Family Room – Page 8

Can’t Wait for Paint

Published on February 18, 2013March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Hello friends! Did you have a good weekend? Do something fun? Have nice weather? Saturday was almost 50 degrees, now we’re back to the thirties. Such is February. Which means we played outside and got some work done inside. A few weeks ago Ben added trim to all the doors in the hall.

Pre-primed trim immediately brightened the hall from the dark wood trim of yore.

Beefed up baseboard almost makes the vent covers disappear.

I’ve been busy filling nail holes, sanding, caulking joints, priming, and painting the new trim crisp white.

I’ve finished painting the trim and have already started taping it off in preparation for wall paint.

Before I can paint the walls though, we’ve still got a few more things to check off the to do list. First, sanding the patched area from the arch we took out and a few hairline cracks in the ceiling.

Then crown molding throughout the room followed by more filling, sanding, priming, and painting. And painting the ceiling before getting to the walls. Good grief, I want to paint those walls. Both for finished walls and the pretty details waiting. Look what we’ve got to install after paint: pretty brushed nickel sconces from Lamps Plus.

While I’m waiting to paint the walls I’ve been painting doors as quickly as I can. And I’m heels over head – head over heels doesn’t make sense, aren’t we always? Dark gray, a touch of brass (though I still want to take the sheen down), and clean white. My design color trifecta.

Only three doors left, including the boys’, which I’m dreading leaving them without.

Baby steps to a finished room. Down the line we’ll figure out furniture. I’ve got a serious crush on the Gus Modern chair from Mod Livin’. Sadly almost 18 hundred bucks for two chairs (my kids will jump on) doesn’t fit the budget, but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming. Any affordable arm chairs you like?

Bar-rowed Time

Published on February 7, 2013February 7, 2013 by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

Yes, that misspelled title is a hint. The nook in the family room has gotten a little attention. By attention I mean a tray, bottles, glasses, and paper straws. A bar tray.

After discussing shelf and TV options, I received a reader email suggesting setting up a small bar. I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe because I don’t drink and Ben usually sticks to red wine. But I like the function of it, at least until we decide the TV situation. Seeing as we’ve got no plans to upgrade our current set up, this bar is something useful.

And I already had all the supplies in the house. A tray from Pier 1 a few years ago, thrift store glasses, coasters, a squirrel nutcracker, and bottles of alcohol. I liked the different shapes and sizes of the bottles the alcohol came in, but didn’t like the labels. A hot bubble bath made peeling the labels off a breeze. For a little shine, I spray painted the bottoms of each bottle, letting the over spray create an imperfect ombre . A few spritzes more on the tops, too for a cohesive set.

One problem though, how to label these? Right now I’ve got pieces of tape on the bottoms, only until I decide on real labels. Any suggestions? Maybe chalkboard sticker labels? If we decide to make the bar a permanent fixture, I might get a few decanters or even bottles from Ikea.

And maybe a fun ice bucket, a container for limes and lemons, and bar themed art. Any other bar essentials I’m missing? Do you have a bar cart or tray in your house? For some reason, it feels like a fancy thing to have.

P.S. Thanks for your votes over at the Homies!

Jarring

Published on January 24, 2013January 24, 2013 by Our Humble Abode23 Comments

After yesterday’s lighting post, I looked at the sad, nearly empty nook shelf. See it in the background? Just a few lonely items stashed there.

I pulled some of my favorite items, jars filled with vacation artifacts, off the guest room bookshelf and set ’em up.

A step back and all I saw was clutter. Clutter on the shelf competing with the frames on the mantel. Sure the patched walls and unpainted walls don’t help. Oh, now that I’ve painted the two smaller frames, I’m loving the mixture of frames.

Perhaps pairing down the jars would help?

Yep, that helped, but I still wasn’t smitten with the lack of books on a book shelf.

Knowing I didn’t want to detract from the mantel art, I pulled out white books, my new horse head bookends, and a wood sculpture.

Now we’re cookin’. But the dark frame and sculpture attracted too much attention. For a little color and height, I added a tall apothecary jar of shells (picked up on beach vacations).

Spray paint can cure any ugly/bad/wrong color. Crisp flat white on the frame, (which makes the cream mat look dingy) blends in with the rest of the arrangement.

So far, this is the least cluttered looking group I’ve come up with. Not completely sure I love it.

What do you think? Any suggestions for the shelf? Do you prefer it with the jars or books?

Keep a Low Profile

Published on January 23, 2013March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

Slowly but surely, we’re chugging along on our family room. I’m trying to keep Ben focused on one room instead of jumping around. Fingers crossed we’ll start on (and finish) the trim this week or weekend. Then patching a small crack in the ceiling, then comes paint, and a complete-ish room. But we have to discuss the lighting, too. Specifically the oddly placed, too traditional faux candle sconces by the back door.

Unfortunately we can’t nix these entirely for lack of a better option. Sure, we could install outlets in the floor for lamps. But I’m not a fan of cutting permanent holes in hardwood floors when the furniture arrangement might change. Recessed cans could work, but we’d like to avoid a Swiss cheese looking ceiling. When it comes down to it, we realized we don’t hate the sconce idea, just the sconces we now have. Mostly, how far they stick out (this is a walk way), the style, and the harsh light from an exposed bulb.

Which easily narrowed down our search criteria. Must have the lowest profile possible, a shaded light, and something that looks good. Thanks to my friend Photoshop, we get to see the top four options in action. Simple ORB lights from Home Depot are okay, but not my favorite.

Same goes for these from Lowe’s.

Even this set of cut out sconces from Lamps Plus wasn’t doing it for me. That’s when I realized I didn’t like the half round sconce style.

And when I laid my eyes on these pretties, also from Lamps Plus, I knew they had to be mine. Pretty, filtered light, and low profile. Even better, they come in four different metal finishes. Hello satin nickel. Come to mama.

Now, let’s light the fire to get this all done. I’m seriously craving a nearly finished room; some tangible progress. This will be the first one in this house!

What’s your favorite sconce? Have you had to search for an item with very specific requirements? How’d it go for you?

Art With Heart

Published on January 11, 2013January 11, 2013 by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Now that we’ve landed on a frame layout for the mantel, I took a few hours to fill the frames with art.

The two smaller frames are unchanged, but the rest is new.

In the center, I wanted something with some color, but still simple with meaning. Enter the Venn diagram.

Colored tissue paper left over from Christmas, a salad plate, a large sheet of white paper, and marker (all supplies I had on hand) made up this quick art.

With the plate on the tissue paper, I cut around it to make two circles. Pieces of double-sided tape hold it down. Using Photoshop, I made a B + A, flipped and printed on plain paper. Once cut out, I used small strips of double-sided tape to attach.

For a little more interest, I wrote Je t’aime across the bottom. Voila, geek chic art. Sure, it’s not perfect, but that’s okay.

On the easel, I printed this Lulie Wallace painting and taped it to a small canvas. Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. This afternoon I plan to make a small floral painting (inspired by these), but wanted to test it out. The small shadow box displays the boys’ hospital bracelets.

In the black frame, I cut a silhouette of a statue. She kind of looks like the Statue of Liberty, right? But she’s not. Actually, she is an angel statue I took a photo of on our honeymoon in Savannah.

Once printed out and cut from metallic silver paper, she shimmers just like Robert Pattinson in Twilight. For a rustic/glam balance, I taped her to a piece of wood veneer.

To the right I popped in this blue flower print from Ara133 Photography in the existing mat.

The photo is Ben and his brothers when they were kids. It’s highly adorable and cracks me up every time. All the dark and wood tones on the left were feeling a little heavy. Sure, painting the small square frame white and the small rectangle frame black will help balance (once our weather cooperates!). But a small dose of wood never hurt anyone. Wait, that sounded bad. Lotus pods and fuzzy faux greenery from the Dollar Store in a white Ikea vase fix that.

Just a little warmth and darkness. Seriously, how great are lotus pods? I think they should be the new billy button.

For a few hours of work, I’m thrilled with the result. Art with meaning, happy colors, and zero dollars spent. That’s right, I used frames and supplies we already had sitting around the house.

Much cheerier than the empty frames of yore.

And I can easily swap art out with changing seasons, holidays, or moods. I’m hoping to con, um, convince Ben to install the new door trim, baseboard, and crown in the family room so I can get some paint on the walls. I’m guessing I won’t succeed, but I can hope.

What do you think of the new art? What’s your favorite art you’ve made? Have any big plans for the weekend?