First, let’s take a look at what we had to work with.

These pictures show how the living room was “staged” when we first saw it.  The real estate company had brought in a little furniture to show what the space could look like once we had moved in.

It’s a great idea really because it helps potential buyers visualize where their items may go and how they may be able to fit into the room.

This is especially important with smaller homes that are limited on space.  You have to be more creative in arranging furniture so it’s important to be able to see what may or may not fit.

When we moved into the house, this is what the living room looked like.

Void of any furniture and props, it was a big open room but not a lot of actual space.

We knew we had our work cut out for us.   The first thing we did was look at color.  Color is an inexpensive way to completely transform a room.  We wanted to try something different, vibrant and rich.  So we went with burnt orange.  Since it was a lot of color, we didn’t want to overwhelm so we painted some of the walls in ivory.

The end result is rich and warm and full of color.  It’s amazing what $100 and some hard work will do to a room.

Next we had to decide on furniture.  Now this is where it got tricky because, as you probably know, good furniture is not cheap.  While we knew we couldn’t shop at Ethan Allen or Arhaus, we still wanted good quality stuff.  We also had size limitations to deal with as we had a lot to fit into a small space.  After looking around, we went to Crate and Barrel.  There we found the perfect living room set.

It was just the right size and comfortable enough to actually enjoy using.  And at $800 for the sofa and

$500 for the chairs, we were able to splurge a bit and get the whole set.  A few inexpensive pillows to match the wall color and we were done with seating.

Well, almost done.  For the past few years, I’ve wanted a club chair.  Not just any club chair mind you, but a club chair with rich, buttery soft leather.  One that I could sit in for hours while curled up under a blanket, reading a good book.  So we looked and looked.  We looked at the chairs at Pottery Barn (because you know my love of all things Pottery Barn) and we looked at designer warehouses.  But man, these things are expensive!

The cost of this one was $1,999.00 for just the chair, not including the ottoman.  The other problem was that the CPA didn’t fit into the chairs we tried.  It would have to be big enough to fit all 6′8″ of his frame, yet small enough to not overwhelm the room.  So we kept looking.   But this time we turned to my other favorite place: Craig’s List.

Now you probably know that finding a specific item on Craig’s List can be tricky, but with a little patience and perserverance, it can pay off.  

We found the perfect chair and ottoman.  It had been rarely used so it was in like-new condition, it was larger than most and the CPA fit in it perfectly, and it was buttery soft.  And the best part?  The chair and the ottoman was ours for the low price of $700.  A steal when compared to the other prices we were seeing.  It has been and is one of our favorite items in our home.

In looking for our dining room furniture, we again turned to Craig’s List.  We knew what we wanted after looking at our favorite stores such as Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn, but we knew we didn’t want to pay those high prices.  After waiting a bit, we found exactly what we were looking for.

This glass cabinet is part of the Garrett collection at Pottery Barn.  It retails for $1,500.  But on Craig’s List, we paid $600.  Yes, we had to drive for two hours just to see it and then use a moving truck to pick it up, but it was worth it.

Even better, the matching dining room table was found as part of a closeout sale for $500.

The real reason we bought it is because it collapses to a very reasonable 40″x40″ which is perfect for the small space.  But having the extra leaves is nice for when we want to entertain.  And you can’t beat that price for a brand new table.

Now for accessories:  Let’s talk rugs.  While we wanted a nice rug for the lounging area, we didn’t want to pay a lot for it.   We could have gone to Crate and Barrel or Macys and bought a shag carpet for $500.  But instead, we went to Home Depot and found something similar for $60.  A much better deal in my mind.

How about art work?  You don’t have to spend a fortune to have nice pieces to hang.  Antique stores, flea markets, and garage sales are often treasure troves of great artwork just waiting to be bought.  If you want something remniscent of the area, like we did, try a local artist who is just starting out.

This piece is a good as you would find in any art gallery.  We found the artist at the local market downtown and he gave us a good deal for around $175.

The painting is beautiful and the detail is exquisite but without the high price tag.

Add a few finishing touches like this centerpiece (candle holders from Yankee Candle) for $15, and a lamp from Ikea for $20, and you’re all set.

The room’s a good mix of Craig’s List buys, new furniture, and inexpensive deals.  Proof positive that it is possible to decorate a room on a budget.

What great decorating deals have you found?

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Home Design: Before and After Bathrooms

So this morning I’m dreaming about a beautiful backyard.  And in my dream I have a large yard, one that is filled with lovely furniture that would be perfect for lounging on a Saturday afternoon.

(Oops, I want a different color  - white is so hard to keep clean!)

There, that’s better.  Now where was I?  Oh right, lounging on a Saturday afternoon.  I’m sitting under the shade of the umbrella, sipping from a glass of ice-cold lemonade.  

But it’s starting to get warm, so I think I’ll go sit by the pool.

Ahh…. this is the life.  Enjoying the warm sun while sitting on my beautiful chaise by the water.  I feel myself getting very sleepy, but I don’t want to burn so it’s probably time to go inside.  Maybe I’ll take a nap in the bedroom?

I’ll just slip between the nice, cool sheets of the canopy bed and shut my eyes for a few minutes.

But before I do that, I need to change the color.  I’m not feeling the yellow with the blue.

There we go, that’s it.  Sunny, airy, and beautiful.  Now I can rest easy.  I’ll just shut my eyes for a couple of minutes… 

Uh-oh!!  What time is it?  I must have overslept!  We have guests coming for dinner and I haven’t even started cooking!  I’d better whip something up in my newly remodeled, state of the art kitchen.  

You know, the one with lots of glass cabinets so I can see all of my beautifully aligned dishes and stemware.  (sigh)

Okay, dinner’s ready (in my dream, there is no actual cooking involved of course) now it’s time to set the table.

You know what?  We’d better go to the formal dining room instead so that I can use my new Wedgwood china (the pattern that I love but wouldn’t dare buy because it’s just not practical).

There we go, that’s the ticket.  I’ll just add my lovely white linen and pewter rings, and we’re all set.

After dinner we’ll retire to the living room for a little conversation and dessert.

Which will be followed up by a movie on the big screen TV.  (There will be no football, basketball, baseball, or any other ball-related shows on this TV.  This is my dream, after all.)

Doesn’t it sound perfect?  But alas, it is a dream and it’s time to come back to reality.  Do you see what the Pottery Barn catalog does to me?  I could easily spend hours looking through its pages mentally rearranging and organizing my dream house full of lovely furniture, pretty patterns and gorgeous colors.   Hours that could be spent cleaning and organizing my real house (which is adorable and beautiful without all of that fancy furniture).  

Hmm… Maybe I should discontinue my catalog subscription?

Nah!!!

What about you?  What do you day dream about?  A new house, new furniture, new car?

And when I watch TV shows about home makeovers, I’ll sometimes check the Internet for before and after pictures – just to get ideas.  Honestly – what I couldn’t do with a blank check and the right construction company!  Our little bathroom could definitely use a foot or two (or five) of extra space.  But I digress. 

Here’s a lovely bathroom that started out with a bright pink that was a little too bright and well, too pink.  Period.

And now the after.  Sleek, elegant, and beautiful colors.  Don’t you just love that tile!

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Our next example doesn’t actually look that bad in its “before” shot – I’ve definitely seen worse.  A little bland maybe, and it could do without the black sink, but overall not too bad.

Not too bad until we see the remodel – much better.  Look at that gorgous shower and the cool silver lights.  And I love the French doors in dark wood – beautiful. 

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This bathroom has definite potential with its great light, nice pedistal sink and white tile, but the black walls and lavendar trim don’t do it any favors. 

With a little paint, some new mirrors and light fixtures, this bathroom is completely transformed. 

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And now, the best for last.  This bare room looks hopeless but has lots of potential.

Potential that was realized when the designer got hold of it and turned it into this beautiful and modern retreat.  Look at that shower and those floors!!  Definitely an impressive use of space. 

So that’s it.  My tour of before and after bathrooms.  Batthrooms that make me drool and dream.  Because you know how attractive drooling is…

If you could, what room would you remodel?

Resources:

HGTV.com

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Dream Home – Getting My Fix

Speaking of balls… the only after-Christmas-sales that we made an effort to get to were the ones that offered Christmas ornaments and decorations.  So we were at Target by 7:15, just in time to join the masses in the fight for twinkling lights and fake trees.  (How else do you think my mom decorates those four Christmas trees? It’s all about buying things on sale the day-after-Christmas.)  I’m actually glad we got there early because things were going fast.  While I had all of the ornaments I needed for next year’s tree, I wanted to make an ornament wreath so I needed to stock up.

I first read about this project on Eddie Ross’s website and loved the beautiful wreath he made of pink, blue and white ornaments.  (Something to keep in mind – depending on the color of the balls, these wreaths could be used for different seasons, not just Christmas.)  

My mom and I decided to make ours with red and gold.  So we loaded our carts with ornaments of all sizes and textures.  Some had glitter, some had small jewels, and some were just plain shiny.  We got about 80 in all.

After bringing them home, we made a work station out of the dining room table and got busy.  With a glue gun, we glued the tops of the ornaments together so they wouldn’t pop off.  Important first step (as we found out later with a few that we had missed). 

It didn’t take long, just a drop of glue did the trick.

Then we were ready to sort.  While not a necessary part of the process, with so many ornaments, it helped to get an idea of how we wanted the wreaths to look.

We also made sure that there were enough small, medium and larger balls with which to work.  The smaller ornaments were necessary because they filled the space between the larger balls.

Once the ornaments were ready, it was time to begin the fun part.  We took a regular wire hanger…

and bent it into the shape of a circle.  (If I were to do it again, I would use a thinner, white wire, instead of the thick gold wire hanger that we used.  It was a little more difficult to tie when we were done.)

Oh, and it helps to have a look of concentration on your face.  Makes the process go a lot smoother.

Once the wires were ready…

we began to string the balls.

There was no real rhyme or pattern that we were following,

we just made sure they looked pretty together and that the smaller ornaments took up any space left by the bigger ornaments.

Before long, the wreath began to take shape.

Then came the hardest part – trying to tie the top of the hanger together (this is where a thinner wire would have been nice).  Good thing that we had a strong brother-in-law nearby to help.

With the wreath done, we just needed a bow to hide the hook part of the hanger.  The hook was necessary as that’s how the wreath is hung, but we definitely wanted it hidden so that it looked pretty. 

Thankfully, my mother is an expert maker of bows.  Doesn’t that bow look fantastic?  

I tried to tie my own bow, but it didn’t work so well and I had to call in reinforcements.

But the end result wasn’t bad for only an hour’s worth of work.  So if you have extra ornaments lying around from your holiday decorating, you may just want to put them together for this little project.  Or, you could just wait until next year’s after-Christmas sale.  Either way, you’ll be happy with the end result – a beautiful and elegant wreath for the holiday. 

For roughly the past 10-15 years, my mother has had a thing for another man.  This man can only be seen once a year, so his commitment to the relationship is questionable, but that doesn’t mean that her devotion is any less real.  If I had to describe him, I would say that he sports some serious facial hair, he usually has a twinkle in his eye, and his belly is rather, um, “pronounced.”  In fact, it it shakes like a bowl full of jelly when he laughs.  Around our house, we affectionally refer to him as “Santa” but his official name is Santa Claus or St. Nick.  

My mother is quite committed to good ole Santa.  In fact, she has an entire collection of figurines made with his likeness.  

There’s the one who guards the front door.

And the one who likes to go golfing in his time-off.

Then there’s the all-white Santa.  It’s a good thing that wearing white during winter is back in style.

And it must be popular because this Santa chose the all-white ensemble as well.

Since we’re talking about fashion, I must say that I prefer this Santa who’s dressed for winter weather in his full-length coat and (faux) fur-lined hood. 

My mother’s collection isn’t made only of figurines, it includes items such as this beautiful glass globe.  The globe is actually very heavy and when you twist it, the bottom part moves in a circle and plays a lovely Christmas tune.  

She also has this beautiful, and quite breakable, glass ball which shows a painted scene of Santa reading a good book.

This Santa is made of some kind of metal.  He stands guard over the stockings and makes sure no one peeks before Christmas morning.

Then we have one of my favorite Santas.  The proverbial “naughty vs. nice” Santa that we all know and love.

He’s got his list and he’s checking it twice.  I can’t help but notice that Oscar’s name is on the list – I just wish I knew if he had been naughty or nice (if I had to put money on it, I would say naughty).  

Another of my favorites, is this skiing Santa.  Doesn’t he look ready to hit the slopes?  

And we can’t forget about the Santa’s found in the kitchen.  This Santa likes to cook and is a distant cousin to…

this other cooking Santa and his wife.  

I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the Santa who’s on his way to the lake to see if the trout are biting.  Hey – he works hard in December, he deserves a little R&R the rest of the year!

Speaking of working hard, this figurine shows Santa making presents for all the little kiddies. 

I also love the more traditional depictions of St. Nick.  I imagine this is how he probably looked a hundred years ago, before he got all modernized.

Are you starting to get a sense of this great love my mother has for this “man?”  And those are just the ones upstairs!

Downstairs we have the patriotic Santa (give you two guesses who gave her that one).

And the policeman Santa, a family favorite.  

Every year we add to my mother’s collection by giving her a new figurine.  Her only real requirement is that he have a “nice face.”  Here is my contribution this year:

So that’s it.  Well, that’s not all of the them, but I could do five posts on just her Santas alone.  The thing is – I love them all and I love that she collects them.  They’re adorable and they’re fun and she does such a great job of making sure they’re unique.  It just wouldn’t be Christmas without seeing them brightening up the house.

What about you – what do you collect?

Last year, the year of our first official Christmas tree, we reached a compromise and I was able to decorate fairly early.  This year, since we were to be out of town for the entire holiday, we decided to forego the decorating altogether.  But that didn’t stop us from discussing it.  In fact, I remember asking my new brother-in-law what his feelings were on decorating.  He agreed with my husband (men!!!) and my sister agreed with me.  Which got me thinking – is it a women thing?  Or is it something else?

The question was answered when we showed up at my mother’s house a few days before Christmas.  We opened the door of our car and saw this:

and this:

Then we entered her home to be greeted by one of the four (yes, you read that correctly: I said four) Christmas trees that were proudly on display.  The first is my favorite.  I call it the “red” tree (because I’m creative like that). 

It was found in the sitting room just inside the front door. 

The red tree is full of all things red and white…

and all things Santa.

Next to the red tree, we found the “plain” tree in the dining room.  It was labeled as the plain tree because, well, it’s plain.  But it’s still pretty. 

There were also a couple of red light trees by the front door, but they are not included on the list of “official” Christmas trees.  I just liked the look of them.

Moving into the living room, we found my second favorite, the purple and gold tree. 

This one was very stately and very large, which is fitting because it is a large room with a high ceiling.

It was the most elegant of all of the trees with its beautiful gold and purple balls…

and its tear drop jewelry.

The last tree was found in the downstairs den and was perfect for that setting.

Since the den is the place where games are played and TV shows watched, it is only fitting that this tree is fun and colorful.

It was full of shiny balls…

and fun ornaments.

But my favorite part of the tree was the lights. 

They are little green and red bulbs that have a tube of bubbling water shooting out from them.  I loved sitting and watching the water move.  It was mesmorizing really.

We walked around my mother’s house in awe at all the work she had done.  In addition to the trees, she had wreaths on the doors, stockings over the fireplace, and poinsettias in their pots.  It made everything look beautiful and inviting. 

And that’s when it hit me – this love of decorating that I have is not necessarily a women thing – it’s genetic!   I must have inherited the “Christmas decorating gene” directly from my mother.  And the way I look at it, you can’t fight your genetic makeup!

What about you – when do you put up your Christmas decorations?  When do you take them down again?

Beautiful, isn’t it?  Now for a closer look…

The colors are autumnal and vibrant and each item complements the others from the white serving stands and green platters to the white napkins tied with orange ribbon and even the orange and white flowers.

No detail was overlooked.  The fruit was neatly skewered and the petit fours were topped with the letter “T,” the first letter of the bride’s name.

Keeping with the autumnal theme, each item was labeled with a card propped up by a miniature hay-stack.  And there was a little something for everyone. 

Mini vegetable quiches…

Warm coffee cake…

Fruit (for the more health-minded guest)

And the oh-so-yummy carameled mini-apples.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

Even the water looked great.

It was hard tearing myself away from taking pictures of this beautiful set-up. But I did.  I wanted to take pictures of my sister holding up see-through lingerie so that I could embarrass her later (I told you I would post a photo or two).  I mean it was a bridal shower, right?

But don’t worry, it didn’t get to crazy.  There was a baby present afterall.  (Check out the look on his cute little face – he’s wondering what in the world that is!)  Actually, I think my sister was wondering the same thing. 

Good thing I was there to explain it to her.

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