Ikea’s Greatest Hits

Published on by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

And now for a little surprise.  They boys and I are in Minnesota!  We made an impromptu road trip east to spend time with my family.  If you follow us on Facebook, you’ve seen glimpses of our vacation, including a day at the lake spent hunting down tiny shells, a visit to a petting zoo, and a ride in a fire truck.

Of course, we have our must stop places, including Ikea.  I figured, “Why not share some of my favorite finds because I can’t take ’em all home with me?”  So, that’s what I’m doing.  But I forgot my real camera. Instead, I have crappy iPhone pictures to share, but you get the idea.

Glossy gray finish + long, sleek shape = perfect desk/sofa table.

For 30 bucks, I loved the industrial shape and finish of this pendant.  But I don’t know why the clips are brass?

Metal chairs like these or these could work well indoors or out.  Add a pillow to the arm-chair for small-scale living room seating or pull a few up to a dining table.

Of course Ikea is a great place to find bold, affordable rugs.  I couldn’t find a link to this striped rug, but for $15, it could add drama to a kitchen, hall, or bathroom.

Speaking of bathroom rugs, I seriously considered taking this one home with me.  After debating with myself, I decided to leave it behind because I didn’t want too much pattern competition in the bathroom.

I guess I’ve been on a stripe kick lately, because I these towels caught my eye.  At fifteen bucks each, I couldn’t bring myself to add it to the cart.

I need throw blankets like I need a hole in my head, but the colors of this are great.

However, I couldn’t resist getting a yard of fabric.  The one I got is in the picture.  Any guesses which one?

These woven planters are cute and versatile.  Use as a planter, on a desk top to corral pens, in a bathroom for soaps or towels, in a kitchen to hold utensils.  Whatever tickles your pickle.

For the main bathroom, I’d like to find or make a cute clothes hamper.  Though this planter was too wide for our small linen closet, I think it could work well in another space.

Love the design of this rug, but I don’t have much pink in our house…

Now that we’ve got a new house with plenty of ugly light fixtures, I had a new appreciation for lighting.  Especially this one with a simple shape.

And this large fabric shade.

So many good, new things lately.  And those were the ones I didn’t buy!  What’s your favorite recent Ikea purchase?  Do you have a favorite Ikea department?  Maybe you’ve hacked an Ikea piece?  Share your favorites!

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Heart and Craft & Shower Curtains

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Let’s get right down to business with the winners of the Heart and Craft giveaway. 

Whitney and Nicole, come on down!  I asked what you like to craft.  Obviously my weakness is anything home related.  Art?  You got it.  Sewing pillows and more?  Sure!  Lights?  Why the heck not.  Pretty much anything cheap, I’ll take a chance.  If it works, great.  If not, well, I lost five bucks and learned something.  Still a win-win. 

We’ve had a few questions about the shower curtain in our main bathroom, including one just this morning. 

Because it was a clearance find, it’s not available.  Instead, here are some of my favorite shower curtains from around the interweb. 

Herringbone from Urban Outfitters:

It’s no secret I love Target, and I found a few fun curtains there including Lino Curtain:

Honeycomb curtain

New Grid Curtain:

and Rugby Stripe:

Kate Spade does it again!  Look at this pretty Kate Spade Candy Shop Striped Curtain, available at Bed, Bath & Beyond:

Fan Coral from CB2:

Marimekko Unikko curtain from Crate and Barrel

Tali Printed Curtain from West Elm

So many fun, colorful options are out there.  Try searching ‘geometric shower curtain’ or ‘floral shower curtain’ to get more examples to see what you can find.  Oh, and don’t forget Etsy!  Where did you get your shower curtain?  Do you prefer a pattern or solid color?  Have you made a shower curtain?  It’s surprisingly simple.  Try using a flat bed sheet.  Then you can add grommets to the top or use regular curtain clips to hold it up.

Primele Rubber Stamp

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Back in May, I shared my Etsy favs, including a rubber stamp from Primele.  Really, everything in the shop is adorable, but the calligraphy captured my attention.  Which is why I had to make one mine.  Happily, Patricia at Primele agreed to send me a stamp to try out.  Specifically, this stamp.  Well, the stamp came in the mail a few weeks ago, and it did not disappoint.  I’m a sucker for cute packaging, and this was my first impression. 

Helllllloooooooo, adorable!  Vincent thought the crinkle paper was a blast, and the stamp care page is a nice thought.

A cute red handle means I can leave it out for daily use. 

Of course, if it doesn’t look good, it’s not worth anything, right?  So I put it to the test. 

To my surprise, it stamped so evenly and looks fantastic.  I’m sure you understand that I had to blur out our address for safety purposes, but you get an idea of what it looks like.  Mixing the hand calligraphy and the simple text is a great balance of pretty and practical.  Even better, this stamp is perfect for quickly adding our return address to regular bills.

I’m so excited to save time while adding a cute touch to all our mail. 

Bill paying has never been more fun, or cute.  As an added bonus, Primele has lovely business cards.  In fact, the pretty coral backing made its way into a frame.  Look closely and you’ll see it on the shelf above the fabric covered box.

Such a great coincidence, no?  Once we trim out the bathroom door, I plan to hang the frame to see as people walk out the door.  Is it strange to thank someone while leaving a bathroom?  Don’t know what I’m thanking them for…  Anyway, not only did I get a totally useful and pretty stamp, I got a mini piece of art in the process.  Double points! 

What do you do to make mailing things easier and possibly more fun?  Do you use a fun stamp?  Maybe you’re looking for a cute stamp to use?

Un Homme & Une Femme

Published on by Our Humble Abode30 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, the main bathroom isn’t finished, but that’s not stopping me from working on finishing touches.  I could resist making art for the back wall.  A large piece of art at that.  For bathrooms, I try to stay away from anything with eyes, because that just seems creepy to me.  Who wants to feel watched while doing your private business anyway?  So, I thought up bathroom appropriate art, but nothing felt perfect.  I didn’t want anything frilly.  Nothing too fancy.  Nothing to compete with the patterned shower curtain.  But something bold, simple, and most importantly, fun.  Then, it came to me.  Why not make an over sized version of the classic man/woman signs to mark commercial bathrooms?  It’s bold.  It’s simple.  It’s fun.  And bonus, it was easy to make. 

 

I started with a 2 foot by 3 foot frame I had sitting in the basement.  For my background, I painted a large piece of paper I had on hand navy blue.  An internet search gave me photos of the signs, so I made a design in Photoshop, printed it to plain paper, and used the designs as a template.  Then, I cut a man and a woman from card stock.  A few piece of rolled tape on the back held my people in place.  Popping it in the frame instantly made it look more chic and cheeky than the standard bathroom sign.

It certainly adds a dose of fun to the bathroom.  Best of all, it cost me under five bucks for materials!

Would it be too much to hang one of each of these vases over the toilet?

In other breaking bathroom news, Ben grouted the shower.  Crisp white grout is nice to see.  Once we, ah hem, Ben installs the faucet set, we can shower in here.  Yippee skippy. 

One of these days, I should wash that mirror.

So there ya have it, cheap, funny, eyeless bathroom art.  What do you think?  Too commercial feeling?  Just the right amount of kitsch to add personality to the space?  What do you have on your bathroom walls?

Coral Crush

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

Our main bathroom remodel still isn’t done, so most people aren’t using it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work on storage.  Being drawerless in the bathroom, wait, that came out wrong.  Without drawers in the vanity, I have to get creative with hidden storage.  So, I took to Pinterest to see what fun I could come up with.  I saw neat tutorials to make soft sided fabric bins, creative hard sided boxes, and even considered a rope covered box.  Ultimately, I decided to combine a few ideas to make something perfectly suited for our bathroom.  So, I started by cutting a large box to fit inside our small linen closet because I couldn’t find a pre-made box to fit the same.

Of course, cardboard boxes are ugly.  Luckily, I’ve been hoarding fabric lately, so I pulled out a yard of light gray duck cloth.  I didn’t have a long enough piece to completely wrap around the box, so I cut one strip 12 inches wide along the long end of the fabric.  To cover the back, I cut another small 15 inch wide by 12 inch tall strip to piece together.  With my long strip taped in place, I marked the corners.

Using those small marks, I sewed the smaller piece to make a box slip cover.

Because I was feeling lazy, I used Gorilla tape to hold the fabric in place along the underside and around the top edges.

It seemed too boring, so I dug through my paint stash until I found a bottle of coral acrylic paint.  How ’bout some stripes?  After measuring and marking two-inch wide strips, I taped off my edges.

And used a sponge brush and pouncing motion to paint near the edges and filled in the middle.

Pulling off the tape is such a fun part of painting.  Especially when the lines are crisp.  I had some rope on hand, so I marked two holes to create a handle.  Using a screw, I rotated through the fabric and cardboard to make the pilot holes.  Stuffing a pen through widened the holes enough to get the rope through.  Simple knots on each end hold the rope in place.

Now I’ll have to find a white or gray vinyl to line the inside.  Right now, it holds bath toys and we’ve got room for other ugly junk.

I’m really surprised at how sturdy it seems, but we’ll see how it holds up over time.  I think I’ll add fabric to the bottom so the shelf doesn’t get scuffed up when it’s pulled in and out.  Gotta hunt down a good-looking clothes hamper and maybe a few wire baskets.  Or maybe I’ll get all DIY on the hampers arse and make something myself.  Who knows.  Until then, tell me about your bathroom storage situation.  Do you prefer drawers, cabinets, boxes, open shelves?