Monthly Archives: February 2012

a mental health day

It’s only Wednesday and it has already been one of those weeks. I’ve been having to deal with unkind people all week, who have just about left me completely exhausted. Therefore, I have prescribed myself with a mental health day. If only I could actually check out for a whole 24 hours and take a breather.. alas the emails and phone calls never stop. I hope that you guys understand. Besides February 29th takes a break 75% off the time, so this is really just in honor of leap year. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my current favorite blog. It’s pretty good at taking the edge off of those brutal Mondays. And yes, you will want to read all of them. You’re welcome.

PS: This is our 500th post, can you believe it?? Thank you for helping us keep this thing going. We couldn’t do it without you.

reader question: a natural dilemma

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I received a question from one of our readers Sarah who needed help deciding whether to leave all of their dark wood paneling and trim natural, or paint it white to liven up the space. Here is what she wrote:

We have fab moulding and its natural wood. My husband said he’d let me paint it, but hes a little old fashioned and thinks wood should never be painted. I think painting it white would update and liven up our home and show off the wood floors in the entry. I was also thinking (maybe) I would paint the trim but keep the doors their natural wood. What do you think?

Okay Sarah, first of all that IS fab trim! Derek has the same style in his apartment and it looks so dramatic, I love it! Second of all, your hubby is not going to like my answer. I say.. paint it white! Natural wood is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but when you have that much of it, and you don’t like it then by all means paint it! It will definitely brighten up your space like you wouldn’t believe, and that wood flooring is going to pop! Here are some dramatic before & afters that you can show the hubs to help him get on board.

via

It truly is like night and day. All of Derek’s molding is white, while the apartment above his is the exact same floor plan but with natural wood molding and it looks like a cave in comparison. It obviously is a personal preference, but I think that unless it’s a rich mahogany, a rare species of wood, or a historical home [we're talking has-an-official-plaque historic], you can and should definitely paint it. And don’t forget, with lots of elbow grease you can always restore wood back to it’s original finish, if you aren’t happy with it.

You asked about painting only the trim while leaving the doors natural. I think that this would be a good way to transition into the overall look to make sure you like how it’s turning out, but in the end I think that you should go all or nothing. If your doors were a deep rich wood then I think it would look okay, but in your case I think it may make your space look unfinished. To help you with your decision here are some of my favorite spaces with all white molding and paneling.

Images from southern inspired, the nest, pure and noble, home by heidi, and budget wise home

Some people are afraid that so much white can make their space look a little “country”, but with the right wall paint, furniture, and accessories you can have a very fresh and modern space. Just avoid pastel blue gingham and chickens.. to be safe.

If you’re finding yourself in a design pickle shoot us an email and we’d be happy to solve your design dilemmas!

cocktails anyone?

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This post is definitely long overdue, but for our last Anniversary [we're talking October here people] I did some thrifting to find Derek his very own decanter set.

We’ve both always hated the look of lots of liqueur bottles with misc. labels and whatnot. So I wanted to class it up a bit and find unique and vintage glass decanters. We set a small budget for exchanging gifts, so I knew I’d have to do some hardcore thrifting/craigslisting/garage sale-ing to find exactly what I was looking for. There are a lot of glass decaters out there, but it’s hard to find them with the rubber stoppers [or cork] still intact. So after months and months of hunting I finally found a complete set.

I went with lots of different shapes and sizes so that he wouldn’t be limited to a certain look whenever he needed to add to his collection. This way any decanter we come across in our future thrifting excursions will fit right in. I scored that crocodile tray at HomeGoods for $20. I love the scale of it, and it definitely holds all of the decanters with room to grow.

Overall I spent a total of $45 for the decanters, which proves that thrifting and patience pay off considering one decanter at Pottery Barn $30, and doesn’t have half the character. What’s fun about each of these is some have countries of origin and dates on the bottom of the bottle. I can just imagine someone’s grandfather using these in the 50s while smoking inside and wearing a fabulous suit with a skinny tie. Okay yes, I watch too much Mad Men.

However, right now these babies are taking up some valuable real estate on Derek’s kitchen counter, so I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect bar cart to complete the set. Here are some of my favorites..

We came across a couple on Saturday when we hit up our favorite resale shops, but Derek said they looked like bird cages. I can’t win with this guy sometimes. Needless to say, the search is on! If any of you come across a cool bar cart, let me know :)

Images from apartment therapy, this is glamorous, welcome to heardmont, style redux, belle maison, lifestyle maven, bellissimo style, secretly fancy, name 5 things, and high street market

what i wore: wedding nightmare

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shirt {madewell}, sweater {c/o langford market}, jeans {gap}, belt {jcrew}, shoes {tory burch}, bag {kate spade}, necklace {stella & dot}

Well I had my first official wedding nightmare. I dreamed that our wedding invitations, save the dates, rsvp cards, and rehearsal dinner invitations all got lost in the mail. Since, you know.. the mail is supposed to disappear this year. I honestly think that’s my biggest fear besides the world ending of course. So anyway! No one showed up to the rehearsal except for an ex boyfriend from yesteryear [who wasn't invited, nor in the wedding] and two of my cousins [neither of which are in the wedding] oh and my mom with her two chihuahuas. Needless to say this was a very unsuccessful wedding rehearsal. Then on the big day, I had to work that morning so I had about 5 min to get ready and I ended up getting ready in my car on the way to the church. Don’t worry though because no one showed up except our parents [and the kids at the rehearsal] yet we still had food for 140 people because apparently we never gave the caterer our final head count because we had never received our RSVPs. So they made us eat the 131 extra meals and kept shouting that “there are starving kids in China who would be grateful for this food!” And then the next day I went back to work at the ol’ pawn shop [that I don't work at] because they wouldn’t give me time off for a honeymoon. And then I woke up.

Dream interpretation: I’ve been going over too many catering proposals, the post office should stick around for another year, and I need to stop watching Pawn Stars.

PS: this is the length I go to in order to preserve my TBF’s when there are mud puddles about.

PPS: Our friends at Langford Market have a gift for you.. $25 off your next purchase!

sewing 101: welting makes all pillows look legit

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***EDIT***

Okay, so I know this project was complete before the most recent Pinterest Challenge, but I’m in the process of moving this week so all of my crafting supplies/tools are all packed up, but this project was inspired by this pin. Enjoy!

Yesterday I explained how to sew a basic pillow with an invisible zipper. So today we’re going to kick it up a notch and add a little welting, because welting basically makes your pillow look like a million bucks!

You will need:

1 yard of fabric

welting cord

scissors

straight pins

invisible zipper

sewing machine

I found a remnant of this Schumacher fabric and decided that it would be perfect for a lumbar pillow.

I recently found these two lumbar pillows at Texas Thrift for $2/ea and they’re filled with down inserts. What a find!

I had originally planned on making my own custom welting, when I came across this white maxi piping at Hobby Lobby for $2. Score!

First you’ll pin your welting cord along the face of your fabric.

You’ll want to cut slits in the tape around the corners for easier bending.

When you get to the end [aka the bottom of the pillow] you’ll want to overlap each end at an angle so that you can sew over both of them to prevent fraying.

Using your zipper foot sew along the welting cord, carefully removing your pins as you go. Tip: to get really close to the welting cord change your needle position by adjusting your stitch width.

Your welting should look something like this when you flip over the tape.

Now that you have your welting in place you’ll continue on to insert your invisible zipper, following the steps from the basic pillow. You’re going to sew the zipper onto the pillow before sewing any of the sides of the pillow. Turn your fabric faces toward each other [wrong side up] and sew 2″ toward the center of the pillow on both the right and left of one of the pillow sides. This is where your zipper will go. Leave the space in between open.

Lay your fabric flat face down with the new opening’s edges folded down. Pin one side of your CLOSED zipper to one of your folded flaps. You’re going to sew one side of the zipper at a time using your zipper foot.

Once one side of your zipper is in place, OPEN it and pin and sew the other side to your other open flap. For more details see our invisible zipper post.

Now that your zipper is in place, open it and sew the remaining three sides of your pillow as close to the welting as you can. Since your fabric is still inside out, you won’t be able to see the welting, but your zipper foot should easily glide along where the welting is, allowing the stitches to be nice and close.

When turning the corners be sure to leave your needle in the fabric and raise and lower your foot to easily navigate your turns without interrupting your stitches.

Once all three sides are sewn, turn your pillow cover right side out and your welting should look like a pro!

I seriously can’t believe I did this! My pillow looks super expensive now, and it only cost me $4 to make. This route takes a little longer than the basic pillow, but I think the detail is totally worth it. Plus if you still haven’t mastered the invisible zipper, your welting will hide it anyway!