Glass boxes

Last fall, in the Crate & Barrel catalog, I saw this:

Crate & Barrel

And I decided I really, really needed a glass box. I cut out the picture and put it on the fridge (to remind myself? For a hint for Mark? Who knows.) Even the small one is pretty pricey at $49.95 though, and while I really really wanted one, I don't have a rock collection like they show. Or really anything else that is just begging for a glass box.

So I didn't ask for it for Christmas or anything, I just idly wanted it. And then when we went to pick up a gift at West Elm, there it was:

West Elm

They're smaller than the Crate & Barrel ones, and also a good bit cheaper. This I can do. So I picked one up when B and I had our shopping spree. It looked so nice on my coffee table, if a little, well, empty. We had some M&Ms in the candy jar, so I put those in. Which mostly looked (unsurprisingly) random.

But over the weekend, I fixed it. I keep a bunch of stuff for when I eventually start to scrapbook (I make cards, but Mark hopes I will make us a scrapbook someday). I pulled some "us"* stuff out of my box, arranged it in the glass case, and now it looks way better:

 In case you're curious, I put in tickets from two concerts we've been to, a photostrip from the City Museum in St. Louis, the punch card from a corn maze we did when our Couples Group went on a retreat last fall, the sticker from the Apple Cider Century (my very first organized bike ride!) and of course a turtle. I didn't put too much time or thought into it, but so far I like it!

What would you put in a glass box? Anyone have any better ideas?

*True Story: My first thought was...."Hmmm, I could put my rush nametags in there" I saved them because they tend to be very elaborate, and they would look cool. But I might be just a bit too old for that.

Now THAT'S Progress!

I made some changes to my living room two weeks ago, and almost 2 weeks in, I'm really liking it. The new lamp and rug are winners for sure (as is my random glass box). The jury is still out on the pillows. Several people who have stopped by think they look great, but Mark and I still feel like they're too white--something more cream would be better.

This is what we started with:

Anyhow, here's where we are now:

Doesn't the rug make a huge difference?

 Several things are placeholders right now:

• The chair was in the dining room. 
• So was the lamp that is now on the mantel
• We still want a new coffee table

The jury is also still out on those pillows:

I know the colors aren't great, and the couch definitely looks good with light-colored pillows. We just think they're too light. It's tough to tell, but the blanket on the chair is cream, and the pillows are white. They are off-white enough that in the store with all their white-pillow friends, I was like "oh, they're cream." But not really.

As for the chair:
We both LOVE it. It was a 16th birthday present for me. [When I moved in we couldn't figure out where to put it, and my mom put in the corner of the dining room by the windows, telling me I could sit there to...look at cookbooks? We all laughed since she was obviously just trying to justify the placement (it's right next to the bookshelf with the cookbooks). But surprise surprise, she's right. We DO sit there and look at cookbooks.] In the living room? It just looks too old-fashioned for me. I'm trying to get away from the look of the coffee table, and the chair isn't helping. I think I found a new chair already, but I'm probably going to wait and ask for it for my birthday.

I'm also on the lookout for a lamp for the mantel; the one that's there right now doesn't really work. But at least now I know I want a lamp there. And it helps fill that 11 feet of space.

Anyhow, what do you think?!?

Never mind

Remember how we were choosing paint? And then trying to find a new lamp and table?

All because this:

is too dark and heavy and old-fashioned. So we thought maybe we could paint it a lighter color of gray, and it wouldn't look so dark. And I could get a lamp (I thought glass would look nice, but didn't have specifics) in a lighter color; still large but not so heavy and dark looking. With a lighter coffee table... maybe that would do it.

Then when we were hanging out with M & B, who are awesome (she's more like me than anyone I know, he's one of Mark's closest friends). B also happens to have a design background, a well-decorated condo, plenty of opinions and unfortunately, no job right now. When we mentioned the paint again, he said he really thought the rug was doing a lot to make it look so dark. See above. (Then make fun of me/us for being dense--that did not even occur to Mark or I.) He thought maybe if we switched out the rug, we wouldn't even need to repaint. A smaller and lighter colored rug would show off my wood floors, which are in good condition and hopefully be a paler base for the room.

Oh.

So we rolled the rug partway up (it's really big and we didn't feel like moving every piece of furniture out of the room). And it looked...great. Lighter, more open. Brilliant. So B and I spent the afternoon shopping on President's Day. We hit Crate & Barrel, and then headed over to Pottery Barn and finally West Elm. We saw a couple of decent things at the first two, but at the last we hit the jackpot (the double jackpot, considering my discount there!). First thing we saw?

The one on the left

A glass lamp! I didn't have an actual idea of what I wanted, but I was thinking a glass lamp--perfect! We wandered around and finally got to the rug wall...where we found this:

It's less brown and more cream in person

The gray of the walls? Check. A medium to dark tan, like the couch's base color? Check. A cream base, to lighten up the room? Check. Perfection!

We also found some pillows (that I don't love--they looked more cream/less white in the store, and at home they're white--but the idea is a good one). We picked up the lamp, rug, pillows, and a glass display box that I irrationally really want (even though I have no idea what I'm going to put in it). We went back to my place, and pulled out old rug, put the new one down, and then B took some stuff out and grabbed things from other rooms. Its totally not done yet, but getting there.

And even more exciting, I had game club two nights later, and one girl (who has been to my house several times) walked in and asked if I got a new couch. "It just pops...I love it!" So obviously its a good change. And it looks so much lighter, we don't need to paint now. I need to find pillows that are a better fit, we need a cream/natural chair and a new coffee table would still be nice, but I'm super-pleased with where we are now. Thanks B!

What do you think? Good switch?

Updates

I need help.

Or I guess more specifically, my living room needs help. I have a perfectly nice living room. Sure, the paint is a little dark. But the furniture is all pretty nice (even if I didn't pick most of it). It's just...kind of boring. And it feels like grandpa's study.

(Ironic, as my grandpa's study is actually filled with light colored furniture. But you know what I mean.)

It's a lovely rug, and my grandma gave it to me. The couch I don't love, but it's a nice couch, in good condition and I already have it. It seems silly to replace things I already have. I want to buy a leather chair eventually, but this room will still look...stuffy.

But a couple of weeks ago N came over for dinner and girl time. I was saying I really wished my place looked a little more...updated, but didn't want to get rid of the rug or replace the couch. And she (brilliantly) suggested two fixes:

• new coffee table 
• new table lamp

Genius. Yeah, the couch will still be plaidy. But hopefully with the walls painted a lighter gray, and a new table and lamp, the room will look lighter and a little more modern.

So this afternoon, I set out hunting. And I found one I like.

Pier 1

The shade is fine, if maybe a bit more blingy than I'd like. But I really like the base. It isn't gold or silver, its kind of champagne. And the finish and shape I think make it traditional enough to fit in with the rest of my stuff. Its an inch or two taller than the one I currently have and I think would be enough of a presence on the big table.

The big table on the left. With the lamp my dad handed down on it.

And the coffee table. I can't believe I never thought of that--N is totally right. It's a really traditional shape, as you can see in the first picture. I also think less wood would help. I'd love to get a glass and metal coffee table, but I'm worried it wouldn't quite "go" with the rest of my stuff.

I do like my current oval though, so in my head I will get an oval table in glass and metal. Except I can't find one. I like this one:

Pottery Barn

But its a) not oval and b) maybe too...rustic to go with everything else.

The best oval bet I could find is this one:

Amazon--but I found it other places for cheaper

I think I like it, although I did like the idea of metal. I want something simple and NOT-curvy though, and instead a lot of the stuff I'm finding has curlicues and swirls and such. Exactly what I'm trying to avoid. They're both the same price (for me) so that doesn't help.

What do you think...one of them? Either? Neither? What about that lamp? I have really bad taste--please help!

(Oh, and what about these pillows for the couch? They're also a champagne color.)

Progess Made & Questions Asked

We went to Home Depot this weekend. We had a list of things to do: check out some furnishings we still need, pick up paint swatches, price countertops and buy hooks.

I keep a running list in google docs (two actually) so that we know what kinds of things we should be looking for. Mark's the type who buys stuff "because its a good deal" and knowing what we actually need is a good check point for him. So I have one list called "Stuff we need" creatively named to include small household items we need want. On it is things like serving spoons, a carving set, new towels, etc. None of it is pressing, but all of them are things we would love to steal from my mother recieve as gifts or pick up if we found a great deal. The other list is "Around the House" and we put it together pretty recently. Its a room-by-room list of things we would like to change about the room. It includes things like furniture and art for the walls, as well as projects we want to do (like those darn bathroom walls).

Although I learned that Home Depot isn't just for hardware (and we did look at the Home Decorators Collection for rugs) we were mostly there for business. We started with rugs, and found a couple of good and affordable options for the porch (although now I'm thinking of maybe painting the concrete floor instead). Then we hit the paint aisle...I'd tell you more about it, but Mark actually wrote a post that I'll put up soon all about it (how sweet of him!).

Finally it was the moment of truth...the kitchen department. My realtor told me I would want to upgrade to granite before selling, and if I'm going to shell out for something, I better get to enjoy it myself. I'd be planning on around $1500, but had no clue how realistic that was. Our plan was to get three quotes, and this would be the first. We priced out Kashmir White and White Spring (guess who picked the more expensive one. Young House Love has the first one, and I took their reminder to think about what it would look like all over the place to heart, shooting down one sample after another with too dark, too spotty. My kitchen right now has light gray laminate countertops and I love how it looks. So I want basically that, but nicer.

According to the consultant's calculations (based on my meticulous floor plan...I'm a math teacher; I always* measure right), I have 26.69 sq. ft of granite needed, including the four inch backsplash. On top of the granite cost, here's what Home Depot says I'm looking at:
Undermount sink prep 235
Undermount sink         269--I should be able to buy separately online for less
Tearout old counters   200.18--we might be able to do this ourselves
Plumbing disconnect     65
Plumbing reconnect     350--we might be able to have both of these done ourselves--I belive both of my parents can do minor plumbing, and I doubt redoing the faucet and dishwasher are very complicated.
All this bonus stuff comes to an extra 884, so I sure hope we can save at least parts of it. The countertops themselves run $1400 to $1900 for the amount I need, for a total between $2500 and $3000. The good news is: a) there's no tax on this, since its an installed product (Mark's brilliant question) b) Home Depot has 10% off til Jan 31. But still....

Lesson. Learned.

I'm not sure why my estimate of $1500 was so far off--probably all the bonus stuff didn't quite get taken into consideration. I'm thinking about what to do. I have plenty of money in my savings (I'm very very very patient. Also, cheap.) so I could afford to do it right now, but its more than what I earmarked. Mark, on the other hand, is all "oh, lets just do it", so its hard to be as level-headed about things. I'm still holding myself to getting two more quotes, and we'll see how things look once that's done.

Despite everybody else and my own mother having opinions about what I should do, this seems like a good decision. My kitchen is pretty nice as it is, but has white appliances and laminate countertops. I actually dislike stainless appliances, so that isn't happening...but I think the granite would be enough to send my kitchen into "really nice" territory. And, even if it does run me over $2000, I know its one of the things eventual potential buyers will look for, and is commonly touted in ads etc. I just need to decide when the right time is.

If you're following along with Mint, I hope you have your account all set up. I'll post a follow up next week about monitoring your account in the beginning--don't stress about anything but getting your info in there and correcting any mis-categorized transactions.

*How much do you want to bet I regret saying that?

Re-furnishing, Part 2: At least it was cheap

After I bought a new buffet/console/cabinet/whatever for my living room, I was ready to tackle the piece that was just for fun. And, bonus, it's for the only room that wasn't largely decided for me based on what furniture was passed on to me.

I have a 4 x 8 enclosed porch (with jalacy* windows). It faces north, but I'm on the second floor and its painted white, so its pretty bright and pleasant and sunny. It got the leftovers when I moved in: my ultra-versatile kitchen table with both leaves flipped down, and then from my sister: a Target floor lamp, 2 non-matching chairs and a small bookcase. That was actually a little more furniture than it really needed but I had it all so why not. The table just had random stuff on it, but it was helpful to use as an extension table when we wanted to host our couples group of 10 for dinner. The bookcase had one shelf of books and then some puzzles and a couple throws. It was a little crowded (the bookcase was on one side of the door, which put a chair kind of in the doorway), but it worked. We would sit out there and chat sometimes.

Flash forward to this summer, and my sister needed the table for her new place. And wanted her small bookshelf back. So I was left with the lamp and two chairs. Both chairs are cheap, so while they work fine for now, its totally reasonable to want to replace them someday. That makes this the only room I actually get to choose, all by myself.

The first order of business was replacing that table. But I didn't just want a table--I wanted CLOSED STORAGE (my holy grail). When I moved in, Mark tentatively asked if someday, if he moved in, we could get something besides bookshelves. I owned nothing with doors (and my place has: built in bookshelves on both sides of the fireplace, two more bookshelves in the dining room, two tables + former console table with shelves underneath and more)...and my new place isn't exactly closet-heavy. (But hey, you take what gets passed on!). Anyhow, if I was buying something, I better be able to put things in it and not have to make them look pretty. I know, I obsessed over this with the living room thingy too, but can you really have too much closed storage?

More on the look of the room as it, you know, actually comes together, but I determined I wanted to keep it light and airy--I wanted white. A cabinet, so it would always look clean. No specific kind of cabinet. One with a roughly similar footprint to my table (around three feet long, normal depth and height, with doors). That was it.

So I checked out Pottery Barn. Maybe Pottery Barn Kids. West Elm? Crate and Barrel? CB2? World Market? (Seriously people?!? I have no standards--why is nothing even passably close?!) All I wanted was something: a) white b) with doors. I could get a bookshelf and put baskets on it, but that isn't what I wanted. I wanted doors. My sister saved the day when she suggested I try places like Lowes and Home Depot. My Home Depot (the one on Halsted) has a Home Decorators Collection in it. Apparently, its actually a totally separate store and they get all offended if you think they're the same. Um, you're in the Home Depot. Whatever.

And lo and behold, two kinds of white cabinet! (Actually several, like a one-door or a three-door, but I needed a two-door). The one with a drawer across the top looked perfect and it was 20% off. I'd budgeted up to $200 and figured I might have to go higher, but it rang in at just $120. Sweet! And if they ship to store and you pick it up there, shipping is waived. Win again! A week later, and that flat-packed cardboard box was chilling in the corner of my living room.

So I opened 'er up, laid out all the pieces, picked up my allen wrench and got to it. Everything went fine. It was mildly frustrating to get the cabinet doors to line up, but I'm pretty sure thats always the case. We proudly put it at the end of the front porch, and the fit was great. Just what I was going for!

Side note: The next day I opened the door to the porch to admire my handiwork and UGH! I was bowled over by the stench. My new piece of furniture REEKED of chemicals. Eeeeew.

Calls to my mother, Google searchs, and various attempts to fix it ensued. Advice was actually pretty hard to come by, mostly embedded in posts about other things (so I couldn't find much with google). I ended up putting baking soda all over the thing. I had the time and space for it to hang out without stinking up my house, so I wasn't terribly urgent about it. It ended up taking SIX WEEKS to fully fade.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, it sounds like wiping it down vinegar or putting charcoal briquettes in it would also work. And don't buy furniture from China. It does NOT seem to be a low end problem though. Another really helpful post was from a lady in a bird users group in NY whose new Pottery Barn furniture was off-gassing so badly she was concerned for the health of her bird. I don't like birds so much, but if I had a small animal I probably would have worried too. Unfortunately I have no advice on how to prevent this, but try those tips if you ever find yourself with really smelly furnishings.

*Jay came to my second walk-through of my condo solely so he could say this word. This is probably not even how you spell it. I would describe them as "flap-y windows" which means they have horizontal glass panes that move together, much like shutters. You can see them in the picture above.

Keeping up with Whoever

We had a really good day yesterday. It's a three day weekend, and I wanted to talk about some of the stuff we're going to do here--things we've been tossing around for awhile, both large and small. So made a list by room, listing everything we wanted to do and might do. Most of it isn't pressing, but its things we want to make sure happen (plus some optional ones) and it felt good to get it all down. The next step was figuring out where to go from there, and we chose two things:

1. Get granite countertops in the kitchen.
2. Decide what to do with bathroom walls.

The countertops are something my realtor said I would need to do when I moved in. I have laminate counters, and they are in decent condition, but granite sells better. I have the money for this project, I'm stopped by my indecision. Do I find a contractor who then can suggest a stoneyard? Go to the Home Depot and have them take care of it? Go to a stone yard and get recommended contractors from them? I've been researching this for awhile, and didn't know what to do, but we talked about, and determined we need to go get three quotes. If the quotes vary widely, we can get more, but for now: three quotes. I also made a diagram of the kitchen, confirming measurements I'd already made.

My bathroom walls look lumpy. I'm not sure how else to describe it. There's a light fake brick texture in places, but then what must be repeated bad patch jobs and light cracks all over. Its not pretty. I also don't like the colors. This is bearable, but I'd like to change it for myself, and it will sell better if it weren't so ugly. We already decided the new color would be a pale sage-y green, with the rest white. Here's what it looks like now:

White, with beadboard. I dislike yellow. And lumps. You can see the lumps a little better below:

Our two options were: green below the molding with white on the upper half or beadboard below the molding with green on the upper half. We'd do a rug or mat with green in it either way, and a shower curtain thats the reverse of the lower wall color. We just weren't sure which, both in terms of effort and expense. So we talked about it, and decided we want to do green on the bottom, white on top, no beadboard. Next steps for that: Figure out how to flatten out the walls and get the supplies to do it.

So Saturday I emailed both my parents with a list of the things we thought we might need, asking to borrow whichever things they had.

And then...

My mom emailed back first. She said she had some of the things and we were welcome to them. But if the walls were plaster and lathe, we might want to take them all the way down and do drywall (you're good at drywall, aren't you?) (I am.)

And then Mark got a ride home from church with friends. Who really don't see the point of the granite, and said I wouldn't get my money back anyhow*. So they think I shouldn't bother.

And my dad emailed, telling me he could lend me some stuff but I'm likely to want it in the future, so I ought to buy it. And by the way, you shouldn't try to scrape the brick-ness, fill it in with spackle.

And.
And.
And.

When Mark was leaving to go to the grocery store, he said, "I really hope this is a fun project for us. And not stressful. Because I feel like its been stressful today." Which, I think, is largely because everyone else has an opinion about how we should live our life and what we should do and why and in what order and what's worth it and what isn't.

But we just aren't going to be able to please everyone. I hope this is fun for us too, and I don't know if that means not telling anyone what we're doing (to avoid their varying opinions) or telling people we are just sharing what we're doing, but not interested in any changes (my father once famously told me, "If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you."). We might go get some counter quotes tomorrow, and maybe pick up some preliminary wall supplies while at Home Depot. I hope we can keep it to us trying some new things and leave everyone else out of it. Except my mother. She said she'd help. And she forgets her opinions pretty quickly anyhow.

How do you keep the peace when everyone wants to put their two cents in?

*How can you tell if you get your money back anyhow? Like, "Oh, by the way, if those were laminate, how much would you have paid for my WHOLE HOUSE?"

Re-furnishing, Part 1: The eco-alternative

Due to generous parents and well-timed moves, I bought my first two pieces of furniture this fall. All my other furniture was handed down from relatives who didn't need it anymore (mom, grandma) or didn't want it (my dad's wife not wanting anything predating her). I have a very well-furnished and outfitted home and have bought very little of it myself. I know, super lucky.

However, some of my furniture was my sister's and when she moved to Milwaukee from California this summer, it was time to give it back. The first priority was for the wall you see when you walk in the door. Her console and mirror were there, and they worked fine. My one problem was that they didn't provide much storage, so I was excited to upgrade to someplace I could stash my stuff. I looked at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, World Market, and several other imports-type stores. I found a couple of contenders and also realized that due to the traditional style of my living room furniture (I have a large Oriental Rug), a cheaper piece was going to stand out and not fit. But yikes, those other pieces were pricey!

So I tried consignment. I ended up finding a piece I liked for a great deal at Divine Consign in Oak Park. (Word of advice: pay cash. They messed up my transaction four separate ways, ultimately charging me triple, and weren't particularly sorry or urgent about fixing the mess.) It's a little bigger than I would have liked, but had the storage I was looking for at the right price. Sometimes I still look at it and think, "Hmmm...that's a little big" but no one can label it as for sure too big. And it has tons of storage. Plus, what's greener than taking furniture someone else didn't want?

I was a little scared about actually choosing something for myself, since I've never done it before. And since my house isn't exactly furnished in MY style, it can be hard to figure out what will go. But if it turns out this isn't the best choice, it isn't something I need to keep forever--and its something I won't feel bad altering. I'm not sure it would look great painted (and not at all where it is right now) but if it eventually lives in a basement for storage, thats totally okay.

Of course once I put that in, the mirror above it looked TERRIBLE (and it was my sister's anyhow) and had to go (and, you know, she wanted it). Turns out that wall is slightly bowed, and the mirror took quite a bit of effort to set free. And it liked my house so much it took a little piece of it along--in the form of a six inch strip of paint and a lil bit of bonus drywall. Oops. I'm not totally sure what I want to go up there (and we probably want to change the wall color to something lighter) but two screws and a tacky hole weren't cutting it.

So I put up a piece of wrapping paper (which you can just see in the picture above). Because that's not tacky either.

At least its classy wrapping paper. And it isn't that noticeable. Half the time I forget, which explains how we had our (very nice) annual gingerbread house party with wrapping paper decorating the walls.

And why I need to spend my weekend putting together a real to-do list and goals for my house...which should likely include less wrapping paper. Sigh.

Am I the only one who can't figure out what to put on the walls?