Despite my long standing love for hardwood floors, I extolled the virtues of carpet in Monday’s post. This mystifying self revelation came about when I started to calculate potential renovation expenses, because carpet be cheap. True, carpet can be crazy ass expensive (Camilla from Designalogue wrote in to say she installed wall to wall ALPACA freaking carpet in a client’s home), but if you’re a careful shopper, it can also be quite reasonable. Although I’ve never had carpet installed, Collyn of ModFruGal has, and she quotes her price for hardwood flooring plus installation as being around $10 (our cost was similar when we redid the kitchen floors), vs carpet at around $4. So, if you’re covering a lot of sq footage like The Hunny and I may be in our new/old dream home, that is a HUGE difference. Still, I’d like to explore all possible cheap flooring options, and lovely reader Michael pointed us in the direction of plywood floors.

Say what???? First I wax poetic about carpet, and now plywood?

No really. It’s kind of awesome.

I mean, would you be mad if your floors looked like this? (Thanks to Michael for the image!)

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this woody turn of events, since this isn’t the first post I’ve written about how chic plywood can be. But it is interesting to see it used as flooring in homes where hardwoods or concrete would traditionally have been the materials of choice.

Marine plywood in a super modern Italian designed house. via Dezeen

And of course you could always paint your floors, like this plywood floor in an art studio. Since it’s plywood, you don’t have to feel bad about covering your beautiful hardwoods.

These plywood floors were painted to look all rusticky and stuff. Via Coastal Living

Perhaps imperfect floors would give you the perfect excuse to experiment with designs. Although the next set of images are traditional hardwoods, these ideas could work equally well on inexpensive plywood. via Design Sponge

I always like a good checkerboard. In muted tones, the pattern remains very neutral.

This room isn’t really my style, but I like the idea of painted stripes.

These are marble, but there’s no reason you couldn’t inject some hot geo drama into your floors, as in this Miles Redd designed home.

But of course, white painted floors are always a popular choice. Check out Door Sixteen for excellent info on how to paint your floors white here. Image via Living Etc.

Although an opaque paint would most easily disguise flooring imperfections, a nicer plywood floor would look awesome with a translucent stain that allows the grain to show through.

Stenciled and stained chevron hallway via Alicia B Designs.

This room is a little too country, but the floor rocks. via Country Living

This diagonally stained room by Mark Cutler is AWESOME. He explains how to do it here.

The simple, ebony stained floors in this home designed by Sabrina Bignami could still be gorgeous in plywood.

So I’m thinking plywood sounds like an interesting flooring option, but I’m a little concerned about installation. Do you glue the boards to the floor? Nail them to each other somehow, so that they float? What happens when the boards expand and contract? Does anyone have plywood floors, or have experience installing them?

Inquiring minds need to know.

Recently our good friend, fellow blogger and style icon, Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club fame wrote us with a fireplace conundrum:

I have found myself in quite the home decorating pickle.  My fireplace has become an eye sore and I do not know where else to turn.  As you can see in the pictures at one time I had a screen covering my fireplace.  The screen was made by my grandfather and painted by my grandmother.  However, my 11 month old daughter has just started to crawl and pull things down on her, like heirloom screens for example.  We removed the screen and now there is a big black ashy pit staring back at me complete with cheap chain shades.  I need some suggestions for something stylish and baby safe to replace the screen.  I have thought about having a mantle built but my fireplace is stone and I am not sure how I would mount it on all the texture.  Also, it may appall your readers, but I have a naked picture of Burt Reynolds above my fireplace.  He was fun for awhile, but I’m ready to replace him.  I have debated on a large piece of art (possibly by my sister), several smaller prints in a cluster?  I’m just not sure and this whole fireplace overhaul is where I am hoping Design Crisis will come in.  Please oh please can you and your readers save me and help me find a cute, eclectic, kitschy and kid proof fire place.

Here is a shot of Jen’s living room:

A few things have changed since this photo was taken:  the carpet has been removed and now pretty medium-toned hardwoods lay in it’s place.  I’m sure she’s probably moved other stuff around, cuz that’s how she rolls but I can’t say for sure.

You can see that the fireplace is free standing, there are openings on either side leading to her Florida room.  Let’s get a closeup of the fireplace:

Burt Reynolds picture:  check, ashy pit: check and check.  Jen!  You called us just in time, let’s see what we can round up to help you out.

I searched far and wide for a stone fireplace like your own with a mantel, this is the closest I could find.  I really like how the wood is clean and simple.  If you go with a mantel, I think this is the way to go, the sleekness of the polished wood is a nice contrast to the heavy-textured stone.  If you’re worried about making and installing said mantel, I bet my honey bunny could help you out.

What do I think you should do with the fireplace?  Paint that sucker.  Ok, I know I’m going to lose some readers here, but this is where I stand on painted stone and brick:  Is your stone insanely beautiful?  If the answer is Yes, don’t paint it.  Are you planning to sell your house soon?  Again, if the answer is Yes, do not paint it.  Otherwise, it’s your dang house and you should do what makes you happy.

PS, never mind the rest of this dullsville room

Here is a before and after I found via the magic of the interwebs.  See what a dramatic (and amazingly wonderful) difference a couple coats of paint will make.  I know this is brick, not stone, but whateves, it’s pretty, so hush up.

I threw this picture in for good measure so we could see what a lovely coat of black paint will do for ya.  Although I’m pretty into the white, myself.

Let’s talk about what goes over the fireplace.  You know I love Burt Reynolds and will promise him my allegiance until the very end, but I think it’s time for him to relocate.  I put this picture up because I really dig the scale of the mirror over the fireplace.  If you decide not to do a mantel, I’d pick a piece that is taller than it is wide.  It will make the space that much more dramatic.  And Jen, you have a giant panda head in that room, don’t try to tell me you don’t like drama.

Speaking of drama, check out this artwork that frames the ENTIRE thing.  How do you do such a thing you ask.  Read on.

Remember once upon a time I posted this before and after of Diana’s fireplace?  My sweet little mattybear built a frame around the old brick fireplace (so no brick was harmed, brick lovers) then coated it in plaster.  You could do something similar and keep as is… OR you could paint the whole damn thing.  Your sister could create her masterwork, or you could cruise over to the east side and pile a bunch of hoodlums into that fancy new car of yours then let them go graffiti crazy on your new digs.

Ok, moving on to the ashy mess.  I’m not sure if you have the ballz to light a fire in this Texas heat, if you’re like me, it probably lies dormant 99% of the time.  I say, why don’t you just go ahead and bump that number up to 100 and trick the inside of it out?

The now defunct Domino magazine suggested lining your fireplace with wallpaper then throwing in some hot pink logs for good measure.  I am in love with this idea.  Always have been, always will be.

Another Domino suggestion was to put a mirror inside the fireplace.  Could be good.

Or you could be a little more practical and fill it with logs.  Feel free to paint them multiple colors.

I saw this picture about a hundred years ago and thought of you, Jen.  If you do decide to do a mantel, I believe this is what the top of it will look like.   I imagine you pairing this with a fireplace filled with bowling balls or perhaps some trophies from your extensive vintage trophy collection, or, even better, you can use this as an excuse to start a whole new collection.  Swoon!

If, for some ungodly reason, you do use your fireplace here in the Lone Star state, I found a few screens for you to consider.  Both of the above are from Target and they’re both pretty lame but…

A quick coat of paint later and they’re pretty spectacular.  I’m guessing the option on the right is slightly more baby-safe.  Maybe just a little.

Also, if you decide to go this route, be sure to look into heat resistant paint.  I know they make it and this is probably the time to use it.

(ps, find these screens un-photoshopped at Target here and here)

Here are a few more screens I found on the interwebs, all varying in price and baby-safeness.  Feel free to paint as needed.  Clockwise from top left:

Muskoka Onyx Fireplace screen $79.99 at Target

Fireplace Screen by Peter Maly $460 at Unica Home

Handmade Lacquer Screen $231 at Overstock

Vestal Firescreen, price upon request (ahem) at Lyle and Umbach

And just for fun, I took the liberty of making some mockups of your new fireplace:

The most conservative option:  white stones with natural logs and a large piece of black and white art hung over the fireplace.  The piece shown here is by David Ostrowski

Still white, but now with a piece by Jen’s sister, Hope, over some hot pink logs

And finally, Jen’s fireplace with a white mantel and the crazy collection I know only she is capable of both finding and styling so it looks insane.  In a really really good way.

Alrighty readers, what do you think Jen should do with her fireplace?  Want to know more about what she has in her house before you can make a life decision?  Check out her home tour on apartment therapy here.

Jen, keep us posted!  We want to see the afters!

Somehow, I managed to sneak in a ton of grownup fun this past week/end, which has been super amazing, but also exhausting. The good news is that stuff has been happening at the house, mostly because I furiously cleaned and rearranged the place before my guest arrived, but also because we ventured more than a mile from the house and did some real shopping. HOORAY! Guess what I bought? You’ll never guess…

My lighting obsession forced me to load up The Hunny and Ike and drive waaaaaaaaaaaay far away, to the southern wilds of Austin, where this golden whale of a lamp was patiently awaiting escape from its scary creepy, soon to be ex, owners. Thank goodness I was able to rescue it.

Happily it was not terribly abused, although it has some fritzy wiring issues (exposed wires: dangerous, or super dangerous for children?), and it’s a lil dented, and the odd scuff and scrape mar its gorgeously golden visage, but you know what? She is beautiful to me.

Look! Another picture of her… photo overkill? Well, too damn bad. I’m pretty excited about the way she frames the room. Also, the purchase of this lamp allowed me to get rid of two other lamps that were annoying me. Also, you are not allowed to make fun of the twisty lamp on the console, because even though it, too, is annoying, it’s only temporary. Let’s face it — next month this will probably look like a totally different room.

Since I bought the arc lamp, I had to do something with the living room lamps, so they went into our bedroom. But then I had to do something with the old bedroom lamps, so they went into Ike’s room. Aww, look, two bald eagles are keeping watch over the guest bed in Ike’s room — the room that doesn’t even have a crib in it because Ike is still sleeping in our room. That’s another, totally different, story, but it does explain why I don’t have any pictures of the lamps in our bedroom (because I didn’t feel like cleaning it, and also there is a giant crib in the middle of the room that will probably never, ever leave. Sigh).

Anyway, I couldn’t just stop with the lamp because I was getting used to the feel of money flying out of my pockets, so I bought this crazy ass smoked glass diamond mirror thing, which I thought was going in the hallway…

But duh, even a ding dong could tell that it’s way too big for the space. Now what am I going to do with that stupid mirror? It’s not wide enough to go over the console table. Obviously I am out of shopping practice.

For absolutely no reason I am ending this post with a gratuitous picture of Brian, because he is such a handsome boy, and he makes me happy.

Hope y’all enjoyed the fruits of my shopping labors. I worked REALLY HARD at buying these fine, fine items, but now I am broke and will have to make do with spraypaint and ingenuity for the time being. Don’t worry — I’ll find something to paint if it kills me. I’m on a roll.

I can’t believe that two months have passed since I enlisted the  help of you savvy readers in rearranging my dining room… It seems like I should have completed a lot more projects than just redoing one measly room, but my days are usually filled with picking up toys, cleaning rice cereal out of Ike’s ears, and changing some increasingly odd diapers. (In case you should ever come to my house for dinner, rest assured that last thing never takes place in the dining room.) At any rate, it’s done(ish). I say “ish” because you know me… nothing is ever really done. In other words, this place will probably look totally different next month. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and check out its previous iterations:

Super old:

Kinda old:

And right now — today — this is what I’ve got going on:

I took the suggestion a lot of you bandied about and bought some Ikea Aina curtains for my puny window. See? I listen(ish). HB hung them high and wide, and voila! Bigger window. The sexy 70s lucite chandelier came from Ebay.

I tried to reuse most of my old goodies, like this Curtis Jere(ish) brass tree, but the table and chairs had to take a hike. The old Danish table went to our office, and the Burke chairs went to Karly’s dining room. Because, sharing means caring, right?

Our new (to us) 90″ long reclaimed wood and stainless steel dining table came from craigslist, and the sellers even delivered it for no additional charge. Super score! The Marcel Breuer(ish) chairs came with Karly’s glass table and I wasn’t totally sure about them at first, but for $150, I’ve decided they’re awesome. And comfy.

The brass sconces came from Ebay. I almost photoshopped out the fugly cords, but I decided to keep it real, yo. Ok, and I’m lazy. And busy. And I’d also like to know what to do about them. I think I should nail them to the wall and paint them black. Thoughts?

I already had the Karly Springer(ish) console table, but I added a few nick knacks, trying to keep the neutral vibe going. The Head came from Room Service, the mask and bronze hand were both made by art school buddies, and the faux bois tray is vintage. The cord is pissing me off.

Here’s a view of the left side of the dining room/entry way. I didn’t want the dining room pieces to compete with the ceiling, so I kept everything on the down low. Except for Doris.

Doris is my new David Hockney(ish) million color screenprint that I picked up for $4.99 while thrifting with the ladies. She’s 100% hand pulled awesomeness.

Yet another view of the right side of the room… I may have gotten a bit carried away with the photos, but at least you can see that the vintage Drexel benches reverted to their original linen upholstery.

Beethoven is holding down the back corner. My friend Peter did the naughty etching above his head. It’s a special surprise that you can only see up close and personal… real personal.

That’s it for my home tour! Hope you dudes aren’t disappointed that there aren’t any trees growing out of the floor or poltergeists in the corners. I’ll get to work on that, pronto.

Ish.

Yesterday I got a surprise dining room make over.  No, Ty Pennington did not show up at my house with a bus and a bullhorn, but an unplanned overhaul did occur.  My dining room has needed work since day one, but with a kitchen renovation scheduled for this winter, which involves tearing down a wall between the dining room and said kitchen, I figured I would just wait.

The Gods had other plans for me, they sent Erin as their petite messenger,  convincing me to buy a table I really didn’t even want, but clearly needed.  Let’s look at the before then I’ll tell you the story.

Ok, so it’s a pretty sad before, and not just because I can’t hold a camera still for half a second.  Most of the items in this room got placed there when we moved in and just stayed.  Hence the dresser acting as a sideboard and the unhung picture.

I would have moved forward through the next few months with my blinders on if Erin hadn’t needed 6 chairs.  Let’s clarify:  Erin has been OBSESSED with finding 6 new chairs to go with her stunning new table in her stunning new dining room.  So obsessed, in fact, I’ve witnessed her squinting her eyes at ebay trying to imagine that some pretty iffy chairs weren’t really so bad at all.  

Spending her days and nights peaking at any craigslist posting that offered the promise of multiple chairs she forwarded me a listing with this photo:

The price was right ($250) and I wrote back advising her to get the chairs.  She responded by saying “I don’t want those chairs, you need that table.” I denied her claim on both counts, and she countered by insisting that I did, infact need the table.  Somehow or another, despite the fact that neither of us wanted the table or the chairs, we decided to purchase the set and split it between us.  I got the table.

Since she got the chairs, and I had none to go with my new set-up, I have her tulip chairs on loan until I’m able to find replacements.  Should I have kept the chairs?  Nope, they look awesome in her house.  

All 4 images on the wall are by my friend, Bryan Keplesky.  I had planned to put them in the office I’m fixing up for myself, but clearly, they were meant for this room.

And that map that had been leaning against the wall in photo 1?  It’s frame got a fresh coat of white paint and is now officially hanging on a wall.  Well, at least until we tear that wall down.

Note:  Overt your eyes from the horrid front door, it is getting replaced as soon as the asshats at the door hardware shop send me the right hardware, unlike the last time where they took 2 weeks to send me the WRONG piece.  Photos of that soon I really really hope.

Hello, Design Crisis lovers! Wait, what are you called? …Design Crisans? …Citizens of Design Crisistan? Whatever you prefer. I am AB Chao, and I will be your tour guide here today. Here, have a visual aid:

I am so excited to be here doing a guest post for y’all. Karly and Erin and I have a lot in common. For example, we love things that are gold:

and furry:

and sullen:

Oh, no, wait. I’m sorry, that’s my 14 year old. Hi Madeleine!

It has been raining for approximately one hundred years down here in Louisiana. I am tempted to make a joke about a flood, but maybe it is too soon? I think so. Anyway, everyone is irritable and wet and absolutely no one’s hair is cute, but do you know what always makes me feel better? Talking about me. More specifically, my house and the decorating of it.

When we bought this place six years ago, it was cute, but needed work. (Confidential to the previous owner: Dear Kevin, I hate you. Thanks for “fixing” all that stuff. I hope your face falls off.) So we’ve been slowly updating, room by room. We started with the yard and garden, the results of which landscaping overhaul you see above. (I can’t find any of my before pictures, sorry, but believe me when I say it looked like nobody lived here for 4 years.) Then we moved on to the kitchen:

Aw. This actually gives me nostalgia, looking at that good old green Formica. I am pretty sure that it and the red Bakelite pulls were original to the house. Cute! But not cute enough to keep:

Oops.

We replaced the Formica with (say it with me!) white Cararra marble, and covered the backsplash in 2″ x 6″ white ceramic tile. I painted the floor white my damn self, and had an electrician come in to change out all the light fixtures and add under cabinet lighting.

And then I stood on a stool and took one of many pictures of my own legs. I don’t know. It’s a thing.

And then an actual professional, my friend Lori Andrews, who consulted awesomely on this project over several million emails, came to visit from Canada and styled the room and took these incredible pictures. Here is one:

(Photo and styling, Lori Andrews, 2009)

So that was my first big project. All I knew when I started it was that I wanted marble on the counters, and for everything else to be white. I had no overall vision or endgame in mind. Each decision I made was the subsequent aftermath of some random decision I had made previously. Everything eventually fell into place and we ended up with what you see here. So, basically I am a genius. Just kidding. Basically, I am mildly retarded, but it all somehow worked out okay.

The next thing I wanted to do was overhaul Madeleine’s room, and also, because it wasn’t going to be hard enough, I decided that it needed to be a surprise. We pulled off this heist while she was at camp over the summer, and it was like a reality show ending: she cried, I cried, everyone was surprised, and we all took naps. And now, because I love you all very much, I’m going to show you my original, professionally Photoshopped plan:

I know. You’re jealous of my skillz. Please note the “chandelier.” Whee!

We cleared the room of everything, then painted walls, ceiling, doors. My long-suffering husband Vince refinished the floors like he was some kind of professional. I bought everything that was going to go in the room beforehand, and it lived in our dining room for two weeks. I regret that I didn’t take a picture of that.

Post-painting and refinishing. Vince assembles one of the many, many Ikea products we purchased for this room OH MY GOD. I never want to see an Allen wrench or a Swedish person again.

Almost all of the furniture and lighting is from Ikea, except for the chair, which is a Saarinen knock-off (what, do you think I am crazy? Who buys the real thing for children?), and the silver floor pillows, which are from Target. Bedding is Ikea, Lush UK, Crate & Barrel. The queen of hearts pillow is Jonathan Adler. Rugs are from overstock.com, Ikea, Bed Bath & Beyond, and (!) Walmart. The overhead light came with the house, and was ugly until I sprayed it black.

I think it turned out pretty well, even though Madeleine totally doesn’t appreciate the vintage Tonka jeep I found on eBay, and I am going to be forced to steal it from her.

So…well…I was jealous, okay? After Madeleine’s room ended up looking so pretty, I decided it was time for our own bedroom to get an upgrade.

I had always been unhappy with our bedroom, no matter what I did to it. So obviously it was time for me to paint every single thing in it, including the windows and the bookshelves, a bold and dramatic color. Enter Abigail Ahern and her gorgeous, totally copy-worthy interiors painted all the same color of deep, dark gray. Helloooooo, Down Pipe.

All it cost was the price of a couple gallons of paint, a few paintbrushes, and MY SOUL.

I understand that these pictures of our bedroom have started a little mini-trend, but I am here to tell you, if I never see a gallon of Down Pipe again, it will be too soon. I absolutely LOVE the end result, but this color in paint form haunts my dreams. It makes my head hurt. It makes my eyes hurt. Take my advice, Internet, and hire a professional painter.

Oh, hey. What’s up? Let’s go win a Reader’s Choice Award together.

I seriously already owned almost everything in this room, except for the antlers (eBay), and the toss pillows (handmade, Nate Berkus), and the sunburst mirror (a local store). Oh, and the orchid, which I bought at Lowe’s (along with the roller shades) and which I recommend to everyone who wants to make his or her room look twice as styled as it actually is. Everything else was either already in here, or came from somewhere else in my house.

So that’s it for now, Design Crisistinians. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as I’ve enjoyed showing you my house, and a bunch of sort-of-embarrassing “Before” pictures.

My next projects are still in the works, but I can give you a hint about what they entail. This room, which isn’t so bad:

…and a room related to this object, which doesn’t exist yet. Pray for me.

In the meantime, let’s all go do something that looks like this:

That’s right, I’m recommending you go make an arugula salad and drink wine.

I raise my glass to you, to elitist salads, and to good design always. So say we all!

(All photos by AB Chao except where noted)

In case you haven’t already figured it out, I am a serial re-doer. No matter how good a job I do the first time around, I am always convinced that — given one more shot — I could do better. Problem is, one more shot turns into twenty really, really fast. I’ve repainted the guest bathroom three times, endlessly rearranged the living room, second fifth guessed myself while renovating the kitchen, and now I’m itching to redo my already redone dining room. Good thing paint is relatively cheap and I am the wizard of Craigslist, otherwise the Hunny would have divorced me long ago. Still, I’m a busy lady with a new baby and can’t afford the time or expense of redecorating 500 hundred times. And so, friends, I am calling on you to help me make this one count.

Problem: The table/chair combo is making me lose my appetite. And the chandelier ain’t helping, either. I am like the furniture collecting equivalent of the quintessential crazy old cat lady. Mid century mod just keeps multiplying at my house… And while the hodegpodge kind of worked in our old dining room because it looks like a crazy old cat lady lived there:

I am not loving it with the new, more understated paint job that went in when we redid the kitchen:

So, I like the things on the black wall. The Karl Springer style console, benches and antique painting are a-ok by me. I’d like to add some sconces, but that’s not a big deal right now. However, I think the table sticks out like a sore thumb. Or is the problem the chairs? I only have four of the Burke chairs, and I have six of the Danish chairs, but most are broken or need to be restrung. And does that chandelier make my ass look big, or is it just me? Help?!

If I move the table to the back office, I could replace it with something different. Something… longer? More oval? Glass or not glass? I actually own this table with an oval glass top, but it’s kind of on the small side:

And this awesome set is currently available on Craigslist, but I’m afraid the proportions are wrong for my room:

Great pic, I know! I love the set, but my room is small and narrow, making me think I need a long, dark table and small chairs flanking the sides. Am I crazy to pass this up?

Oh, and please tell me that burlwood table wasn’t the perfect thing for my room, since I found it and passed it on to a friend…

And here is where I paste in some random dining room eye candy to inspire you to leave witty comments and savvy advice for your old pal, Erin:

via the now defunct Domino. Love love love the chairs!

via Met Home. I like the idea of a long table with chairs on the sides, only. I also like the look of a legless table. Plinths please me.

via Living Etc. Hey all your breeders out there: is glass kid friendly?

Can’t remember where this came from… one of the above sources. Mostly I just like the groovy mood in this one.

Ok, dear readers. Today I live for your comments. Thursday I shall follow up with more dining room pornspiration. Don’t worry. It will be prettier than it sounds.

After months of zero zilch nada progress made on my home due to analysis paralysis, I finally made some decisions and got to work this weekend.  Everyone had awesome suggestions for my room last week, Sherry had the genius idea to use photoshop to test drive designs and I loved From the Right Bank’s idea to switch the black wall and paint my fireplace a bright color… but I wasn’t up for painting over black.  In fact, you all had so many awesome ideas, I almost had to spend another 6 months in hibernation trying to figure it all out.

But!  My mind was about to explode and I had to make a move.  I decided to go with my gut and laser-light-show it up.  A visit to the always brilliant Sanders sealed the deal when he gave his nod of approval and pointed me to the metallic paint (!!!!) display.  Sanders and I quickly agreed on pearl white and I was out the door with some fancy paint and lots and lots of tape:

I started by free-form taping the wall behind my bed, making each stripe about 1.5″ wide. 

I continued around the corner and onto the 3rd wall.  I didn’t tape the entire 3rd wall, I let the design taper off so that there would be a spot for your eye to rest.  Fancy, huh?

I was actually pretty smitten with the kelly green tape (of which I used 180 yards) and was almost remiss to paint it all white, but green angles are too crazy for a bedroom and I had a plan and I was going to stick to it, dammit.

Ta-Da!  Laser-Light kicks kelly green’s ass!  To understand how amazing and fabulous this looks in real life, please take the awesomeness of this picture and multiply by eight hundred thousand, give or take.  It is seriously out of control.  Do you want to see more pictures?

A close up.  Don’t worry, we’re shopping for new lamps next.  (I will be taking Camilla’s advice and finding some with black drum shades)

Doesn’t the dog bed just make this picture?  What about the crappy bathroom door that’s about to be replaced?  Ok, Ok, focus on the wall… j’adore?

last one, promise:

Once Erin comes out of maternity leave, project #1 is to have her take some decent looking photos of this joint.  You’d think I could have at least photoshopped myself out of the mirror.  lazy lazy Karly.

This project was actually super simple despite my gigantor walls, from start to finish (including clean up) it only took about 5 hours.  With all that extra time left over, I decided to tile my living room fireplace.

WHAT?!  HUH?!  But, Karly, you’ve been indecisive about tile for months!

I know, I know, but Friday night I was having cocktails in Hope’s back yard when I spotted a stack of white marble 1/2 inch tile going to waste on her porch.  Apparently it had been given to her roommate who never got around to doing anything with it.  A few drinks in and I was ready to end my tile misery and make an offer:  $3 a sheet.  Done and done.

If I were to search the world over and could have my choice of tiles, would I pick this?  No.  But is it 800 times better than the bare fireplace I’ve been living with for the last year?  Can I get a hellz yeah?!

Here’s a close-up:

It’s marble, it matches my room, and it shimmers, so I’m happy with it.  Oh, and it was dirt cheap, so I’m really happy with it.  I did some web sleuthing and found out that in the real world it costs $11 a sheet here, still pretty cheap.

I have visions of finding the world’s most perfect tile one day and replacing this but until then I don’t have to hang my head in shame when the first thing people see when they walk in my house is a bunch of junky drywall surrounding my fireplace.

So, there you have it, my weekend in a nutshell:  cocktails and decorating, what more could a girl ask for?

PS. stick around this week as we have some badassical guest bloggers in store:  tomorrow Andrea from House of Slappy does a fantastic (I mean really fantastic) artist roundup; Thursday, the always lovely Tula of Whorange brightens up the joint with my favorite palette; then Friday, it’s lame old me again wrapping up the week.  Come on back now, ya hear?

You dudes may remember the bedroom makeover I started a hundred million years several months ago.  Well, we were moving right along, then I got busy with work so the project got put to the side for a bit.  I’m ready to wrap it up now but I am at a MAJOR impasse:  I can not decide what to do with the walls.  I have one black wall, which I love, and the rest are white, also great.  So, what’s the problem?  I want to do something to the white walls to make them a bit more interesting and to make my headboard stand out.  Let’s start with a pic of the room now:

Sorry, I’m no Erin so the picture isn’t so great.  The curtains are going to be rehung a few inches higher, art and lighting are still being picked out, and I’m thinking of getting this rug for under the bed:

Yes, we have all seen this Ikea rug before.

I thought doing something simple like this on the walls would be good, but I’m not sure the headboard will stand out enough:

I don’t have to do a laser light show, I could vary the shape:

Or should I do something with subtle black lines to tie in the black wall?

I’m really open to any and all suggestions, even if you want to tell me to paint the whole thing kelly green (which I probably won’t do, but girl, I will listen!)

help!!!!!

I wish I had a cyber tour bus to drive in front of my kitchen, just so I could drive it off, thereby making the big reveal dramatic! and exciting! I would jump up and down — propelled by the overwhelming spirit of joy and gratitude — screaming and crying about how amazing it is, and about how getting a new kitchen has changed the very core of my being. But that would be untrue, because (let’s face it) macaroni cooked over a bunsen burner in a dorm room is the same as macaroni cooked on a brand new stove in my pretty new kitchen.

But that don’t make it any less pretty.

Remember when I first enlisted your help with my junky kitchen a looooooooong ass time ago?

Yes, the red is very charming (unless you have to live with it), but everything else in the kitchen deserved to be burned in a pressure treated blaze of glory. Trust me, it was a LOT WORSE than it looks in my awesome picture. Well, a mere six months and 10k later — with only one week to spare before the baby is due — it looks like this:

I know, I know! You miss the tile and the bank of head bonking cabinets, the chipped almond formica and the spectacularly filthy appliances, but at least the rugs are cute, right? In all seriousness, this was crazy hard to shoot because the light was not cooperating and the paint wants to read as brown instead of gray, but hopefully you get the idea.

We still have a lot of trim issues to deal with and loads of accessorizing to do, but it’s 95% done! Hooray! And despite what must be universal hatred of barstools, I love that we have some extra seating near the kitchen instead of wasted space on the living room side, like we had in our old kitchen. Plus, you have to admit that my vintage Thonet stools are pretty fly.

Hallelujah, you can even see into the living room without busting your head open on a fortress of low hanging cabinets! Downside: I have the sudden urge to replace those hideous ceiling fans, STAT! Any recommendations?

So, what did we do in here, anyway? I detailed the floor renovations a while ago, but you can read about them here. We yanked out all the old oak cabinets and mounted them in the garage (whee! extra storage), then replaced them with Ikea Abstrakt gloss white cabinets, and Ikea Applad black cabinets mounted to form a pantry wall.

So much better than the floating fridge situation we had before! Oh, and surprise! I am the kind of person who sticks stuff all over the refrigerator. Hunny Bunny hates it, but how else will I know where to find my Babies R Us coupons? What do you think of my crazy Moroccan brass tray up there? I know it’s kind of passe to stack stuff on top of your cabinets, but because our room is vaulted, it felt really naked without something…

The peninsula was ripped out and HB built a new, taller wall for the bar to anchor the cabinets onto. He and Matty bear also tore out the old post and replaced it with a smaller, dry walled post. The counters are Ikea Numerar in oak, and the backsplash is soapstone, which Matt installed. Karly bought the vintage Danish pendant lights on Ebay and decided they didn’t work for her. Bonus! They are perfect in my house. I got a new stove on sale at Lowes, the Datid hood for half price at Ikea, and I am unnaturally obsessed with our new Ikea spice rack. Now I just need three more spices to fill it…

On the sink wall, Matt installed a soapstone tile countertop in a very labor (and dust) intensive process so that the countertop looks like a slab. No grout, and half the price! He did a super excellent job, and if you live in Austin I highly recommend you contact him for all your handyman/renovation needs.

We bought a Kohler cast iron sink that has a very low divider, so it’s kind of the best of the single/double sink worlds. Love it! The faucet is also Kohler, and the dishwasher was on sale at Lowes. I had the vintage light fixture already and it’s ok (I like the brass), but I think I could do better. Someday. Maybe. Oh, and the reversible cotton rugs are from Ikea, of course.

The window wall feels a little unfinished, so we’re planning on putting up a couple of shelves where I can display cute dishes and whatchamadoodles. What do you think: glossy white? black? or butcherblock? Who knows when we’ll get to it, since we’ve only got a week until the baby is due and still need to clean renovation dust out from under the furniture, but we can dream, right?

So, that’s it for my kitchen tour. We hatched a half baked plot in November of last year, started gutting in January, and “finished” just days ago. I think our original idea was to slap some paint on our ugly cabinets and call it a day, but I’m glad we took the advice that many of you gave us — which was to rip it out and go for it. Including the appliances (except for the fridge), the floors, counters, sink, hardware, cabinets, lights, paint, and Matt’s labor, we came in at around 10k, which was pretty close to my original estimate. It took the short side of forever to complete, but because Hunny did most of the work himself and Matt helped out a lot, we were able to spend most of our budget on materials instead of labor.

So far, we’re super happy with it, but I’ll be sure to let you know if any of the walls fall down…