Bedroom Makeover
Posted: May 20, 2013 Filed under: Bedroom, Decorating, DIY, Furniture | Tags: diy, diy art, dresser, nightstands 1 Comment »“Makeover” actually isn’t the right word because the bedroom was never maked to begin with.
We had an off-white carpet remnant rug that got dingy nearly immediately – terrible idea! We had a picture ledge that I always intended to style but never did. We had matching MALM nightstands that were too small. I later bought an old pair of nightstands (one seen on the right) on Craigslist that I refinished, immediately decided that I didn’t like and then sold for a profit.
I swapped out rugs, blankets, etc. as I honed in on what I wanted and didn’t want — the former is always much harder for me than the latter — and I finally gathered all of the pieces and put everything together in one exhausting weekend.
And here’s where we are today:
I bought a new rug from Overstock and stained, painted and added hardware to a new pair of IKEA RAST nightstands. The wall art and framing was less than $25 total, and I reupholstered our existing headboard with new fabric, adding nailhead trim.
I swapped the dresser with one I had in the basement and plopped a plant in a basket.
Doozy is indifferent to the changes but I am pleased to finally have a bedroom that feels put together. I will write follow-up posts on the headboard, art and nightstands, so check back later this week if you’re interested in details on any of those projects!
Apartment Doorbell Label Holder Things
Posted: May 14, 2013 Filed under: DIY, Etc, Outdoors | Tags: doorbell, labels, victory 2 Comments »When we moved into our apartment I quickly taped up our names below the doorbell, thinking “I’ll fix this in a few days.” And then I didn’t, for months. Two years, almost.
It’s the sort of thing you eventually stop seeing, but a Craigslist buyer was in our apartment recently and he said “Wow, I didn’t think the inside would look this nice based on the outside!” Thanks, and ouch? As a renter, I don’t care all that much about curb appeal, but I don’t want strangers bracing themselves for squalor.
Some haphazard Google searching eventually led to these metal label holders. (Currently listed for $4.27 – I bought them for $9. What the hell, Amazon? I thought we were friends!)
I sprayed the holders with enamel clear coat to protect them from the elements. I also wrapped the printed labels in tape as a half-assed lamination.
Much better, yeah?
Wheels
Posted: May 5, 2013 Filed under: Etc, Outdoors | Tags: bikes, huffy, subaru 3 Comments »Is there anything better than the first post-winter car wash? Yes, of course, there is (my nightly post-dinner glass of wine, for example), but washing off Chicago’s winter grime ranks right up there.
For my birthday I bought myself a shop-vac. Vacuuming the car will never be the same. I can’t believe I spent years feeding quarters into the carwash vacuum and then frantically cleaning the car while an unseen meter ticked down. (Why don’t they at least show you how much time you have left?!)
I also have a new mode of transportion: this bike is both my birthday present from Jarrod and my birthday present to Jarrod (ours are a week apart from one another in April). He wanted me to have a bike so I can go on rides with him and I was generally indifferent-to-opposed to the idea.
But I’m smitten with this vintage Huffy Regatta we found at Play It Again Sports and I now look forward to learning how to bike around the city.
Having to buy and wear a bike helmet, however, is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, aesthetically.
Rug Shopping, Forever
Posted: May 2, 2013 Filed under: Decorating, Kitchen, Shopping | Tags: IKEA, Pottery Barn, Rugs 1 Comment »Between the island, the clock, the trashcans and the rug, there is a lot of IKEA going on in this kitchen. And there isn’t a lot of color. I’m cool with both of those things, to a point, but the kitchen feels a bit sterile. The neon sign helped add some character. Now it needs an awesome rug.
I had hoped this rug would be The One. It’s the Dunham Kilim Recycled Yarn Indoor/Outdoor Rug from Pottery Barn.
But the orange was much stronger in person than it appeared on the website, and that orange really brought out the orange in our oak kitchen cabinets.
Looking at these pictures I actually like it but in person it was definitely a non-starter.
So the search continues. Probably forever. Forever? Forever ever.
Building a Picture Ledge for a Neon Sign
Posted: May 1, 2013 Filed under: Decorating, DIY, Furniture, Kitchen, Paint it White, Tools | Tags: diy, island, kitchen, neon, stools, wall art 1 Comment »This right here is the kitschiest thing I’ve ever loved.
I found it in an antique mall in mid-Missouri (Apache Flats represent!) for $30. Something about it is hilarious to me. Neon seems appropriate for vices, like BEER or GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS. Not SALADS. It lived in the basement for a while, illuminating our ping-pong parties, but I decided I liked it enough to display in the kitchen.
West Elm, Pottery Barn, IKEA, etc. have lots of options for picture ledges, but 1) they’re expensive, 2) they weren’t the exact width and depth I wanted, and 3) they have a raised lip on the front, which I didn’t need. I wanted a floating shelf that would hold the sign and virtually disappear.
I bought some inexpensive wood and used glue and screws to join the two pieces. I put my new countersink drill bit to work so that the screws would sit below the surface of the wood, and I filled in the recesses with wood filler before painting.
I wanted the ledge to look like it was one single piece – not two connected pieces – so I waited to cut the ledge to the correct length until after I joined the two pieces. This worked really well – my chop saw ensured the edges aligned perfectly and after smoothing the end grain with some wood filler and painting it, the ledge looks legit.
Similar to the oddly but perfectly placed outlet in our living room (for our leaning bookshelves), we have an oddly but perfectly placed outlet smack in the middle of our kitchen wall.
SALADS!
(The sign is discretely tethered to the wall at the top so there’s no danger of it toppling over.)
Just a couple of other changes to the kitchen since you saw it last back in summer of 2011 – as a reminder, it used to look like this before I painted the wainscoting, scored the STENSTORP island off Craiglist and painted the ceiling fan:
I bought the ubiquitous BONDIS wall clock and I ordered the Tabouret counter stools from Overstock.com after months of Craigslist searching didn’t turn up anything I liked as much.
I highly recommend these stools – they’re super sturdy and you can’t beat the price (under $80 with coupons for a pair). They also come in fun colors, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’m not, but it’s fine if you are. No judgement.
