New and Improved

Meet my new and improved benches . . .

Don't they look great? I just love this fabric. Couldn't be happier with them.

Here's a reminder of what they looked like before . . .

Now that I've got the new benches at the end of the bed (I didn't take an overall photo with the new ones in place because honestly I had wrapping paper and crap all over my room), I'm looking for some new bedding possibly with some black in it. I'm usually a white bedding kind of girl, and while I still am, I thought I would investigate some other possibilities. So, below are are some inspirations for my room and possible bedding options.

First up, Mary McDonald. Now, I know this is not a bedroom nor does it bear much resemblance to my room at the moment but bear with me . . . 

Source: housebeautiful.com via Kathy on Pinterest

These are the colors I either have in my room or want in my room. I just love her use of contrasts. So dramatic. Tone it down several notches, and that's what I'm going for. Mary has a dark taupey-gray on the walls as do I (although mine is lighter) with accents of white, black and yellow - also what I'm going for. I would love a bigger version of the small yellow bolsters she has on the black leather chairs across my bed. Add some Greek Key tape and voila.

Some other ideas . . .

Source: theinsanedomain.blogspot.com via Kathy on Pinterest

I love this dark screen and the coziness of the rug and fur throw combo. I already have a small rug by my bed. And while I already have a headboard and thus don't need a screen, I ran across these Asian panels in my friend Jennifer's shop "tag."

There are four of them, so I could put two on either side of my bed behind my bedside tables/lamps. And look at the colors - black and gold with hints of yellow. Is it meant to be?

Or I could just put this wallpaper on the wall behind my bed. What a statement that would make.

Source: stevesblindsandwallpaper.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Not sure my husband would be on board for that, but a girl can dream. Speaking of dreaming here are some more dreamy bedrooms . . .

Source: Uploaded by user via Kathy on Pinterest

More fur and black with orange instead of yellow, but you get the idea.

Source: spaziorosso.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Obviously, totally different than my room but I was mainly interested in the bedding on this one. Although, you know I'd kill for floors like that. But I need to focus on what I've got.

Source: lonnymag.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Like the graphic black and white bedding.

And now some bedding options. While, of course, I would love to go the Leontine Linens/D. Porthault route with my bedding, I unfortunately don't have that kind of budget. So I perused some more pocketbook-friendly sites like West Elm and PB Teen (yes, I know I'm not a teen). Here's what I found . . .

Source: pbteen.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Try to imagine this without big floral sheets. I think it would be nice folded at the end of the bed with a white coverlet/blanket on the bed and crisp white sheets. Maybe white Euro or king pillows with a black monogram and that yellow bolster pillow in front. Are you feeling me?

Source: westelm.com via Kathy on Pinterest

I really like this subtle striped edge duvet from West Elm (sans the big letter in the middle). This might look nice with one of the fur throws across the bottom. Some other options from West Elm . . .

Source: westelm.com via Kathy on Pinterest

This paisley bedding, although it might be a little too bohemian? Or the basic white pintuck duvet, also from West Elm.

Source: westelm.com via Kathy on Pinterest

This might be, dare I say, too romantic?

And just to leave you with another fabric to confuse you, I found this GP & J Baker velvet fretwork fabric on eBay and just loved it . . .

Isn't it pretty for a pillow or something?? Oh, and I need curtains, but I thought I would tackle the bedding first.

Whew, that was a long post. Sorry to be so long-winded. Any favorites in the bunch?

Color Story

For some time now, I've had this rug in my living/family room. I believe it's been both a blessing and a curse.

Don't get me wrong. I love the colors in it, but they change from one end to the other, as all Persians do. It can be a bit tricky. 

Plus, the colors look different in different light. So, I've basically come to peace with the fact that it's got a lot of pink and green it it. Sometimes the pink looks coral, sometimes it looks rosy. Sometimes the green looks emerald, sometimes it looks teal.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I've been looking for fabrics for my Milo Baughman-esque Craigslist chair for some time now, and when dear Emily from Recently suggested pink - a lightbulb went off. Yes, pink. Well, coral or raspberry or azalea or punch, if you're my husband. We can't actually call it pink. So the search was on. Here are some of the fabrics I found . . . 

And then these . . .

Did you get a good look at that last Duralee fabric? Oh, yeah, one of my dogs nibbled on it last night while I wasn't looking. 

Nice. Guess I'll be paying for that sample. 

I actually liked this fabric the best, but it's on backorder for 6 weeks. Uggh. I hate waiting. So, I'm still looking. Or maybe I should just order it and wait patiently. Decisions.

In the meantime, I found a pretty mallard green velvet lumbar pillow at World Market that might look nice either in the chair (once it's recovered) or on my slipper chairs or sofa. Just thought the color was pretty good.

I also recently ordered one of those marbled handmade papers from Paper Mojo. It has a lot of the same pretty pinks and greens running through it. Thinking of either framing it or using it behind the shelves in my grandmother's china cabinet.

Here it is tacked on top of my emperor just to see what it might look like on the wall . . .

Call it pink and green or punch and mallard, I don't care. I'm just loving this updated take on the classic, often characterized as preppy color combo.

Here are some sophisticated pink and green or simply pink inspirations that are on my Pinterest page . . .

Source: flickr.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Source: fromtherightbank.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Source: design-crisis.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Source: interior-s.tumblr.com via Kathy on Pinterest

The lines of these pink chairs are not unlike my chair, and I have that same brass garden seat.

Source: kellywearstler.com via Kathy on Pinterest

So, what do you think? Does pink have to prissy and delicate or can it be sophisticated and rich? I'm leaning toward the latter.

Work in Progress

I heard on the news today that 49 out of our 50 states currently have snow on the ground. Crazy, huh? Even crazier? My daughter will be out of school again tomorrow for the 4th day in a row. Apparently, the few patches of ice left on the road make it too treacherous for the buses to run. My husband sent me this photo he found yesterday that aptly describes what happens when snow hits the South:

And in other news, my daughter's room got painted today. The color? Ironically, we chose Arctic Blue by Benjamin Moore. 

We are slowly but surely eradicating any signs of pink in the room. As I mentioned before, Meg now detests pink and chose aqua and green as her color scheme. I really like the blue we decided on, but the green on the PB Teen bedding is giving me fits. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough color. But it doesn't match any other green in the known universe. You never know what you're going to get when you order online. Of course, we can't return it because I had the shams monogrammed. Plus, Meg really likes it (green is her favorite color). So, I'm forging ahead. We need a dust ruffle, chair and curtain fabric. Here are some options . . . 

This Robert Allen fabric might work as a dust ruffle.

And I love this Robert Allen Khanjali fabric in Glacier as a possibility for the curtains. The only problem? The !#$@% green doesn't really match but maybe it wouldn't matter.

Of course, I could just go with white curtains. But would that be too boring?

These curtains are also from PB Teen. I'm not one of these people who likes to buy everything from the same catalog, but I saw these on Milk and Honey Home yesterday and immediately liked them.

Next, my grandmother's chair. This one has been with me since childhood (with the same raspberry gingham plaid check I might add). Now, she needs some new upholstery and possibly a paint job (I don't think I want to go with white but maybe).

Since there is so much blue in the room, I thought the chair should be predominantly green but I still haven't found the perfect fabric. Still on the hunt . . .

And some more photos of the room . . . 

Yes, those are PB Teen sheets too. I'm pathetic aren't I?

Just as a reminder, here's what it looked like before . . . 

 

Of course, I still need to address the lighting, lampshades, etc. But as I wrote, it's a work in progress. Are you a fan of the aqua and green palette? Any fabric, accessory, lighting, etc. suggestions for me?

Caveat Emptor

Somehow during my two years of high school Latin, I missed an important lesson . . . caveat emptor or "buyer beware." I should have known better. I should have checked things out more thoroughly, but my enthusiasm clouded my judgment.


Remember this table and chairs . . .

I bought them several weeks ago at the Habitat for Humanity store. I looked them over, noticed some fretwork missing, some scratches and wear, but nothing that would prevent me from buying them. My big mistake? Not sitting in the chairs. I didn't think I needed to . . . they felt solid. I pushed on them. They weren't wobbly. Plus, they had plywood seats with rusty, jagged holes where the screws had been attached. Who would want to sit on that? I might tear my clothes.

So, I got the table and chairs home, put them in the garage until I could get my husband to help me move the table upstairs. Then got to work on sanding and painting the chairs. This was quite the process. I finally got them to the point where I thought they looked just right. But I was still on the hunt for the perfect fabric. Remember this post, where I obsessed over my options?

After ordering swatches online, getting my sister to bring me some from Memphis, and hitting every fabric store in town, I still didn't feel like I had found "the one."

I felt I needed a fabric that had the color of the chairs in it as well as other colors. I wasn't willing to change the chair color, so I kept searching. Then, I remembered a tablecloth and some curtains I had seen at World Market.

So, I bought a couple of curtains to use as my seat fabric. I love a good Tree of Life pattern, and I really thought the vivid colors of this one worked well with my chairs.

So, I cut the fabric, draped it on top of some foam and sat down to test the height of the chair with the cushion. Then I heard the crack. 

That's right, the fretwork on the back of the chairs was broken in two places. And not just on one chair, but on three out of the four chairs! Nice. And, it's not even wood. The fretwork is composite or plastic, if you will. The outside frame of the chair is wood, but not the backs. 

So, I'm trying to make lemonade out of lemons. My friend Becky had this stuff in her garage:

I glued and clamped and let the chairs harden for 24 hours, then repainted the patched area. The result? Only time will tell. They're holding for now, but I don't have much confidence that they can take much wear and tear.  I need to put signs on the chairs that read "lean back gently."

I think they look nice . . . pretty much what I envisioned. I just hate that they might snap at any moment. Not a good feeling. I haven't attached the seats to the chair yet. Still need to find the right screws. Now, I just need to buy or have a banquette made for the other side of the table, but that has its own set of issues. By the way, I sold the old chairs on Craigslist, so those are no longer an option either. Way to burn my design bridges, huh?

In some ways, I feel like this was a DIY disaster. Do you have any projects that did not turn out the way you planned?

Editor's Note: I'm so sorry I've been gone for two weeks now! I was sick for the first week with some mysterious illness that basically made me feel like hell with the vague symptoms of a headache and nausea. And, no, I'm not pregnant. Then my husband was out of town for 10 days on a scuba diving excursion with his dad, and I just didn't have the energy at the end of the day to write a blog post. I so admire single parents. I endeavor to be better about blogging once my son finally starts back to pre-K on Friday!