In Progress
The Waiting Game: Furniture in Progress
It just hit me: The arrival of February means there’s a few carpentry projects that we’ve been chipping away at for over a month now.
Exhibit A: a lovely table that I built from scratch. I won’t tell you where it’s going just yet, but I’m too excited to not to give you a sneak peek at it!
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State of the Studio
Do you remember when I was pondering if I should move my sewing studio? As soon as Ryan woke up that day I asked him – I just couldn’t wait – and he was totally ok with it. I dove straight into that switcheroo with gusto, let me tell you. Anytime I have a chance to move furniture around or rearrange a room I get excited.
It’s times like this when I have a pang of envy for full-time bloggers who can start a project and just tear through it in a few days. I started moving the sewing studio to the basement on New Years Eve weekend, and it took until this past weekend to get to 90% completion. Because this project would directly affect my business, we made it a top priority, but it still dragged out. Read the rest of this entry »
Guest Room, Part 3: Temporary Wallpaper for an Accent Wall
Do you ever gather the supplies needed for a DIY or decor project, then procrastinate on tackling it out of fear that it won’t go well? That’s exactly what I did with the Tempaper that I ordered for my guest room makeover . . . way back in October. Then late one night during the holidays, Ryan and I cleared out the room and I determined that it was time to dive in. After all, that paper wasn’t going to hang itself!
Have you heard of Tempaper, a temporary removable wallpaper? I thought it would be good to test out a roll of it in the house, since it appears to be an excellent temporary wallpaper option for renters.
Basement Makeover, Part 3: Functioning, but far from finished
We’ve made a little progress on the basement makeover, and even though it’s far from finished – I totally love where we’re going with it.
After much thought. . .
Ok, that’s a lie.
On a whim, I brought my computer down to the desk area, thinking it would help me stay focused – by separating blogging/social media from my sewing studio space. So far, so good. Read the rest of this entry »
Lining Up the Ducks with Google Docs
Does this ever happen to you? It’s a lovely day, and you stand up from your desk and walk through your house to grab a cup of tea. And out of the blue, you start to notice these little things that need to be done – paint touchups in the hall, that chair you’ve been “meaning to” recover for a year now, that frame that needs a new photo . . . and all of a sudden you’re surrounded by a million overdue tasks.
It definitely happens to me, and when it does, I find myself feeling frustrated by the place that is supposed to be my cozy home.
That’s not a good feeling to have, so I thought it was high time I did something to get our ducks in a row. The only problem? I can never keep track of everything we need to buy or do, so often some lower priority items are purchased / less important taks are done, before we do the more important ones.
The solution? Enter my favorite online tool, the always-useful spreadsheet:
It’s a little tough to read because it’s so small, but when I put the chart together I wasn’t really designing it to be legible when posted as an image on the blog. :)
I’ve basically got four charts listing the fun and the not-so-fun tasks. I’m thinking that in order to do a fun task (such as buying a dining table) I need to check off a not-so-fun free task or two.
To Buy & Make: This lists everything we’d like to build or buy, the expected cost (if known) and a number to help prioritize. The prioritization is super important, since everything on this list costs money.
Free Projects: Also known as “those pesky tasks we keep putting off.” These jobs won’t cost a thing, either because they’re free or we already have the supplies on hand, but they’re maybe not the most glamorous or fun – hence the procrastination.
Craiglist – Items to Sell: I think the name speaks for itself, but the thing I’d like to point out is that every item we sell means more money is on hand to put towards the items “To Buy.”
Guest Room Tasks: This list was an afterthought, put there just so I can keep track of the order in which I need to do the projects for the guest room makeover. I suppose I need to create a similar list for the TV room makeover, because that’s still in progress as well.
The chart is stored in our private Google Docs folder, where Ryan and I can both see it and add to it. But I’ll also print a version to keep on our fridge, as a reminder and a literal checklist.
How do you keep track of all the tasks you want to and need to do around the house?
Guest Room, Part 2: Real-time progress
Having eaten my way through not one, but three, Thanksgiving meals over the weekend, I desperately needed to do a little physical labor on Sunday. What better project to start on the beautiful 72-degree day (!?!) than the refinishing of the antique twin beds that are destined for our guest room? 
When I realized how gorgeous the weather was on Sunday – I’m talking shorts and a t-shirt, people – I grabbed the first bed frame and headed outside. Setting it down on a tarp (to protect me and the frame from the damp ground), and strapping on a 3M particulate respirator mask, I proceeded to sand down the old, totally crusty varnish. Read the rest of this entry »
Guest Room Mood Board, Take 1: How [not] to Mix Patterns
Now that I’ve got guest rooms on the brain, I’ve been going crazy with Pinterest. Ok, who am I kidding – I’m always dying over the Pinterest boards! :) But this time it really came in handy for research!
With walls, four poster beds, and rental-friendly wallpaper checked off the list, the next step in creating the guest room plan is to settle on some duvet covers and then fun textiles to use throughout the room. I may just sew two duvet covers for the twin beds, but I took a peek at what West Elm and Crate and Barrel had to offer. This Spring Floral duvet cover, on clearance now at West Elm, caught my eye:
The darkest blue tone would tie in with the wallpaper, and the other blues and greens would mix things up – just what I want. But when I imagined the duvet covers on the beds, in the room, I realized that the combo may have too much pattern and color all colliding in that small space.
So how do you test out a *very rough* design plan? Make a mood board, of course! Read the rest of this entry »
Basement Makeover, Part 2: Life Re-arranged
Let’s see if I can write a “short” blog post, for once. :) Ryan and I have now moved the rest of our existing furniture into place in the basement.
I’m really pleased with how the couch area turned out. Ryan’s mentioned that he would like to add a small love seat or arm chair so that we can have friends over to watch movies with us. That’s a good point. I can’t envision his best friend and bff’s wife squeezing in together on a couch with me and Ryan. That would just be awkward.
I think we should add curtains to the two walls in the above photo. They will block the light if we want to watch TV during the day, and they will create a sense that this corner is separate from the rest of the space. I’ve talked about using curtains to better define spaces before.
My favorite bonus with this space? By moving it so that it is in the far corner, the couch area is now directly outside the doors that lead into the guest room. I feel as though this will provide guests with a feeling that they not only have a guest room to sleep in, but a small lounge room right outside their bedroom doors.
The TV and media cabinet work perfectly against the back wall. In fact, the TV literally tops off right where the window well begins.
The two white Ikea work tables I had already fit in a perfect “L” behind the couch. Bonus that we discovered: having the high table behind the couch makes it super easy for you to set down your mug of hot cocoa when curled up on the couch watching a Hitchcock flick. It requires less effort than leaning over to the coffee table. :)
The shorter of the two Ikea tables still needs 2 legs, which I’ll snag this weekend. I’ll also get new covers for the two Ikea chairs shown above ; the brown RIT dye I used to fix the dingy white covers last year has faded after many, many washings.
The green rug is in place simply because we had it. But Green is not part of our color plan for the space, so expect that to change.
This is all coming along so well! I still am totally amazed at how simply moving the furniture around created such a different, more organized and decorated feeling in the simple space. Now I can’t wait to nail down the color palette and start DECORATING!
New to the blog? Find Part 1 of the basement makeover here.
