#upholsteryproblems

I bought a new-to-me couch the day before Thanksgiving.

It's an Ethan Allen Chippendale-style couch that I got from Salvation Army for $150. It's very similar to their current Chippendale sofa, which starts at $1,700. So yeah, I got a good deal :)

There's a bit of wear on the legs, but nothing some light sanding and new stain couldn't help and the fabric is in perfect condition. Unfortunately, I really don't like the fabric. It's a bit grandmotherly and doesn't go with my style. It's especially awful with my pillows.

So I'm going to get it reupholstered very soon. Meanwhile, I've been looking at fabrics online to get some ideas. It's a big decision because I know I'm not going to get it recovered anytime soon. Plus unless I stick with solid off-white, it's going to change the look of the room so I have to decide how much of a difference I want, if any.

I do like my curtains, but wish I had another pair and Anthropologie doesn't carry the green anymore. I've looked on ebay but haven't seen them there either. So if the new fabric doesn't go with the curtains, that's okay.

I've been down on the color of my walls for a while, but the idea of repainting makes me want to curl up in the corner and cry. And even if I hire someone (which is probably what I'd do), what color? I've thought seriously about a darker turquoise like Hague Blue. And possibly doing the woodwork the same color instead of keeping it white.

I've also thought seriously about going white or just barely off-white.

But then maybe I'll keep the current turquoise. There's nothing wrong with it and it does go nicely with just about any color I throw against it. I like bright colors that act as neutrals.

 I'm not sure I like having a couch full of pillows anymore so I'm fine with getting a fabric that doesn't go with all of my current ones. It'd be nice for it to go with some of them, maybe the Kelly Wearstler ones, but then I don't mind the idea of getting new ones, either. I think I could reuse these in my guest bedroom and shake that room up a bit. Or maybe switch so my bedroom is more blues and greens instead of pink. Ideas, so many ideas!

The one thing I do know is that I'm leaning heavily towards a printed fabric. And I want something that makes me smile, like the wallpaper in my powder room (which I also use for the background of this blog and my twitter page and have yet to tire)

So something a bit bold and geometric over floral. Flamestich patterns have especially been calling out to me, though I have yet to find one that's perfect. Or even close to perfect. And of course the ones I'm most drawn to are the most expensive. But I'm not going to pay $150, 250 or 350/yard (yes, I picked one out that was $350 - I've since started sorting by price). Even $100/yard is too much. I'd like to keep it well under $50/yard, though for something spectacular I'd go higher. The couch was dirt cheap, after all. I was thinking that a new couch would be $2,000 - 2,500 so ideally when all is said and done, this couch won't cost more than that.

I'm almost finished with my new TV stand and am pretty darn excited for that. I think once I have that installed and my living room cleaned up and the old couch taken away, I'll be able to get a better vision on what's right.

And if I can't find the perfect print, I'll just go with solid off-white. It has made me pretty happy for the past three years!

color thoughts

For about a month now, I've hated pink. HATED. When I wear pink to work, I can't wait to get home to tear it off my body. I really want to finish my bedroom - and all I really need is to paint the walls, buy a new accent pillow and maybe some new lamps - but I can't help thinking about replacing the coverlet and repainting the side tables so it's all not so pink and purple.

This picture, that made me so ridiculously happy when I took it, makes me recoil just a bit right now.

 (though now my sheets are orange-y peach & pink paisley, which takes out the candy-ness of the room a LOT and I only use one of the pillows)

This is kind of shocking for me because I've loved pink for years. It's my happy color. Feeling sad? Put on some more pink blush. Feeling happy? Put on a pink sweater. But I'm not unhappy at all right now so what's with the pink hate?

At the same time, I'm incredibly drawn towards yellow. Bright, sunshiney yellow, drab mustard, even this neon-ish yellow-y acid green cardigan that's much more yellow than green that completely washes me out gives me a thrill when I put it on.

I want some yellow in my house. My kitchen is the obvious choice since it doesn't have a color yet, except that I have orange-y maple cabinets and I don't think yellow would work. But maybe I just haven't found the right shade of yellow. Yellow would be pretty with the blues and greens I have going on in my living and powder rooms. It'd be a good transition. Or maybe I could paint my kitchen navy and have yellow accents. Hmmmm...

But what I really want is a yellow couch. Like a yellow & white ikat or chevron - something completely impractical and unrealistic. Impractical not because the light colors would show dirt, but because I'd want to repaint my walls since I think bold walls & bold couch would be overwhelming in my tiny house

And then I'd probably want new curtains since the pattern may not play well with my current curtains. Unrealistic because  know I wouldn't be satisfied with a bargain priced fabric. But it'd be really really really pretty. It is in my head. Swear.

I couldn't find any pictures of yellow-print couches that I liked, but here are some pretty rooms with solid-yellow couches. And I would be happy with any of these.

Of course, less than a year ago, I would have sworn that I'd be happy forever with a pink couch. So maybe there is some truth to the conventional wisdom that one should have neutral couches and jazz it up with pillows. Though I do still love my pillows (and they'd be pretty with yellow!)

wanted: buffet lamps

I was out in Annapolis the other day, meeting a friend for lunch. She was running a few minutes late so I popped into a couple of home stores, natch. And I saw some buffet lamps. They were very much like these from Circa Lighting:

Of course, they're also $378 each. At the store (whose name I cannot remember), they were $310. Cheaper, but still not exactly in my price range. But wouldn't they be pretty flanking my TV? I've long wanted sconces, but am moving away from that idea because it would involve hard wiring and considering I keep putting off even switching out the stupid automatic light switches the previous owner installed in the kitchen & bedroom, well, I don't see this happening anytime soon. I have looked for ones that you can just plug in, but they're either ugly or swing-arm. And for my location, neither is a good option.

I had thought about buffet lamps, but in my head they're always these dainty, spindly things. I'm not a dainty person and neither is my decorating style. But these lamps? They are quite substantial while not being overpowering. They'll add plenty of light to that side of the room but not be oppressive.

So what do you think the likelihood is of me finding $600 on the sidewalk? I'd say "when I win the lottery," but as the ads say, you can't win if you don't play.

Room for Color outtakes

Hopefully you've already voted for me in Apartment Therapy's Room for Color contest. But maybe you're still wavering. Or maybe you just want to see more of the faaaaabulous photos my brother-in-law took of my living room. I've talked about the various pieces of my living room a lot so in this post I'm going to highlight the newer pieces.

I'll start with my throw pillows and am finally, FINALLY, done with shopping for throw pillows. I bought them from etsy seller labdesigns. She did some fantastic work on these pillows - even the color of the zippers are coordinated. How awesome is that? 

 

This peacock pillow isn't from labdesigns, it's from Target. But it plays nicely with the designer fabrics while keeping things from being too matchy.

Of course, the very newest member of my household is my faux cowhide rug. But first I have to start with the coffee table. See, I've wanted a gold & glass coffee table for a while because the wood one was just too heavy and visually bulky. I searched all over the place at all sorts of price points for a version that also had a shelf underneath and couldn't find one anywhere. I had seen Bossy Color paint one from Ikea gold and it was quite pretty in her living room, but it was the same size as my wood one and I wanted smaller. Plus I was iffy about the floral pattern on the shelf. Would that be goofy in real life? More searching and the best I could come up with was a $1k version that was mirrored, not glass. So I caved. Bought the Ikea one and painted it gold. And I love it. I don't notice how big it is anymore and I use the shelf constantly so I don't have papers piled up on top, which means I can actually put decorative objects up there like my glass platter or some flowers. Or both!

But it was almost too airy now. I needed a rug to ground the space, but I didn't want a rectangle. I wanted to soften the angles of the room and my seating arrangement a bit and a rectangle would have cut off the dining area and the room's small enough as is. So I thought - oooh, cowhide! And then I found this fake one on Overstock for a great price. Done.

I love the mottled look through the glass on top. And somehow the flowers work so much better in gold.

Moving back over to my doorway now. It was still warm the day Karl took these pictures so instead of coats, I have my collection of LL Bean boat and tote bags hanging up. I still have them all here as they're perfect to grab before trips to the market or for bringing stuff into work, but they're covered up by coats.

But they're not new. What's new is over to the right. The doorknob to the powder room.

How freaking pretty is this? It's from Anthropologie, bought on sale, and I adore it. It's the perfect thing to bridge the turquoise of my living room with the green of my powder room. It makes me insanely happy.

All of these items also brought more patterns into the room, made it more of a collage, made it cozier, made it more me.

So if you haven't voted for me yet, what are you waiting for??!!

vote for me!

Every year, Apartment Therapy has a contest called Room for Color. I love it because, hello, I love color! All of the rooms are so inspiring and when I first learned of it, I knew I had to enter my living room. Last year something went wrong with my submission and it didn't go through, but this year I got the confirmation email right away and this morning my room was posted! Woo hoo!

So you have to vote for me. I mean, come on, you're reading my blog! Plus look at this room. Does it not just scream "COLOR!" All you have to do is go to this page and click on the big red button that says "Add to favorites." Easy.

This is the first round of voting and it's done by region. As I write this, there are only two entries in my region (East), but more will be added until the 11/8 and then this round of voting closes on 11/21. Then the top vote-getters in each region then compete against each other.

Ask all of your friends to vote for me as well. Ask all of your relatives and coworkers. Ask strangers on the street. Vote early, vote often. Ha - I kid with that last part. You can only vote for a room once.

Did you miss the link? Here it is again: http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/color/2011/entries/3131

thanks!

one of my favorite pictures

I was just reading an article on House Beautiful's website about designer secrets and came across this photo again:

I love it. I love the mix of lime green and purple. I love the grasscloth wallpaper. I love the bookcases flanking the fireplace. I love the simple mantle and the worn brick of the fireplace. I love the old brass andirons. I love the extra thick molding (BTW design world - in the US, we drop the U, just like we do with the word color). And I love the TV placement.

This picture is often used, as it is in the article I took it from, as an example of why you don't need to hide your TVs behind armoire doors anymore. And really - everyone still knew what was lurking behind that massive piece of furniture in the middle of the room. It's much better to hide it in plain sight, like on a bookcase filled with lots of books. Especially when it has a black frame, when it's turned off, it's just kind of a non-entity. You don't feel compelled to look at it like you did with the big box TVs.

In my house, I have my TV on a bookcase with an antique quilt behind it. That little vignette is so busy that the TV just blends in even though it has a silver frame.

Not the best picture due to the flash highlighting the screen, but trust me. Especially since I've since restlyed the bookcase and have branches on either side of the TV. But my camera is dead so no updated pictures.

Leigh & Leslie Keno had a show on PBS a few years ago and I remember the first question they would ask folks is "where's the TV?" because people would try so hard to hide it. But then how could you watch PBS and the Kenos' show! It really doesn't make sense. There's plenty of high-brow stuff on TV - saying you watch TV doesn't have to mean you watch hours and hours of Jerry Springer and The Jersey Shore.

Many people are lucky enough to have multiple living spaces so they can have a room for non-TV life and a room for TV life and that's great. But it's nice to know that if you only have one living space that your TV doesn't have to suck all the life out of it.

Modern technology and modern decorating ideas are great.

If I...were decorating this Capitol Hill rowhouse

The Washington Post had an article yesterday about a Capitol Hill house with an fab rooftop deck with views of the Capitol and Washington Monument.  Being consumed with jealousy, I quickly started looking for my own rowhouse and found this cute little house.  It's in a great location - just a few blocks from Pennsylvania Ave and Eastern Market and right on East Capitol St, which means that it should have a great view of the Capitol from its roof.  Well, it might.  It's a two-story house in a block of three-story houses.  But the Italiante style is just so charming that I'm going to pretend that there's a view.

Inside is just as charming, but today I'm going to focus only on the living room.  It's right as you enter the house, the way most DC rowhouses are, and while it seems quite narrow, it's also doesn't seem as narrow as some other houses I've visited in Capitol Hill.  I'm going to assume that the chandelier and mirror come with the house (or can be negotiated for during settlement) because they're GORGEOUS and perfect.  If they don't come with the house, I'd search for their exact replicas.

Decorating this house, I went for something a bit glam but still with some Bohemian touches. 

I love the straight lines and nailhead trim on the white couch - I'd have two of them facing each other.  Probably loveseats since the room is so narrow.  To soften the lines, I'd go with a round coffee table in gold to pump up the gilt factor in here.  It's also a bit modern, a bit Deco, so contrasts with the chandelier.  Then facing the doorway would be  two peacock chairs. So fabulous! Wouldn't you want to come into a room that greeted you with these?

Growing up, I always loved the octagon side table in the living room so I found that gave a similar vibe - and then added another all in gold. Twin 1960's Murano glass lamps on top add some more circles and some more color.  I'm going with all different shades of green, teal, turquoise and aqua.

On the other side of the couches would be square wood & brass tables with curvy gold lamps on top.  More gold, more modern, more contrast. (I'd have two sets of these, but ran out of room in the picture!)

The cowhide stool adds more seating and also breaks up the formality of the room.

Then, an overdyed rug on the floor.  I've been in love with these since I first heard about them, but never pictured one in a room before.  But I can't imagine anything different in this one.

What do you think?

All furniture from Tonic Home, Horchow and ABC Carpet & Home

I want a bench

And it would go here, underneath Zephyr.

To make room for 14 people at Passover, I moved the small dresser upstairs to the spare bedroom.  I've always intended for it to go up there, I was just waiting until I found the right replacement. 

Well, now I'm loving not having a bulky piece of furniture as I enter the house.  I have a straight chair there for now because I do like it as a place to put my purse when I come home.  Plus if I got a real dresser to put there, it would be that much more difficult to make room for my next dinner party for 14. 

So my current brilliant idea is a bench.  Something with a bit of interest.  Maybe tufting?  Maybe nailhead trim?  Maybe a fun fabric?  It should be high enough to be a normal seat (sometimes benches are more footstools in height - not a fan) and just wide enough to fit along my dining table, possibly wide enough to fit three people (we'll stick the skinnies over there).  I also would not turn my nose up at a bit of storage space, though it's not necessary.

Now, I haven't measured any of these, but this is what's going on in my head.

Horchow's Peacock Bench on sale for only $878! (btw - that's sarcasm. Though I do adore the fabric. Hmmm - maybe when they have one of their near-weekly sales?)

Ballard Designs' Simone in Celeste taupe easy-care fabric $329 (much better)

Or maybe in Domino green $345 (would have to check the color against my curtains)

Crate & Barrel's Colette in lilac linen $599 (I've liked this one for a while)

Anyone see any others I should check out?

new idea for my TV stand!

I came across this photo from High Gloss magazine in Live Creating Yourself's blog and was totally inspired.

So inspired that I actually sketched out a little picture:

Picture it: a console table with a dresser or file cabinet underneath.  Enough of a gap between the two to fit my digital converter and DVD player.  Same TV on top.  Birdcage on the right.  A large vase on the left (I see these ALL the time at Marshall's and Ross).  Two gilt sconces on the wall flanking the quilt (these are probably the most confusing out of my squiggles). 

Right?  Right?

It combines everything I want in my TV stand.  I've long thought a console table would be great there, but then there's the question of how to hide the cords.  And then the converter and DVD player would have to sit on top which isn't terribly attractive.  And I never have enough storage and I suck at bringing my bills and such upstairs to file in their current spaces.  So having a file cabinet right there would solve the second problem - I can file immediately upon entering the house.  Touch everything only once, right?  Or if it were a dresser, then I'd have space for DVDs and table linens and all that crap.  Either way it's a winner.  And I feel like the console + cabinet combo would lighten up the nook a bit.  It wouldn't be all heavy with just a cabinet, but it wouldn't be all floaty with just a console.  The two would balance each other out.  And if the cabinet stuck out a bit more than the console, that's completely alright.  Possibly even preferred.

I loooooooooooove this idea.  And the best part is that I think I can pull it off on my budget!

Get the Parsons console from West Elm.  Probably in white, though I am drawn to the mirror.  And they've had a raffia wrapped one in the past which was crazy cool.  Maybe I could find that one on Craigslist or Ebay or something?

I used to think this console was too wide and I probably will hate it come Christmas time when I don't have a good spot to put up the tree, but I'll worry about that in December.  I need to decorate for the other 11 months of the year!

I'm having a harder time figuring out what goes underneath, but then I've been thinking about the console for almost two years now and the cabinet for maybe an hour.  But here are my ideas thus far:

As you can see in my sketch, my thought is for a wide cabinet with long hardware going across.  Ideally this hardware will be gold and be an open rectangle of sorts.  I kinda think the cabinet will be black, especially if I were to go with the raffia console, but I'm open to brown wood as well.  I do know that white would be wrong.  This is the grounding piece, after all.

I could get a regular old metal file cabinet from Staples and add some hardware to it or paint the existing gold.

left cabinet -- right cabinet

Or then there's this one that already has gold hardware from Ballard Designs.  It's not exactly the right hardware, but I do still like it.  It's not overly girly or antique-ish.  It's still chunky.  And it comes in a rubbed black (that could be better than flat black) as well as brown.

I'm also open to getting a random cabinet cheaply at somewhere like Salvation Army and painting and replacing the hardware.  Or maybe this one from Ikea.  Take off the pulls, fill in the holes, give it a coat of paint and add the dream-rectangle pulls in the middle of the drawers. 

I might want the cabinet to be a bit wider, though, especially since the West Elm console isn't as chunky as the inspiration picture.  The console is 54" wide and this cabinet is 34.25".  It might end up feeling a bit skimpy.  It IS only $80.  Not the end of the world if it's only a temporary fix.  And it could always be repurposed elsewhere.  Wonder how goofy the notch at the bottom is in real life.  Hmmmmm.

I KNOW I've seen the cabinet in my sketch somewhere before but I just can't remember where.  I looked at all my usual furniture websites.  I could have sworn it was from Horchow but notsomuch.  Or at least it isn't available anymore.  I searched online but maybe I just don't know the right keywords.  Could have been another blogger's DIY project.

Has anyone seen a cabinet like this?  Do you remember where it was?  Or if you see it in the future, let me know!

14 people for dinner!

Monday night I hosted a Passover seder at my house.  My dad's side of the family is Jewish, but I was raised Unitarian Universalist so we never had a seder at our house.  I have, however, been to plenty and it's always been one of my favorite holidays.  So when a friend mentioned that she had never been to one, I decided it was time for me to hold my own.  I invited friends and family and ended up with 14 people saying yes.  Fourteen!  In my teeny tiny house.  But I made it work.

First up was clearing out my living room by moving the brown chest and the coffee table upstairs.  I also took my TV upstairs so I could use the bookcase as a sideboard.

Then I moved in a folding table borrowed from my mom and 5 of her folding chairs to add to my 2 folding chairs, my 4 Ikea chairs, 1 random straight chair and the wicker and orange chairs.  I considered just using my couch as seating, but it's too low.  The two tables were perpendicular to each other, which was mandated by the space but also added a fun dynamic.  At least I like to think so :)

Sorry for the blurry pictures - they were the best I had. 

As people arrived with bottles of wine, I told them to just plop them on the table and head outside for cocktails.  As I continued to prep, I rearranged the stuff on the tables and the wine ended up on the bookcase-turned-sideboard.

Next was gathering dishes.  I have 5 Apilco Tradition dinner plates from Williams Sonoma that I adore.  Adore!  But they're kinda pricey.  And I really don't need a dozen of them.  So I started researching and turns out that Pottery Barn's Caterer set is the best value.  A dozen white plates for $49 + a 10% off coupon.  Can't beat that with a bat (believe me, I tried), so I bought them. 

Harder to find were decent soup bowls.  Matzoh ball soup is pretty much a requirement at Passover, but then I've often thought about serving soups or pasta for a dinner party, but don't have enough bowls.  Again, I have 2 from Apilco (the Tres Grande style this time), but again, they're too pricey to buy by the dozen.  At least for my lifestyle.  So I supplemented with 6 from Target.  They're an inch narrower and kinda shallow, but they were cheap and they were just fine.  The others were some that I've had forever - also from Williams Sonoma, but they have this raised pattern that I kinda hate because food gets trapped in the crevices.  Replacing those with Apilco is pretty high on my wishlist, but I had lots more to buy so not happening right now.

Target really did make up most of my purchases.  Oneida flatware, sold in sets of 6.  Champagne and water glasses bought online where they were having a sale.  Seder and matzoh plates.  Tablecloths.  Napkins.  Napkin rings.  A runner to go on top of the bookcase.  A new platter and serving bowl.  All are items that were perfect for this dinner, will be perfect for future dinner parties and that are useful to just have in general. 

I also hit up Salvation Army.  I went there looking for brass candlesticks and came home with 5 - plus a really pretty porcelain bowl decorated with blue, green and yellow flowers.  I adore this bowl and can't believe someone gave it away.  I also borrowed two candlesticks from my sister and brought two down from the bookcase in the spare bedroom.

Everything else I already had and I'm pretty excited that the next time I have a big dinner party, I shouldn't have to buy anything at all!

Before:

After:

lavender love

Lavender has been on my brain A LOT lately. Case in point: I'm sitting here in a lavender sweater and highlighting budgets in lavender. Time to take a "coffee break" and post some pictures.


I have loved this picture forever.  Think it was one of the first pictures I saved in my "Rooms I Love" folder, back before I was blogging, which is why I have no clue where it came from.  Can anyone help me out?

I also think it's where I first got the inspiration to do the turquoise walls, though I went much darker.

But I love the Easter egg colors.  The turquoise walls, the coral curtains, the blue-patterned chair in the foreground, the green peeking in from the other room - and the lavender chairs.  I really think they make the room. 

I've also always loved this chair from Horchow.  I picture it paired with olive green leather and possibly some dark turquoise.  And lots of gold accents, which is another of my favorite things right now (and that I don't have enough of).

Then this bench from Crate and Barrel caught my eye a while ago and I keep picturing it pulled up to my dining table

I recently bought some fabric samples from fabric.com and one was lavender velvet.  I currently have it next to some light avocado-y greens and it's just so very lovely.  I think I need to add some lavender to my living room.  Maybe I'll recover the wicker chair's cushion in lavender velvet.  Add a lavender throw pillow to the orange chair once I make it green.  I think it'll be pretty.