It's time to chime in

You all know that my front sitting room is a work in progress, a very slow, work in progress as most things are in a home.  I have been on the hunt for side tables that are interesting yet functional and will not break the bank.  Please someone tell me why a very tiny table costs so much money?  I really need to be come a carpenter and just start building everything I need.

What I need your help with is a little side table that was handed down to me.  This table seems so rustic and unique that I was thrilled to have it in my space, now keep in mind that I am still looking for the round glass piece to go on top but you will get the idea when you see the pictures below.  So here is the dilemma, I really enjoy the table but my husband, well, not so much.  So I need some opinions here, let it out good or bad, you won't hurt my feelings but I want to know what you think.

So here we have it:




Thoughts?  Does it stay or does it go?

See you swoon,

Shanna's Surprise Mini Makeover: Master Bathroom


I mentioned back in our house tour a few weeks ago that we had a leak coming from the master shower.  We had our trusty plumber* out last week to fix it and it was a tad more involved than anyone expected.  When our plumber looked at the leak, he determined it was a crack in the master shower floor, which was unfortunately coming right into our den.  Eek.  The only real solution was for him to replace the entire shower floor.  Ba-boom. 

Of course, this would have been a great time to redo the entire bathroom, but that is not remotely in the budget right now, so we asked him to do what he could as inexpensively as possible, keeping in mind our plan to gut and redo the space in a few years.  Here is the shower before our plumber got to work.


You know my feelings on shower doors, so I told him it was fine to leave the doors off and I'd replace them with a pretty curtain.  He got to work and discovered that the shower floor was poured concrete.  Apparently it was a bear to get up, but he did it.  He also had to take up a couple rows of tiles in the shower.  The next day, he started installing the custom-sized floor (unfortunately the shower is a non-standard size so we had to do a special order).  He also started retiling.  The third day, he finished tiling, grouted and caulked around the shower and patched the holes in the den ceiling that he cut open to test for leaks.  It was a three-day process, and those of you who have done bathroom renos can commiserate at the insane amount of dust that it created.  See?


But once the dust settled (uh, literally), I was left with a nice new gleaming shower floor that does not leak!  Here it is before I did some work on it.


I scraped off the caulk that was once around the shower doors, pulled out the red anchors and filled the holes with white caulk.  Then I clean-clean-cleaned that bathroom and our bedroom.   While I was at it, I decided it was high time to paint the brown doors and make them white.  Here they are before.



Here's the rest of the bathroom before my mini-makeover.


And here is the space now!



I wanted the room to read more white than blue (as much as possible anyway) so I went for an all white shower curtain.  I found this one at Target (of course).  I also picked up the terrific roller rings to hang the curtain at the Pottery Barn Outlet, which Jamie and I visited last weekend - the very same roller rings that Jamie got back in January (by the way: we've decided to make our trip to the Pottery Barn Outlet a bi-annual thing - yay).



I am amazed at how much more white than blue the room now looks, just by virtue of painting those doors white!  It was super duper easy and took an hour total for both doors.  I just primed with white latex primer I had on hand and painted with my beloved Sherwin Williams Dover White for woodwork.



Finally, you can see the changes that a white bath mat, some art work and removing the blue & white decals on the tiles can make.  If you scroll back up, you will see several blue and white patterned tiles. They had windmills on them.  I took a really close look and realized they are actually decals!  It took all of one minute to remove them.  What a difference.




What do you think?  It felt good to do a mini-makeover, even if it was totally unexpected and not at all per my new To Do list.  Here's one last shot for the cheap seats in the back.



See you swoon,












* Philly-area locals: if you need a plumber recommendation, shoot me an email.  I absolutely love and completely, 100% trust our plumber. He also does heating and cooling.  He is reasonably priced and an all around good guy.  

The bi-annual Pottery Barn outlet run and an unexpected trip to the Christmas Tree Shop

Some of you saw us check in through Facebook this past Saturday. Shanna and I were the first people to arrive of course sipping the last drips of our coffee then loading up on water to stay hydrated for our second trip to the Pottery Barn outlet.  We had already scarfed down breakfast bagels about an hour before, hunger was not going to stop us.  We must have looked a little crazy just staring at the glass doors waiting for the stroke of  9:00AM but the second we saw the door unlock we hopped out of the car and basically sprinted to our own personal heaven.

I have to say we had a little more luck with sales in January but what we learned this time was if you get on the outlet's mailing list you get to see when they have their big clearance sales which could be complete mayhem if you can imagine for a moment (this will not stop us, we will jump right into the middle of it).

Shanna absolutely cleaned up this time with rugs and bedding for the kids rooms and rest of the house.  Her bedroom still needs a GIGANTIC rug for all the space she has but she made out like a bandit! 

The PB outlet was a smaller trip for me this go around which is OK since I walked away with so many things in January, however, after we left the store and planned out a few other stops before leaving, we came across the Christmas Tree Shop.  I have been in one that was close to my house and had no luck, kind of scary inside and dark but the one in Lancaster was nothing like that and they had everything!  I didn't really go in looking for anything particular except for the most amazing side table in the universe (I did not find it) but on my hunt for the table I came across barstools for $40 a piece and the looked like the Pottery Barn stools I have been eyeing up!

OK so enough chit chat, you want pictures don't you? 

Here are my treasures from PB:

This rug is the perfect size for my front hallway and has a beach feel to match my new glade plug in beach party scent.  I think I may turn my little twin into a beach house by the sea!



I have been thinking about this clock since we went to PB in January.  I know it is just a clock but there is just something about it with it's sleek lines and slight chunky feel that really speaks to me and since I have been thinking about it for six months now I figured it was worth the $20.00.  I plan on putting this on my new crown molding shelves which you will see in a minute for my front room.  




This is where I made my kill.  OK well that sounds gross but this was my unexpected yet totally thrilling find.  PB style Napoleon bartsools.  Check out what I bought on the left compared to PB stool on the right.  I am planning on painting the seats black to match the rest of the chair, not really digging the cherry seat  but for $40.00 compared to PB for $249.00 it is worth it!

     
 My other steal (I did not actually steal-haha!) was the crown molding ledges which most of you are familiar with I am sure.  I think every home needs these somewhere and I have just the spot for mine in the front sitting room.  For $10 a piece I couldn't pass them up.



Looks very similar to this one, huh? Compare $10.00 to $45.00, not a huge savings like the barstool but a savings nonetheless.


Are any of you obsessed with an outlet store near you?  We would love to hear about your trips and some of the treasures you have found.  We are almost to hump day people, hang in there!

See you swoon,

My soon to be a-door-able desk!

Sorry, but I couldn't resist the pun.

I've mentioned once or twice that for the "library" in the front of the house (aka: living room/office), I want to create a desk out of an interior slab door.  I  have the door on hand:  I already removed the door (it was the door between the kitchen and laundry room that made me nuts), so I have that all ready to go.  My original plan was to buy some square Parson-style legs at Home Depot or Lowe's, attach them to the door-desktop and call it a day.

That is until I saw the most recent Martha Stewart Living magazine.  Looky what I am going to do!

It's a desk made from an interior door, but she used inexpensive bookshelves as the legs and support!  How brilliant is that?  I know I can get bookshelves at Target for about $20 a pop and will just paint them the same color as the desk.  I love this idea and cannot wait to try it out myself - a desk for only $40? Storage and pretty together?  Love!  You know I'll blog about every single detail of the project.  Stay tuned!

Do you have any similar crafty solutions like the amazing Ms. Martha?  Please share! 

See you swoon,

Another day in the life of my Anthropolo​gie wish list

I know we are in the middle of summer and I should really be thinking about shopping for my fall wardrobe but I have always been more of a summer girl so shopping for summer clothing has always been so much more fun for me, too bad this season is so short here in PA (now if summer were as long as winter I would be set!).

You know I cannot get enough of my favorite store Anthropologie and I am always updating my wish list with items I would just die to have.  I will tell you one of the most upsetting things is when pieces I have added are out of stock and never come back but I guess that is what happens when you wait to long hoping for a sale and them BAM, wouldn't you know it, everyone else in the universe was doing the same thing I just happened to be a lot slower to pull the trigger.  You snooze you lose.

 I have once again beefed up my list and wanted to share it with you now, maybe you can draw some inspiration from it to round out your summer wardrobe for 2011 or get some sweet deals on items you can wear next year (unless every year over the long winter months your closet eats all your clothes like mine does, then you may just want to buy things for instant gratification rather than waiting for next year).

 Here we go, hold on to your hats people!

Dresses first, this would be the perfect dress to turn 30 it don’t you think?

Shapeshifter Maxi



Anthro Umbra Maxi




























Equinox Stripe Maxi




Collecting Dots Dress


Counting Angles Dress

Eastern Sierra Chemise.  Chemise I know but doesn't it look like you could totally wear this as a dress!?


Now for some tops:

Anthro Ballet Tank

Anthro Drapey Bubbled
Anthro Kissimmee Top
Leaf Filigree Top

So needless to say my bank account is in serious DANGER right now.  Anyone shopping this weekend?  Have fun and happy Friday!!

See you swoon,