From Linen Closet to Library

This hallway linen closet was a mess and pretty much just a closet filled with extra stuff that could be organized better and placed in other more convenient locations in the house. Not pretty.

But I thought we could take this sad excuse for a closet and make it a library.

So…

The door came off, the shelves were painted black (still need to paint trim where the hinges came off), the books were organized by genre, and little labels were applied to make it easy to find the type of book you are looking for.

There are still a few tweaks that need to be made, but I love it already. The most convenient part is that it is right next door to the guest room which makes it easy for friends or family to grab a book to read in bed.

Thanks Catherine!

I am not the most photogenic person in the world and I feel sort of strange posting several pictures of just me, but I wanted to share a couple photos that Catherine Bosley of Bosley Creative took for me.

Minus the fact that I chose a dress that makes me look pregnant (note to self: put on a belt and look like you have a waist!), I loved what she was able to do with my awkwardness in front of the camera. Plus, she was super fun to work with by making me laugh and feel slightly less weird as I attempted (and mostly failed) to pose like a model.

Back in Black

Ugly Before:

And, much better:

More pictures to come once the room is finished.

What We're Eating

(Please overlook the weird, yellow tint in the pic. I took it under our lamp in the kitchen which casts a yellow glow. Lesson learned.)

Yes, I can cook (not great, but good enough). Yes, I like to do such things and I’m pretty sure my husband likes that I like to do such things too. In the past I would have included more meat (other than seafood) in our cuisine, however as of late I am a no beef, chicken, turkey or pork kind of girl. I feel pretty great about this and I’m coming up with more and more recipes that are tasty enough that my husband doesn’t miss his meat.

Case in point, last night’s dinner was something along the lines of an Asian soup. I’ll share the ingredients with you, but I never measure things (except when baking) so you will have to go by taste like I do.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat angel hair pasta
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• Sliced mushrooms
• Napa cabbage
• Garlic, minced (probably 1-2 cloves depending how how much you make and how much you like garlic - we love it)
• 1 Mexican green onion, chopped
• Shrimp (I used pre-cooked, frozen but fresh is way better)
• Handful of fresh basil, chopped
• Ginger (fresh or powder - to taste, but I’d guess about 1 tsp)
• Juice of half a lemon
• Vegetable stock (enough to cover your vegetables, but depends on how “soupy” you want it)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil (maybe 2 tsp)

Then you:

• Cook your noodles and set aside
• Start sauteing your hard vegetables (onion, celery, carrot) in the oil
• Add in garlic
• Then add the rest of your veggies and ginger
• Transfer everything (noodles too) to a big pot and pour vegetable stock over
• Add salt and pepper and shrimp if they are pre-cooked (if not, cook them first)
• Heat everything and let it simmer for a bit
• Eat

New Design Crush

I’m obsessing over these spaces designed by the super cool firm of Pal + Smith.

I love the mix of patterns in this bedroom. And, can I please have the rug for my house? I’ll pay you in love and adoration.

This is really someone’s house. They walk down those stairs and catch the view out those windows. I’m more than a little jealous.

Say what?! I must figure out a way to DIY something like that. Seriously, I want to break into this house and steal everything.

A New Redesign

A little while ago I helped a client work on redesigning her traditional family room. The budget was small ($300) and we mostly focused on a few tweaks and rearranging the furniture to open up the space more. She has two small kids and a large extended family that likes to come and hang out too.

Here is the before (I know it’s a terrible picture, but it was taken on my phone on a cloudy day - but you get the idea):

The loveseat was blocking the awesome stone fireplace which we wanted to make the focal point of the room. The tv is on the opposite wall and therefore everything was angled to face it. We switched things around so that you can still easily view the screen, but it also flowed better in the space. Plus, it was really dark in the room (even on a sunny day) with dark couches, dark rug, dark curtains, dark pillows, etc. and we wanted to brighten it up and make it feel more inviting.

Here is the after:

The breakdown:

• bought a new lighter rug on Overstock
• new throw pillows
• new art ( the big piece over the couch and we hung a family portrait in a frame she already had and then spray painted it green to give a little more color)
• new lighter curtains (we used curtains she already owned, but wasn’t using!)
• painted it a nice taupe to give the walls more depth
• painted the mantle so that it complemented the fireplace better
• brought in a rocking chair from her living room to fill in a “naked” corner
• bought a throw blanket and floor lamp
• rearranged the floorplan to make it more open and flow better - they opted to leave out a coffee table since they loved having all the free space for the baby to play, and now just use the ottoman (and move it around) as a coffee table

An Updated Nightstand

While helping a friend of mine update her bedroom we went rummaging through her basement to see if she had anything we could use. I found these two end tables that I loved which were just sitting there collecting dust. However, she didn’t love them and didn’t want to use them even after I said I could pretty them up (they just weren’t her style). Lucky for me she told me to take them - for free! Of course I did and now I am using them as nighstands in my master bedroom.

Here is the dull and damaged before:

And some sanding, priming and purple paint after:

(Please forgive the dirty floor, half-ass styling and unmade bed. I haven’t really set up our room yet and when I went to take the picture I had the pleasant surprise of finding that my dog had peed on our comforter. Gross.)