With Hubby out of town all week, I decided to paint our kitchen walls. But let me just say (in case I've implied otherwise), that I absolutely dread painting. I think by far the hardest part for me is just getting started. For example, I put on my calender "Paint Kitchen Tuesday." Wednesday came and about 5pm, I called my Mom and said, "ugh, I have to paint the kitchen today....at some point." It was 6pm before I started and almost midnight before I finished.
I painted the walls Simply White (eggshell finish), which is the color we used on the cabinets, shelves and trim (in semi-gloss). With a fresh clean slate, I then experimented with creating a not so kitcheny kitchen! Jennifer over at The Newlywed Diaries inspired me with this post! As I began gathering up some not-so-kitcheny items, I started to gravitate towards all things white, silver and wood.
I added a clock, some candlesticks, an alabaster bud vase that I put toothpicks in (to add some wood) and my sweet little owl figurine.
I didn't spend very much time on arranging things — can you tell? I sort of began with the basics of all the whitewear dishes and drinking glasses we'd be using on a regular basis. To balance out those kitchen items, I added my Grandmother's old candelabra, her big silver tray and her old little lamb print....oh, and her old owl print that I reframed. xo I tried to break away from my previous tendency to create too much symmetry. I still tried to balance things out, but in a more irregular way.
I like how the light reflects on the silver things.
I also really love my owl figurine.
And look, here we are....I think this will be Hubby's favorite not so kitcheny addition to our shelves. xoxo
I received a request to post on my collection of transfer ware. I have three different patterns, a collection that started when I inherited my Grandmother's red transfer ware.
They were her everyday dishes that I grew up with. She lost many of the original plates in the California earth quakes. However, it was a pattern that continued to be made, so she was able to order replacements.
This is the mark on the back.
I display the red after Thanksgiving as they're part of my Christmas decorations. They stay up until spring, when it's time to display my teal blue transfer ware.
I bought these at an antique store in Washington state. They were on clearance and I almost passed them up thinking that although they were so beautiful, what would I everdo with them? That is the day I thought of putting up my different collections by season — and that is how I rationalized buying them!
This is the mark on the back.
This was taken last spring....which was the first spring I displayed them on the shelves.
The brown transfer ware goes up in fall. I came upon my brown transfer ware at Marshall's department store, and thought they would be perfect dishes to use for Thanksgiving.
This is the mark on the back of the plate.
If we didn't have the open shelves in the kitchen, I don't think I would have started collecting the other two patterns. But the open shelves are like a blank canvas, and can create a completely new look for the kitchen depending on what I put on them. Soon I will be taking down the red transfer ware and putting up the teal blue bird transfer ware. This time, I'm going to try something different and attempt to create less of a kitchen feel and more of a 'room' feel. Jennifer at The Newlywed Diaries posted on this look here and I really love it! So we'll see how I do — suggestions always welcome!
I finally got around to painting the stairs! It was a job I was dreading but now that it's done, I can't help but ask myself why I hadn't done it sooner. Well, I know the answer to this....I've been busy doing other things. I painted everything Simply White by Benjamin Moore except the stair treads which are painted Bennington Gray, also by Benjamin Moore.
This is what the stairs looked like when we bought the place. Miraculously, they haven't changed much in terms of the bare bones. There have been a few treads replaced, a new railing installed on the upstairs landing, and an electrician wired in a light fixture. But other than that, all they've required is a fresh coat of paint. But a space can change dramatically through changes that are made elsewhere. This is the case with our stairs. After the dormer and six new windows were added upstairs, they saw their first breath of sunlight....oh, happy stairs.
Our basement laundry room moonlights as extra storage for odds and ends.
Before the contractors showed up for the second half of the house renovation (when porch, dormer and dining room were added), I came upon the above cabinet on one of my excursions into the city. I mention this because despite being in construction mode, I couldn't maintain the will power to abstain from decorating-mode. I thought the old country cabinet would be perfect for the laundry room as it would add some nice old-fashioned character as well as provide some extra storage for my collections of transfer ware, flower vases and all our extra Martha Stewart white ware pieces (our everyday dishes).
I like having something that is enclosed so that dust is kept to a minimum and there are no critters lurking about when I need to retrieve something....this includes the ocassional field mouse, lizard, frog, salamander or eek, spiders....all of which have been sighted at one time or another. But really, it's the spiders, as I am one of those people who abhor spiders, yet can't bare to hurt them.
The cabinet also provides extra drawer space for items I don't use frequently.
At some point, we'll completely enclose the laundry room from the rest of the basement and perhaps add some heat so that doing laundry this time of year doesn't require wearing a hat or gloves. We also need to fix some parts of the old drop ceiling as it was disturbed when the electricians and the plumbers swept through with their updates. To give the laundry room a more comfortable cozy look, I got a nice chunky jute rug for the floor. It was also a really cheap option I found at Home Goods — only $30. For its size, I thought it was a lot more charming than the synthetic rugs you get at Home Depot or Lowe's. xoTrina
Behold my new office mirror! Remember the old gold one? Well, it wasn't really what I had in mind when I decided to put a mirror here, so I've been keeping my eye open for something else.
Due to the sloping ceiling, the size of the mirror had to be somewhat compact yet I also wanted it to fill the entire space. I also wanted to hang a mirror and not art because I wanted to brighten up this part of the room as much as possible.
This photo gives you a better perspective — my desk is to the left.
I love the combination of the gold top and gold frame with the cool brightness of all of the mirror panels. To me it has quite a lovely modern yet antique feeling to it. And I can't say that I've ever seen an old mirror quite like this one. I've seen new modern mirrors, similiar to the Shabby Chic look, but never a piece that included wood framing. When Hubby asked, "is that a new mirror?" I used one of my old lines and replied, "no, of course it's not a new (technically speaking) mirror." He caught on to this awhile back so now I always say it slyly and use extra emphasis on the word new. Of course, I just had to follow it up with, "but guess how much I got it for?" Now he was being sly as he loves to throw out low ball figures when I ask him to play this game — he guessed $37.50. Well, I paid $40 for it. It was $45 but I offered $40 (I know, some nerve to be so cheap!). But isn't it lovely? And it's such a steal. Hubby thinks so too even though it's an entire $2.50 more than what he guessed.
I would like to just say that it took some extra effort to capture this mirror without finding myself in the reflection! Whenever I see pictures of mirrors in magazines, I always wonder how they get the shot without them in it! It's very difficult because if you take the shot too far off to the side, it distorts the image. This is exactly why I have yet to post on the other new mirror I bought to replace the cabinet we moved out of the dining room!
I'm not sure if it's the egg nog, the hot apple cider or the warm fire but I've been on vacation mode and it feels quite good. Here's what we've been up to....first, this is Hubby reading, "The Joy of Cooking" in hopes to discover a fabulous new Christmas Eve recipe. See those 'crumbs' on his pocket? Well, they're not from Christmas cookies, those are tree crumbs from splitting and hauling in so much wood for our fires.
We also went cross country skiing up around Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful blue bird day. Note: Lucy is still smiling!
And there's been lots and lots of cozy time in the house....with lots of accompanying warm beverages....like hot cocoa.
Green tea.
And hot apple cider — something I've consumed a lot of this past week.
There's also been a lot of Backgammon ( shhhh, I'm on a winning streak).
And a lot of sitting in front of the fire enjoying the Christmas tree lights.
And the warm glow of the fire.
The new furniture is proving to be very comfortable and conducive to lazy day snuggling.
I love how the cabinet glass reflects all the light in the room. Nate over atLaurel Streetnominated me for the Homies 2009 Award! Wow, huh? I'm absolutely honored but also,feel a little shy!
It's beginning to look more like Christmas around here. We hung our stockings....
....and Hubby built us a warm toasty fire.
We also put our Christmas tree up. I was in the kitchen when he called to me, "is this straight?"
We straightened it out and found all of our favorite ornaments to hang. Hubby's parents made it a tradition to give each of their six children (Hubby is the baby of six in his family) an ornament every year so there are lots of ornaments on our tree with a strong Hubby theme. By far, my favorite, and the one ornament I'm sure to hang most prominently on our tree, is the ornament I call, "Hunk of Love."
Here it is being showcased with careful consideration that plenty of light is cast its way. This ornament was given to him when he was in high school. He was on the basketball team, hence the basketball themed ornament. How cute is that! You want a closer look you say?
Well I'm glad you asked because the very first Christmas we spent together, I made a larger copy in order to better appreciate all the fine details. The mullet (business in the front, party in the back), the 1980's tank top and the best part, the teenager stare.... are what makes this ornament so special. I can't help but smile each time I look at it! Hubby finds this very amusing and always asks, "what mullet?" Do you have any favorite childhood ornaments?
It was so nice to sit by the tree last night. Hubby read some David Sedaris holiday tales and we played several rounds of Backgammon in front of the fire. Hubby loves Backgammon, and I'm more of a Scrabble girl. So I'm sure we'll be playing lots of both over the holidays. Happy holidays!
The single-paned window, and perhaps even the deck, were most likely added sometime in the 80's. When the contractors put in the new Marvin window, they had to tear down the deck in order to put in both the headers and footers. We'll rebuild something more period looking to the house — a balcony with a wide center staircase going down the middle and into the back yard.
This is the opposite wall. See all that brown trim? That's all covered in faux wood tack paper to assimilate wood trim. It was horrible to remove.
This room has evolved over the three years we've owned our house (we once had our bed in here). It was the very first room we tackled when we bought the place (the picture of Hubby was within hours of taking ownership) and so it was the first room we finished in terms of the bare bones part. The actual decorating would come much later, as in now....and it's quite serendipitous as again, we're 'moving' into this room just before Christmas.
Here's sort of another 'before' picture that shows our previous color scheme, dictated primarily by the furniture and rug we had on hand at the time. And here are the 'afters.' I took these pictures on the darkest days of the year as we're having lots of fog and rain — hope they turned out alright!
As you can see, I painted the room white. It's Simply White by Benjamin Moore (Eco-Spec line), which is the same color we've used on all of our house trim and many of our walls. The old color just felt too ruddy looking and I realized (no agonized over) that I'm most drawn to that classic white wall farmhouse look where the color of the walls isn't what the room is about. I wanted the room to be more about the fireplace, the windows, the view, the light coming in, the furniture, and the artwork. And I just thought that white allowed these things to shine more than any other color. Also, Janet (hi Janet!) over at The Gardener's Cottage just painted her living room Simply White and it completely inspired me!
The mirror over the mantle is such a better fit than our other one. I found this several weeks ago at an antique store for $120.
I picked up the brass sconces at an antique store for $20 each. I had been looking for some sconces online but found them to be very expensive. So these were in our price range and I've always loved the look of a pair of sconces over a mantle.
The seagrass rug is a 9x12 (it hasn't quite flattened out yet after being rolled) and will be relocated to the dining room once I decide what size seagrass rug I want for this room. I know it will be several feet bigger but still trying to figure out exact dimensions before I order it (the first one I ordered had a mid-January delivery date so I cancelled it).
The furniture is by a company called Rowe Furniture. We knew we'd choose something from their line because they are committed to natural fiber fabrics, eco cushion cores and wood from replenished forests. They are also members of the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC). This was all very important to us as we have made great efforts to make our home as green and healthy as possible. We also liked the price — due to a special sale that they were having at the time, the couch was just $1,099 and the chairs were $599 each (and we chose the highest grade fabrics).
The velvet couch is extremely luxurious. We love the high curved arms (much like a sleigh bed) as it provides the perfect support for reading a book, sipping a cup of tea or snuggling up next to the warm fire — especially on days like today. I picked up the brass easel a few years ago for $40 — a price I just couldn't pass up. The antique frame was my Great Great Grandfather's and I'm in the process of ordering a beautiful print for it. I can't wait as I've always loved the artist and will be absolutely delighted to have a piece of hers in our home. The cabinet used to be in the dining room. It got bumped from there because there will be two new windows going in this spring/summer leaving no room for it. It's sad but I absolutely love it in the living room. It's gone from dining cabinet to secretary, a look I have always loved. I also like the height it provides and think it really adds a nice finishing touch to the room. We found this piece at a local antique store that used to get antique furniture shipments in from England. During my semester abroad in college, I lived in England and would spend hours going through all of the gorgeous antique stores looking at beautiful cabinets very similar to ours. So it's sort of serendipitous that this piece found me after all of these years.
The cabinet came with black oriental pulls on the drawers, which I don't believe were original due to the lovely brass button knobs on all of the cabinet doors. So I switched them out for Eastlake pulls which offer it more of a country look (and of course, I absolutely love all things Eastlake).
So there it is! I'm sure it will continue to evolve as all rooms do! I hope you like it! We just got our Christmas tree today so we'll be putting that up tomorrow night....so more photos to follow! Photo updates:
I 'm a little disconnected from blogging these days. It's not due to the arrival of our sweet babies though — we're still pregnant! Rather, it's due to my very pregnant body, and my general lack of energy to do much of anything. Thankfully, my Mom is here and helped me decorate the dining room for Christmas!
On the way home from our last doctor's appointment (the only time I leave the house these days), we stopped in at our local Christmas tree stand to pick out a tree for our dining room. Mike commented that it was the quickest tree selection I've ever made! This is true....my aching feet and back cured my perennial case of 'Christmas tree indecision.' The three of us decorated the tree with cardinals and simple strands of white lights. We'll have another Christmas tree in the living room, which will be decorated with our vast collection of childhood ornaments (yes, this includes my favorite ornament — 'Hunk of Love' ).
My favorite Christmas decoration is the greenery. I just love the lush green color against the sleeping winter landscape outside our window. I also love the fragrance of the cuttings, which offers such an intoxicating mix of nostalgia and crisp earthy freshness.
We replaced the burlap runner on the table with an antique crocheted table cloth I bought a few years ago for $10. My Mom has a larger one that my Great Great Grandmother made, which was always put out for Christmas Eve dinner.
My dear friend Joan from For the Love of a House added three beautiful antique brass candlesticks to my collection recently, which I've placed on the Empire card table below the mirror. Hope you are staying warm and cozy wherever you are! P.S. I've been meaning to mention that our kitchen was featured in a little article on Small Space Kitchen Design over at HGTV.com.
C reating a healthy home has been a priority of ours since we began our renovations five years ago. Our motivation was due, in part, to the fact that this was a home in which we hoped to raise children. So naturally, creating the healthiest nursery possible was also main priority for us. It motivated all of our choices, from furniture and wall treatments, down to the rug. These are the choices we made:
The Cribs: We chose the Da Vinci Jenny Lind crib because it is made with wood harvested from sustainably-managed forests. It's also lead and phthalate free, and stained in a non-toxic finish. Also, the teething rail is BPA free. The Crib Mattresses: We chose Naturepedic organic mattresses. They offer a non-toxic waterproof surface that includes 100% food-grade polyethylene. They are also hypoallergenic, filled with organic cotton filling. The Crib Sheets: We chose 100% organic cotton crib sheets.
The Armoire: It was important to us to not purchase any furniture for the nursery that was made with manufactured wood, that may contain glues, adhesives or other compounds which may off-gas over time. Antique furniture provides this safeguard, as well as the opportunity to recycle beautifully-crafted pieces made long ago.
Mike created shelves for the armoire using solid tongue and groove pine floor planks. My Mom then covered them in 100% cotton fabric.
Nursing Chair: We selected the IKEA Jenny Lund slipcovered arm chair for nursing. I was really nervous about bringing a new chair into our nursery, as most new furniture is constructed with manufactured woods that may off-gas. So, I was happy to learn that IKEA strictly procures wood from sustainably-managed forests, and their pressed wood products comply with low formaldehyde standards. The Rug: We narrowed down our rug choices quite fast in knowing that we would only buy something that was made with natural fibers (with no rubber or plastic backing). We initially looked for 100% wool rugs, but ended up ordering a 100% jute braided rug for its style and shape. It's also reversible, so it should stand the test of time.
Wall Treatments: Like the rest of our house, the nursery was painted using Benjamin Moore's no-VOC line. Everything from the ceiling and the mouldings, to the doors and walls, were painted with the color Simply White in either flat or semi-gloss finishes. Choosing white for the plaster walls was a natural choice for me as it was the color of my childhood room, from birth until I left for college. White also has the added benefit of having less pigment added to the mix (pigments most often contain VOCs). I did just recently learn however that Benjamin Moore is one of the very few lines that uses VOC-free pigments. Thus their VOC-free line truly is VOC-free, no matter what color one chooses.
When Mike created the paneled wainscoting, he used solid wood mouldings, assembled and secured in place with a finish nail gun instead of glue.
The Closet: To create extra storage, we relocated the antique dresser from the guest house. We preferred using the dresser for the same reason that we chose the antique armoire. Also in the closet are the toys and books in waiting....until the babies are older. Purchasing two cribs, two mattresses, two car seats, clothing, diapers, etc.... added up as you can imagine. So we focused our budget on the things we knew we would need from birth through the first several months. Any toys and books we have were ours from childhood, or were given to us by family and friends. When we do start buying toys, we will focus on brands that offer phthalate-, BPA- and lead-free products.
Baby clothes: We have been very lucky in that we have received lovely hand-me downs from my friend Karen, and my brother Steven and his wife Marna, who have a son and two sweet daughters. The above knit sweater was my adorable nephew's.
This sweet outfit is a combination of a hand-me down (the white cotton onesie) from my niece and a purchase from a baby consignment store (the 100% organic cotton jumper with pink velvet piping). I've found consignment stores to be a wonderful resource for beautiful clothing, often hardly worn, at much lower prices than retail (organic knit jumper was $11). I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! I managed to stay on my feet long enough to make the pie crust... I spent the rest of the day on the couch nodding off and listening to the bustle of kitchen activity made by my mom and Mike. Happy Holiday Season to everyone! xo
We will be enjoying this year's Thanksgiving holiday with Hubby's family in Wisconsin. But spending the holiday away from home, didn't stop me from enjoying a Thanksgiving table — minus the turkey and all the trimmings! I got the spray roses at the grocery store. I love the color. I dusted off my Thanksgiving dessert plates and polished one of my Grandmother's old server knives. Did someone say pumpkin pie? ; ) I got the wreath for the front door but it's been so windy these days that I decided to hang it on the dining cabinet instead.
I love the simple yet intricate detail of the overlapping wheat. I'm sending you the warmest, most beautiful Thanksgiving wishes....Happy Thanksgiving.
