Swoon Style and Home

Bamboozled

As soon as I bought the chunky jute rug for my entryway, I was inspired to keep going and spruce up the area. I am held back a bit by paint ... I want to do it soon, but I'll need a big chunk of time to devote to it. And that staircase needs attention. I want to paint those risers white and replace the banister and spindles with something much more my taste: white wood! I'm pretty sure I will do that in the Winter. And finally I want to get a drum shade and just use our current entryway light fixture but remove the glass, paint it silver and add the shade. Here is my entryway before I got started.

The rug really helped define the space and I realized I just might be able to find a table to fit behind the door. I was on Craigslist and happened to find the holy grail: a small, chic table that was the perfect size for my entryway: I loved that it looked like bamboo but was actually wood. And $20. The only problem was it was missing its top. But I knew I could easily fix that with some plywood from Lowe's. So I snatched it up! Here it is when I picked it up.

You know me: I was not digging the finish on the wood. First thing I did was measure the table-top opening. I went to Lowes and found a piece of birch plywood for $7 and had them cut it for me down to size. I got it home and used some liquid nails to glue it down.

Next step: I used some paintable caulk in the groove between the plywood and the table edge. This only took a minute.

Then I primed the table. I used my favorite oil based primer. It took a lot longer than I thought because of all the curves and bamboo details.

Once it was primed, it was time to paint! I went back and forth about the color: should I paint it a soft greyish blue? What about my favorite Dover White? Ooh, what about going in a different direction and bringing in a punchy teal or turquoise? In the end, I was inspired by some pretty blue pieces that I saw at the shore and decided to give a soft greenish-greyish blue a whirl -- it's almost a seaglass color. If I want a change, I can easily paint it again. I went with Waterscape by Sherwin Williams and had Lowe's match it to their Valspar paint. It took two coats of the latex paint and then two coats of water based Polycrilic. Here's the table finished.

Doesn't it look cute? How about a detail shot?

I moved the big round mirror from the half bath that our sellers left behind and put that over the table. Right now it's a distressed silver, but I am not sure whether to keep it or paint it another color. I welcome suggestions! I added a few accessories, but I need some more.

So here is the entryway now from all different angles!

Much better than the stark city it was before. Now we have a place for our keys as soon as we walk in the door [hint hint, husband, hint hint: put your keys down in the bowl when you walk in the door]. This room is shaping up! And the hunt for the perfect size & color drum shade for that overhead light goes on.

See you swoon,

Obsessed with a staircase

Yes you heard me correctly. Ever since Shanna and I were at the shore I have been obsessed and pining for the stunning staircase in our beach house. There's no two ways about it, I mean when you scroll down you will see the chunky, square, solid wood spindles with a caramel wood tone railing and you will agree, there is no denying its beauty. The steps of course match the railing, and my favorite part? The backs of the steps are painted white. Never before have I just wanted to go up and down and up and down just to enjoy the beauty of the stairs I was climbing. I am getting to a point here besides just going on and on about these steps so hang in there with me. First check out the beach house steps:

I like this spiky plant thing...or uh sticks? Not sure the correct term for this, straw? Anyway, I like it so I took a quick picture to remember.

I know it sounds crazy but these stairs make me just want to lay down and rub my face all over them, they make me that happy, similar to a fuzzy animal. Insane, I know.

Yes, and back to my point, I am sure some of your are drooling right now so this would be the time to get a napkin and run back to the computer because I need your suggestions!

When I first moved into my house I loved EVERYTHING. As I really started living here there are many things I have decided to change, the stairs being one of them. I was so inspired by this staircase because the wood floors are similar to the tone I have in my house. Just a recap of my stairs:

So here is where I need your help because I have had sooooo many mixed opinions on this, do I paint the backs of the steps and remove the carpet or leave as is? If these were your stairs what would you do? This task is a bit of an undertaking so I have to really think this out before jumping in, especially since this is the only way to get to the second floor. I can't wait to hear what you all think!

See you swoon,

Finally Getting Off the Merry-Go-Rug in my Den!

That's right! Of course I couldn't resist the pun, but it is pretty apropos. In the three months we have lived in this house, our den has had four rugs in it. And I finally found the perfect one! Wanna sneak peak? 'Kay:

Now for a trip down memory lane. When we first moved in I needed something to fill the space, so I put our old 5x8 dining room rug in there. The problem: it was too small and too hard, which was not surprising given it was an indoor-outdoor rug. Plus, the color was totally wrong.

Then I found what I thought was The Rug for the den: a soft tone-on-tone striped rug from Crate & Barrel, size 6x9. It arrived and it was so super soft and cushy. It was also too small and way too white for this room. My goal is to minimize the gleaming white tile floor, and this rug highlighted it. Plus, it was just impractical given how much we use this space. I needed something darker and bigger.

When I painted the living room, I moved the Crate & Barrel rug into the living room and just put the rug that had been in that space in the den. That rug used to be in our first home's living room. It's a great rug, just not the right color for this space. I will use it in our guest room, once I get around to decorating that space.

I found my trellis rug through Pinterest of all places! A friend of mine pinned a lovely trellis rug. I clicked on it, which took me to Emily A. Clark's blog. It was an older post of hers and she had posted a bunch of lovely rugs. A handful of people asked where the rug was from, and she said she did not know but then offered up some links to other trellis rugs. I clicked and found my rug, the Moroccan Trellis Rug in charcoal, at Rugs USA. I knew I needed an 8x10 size and miracle of miracles, they had it. In the perfect charcoal color. And it gets better: free shipping and 30% off! It is 100% wool too! It's absolutely positively perfect. Here it is again!

What do you think? I've already decided that some of my pillows aren't working in this space and will bring in different ones. That's an easy fix. What is not an easy fix? Painting the mantel, built-ins, walls and fireplace. Oh, but I have to do it soon. I cannot wait.

See you swoon,

Swoon-Worthy Product: Lemi Shine

This small little canister of lemony crystals has become my new best friend. Our beautiful, shiny, wedding silverware is finally back to normal again! Silverware really isn't all that exciting but when I picked this Oneida set out for our wedding it was so sleek and shiny (you know how I love shiny objects) that I really wanted it and we were lucky enough to get it as one of our shower gifts. Well thanks to the lovely hard water in our town, it left my sparkly set of silver dull with a weird white film that made it look like I never washed my dishes!

Enter Lemi Shine, thank you to our friends who had the same issue and stumbled upon this wonderful product! I picked mine up at Target so check it out if you are battling with hard water.

I wish I had though to take a picture of my before and after silverware but the thought of taking a nasty picture of my dishes never even crossed my mind. Trust me when I tell you the difference is night and day so if any of you are having this same problem, Lemi Shine is your solution. Any products like this that you cannot live without or any home recipes that you know of that would solve this hard water problem?

See you swoon,

Dirty & Clean

Ha. How's that for a grabby title?

I'm afraid my post might disappoint: it's about two quick fixes in our home to make the clean less dirty (i.e., replacing the one shower head in our guest bath) and to keep the clean and dirty straight (i.e., creating a little "clean/dirty" magnet for the dishwasher).

Replacing a Shower Head

Up first: the guest shower. One thing that has been on my ever growing list of things to do around the house is to replace the showerhead in the yellow bathroom. Granted, this showerhead doesn't get much use: we have our own master bathroom and the kids usually take baths in the yellow tub. Still, every time I looked up when giving the kids their bath, this is what I saw.

Ew! Gross! The showerhead worked great, but it had clearly seen better days. I hesitated a little because I worried that replacing the showerhead might be tricky. Happily, it was not. In fact, it is insanely easy and took less than 10 minutes total. Here's how to do it.

I bought a water-saving showerhead at Lowe's. This Moen model, the Nurture 3-Spray Showerhead, for about $25.

I used my wrench to remove the old showerhead. The Moen came with some teflon tape, which per the directions, I wrapped around the threads of the pipe coming from the wall (please pardon my hands: I was painting. Again).

Then I just tightened the new Moen to the pipe and ... voila! Done.

It works great! I tested it out to make sure there were no leaks and that the pressure was good. Now I want to replace the one in our master bathroom with something else!

Creating a Clean/Dirty Magnet for the Dishwasher

One issue I have with the dishwasher in the new house is the "clean" light is really dim and small. I cannot tell you how many times one of us threw a dirty spoon or coffee cup in a totally clean basin of dishes and ran the dishwasher again, only to realize that we should have unloaded it first. The dishwasher in the old house was a lot better at letting us know when the dishes inside were just clean. Eventually, we'll replace the dishwasher with a new one, but for now, we'll make do with what we've got.

I took a few minutes on a rainy Sunday to create a little "clean/dirty" magnet that we can turn around depending on the state of the dishes inside. All it cost me was about $1. I bought a small lightweight magnetic frame at Wal-Mart (sold in packs of two), which was on sale for $1.