A New Headboard
I think this was Tony’s favorite project yet! My mom had an old brass headboard for a king size bed. She was going to throw it out, so I snatched it right up. After a coat of primer and a couple coats of black paint…
He was so excited last night after we got it hung that he said the bedroom looks like a hotel now. I take that as a compliment! I was afraid that the black would be too much next to the black art above, but I think it worked out well. Always a work in progress…
I think the pups approve too!
Typewriter Table Detailed
Sorry, I forgot to upload new pictures yesterday. But, today you get to see a lot of progress from the weekend! Here is the typewriter table that I showed you before. It is now finished and detailed!
Once I finished the second coat of white spray paint I arranged cardboard scrap-booking stencils in the placement I liked. I traced and filled the stencils with a paint pen. These little guys work great! I have used it on a couple of projects now and it always does the trick. I think it is super cute and ready to be used!
More Curtains!
Last night we finished hanging curtains in the living room. I am so excited to not have these flowery old lady curtains any more:
I really wish I would have remembered to take specific before shots of these. They even had poufy, paper-stuffed valences!
I’m not too sure about the new curtains we chose, so I need your opinions and suggestions. They are, no doubt, better than the before, but not exactly what we had in mind. We wanted to stay inexpensive for right now, so we got these at WalMart (no Ikea near us!). We originally picked a charcoal color, but when we got home we realized that the packages we grabbed were all black! They do need some steaming, but here they are:
I think it is a huge improvement, but it still feels a little off. Tony likes the blinds on one window (this is the previous family’s doing- not mine!) but, I think the small window should have sheers as well so the two match. What do you think?
Either way, these are much more our taste, style, and colors, and best of all- no foofy grandma curtains! 🙂
Oh, and I realize that we really need a rod that is meant to be showing, but we aren’t going to spend the money on a custom length one right now. So, the white bar has to stay and we just have to deal with it for a little while!
Kitchen Inspiration
We are currently preparing to do a bit of kitchen renovation in our house. While I have a pretty clear picture in my head of what I would like to do I have also been scouring the blog world for some inspiration and creative ideas. We are trying to do this on a very tiny budget, so I am also searching ideas in that area. Today on Apartment Therapy I found one of my favorite kitchen pictures.
I just love the little swinging door. It reminds me of old western saloon doors. I am wanting one for our kitchen. I’m just not sure that every kitchen could pull this off. Maybe that will have to go on my “someday” dream list. For now we are thinking more basic remodel in the kitchen. I would like to sand and paint all of the dark wood cabinetry a glossy white. The cabinets are outdated and mismatched. This will also allow us to fill the holes from the old hardware and add new pulls. These are the pulls I am thinking of, bin pulls:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wmc3cgAjw0k/SHeOWPk3S3I/AAAAAAAAAOc/sp4juB_wHwA/s400/IMG_6026_bin%2Bpull.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theletteredcottage.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html&h=266&w=400&sz=12&tbnid=1nyLQKGa76QSAM::&tbnh=82&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddresser%2Bwith%2Bbin%2Bpulls%2Bpicture&hl=en&usg=__noAFFwDt8FmB3VYpI7taTYFlhEQ=&ei=zCHRSb_kJMSInAfzwbhq&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&cd=1
I have also been reading that it is possible to safely paint laminate countertops. Since paint is a much cheaper alternative to replacing the countertops at this point I would like to paint these black. Here is inspiration for a black and white kitchen with warm hardwood floors:
Chandelier For The Porch
Here it is. This is the fancy project I completely with the ugly, little, pink basket.
Here is the before picture:
Here is what I made:
I took a 75cent basket from the Salvation Army and spray painted it black. I hung crystals and beads on it and added a length of chain. I added some mini candles in jars and viola! We now have a chandelier above the ice cream table on the porch! I found this idea on Apartment Therapy and think its super cute. What do you think?
Another Project Finally Finished
Remember that little stool with the opening lid I got from my grandma a few months ago? It has been on my to do list to redo the stool for a while now, and it is finally finished. See the before here: http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/new-little-project/
I took the lid off, which actually made recovering and painting much easier, and ripped up the fabric. I tacked down new fabric and replaced the old black backing since it was still in good shape. Backing helps cover the ugly seems when they are on something like this, as the lid being lifted will constantly expose this back area. I then sanded and painted the wood bottom, put the top back on, and TaDa!
Much better, don’t you think!?
New Old Shade
Its official. I am sick of our curtains. All of them. Every room. I knew they were bad from the day we moved in, but now I am at my breaking point. So, on my day off yesterday I did some work and started plunging into our curtain situation.
I thought I would start off small. There was no shade over the large window in our kitchen door. Our neighbors could see right in! I decided to take the old white roller shade from the dining room door (since it also has a curtain) and refinish it to go in the kitchen. I wanted to stick with the black and white theme. I used some swirly scrap-book stencils I had and a paint pen ($3 at Wal-Mart). I laid the stencils out where I liked them, traced, and colored in. Now, viola!
What a simple , inexpensive project with such great results! This weekend I plan to get some black material and sew a valance at the top, as well as simple black curtains to replace the strawberry ones in the kitchen window. Then on to the rest of the house…
P.S. Yes, there is a cute in the shade. The landlord has mis-cut part of the shade. I didn’t want to try out my new paint idea on a new shade and ruin it. We like it well enough that I will soon go through the time and effort to reproduce this on a new shade!
The Start Of A New Project
The other day I wrote about how we wanted to make a mini bar area in our home. I showed pictures of other people’s re-purposed bar areas that we loved. But, after much discussion we decided we liked the look of a closed cabinet for this kind of thing a little better. With all of my inspiration in hand, I set out to plan my own mini bar project. Yes, we found the perfect (we hope!) cabinet for the job! A Craigslist post led us to the Maple TV Cabinet.
I see much potential in the armoire! (We don’t actually pick it up until Thursday.) I plan on first painting it a high gloss black. The back inside of the cabinet with be lined with mirror and wine and stemware racks will be hung from the inside. The inside has one shelf, but we are guessing we will make a few new shelves from glass. I am going for a bit of Hollywood regency here. Overall, we think this beauty should have plenty of space for our entertainment needs!
We do have one small question, however. I think there needs to be a flat space large enough to mix the actual drinks incorporated into the cabinet somehow. I was wondering if the drawer could be used for that. It might be a bit too low to be comfortable, though. I was also wondering about making a sort of pull-out shelf inside the cabinet. Is this even possible? When I see the cabinet in person I will know if more space is necessary. Until then, does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
We are very excited to get the project rolling, so stay tuned for updates!
Picking The Colors
I am so full of wedding ideas right now! I am trying to weed my way through them slowly, so I thought I would post some of my ponderings here. If any of you out there have any suggestions, adivce, or pictures to share with me, please! 🙂
A small run down of a few of the important things we have been considering so far:
We would like the weather to be warm, not scalding, so we were considering a late August wedding, which probably means August 2010. We are having a small ceremony at the church I grew up going to. We would love to have a large reception with all of our friends and family. We are on a very small budget, which means we are doing most everything ourselves. This also led us to the idea of having our reception outside. Our three possibilities so far are my mother’s backyard where I grew up, our county fairgrounds where Tony says he first knew he loved me (sentimental!), or a hangar at the airpark down the road from my childhood home. I also know we do NOT want a themed wedding, but will probably take influences from vintage themes, such as the 30’s and 40’s.
Now, my first question up for help is the colors. We want black and white. Elegant, yet simple, especially if we are outdoors. But, I would like an accent color. My two favorite ideas with black and white are red or dark teal. I love them both. So, here are a couple pictures for inspiration, and let me know what you think!!
Here is a black and white wedding that was also outdoors. http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/2009/01/board-329-white-barn-black.html
These are just some black and white examples. Ours wouldn’t be quite as barnyard casual.
Here are some examples with red as an accent color. http://justjaime28.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/a-black-white-red-wedding-shower/
This set is a little too fancy for our outdoor setting, but it does show how well red would work with black and white and that damask that we love.
I couldn't find pictures where people actually used teal, but here is a tie. http://www.neckties.com/teal_by_elite_solid_teal_tie.apml
I think that the teal color could add to the vintage-y vibe we are looking for.
If we used teal, we might be able to incorporate peacock feathers into our flowers and centerpieces. http://www.curbly.com/DIY-Maven/posts/5950-Intro-to-Digital-Photography-Week-2-Messing-round-with-f-stops-
I was hoping to use some feathers, even in white, such as in my hair, but, was inspired when I saw this gorgeous picture.
What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Change it up somehow? Help me out here!? 🙂
Chair Love
I love chairs. Tony says that I have a strange chair obsession. Its true. I would collect chairs if space would provide. I have even thought about hanging them on walls like art in order to accomodate my passion. But, for now I will post about the chairs I am drooling over. This is my latest love (since I finally aquired my Plycraft lounge and ottoman;)
Here is a vintage Barcelona chair and ottoman:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pdxinteriors.com/profile/hawthorne/leather-chair-with-ottoman.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pdxinteriors.com/profile/vintage-hawthorne.php&h=263&w=350&sz=27&tbnid=EKUbLTi-5iDUFM::&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvintage%2Bbarcelona%2Bchair%2Bpicture&hl=en&usg=__2thZF7Qzm1c2X5FleLbCACv3w6U=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1
Make Mine Eclectic 
