Final Touches on a Wall

So, after a crazy, busy, fun filled house decor shopping weekend, we put everything up on the walls and where they needed to be (mostly thanks to my B-I-L's man power).

It was so much fun to turn the downstairs into a space both of them will enjoy for a while - until we decide to change it up a little... ;-)

There was one last BIG thing we needed to fix. THIS is how they bought the house:

Yes, this hideous artwork was on the wall in the living room, which is also the main wall from the kitchen. Yep, all who walked through were shocked. BUT, this was NOT the shock factor we wanted. So, thankfully, my sis had it painted before I got there.

Here's the slate I had to work with:

WOOO! So much better, and yet so plain. So, my thoughts were:

1. Curtains (but they had to go with the other curtains by the table somewhat, because you can see them both.
2. Artwork/ mirror for the wall?

And after much deliberation with the mirror thing, we found the right one- for a good deal at The Great Indoors. We had also found these great zebra things at Home Goods, but we had purchased those the day before with no idea where they would go. It's amazing how things just work themselves out!

So, here is the after:

The chairs are extra from the dining room table, and are temporary until another couch goes where they are.

As you can see, we chose a sheer curtain to just accent the window. We didn't want more color, and it needed to coordinate with the other room. It was quite the transformation, and we loved it! A little retro chic added into the traditional style.

That was the end of my 3-day makeover with my sister's downstairs. So fun, and can't wait to start the 2nd floor!

Clean and Concise Cubby Hole

Remember this lovely mess from this post?

Here's another flattering angle:

Yes, well, we definitely made it a priority to fix this baby up. This was almost just too much for me to handle, but I just rolled up my sleeves and decided we would find a solution.

We thought about this piece from Pottery Barn:

Gorgeous, right? Also, very expensive. And really, we only needed a temporary fix. My sister wants to eventually build out the space to be a built in cabinet area... so to spend $700 was just crazy! So on to our frugal solution.

Things we had to think about:
1. Measurements. This included making sure all those tv wires, the sub woofer, and all that media stuff could fit in the hole.
2. Color.
3. Price.
4. Something that was temporary, yet still cute and clean.

Insert: IKEA.

We purchased the 4 hole shelf for $40! Our challenge was then finding the right size basket for each hole. YAY Target! But they only had 2 in stock, so we had to wait until more came in or we could go to a different store... so this was the pic I could get before I had to skip town and come back to rainy WA :-).

I don't know 'bout you, but I think this before and after is a pretty good temporary solution.

Cute as a Button

So, after finishing up the table decor, we moved on to the slider windows that were in the same area. At the moment, there were noooo coverings, so that let us have a fresh start to the project.

After much deliberation, we decided to go with curtains, which seems simple enough, but do you KNOW HOW MANY CHOICES ARE OUT THERE???? We just about gave up, we couldn't do pattern because of those awesome seat cushions, and we didn't want too many patterns, and then we couldn't do just plain white or tan, because it didn't match the linen seat cushions we had.

SO. We found our winners at IKEA!!! Whew.

And, the best part. They were the right length :-)

Well, Sister had it in her head that she needed a button to hold back her curtains, oh but not any button. It needed to be MASSIVE in size. Well, searching high and low, we once again failed on that find. But I convinced her to take a look at these other buttons, and when they were in the wall, she was happy as a peach!

They even matched the balls we had found for the bowl in the center of the table. :-)

And we found the awesome curtain rods at TJ Max... And the best part, they were half the price of the ones at Target and TWICE as cuuuuuuute! WHOOOO!

Table Frenzy

So, a table is meant for eating, but can also be a showcase. At the Marble household, their table is one GORGEOUS piece of furniture... straight from Pottery Barn. So, in an effort to not overshadow the beauty of the table, we wanted to keep the centerpiece extremely simple.

So, here we were just wandering the aisles of endless stuff at one of those stores like Ross or Marshalls, and I happened to see this beauty on the top shelf.

It's very rustic and has a lot of charm :-), and it was HUUUUGE. There would be no other place for it except at the center of the HUUUUUGE table! Now, obviously, to keep it from scratching the perfectly manicured wood, we just put some felt dots on the bottom and WA LA, problem solved.

Then we just found from grand balls from Home Goods and the Great Indoors and finished off the bowl with those guys.

Now, the kitchen still needed a pop. I'm not normally a fan of seat cushions, but in this case, I totally was. Here my sister and I were, just meandering about World Market, and I halted and said "Sister, do you need seat cushions?" Of course, she said, "sure." And then I found these:

And remember that red clock? YEP, ties in perfectly. However, we decided that, since the table normally has 8 chairs around it and then expands to 12 chairs, it would be too busy to keep patterned cushions all around. So we paired them with these:

What a lovely linen color, and they complemented that wonderful cement bowl on the table top.

Oh, but the best part? Each cushion was originally $13 each. We needed12. That's a whole lotta dough. But behold, a wonderful coupon for $10 off of $30... and when we got to the cash register, we asked the guy if he had any coupons, and he said he had another one of those.... so we thought, ok, let's do 2 different transactions... but then halted, and said, wait, we can do 4 different transactions and save $40 by doing it that way. The cashier was so gracious and did this for us... we secretly fistbumped behind our backs and ran out with our big bags full of cushions before the deal police could stop us!

So, overall, here's their new kitchen table look.

PS, don't mind the mess in the background, we were busy! :-)

Jazzin Up the Kitchen

So, while my potatoes are baking (literally), I figured I would do a little blog on kitchen accessories. So, in my own kitchen, I have space above my cabinets until the ceiling... so I can add some items up there to spice up the area... but at my sister's house, she doesn't have that. The overhead space is enclosed with a wall :-( Sad Day!

But, alas, all hope is not lost!

But, before we get to that... let's talk clocks. Now, we all know that we are supposed to look at the clock to tell time... but who says they need to be ugly? In fact, I say, buy a clock that looks good as a piece of art :-) So that's what we did. Check out this beauty:

The color was perfect to add a splash of interest to the wall... The size was perfect... And it pulled together the living room into the kitchen just perfectly!

Now, onto the kitchen art stuff.

We decided that we would find some type of artwork that fits a kitchen to nail up on that area to make it less booooooring... and what would you know, we found the perfect item! AND it only cost $15 a piece (AND it's made of iron)- AND after we bought it, we found the exact same thing at a fancy furniture store for $105 a piece (AND that one was made of tin!) WHOOOOO, talk about a score!

Now, we did have one tinsy little problem... the artwork was apparently made to be hung vertically (a picture hanger on the back), but we obviously needed it to be hung horizontally, so my brother in law got a little fancy and rigged it so that nails would be hidden... and you can't even tell (love when that happens!)
So, enjoy the pictures and ignore the mess on the counters- pictures happened during the course of construction (that's my story and I'm stickin to it!)

The middle piece of artwork was a present that my sis had on hand... and to think she was gonna get rid of it!

We bought a third piece to go over the pantry... tied in quite nicely! Check out that light too... isn't that sooo saaaweeet?? It came with the house and works perfectly with their choice of decor. The bowl on the table will be another story... but it's nice in this picture too :-)

And now.... with the clock on the wall:

SOOO lovely right? I love it and it was the perfect touch to turn the blah upper space into a fun little art area.

A Spot of Color

You know those random spaces in homes where we wonder what in the world the builder was thinking when they put it there... they could have done so much more with what they were given, and yet, they choose to give us the oddest spaces...yep, my sister has one of those. So, for the meantime she had stuck some picture frames in there, but the space was too tall for such small frames, and we needed to spark up the area a bit with some color.

She already had these bright red pillows from Pottery Barn, so we wanted to keep with the red theme... and searching high and low, we finally found the perfect vase at Pier One- made of wood... so lovely.

But this vase alone would not be a good enough complement to the space, so we found a random round marblesque ball that matched perfectly. But also because I don't like to decorate in twos for such a space, we tampered and tampered with other objects for the nook, and came up with this button monogram that I had made her for Christmas, placed on a book holder. It all came together quite nicely.

 For the stick things, we bought one package at home goods for $4.99... stuffed the bottom of the vase with paper bags, and cut the things in half/ thirds and used the whole bag instead of wasting money (Thanks Andy for pinching pennies like that :-)).

And the front view from the couch area... ignore the cubby hole on the bottom left- you KNOW we got to that later :-)



First Impressions- the sequel

Ok, so after the whole table ordeal, we needed something on the other side of the entryway... mostly becuase it was a nekked wall... EWWWWW (Trust me, nobody wanted to see that). SO. We were out shopping at Home Goods (a favorite store of mine), and we happened upon a mirror. A funky artistic type of mirror that adds not only a little reflection to widen the space, but a little edge to make it fun. Check it:

So, here we have this fun mirror, but... still needing something. I personally love coat hangers, but plain, normal ones were just not going to cut it. NOPE. So, we went shopping some more and "happened" to get pushed into Anthropologie.... OH WOW! So... after searching through the endless amounts of totally affordable decor available, we saw these guys:

And well, I love to personalize things to make a house feel like a home... so we bit the bullet and bought 6 letters to make up my sister's married name... and BOY, it turned out CAAAAUUUUTE! Check it:

So now the wall is both cute AND functional. And sitting across from the entry table, it's just a nice touch.

Stay tuned for more blogs about what other decor we did on the Marble House :-)

First Impressions

So I'm calling this series of blogs the 3 Day Makeover. I spent a weekend in California with my lovely Sister and Brother-In-Law and had a blast helping them update their new home with some fun decor. They hadn't had a chance to do anything yet, so there I was to help! I did some additions to the downstairs only and it was quite the whirlwind, but OH SO FUN!!! Enjoy the mini series :-)

So we all know that we judge books by their cover, even though we're told not to, and when we interview, we better impress in the first 30 seconds, etc, etc, etc. Well, one of the funnest parts of a house is the first thing you see when you enter... the entryway. Well, my sister has a wonderful entryway space, and we I just needed to figure out what to do with it.

So. Essential Elements? Entry table (Check), Lantern (Check), vase (Check), picture frames (Check), and baskets (Check).

Other side of the entryway? Mirror (Check), coat hangers (Check).

NOW. On to the fun part, putting it all together. The table was like 3 inches too long to fit on the side of the wall without a window, so we had to change course and put it under the windows... but that's ok, I can be flexible! And even better, we were able to find the perfect things for that other wall to complement it... :-)

Check these out:

Found this little guy at a home decor store... we got him for half off :-) Pure Iron... and when Sister gets more of the those coffee table type books that she'll never definitely read, she'll stack em up under it:

This was a fabulous find at Pier One! I love love love lanterns, and this is a Pottery Barn look a like for about a fraction of the price... and I had a coupon! EEEEK!

Then we added a framed wedding invitation to make the table more personal... and since it was shaped like a square, we found one of those fabulous glass backed frames at Target.... worked out great!

Now this guy.... well, we debated on this for a while... this is a Pottery Barn pot/vase thingy... and yes, it was about $90... but you know me, I won't spend that... especially since I found one just like this for my own house and I paid... ohhhhh, $4 for it :-).... so we bought it only because sister had a coupon, and Pottery Barn cash... and out of pocket, we paid only $22!!!! YEAAA!!!

The flowers inside... were about $20 a stem at Pottery Barn, but we just took ourselves right over to Michael's and got each stem for half off, making each one $1.99. Score.

Then, under the table was a blank empty space... and we wanted some baskets... but not any old baskets, we wanted baskets with character. Insert Michael's fabulous basket sale @ 40% off. We scored each of these guys for around $13.00 after the sale price... AND they fit perfectly, like they were made just for this space.

AND NOW.... the finished entryway table..... (well, besides the picture frame with the generic pictures in it... I only had so much time, ok?)

Stay tuned for the other side of the entryway...