A little door progress

Sometimes these before and after "progress pics" make me nuts because I hate waiting to see the end result (and I guess it truly is not a before and after if it is in the middle).  However, since my front door has been a spring into summer, summer into fall project I thought this would be the time to show you the front door progress that my neighbor Andy and I made yesterday.

Slowly but surely, we are getting there.  Here is a little play by play for you:

Bye-bye red door, hello huge mess and lots of work ahead:

Trash bag transom!

Transom In:

Finaly, door is in and opens and closes, success! We still have some work to do (see inside frame):

And here is what we did yesterday!

I have some serious spackle and crack filler to work with but I assure you next time you see this door post, it will be the last!  Anyone working on a project that has taken longer than expected? 

See you swoon,



Paper or Plastic?

Well actually, I really want to know if you would prefer plastic or wood (I liked the other title better), saw horses that is!  I am not sure how I thought I would get any of my projects done without saw horses but a few weekends ago I realized they were a MUST HAVE so I went to Lowe's to pick them up and add them to my wood working arsenal.

Two hours later and the expansion of my tool wishlist from running around with the Lowe's guy, I ended up with these these in my cart:

Stanley Twin Pack Folding Saw Horses for $31 bucks!

I was drawn to these due to the limited storage space I have for tools and such so I thought these were my best option since they folded up.  I ran into a very nice gentelman who sells tools on Craigslist and he managed to talk me out of them.  Even though the Lowe's salesman swore by these plastic beauties I decided to listen to the man that used saw horses on a daily basis.  Thank you nice man in Lowe's :)

So I opted for wood saw horses.  All I need was the brackets and some 2x4's to make the legs and top piece.  So easy, and Lowe's made the wood cuts for me so I barely had to do anything but drill the wood into the brackets when I got home.

This is what they look like and you can find them here:

So what I want to know from all you builders out there, which style do you prefer more?  Any experiences with the plastic horses?  I am going to put these into action this weekend for my kitchen window seat so stay tuned for that!

See you swoon,

Kitchen Rug: Take Two

On Monday, I posted about my beloved Zig Zag Rug that I thought was going to be perfect for the kitchen breakfast nook.  Sadly, it was not.  The rug, while so so chic and soft, is a woven cotton and just not ideally suited for under a kitchen table where two children eat.  So out it came.

I took note of what worked and what didn't with the rug.  I liked that it had a cool pattern: I wanted something a little modern and fun, but nothing too crazy.  I liked that it had a natural texture and felt good under foot.  The size (5x7) was just about right. On the other hand, I did not like that it wasn't stiff enough: I needed something that would stay in place when the chairs moved in and out.  I did not like that you could not clean it easily: not with a vacuum and not with a broom.  I did not like that it did not repel stains (water, food, etc.) very well.

I went trolling for rugs online and went to one of my favorite spots: Overstock.  I have only had great experiences at Overstock, and you cannot beat the $2.95 shipping plus super quick delivery.  I narrowed the search results to the least expensive 5x8 sized rugs and came across a really cool indoor-outdoor jute looking number: the St. Bart's Indoor Outdoor Sand rug.

What caught my eye (besides the great price) was the oversized pattern, which reminds me a lot of the print on my drapes in the den.

 The price was right, so I clicked the order button and crossed my fingers and toes.  Unbelievably, the rug arrived just two days later and yippie!  Look at how lovely!

It's more grey than "sand" as the description says, which is a huge bonus to me because of all the grey in my space.  I love the oversized print and the grey has a great texture, which is comfy (though admittedly not as cushy as the cotton zig zag rug) and will hide stains well.  

Here is how this space has evolved ... from no rug to the zig zag rug to the current rug. I'm happy with how it looks now!

{before}

{in between}

{now}

You know those brown chairs are taunting me with their ugliness.  I need some quality time with them and a paint brush (or spray paint ... still on the fence).  Hopefully in the coming weeks I can turn to this project and make the brown chairs white!

One quick question for you guys: what would you do for a window treatment in this space?  Right now I have nada on the windows and it feels a little too stark.  See?

Would you do a bamboo shade?  A drape shade in a cool fabric?  Something completely different? I'm all ears.

See you swoon,

5 reasons you should wear it again...

The days are flying by and before you know it, January 28th 2012, our long awaited Wear It Again event will be here.  So to get all you as pumped up about the big day as we are let me show you five reasons why you don't want to miss this!

1.  First amd foremost, all proceeds will go to benefit a very special charity, The Nursing Mother's Advisory Council.  So not only are you partying the night away, you are donating to a great cause at the same time!



2.  This is one of my favorites: You get to wear you most prized evening wear all over again, whether it is your wedding dress, mother of the bride dress, or bridesmaid dress.  We know you are dying to wear it again and trust us, it will feel good.

It  may be tight but I am going for this (we will see what winter and lots of holiday dinners bring to the waisteline):

and Shanna, well, she has told me that her heart and mind will be thinking of this beauty but after the babies that is where this dress may have to stay.  Yay for babies, boo for stretched out rib cages.  From what I hear though it is all worth it!!

3.  This is almost as important as number two:  A night out with your best girlfriends of course!  There is no substitution for a girl's night out so grab all the ladies and bring them for a night you won't soon forget.  It's all about the memories so make sure to bring your cameras and put this one in the history books.  Don't forget we have set up accomodations at the Holiday Inn so for thse of you planning to watch the sun come up you can be rest assured that when you do finally decide to lay your head down, we have a place for you to do it :)

4.  An amazing DJ in the entertainment insdustry who will have you dancing your butts off all night.  We all know the music makes the party and Fred Hart will exceed all expectations.  Thank you Fred, we cannot wait to see you!

5.  Last but certainly not least, you can capture fun photos of you and your girls in the Shutterbooth which our friend and one of our favorite vendors, Roxanne from Philadelphia Shutterbooth, will be bringing.  We want to see you all doing this:

No, I don't know these people but they were on the website which you should check out if you ever need them to attend your event!

So there you have it, five reasons we need to see your happy, smiling faces in a few short months.  Tickets are on sale now so we will look forward to hearing from you (you can check out instructions for purchasing tickets here)!

See you swoon,

Zig Zag Rug!

Hiya! How was your weekend? I really cannot believe it is officially Fall.  Oh, I love this season.  I am a cooler weather girl through and through and am positively giddy about the idea of wearing sweaters, boots, jeans and enjoying the glorious weather and leaves here in the Northeast.  But I digress: today's post is all about the new rug I got for my kitchen in the breakfast nook.

I needed something thin and durable but also stylish.  I wasn't happy with anything I was seeing (for the price I was willing to pay) at the usual places, and then I stumbled upon this lovely Zig Zag Rug from Urban Outfitters:

They had it in grey, blue or black. I went with grey.  I love the blue, but I also felt for my space, the grey would work a little better.  The price was too good to be true: $70 for a 5x7?   And it got even better!  Jamie's friend works for Anthropologie, and was able to use her discount, which is normally 10% off, but happened to be a whopping 40% off because it was their "friends and family" special.  Oh, and free shipping!  I ended up paying about $44 for this 5x7 rug.  Deal of the century, my friends.  And without further ado, here is the before and after.

{before}

{after}

{before}

{after}

But sadly, this story does not have a happy ending.  As much as I'm loving this rug (it's so pretty and soft and yet durable, which is a must with two kids),  it doesn't lay flat and is a total bear to clean.  I guess under the kitchen table is not an ideal spot for it.   Sigh.  The search goes on.  However, next up for this space is to paint those chairs a soft cream and to get something on the windows. And, if you've been following me on Pinterest, you'll know I'm planning something absolutely swoon-worthy for the doorway between the kitchen and laundry room.  Not on Pinterest? Here are a few hints ...

above three images courtesy of From Our Hiding Place

Oh yeah baby.  I'm going to DIY some sliding barn doors.  I'll definitely do the double doors like in the last picture.  I'm just trying to figure out their color: white? grey? or yellow?  Anyone care to vote?

See you swoon,