Small Entryway Solutions

My indoor/outdoor rug has arrived! It's a little smaller than I hoped but it covers most of the grody tile in the entryway (which probably needs a good scrubbing, too).

One of my next projects is stripping the chipped paint off our metal railing.  It's pretty grubby in person so I was thinking of stripping it to see what it looks like au natural and then perhaps re-painting.  I swear, if it's not one thing, it's the other in this house.

Indoor/Outdoor Rugs Save the Day

I was thinking about ripping out the floor in the entry way and retiling. Then I remembered I am DYING to re-do our kitchen so the money sunk in to a tiling project would be best directed to the kitchen fund. (Rather, Jake pointed this out and I grudgingly agreed his was right, this time.)

Instead, a rug can cover most of the weird slate tile stuff. Off I went looking for a 3 x 5 indoor/outdoor rug in a neat print. Why indoor/ourdoor? We use our front door often, and traipse down the stairs to teh lower level a lot.  Plus, we have a dog that loves to tear crap up so something a little more study is wise.

Here are three great options.  Once of which is coming my way this week!

Martha Stewart Faux Bois

Ballard Designs as seen over on Little Green Notebook

Another Ballard Designs choice I considered

What do y'all think, is a polypropelene (aka plastic) rug tacky?

Paint it Black

I finally finished painting my campaign dresser.  It's a cheapo laminate deal, not real wood so I primed it first and then painted with high gloss black. 

I'm thinking of polishing up the brass fittings a bit and then calling it done. Such an improvement, no?

Overstock Drum Chandeliers

I'm still struggling with my dining room light fixture. I'm vacillating between replacing the whole thing and trying to find a drum shade to slip over the whole thing.  I've purchased and returned 2 drum shades at this point and I'm ready to give up.  Boo!

Here are a few simple options from Overstock I might consider:

Source

Source

Source

All are right around $100.

Versatile Rugs

Hello everyone, my name is Chelsea and I am a rug freak! The joy of having hardwoods throughout our house is the excuse to buy lots and lots of rugs. I think I might be pushing the upper limit of rugs, though. I have two in the living room, two in the guest BR, one in the master BR, two in the office, one in the kitchen and two in the dining room. That's TEN rugs just upstairs.  There's another downstairs in our rec room.  I need an intervention, for sure. (Just left Jeff VanVonderen tell me that my family loves me like crazy..)

My latest purchase is the West Elm Jute Boucle Rug in Chocolate: For an 8 x 10, it's only $229, though they get you with the extra shipping charges for over sized items.  Boo to that!

So far, I'm pleased with it. It's actually pretty thick and chunky.  I was expecting a finer weave but it's nice a texture-y.  I laid my cowhide rug on the top -- photo to come!

Decorating Math

This:

Plus this:

Equals this:

For a heck of a lot cheaper.

It's Premier Prints ($12/yard) fabric, plus Ballard Designs' x bench ($179) equals an exact replica of Jonathan Adler's x bench (close to $500 on sale). I'm not plugged into the design world enough to recognize fabrics and pieces too often but I knew this one immediately.  I saw this fabric on another piece in the SF Jonathan Adler store last month -- I had ordered a sample of it for my headboard upholstery project. 

Deal Alert

Though Jan17th this 8 x 10 jute rug is $199 plus an additional 15% off at PotteryBarn.com.  Not a bad price! I think it ends up being about $232 out the door, including the (annoying) shipping surcharge. 

I ordered it after searching CL for one for months.  They just don't come up here in Raleigh at all!  So I bit the bullet and ordered and it'll going in the dining room when it arrives.

Random Stuff Today

Still trying to get back into the post-holday swing of things. We went to the Hurricanes game last night and saw them win 6-5 in a shootout over Calgary. Fun times!

Anyway, I saw this really cute storage ottoman at TJ Maxx last week. If only Jake would agree to replace the downstairs coffee table with an ottoman! He won't :(

Charley Harper is an obsession of mine.  His prints are awesome and I suspect this calendar I spied at PaperSource would make a great frameable source of cheapo art. 

I also thought the 2011 PaperSource calendar would be great for art projects and cheap framing.  I didn't pick either up as we were out in SF and our bags were already filled to the brim.

HGTV Dream Home

The HGTV dream home in Vermont is quite lovely this year. It isn't my favorite dream home (I think the Lake Lure, NC location from 2006 or the Sonoma home from 2009 were the best.)

I love the light fixture in the sunroom.

The ski bunks are clever and well done, though a little "forest chic" for me.

It looks so cozy with the glowing interior lights!

Intersting that they used a ceiling fan here. Usually ceiling fans are a decorators arch enemy but they are ever so useful (especially in warmer climes) so it's nice to see them used from time to time.

Not a fan of the dining room chairs. Looks like a conference room to me. Yuck!

Whew!

We've been back from California for nearly a week and I'm still playing catch up.  For some reason, I'm having trouble getting into the swing of things.  Plus, blogger was giving me fits last night.  All seems well now.

We had a fab time in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  We got to fly Virgin America for the first time and it was glamourous.  I need more mood lighting in my air travel. Another highlight was meeting Alice, a dear friends newborn.  So tiny and sweet!

Project time is coming back -- I've got some sanding, painting, stripping and other things to work on for the rest of the winter.