Small Project for A Spiced up Closet

I had a few hours to kill last weekend and decided that adding some faux trim to my closet doors was wise. Thank goodness I was in a patient mood and made sure all my masking was straight and even and TIGHTLY adhered to the door.  I used a credit card to smooth down the tape to eliminate most of the bleeding.  No matter what I do I always seem to get at least some bleeding.  Boo!

 Color of the trim is Shenandoah Taupe from BM. It's a great color -- I painted my guest BR in the color and it's rich and yummy and sophisticated. 

Overdyed Rugs

How gorgeous are these overdyed rugs? I've seen people DIY this and I am very curious!

  I need a 16' long runner and this would be just the ticket, if they weren't $6k!  Boo!


Anyone have a good source for a long runner?  eBay has some lovely vintage options but they are all $$.

Back in the Saddle

After a blogging break, I'm ready to go!  The holidays and general blahs and tiredness kinda killed my mojo there for a bit.  I managed to eek out a small project that I wnated to share.

I love thrifting and I've found some pretty awesome stuff over the years. One thing I ALWAYS look for is interesting art. I generally come up empty-handed in that department; Raleigh seems to have a lot of 80's poster prints getting emceremoniously dumped. However, I keep my eye on the frames.  Custom framing is beaucoup bucks and a nice frame + mat can be repurposed easily.

I found this gold frame with a textured mat with gold trim at a thrift in Marion, NC a few months back. It held a faded botanical print that was nothing special.  After letting it sit in the corner for a bit, I was inspired last week to cook something up:

With $0, I made an abstract painting on a piece of art paper from Michaels and some leftover sampler paint from the LowesDepot and slapped it into the frame. Insta-class, right? My living room might be mistaken for a high end gallery.

(That plastic socket cover has GOT TO go). 

Do you re-use frames?  What's your fave frame source?

Pecan Pie Cookies

Yum, these pecan pie cookies are awesome, easy to make and perfect for the holidays.

Highly recommended!

Image source

Hole in the Wall Gang

We've got a hole in the wall! After demoing out the cabinets on our own, we hired a pro to take down the wall separating our dining and kitchen. We likely could have done it, but when dealing with major items of the home that basically make it stand up, I tend to defer to the pros.  Call me nuts.

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room!  Yay!  It's Christmas central there in the DR, what with the wrapping and packing.  Pardon our dust!

I need to paint both sides of the new pass through and the flooring is a real issue. For now, a rug's going to cover the hole.  Totally amateur, I know.  But until we rip out the kitchen flooring, there's no good temporary solution.

Faucet Love

Thanks to the great blog Russet Street Reno, I found our new kitchen faucet. Yeah, installing it is probably like a YEAR away but at least I'm saving big $$ now.  I told Jake that we'd be assembling a kitchen in our basement over the next year 'cos I'm buying stuff if I find a screaming deal.

$85 bucks, no shipping or tax--whatta deal. I can't believe how expensive plumbing stuff is! 


I'm hoping it looks awesome with the polished nickel pulls I want to use from Martha Stewart's line at Home Depot.  I used these on my bath vanity and they are pretty and very classic.

Demolition (Wo)man

The kitchen remodel marches onward.  Phase I is underway: taking out the wall separating the dining and kitchen.  It divides the space into two small, dark areas that don't work well together.

My new favorite tool is the sledgehammer and "wonder bar", the black and yellow item visible on the counter. Those two items fueled this weekend's demo project, plus a Sawzall wielded by Jake.

Taking down the top cabinets was pretty easy with the wonder bar and a little muscle:

We discovered some old 80's wallpaper under the cabinets.  I was hoping to find some super cool stuff from the 60's, but not so!

The faux granite countertop came off with a couple of whacks from underneath with the sledgehammer and went to a good Craigslist home that same afternoon.

 

Next up: let's (get a professional to) cut a hole in that wall!!