Well, I’m not really sure why I decided to paint the dinette and kitchen peachy pink. Maybe it was this picture:

Isn’t that rich and delicious and amazing? I want to steal everything here… and maybe I will. But before we start shopping, let’s see what I have to work with.

There she blows — Benjamin Moore Terra Bella. Many thanks to Sanders, who thinks that Karly and I are crazy for suddenly wanting to paint everything pink and peach and coral. He still went way above and beyond to help me pick a lovely shade.

I have to say that lucite and brass was not where I thought I would take this house, but Mr Sciolari was in the right place at the right time for the right price. Plus he reminds me of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, and that’s a good thing.

I still have a lot of work to do, but I think we’ve already improved the situation we moved into:

Have you ever seen so much brown in your life?!

Although the (TEMPORARY) table and chairs are clawing my eyes out, I’d still say it’s far less offensive than it was.

Now, all I need is a new table and chairs and window treatments and maybe a rug and some art… I’m liking indigo as an accent color, which I’m largely drawing from the front room scenario:

Dark Harbor and Terra Bella are so happy together.

Anyway, this calls for some mockups. I’m so predictable.

#1 has a dreamy Thom Filicia rug that costs way too much, integrates the navy chesterfield I already own, supposes that I will buy a new tulip dining table (and I am — really). Then I threw in schoolhouse chairs and country club art to give it some old skool flava.

#2 is a little more modern regency, with an affordable kilim rug and some very affordable cafe chairs. I took Chester out just to see how that would open up the space. Still buying the table. Awesome leopard painting will be available at Minty soon.

What elements do you prefer?

I really don’t know what to do about window treatments in any case… I was crushing on Naomi’s curtain idea, but now that the color is so fussy I’m thinking that simple and tailored is the way to go.

Tune in tomorrow to discuss ways in which my new paint and chandelier are making the shabby brown kitchen look even browner and shabbier.

Something must be done to rectify the situation.

Hint: paint will be involved.

Until then please help me buy cheap amazing things to finish out my dinette space.

Thank you.

And now dear friends, I bring you the last post of the year. Don’t be sad — we’ll be back after all the booze has burned off, but I need a break (ok, I need a chance to get some projects done). Besides, you really won’t care what I have to write after you see this incredible house tour, brought to you by Graham & Co bloggers (and generally cool people) Jeff Madalena, owner of fashion label/boutique Oak, and Jason Gnewikow, creative director at NY Design Studio Athletics. Jeff happened to leave a comment on my terrifying fireplace post, suggesting I take a page from his book and go clean and minimal a la his house. I think I cried a little after I followed the flickr link to his gallery, both because I was a smidge insanely jealous, but also because my faith in humanity has been restored. It is possible to finish things! Your house can look amazing!

MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN!

Just check out that before and after! My fireplace is weeping tears of joy at the possibilities.

So without further ado, I bring you a Chriswanzmukkuh gift for the ages. From tiling to flooring, a ton of this was DIY. You (and more importantly I) can make things pretty, too. Let’s do this!

Location: The Catskills, NY

Size: 2100 sq ft.

J&J: We found the home more or less by accident in early 2008 while visiting friends for a weekend in the Catskills. It had not been inhabited for quite some time and had been on the market for about 18 months. The house itself was not much to look at and was in need of a full gut renovation, but what really drew us to it was the sweeping views of the mountains. The renovation was done in three stages. We started by reconfiguring what was a kitchen, bathroom and sunporch into two bedrooms and a new bathroom. The second stage was incorporating the kitchen into the great-room to create an open concept kitchen/dining/living room. In the great room we raised the ceiling and clad them in pickled-pine wood planks. We also boxed in the original brick fireplace and had it refaced with concrete. The third stage was converting the old garage into a master bedroom with full a bath. We brought in reclaimed, unfinished barnwood floors and replaced the garage door with a floor to ceiling picture window and additional door to the patio outside.

The great room is definitely where we spend the most time. Lighting is a cluster of classic Nelson pendants, the sofa is the Long Life by Ihreborn from Scandinavian Grace. The big picture window in the background we designed to echo the shape of the adjacent hallway.

The refaced concrete fireplace.

This is our Philodendron who is easy like Sunday morning. He doesn’t need a whole lot of attention, just a front row seat at the window and a bit of water here and there. In the background is an odd chair we found at a garage sale that is sort of a mid century style love seat. We stripped it, pickled it and reupholstered the cushions in a geometric black and white Anni Albers print.

This old chair has been dragged from apartment to apartment and here’s the truth kids, she’s from Macy’s….yep,we said it..Macy’s. We’re not hating, she’s cute.

The kitchen is positioned at one end of the great room. We do a lot of entertaining in the Summer so this makes it easy for everyone to be in the same place and also provides easy access to the outdoors where we eat a lot. We used simple Ikea cabinets.

Between the two of us and adobe illustrator, we were able to visualize most everything for our contractors. We didn’t actually do anything too crazy — really just moving walls here and there, so we spent a good bit of time figuring out what would work for us and then did very detailed (to scale) aerial drawings of the floor plans.

The table here is a 10 foot long farm table. We found the top at a barn sale and constructed the base out of reclaimed 4×4′s. A host of bits and bobs live in frequent rotation at the end of the table.

This was our main bedroom before completing work on the downstairs master. The bedrooms are all pretty modest in size. We embrace the low to high — simple white bed linens and pillows from Ikea, throw pillows are Belgian linen Libeco from High Falls Mercantile, the wall hanging is actually a hammock we bought in Tulum, Mexico, and the print next to the bed is a Cy Twombly we bought in Paris.

The closet door in the second bedroom actually took us forever to find since we had to source the door after we had the framing done; we finally found it at a barn sale in Stone Ridge, NY. Light fixture is an industrial table lamp we found at the Brooklyn Flea Market. Bed linens and pillows again with the Ikea, the throws are the same Libeco Belgian linen from HFC. The print is a Joseph Albers from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

This is the hall that connects the upstairs bedrooms and bath to the great room. We installed and finished a lot of the flooring and then stained the upstairs floors black using india ink for a true black. It’s actually pretty simple — india ink is super black, relatively cheap and surprisingly only needs to go on very thin. The only wrinkle we ran into was that we first tried to finish it with pure tung oil which didn’t really work so we ended up using waterlox to finish it because we wanted a really matte finish. That stuff was kind of nasty odor wise. I think we’re going to use osmocoat next time, which is supposed to be pretty odorless.  Windows in the hall and one wall of the living room were rehabbed factory windows.

The upstairs bathroom is a bit tricky to photograph. On the opposite side of the vanity wall is a open shower. The pillar wall shares all the plumbing for both the sink and shower. Sink basin is Duravit, fixture is an industrial wall mount from Chicago Faucets and the cabinet is from Robern.

We had to build up these downstairs floors as they had previously been a garage. We used reclaimed barnwood for the floors throughout. We did a lot of heavy black and white down here. The doors are some old store doors we found somewhere and painted black, of course. The photos in the background are by NYC artist Ellen Frances and were made for an Oak Gallery event.

The master bathroom houses a black bottomed clawfoot tub. A lot of the fixtures in this room were sourced from really random places. The tub fill is a brass spigot originally used for a laundry basin found on ebay. Subway tile on the walls and Carrara mosaic tile for the floors.

The master we converted from the garage is a pretty straight-forward minimal bedroom. We replaced what was originally a garage door with a floor to ceiling picture window. The throw is a charcoal grey, wool army blanket. Linens are Ikea.

This was our first renovation so the biggest challenge was bringing what we saw in our heads into reality, and communicating with contractors to bring that vision to life. The details are always the tricky things — seeing how a window finishes against a wall or where moldings come together are the things you never really think about until you have to make a decision. The other big challenge is also the fun part — sourcing and buying all the fixtures and furnishings. The style of the house is a mix of Scandinavian modern with touches of vintage industrial pieces, like steel factory windows sourced from a local architectural salvage yard. We are fortunate to have a handful of really talented NYC ex-pats that have established great interiors shops here in the Catskills, like Scandinavian Grace and High Falls Mercantile, so that makes shopping locally a bit easier. Renovating the house was a labor of love and and a real learning experience. Now that we’re just about to embark on a new project in Brooklyn we’re glad to have somewhere escape to on the weekends.

Thanks so much to Jeff and Jason for allowing us to scrutinize their beautiful home via the wonder of the internet! Rest assured I will be stalking this post during the holidays to read all your comments. I hope you enjoyed this tour as much as I did.

Happy Everything, homies! See you in 2012!

Yes. What could be more exciting, save winning the Nobel Prize — or perhaps waking to discover that my body is 18 again yet my mind is still 35? Those two things will probably never happen, so new house wins. In all seriousness, we are uber excited but also having some bittersweet moments. We miss our fabulous neighbors already, and are plagued by sad musings about our good ol’ 60s rancher.

Plus we are exhausted and my back is broken (18 year old body? please?). We have lots of work to do here before our house goes on the market early next week (gasp!), plus we have renovations to schedule and complete on the new house. The new house that closes in a week. Now you know why my posts have been so short and shitty of late. Sorry, dudes. Did I mention that new house wins?

Speaking of, let’s tour that sucker and think about what must be done to make it habitable.

Yep. It’s that one. So, I got the 70s house I always wanted, except that it’s not exactly the 70s house I always wanted. What can I say? The extra bedroom, culdesac, greenbelt, and schools, appealed to my 35 year old mind. Being able to walk to Whole Foods doesn’t hurt, either. Someone please send me a new paint scheme. Stat.

It has 20 foot ceilings and nice big windows. With bars on them. Because the sellers are NUTS. So, the floor is coming out — natural oak, yes? I am repainting, including the fireplace. Neutral color suggestions, please????? And I’m on the fence about the fans… It is very hot in Texas, ya’ll. Should I raise them? Get white fans? Burn them?Just kidding. The last one is not an option.

Oh boy. This is a biggie. I would love to rip it allll out, but… I can’t. I have to prioritize, and the new wood floors are going to kill us. So, do I paint the cabinets white, change the backsplash and live with it? Do I spend a little more to reface the cabinets? Or do I save for the next FIVE YEARS and rip out the whole thing? ps: the tile and granite are not awesome but not horrible, either.

I’m considering using this as our main dining area and using the real (and small) dining room as a study/library. What do you think? Are dining rooms a colossal waste of space? And don’t worry — THE BARS MUST GO.

Tim Gunn would be concerned about the taste level here.

The master was horribly photographed, but it has a huge window seat. New floors are coming.

The master bath is actually enormous, with HUGE closets. Yay!!! Paint the cabinets, new tile (someday).

Detached garage, covered patio with skylights.

I am a sucker for a huge shady yard.

Ok, that’s the tour. My mind is whirling with possibilities. I am thinking 20s as inspiration — a mix of dark antiques, classic deco, and some leggy Jacques Adnet type pieces to lighten it up. Ok, and maybe the odd 50s Guariche. And maybe some brassy chromey 70s pieces.

Who am I kidding? It will be eclectic. Whatever that means.

No fancy post today, for the babe is bubonic sick and my throat is swollen up like a basketball. Instead of struggling to shower you with wit information words of any kind, I’m just going to imagine that I’m here:

I’m a huge fan of pretty much all of Ilse Crawford’s work, and her renovation of the Dinder House is grand yet eminently livable. So if Calgon is going to take me anywhere, I hope this is it.

Happy Weekend, friends! Back Monday, hopefully in better form.

[NY Times]

I love old stuff. I’m sure a lot of my appreciation comes from being a photographer — the camera loves decay like Top Chef loves Padma’s boobs. I also grew up in a turn of the century house, and my earliest, fondest memories are of peeling fabric wallcoverings, stained ceilings, and wood burning stoves. It’s the stuff teary eyed nostalgia is made of. So when I saw this renovation of an early 1900s abandoned building, I could almost feel the paint chips dusting my eyelashes. Ah, memories.

Industrial designer David Hurlbut has spent the last 10 years renovating this 20,000 square foot building in Selma, Alabama. Purchased for the ridiculous sum of $100,000, Hurlbut has also spent an additional $150,000 in renovation costs.

Considering the size and previous condition of this beast, I’d say that’s next to nothing. Apparently the home was in shambles when Hurlbut moved in; the pigeon offerings alone filled several dumpsters.

Much of the low renovation costs can be explained by his sense of preservation. Whenever possible, all of the original flooring, woodwork and walls were kept and simply cleaned.

Other finishings were bought second hand on the cheap, like these vintage light fixtures.

The refrigerator was purchased from a New Orleans jazz musician for $100. The story goes that Louis Armstrong also used the fridge a time or two.

A few items — like the hand cast gargoyle above the bed in this room — were made by Hurlbut himself, who is an industrial designer by trade.

In other cases Hurlbut kept and refurbished fixtures — case in point, these original chandeliers.

More examples of frugality personified: the chair on the left was $3 and the working ham radio was a gift.

“It’s a joke amongst my friends… If if’s not big, old, heavy, and obsolete, David doesn’t want it.”

I love it all, except the peeling paint looks like lead poisoning on a stick. Cover that with a clear satin finish, stat!

It’s really a wonder that I’m not dead from some kind of toxic dust, considering that I spent 15 years living in an old house that was constantly under renovation. Still, I would do just about anything to live in a house like this again… anything except move to Alabama. Sorry ‘Bama lovers.

Check out the beautifully photographed NY Times slide show here.

As you dudes know, Matty and I have been hard at work making our backyard inhabitable. Over the past several weekends we’ve ripped out the hot tub, trimmed back the deck, replaced rotting trim, repainted the trim, REPAINTED THE ENTIRE BACK OF THE HOUSE MYSELF NO HELP FROM MATT, installed sun shade, and planted some green things in the grass. For the very first time ever in my life.

Because this is only a partial view of the yard, I’m calling it a sneak peek, because that’s what a sneak peek is, a preview. ahem, another blog.

Oh, this is also a before and after

Here is a nook at the back of my house as of last week. Before we took the hot tub house down I had never even ventured into this part of my yard. Once it was exposed I realized it needed serious work. First, Matt replaced most of the trim, I started doing some spot painting to fix dings and damage but quickly realized that I needed to repaint the entire thing. Had I known this from the start I probably would have repainted my house a new color but, as it stands, it’s the same old green just so fresh and so clean clean.

Once the house was ready I was ready to put plants in the ground.

I’ve always been pretty good at keeping potted plants alive but never before in my life have I planted something right smack-dab into the earth.

I did 2.2 seconds of research online and half listened to Erin as she dished out advice, hopefully that was enough to keep these babies alive.

First I spray painted an outline around the semi-circle I wanted to dig out (hello, my genius idea!) then I dug about 1.5 feet deep. I then poured in alternating layers of native texas mulch and the dirt that I had dug out. I mixed as I poured so everything got tousled. Then, voila, I threw in some plants.

Here’s what I planted (all plants are texas-weather friendly):
lily of the nile
fortnight lily
Canna lily
Stella de Oro Daylily
Australian Canna Lily
Bamboo Muhly (not bamboo) (also the coolest once it gets big)
Plumbago

The rocks that are outlining the little garden actually came out of the ground when I was digging. We’ve got a ton of limestone around here and while it’s a pain to dig it up, I didn’t have to spend a dollar on edging

If I’m a really good plant mommy, one day it should look like this Texas landscape. You know, in like a week or something.

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!

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)

Happy Friday, homies!!!!  Even though today is short post day, I’m long on anticipation.  I’ve got lots of awesome stuff coming up to look forward to.  Here are my highlights for the next couple of weeks:

1.  The completion of my office.  No, that is not it above, but I could work like a mo-fo in that room.  With that view.  I do have shelves, so we’ve got that in common.  I’ll be brining you guys before and after photos once the project is closer to completion.  It’s getting near, get excited y’all.

2.  The completion of Erin’s dining room, also not pictured.  Hey, she’s got black walls, white chairs and she seems to have developed an affinity for empty heads of the table, so I thought I’d share this inspiration with her to help move her along.  See how nice I am?

3.  Throwing a wrench in Erin’s plans by posting dining room pictures that are nothing like her planned space but are so badass that the whole project needs to be reconsidered thereby striking out #2.  Not so nice afterall.  I will ride to Ikea with you, Erin, if you need me to.  Maybe.

4.  My 2 year wedding anniversary which will be spent right here.  Suck it.

5.  ROUNDTOP! ROUNDTOP! ROUNDTOP!  It’s only 6 wee little baby days away!!!!

6.  The launch of Lonny Magazine, Eye Spy posted yesterday that the Domino Crew is back in full form with a new online mag (yes, I want to hold and touch it, too) that sucker launches October 1.  

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?