Living Room Update

When my mom asked me for advice on how to decorate her living room, it took me all of one hour to plot something out.  Taking into account her tastes are very different from mine, I gave her a new layout scheme, a list of accessories and ideas for window treatments.  And yet decorating my own spaces takes me weeks!! Why?  There are so many pretty things I like and I change my mind with every pretty picture I see. 

But yesterday I read something that hit home for me:  "Style is knowing who you are and what works for you." - Frank Muytjens.  He is the head of JCrew Men's Design.

So while I love and can appreciate printed upholstery, I know that I like to constantly change accessories and play with different color schemes.  Case in point: I love the printed slipcovers on the chairs below, but I bought them in a slipcover because I know that I will want to change the look soon. By sticking to neutral pieces, I can constantly play with different pillows, throws, lamps, artwork and window treatments.

These are current pictures of my living room in Texas:

It looks very bare without accessories. huh? I have decided to stop flip flopping and just choose a design scheme already.   After revisiting my favorite living room ever for inspiration:

Here is what I have decided on:

It's a very neutral palette that I intend to play up with accessories.  I already ordered that wingback chair during an awesome sale at WS Home.  I got a 30% discount and free shipping!  Those slipper chairs are the same ones I currently have with a different cover.  And those rattan chairs are very affordable chairs from Crate and Barrel.  The dark wood side chairs currently in my living room will be moved to my patio.

Now I can focus on my accessories scheme.  I want to play with orange, grey, white and blue accessories!

Painting Laminate Bookcases

I'm sure we've all had one of these at some point - either in college or graduate school - the laminate bookcase.  You know, the cheap bookcases made of wood like paneling? I bought two from KMart many, many, years ago and they were at my mother's house holding all my college and law school books.

Since I need to cut costs wherever possible in decorating & furnishing my house, I decided to give those old bookcases a makeover.

This is the before:

 First, I wiped all traces of dust of with an old towel.  Then I painted each bookcase with a coat of oil based primer.

Without this primer, paint won't stick to the laminate surface!  So it's very important not to skip this step.  I was very thorough with the primer and made sure each nook & cranny was covered.  Then I let each bookcase dry over night.

The next day I applied two coats of paint to each bookcase.  One in stark white and the other in chocolate brown.  I let that dry over night.  The next day I placed them in the room and merchandised them up, and voila!

Here is the one in white:

And the one in chocolate:

Here is a side view of the chocolate brown:

In person, the paint looks even and not at all splotchy.  I had to use the flash on my camera for these pictures though and it shows some splotches that you can't see in person.  FYI.

Total cost: primer and paint = $40.  Not bad too give some old bookcases a new life.

Eventually, I intend to replace them with some "real" furniture, but for now they will do quite nicely!

Christmas Decorations

I love decorating Christmas trees.  One year, I decorated my tree in NYC with butterflies as shown above.  I loved it.  For my house in Texas, I bought a giant Christmas tree and spent a few days decorating it.

My theme is metallics with blue and green.  I kept the butterfly theme going, but a little more subtle this time.  I had a hard time photographing the tree, but here is a closer detail of some of the ornaments:

Now I am on the hunt for the perfect tree topper.  What should I use?  An angel?  A giant butterfly (teehee, only kidding)?  Ribbon?  Nothing?    Not sure how to finish the tree.  Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Second Life for an Old Dresser

My mom had a matching set of bedroom furniture she bought in Mexico more than 20 years ago. Over the years, she has re-purposed or given away some of the items but one lone dresser remained.  This dresser had spent time in my childhood bedroom and even followed me to law school for 3 years.

I wish I had taken a "before" picture - I could kick myself for not having done so but this was in my pre-blog days, please forgive me ;).  The picture below is an indication of what the dresser looked like once upon a time:

Kinda rustic, solid pine wood. My mom had long outgrown this look and wanted to get rid of it.  The lone dresser sat in her garage waiting to be donated to charity, but  I saw potential. I needed furniture for my new house in Texas and so I decided to roll up sleeves and get to work!!

First, I took an old dishtowel and wiped off all the dust.  Then I painted it with a coat of oil based primer.

I let the primed dresser dry over night.  The next day I used two coats of semi-gloss Behr paint in cottage white.

Then I replaced the hardware with these cute knobs from Home Depot:

And voila!  A fresh new dresser.  I decided to place it in my kitchen nook to store my table linens, serving platters and extra candles.

A closer look at the details:

I use the top shelf to hold my serving platters:

Total cost for refurbishing the dresser: about $40 (primer, paint & supplies and hardware).  Total time: 2 hours priming and about 3 hours painting.  What do you think?

P.S. I replaced the hideous pendant that used to be in the kitchen nook with the cute chandelier shown above.  It's petite and the perfect size for the kitchen nook.

Texas Challenge

Today's post is looooooong.

Decorating my living room in my Texas home has been a big challenge.  My preferred color palette includes grays, whites, blacks, pops of bright color here & there and touches of polished nickel (for some sparkle!).  Unfortunately that color palette would not work on the first floor of my Texas home because (other than the bedrooms) it is an open floor plan and the floors are terracotta.  It's a Spanish/Mediterranean house, so the terracotta floors go perfectly with the style of the house, but not with my ideal color palette.

Here are two pictures of the living room as decorated by the prior owners:

You can see how well shades of chocolate brown and gold go with the floors and the walls.  They added a lot of dark woods, wrought iron and leather.  It is lovely and the decor goes very well with the house - it's just not me.

The house is also flooded with a lot of natural light, which I love.  This causes the wall color to change as the day progresses from a pale yellow, to beige, to camel.  

 






It has been a slow process finding things I like, that coordinate with the room and that coordinate with each other.  It would be very easy to buy dark furniture and decorate with golds and burgundies (typical Tuscan decor for example), but that just would not be reflection of me. 

This is what I have so far:

A large seagrass rug to anchor the living room.  I wanted to add some natural texture to the room and seagrass & terracotta are a match made in heaven.  I want the room to feel relaxed and breezy so I opted for this instead of a traditional rug.  Also, seagrass rugs are much more affordable than traditional wool rugs.

















Next, I added an English roll arm linen sofa in espresso.  I love the look and feel of linen.  The sofa has very elegant lines and yet is super comfy.  You can lounge comfortably in it.  I like that it can easily and comfortably seat 3 people.  Linen and seagrass = love.  Breezy and relaxed.

 

Then I bought two slipper chairs (on clearance!) in a beautiful, bright chinoiserie print.  The chairs were on sale, so I saved some money.

They add some much needed color and pattern to the room.  The best part though is that they are slipcovered. If the fabric gets dirty, I can throw the covers in the washing machine.  If after a few years I decide to change, I can buy two new slipcovers for a fraction of the price of replacing the entire chair. The slipcovers are cotton with the look of linen.

I am not a fan of decorating around a television and even contemplated not adding one in the living room. But to be realistic - my family loves television.  I have been known to love it from time to time too ...  so I bought this simple stand from Pottery Barn.

I like that it has glass doors on the sides.  I can add  ceramics or bowls to add color and interest.  Eventually, I intend to replace the stand with a full cabinet - the kind that completely hides the television until you are ready to watch it.  The walls are very high and there is space for that - unfortunately, there is no room in my budget for that right now.


  

I want to avoid having my home look too traditional and the above items are very traditional.  I want the house to have a blend of traditional and modern elements.  I bought these nickel, mirrored top nesting side table (on clearance!) to place on either side of the sofa.  This adds a touch of sparkle.  I haven't seen these tables set in the living room yet, so the verdict is still out on whether they will work.  My fingers are crossed!











Here is what I have in mind for my next purchases that will hopefully complete the room. Because the living room opens up to the dining room, see below, I want to add furniture that connects the two rooms.

I think I would like to add a bench between the two rooms, where that lone chair sits in the picture. Something like this:

I like that it has a traditional tufted cushion, but with modern lines.  I would want it to be covered in some type of heavy duty velvet.  The sofa and slipper chairs are linen.  The large rug is seagrass, I think adding some velvet would add a nice contrast of texture.  I like that people could face either the dining room or the living room.   Or curl up on it for a nap.

I also want to add a small flat woven rug on top of the seagrass rug right under the coffee table to add some interest and to further anchor the area in front of the sofa.

And then I want to place an accent chair against the wall next to the patio doors. I want to play off the colors in the slipper chairs.  Maybe something like this: 

Window treatments - I think I am leaning toward a grommet top in a white linen.  The grommet top adds some contemporary touches (versus a pleated drapery panel).  

Some potential accessories: 

Next time I am in Texas I will take current pictures and make some decisions.  Actually - the biggest challenge of all has been decorating long distance.  Oy vei - what a headache that's been.  But I know in the end it will be well worth it. 

The Lone Star State

I live in New York City, but I was born and raised in south Texas.  Although I spend about 95% of my time in New York, I have a home in Texas.  This is the story of how I came to buy this house.  I was ready to invest in real estate, but prices in NYC are alarmingly high.  I could not find a two bedroom apartment in Manhattan under $700K.  Absolutely outrageous, huh?

One day I randomly decided to research the real estate market in my hometown.  And I saw this house.  It was love at first sight.  Two weeks later I was on a plane and had an appointment with a real estate agent.  Over the course of one weekend, I viewed this house 3 times.  I loved it.  I also viewed lots of other houses in the area, but none spoke to me the way this one did.

And so on Sunday afternoon, just hours before departing for my return trip to NYC I decided to make an offer on the house.  On the plane, I felt my insides twist and turn.  Is this a smart way to invest my money?  How much time would I actually spend in the house?  Would I ever (gasp) consider moving out of NYC and back to Texas?  I was full of doubts but felt comforted by the fact that I had a 10-day period in which I could retract my offer.  I prayed for help - a sign telling me what to do.

I arrived in NYC on Sunday night and on Monday morning I had an email waiting in my inbox.  It was from an old childhood friend I had lost touch with after high school graduation.  She emailed me to tell me that she'd had a dream about me and it had been such a vivid dream that she tracked me down via Facebook.  In her dream, I was showing her a building.  The building was mine and I was immensely happy.  In the dream, I was showing her around and talking with her about a new project that was somehow connected to the building.

As bright as day - I took this to be my sign. My offer was accepted and the house is happily, now mine. I am a full-fledged grown-up now.