The Craft Begins

I’ve been meaning to paint walls charcoal for the last few years, and I’ve finally landed in a place where I can paint the walls whatever color I want!  When everyone heard about my plans they thought I was insane, said I was going to be living in the batcave.  However, now that they’ve seen it in action, everyone loves it.  And rightly so.  Because it’s awesome.

I’m going to go ahead and say that the previous owners’ design aesthetic was a little…conservative.  As much as I love color, I also really love neutral tones, which is why all of the big furniture and expensive to replace items are in grays and browns.  We were lucky that the wood floors were in such great shape – I’m going to put down rugs eventually but I’ve been tracking in so much grass this summer it wasn’t worth it.  The cabinet in front is an antique store display – all of the drawers are filled with craft supplies!

Sorry the second picture is a little cockeyed, but you get the point!  I really struggled with a finding a way to make sense of a big, oddly-shaped living room but the antique cabinet made a perfect room divider.  Notice the mirror glass on the other side?  Didn’t know what to do with the big windows in front as they were kind of low but some low-backed club chairs and a pair of bookcases on either side of the wall seemed to do the trick.  In the very back, I found an old stereo cabinet that was in great shape and it really makes the little walkway make sense.

That’s it for the before and after pictures, but here are some detail shots for you:

The view from my couch – that’s what I meant about the windows with the chairs in front.  I love that little silver table – there’s a smaller matching one between the two modern chairs and all of the chrome in the room ties together really nicely, I think.  And that globe in the background?  The whole thing lights up!  I have a globe lamp (and the coolest grandmother ever).

I bought these Japanese fishing floats at the flea market last year and I haven’t known what to do with them, but I like the way that they just kind of roam in the basket.  And these chairs are my favorite chairs in the whole world – they’re sooo comfortable and I love the plaid and brass detailing.

Since I’ve got a lot of wood (with the floors and all the big furniture) and the living room was tending to look like an 18th century French naturalist’s apartment (I wish!) I wanted to balance them out with something a bit more streamlined and modern, and these chairs were perfect.  How’s that for a great secondhand find?

There’s still a few things that I’d like to do to the room and a few kinks I’d like to iron out but I was really excited to share the progress with everyone!  Hope you’re having a great week.

This is the beginning of the before and after house pictures!  I’d like to get everything totally perfect before I show you guys, so we’re starting with the basement.  I’ve got a roomate moving in this weekend so I will get some pictures up after she gets her stuff all in there but I did get a good picture of what the basement just looks like by itself.

Behold, the before:

And the after!

The wood paneling was terrible, and the blue carpet…ugh.  The worst part is, it went partway up the walls so we had to tear out all of that and put in baseboards instead. It’s pretty hard to see that in the before picture but trust me, the baseboards made a HUGE difference.  Make sure to look for the mountain scene paint-by-numbers in the first picture, as they will be making a reappearance in the house!  So, new carpet, painted the paneling, and a different basement emerged.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like with someone living down there!

I’m dreaming of a ridiculous, ostentatiously over-the-top vacation (that I’ll probably never be able to take) but if I could I would beeline for the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, India.  I love the mix of Indian and European styles.  Seriously, couldn’t you imagine yourself here?  I’d never leave.

I thought the exciting thing about buying a house was going to be filling it with great furniture, but I didn’t quite take into account how expensive it was going to be.  Looks like we’re going to be doing it a little bit at a time.

I would like to put this on my wishlist however:

Not only does it appear to be a fabulously gigantic steamer trunk, but it’s a great way to hide desk-related mess (which I’ve got in spades) when anyone comes over.  Voila!

Find it at Restoration Hardware.

OK, I’m back!  Dreaming of spring break over here.  Thought this inspiration board would set the mood.  Has everyone had a nice couple of weeks?

1. Love. Obsess. Inspire. is a great place to stop by for visual treats in a number of flavors – fashion, interiors and more.

2.  One of my favorite things on This is Glamorous is the image mashups – usually some gorgeous design paired with a coordinating fashion photo.  Simply beautiful.

3.  All the Mountains…I don’t even know what to say.  Really unusual and gorgeous finds with huge pictures.  Can’t get enough.

4.  If you’re looking for pointers and inspiration for a stylish life, Coco + Kelley is a one-stop shop.

5.  Simple + Pretty satisfies my daily need for fashion and awesome paper products.