A Few Little Updates - lamp switcheroo and new table & pillow

Oh ... really.  You read that title right.  I actually switched out some lamps and bought a new table and pillow.  If that is not worthy of a blog post, I truly do not know what is.

Jokes aside, these little purchases made a pretty nice difference in my home!  Here's what I did.

First, I have come to realize that the lamp on my secretary desk in the dining room is just too small. I love this lamp - it's one that I redid myself.  The colors are perfect for my space, but the scale is all wrong.  Jamie and I were in Home Goods recently, and I spied this gorgeous mercury glass lamp and it was the perfect size.  It was $50.  I have given up the illusion that I will find a lamp for $25, and I considered $50 a pretty good deal, especially for such a great lamp with a shade I loved.  I bought that sucker.  Here is the change, which you might have noticed in the bookshelf pictures from Friday and yesterday.

before

after

Much, much better.  It will look *even* better when I get around to color to those shelves.

Do not worry about the little lamp though.  He moved up to my bedroom.  I have a cute little nook in my bedroom where I placed my favorite chair ever - the one I reupholstered all by myself last year.   Here it is:

But the corner seemed a little ho-hum, and I thought I could bring in more light and function by adding a small table and lamp.  I knew my lamp would be perfect.  I found the table at Home Goods for about $35.  I also wanted a print on the chair - the blue pillow, while lovely, needed a little punch.  I found this pillow at Marshalls for about $12.  Love.

I'm so happy with the changes.  I need to bring in some art and maybe a mirror on the wall for sure.  But for now, these little updates make me so happy.  Even on a Tuesday.  In February.  

See you swoon,

Bookshelf: Doors and hardware!

Monday Monday ... so good to me.  Am I the only one who sings this song by the Mamas and the Papas every Monday morning?  Well, not every Monday morning.  Sometimes I mix it up with "Manic Monday" or "Rainy Days and Mondays."  I've warned my taste in music is questionable at best.

Anyway, today I am excited to share the update I made to my tall skinny IKEA shelves in my dining room.  I bought them to flank my desk, and had a bunch of plans for them.  Here they are when I started this particular project.

I brought in the shelves because I wanted to fill that huge space, but I also needed storage.  Little loves art and I thought it was a good idea to hide, but still keep accessible, her coloring books, paper, crayons, colored pencils, glue, paste, scissors ... I could go on and on but that's only the tip of the artwork-iceberg.

I also needed a place for my shredder and for all the cords that go to the computer, speakers, lamp, shredder and other computer stuff.  I just cut a hole in the back of the bookshelves and have the cords running into the back.  Oh how hidden cords make my heart skip a beat.

Obviously, having these things out in the open would not do, which is why I wanted to bring in the doors.  I blogged about how I added crown molding to the tops, but there is still more to do, which includes:

• buying doors for the bottom part of the shelves
• adding hardware to those doors to match hardware on desk
• painting the backs of the open shelves so the contents really pop
• accessorizing the shelves; and
• adding crown molding to the top of the shelves to make them a little more finished.

Today I knocked two things off this list!  I added doors and hardware.  This was so simple.  I bought the doors at IKEA - they're the Olsbo door and are meant to go with the Billy bookshelves.  They cost $35 each (which, incidentally, is not much less than the actual shelf cost!).  Hanging the doors was a breeze and easily took less than an hour.  

I picked up these little knobs at Lowe's. They matched the hardware on the desk pretty well and were only about $4 each.  

I just drilled holes in the doors and added the knobs and called it a day.  I bought one of these plastic hardware templates at Home Depot years ago.  I love it.  It makes drilling spots for knobs and pulls so easy.  I did this before I put the doors on the cabinet.

Now here is the almost-finished product!!  

Next up: painting the backs of the shelves.  I've decided on a color and cannot wait to share.  Have a terrific week!

See you swoon,

Bookshelf: The Crowning Touch

Happy Friday, all!

Remember my bookshelves in my dining room?  They are coming along nicely.  I bought them right around New Years - they're the standard Billy bookcases from IKEA.  Here they are:

I have several plans for them.  These include:

• buying doors for the bottom part of the shelves
• adding hardware to those doors to match hardware on desk
• painting the backs of the open shelves so the contents really pop
• accessorizing the shelves; and
• adding crown molding to the top of the shelves to make them a little more finished.

Today is all about the crown, baby.  I don't have a nail gun or miter saw, so this was going to be just me with my miter box, hand saw and some finishing nails.  I also used 1x2 pieces of wood and a piece of "outdoor" crown molding (this is sooooooo easy to cut, and I was going to paint it anyway so I chose plastic over wood).  

I had all of the tools on hand.  My dad bought me a miter box years ago and it is so easy to use.  I followed the instructions of Centsational Girl, as she has added crown molding to her shelves many times and it seemed silly to try to reinvent the wheel.  So thanks, Centsational Girl!  I had scrap pieces of 1x2s in my workshop, and I was able to use that for the top of the shelves for the crown to hang from.  Just like ribbon, never ever throw away scrap pieces of wood!  

So first thing I did was measure the shelves and cut my scrap wood - this gives a place for you to nail the crown molding into. I nailed them in place with short nails.  

Then I measured and cut my crown to fit the space and used my miter box to do so. I used small finishing nails and a skinny hammer (this probably has an actual name but I don't know it) to nail the crown in place -- I had to make a little detour to Home Depot mid-project because I only bought one piece of crown and I was a hair short on the front piece cuts ... argh.  Anyway, I finally got my cuts right and nailed them up.  I expected some gaps in the corners, which, of course, there were.  I just used paintable caulk to hide it. 

Then, I used one coat of my favorite Zinsser oil based primer on the crown and then two coats of Valspar's "Cream Delight," which I read is a close fit to the cream on Ikea furniture.  It's a pretty good match.  

And voila!  I love how this turned out and it was so easy.  The crown really makes the bookshelves look much more expensive, I think.  The only things I paid out of pocket were the molding and the paint.

Next up: a trip to IKEA to get those doors.  I'm still mulling over the color for the back of the shelves, but am getting closer.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that paint is ultimately an easy fix.  If I hate it, hello, just repaint.  Have a terrific weekend!

See you swoon,

Valentines Day: amo, amas, a ... blah.

Latin: I love, you love, she ... blah.  Why not start off a Valentines Day post with a little Latin?

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I try to avoid posting too many personal things here on Swoon.  The closest I have come were my posts about leaving our first family home, the post this Summer where I shared that I have moved out of the house I loved because my husband and I were separating, a post where I waxed poetic about my love of running and my post about my dear friend Maggie.  I view this blog as my creative outlet, and I shy away from getting into feelings or "real" stuff.  It is, I think, quite common practice among a lot of bloggers to share only the good and none of the bad; to take a picture of a perfectly staged room only to have a pile of junk hidden off to the side; to focus on the surface stuff when deeper things linger.  Truthfully, I did it and I still do - and it's OK because this blog is about DIY and projects, not a personal diary of my life.   Today is different though.  It's Valentines Day.  I've watched other bloggers post for weeks about the holiday and hearts and projects for their sweethearts; I've walked the aisles of stores and have seen the red and pink hearts; I've seen the commercials for diamonds and rings and cards (Hallmark: you get me every time).  Yes.  It is all the same stuff as in years past, but this year, it is very different.  It is hard.  Rather than finding myself annoyed or "over" the holiday, I have found myself, well, sad.  And I feel bad.  What, after all, is wrong with celebrating loving someone and being loved?  When you strip away the commercialism and the silly hearts and cupids, what is so bad about Valentines Day?  A day that is devoted to romantic love is really not such a bad day.  This life can be hard and cruel.  It is a battle for every single one of us.  So a day that is focused on true love .... well, there's just nothing wrong with that.

But what does someone going through a divorce do on Valentines Day?  How is one supposed to feel?  Obviously it is hitting me hard, as I've just used a ton of rhetorical questions, and I *hate* rhetorical questions.  

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for your feelings during the pendency of a divorce: going from saying "we" to "I"; the first Christmas alone; when you catch a glimpse of one of your wedding photos; that strange feeling when you catch yourself instinctively rubbing your thumb against your ring finger searching for rings that are no longer there; if children are involved, those first few weekends without them.  It is all hard.  For years, I have scoffed at Valentines Day.  "It's a stupid manufactured holiday," I would say.  It is easy to scoff at a holiday of which you are a part:  you have the liberty to choose whether to celebrate it.  But when you're once again without a Valentine, it is different.  It seems that everyone in the world is out there with a valentine, wearing her heart on her sleeve.  Everyone, it seems, but you.

via

I have learned, though, that I can pull myself out of the darkness by focusing on the good.  This Valentines Day, rather than be upset and focus on what I do not have, I am breaking out of my comfort zone by doing something completely different and also focusing on what I want.   Tonight I am running in a singles 5K run - a non-competitive jaunt that happens to end at a bar with a happy hour ... with a couple of free drinks and food - hello!  I think it will be fun and, above all else, will get me out of my house for most of the night.  How apropos on the day of love that I am combining two things I love oh-so-much: running and beer.  

But I also want to turn around my thinking and focus on love and the love I want and deserve.  I always think about Carrie Bradshaw's line from the finale of the "Sex and the City" series:

I’m looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love.

This is what I want.  I believe it is out there.  I believe in love and all that comes with it -- to love and to be loved; to need and to be needed.  I believe there is someone out there who will love me and get me and who knows that I would rather have one single lily of the valley stem over a roomful of red roses -- someone who knows that despite the fact that I would never ask for them, I actually love receiving flowers.  I am hopeful that this will be the hardest Valentines Day that I ever have.  I feel a lot like Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol, because I promise, when the time is right, I will not take Valentines Day, and more importantly what it means, for granted again.  Because, despite the heartbreak and all of the struggle of life and love, I believe in love.  And I believe in me.  

See you swoon,

Nantucket Red: Winter Edition

Morning all!  Remember my Nantucket Red skirt that I bought over the Summer?  The one I pined for and the ultimately bit the bullet and ordered? Well it is back.

When I bought it, I assumed I would only wear it in the Summer, because it is a decidedly Summer skirt - the color, the length, the look ... it's all very Summery.  In the Summer, I paired it with wedge sandals, a chambray top and a belt:

But as the seasons changed, I thought I might try to wear it in cooler weather too.  So when Fall rolled around, I tried something new: I wore my tall flat riding boots, a tan ruffly cardigan and a light weight oatmeal colored cowl-neck shell underneath:

Now that it's Winter, I knew I could keep going.  I have been lusting after Irish sweaters this season, but the wool versions are always too bulky on me.  LL Bean happened to have a great sale on a cotton cable sweater that had the same look as a traditional wool Irish sweater. I snatched it up.  I wore the new sweater with my skirt, along with my tall brown riding boots and brown tights.  I grabbed a yellow and tan polka dotted scarf from my closet and some gold hoop earrings and ... voila!  

I love the outfit and love love love that I can wear my skirt even though Summer is half a year away.  I'm going to round out the year by figuring out a Spring look too!  I've already got ideas swirling -- maybe pink, maybe turquoise, oooh the possibilities.  

See you swoon,