Homey Update

We now have wedding pictures up!

I got them printed on canvas using a coupon code online and am thrilled with how streamlined they came out looking!

I also did a speedy update to our "front hall" closet. I don't have a closet right inside the door, but this is across the bathroom and those frames in the little hall between there and the kitchen. It's under the stairs and holds our coats and shoes:

This was it when I saw the house for the first time:

This was it when I was trying to get a handle on all of my shoes and put them all in shoeboxes:

 And here they are away with a little shoe rack on the bottom:

Well that wasn't cutting it… Especially after I married someone with more clothes and shoes than me! So I went through the boxes. I hadn't really opened more than one or two of them since doing this project two years ago! The rack got the most use. So I purged. Lots of shoes got donated. 

Then I installed elfa to make the most of this space. These shoe racks glide out. The bottom one is for heels and the others are for flats. I did this one night after I got home from work around 11:00 pm. It was super easy and I managed to not wake Chris up!

This is it after I put all of the shoes Chris and I had left. The basket on the top right is for hats and gloves and stuff. I have very few purses. They're not my thing. None of these are probably in style even… Oh well! I have room if I ever get trendy! I have lots of extra empty shoe boxes for future shoe shopping too!

 During the summer I keep my boots in boot boxes under the guest bed. During the fall and winter they hang from the closet rod so they can keep their shape from these guys. It's an oddly deep closet and I wish I could've elfa'd the whole closet, but leaving the rod further forward made more sense. 

 I also got this really cool fireplace from my brothers for my birthday:

 I love how modern it is and we tote it wherever we want a romantic fire

 And now it's living here in the dining room:

 I also got a kind of shadowy picture from our wedding up on one of the walls:

So those are our recent homey updates!

2 Sectionals Are Better Than 1!

We got a second Ikea Sectional! This one was the Friheten Corner Sofa Bed and it lives down in our basement:

After hauling our Kivik home we knew what transporting a whole sofa with a borrowed truck felt like. This time we thought we'd check into their delivery service. This was the BEST decision ever! They came during the window, cleaned up snow that came in with them, and were really friendly. And, we didn't have to borrow a truck! Complete game changer! It was definitely intimidating to look at.

Chris still had about three hours until he was due home when the delivery guys left. I decided I would unbox everything so we could tackle it together later. Once I did it it wasn't anything I found scary. I decided I'd see what I could do alone… An hour later I had finished it myself! I just needed Chris's help laying it back down. 

The couch was crazy easy to build and we love it! Now the basement is a happy marriage of Chris and I. I have the wall next to the leather chair with all of my favorite prints. 

 Chris's wall is all kinds of his favorite guy stuff. He is currently hunting for a sword or something else guyish to finish off his wall:

Here is our dirty little secret though. The couch. I can't seem to even give it away. It's listed for $50 on Craig's List and a local Facebook buy/sell group with no luck. So it sits on its side behind the new couch. 

I also got a C Table from The Container Store which is a great little work surface:

And the sectional folds out into a bed. It's nice and firm and comfy too without that awkward center bar  that pull out sofa beds have. 

And it has some great hidden storage!

We also got our "guestbook" up on the wall on the way down the basement stairs:

And even our books have merged!

 So, here is our basement in action:

 The cat has channeled his inner Lion King and will be very upset whenever I do eventually sell the love seat:

Re-Covering a Chair: Part 2

This was my chair after the first go around here:

I was looking at different fabrics to re-cover the chair with when I remembered the set of Eivor panel curtains I'd gotten at Ikea that were by the door to return. Chances of me getting enough fabric to cover the whole thing for less than $14 were very slim so I opened them up:

I wasn't sure if there would be enough fabric to cover the chair. One panel was more than enough. I laid it out realized I'd need some black out fabric, but otherwise it looked good. 

So then I researched painting them and found posts like this and got started after I picked up a small stencil brush and some acrylic paint in grey, tiffany blue, turquoise, and green:

Isn't the little bird so cute?

Once I did the green I realized I needed to simmer down. I greyed over the green and kept on moving:

Then I laid it out so I would get the right mix of color on the chair:

I looked back at my past post and realized I already had black out fabric underneath the stripes. I ripped out the staples and pulled off the striped fabric. Then I laid the new fabric out and stapled away:

Here is the after!

I Finally Got This Piano Thing Right!

Maybe you remember this post where I thought painting my doors black was going to give my house some cool depth, and it actually made it stupid and cave-like (and like a piano).

So I went back to classic silver and white and all was right with the world again. But, as usual, I got bored. Oil rubbed bronze called my name down a Home Depot aisle and just like that I realized how to give my house some depth without dark, black, doors. The time had come to unhang all the doors again (see the last makeover here) and give the hardware a makeover. 

This time I wised up and did one floor of my house at a time. I remember the sheer amount of screws and knobs from last time. I started on my second floor. 

This was just from three doors (two have knobs). I discovered paper plates and solo cups this time... I highly recommend using both if you don't have cardboard or styrofoam laying around.

After everything dried for 24 hours I put the knobs back on and let it cure for another two days before I started using everything and rehung the doors again. 

This is an after shot. It's adds a little drama to the doors with the darker hardware! 

Then Chris and I unhung all of the main floor doors one Saturday and I got to work painting

Later that afternoon we brought them all back in to cure in the breakfast room for a week. I like this shot so that you can see how they're not quite black:

A week later I went and added piles of each item needed in front of the unhung doors

Here is the after shot! 

I think Guliana Ranic (or her interior designer) and I have the same taste. I see a lot of similarities in their house and mine in colors and style 

(see the sectional, the knobs, and the stairs?)

 (see the knobs?)

I finally nailed the black and white balance without getting to piano level! I love it! Look for a post in the next six months with how they're holding up!