My own hallway full monty.

Well.  Nice little neglected blog.  My bad...

In other news, I put together a photo wall!

Thanks to Young House Love, I got all excited to put together my own little hallway.  My problem?  Where to put said hallway.

I could have put it in the basement, but the basement doesn't get a whole lot of face time when people come here.  Plus, it's kinda dark and, you know, in the basement.  Oh, and the little matter of the fact that the hallway leads to the utility room.  Also known as the Cat Room - that's where we keep the cat boxes.  Sooooo...maybe not exactly where I want to direct traffic.  :)  So, upstairs it went.  That hallway is a lot smaller and tighter, but it's a good place to pop a bunch of pictures and other fun items.

So, there you have it.  Now, some pics.

Here's the whole thing laid out on the hall floor.  Note the glorious tiles in the doorway.  Courtesy of the wonderdog when he was a pup.  Stupid wonderdog.

Here's another angle of it.  Not all the frames have the final pics in them.  Can you guess which ones?  :)

Who doesn't like a good progress shot?  I know I do.

Aaaaaaaand another.

And a couple of gratuitous "all done" shots!

Just one little story - these squirrels were painted on our car when we were married.  Back in the day, hubby's roommate named a squirrel that lived in their attic after him.  No, I don't know why.  All I know is that the little car paintings are stinkin' cute.  PS - those are hands, not boobs...

Wait, what's that?  Some TP art?!  Yeah.  You know it.  Also, note the mess in the bedroom behind it all.  This would be the carnage of pulling out all the picture frames and piling everything onto the bed while I find the right frames and the right places for them all.

Oh, and so the other side of the hall doesn't feel lonely, here's what that side looks like.  Not sure that I'll ever actually put anything on those walls other than the CB2 bud vases that are on there right now.  The thermostat and all that on the other side really distracts...

So, there you have it!  My own little version of the picture hallway I someday hope to have - like the Petersiks'.  Someday.

Up next:  finding the right bathroom mirror?

I like this.

Found it in the Real Simple mag for this month.  Just a one-page ad that caught my attention.

Excuse the slight fuzziness - it was a small pic.

There's just something about the casual "here's some stuff that I like" feeling of the two boards and the three hanging pics.  I like the rustic look of the wall behind it - very beach cottage.  That's not something that normally catches my eye, but I like it here.  I've been sort of thinking about how I can work in a wooden wall into our house.  One of my fave bloggers, Katie from Bower Power put a wood wall in her little boy's nursury, and I love it.  The rustic, masculine feel of it is just wonderful.  There's something comforting about the simplicity and beauty of it.

I like the idea of some kind of a wall like that somewhere in mi casa.  Probably not this casa, but maybe in the "forever home" of the future?

I like that both of the pics have this great rustic wall.  TOTALLY different kinds of rustic walls, but both really comfortable.  There's something about both of them that make me want to wear a lot of white linen and read books in the sunshine and breeze.  Kind of like living within an allergy medicine commercial.

That's about it.  Just a little sumpn' sumpn' that caught my eye.  Carry on.




Images from ballarddesigns.com and bowerpowerblog.com.

Guess what I love?!

CB2.  LOVE.

I've purchased a few things from there (see also:  totally awesome sculpture), and gotten a few items as gifts (thanks family!).  I just love that it's so modern and interesting, while still being pretty affordable.  Here are some things I'm digging from them right now.

It's no secret that I'm in love with acrylic items.  I love, love, love them.  I couldn't possibly tell you why - I just really like how they don't impede on the visual space.  That whole see-through thing is good for that.  In this table, I like the legs.  They're unique and interesting.  GRANTED, I'd love the whole thing a little more if it were a pedestal that could fit, say, 8 people, but I'd take this if someone gave it to me.
I'm also digging the picture frames.  Especially that long one.  Guess what I'll be getting?  Yeah, a couple of those.  Now, where to put them...

And then there's this little number.

I mean, come on.  How cheeky and adorable.  PLUS, it's in yellow.  I love the yellow lately.  I want to use as much of it as I possibly can in the house - especially because the walls are gray.  My husband and my sister will not agree with me, but yellow and gray just look GOOD together.  I'll have to find a place on my floating shelves for a couple of these to live.  Perhaps it would look good living on that acrylic table?

I just love this whole bedroom.  In the CB2 catalog, there's a lot more to the picture.  A whole sitting area with fantastic lime green chairs - you can just see a snippet of them on the left.  Things I dig about this pic:  the mirrored headboard/bed art, the great rug, the subtle wall color (it's more gray in the catalog), the super-mod furniture, and the comforter.  I kind of lust after the comforter.  Alas, we have four furry animals that would have that looking like butt in no time flat.  Bummer.  Pretty to look at, though!

That's just a small snippet of what I'm seeing in the CB2 catalog that I'm liking.  Once I get farther than 27 pages in, maybe I'll come back with some more.  :)


All images from CB2.com

Looky there!

Check it.  New blog background.  I know you love it.  Who doesn't love pinks and salmons?

Enjoy!

More crafts!

Katie Bower from the Bower Power blog had a little posting about making a cone tree (that's for tree #2 of 3, BTW).  In the little blog, she mentioned that the process she used for making this cone tree could be used to make a "capiz" lamps.  Then, lo and behold, on HGTV's website, I was looking around for a little decoration inspiration, and stumbled across a picture of a capiz chandelier.  Inspiration has struck.  I'm going to figure out how to make this...

...using wax paper and a light-making kit.  In Katie's blog (yes, we're on a first-name basis, much like I am with YHL's Sherry and John...), she tells how to take three sheets of wax paper and iron them together to create a similar texture to capiz.  Simply cut out the circles and attach together with a tone of fishing wire.  Naturally, this is gonna have to be a "get back to you on that one" kind of a craft, because I JUST thought of it.  I'm not even certain where I would put this baby, either.  Perhaps in our bedroom?  Over what I want to someday have as the reading area?  Maybe not as an *actual* light (read:  nothing electric), and hang it over our jacuzzi tub thingy?  Maybe in the living room?  So very many possibilities.  Can't wait to get started!!

New pretty things to look at!

SO.  It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of John and Sherry P on younghouselove.com.  LOVE those kids (PS - they have a new house to prettify!!  Yippee!!!!!).  Sometimes, I peruse their "Link Love" section.  One of those times, I discovered a little blog called Bower Power.  Katie B is a serious crafter.  (And stinkin' adorable to boot.)  She's got me all kinds of excited for craft-makin'.

One craft in particular is this interesting little number about cone tree decorations.  Yeah, I know - it's a little late (or early), but I can totally think about Christmas 2011 in February.  Totally.

Back in early January, we went to the Home Depot and zipped through the Christmas clearance area.  I found three bags of HEAVILY-scented pine cones.  What don't I have in my cone tree collection?  One made out of pine cones.  So, I decided to take a Miller Lite case (classy, I know!) and turn it into a cone tree using pine cones.

Um, I haven't actually finished it yet, so I'm going to have to keep you updated on this one.  For now, click on that link and look at the three trees that Katie B made for this Christmas (you can click the links within the one page to get to the other two.).

Also, I stumbled upon another blogger's post about making art out of TOILET PAPER ROLLS.  Love it.  Using something that just gets pitched or recycled and turning it into a craft or neat piece of art is great.  Again, my little craft is unfinished, but I can't wait to do it.  I'm making the first one for my seester.  I haven't quite decided what formation the little sucker will take on, but I'm getting escited.  Stay tuned!!

Some bedroom ideas

I've been thinking a lot lately about my bedroom.  I'm kinda tired of it being a cluttered and unfinished space.  It really should have been the first room that we finished, rather than the last, as it seems like it will be.  The upstairs guest room is done.  The dining room is awfully close to complete.  The living room's right there with it.  Our kitchen is looking pretty good.  Now that the family room is painted, it won't be long till it's decorated just like we want it to be.  MOST of the rooms in Casa PV are looking good or on their way to being complete.  What's missing here?  Our bedroom.  (and three bathrooms, a garage, utility room, and another bedroom...but who's counting????)

I finally gave Husband Mine an ultimatum over Christmas (please excuse the tardiness of this post...):  Bed must be finished by our anniversary, or I buy one.

You see, he decided several years ago that he wanted to take up furniture making as a hobby.  As in, "I want to build bookcases and beds and end tables and coffee tables."  He has been saying since the day we bought our mattress (which was delivered the week we moved into the house 2+ years ago) that he wants to build the bed.  Which he started last spring.  And then abandoned because he didn't like how heavy it was.  So, he decided to start anew.  Two years after we moved in, I still find myself sleeping on a mattress on the floor.  Which really doesn't help with the whole "look how finished our bedroom is" thing.  Hence the ultimatum.

And let me tell you, folks.  I've been saving my pennies.  It's not that I don't have faith in him.  I really want to.  It's more that I'm a realist when I come to that man.  He is a perfectionist, so he has a tendancy to stop doing something if it's not perfect.  Like our bed in round 1 for example.

Since I'm a visual person, and I just believe everyone is exactly like me, here are some pics to give you a sense of what the general idea of the bed is.  Our "inspiration pieces" if you will.

We started with this great bed from West Elm:

We loved everything about it but the price.  Oucheroo.  So, we took the idea of the storage bed (note the drawers on the bottom), and kind of combined it with this great headboard from Ikea:

I know, the headboard looks a little goofy, but you have to imagine it behind a solid headboard.  Those shelves are pull-out.  They stay hidden in a box-like headboard...kinda like this one, also from Ikea:



It's okay to ooohhh and aaahhh over my fancy photo-editing skilz (note red arrow).

SO, combine the two pictures, and you have a basic idea of what the finished product is rumored to supposed look like.  I see that bed in my mind's eye, and imagine the sweet lamps we just got (hello, Home Goods score!) perched on top of the headboard, a slim bench in the same color at the foot of the bed...then come the bookshelves in the corner and the small chair in front of them...the floating shelf on the wall to the left of the bed...I've got it all planned out.

All I need is a bed to get it started...

I feel it in my fingers...I feel it in my toes!

Christmas is all around us, it's everywhere I go!
So goes the words of the song in "Love Actually," so goes my life as of now.

IT'S CHRISTMAS SEASON!!!!

And, to celebrate the Christmas season, a post.  Which I write while sipping a Tom and Jerry.  Mmmmm.

Here is Casa pv a la Christmas.  I've finally kind of gotten things to a point where I sort of like them upstairs (hangups:  carpet, dining room set, trim, finish on the buffet, upholstery on the Daytons chairs, fix the crooked little chandalier in the dining room...), so I'm ready to showcase!

Let's start with a sweet B&W shot of my Christmas tree, shall we?

Next, let's get a look at some of the rest of the room...we're kind of going with a blue-white-silver-gray thing.  Forgoing the traditional red and white Christmas colors for a bit of cool flair.  I'm leaving a little bit of red (tray on the table, tree skirt, kitchen decorations) and orange (throw, pillow) in there for some variation and a little extra color (gray walls aren't exactly bright and cheerful all the time).  I kinda like what I'm seeing here.

Hmm...all kind of looks better in black and white.  Ha.  Note the Halloween mug on the left.  Full of the Christmas Tom and Jerry previously mentioned.  Also note the shabbily-covered aforementioned Dayton's chairs.  Upcoming (within the next week...) project.  Just you stay tuned!

Here's the dining room.  Note the fantastic Christmas jungle in the background.  I *might* have to find a place to put a couple of them, other than in a group...  Opposite side of the room - my Nana's old dresser (repurposed as a buffet), some shelves, and a whole lotta decorations.

DangE  There's that Christmas T&J mug again...admittedly not very Christmasy, but I didn't want to completely change the entire set up.  And, just because it's sexy and awesome, a shot in vintage B&W.

Just one more quik little item of interest...picked up this little baby in Rothenburg, GE on a recent trip with my favorite gals - Mom and Seester.  Just have to show it off.  It matches the one I got my best girl Cablanch.  Matchy Christmas gnomes!

How cute is that little bugger????  Nothing like a tiny little Christmas gnome to make you smile at the end of a post.  I know I'm smiling.  Probably a combination of the gnome and the ending of "Love Actually," but I'll take it either way.

(note:  yes, I DO realize how often I used the word "Christmas" in this post...on purpose, naturally.)

Ummm...

I don't want to say that I love Martha again, or AGAIN rave about her awesomeness, but I'm going to say this.  During the Kitchen Cure thing that I'm failing miserably at doing, they had an article about the uber-organized kitchen drawers of a certain woman whose monogrammed-on-everything initials are "MS."

My jealousy-meter is off the charts.  Not because she has, like, FIVE citrus reamers, but because there's a place (and ROOM!!!) for everything in her kitchen.  Some examples:

Hello, three sets of measuring cups and two sets of measuring spoons.  WANT.  And I love how the towels are all rolled up like that!  I've got mine folded and neatly stacked according to what kind (dishrag, flour sack, decorative, etc) of towel it is, but this is pretty genius.  Talk about easily-accessible!  I'm also at least mildly jealous of the sheer number of kitchen scissors (yes, I was going to put "sheers" but changed my mind...) the woman has.  Our one pair perennially seems to be either dirty or in the dishwasher, getting cleaned.  As for the second pic...well, I just really want one of those rolling pins.  I do also like how everything is stored in those smaller containers - either by item type or by similar uses.

Favorite thing about the pic on the far left?  FOURTEEN THOUSAND WOODEN PICKS!  Dang, lady.  I like the organization system of the right three pictures.  Especially the lightbulbs thing.  I need to have a place like that for my lightbulbs.  Currently, they're all floating around in their boxes in a giant Cub box that we moved with.  Not very convenient (I'm putting that down as the reason why we have FOUR burnt-out lights in our entryway chandelier...).  The one thing I don't like?  The cup full of unsecured pills.  Maybe it's just because my stupid dog ate a couple of Ibuprofen back in the day that weren't put away in a shelf and I've thus become paranoid.  Maybe it's because I wanna have kids someday, and the motherly instincts that are currently laying low know that's a bad idea.  Maybe it's just because I cringe at the thought of an unknown number of possibly-dirty fingers digging around in there - not to mention all the fuzz and other debris that could get stuck to the pills.  Gross.  Whatever the reason, bad Martha lady whose name starts with "M."  Put those away.

The takeaway to this article, of course, is that I'm going to start going on a thirft store hunt for little "stuff" holsters for my house. Maybe I'll take the plunge and consider splurging on something from The Container Store or whatever. For right now, though, it's back to the Kitchen Cure, and completing weeks 2 and 3. :)

I. Love. Martha!!!

In an effort to avoid doing anything more on the Kitchen Cure (side note:  The majority of the fridge has been cleaned out, and it looks lovely so far!  Pics tomorrow, once it's all done...), I've been looking at the latest Martha Stewart mag, which lead me to Martha's website.

It's official.  I love this woman.  Or, the people who come up with all the ideas - whichever.

I'm currently lusting over this puppy:

It's not necessarily the items in the display, or even the color of it - so much as the "duh" of using a series of slim-profile boxes to create a moveable and unique shelving system.  I've got an area upstairs that I have no idea what to do with.  It's at the top of the stairs, so we can't have anything too big or bulky.  Previously, we had a small table there, but that just wasn't working.  It wasn't what I was looking for.  Something like this could be awesome.  Filled with pet-friendly items (as it will be on the floor-level), I can see it as a great place to plop seasonal items, much like the original picture shows.

Imagine it here:

Note my amazing Paint skilz.

I'm thinking something like this on the one side, and then perhaps a similar design on the other side of the doorway?  Too much symmetry?  Maybe.  In case you didn't know, the two farthest left rectangles represent already-present art.  The one above the proposed shelves represents something - probably in the form of a long, thin mirror - to take up more of the space on that wall.  It's a tall wall with the vault, and definitely needs something higher up.

I'm also considering the option of taking this design idea to the proposed built-in bookshelves opposite the hall doorway.

Ooohhhhhh, the possibilities!  Thank you, Martha!