The To-Do List

It's the dead of winter, and I'm getting that itch - the one that makes me want to start a bajillion new projects in my home.

We've already started the bathroom project. After we painted the cabinets and tore out the old tile backsplash, we still have a new counter, a new backsplash, new paint, and new flooring ahead of us.

Lots more work ahead of us to put this bad boy back together.


You'd think it would be enough of a headache to have the bathroom torn apart, but once I start one project and see the sweet reward of a little hard work, I typically get on a roll {much to my husband's delight}.

What's next? Well, for starters, the walls throughout our upstairs currently look like this:

That's right - we're right smack in the middle of choosing new wall colors. I've been stuck in a rut of warm yellowy-tans, and I'd love to switch the palette up to some pretty grays and taupes. With a new cooler color scheme comes updating the trim. The very, very creamy white that tops the wainscoting and trim throughout the house will be updated to a crisper white to offset the new wall colors.


New wall and trim colors in store!
If only I could choose a color as fast as I can paint.


The project I'm the most excited about is a big one for the kitchen. Here's what the kitchen looks like right now.

We have a lot of cabinet space, both above and below the counters. All of the cabinets are great, but I've loved the look of open shelving for years. I think I've finally convinced my husband to love it, too. Emily at Jones Design Co. has my version of the perfect kitchen.


Image taken from here.


Isn't her kitchen the most perfect thing ever? Doesn't the look of the crisp shelves adorned with beautiful dinnerware make your heart beat a little faster? And her pot rack! I've been admiring hanging pot racks forever, bookmarking lots of pretty ones under my favorites. I think this new kitchen project calls for a new pot rack. I can't wait to rip out some cabinets and get started {... or maybe just watch during the cabinet ripping out part of the project}.

What projects does 2011 have in store for you?

A Corny Project? I Don't Think So.

The gurus at Pottery Barn did it again. They sent their Fall Catalog to my home, sucking me right into their perfectly decorated world. I've thumbed through the pages of each and every one of my Pottery Barn catalogs more times than I can count, admiring furniture, room arrangements, paint colors and accessories every time. One particular page that struck me was one that featured a table set for a Thanksgiving feast {or maybe just Tuesday night's dinner} and showcased a beautiful centerpiece with Indian corn and a candle aglow.



Image Via

 I knew this had to sit on our dining room table. It's on, Pottery Barn.

I wasted no time picking up some Indian Corn at a little Farmer's Market {about a dozen ears} and gathered some raffia ribbon and brown ribbon, a large glass candleholder that sits on our patio table all summer, rubber bands, and tape.

With my supplies at hand and my Pottery Barn catalog nearby for a cheat sheet, I placed a rubber band around the candleholder and started adding in ears of corn.

When the entire candleholder had been surrounded with corn, I placed a second rubber band around it for added security.

Next I cut a piece of brown ribbon to fit around the rubber bands and taped it in place. I tied a few pieces of the raffia ribbon over the brown one and called it complete.



Pretty easy! Who's bringing the turkey?

It's Showtime!

I put my husband to work on a project over the weekend, but I think he was more excited than I was about it. So excited that it was he who suggested we go pick up lumber the next night and summoned his dad {remember my father-in-law, the ninja?} for help right away. That's pretty impressive. Want to know the magic words? "TV" and "Stadium Seating" - that's all it took.

We made a space for a second living room and bar area in our basement when we remodeled a few years ago. While we use our upstairs living room as a gathering spot for family, kids, conversation, and fun, our downstairs living space has always been reserved for watching the big game or family movie night. We had a wonderful entertainment center that my father-in-law built for us, but the room lacked the feel of a real theater. Plus, I wanted to rearrange the furniture. This is what our room looked like before.

A leather couch and loveseat sat perpendicular to each other and positioned around a coffee table -a pretty traditional living room arrangement. Opposite the couch sat the entertainment center.



The idea for stadium seating actually came from an HGTV episode of Design on a Dime, where the designers had a platform built for the lucky family's theater room. I only caught the last few minutes of the show, but that was enough for a lightbulb to go off in my head. I didn't even like how the Design on a Dime room turned out, but I knew the stadium seating idea could work for our space. I Googled "how to build stadium seating" and found the perfect plan. 

My husband was on board with the idea right away, but before we dove in, we had to make sure that we really wanted the room to be a theater room and not a conversational area. Because with the couches placed one behind the other, the conversational vibe would pretty much be killed.  Ten seconds after I brought that up, my husband said, "I'm sure." The second thing to consider about this project was spacing. We positioned the couches in their future spots to ensure that there was enough space between the front seats and the television. There was. Alrighty then; we were on our way.

Following the simple plan we found, my husband and father-in-law constructed a platform with a corner step in just a few hours. Into the basement it went, and after a coat of paint {semi-gloss exterior finish - we wanted something that would be forgiving to spills}, the platform was ready for business. We removed the coffee table and placed the couches in their new homes. For less than $150 {the cost of the building supplies and a quart of paint}, our living room became a home theater.

I've gone a little crazy with the pictures! Did you catch the missing lightbulb over the bar?

This was a really fun project. $150 packed a whole lotta punch. And I'm not finished! I still get to accessorize the sofa table that we stole from our upstairs living room. Right now it's holding a few random items and the books that used to sit under the coffee table, but I get to shop the house or go Goodwill Hunting for something new.

Pass the popcorn, please!

Good Clean Fun

Being a lover of homes and decor and texture and details, naturally I love the little things. I'm a believer that adding a wow factor to your space doesn't have to cost a lot of money or be the first thing people see when they walk in the door. Rather, a home's character is hidden in the details, the bits and pieces scattered about. So what's my point? I really love this monogrammed set of soap from Pottery Barn.

As in I really, really love it. I love how fancy it looks just sitting there in that bowl. I love that it's personalized with the owners' initials. I love how it seems so spa-like and pretty. I kept it on my list of things to buy sometime, you know, whenever I have an extra $49 sitting around for six bars of soap {on sale right now for $39!}. A few years ago, in an attempt to satiate my desire for the Pottery Barn soap, I bought bars of plain old Ivory soap and convinced my wonderful husband to help me shave them down so they were at least smooth and nice and looked a little better sitting in a bowl. I placed them in one of the bowls from a Goodwill Hunting trip, but they looked a little sad.

That soap needed help. I still loved the Pottery Barn soap, but I couldn't bring myself to hit "Submit." I wasn't about to carve our initials into the Ivory, either, so I had to come up with a different solution. Besides decorating and organizing, I also love to design cards and invitations. I decided to play around and make my own monogram to wrap around the soap.

Good enough for me! Watch out Pottery Barn; I was motivated now. I used my handy paper cutter to cut some strips from a paper bag I'd saved from the grocery store.

And taped the paper at the back of the soap.

Next I printed my monograms and cut them out.

After using my hot glue gun to center the monogram onto the front of the paper strip, my soap was set.

Back in the bowl it went, and I now had my own spa-inducing set of soap.

Love is in the details! How great would these soaps be for baby or wedding shower favors? For a few bucks, these soaps pack quite a punch. Take that Pottery Barn. {But thank you very much for the inspiration!!}