Loving the Living Room

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Mary

I moved the best of two worlds (my apartment and my sister’s; she headed for California) into my condo, but the best of both worlds came with some drawbacks. Having all of the furniture I needed meant I didn’t need to buy anything (yay!) but I also didn’t get to choose anything (boo!). In a few rooms that meant giving myself some time to choose what I wanted and upgrade over time to better pieces.

My living room, however, was another story. That room was fully furnished, and much of the furniture was very nice. The centerpiece? A (very valuable) Oriental rug from my grandmother. I also had most of my father’s newly-divorced living room set, with a masculine/traditional look going. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t my taste either. Especially with my darker-gray walls in a North-facing room, it also made the room feel dark and small.

Also, it looked like my grandparents lived here. I felt like the sofa was old-man, the table was old-lady and the rug just old-people. I am a brat, and I am sorry. The table on the left of the sofa was nice though…honestly, that was the only thing I genuinely liked. I was neutral on the other end table and the blue chair.

I considered repainting the walls to make it work, but my friend Brad (he of the brilliant paint choices) suggested a new rug might make a huge difference. (This is probably why he now works for a home staging company, right?)

We went on a mini shopping spree, picking up a new end table lamp in glass (much lighter then the heavy ceramic you see above), a rug that was both smaller AND lighter, and new throw pillows for the couch. On a whim, he also talked me in to a new lamp for the mantel. I was “meh” about it when he picked it, but now I love it. I still wouldn’t necessarily say its “my style” but it is so perfect for the space–a great lesson about style not being the only indicator that something is right!

That was two years ago, and I instantly loved it more—it doesn’t even look like the same room! Incredible considering we changed only three things (and added a cream blanket that was formerly hanging out in my bedroom).

So. much. better. I hosted game club at my house shortly after this, and one girl asked if I’d gotten a new couch and told me she really liked it. A couple days later another friend said the same thing. I don’t love it still, but it was a great working-with-what-I’ve-got lesson.

Next up, that table. It belonged to my parents. Who are divorced, and have been for 19 years. They bought it when they got married. Goodbye. I pinned the heck out of various table ideas. I thought glass would be great for making the room look lighter still, but Brad (yep, the home styler again) pointed out that his glass coffee table it takes two people to move it. Oh. So I settled on two smaller glass cube tables. These are really similar (identical?) to Pottery Barn’s Tanner Cube tables, except they were less than $100 each on Overstock.com.

Oh, and I got the same Target chair that everyone else has. Can you spot my Christmas presents? The pillow is sitting pretty on the couch (love the rectangular shape) and the blanket basket is diagonal from this shot.

Boyfriend got me a basket and a new blanket for Christmas. I don’t like the look of the red one, but its cozy so I live with it.

And the rest of the room? Here’s looking from the windows back towards the door…you can just make out the stenciled hallway reflecting in the mirror on the hall cabinet.

And from the center hallway, where you can see the lamp a little better. Both the base and shade are oval, and the color is just right.

I’m mostly happy with the mantel right now. The photo is me and my parents before my sister was born–my uncle took it. And the little photo canvas is one of my grandfather’s photos. There was a huge set that used to be hung in their house, and when we divided up their estate I got this one. It was taken before I was born when my grandparents (mothers) came out to my grandparents (fathers) house in Tahoe. He was an avid photographer and my mom has some of his old photos displayed too. I don’t love the framing, but its permanently attached so I’ll deal–and the picture is gorgeous. I’m still working on styling all this, but its much better than it used to be!

What are your best tricks for styling mantels? Tables? Mine definitely still need some work!

Pinterest Challenge: Ring Around the Artwork

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Mary

It’s Winter Pinterest Challenge time! Thanks to some motivation from Megan (The Remodeled Life), Katie (Bower Power), Sherry (Young House Love) and Michelle (Decor and the Dog), I pulled together some new artwork (with & for Boyfriend).

Back in November, I went to visit my sister in Milwaukee. In the course of my (epically bad) train trip, I was left with nothing but a piece of paper and pen (and a phone. No keys. No wallet. No coat. Just a phone.) given to me by strangers (seriously. It was bad.). Mostly out of options, I started on my Christmas list, and a list of things to give others, especially the Boyfriend (he’s pretty tough to shop for).

His walls are either art by Ikea or pictures of his family, so something with more meaning seemed like a good idea, but what? It seemed cute to make something together, but that could be something only girls find cute–what if he thought it was dumb? Or I could combine the two!

I absolutely loved Amanda’s artwork that she made from her children’s artwork:

So much so that I made my own, but without the “aw, cute” of using my kids artwork. (You have to have actual kids for that sort of thing.) So instead I made my friends make me artwork at my birthday party.

But. Boyfriend has a nephew! I could have his four year old nephew make me some art, and turn that into something cool…

Along the lines of my pieced-together birthday art, but something different. 4 year olds probably won’t produce a ton of useable artwork, so I wanted something that could use his nephew’s picture as a component but probably not the focus. So I decided on circles…

I have a love affair with circles (I have a whole board of cards that involve circles) and on my Things for my Wall board, I pinned this:

It’s from Etsy shop box64studios, and although this one is no longer available, they have a similar listing here. I thought it was really cool, and thought something similar would look great as one of my bathroom artwork options.

Plus Boyfriend already has a circle thing going. He just moved, but here’s a picture of his old living room:

The rug is from the Home Decorators Collection and I love the circle pattern.

Boyfriend’s nephew painted me a couple of pictures a few weeks before Christmas, and I cut them into circles and put them in a box. I wanted to make sure he liked the idea, so for Christmas I just gave him the box of circles. (It was the one gift he chose to open at breakfast–he was a little bewildered.)

I grabbed a sheet of fancy gift wrap from my stash and did a practice run on the cream back.

Looking pretty good. Needs way more little circles. (Flashback to my Heart Art, where I had oodles of way-too-big hearts and needed tons more baby hearts). We also didn’t love the way it looked on white–the circles that were only partially painted were blending in a little and we didn’t love the look. [If you do this, I’d recommend using art that is thoroughly painted/colored so you can use a white background. Much simpler.) After a trip to Paper Source, we came home with a sheet of gray handmade paper with some silver texture to it and laid it out again.

Yeah. Too busy.

So we tried again, flipping over our piece of fancy paper and laying down the design again.

Much calmer. The paper still has a nice texture and doesn’t look plain but it isn’t fighting with the circles. But Boyfriend didn’t like the circles overlapping (as they are in the top left corner) and overall we thought more definition might look better. So we tightened up the arrangement.

Then it was time to glue. I started out with glue dots, which worked fine, but it would have used a lot (and after my Valentines wreath I’m running a little low!) We used a combination of tape runners and double sided tape, but I think most adhesives would work as long as your paper isn’t too delicate (some adhesives discolor paper).

When we finished, we popped it in a large Ikea frame, and hung it on my wall!

I know it doesn’t fit on the wall–it also doesn’t belong in my house, but Boyfriend is traveling (again) and its as good a place as any for it. It will live in his new living room above the couch.

Want to see my other Pinterest Challenge projects?

Map-lined drawer

Sentimental Storybook Art

Do you have any homemade art in your home?

Happy Birthday to Anyone!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Mary

(Except it never works that way…someone’s birthday rolls around, I look at my stash and none of them are quite right. Figures.)

Highly reproducible: Letterpress square from Paper source on a colored card with contrasting paper

One of my favorite cards I’ve ever made. This was using scraps from my birthday present artwork and I adore how it turned out.

I had this card with a pink border. I had a sticker with the same pink and some dimension. It’s like the gateway drug of card making…

Do you ever make cards? Which of these is your favorite? Also…anyone want more direction on how to make cards? I wasn’t sure if anyone cared.

Bathroom Updates

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Mary

This is a short little post on a little bitty thing. But sometimes those updates are the most fun, so I’m sharing anyhow. I’m loving the new bathroom, but still having a minor issue.

That. Not just the part where it isn’t the tidiest, but the part where I can’t actually see things in there very well. My old medicine cabinet had a white interior, and I could see things in it. This one? Not so much. When I wash my face or brush my teeth I put my hair back in a headband and ponytail, so I leave those two things in there. Both are black. They’re on the bottom shelf. See them?

Yeah, me either.

I can lean all the way over and look close and I still can’t see them half the time, and it was driving me nuts.

The surface is also wood, and I worried that drippy toothbrushes and the like would hurt the wood eventually.

Enter the Target placemat:

Which I cut into:

And then emptied out the cabinet:

And plopped it in (ok, so I measured too):

Now can you find my headband?

Yep, me too! (It’s just to the left of the toothbrushes). If the mat gets dirty or sticky or anything, I can just pull it out and wash it off, leaving my medicine cabinet like new and me able to find my headband at 6 am!

This isn’t my first Target placemat use–I have a couple in my kitchen for things like the bottom of the baking pan cabinet and underneath oils. Super easy, cleans up and if it gets too dirty I can just toss it out and my cabinets will be none the worse for wear! They cost about $2 and although the designs change, they always seem to have these in stock.

Do you line your medicine cabinet? Ever used a placemat for an unconventional purpose?

Happy Valentines Day!

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Mary

Happy Valentines Day!

Boyfriend is traveling (for work) right now, so we did our thing last weekend. I made my favorite pancakes for breakfast in the heart molds he got me for my birthday this summer. Hope your day is as sweet as our chocolate chip pancakes!

Quick and Easy Valentines Wreath

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Mary

I decorated!

Reds and pinks are not my decorating colors (I rarely even wear red), but I made a small exception for Valentines Day.

I wanted a little something for my door and a wreath seemed like a fun choice. No real instructions–I used five different coordinating papers, one of which was patterned with the word love and then cut strips between 2-4.5″ and then folded them in half. Then I free hand cut out a bunch of hearts.

I used a scrap of posterboard and (roughly) cut a 12″ circle about 2.5″ thick for my wreath base, then I grabbed a roll of small glue dots and went for it. I started with the bigger hearts and spaced them out a little and stuck ’em down. Then I started layering in smaller hearts. I needed to cut several rows of little hearts at the end to fill in small holes so there wasn’t awkward spaces. It was very low-tech.

Then I hung it up. I live in a condo, so my front door is in the hallway–no weather worries here!

The whole thing took me maybe an hour and was pretty painless.

Do you decorate for Valentines Day?

Pancake Mix

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Mary

I love pancakes. Nice real fluffy ones, with some taste to them. Ideally with mini chocolate chips.

In junior high home ec class, my teacher had a cookbook (from the 70s) called Make a Mix Cookery. Being the cool junior high schooler I was, I was obsessed with this book. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. You could just MAKE MIXES. You didn’t have to buy mixes OR make things from scratch. Magical!

Now it costs 4 times retail on Amazon. But I bet its still awesome.

My mother, sensing an opportunity, got it for me for Christmas. Not the vintage 1978 edition but the current one (current at the time, which means I have the 90’s edition and the new one is from 2006. But I’m sure its still awesome!)

I’ve really only used four mixes from the book, but two of them are such standbys it has more than paid for itself. My favorite (and a recipe I’m known for) is buttermilk pancake & waffle mix.

Ingredients:

2 cups dry buttermilk powder (I use Saco brand, in the center below, which is available at both major grocery stores in the area)
8 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder (which is 2 T + 2 t)
4 teaspoons baking soda (which is 1 T + 1 t)
2 teaspoons salt (that’s, um, 2 t)

Directions: Put in large bowl (mine is a 5 qt, which is the largest I own). Stir together with a whisk to really mix it thoroughly. I always do flour and sugar first, because the buttermilk powder can stick to the sides of the bowl a bit. And I mix the little dry ingredients in with a partially dumped cup of flour because I think they blend better that way. But I may be making that up.

After the mix is done, I put in the medium rubbermaid.

After the mix is done, I put it in the medium Rubbermaid canister.

Making the mix takes ten minutes tops, so its really easy–but even ten extra minutes is no fun when you just rolled out of bed on Saturday morning and want some breakfast. Which is why this mix is so awesome–now its like making Bisquick but better!

Just add:

1.5 cups mix
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg

And mix! I leave a 1/2 cup scoop in my mix, so its just three quick scoops, then a cup of water and 2 tablespoons of oil. If I’m feeling fancy I crack the egg into the empty measuring cup and beat it quickly, but usually it goes right in the bowl. Mix until its all incorporated, but not any longer than you need to, scraping down once or twice for lumps.

THEN turn on the stove. You can go wash your face or something now–leaving the batter to sit for a couple minutes while the pan is warming up gives the baking powder and buttermilk powder a chance to activate and make your pancakes fluffy and delicious. T

You can see the bubbles trying to rise to the surface in this bowl that has been sitting for about three minutes.

These are a specialty on church retreats, and I always bring my own pan AND make a test pancake (why, yes, people do tease me for this. But they also love my pancakes). On my own stove I don’t need to make a test pancake, because I know that 7 is the right setting, but its well worth the time. Know when to flip! The test I always do is to throw a little water on the pan. Its never a good idea to put food (of any type) on a pan that isn’t finished heating (you won’t notice as much with a nonstick pan, but that doesn’t make it a good idea). If the water sizzles and evaporates, the pan is ready for some pancakes. If it takes a little bit, adjust the heat if needed or just be patient. It will be warm soon.

If you have any mix-ins (mini chocolate chips! blueberries! walnuts!) throw them in now. I actually don’t do them all at once, and stir IMMEDIATELY before pouring–otherwise they just sink, so the first one will have three sad little mini chips and the last one will be chips barely held together by trace amounts of pancake. It isn’t cookie dough–batter doesn’t suspend things well. So I throw in a small handful of mini chocolate chips, give it a quick stir with my scraper and pour out some pancakes.

I love my square pan. Much better than the pair of 8 inch fry pans we used our first semester in our college apartment.

They are ready to flip when you see a good number of bubbles, as above.

Delicious! Keep a plate on an adjacent burner to stack up the pancakes on–and if something is in the oven, close to the vent. The added heat will keep them warm and ready.

What’s your favorite breakfast food? Pancakes? Eggs? Bacon? (I can’t even make eggs–that’s what Lesley or Boyfriend are for!)

Boyfriend Birthday Art

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Mary

Boyfriend’s not a crafty guy. He’s not much of a reader either, and definitely not a Young House Love junkie like some people here.

But after teasing me about Lesley coming down and the two of us waiting outside in the rain to get our very own autographed copy of their book, he had to see what the fuss was all about.

And he saw a picture of this:

And he really liked it. Enough to refer back to it a couple times, and for me to decide it would be a pretty good birthday present. So for his birthday, I grabbed a big canvas, some craft paint and a few brushes (ok, I already had the brushes). I wrapped them up with a little canvas (to represent the big blank one which I didn’t think was worth wrapping). After a little confusion, he was excited, and over Christmas break we got it done.

Turns out he’s also totally hired on as my new staff photographer (have you noticed how bad all my pictures are?), so that’s a plus.

So we got out our canvas, a yardstick, several shades of green craft paint + white + silver metallic for some depth, a couple brushes and a paper plate for mixing.

Then I got to measuring. We did 1.5 inch marks, using the yardstick facing the same direction down both long sides and then lining it up between the two marks to make lines. Then I just grabbed an envelope and made some random arrows. This part was hilarious. It’s not for me, so I was asking Boyfriend what he wanted. So he went and got the book, and started scrutinizing the picture. “Well, she never does too many close together.” “Don’t do diamonds. She didn’t do diamonds.” The best was “Ok, she did two, then three, then two, then four…” as he actually started counting how many arrows in each line. I stopped him and pointed out it didn’t have to look EXACTLY like what Sherry did. That’s an IT guy for you, right?

Then it was time for painting. As with anything paint, you can always go darker, so I started with what I thought would be a mid-to-darker color (which was one of my greens mixed with white). Of course, it ended up being our darkest.

From there, we just mixed new shades, usually just lightening what we were working with, and adding a lime-y green to some mixes, with silver to others (I didn’t want it to look too flat and Sherry didn’t provide formulas, so I was allowed to do this.)

~~My new photographer~~ Boyfriend even made me hold it up at regular intervals to make sure he got some good progress shots (see, totally hired!)

And I started on the little bonus canvas you see–see if you can find it later in my house!

And then finally it was done! He loves it and so do I. Right now it’s hung sideways on a nail in my house waiting for his move to a new place at the end of the month. But it will be the first thing you see when you walk in his new place. Now if I can just convince him I don’t do this with everyone I date (which is true! Right Lesley?!)

What’s your favorite piece of art you’ve made?

Moving On: Quick Tips and Things to Keep on Hand

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Mary

With Lesley gearing up to move in the next few months and Boyfriend moving Saturday, I thought I’d share a few of the things we did right during his move, as well as a few things that fell through the cracks. (Also, if I write it down I’ll be able to reference it myself).

The movers he hired were s-l-o-w, but my experience has usually been that the movers need all my stuff right away, whether I’m ready for them or not. I tend to leave “just a couple things” to be done at the end, but it ends up being too much to fit in and so I end up moving a few things myself. I also tend to think I have one “one or two boxes” when I really have, like, ten boxes worth of stuff left to get thrown in. Don’t leave things for that one last box. Unless its a magic box.

This was an in-town move between apartments (I cannot imagine doing cross country or having more than one bedroom), so it doesn’t include things like toothbrushes–that’s outside my realm of experience. These are the things we were glad to have or wished we had during moving day.

So here goes:

Things to leave out at the old place:

Not this exact one, but similar. Smaller and lighter than a drill, so its easier to store where you can grab it and gets light moving out type jobs done fast

Screwdriver (super essential–you’ll forget to take holders off the wall, realize those curtain tie backs need to come down, and that the legs on the table are screwed on). He used a small electric one, which is easier to tote around than a drill.
Paper towels and other cleaning supplies, to clean whatever you uncover when you move large items around
Garbage bags. More than one, since you’ll be pretty sure you got it all, throw out the first one, and realize you need another.
Small Ziploc bags to put small pieces (like screws or shelf supports) so they don’t disappear.
Sharpie to label anything you missed.
Pen and paper to write stuff down, ideally on a clipboard.
Tape gun so you can close last-minute boxes and tape random things together.
Some food. We messed this up. Due to the turtle-movers, I was starving by the time we finally left his place. (I had set aside stuff to eat breakfast, but didn’t anticipate lunch). Along those lines, bottled drinks or a cup so you can still have a drink.
One or two Very Important BAGS where the above items get stashed. We had a duffel bag with plenty of pockets (screws, ziplocs, writing utensils), a small size tool caddy (for the screwdriver and some other basics) and a cleaning caddy.

On the flip side, most of the stuff above was important, with some key additions. There are also some things you just want to make sure you can find immediately without having to open any boxes:

A utility knife, to open all those boxes.
Food. Or at least a plan for where to get some. See above.
Toilet paper. Or a willingness to find a convenient business if you need to use the facilities.
Spare blankets or towels. Your movers might be smart enough not to put boxes from the snowy ground outside right on your dining room table. Or not. Instead of stressing about it, cover it up.
Everything above (except the tape gun. Thank goodness!)

On a side note, Boyfriend now lives half a block from Michael’s. This could be dangerous…

What are your moving must-haves?

Wintry “Thanks” Cards

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Mary

Somehow, I’ve posted cards exactly once.

Must fix. Now that I’ve hired a photographer* I’m all set to fix that.

Lets start off with the Thank You cards I made to send to (very generous) family & friends for my Christmas gifts**

These were pretty simple to make using my Cuttlebug and a paper cutter, as well as all this:

White and light blue shimmer paper, heavy navy paper, white pen, corner rounder, tape roller, Snowflake die and snowflakes embossing folder (and glue dots)

Once I had the basic design set up, these came together very quickly. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been practicing writing different fonts (using this book, which I highly recommend), and I used three of them in these cards:

Which is your favorite? The last one is the only nice writing I can do that seems worthy of going on a card!

*Boyfriend. I make him dinner sometimes…

**They would have been Christmas cards but…yeah.

homemade•handmade

Author Archives: Mary

Loving the Living Room

Pinterest Challenge: Ring Around the Artwork

Happy Birthday to Anyone!

Bathroom Updates

Happy Valentines Day!

Quick and Easy Valentines Wreath

Pancake Mix

Boyfriend Birthday Art

Moving On: Quick Tips and Things to Keep on Hand

Wintry “Thanks” Cards