it's coming!!

a new kitchen is coming to our home.  courtesy of ikea...it will be great when everything works & is clean! here's a preview of things to be...

latest addition

recently we made a lovely addition to our very monotone living room.

it all began with love-at-first sight

and a $50 cabinet

 

it needed a little love and some color

so m and i picked a color we both love: teal

the sanding and painting began

  but after the first coat i thought it looked a little too commercial and 

lost some of its integrity as an old piece of furniture

so i began to distress it

but even then didn't get the exact effect i wanted

so i found some gunstock wood stain and rubbed it allllll over the paint

-that worked out well! 

it gave the teal a more muted, dirty tinge that keeps it looking old

despite being updated.

 i kept the inside back neutral to help the lattice design pop

(*pop!*)

 my favorite part lies just on the other side of this drawer:

(with its lovely original pulls)

 

ta-da!

some pretty paper+mod podge= one fancy fun drawer

the cabinet brings a nice vibrancy to our living room
but i still am trying to figure out just what to put inside it...

any suggestions?

here it is next to our (one) pretty window

 

and how i hope it will look someday
(assuming m will let me put a purple pillow in here!)

crazy for...

built-ins.

especially those that frame a fireplace

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a doorway

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or (a) window(s)...

hello, gorgeous!!

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someday i'd like to have built-ins, or some sort of window seat surrounded by shelves. 

maybe i could work one into our current living room?

now:

sad window, lacks charm

(excuse the mess0 i;m on vacation!!)

future???

i guess it would be more like 

free-standing shelves with a bench for reading, 

but we do need room for a couch in there...

so says m.

voila!!

i have been desperately wanting to make a gypsy quilt for our guest room but every time i'm at the fabric store, my vision gets clouded by the vast array of patterns and colors overwhelming my senses.  but today i rediscovered an older pottery barn catalogue and inside found just what i've been looking for: a template for just the right patterns. observe.

it's not too loud, but it has a nice variety of patterns and warm, earthy colors that would make our room feel homey and comfortable.  i also think it would work well with any number of different wall colors...

which works well for me because we are planning to re-paint our guest room walls.

***

as a bonus, while i was flipping through the catalogue, i saw this picture:

 

wouldn't a little cubby like this make a great craft/sewing/art room organizer?

of course, i wouldn't BUY one.  

i would make my own...

oh, the things i'll do someday.

do over....

when i was imagining up ideas for our extra (guest) bedroom, 

i had something like this in mind for the green-wall effect:

with a bohemian touch of...

ooooooh, so pretty.... i L.O.V.E!

         

aren't those staggered bookshelves interesting?  i could totally rock those somewhere in the house.

so.  back to the guest bedroom.

m & i are thinking the color we picked isn't really working.  

i, for one, am not convinced it is achieving the rustic, boho effect i so crave.

so maybe sometime in the not-too-distant future we'll give it another go?

i'm also thinking a lovely curtain-headboard would suit the space well.

what do you think?

 

and i, of course, still fantasize about making a bohemian quilt for the bed...

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a project four months in the making.

 remember this dresser i scored from salvation army for $40?

it is hard to tell from this picture just how badly it needed a makeover.

those dark details are actually a very unattractive grape purple.

and the top of the dresser was actually a very depressing acrylic veneer.

i believed in the beauty of this piece of furniture.

so i got to work... then stopped and started for four months.

i removed the veneer, bought some thin craft wood and cut it into narrow strips.

getting a piece that would match the curve on the front was somewhat involved.

i painted the edge, like so:

 then pressed the wood-to-be-cut on top of it to make a stamp.

 using a dovetail saw i cut along the edge and sanded so it would be a perfect (well, sort of) fit. 

 

 then i fit the narrow strips across to cover the entire surface, 

making sure to stagger the pieces and vary the lengths.

 m actually helped me a little when i got frustrated with our outdated power saw, which i cannot control.  and for two months it looked like this:

 then came today, the most exciting day in this dresser's life.

i decided to change out the drawer pulls because the old ones were destroyed, so i had to fill in the holes with wood putty.

 i finally got around to staining the wooden surface,

but when the stain went on it was more of a neon orange, not an ashy gunstock as i had hoped.
but i happened to have some taupe paint sitting around, so i rubbed that on top of the stain to tone it down, and it ended up looking great!

i gave the wood a good couple of coats of polyurethane
and painted the bottom and the drawers.

(the color is a gray-ish, yellow-ish, warm neutral.  NOT white.)

 i then drilled all new holes for the pulls, which i got at hobby lobby for a grand total of $12 (for all six)

 and now she's ready for the guest bedroom!!
(although, i plan to make the inside of the drawers more fabulous as time goes on.)

 it's not easy to see the color in these pictures...

 so if you're interested in the exact hue, 

you'll just have to come be our guest for a night or two!

exciting projects

school has resumed, so my posting will be far less frequent.

the university has provided the most wonderful opportunities this year, 

and they are sure to keep me busy!

what am i most excited about?

 mozart!!!

we are performing die zauberflöte this year;

and i couldn't be happier.

anyone who knows me well enough knows how infatuated i am with mozart

(on a completely normal and not weird level.)

so the chance to sing in a production with orchestra is a little dream come true.

 

Queen of the Night, Pamina

besides learning this opera (in german!)

 i will be working as a teacher's assistant at school AND preparing a master's in voice recital.

so.... it's sure to be an amazing year!! 

stay tuned for updates.

images:

[1] [2] [3]

bonus

the other day while at salvation army i picked up a neat little medicine cabinet that i thought would be a great mudroom addition.  i've been wanting something to keep keys, towels for (doggie cleaning) and dog treats, and i knew this was just waiting for me to take it home.

so... i did.

i didn't want a towel bar.  

i wanted hooks.  

hooks.

so i removed the towel bar.

and used a POWER SAW (that's right.) to create a hook-holder.

got some hooks from lowe's then used a POWER DRILL and installed the hooks.

boy was that FUN.

i sanded her down and painted her gray.

i painted the top with chalkboard paint so m and i can use it for schedules or impromptu love notes.

lol.

then of course i distressed the wood because that's what it DESERVED.

when all was said and done, i had a most delightful addition to our home.

(distressed wood closeup)

i'm probably addicted to stuff like this now, so...

project update

  a couple of my projects are completed.  

observe:

 

the table i found in the house when we moved in is resting in front of my mudroom window (next to the lovely damask curtains i made)

the $1 flea market dresser

  

now serves as a home for towels and bathroom items, as we have no linen closet on the main floor.

many more projects are on their way to completion, so stay tuned!

so many projects...

so little time!

i have been a busy busy bee of late.

i scored some furniture from various places and have been working away fixing it up to make it worthy of our little home.

 here's a peek at what i've been working on:

a table found in the house when we moved
 

a little seat snagged from the alley! 

a dresser- $1 from the flea market

 yet another alley find - yes, i'm not above that.

 and a lovely antique dresser, $40 from the thrift store

all of this furniture will soon be beautiful and displayed somewhere in our home.
and when it is i will post pictures!