Bedroom updates

I've been wanting to upgrade our comforter for awhile, and finally decided to go with a plain white one, topped with the rug, now being used as a blanket. (Which probably makes more sense anyway.) I really like how it looks, and the new comforter is pretty...comfortable. (It's been particularly hard to get out of bed since purchasing it.)

We also bought a slatted bench from 30 West (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Olivia the french bulldog before, but she is seriously one of the cutest, friendliest dogs I've had the pleasure of meeting, and she hangs out in a pretty great store). We'd been wanting one for a little while now, and while this one is a little beat up, I think we'll be able to clean it up and refinish it (just waiting until the weather gets a little warmer so we can open up all the windows while we work on it). I really like how it looks at the foot of the bed. It's also adjustable, which is pretty cool.

So now I just need a new rug to replace the old one. And a pair of new dressers to replace the ones that are kind of falling apart. And, now that I look at that photo, to clean all the junk out of the corner.

It's Christmas all over again

The stockings are hung, the tree is out (though not lit in this photo for some reason), along with all of the other random decorations I've collected over the years. (Funny to see how bare the wall looked last year, as we'd just moved in.) Every year I can't help making (and buying) a few new ornaments to add to the rotation. (I suppose I probably should think about getting rid of some of the ones that I keep confined to the closet.)

I actually made this paper ball ornament last year, using some pages I cut out of a book, but I don't think I ever posted about it. So here it is.

This year I made this paper tree using an old magazine. A little tedious, but super easy. I love how sculptural it looks.

Last fall my step niece developed a bit of an obsession with picking up acorns and shared a handful of them with Dave (which, adorably, he saved). So I already had a dried acorn hat (as I like to call it) for making this ornament, which was only slightly more difficult than the paper tree. I wish I'd had more spare hats because I would have made a whole family of wooden acorn people. (I guess there's still time!)

I also ended up buying a few new holiday things while I was in L.A. I couldn't resist this squirrel candy dish from Yolk. (I like how we have a mix of Christmas and Halloween candy in there. The pumpkins were half price and someone could not turn down a bargain.)

After hemming and hawing over some of the pricier (but beautiful) items at Plastica, I left with just this sweet little wooden Swedish bird ornament. (Note my little acorn friend to the right.)

Here's my garland from last year. Maybe next year I'll make a new one. It's always fun to change it up. I've also promised Dave that next year we'll get a real tree, so that'll be a pretty big change. I've never had a real Christmas tree for as long as I've lived, and I've decided it's probably a good time to go au natural.

Customized hairpin leg ottoman

Dave had been talking about how he wanted a nice footstool so he can prop his feet up when he sits in his reading chair in the corner. I had first been thinking that I could make something from scratch fairly simply--get a square piece of wood and some padding, staple some fabric over it, then buy four hairpin legs and screw them in. Instant ottoman. Except the hairpin legs are kind of expensive, it seems.

So I set up an eBay saved search and within a few weeks found and purchased this one for the price of one hairpin leg. I wasn't too crazy about the fabric but that was an easy fix. I even had some left over from when I recovered the chair next to it so I was able to do it the next day instead of putting it off for weeks and weeks until I found what I wanted.

I turned the stool over and removed all the staples. (You can do this with a regular staple remover.) There was another piece of fabric on the bottom but I didn't take any photos of it.

Once all the staples were removed I simply peeled off the old fabric. The padding underneath was in good condition, thankfully, so I didn't feel any need to replace it.

I placed it on top of the new fabric like so, and began stapling each side, folding the raw edges under.

A close up of the staples. Pretty straightforward. I went around the legs though I suppose I could have cut out a notch.

Then I folded over the corners and stapled those, attached the bottom piece, and I was done within the hour.

It's just a tad too tall to fit underneath the chair when not in use, but looks just fine right next to it.

New house tour: living room

Shortly after I started this blog about a year and a half ago I began gradually posting a house tour, with detailed shots of where I was living at the time. Now I look at those pictures and cringe a bit--partly because the house got so little light that the picture quality is kind of crappy, but also because they're just not that impressive.

While my new place isn't perfect, I think we've come a long way, such that I think I'm ready to show it off. At the very least, it's a lot more light-filled.

I figured I'd start with the living room, as it's probably closest to being finished. (For now--I still want to replace that coffee table. And maybe the side table.)

You may recall the story of our upholstered couch, and the Nauga monster that Dave gave me for Christmas. I want to make some new throw pillows one of these days, but these'll do for now. (Don't mind the crap under the couch.)

A side table outfitted with a shadow puppet, globe lamp, some pocket notebooks, and the awesome new Dovetail ceramics dish I bought a couple weeks ago at Clay Wood and Cotton. (I had posted awhile back about how I coveted these dishes, so when I saw them in the store I couldn't help but pick one up. You can't tell from this picture but not only are the illustrations great but the plate has a slightly organic shape.)

Okay, enough about that plate. Here's the collage of Gwen Frostic cards that I put together, hanging above my overgrown aloe plant, some Georges Simenon paperbacks, and a stack of postcard sets.

I think I posted a very similar photo of this corner awhile back, but who cares. This has been dubbed the reading corner, although I bet that isn't the comfiest reading chair (it sure is pretty though).

We'd been wanting to buy a credenza for the living room but when we came across this beautiful bookcase at 30 West we were smitten. The top is just the right size for the DVD player and our new flatscreen TV (an impulse/splurge purchase, but I think it was probably worth it).

I filled the shelves with my vintage paperbacks, Paris Reviews, DVDs (I kind of wish that bottom shelf were a little less crowded but c'est la vie), and a few random objects.

A stack of Evergreen Reviews, which I've begun casually collecting in the last year, and Raymond Pettibon VHS tapes.

Here's the sculptura chair that we bought last month at Brimfield, and our puzzle bookshelf. This time instead of pushing the shelves flat against the wall we took advantage of the puzzle aspect and shaped it around the corner. Which looks so much better.

Like the TV stand, I've filled it with some random objects, in addition to the books. Here's an arrangement of printers blocks and wooden carpenter letters.

And that's pretty much it!

Not quite invisible bookshelves

Awhile back, I'd bookmarked this insanely simple and cheap DIY project: invisible bookshelves. This particular approach is even simpler than the ones you typically see, in that it doesn't involve ruining a book by actually screwing it into the bottom of the shelf. As a result, they're not actually invisible, but that doesn't really bother me.

A couple weeks ago I bought a collection of paperback books whose covers were illustrated by Edward Gorey, and decided that I needed a way to display them properly. One trip to the hardware store and $6 later, I was screwing a set of 4-inch L-brackets into the wall.

They'll be a little more invisible once I add another book to the stack--I just need to find a few more Gorey designs. I know they're out there!

Here's a flickr set of Gorey paperbacks for your viewing pleasure.

Wrapped twigs

When I saw this post about yarn-wrapped twigs I found the idea intriguing--so simple, barely above little kids' arts and crafts project level, yet beautiful and sculptural.

I don't have a yard so twigs are in somewhat short supply, but I recently came across a bundle (don't ask) and instantly thought of this project. So I took a few home, dug into my yarn stash, and got to stick wrapping. Then I strung them into a kind of mobile using white thread, and hung them on the bedroom wall. The thread looks invisible against the wall, like the twigs are floating.

I had been struggling to figure out what to hang on the wall above the bed--I wanted something different, subtle, kind of minimalist. And this is exactly it! (Although I think I might want to add a few more sticks to the mix.)

P.S. I need to do something about those electrical cords!

The saga of my reupholstered couch

When we moved into our apartment in October I bought this midcentury sofa on Craigslist. Mostly I just wanted the frame, figuring I could make new cushions in the fabric of my choosing. This proved to be more expensive than I had initially imagined. The cushions were so worn down that sitting on the couch you could feel the wood frame underneath. So not only did I need new fabric, but new foam as well, which is not cheap.

I also had a hard time finding affordable fabric that I liked. I had something really specific in my head--a charcoal gray wool--and the only thing I could find that remotely resembled this cost something like $40 a yard. Then I came across this post about upholstering a chair in gray wool felt, which set off a lightbulb in my head. I found a site selling wool felt for $10 a yard and ordered a huge roll of it. And then I procrastinated about three months.

After sewing one cushion a week, give or take, I finally finished on Sunday. From afar it looks pretty good but if you look at it up close you'll see that the felt is seriously pilling. In short, if you want a new couch that looks good, buy one at CB2 or something.

Okay, okay, I am kind of proud of my endeavor. Other than the pilling I think the end result is pretty good.

Last of the window films

It's taken me three months but I've finally finished all of the window films in the computer room. (See here and here for the other two windows).

For the double window I did kind of a mirror image sort of thing, with randomly patterned thin lines and dashes. I'm really pleased with the outcome (though I'm even more pleased to be done with it--it's a bit of a tedious process).

Now we can play air guitar to all our records with a bit of privacy.

More window films

After finally finishing the raindrop window films, over the weekend I finished the design on window #2: triangles. I actually managed to more or less make them the same size, though the rows are a little bit crooked when you really examine them. But to the naked eye I think it looks pretty good.

A pile of triangles on the windowsill. I love the triangular shadows cast by the films.

Now I just need to do the huge double window on the adjacent wall. Not sure just yet what sort of pattern it's going to be.

New (and not so new) things finally hung

I don't know why but I'd been procrastinating for awhile about hanging a lot of our posters and other decorative objects. Maybe because I just couldn't decide where they should go.

Last week I came home from work to find that Dave had been busy all afternoon making those decisions for me. Above is the mobile that my aunt gave me for Christmas (don't mind the discoloring on the walls--water leaks in whenever it rains).

A closer look at the mobile (man, that wall looks gross).

Our clock and newly acquired Michael Mantler/Edward Gorey LP. (I probably should have taken a closer shot.)

We've had the Brewster McCloud poster for awhile but I'm just so glad to see it finally on display again. It's one of my favorite posters that we own.

I'll do a real house tour soon enough. Still a few more finishing touches that need to happen.

Contact paper window films

I've been mulling over what to do with the windows in the computer room for awhile. Rather than the usual curtains I wanted to try something different. So a couple weeks ago I bought some frosted contact paper to make window films. I was initially planning on covering the windows with large sheets with a few shapes cut out here and there but after about 100 tries, each with countless bubbles and folds and wrinkles (and curses), I ended up taking a different plan of action.

Instead of one large sheet with a few shapes cut out, I cut out dozens of raindrop shapes in various sizes.

Not done yet but I really like how it looks so far, especially since you can still see what's going on outside through the spaces in between.

Scraps of contact paper on the floor.

New living room entryway garland

I finally got around to stringing up these weird shadow puppet things (I don't know what else to call them) that I got at Spoonbill and Sugartown a few years back. I've always hung them on the wall but now with this grand entryway to the living room it seemed to make more sense to hang them like this.

The bright light from those windows is making it a little hard to photograph these guys in any detail but basically they're Victorian-era illustrations of hands forming shadow puppets, with the shapes they make (bunnies, birds, etc) projected onto the sleeves. I'm really not doing a very good job describing these things.

Living room curtains

I bought this fabric at Ikea with the intent of making curtains for the computer room, but ultimately decided that they'd look better in the living room. So voilà.

They look very nice with the plants.

I'm really into the hand-drawn quality of the pattern, the black and white with hints of green.

Of course, the computer room still needs curtains, or at least something in the windows. I'm thinking about trying to make a roller shade, which seems a bit more complicated than regular curtains. But I think I'll figure it out.

Steps to a more functional kitchen

Just recently I installed two items on the wall in the kitchen that have led to much greater efficiency.

I was getting a little tired of walking all the way across the room to the pantry every time I needed some seasoning. So I bought this spice rack at Ikea (only ten bucks!) and found the vintage Griffith's spice jars on eBay.

I love the look of the milk glass. The labels were sort of yellowing and ugly so I scraped them off and made new ones with the label blaster. (Combined with the card catalog, I had a lot of fun with the label blaster that weekend.) I think they look much better this way anyway.

On the same Ikea trip I picked up this wooden shelf and hung some of the pitchers that were crowding the top of the refrigerator. Now it's so much less cluttered, and the items are better displayed. Although I must admit, if money were no object, I would have much preferred this shelf. One can dream.