Kitchen Living Room

Friday, April 13, 2012

The Licorice Chair

Remember this chair in progress? I don't really expect you to remember because it's been about a month! Here it is traveling in the back of the car and not wearing its seatbelt!!!


So the story is that my boyfriend and I were given this little oddly-colored chair from his grandma. We decided to paint it blue as inspired by my infatuation with Chex Mix. Or Cool Ranch Doritos. Whatever.


We were in the paint chip aisle at Lowe's when I saw something that said *Available in Spray Paint on a shade of blue. Hello! Spray paint is the best. So I knew that would be a great choice. The color is Deep Sea Diving, the darkest blue to the right in the picture below.


The spray paint is by Valspar and it was in Glossy. 


Here's a close-up of the product number and name.


First we had to sand the little chair down because it was coated in shiny, slippery shellac. 




Once it was all sanded down, I applied primer (white) to it from another spray paint can.


Then my boyfriend decided to clean up with an especially tiny broom. Good job! He can do stuff!



After the priming was done I began to spray paint the blue color on in light, even coats. Sort of even. Well, not even at all. Light, uneven coats. There we go.


You'll also notice that I took the uncharacteristic precaution of using a drop cloth. That's because it wasn't my driveway. I, for one, would love to have spray paint on my driveway. Spray paint is the best! Let's spray paint everything!


Here is the chair, all done and all blue. 


And I threw him back into the backseat of the car. Again, no seatbelt! How sassy. There's also some sort of creepy hieroglyphics on the bottom. I was instructed not to paint over those. Ok!


Here's the chair in its new home. Recognize the desk??


And now you can see why exactly the blue was a good choice. Because it matches the blue in the bedspread! Yippie.


Oh, and by the way, now that I've seen this blue ombre chair DIY on Design Sponge, my chair is feeling really lame. I may have to give it another makeover. But only if it promises to wear its seatbelt.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

April = Finals & My Birthday

Since today is my birthday, I thought I would post a few things that I like right now.



A full rainbow that I couldn't quite catch in one shot with my iPhone camera.


A thoughtful letter by a 10 year old.





My cherry blossom string lights that I found in a box. My mom and stepdad got these for me for my 22nd birthday at World Market. Amazingly, years later you can still buy them, although only in the 30-strand version (I have the 10-strand version).


Cherry Blossom Lantern String Lights

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Kitchen Lighting! Fun Fun Fun

That was fun, right?? About one billion posts later, I'm all done telling you about the renovations I did at my dad's house. Whew. I know I'm exhausted. What a vacation! Last year I went up there just to install a point of sale system for his business. I guess it's becoming something of a tradition. I wonder what next year will bring?

Click here if you don't know what I'm talking about.

So, now we return to our regular 650 square feet programming. Until I have a new project, that is. Any takers?



Ever since I bought the condo, I've been considering what to do with the light in the kitchen. It's so boring and ugly, but I was at a loss. I thought of Ikea track lighting, but then I started doubting myself after my friend Patrick mentioned that track lighting might be of the 'wrong era' for the condo. And he's obviously right. Plus track lighting seems to date itself quickly (I am so not dissing on YOUR beautiful track lighting, whoever you are, reader. It looks great in YOUR house, I swear.)

I didn't know what to do. Then I met Schoolhouse Electric. By accident. Beautiful, wonderful, expensive accident. I was looking for "galley kitchen lighting" on google when I found Layla's post on one of her reader's kitchens. Thanks, Layla. Thank you, and darn you. The lights at Schoolhouse are amazing, but quite pricey.


Northwestern 4"


This guy is $154 including the shade. WHEWIE!



And this little number is $158 including the glass shade. Aieeieeiee!!

But needless to say I am smitten. I wonder if I can DIY this to avoid the costly price? The wheels are spinning...I don't have any concrete ideas, yet, but I'll let you know if I come up with anything. I guess the first step would be to find an actual fixture (the silver part) with the correct shape. Then I'm thinking find a plain glass shade and...paint it? Put tiny strips of colored tape around it? 

Help me, readers!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Dad's Loft/Office/Library Before & After

This is part of a series on my dad's house in Alaska. Read more here. I'll resume 650 square feet posts on my condo when the series is complete.


Let's visit the loft space of my dad's house! To me this is the coolest room. My dad had these really old Lord of the Rings posters from the 1970s just hanging out all rolled up in a closet somewhere. I pulled them out (at his request) and put them in these great, inexpensive frames from Walmart.

Mainstays 24x36 Wide Poster Frame, Black

I tried putting one on the wall here:


But then I realized it would become sun-bleached so I moved it to the stair well. Here's another poster at a different part of the stair well:


 

And another further down the stairs:


This one is my favorite. These posters are awesome. Like, dad I'm gonna steal them from you awesome.


I grabbed a smaller frame for this Captain America print (notice the light shade hasn't been changed out yet):


Which was perfect for the room chock full of comics. Luckily, Grammie helped me organize them. 


But, before we get to the comics and bookshelves, let's check out the desk. Looking tidy, right?


The new Mad Men desktop background.


And a view of the calendar my boyfriend gave my dad last year.


This is the light shade I decided to use up there. I didn't spray paint these fellas because they're on a separate floor from the living room and I ran out of time. At least everything's consistent within the various rooms. 


Here's a sort of "during" picture:


And here's the main room after all of the organizing was done. Can you believe that is only a fraction of my dad's books and comics? He has the best collection of anyone I know.


Grammie carefully filled up this vintage comic rack with comic books. My dad said this was the exact same kind of comic rack he used to buy comics off of when he was a kid!


On the side of the room opposite from the bookshelf/office room, I setup a reading area at my dad's request. We carried that chair up the stairs ourselves. Ugh.


This is the table I used from Walmart. It doesn't get great reviews, but I thought it was awesome. The drawer works well, too.

Mainstays Cardinal Hill Side Table, Hazelwood

I also added this pharmacy-style floor lamp. I have no idea what pharmacy-style means, but I have a lamp just like this in my house. I like the shape and color.

Here's my dad and Sitka enjoying the area:


Now, dad, all you have to do is actually READ all of those comics. Um...yeah, see you in 100 years!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Dad's Bathroom Before & After

This is part of a series on my dad's house in Alaska. Read more here. I'll resume 650 square feet posts on my condo when the series is complete.

My dad's bathroom was pretty easy to complete since he did all of the cleaning/organizing. I changed out the rug and shower curtain to these guys from Lowe's:

allen + roth Bonaventure Striped Fabric Shower Curtain



allen + roth 17" x 24" Beige Cotton Bath Mat


I also changed out the shower curtain rings:

Voila:



Easy, right? Welp, that concludes the tour of the renovations/decorating I completed on my dad's house in Alaska. It was a lot of fun. I hope my dad enjoys it!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Dad's Guest Bedroom Before & After

This is part of a series on my dad's house in Alaska. Read more here. I'll resume 650 square feet posts on my condo when the series is complete.


The guest bedroom was pretty easy. The room used to be empty, so I didn't bother taking any before pictures. My dad and I pulled in his old bedroom furniture just before his new furniture was delivered. Then I added a mattress pad, new sheets, pillows, and a comforter. I picked green for mostly everything just to keep things simple.

In this picture you can see the new curtain rods, curtains, and bedspread.


A view of the second window with newly added curtains:


The curtains were from Lowe's, and at only about $13 per panel, they were a great deal.

Style Selections 84"L Green Bernard Window Panel


My last touch was a little lamp from Walmart. I couldn't find it online, but the shade + base was under $15.



The perfect little setup for guests!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Dad's Bedroom Before & After

This is part of a series on my dad's house in Alaska. Read more here. I'll resume 650 square feet posts on my condo when the series is complete.


My dad had already picked out furniture for his room when I got to Alaska, so the difficult part of that was all done. All I did was run through and add curtains/curtain rods and pictures. Easy peasy.

My boyfriend gave my dad an LSU football calendar for Christmas last year, so I went through and ripped out the pictures from past 2012 months. Then I framed them and hung them up! Here's one:


And another:


Then I hung up the curtain rods from Lowe's along with the curtains themselves.


Here's a close-up of the curtain. I couldn't find them online, but I don't think it would be difficult to find something similar in a brick and mortar store.


I also added a little collage of pictures in the hallway.


You can tell from the pictures that I didn't change the wall sconces downstairs (at least the ones that weren't shiny brass). I actually liked them so I decided to let them be. Here's the final picture that I have for you of the room. You can see the new curtains!



I also spent some time working on the closet, but I didn't get any pictures. That part was mostly decluttering (boring).