Maybe the cover or an excerpt from Emil Ruder's "Typographie" would make a cool oversized piece of wall art...





Yeah?

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The master bedroom is pretty much complete. I wanted to map out the inspiration and color palette paired with the final image.*

Inspiration:
• I knew I wanted the room to match the cats. Grey and white with gold (eyes) accents. Originally I wanted to go more yellow rather than gold but over the course of designing the room things just wound up gold.
• Painting the walls grey was hands-down the best color choice we made in the entire house. It's a warm grey that keeps the room from feeling to dull or institutional. The gold accents give the entire room a nice metallic palette.

The piece we already had:
• Bedroom Furniture
• Gold faux fur throw
• White throw
• Sheets
• Gold birds

Pieces purchased:
• Rugs (Target) - this is an older photo - so the rugs aren't pictured here.

(I just thought this photo wasn't quite as good)
• Gold comforter and shams (Target)
• Curtains and rods (Target; Bed Bath & Beyond)

I'm going to go through and map out the rest of the rooms that are complete or almost complete. For those that aren't quite finished I think it will help give me a sense of what I need to do to polish them off.

*This is all after Liz showed me a color dissection of her duplex she created for her mom as a guide to help her with buying her things for her place.

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When Jeremy moved in with me I was NOT a cat person and he had two cats. So he made some concessions to make the adjustment a little easier and we agreed on the following terms:
1. The cats would be given SoftPaws. (A wonderful alternative to declawing that makes the cats looks like they have a fresh coat of polish on their nails.)
2. Jeremy would clean out the cat box 3 times a day. It's 2 now but it seems to suffice. I also insisted on unscented litter.
3. For himself, Jeremy bought a Roomba. This is to help clean up the litter that the kittens track out of the cat box. It also cleans up their hair (and mine) that seems to collect in corners and on the rugs.


This is a robot vacuum. We have the white and grey one. It matches the cats! So really, Roomba is fantastic. It won't completely replace your upright vacuum (oh, hello, Dyson) but it helps with every day cleaning. Roomba had a hard time adjusting to moving into the new house and refused to work. Jeremy ordered a new battery just to have it short out. Well, we finally got another battery in the mail and Roomba's "power" light is shining brightly.

Well. Today a Scooba came up on Woot.com.

This is the robot mop. Our kitchen floor can't seem to stay clean and this is just what we need. I think it would make a nice addition to our little family.

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Target has the best corporate design ever.

I love everything about this layout. Especially the hot dog in the corner.

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I've been bitten by the Fall bug. And with that comes Fall shopping.


I think I need a cropped motorcycle jacket. It will go well with my Vespa.

And these shoes.

I love, love, love these. Yes I said it. Love love love.


Both by Steve Madden.

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Jeremy and I finally buckled down and got back to work.

We decided to tackle the kitchen - it's just so close to being done.

This image might not look TOO different but look closely. You'll see another FADO globe light hanging where it once wasn't. You will also see knobs and pulls on all the doors and drawers. What you might not see is the fresh coat of white paint I applied to all the doors and drawers as well. And you might not see how air tight everything is after applying caulk to every nail hole and every crack visible.


Here you can see the two lights hanging together. I love it.


Part of the process.

So the only things we really have left to do is grout the floor where the tile was patched, touch up the grout on the backsplash in some areas, seal the grout on the backsplash and touch up the wall paint.

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Okay. So our living room needs some help.

After reviewing everyone's suggestions and brainstorming I came up with an idea that I'm super excited about. I want to get a large piece of wood - like 4 feet x 4 feet and wash it with white stain. I contacted one of my local printers about doing a large format print on top of it.

For just $8 a sq. ft. we could have something like this:


Or this:

(not necessarily this image - I just wanted to show that we could print a FULL image on the wood)

Or this:

I like the idea of having a black and white line drawing of furniture or something scientific. Like a vintage scientific drawing of a plant or skeleton.

Coming up with something to put on there is going to be like deciding on a tattoo. So many possibilities.

Rachel pointed out that we need something bold above the fireplace to help draw the eye up. I think something like this would work there. Or behind the TV.





And I think this space could use a full length leaning mirror. Or a huge starburst clock/mirror.

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By Julianna Swaney, "Bird Girl With White Ruff"
It really couldn't be more perfect.

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I recently purchased a package of plain black frames in various sizes. I have 20 total.

Going clockwise starting at 12: Holga photo of my brother, my grandma in a bathing suit, me in a bathing suit on the beach in Mexico, Holga print of Jeremy and I in Mexico, Donny's blockhead x-ray, Holga photo of my dad (the boxer), a print that was a gift from Liz, Jeremy playing the drums (with a mohawk) circa 1998, an editorial spread from a magazine printed in 1957 with our Heywood-Wakefield dining set featured in it, photobooth shots of Jeremy and I, a note from my brother.


I received this note from my brother in the mail about a year ago. It was just what I needed at the time and meant the world to me.


A close-up of Jeremy playing the drums at 20 years old. This photo is one of my favorites. It's sweet to think of him back then.

I was originally planning to fill our hallway with these frames (I've got 9 more to fill) but now I am considering clustering them in the living room.

Whatever I do in there I need to add some vertical height. Everything is so low and horizontal right now...

I also have this image in my mind of a large square yellow, tan and brown piece of art - now let's see if I can find something like that anywhere...

Something like that would also work above the TV.

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Enough about grilled cheese and soup (which I'm craving at this very moment and will eat again tonight).

I forgot to show you all the couch!

Probably because I've been avoiding showing you the living room. From this angle it's looking pretty good. Coming together nicely.

From these angles, not so much.

What do I need here? I don't want something that takes away from the TV. Maybe a large mirror? It would reflect the window behind the couch, which is always nice. We also got a lamp that matches that on the left for the right side (I think some bookend symmetry here would be nice) but the shades are different colors due to aging.


This angle isn't great either. (Please ignore the phallic cat post - that in conjunction with soft paws is keeping our furniture intact. I also didn't bother with art directing these whatsoever.) Jeremy hung the curtains that we scored at IKEA for $14 a pair - and it certainly helps warm the room up. I still need to hem them with the iron-on hem tape provided with the purchase.


And then we've got this. The worst of the bunch. This is what you see when you walk in the front door. I'm not sure what to do. I do think we need some sort of buffet or bench or something... but I might be at a loss.

So, dear readers, what do you think? I have an idea but I want to hear you out first and I want to have something fun to post about tomorrow!

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Jeremy suffered from a little stomach virus yesterday and had to stay home from work. Of course I came home from work starving and was trying to think of something to eat that wouldn't make him wretch (like fish of any sort which is a staple in our household).

We settled on grilled cheese and tomato soup.

To be specific - extra charp cheddar cheese on ciabatta bread, grilled to perfection, with Amy's Organic tomato soup. It was SO GOOD.


We finally hung our wine rack. The only problem is that when the cabinet lighting is on it heats up the wine on the edges a little bit.

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My favorite decoration ever is a collection of gold birds my grandma handed down to me.

They were hanging above her bed for as long as I can remember. One day I told her how much I loved them and she said I could have them as soon as she found the time and had the energy to take them down. I immediately took them off the wall myself (to save her the trouble, of course) and thanked her times a million.

So imagine my surprise when I was watching my new favorite show, Mad Men, the other day and saw the very same birds in Joan Holloway's home!

I was excited that my grandma and I both share the same taste as the most fabulous character on Mad Men!


She even has grey walls and gold accents!


Here they are in context. It took me a while to get them hung but seeing them on Mad Men definitely motivated me!

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What a busy weekend. Between hanging out with our families and celebrating Liz's 24th birthday we had a lot going on.



At some point, after a few drinks, Jeremy became an amazing photographer.

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So when we were at that awesome antique store in Fredericksburg, TX I noticed a lot of bug collections.


I think our house could really use one.

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Meet Halston.

She is beautiful.


She's also my brother's girlfriend. He adores her.

No, she's not the bearded lady - this shot is from Coney Island's first beard and mustache competition hosted by Donny Vomit. She accessorized appropriately for the occassion.


At this moment she is exploring Argentina. You can follow her adventures here.

And... these are abundant down there.

Here's an excerpt from her blog:
I have tasted many things, but oh. the yogurt, the butter, the cream chese, oh the STEAK! And of course....the leather...

They must sing to the cows every night in preparation for their ceremonial death. There are 5 cows to every person. That's a lot of songs, and they all must be profundo and beautiful.


Halston also takes some amazing Holga photographs. You can see those here. They remind me of a dream I never had.

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If you've been following my blog you've already met Liz.

She loves winter, lives for Michigan beaches and has an addiction to chairs.

Meet the newest addition to her family.

Which brings us to Liz's Dilemma. She has 13 chairs seven of which are gold.

She also lives in a 1 bedroom duplex that is apx. 800 square feet (which was where Jeremy and I lived before buying our house).

So where does she put all the chairs!?


Here is the original layout of her living room. Yes, she now has my previous couch and I ripped off the layout of her reading nook.

So here are the arrangement possibilities.

POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT #1 - Living Room

Living Room: I try to squeeze the new yellow chairs in. They are very low and now the first thing you see when you walk into the house, so they kind of make all my furniture look like child play furniture. Also, three yellow chairs in a row?!

POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT #2 - Breakfast Nook

Here is the original layout of the breakfast nook taken from the kitchen.




Breakfast Nook: I try to squeeze the new yellow chairs in.
The issue with this is one of those chairs is blocking access to the basement door. Which is a good thing when a serial killer breaks in and wants to murder Liz down there (which was always my fear when I was living there) because the chair is blocking the way but a con when Liz wants to do her laundry in the basement.

POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT #3 - Dining Room

Dining Room: Trying to fit the new yellow chairs in the dining room. Moved the credenza BACK into room. Another view including the dining table. Too crowded? Does this look like a storage room or something? Too many functions for such a small space?


In my opinion is does look slightly crowded but I love the chairs positioned at a 90 degree angle like this.

POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT #4 - Dining Room

Dining Room: Trying to fit the new yellow chairs in the dining room. Moved the credenza into the living room.


Another view with this set-up.


Living Room: Different view with the credenza behind the couch. It would be the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.
Liz would move the credenza in that room to the living room behind the couch with this arrangement.

POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT #5 - Dining Room

This is the layout with the dining table and chairs flip-flopped.


Dining Room: Possible Arrangement #5 creates an awkward space on this wall. The credenza is still behind the couch.

So as you can see - Liz has a dilemma.

Here's my idea - I think she should try moving the dining table into the breakfast nook if there is room. Then create a second living room in the current dining area.

Any ideas?

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