Thinking of color options for K's room to get a feel for what she likes and is wanting in a room. I put together the following sheet and sent it over for her review:
Friday, July 30, 2010
K's Room - Early Stages
Who doesn't love makeovers? I think this is probably why I adore redoing furniture and fixing things up: the before and after effect. Such a fun opportunity to get creative AND see results!
My friend K lives in San Francisco and, while she's so far away from me, we still keep in close contact. She recently moved and found a place in a great location, but the room itself is small. She was at a loss for what to do, so she sent me pictures for advice. Here are the pictures she shared (K, don't hate me for doing this!):
First of all, let me say how amazingly musically inclined she is and that I wish I could play the guitar (she has such a beautiful singing voice!)
Secondly, she wants to keep the bed, her new dresser and side table, and a very special jewelry armoire she inherited from her mother. She also wants to have some sort of desk area on which to use her laptop.
My initial thought was that I needed to flesh out the room more to get a good idea of the scale of the items in the room and also to give myself the ability to change things up quickly to see which layout might work best. Using Adobe Illustrator, Paint and a drawing program on Google - I created a template from which we could move the items around and better place with the space. The drawing program on Google is great; you can share and collaborate with others on it, so K and I played around.
After playing around for a while, I settled on this layout as my favorite:
In the lower left hand corner is where I envision her desk area. The window is nearby so it won't feel claustrophobic and she can use the side of her dresser for a nice little white board or cork board to keep her organized. It defines the space.
I've grouped the dresser and the jewelry armoir next to the closet so all of her dressing things are close together. This speeds up everything in the morning when she's trying to get ready.
I read somewhere a long time ago (don't know if this is accurate at all) saying that if you place your bed so that your feet are facing the door while you're laying in it, that all of your energy can escape through the door while you're sleeping. Since then, I've tried to keep this from happening.
Next, I started looking for things to pull the room together and help her make sense of some of the craziness. Here were some of the sets I put together on Polyvore:
I'm still in the planning stages and need to consult with K tonight, but I think that there is hope for her and her tiny SF bedroom. :)
My friend K lives in San Francisco and, while she's so far away from me, we still keep in close contact. She recently moved and found a place in a great location, but the room itself is small. She was at a loss for what to do, so she sent me pictures for advice. Here are the pictures she shared (K, don't hate me for doing this!):
Room from the door (note the large window the to right):
The room from the door again but this is further to the right:
Her closet and the other side of the bed:
And lastly, the final corner of the room:
First of all, let me say how amazingly musically inclined she is and that I wish I could play the guitar (she has such a beautiful singing voice!)
Secondly, she wants to keep the bed, her new dresser and side table, and a very special jewelry armoire she inherited from her mother. She also wants to have some sort of desk area on which to use her laptop.
My initial thought was that I needed to flesh out the room more to get a good idea of the scale of the items in the room and also to give myself the ability to change things up quickly to see which layout might work best. Using Adobe Illustrator, Paint and a drawing program on Google - I created a template from which we could move the items around and better place with the space. The drawing program on Google is great; you can share and collaborate with others on it, so K and I played around.
This is the layout of her room currently:
I've grouped the dresser and the jewelry armoir next to the closet so all of her dressing things are close together. This speeds up everything in the morning when she's trying to get ready.
I read somewhere a long time ago (don't know if this is accurate at all) saying that if you place your bed so that your feet are facing the door while you're laying in it, that all of your energy can escape through the door while you're sleeping. Since then, I've tried to keep this from happening.
Next, I started looking for things to pull the room together and help her make sense of some of the craziness. Here were some of the sets I put together on Polyvore:
I'm still in the planning stages and need to consult with K tonight, but I think that there is hope for her and her tiny SF bedroom. :)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Evolution of a Dining Set or How I Spent $100 and Got Two Benches, Two Chairs and a Table that I am No Longer Ashamed of
My dining area has been less than inspired since, well, I left home to go to college. After college, I moved into a duplex (fondly known as the Boo-plex) with my college roommate and best friend, S. During the move, a friend donated his less-than-wonderful-but-still-better-than-nothing dining set (a table and two chairs) to our cause.
The chairs looked like the ones in the picture. The table was the same finish as the chairs, but I couldn't find a picture. Just think boring, probably from WalMart, generic table with four legs.
The table had been used for four years of Quarters playing. The top of the table was pretty well dinged up with thousands of marks, but it was better than eating on the floor! We use it as is for years there - including cupcake frosting and maybe a game of beer pong or two in the yard (where it may have stayed for a few months, what can I say? I'm just keeping it classy).
Wine and cupcake party:
Chairs in our living space for party seating:
When I moved to Austin, I brought the set with me and it stayed in its condition (dings and now some kind of discoloration on the feet of the table due to its stint as lawn furniture) until I got the brilliant idea of redoing it before my mom came to visit. Alas, my energy waned and I got through one sanding session and ended up painting the top white with one layer of spray paint. And didn't finish it with any type of varnish. A week later, after being used for dinner about twice and by the cat for daily cleaning sessions, it looked worse than when it started. I bought some spray paint in blue and yellow and, brilliant decision once again, decided to test on a chair and the table which color would look better. These test streaks were less than professionally done and added to the character (ghetto-ness) of the table. The chair I managed to get the seat tested before losing interest. Alas, my set stayed this way for a bit as I had no spare time or energy left over from work. I did bring home two storage benches from IKEA (on sale for $39 a piece) that I used as additional seating:
It's not your imagination or your computer monitor playing tricks on you, the wood finish does not match the set. I used it anyways and hoped that no one would notice.
I finally decided one day that enough was enough and set to refinish the table. After some inspirational searching online through my blogs, I settled on not blue or yellow but black as the finish for the table and chairs. I sanded, primed (key step, I've learned!), and painted the chairs and table. Then finished with two layers of Wipe On Poly Varnish (I use this religiously). The benches I left their natural wood state, but finished the top with some fabric I had laying around after some apron making. I think it turned out well:
(ignore the cat box)
The chairs have been moved (until needed for a dinner party) to flank my console in my bedroom:
All in all, I'm very happy with the results and so glad that the evolution has ended well!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
S: "ok first thing it's spelled 'haughty' "
as my first ever blog, I'm a little intimidated. Where do I start? How do I come up with a blog title (and spell it correctly.. yes, I understand that there is such a thing as a spell checker)? I was almost immobilized by the possibilities... So here's what I did, I just started typing. I didn't allow myself to delete anything I put down and just kept typing. Even now. When I'm obviously not really talking about anything at all.
I'm excited to share what I've been most recently working on: my home office. It's still a work in progress, but is coming along quite nicely. :)
The centerpiece (along with the part that's taken the longest) is my desk. I found quite the deal in a $25 "solid wood" desk on Craigslist. Here's what I fell in love with in all of its dark, kinda boring splendor:
I took the desk apart and placed it carefully on some plastic (always use protection!):
After a couple of layers of spray primer, a few rounds of light sanding with steel wool and, finally, two coats of Wipe On Poly varnish, the desk came together quite nicely:
The drawer pulls are from Anthropologie's sale section and the accessories I found at TJ Maxx and Michaels. The chair was one I had gotten from an old office-going-out-of-business-sale which was covered in this dreary dark fabric. I had fallen in love with Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon (thanks to Jenny at Little Green Notebook) but couldn't bring myself to spend $129 a yard on fabric for a chair I spent $5 on. Luckily, I found a Ralph Lauren tablecloth which had a kind of similar feel for $19.99 which worked wonderfully to reupholster the chair. My next plans are to edge the curtains with the left over fabric. All in all, I spent a total of $96 on the desk, chair and accessories and now have a lovely place to sit and work or daydream...
I'm excited to share what I've been most recently working on: my home office. It's still a work in progress, but is coming along quite nicely. :)
The centerpiece (along with the part that's taken the longest) is my desk. I found quite the deal in a $25 "solid wood" desk on Craigslist. Here's what I fell in love with in all of its dark, kinda boring splendor:
I took the desk apart and placed it carefully on some plastic (always use protection!):
After a couple of layers of spray primer, a few rounds of light sanding with steel wool and, finally, two coats of Wipe On Poly varnish, the desk came together quite nicely:
The drawer pulls are from Anthropologie's sale section and the accessories I found at TJ Maxx and Michaels. The chair was one I had gotten from an old office-going-out-of-business-sale which was covered in this dreary dark fabric. I had fallen in love with Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon (thanks to Jenny at Little Green Notebook) but couldn't bring myself to spend $129 a yard on fabric for a chair I spent $5 on. Luckily, I found a Ralph Lauren tablecloth which had a kind of similar feel for $19.99 which worked wonderfully to reupholster the chair. My next plans are to edge the curtains with the left over fabric. All in all, I spent a total of $96 on the desk, chair and accessories and now have a lovely place to sit and work or daydream...
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