees while we waited (we're suckers for Hardees breakfast, it's our one weakness when it comes to fast food).

We took turns guaranteeing that no one took our chair.

...while eating our bacon egg and cheese biscuits.

It was all quite silly.

As it turns out, it's a good thing we didn't just leave and come back later because as soon as the doors opened I took it to the counter and asked them to hold it for us while we looked around and while we were in the other room someone still tried to buy it! Thankfully they told them that no, they couldn't buy it because a crazy family had already staked their claim since early that morning (or at least that's what I imagine they told them).

Here it is in our living room against our board and batten. It's quite at home and already feels like part of the family.


We love that it's yellow, but you can tell it wasn't painted all that "thoroughly" by its last owner so we're not sure if we should try and match the current color and give it a second coat, or try something different. Any thoughts? Also, what consignment shops are we missing out on? We both love anything that's heavy on the furniture and decor side of their inventory. Any suggestions for our next outing?

All Dressed Up

Note: apologies for the terrible pictures in this post. It was a "put down baby, take picture, pick baby back up" kind of photo shoot. Also, I didn't do anything to "style" this project, which another reason why the pictures are kind of sad. But, considering what usually lives on top of this dresser is our (10 year!) old television and that television's antenna, the bare surface is actually an upgrade. I love you guys and hope you will forgive me for this post's lack of sparkling visuals. Man, a new t.v., we have got to get on that...

Some of you may remember us posting this photo a while back:

 

 

That was the morning I looked at that dresser long hard and thought, "Something's gotta change...and that something, Dresser, is you".

Well, a month and a half later...here it is!

Okay, not the most mind-blowing furniture update, but it's a little fresher, a little brighter and (except for one part, which I'll get to in a minute), it was quick and easy. 

To start off, I removed the knobs. A simple task, I just held the screws in place with a Phillips Head screwdriver and unscrewed the knobs from the front. 

Then I removed the screws and put them in a cup while I was working on the knobs, because leaving them exposed turned the dresser into a terrifying Medieval torture device.

I laid the knobs out on some cardboard we had kicking around and gave them four very thin coats of white, high-gloss spray paint, waiting about an hour between each coat and alternately flipping them over to make sure I got good coverage. (I probably didn't need to wait an hour between coats, but, because they're something that's going to see a lot of handling, I didn't want to risk them being even the slightest bit tacky or drippy.) 

After they had dried fully ( I let them sit on the porch til they didn't smell like spray paint anymore; about two days. This also ensured they were super dry), it was a simple matter of remembering where I'd put the screws inserting the screws and attaching the knobs back on to the drawers. 

Here's what it looked like:

Originally, I had just planned on doing the knobs, but the too was looking in need of a little...something. 

So, I thought, why not? And painted the top, too!

I wiped it down really well to get any residue off, then sanded it lightly, followed by another wipe down and then three thin coats of Behr Pure White in Semi-gloss. (The above picture is one coat in, which is why it looks terrifying.)

I think it's pretty cute. And one of those projects where the effort to result ratio weighs pretty heavily toward the "result" side; I always like those. 

I should say that, since I can never seem to leave well enough alone, I am adding a stenciled pattern to the top:

It's slowly progressing; five minutes here, a half-hour there. Hopefully, it will be done soon. Then we can seal it and post actual finished (!) pictures. 

Anyone have any projects that they've done with a high result to effort ratio? I'm always looking for something I can knock out in a couple of afternoons (with help from the Nap Fairy) that just makes things pop in a new way. 

Five for Friday: Homearama Edition

This is the last one, I promise! After this, we'll put down the notepads and step away from the Homearama recaps.

But, before we do, a Homearama-inspired Five for Friday!

Five design trends we spied at Homearama on our trip last Saturday that got us really excited. 

First up: Stenciled Walls

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The Statement Wall 2.0. All the fun of wallpaper, none of the disgusting paste or hassle of removing it when you want to change up the look of a room. This room is from the John and Sherry Petersick designed showhouse. (Aside: oh, my goodness, how much do I want that chicken painting? It's called "Princess Truthful" by Lesli Devito and if I had oodles of money you would all be getting a chicken portrait for Christmas.) 

We are planning a stencil wall (actually, a faux stencil wall; we're just free-handing it) in Grayson's Viking Bedroom, but right now we're torn: swords or arrows?

Next up: Rain chains

 

We noticed several houses had swapped out traditional downspouts for rain chains. Now, we know rain chains may not actually be a practical replacement for all downspouts, but for certain areas, like a front porch, they do look a little nicer. These copper ones are from Target and run about $40.

Three: Shutter-free windows

 

Some of you already know how we feel about shutters. We like real shutters just fine, but we're tired of seeing faux shutters slapped on houses to beef up windows. But, as other people have said, sometimes windows without shutters look a little, well...naked. So we were thrilled when we saw several show homes embracing the "shutter-free" look and instead choosing chunkier window casing. We think it's a win-win: no improperly-sized vinyl rectangles, no feeling like your house is too "exposed".

Four: Dark floors, light walls

 

This isn't really a "trend", because it's so classic, but it still gets us every time. Dark-stained wood flooring paired with light colored walls. It positively glows!

and finally: Statement Bathroom Tile

We saw this:
 

 

and this:

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and we immediately wanted to run home and re-tile our bathroom. Not terribly expensive, either (of course, I suppose it depends on the size of your bathroom; if you are one of those lucky ducks with a bathroom you could host a party in, I suppose it could cost a bit more). Home Depot carries hexagon penny tile for around $6 a square foot.

That's it! No more Homearama talk, promise! Next week we're in birthday-mode. A certain someone *coughJosephcough* is turning the big 3-0! He's pretty excited. And by excited, I mean not having a panic attack at all...

Homerama (a-lamma-damma-ding-dong)

 

Apologies for the ridiculous title; everytime I type "Homerama" I just can't stop. It brings out the "Greaser" in me. Thankfully, I do not own enough black leather for my inner Greaser to become my outer Greaser.  

Saturday we, like hundreds of other families, couples and singletons, attended RichmondHomerama 2014.

If you're unfamiliar with Homerama, it's pretty much a model home show; seven houses designed by local building companies and decked out to the nines by interior designers, with proceeds from ticket sales benefitting Habitat for Humanity.

 

There has been a lot of Homerama blogging from various sources already. (Starting here Ashley has a lovely, very thorough, break-down of each house on her blog, Attempts at Domestication and John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love, who actually designed one of the homes, walk you through their entire experience starting here. It's pretty awesome.)

So, rather than repeat everything that has already been said, we decided to do what we do best: make a list!

But not just any list; a list of imaginary awards that we would hand out to the various Homerama houses, if we had the opportunity (and access to tiny golden statues).

Without further ado, Meredith and Joseph present:

 

The First Annual Little House Blue Housies Awards!

 

*pause for raucous cheering*

To start things off, we first present the award for...

 

Walk-in Closet Most Likely to Make You Feel the Need to Purchase Your Own Clothes!

Aaaaand the winner is:

Checkout counter?

This closet is beautiful. If I had this closet in my house, it would be where I would host dinner parties. I would also be loath to enter it in my pajamas for fear that it would judge me. And probably mutter something in french about my hair after I had left.

Up next is our award for...

Best Use of Camouflage by a Utilitarian Object!

And the Award goes to:

 

 

This vent!

It's made of wood and inlayed into the floor so it's completely flush. We fondly refer to this as "ninja vent" because it is almost undetectable until you're right on top of it. Thankfully, it's purpose is just circulating air and not assassinating you. Otherwise, we'd be goners. The house (House #6, Viniterra by Falcon Custom Homes) had beautiful hardwood floors done by Evans Carpet. They were the only thing I actually had enough guts to ask someone about; they were so interesting and probably cost more than our entire house.

 

For our third award, we present:

Hardware Most Likely to Inspire Doorknob Envy!

 

To be honest, we really don't remember much about the hardware in the other houses. (Which is kind of telling about how interesting it was.) These though, these stand out. They're statement pieces. And they're saying, "Hey, psst, come open this door. You know you want to." And all I can think is, "You're right. I do want to...I'd follow you anywhere, beautiful doorknobs..."


Award number four...

Most Perplexing Use of Decorative Metal Letters!

 

Is it French? Is it "lice" all scrambled up? Who knows!

Really, do you know? We couldn't figure it out. 

But we made a lot of jokes, so it's a winner.



Number five:

Best Subterranean-Waterfall-Inspired Shower!

Well, only subterranean waterfall-inspired shower. 

Is this a shower or a cave? 

Granted the fixtures are beautiful, kind of like jewels sparkling in a mine...

A mine that you shower in.


Our Sixth Award:

Bathroom Whose Square Footage is Closest to that of our House!

 

 

 

 Ta-da! 

Oh, but there's more! Bathroom, that is. The bathroom/water closet in this house came in at just under 600 square feet. That's 230 square feet less than our house. It was impressive, you could put on quite a concert, singing in a shower like that. 

Not that anyone here does that. 

And certainly not Andrew Lloyd Webber medleys. 

Anyway...moving along, we have our final award:

House Most Likely to Have Been Designed by King Minos as a Home for His Minotaur!

 

 

You may not be able to tell from this floor plan sketch, but we got lost in this house. Twice. 

Now, I certainly don't claim to have a fantastic sense of direction, but when I wander through multiple hallways on my way from the living room to the guest bedrooms, I start looking for the Goblin King and an M.C. Escher staircase. 

 

And thus concludes the awards portion of our post. In all seriousness, we had a great time. There was a Moon Bounce and free snow cones, tons of food and everyone we talked with was really nice and just seemed happy to be there; like the fanciest block party we've ever been to. 

We will definitely be going back next year. And we probably won't be able to resist another round of silly awards. 

Bench me, I'm dreaming

You know those things you walk past in a store and, for lack of a better word, lust over?

And sometimes, when you're out with your kids and you need to pick up baby wipes (Or toilet paper. Or trash bags.), you convince yourself that you need to go to Target because they totally have the best price. And, as long as you're there, you might as well swing by that thing you've been eyeing because, hey, it might be on clearance. 

Well, that was me with this bench:

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It's cute, right? 

I love the rag rug meets metallic top and the baaaarely finished legs. 

But, alas, it's $110. 

And I just can't do that. 

I mean, it's a bench. 

Do you know how many unnecessary dollar store knick-knacks I could buy with $110? 

Like...one hundred and nine!

(One hundred and nine pieces of junk that I absolutely do not need, but that's the way my brain works.)

However, I would totally pay...hmm, $23. 

What? No way!

Uh, yeah, way!

It was a "stars and planets and orbiting satellites aligned" deals, topped with me being one of "those ladies", to whom even the deeply discounted clearance sticker wasn't enough. 

Here's how it all went down:

It started innocently enough, almost exactly the same as the hypothetical situation above. We needed baby wipes. We get baby wipes from Target. 

So, we're meandering around Target, checking all the back end caps (because that's where they like to stash the clearance stuff) when, lo and behold, what do I spy?

My bench!

With a little red clearance sticker pasted to one leg!

Now, I have not seen this bench in while. Which makes me wonder, is it really $54.98 or could it be...even less?

So, Alice in one arm, bench in the other and trusty Grayson by my side, we hot-footed it to the nearest red-shirted employee. 

It went like this:

Me, breathless with excitement and from carrying a twenty pound baby and a twenty-five pound bench halfway around the store: Excuse me, could you check the price on this for me?

Very nice, very calm Target Lady: Of course! I'm happy to assist you and I don't think you seem crazy at all! 

Okay, she didn't say that last part, but she scanned the bench without even the faintest whiff of condemnation. 

Target Lady: $33

Me: (inside, having a Mary Katherine Gallagher moment) Yes! Alright! Target's number one! 

Me: (outside) Great! Thank you!

After that, Grayson helped me grab a cart (he's such a sensible boy) and we loaded up the bench (and a lamp that was also on clearance ($12, yes, please!), but more on that in a minute). 

 

While I was putting the bench in the cart I noticed that it was missing one of the protective feet:
 

I figured it could be replaced easily enough, but it meant the bench would be wobbly until it was fixed, which was kind of annoying. 

It was then that all those segments from the Today Show about store discounts came flooding back to me. " Ask for more off", they whispered... "You never know unless you ask..."

Now, this is outside my comfort zone, talking money with store employees. I am one of those people that hates returning things for perfectly legitimate reasons even when I have the receipt. Like the employees are going to judge me, "Ooh, she changed her mind and this reflects poorly on the rest of her life. And her shoes are ugly." 

I mean, in my head, that's what they're thinking. 

But, so help me, I was going to buy this bench! And I was going to pay even less than the clearance price! Or, at least, I was going to try...

I wheeled the cart (and the bench and the baby and the Grayson) up to the Customer Service desk and asked the man, very nicely: 

"Umm, this has some damage, it's missing a little footy thing (technical term)." 

Man, without missing a beat: Yeah, we'll take $10 off. That okay?

Me: (outside) Yeah, great, thank you! 

Me: (inside) Oh, yeah! Target number one! Alright! (see above)

Here it is, all settled in our house:

It's acting as our little shoe station right now. It's a good height for Grayson to hop on when it's time to put shoes on and the crate Joseph made is underneath to toss shoes inside when it's time to take them off. 

I think it's going to work out nicely. 

Oh, but I do have a question!

I mentioned that I also picked up this lamp:

Nate Berkus, $12, missing the little switch cover where you turn it on and off but I don't think that's too big a deal. 

My question is: what kind of shade do you pair with a lamp like this? It's obviously a statement lamp (I mean, it's gold!) and it's a little on the tall side, I feel, so I'm tempted to pair it with a really plain shade. But maybe that's wrong, maybe it needs a shade that stands up to its bold shape and color. I don't know. 

Also, my picture is terrible, here is a professional one: 

So, please, en"light"en me. 

Ha, yeah, see what I did there? 

Oh, goodness, someone help me...