The Frame Wall

This is how we did it:

1. Cut newspaper to size
2. Played around with different arrangements putting the biggest frame right in the middle to ground the collection of frames
3. Hammered a nail right through each piece of newspaper
4. Took down the newspaper
5. Hung the frames (all of which are white and from Ikea)

(And I am so not taking credit for this method, several blogs/sites suggest this way.)

And this is what we filled the twenty-six frames with:

I decided to fill the frames with the faces and places that mean the most to us.  So, three of the frames have pictures of the places our families live (or where we live): a picture of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA, a picture of the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, and a picture of a beach on the Big Island.  The rest of the frames are filled with family, close friends, and a couple of us of course.  We want to rotate pictures here so it never gets too boring, but I am so happy this project is "done" for now.  It took  quite a few hours to complete!

Number Five

This blog should really just be called "See the Same Exact Furniture in Five Different Apartments" cause it seems like every six months or a year we have another house tour post for ya.  Hopefully this will be the last one for a while (famous last words).  It's funny looking back at our other apartments and seeing the million things I would change and would NEVER do in our house now.  You live and you learn I guess.

We've lived here for about a month and a half and are pretty settled in.  We searched for an apartment for what felt like an eternity.  We have seen some UGLY places and met a lot of really shady landlords.  Our current apartment actually wasn't that gorgeous or anything when we first toured it (as you'll see from the pictures - Barney bed and dirty stained curtains anyone?).  We chose this place because it was in a great location (even closer to my office than before) and the rent here is actually cheaper than our previous two places even though it is way bigger and has a second bedroom.  Also, our new landlords are the sweetest, most helpful people.  Now that we've fixed things up, we feel really at home here.

We still have some things we want to do so I thought I'd say what we've done in each room and what we still plan to do.

The Living Room

Before

After (It's really hard to take decent pictures in here because of the light/window placement)

What we've done: This room is the most complete of all the rooms in the house.  We painted the walls a dark muddy gray, bought some fun new pillow covers from Etsy, made a frame wall above the couch and bought and transformed a mirror at the flea market to hang next to our armoire.  Because this room was so big, I decided to make it a dining room/living room combo and turn the dining room into a office/library.

What we have left to do:  Like I said, there isn't much left to do.  I would like to find a more interesting fabric and make some curtains and I wouldn't mind some side tables for the couch to put some lamps on.  I also would like an urn or something to put to the right of the armoire.  But, none of these things are necessary so they are at the way bottom of the to-do list.

The Office/ Library

Before




After


What we've done: Besides putting the furniture in here and hanging curtains we haven't done much (besides utilizing this room for a different purpose than was intended).

What we have left to do: You can't really see it in these picture but the light fixture in this room is super ugly.  It's a ceiling fan which is really useful since this apartment doesn't have air conditioning so I think I am going to spray paint it one day and buy new light bulb covers.  But, if I find a really cheap alternate option, I may go with that.  I also am looking at thrift stores and craigslist to find a chair or chaise for the corner to replace the second white chair (which would be moved to one of the bedrooms) to make a reading nook.  Also, like the living room, I'd like to find some fabric out of which to make different curtains.

The Kitchen

Before




After




What we've done:  I had every intention when we moved in here to paint the cabinets; I had the color picked out and everything.  But when we double checked with our landlord to see if we could do it, he said we couldn't soooo we are just going to have to live with these puppies.  We did buy a stainless steel cart for our pots and pans cause there wasn't enough cabinet space for them.

What we have left to do:  I found this neat tutorial for no-sew roman shades which I am going to make for the window above the sink.

Second Bedroom

Before




After


What we've done: Got ride of the terrible terrible curtains and the creepy Barney bed, painted the walls a steely blue-gray, and hung some curtains and lamps.

What we have left to do: Find some fabric to make new curtains (seeing a theme here?).  I am picturing this, but we all know I am waaaay too cheap to spend that much on curtains.  We need to cover up the cords from the lamps like we did in our last bedroom and change the light fixture.  Also, call me crazy, but I really really want something like this to hang above the bed.

The Master Bedroom

Before




After




What We've Done: First we took down the HEINOUS wall paper from the closet doors.  We painted the walls a creamy off-white, made over the lamps, and built a headboard.  We also hung pictures from our wedding day on the wall.  I was happy that while we bought a new duvet we were able to utilize the same pillows from our first bed and our old living room, and our craigslist dresser has a proper home now.

What we have left to do: I want to make/find some decent sized art for the wall to the left of the bed.  I also think I am going to move the chandelier from this room to the second bedroom because it is black and nothing in this room is black.  Also, Matt hits his head on it on a daily basis because it is so low.  I am either going to make something or do something simple and inexpensive.  I wouldn't mind a ceiling fan in here either cause on hot days it gets HOT.

The Bathroom

Before (sorry for the poor quality photos)


After





What we've done: I cannot tell you how nice it is to have a functional, big bathroom and Matt loves that the bath tub and shower are separate.  We hated our last bathroom (there was no storage for anything, we kept all our toiletries in the hall closet).  There is only so much you can do to a rented bathroom, but we took down the ugly, weird curtains and put a frosted film over the window for privacy.

What we have left to do: I want to find some kind of art work and then I want to get a little table for the side of the tub so there is a place to put things when your taking a bath like magazines and a candle.  I had every intention of painting the cabinetry in here too, but alas, it has to stay as is.  I am looking for new hardware for the drawers.

I didn't post any pictures of the hallway but I have some fun plans for in there (right now its all white and plain).  Also, I plan to do a couple of posts explaing some of our projects like our mirror and the picture wall.

Hope you like the new abode.  We are really liking it here!

What I'm Filling My Head With 2.0

A while back Ellen and I did two posts entitled "What I'm Filling My Head With."  I thought I'd come out of my blog-hiatus and write a sequel.

Music:
"Devil Town" by Tony Lucca

I first heard this song on season 1 of NBC's amazing Friday Night Lights.  Sorry about the crappy video, it's about the best Youtube has to offer.

Book:
World War Z by Max Brooks

Soon to be a movie with Brad Pitt, I thought I should read this before it comes out.  I don't want Brad Pitt on the cover of my copy of the book - man, that's annoying.  It has a slow start, but it's a really terrifying and different look at humans during the zombie apocalypse.

TV:
Parks and Recreation

I don't know how I didn't watch this show before.  Everything about it is hilarious - especially Ron Swanson.

Film:
50/50 and Drive

SAG is screening these two movies this weekend at the DGA, and I've been pretty pumped to see both.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ryan Gosling are two of my favorite actors, and both movies just look like fun movies.  Except the cancer part.

When Lucy Eats an Apple...

...she REALLY eats an apple.

I Love Lamp

Well I didn't love these lamps:

So I spray painted them and bought a new shade at Target:

Now, I love lamp.

A House to Live In

I'm sorry but not really that sorry that it has been 22 days since our last blog post.  Life has been cah-razy. We moved, we had a house guest, my brother moved in and work has been busy busy planning a retreat for 100 people amongst other things.

Life has been good though.  We are really loving our new place, loving having my brother around, and I've made some dear new friends in the past three weeks.

In addition, our camera broke.  We figured it was a problem with the battery so we ordered a new one and it just got here in the mail.  I was so hoping to take pictures of our place a week after we moved in and then just update you readers as things changed, but now it looks like you'll get pictures a month after we moved in and we will blog updates as we go on.  We are pretty settled, but I definitely have a long list of things to do and projects to take on.  Stay tuned. I'm planning on cleaning up and taking pics tomorrow.

In the meantime, my mother-in-law mailed me the September 2011 supplement to Good Housekeeping (A magazine titled "good housekeeping" never interested me that much and who knew they made a supplement?  They can't get it all in their monthly magazine?).  She sent it to me because of an article on window treatments but I kind of fell in love with one of their house tours.

As most of you know, I LOVE interior design.  What a lot of you don't know is that I very seriously considered going back to school for it earlier this year.  I applied and everything.  But, when it came down to it, the decision was made because of simple dollars and cents.  We just couldn't afford for me to work part time AND go to school.  We'll see what happens in the future with that, but now it's just a hobby (and something that fills my mind a whole whole lot).

Anyways, back to Good Housekeeping.  The pictures below are of a house in Rhode Island and I'm in love with it.  Is it the best, coolest, most interestingly designed house I have ever seen?  Nope.  BUT it's a very realistic picture of the kind of house I want to live in some day.

As you know, I love Pinterest and I love pinning beautiful spaces. But usually when I see a space I always have to think about things I'd actually want to live with and things that, even though they are pretty, don't really suit our lifestyle.  For instance, take this room designed by Emily Henderson:

I looove the scale of the window with the huge chandelier and the long curtains.  I love the warm walls with the bright yellow chair and the bold blue couch.  I love how the coffee table and console are styled.  I love the plaid pillows on the couch because I would never think to bring that textile in this room.  Do I see Matt and I (plus future bambinos) living in this room? Nope.  It's too formal for us, doesn't feel that cozy to me, and not colors I'd want to live with on a daily basis.  Still, can I take some of these elements into my own home? Yep.

So when I came across this house in Good Housekeeping, I thought, "Well, I could just move right on in." Are there things I'd want to change/tweak? Sure.  But for the most part, this is a great representation of a house I'd want to live in.

I love the colors of the floor, the weathered leather chair, the gold metal side table, the open staircase, the neutral wall color, the big wooden table in the center of the room piled with books.  I love the quirky "Hippies use the Backdoor" sign.  And I LOVE that light fixture: simple, clean, interesting, lightbulb exposed.  The only thing I'd change in here is the rug, and that's only because Matt's not a fan.

In this room I love the ceiling, the striped rug, the graphic pillows, the white couches, the built in shelving, the roman shades, and again the warm neutral wall color.  I love the modern touches of the coffee and side table.  

In here, I love the calming colors, the art work on the wall and on the side table, the sturdy wooden bed, the comfy looking chairs by the window, and the awesome industrial lamps. 

I looooove a clean kitchen, crisp white cabinets, subway tile backsplash, dark counter tops, open shelving, tall faucet, and that rug peeking around the island there looks like it'll be a nice addition of color to the room.  The clock doesn't look like the right scale for the room and I'd either add art work to that wall or replace it all together with one big vintage poster.  Also, I think the room could use some more interesting bar stools.  Maybe something metal?  Otherwise, I'm in love.

And this!  When my kids are all grown up I want them to remember their house being fun with no room too precious to play in.  A swing and handle bars in their bedroom?  Sign us up.

So there's the house that had me at hello.  Is it the most interesting house you've ever seen?  I'd be shocked if it was.  But I love it, and that's all that matters right?