The Best of 2013: Some of Your Favorites

2013 has been quite a year for Mel & Liza.  Between us settling into our home in Louisville (which really just means 12 months of nonstop projects) and Mel and her family moving into a gorgeous, spacious new apartment, we have had plenty to keep us busy and out of trouble.  Here's a look back at some of 2013's highlights and your favorite posts:

An IKEA Hack:  When we desperately needed more clothes storage in our bedroom, we looked to IKEA for an inexpensive, simple chest of drawers with endless possibilities for painting, staining and making it your own.  Check out the brainstorming session here as well as the before and after here.

An All Natural Guest:  Back in February, Melina posted about our friend Andrea and her fabulous, home made hand and lip balm that she cooks up in her kitchen.  More on that here.

Front Door Makeovers:  Great minds think alike! Earlier this year (while still in their old apartment), Mel whipped out her paintbrush and transformed their front door with a few coats of crisp black paint.  Inspired by her look, I followed her lead just a few months later.  Read more here and here.

Sewing a Box Pleated Bedskirt: Our bedroom is small, too small for all of our piles of clothes that don't seem to have a place in the dressers or closet.  So a while back we filled up some under bed storage containers to help solve the overflow problem, and I sewed a custom bedskirt to hide the bins and give the room a finished look.  Check out the tutorial here.

Butler's Pantry:  Mel reworked the butler's pantry in their new apartment, creating the perfect space for her gorgeous flower arranging projects.  It's a beautiful, functional room, and I would kill for a flower station!  More here.

Lindsay's Apartment:  You loved the before and after photos of Lindsay's dining room.  Thanks to a super inexpensive antique store find, her dining room table saved her hundreds of dollars and the freedom to buy the lucite chairs she'd been wanting.  A favorite calendar of scenes of NYC, cut and framed in affordable IKEA frames, and the whole place was transformed!  Read more here.

Birthday Party:  Nobody throws a party like Mel.  Seriously, she has a gift for entertaining that makes anyone of any age feel special and comfortable, and her children's parties really showcase her talents.  This fabulous birthday spread was one of your favorites- and mine, too!  More here.

Linen Closet DIY:  When we were still living in a completely chaotic house under construction, I had to get something organized to stay sane.  The upstairs linen closet got a good cleaning, new shelves and shiny new labels to keep things in their proper place.  And I got to feel like there was some hope for the rest of the house:)  More here.

Mel's Beautiful Kitchen Redo:  We love before & after posts! Don't you?  Melina transformed the kitchen in their new apartment by meticulously sanding, priming and painting her cabinets with a fresh white, instantly brightening up the room.  Check out the post and tutorial here.

The Deck:  This year we tackled the largest, most involved project we've ever attempted and built a deck off of the back of our house.  After weeks of long, hot, dirty work days, countless pieces of lumber and about a million pounds of concrete, we ended up with a party deck that has already become our favorite spot in the house.  And I must admit, I'm pretty darn proud of the two of us:)  Read more about it all here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

We have loved getting to share our lives and projects with you all this year! Thank you for being a part of our 2013.  We're looking forward to a great year with you all!

xo

Liza

Side Tables

Remember our side table project??? Here is the result....

I am pretty happy with the result, especially since the entire project cost me 20 bucks!!

Besos & Happy Weekending!!

Mel

Monday Projects

Hi All, sorry to be a little MIA, but we are prepping for Creative Arts Camp, a move, and the end of school year of our ninos. First up today, Nia is back and sharing fabulous summer projects, we are  which furniture stays and goes, and in between we're packing boxes. 

Stay tuned for our upcoming moving projects!!

Mel

Be our Guest: Nurse Luna

Since the start of our blog, I have been hoping my sister would give us a little post on health products. Marissa is an RN and all around fun person to be around. So, when she agreed to share what she is up to and how we can be healthier, I was so pleased and am happy to share her wisdom.

Floral Love

It is never too early, I think, to prep for Valentine's Day whether you have someone to snuggle with or not. I think the little ones have it right, passing out Valentines to all of their friends.  I think for grown-ups, the perfect gifts include chocolates and flowers.  My favorite V-Day flowers remain the peony English Rose. They are perfect, especially in the color of blush. I can hardly resist having them all over my own apartment. They are a little pricy but definitely worth the sentiment.  

Arrangement from 2012 from J to A. 

If you are not a believer in gifting flowers because they eventually die, here are a few floral ideas that are meant to last......

via Anthropologie

Besos,

Mel

A little Love...

I know we are in January, but in the Casa de Smith we have already begun creating fun Valentine's Day decorations. I just love having all the fun reds, pinks, and light blues around the house. I say keep it simple when your decorating with little ones and your sure to have a home full of whimsy. 

Here are a few of my favorite images around my digs....

Happy Decorating!!!

Besos, 

M

Making Memories

January tends to be a quiet month for most of us, especially when most of your time is spent trying to stay warm inside. January and February are great months to reflect on the years past and what is ahead. So, for me that means reorganizing our apartment, printing family photos, and making doctor's appointments. 

As I have been looking for new ways to display photos around our home as we all grow older, I happily stumbled upon OHHSIT. They have the most fabulous design ideas to capture your family memories and integrate them in your everyday living, all while making a design statement.

via ohhsit.com 

via ohhsit.com

I can not get enough of this idea. What a fabulous way to keep your family memories.


Happy Friday!!


Mel

Chalk Paint Tutorial

Welcome, Stacy Roseberry, our dear friend in Dallas Texas (also spouse of a clergyman), who recently attempted and succeeded painting furniture using chalk paint. She has an excellent eye for design and is a wonderful mother of two. Thank you for sharing your tutorial with us today!  Here's Stacy's guest post:

Over the years I have inherited many pieces of antique furniture from my family. Some are beautiful the way they are and others don’t quite seem to fit in with the more modern pieces in our home. I really love to find old pieces that blend with the style we already have instead of purchasing something new. 

So, when my husband insisted that he needed more storage for his clothes (if you knew him you would understand why he needs more than half of our master closet including the entire shelf system at the top to store all his shoes) I bought  a beautiful, second-hand French dresser. The dresser had a white and gold speckled finish which just didn’t fit with the other brown furniture in our bedroom. So, I decided to paint it.


Although I have painted many furniture pieces in our house, I didn’t feel like sanding, stripping and priming this piece…not to mention it had a laminate top which wouldn’t hold the paint color. After a tip from my sister-in-law and some researching on the internet, I came across Annie Sloan’s chalk paint.

This isn’t chalk board paint. It is essentially a latex paint with plaster of paris or chalk mixed into the paint creating a thick, super-matte , easy to use furniture paint. The paint has a gritty feel when you brush it on and has an amazing way of lying flat as it dries (in about 20 minutes).  

I started by wiping down the furniture piece with a wet rag and then letting it air dry before applying any paint. I took out all the drawers and removed all the hardware. There is no sanding, priming or anything else to do. Unbelievable! 

I chose duck egg blue chalk paint from the 28 premixed Annie Sloan paint colors. The paint is a little pricey, about $38 per quart but you don’t need much at all to complete a furniture piece. You can mix the colors or even add water to create a light coverage. I did not add anything to my paint because the color and finish was exactly what I wanted. Then, I just started painting with a natural bristle paintbrush. The paint would dry really quickly, so I worked in small sections. I tried to work with the grain of the wood because you can see the brush strokes a little when it dries. Even though this paint is amazing, it is still a hand painted piece.

After one coat, really that is all it takes, you are ready to apply Annie Sloan’s soft wax. I would recommend getting her clear finishing wax because I tried to save money and purchase another wax and it actually stripped the paint finish off my furniture. The wax looks and feels like Crisco. I just used an old t-shirt to apply the wax, but Annie Sloan recommends a round brush. It was a little tough to get into some of the detailed areas but it saved me another $20. Here you can see the slightly darker finish after applying the wax. It seals the paint and makes it much more durable. When the wax dries you can take another clean t-shirt and buff it to wipe off any excess wax.

   Another thing that makes this paint awesome for furniture is its workability. After you paint and clear wax you can sand the edges as well as take the Annie Sloan dark wax and detail the decorative accents on the piece. You brush it into the edges and around any ornamental details then wipe it off to create depth and an aged look. We like things to be more simple with clean lines so we did not age our dresser. The finished piece is gorgeous and I couldn’t be any more pleased with the results. My neighbor liked it so much I took her to get some chalk paint in red and she completed her antique chest by the end of the next day. 

THANK YOU, STACY!!!!

High End Lifestyle Design: An Interview with Jonathan Hansen

Mel and I have long been huge fans of our friend Jonathan Hansen, whose soft spoken kindness and personal sense of style impressed me long before I knew of his admirable and considerable contributions to the world of high end design.  Whether building his own furniture, working with famous interior decorators or for clothing designer Thom Browne, Jonathan's fascination with mixing luxurious and affordable, modern and traditional elements shines through.  He agreed to answer a few questions for us about his designs and inspiration, and we're thrilled!

Jonathan's interest in design began while he was still a little boy;  for his fifth birthday he remembers asking his parents for a new look in his bedroom: wall to wall shag carpet in bright red!  A High School shop class taught him the basics of woodworking and leading him to experiment on his own, making furniture and playing with different finishes to create a variety of antiqued looks.  He even started his own business in college, building and selling his furniture in his spare time from studying (we love that DIY spirit!).  


Closing up shop in order to continue his training, Jonathan next spent two years at the North Bennet Street School in Boston,
which is the oldest trade school in the country and has programs in furniture making, violin making, and jewelry making.  During this apprenticeship style training, Jonathan studied 18th and 19th century pieces from the period when hand skills were at their highest, before machines altered the craft.  These pieces are based on classic principles of architecture, lines and construction-- principles Jonathan applies to all aspects of design.

I was able to check out his gorgeous furniture close up!

In New York City, he worked with several high profile decorators (including Keith Irvine, Jackie Onassis' decorator!!), creating one of a kind and custom pieces of furniture for their clients' homes.  For one job in Santa Barbara he was asked to design all of the furniture for a whole new home, with everything custom fit for the house.  He designed everything and assembled a network of highly skilled craftsmen from all over the country to execute his designs.


That project in LA started him onto what he is doing now, which is  full time design and product development.  Recently, Jonathan has helped Thom Browne, Ralph Rucci & Aerin Lauder to expand their brands into the home product category.  He loves the process of translating a brand aesthetic from one category (like fashion or beauty) into the home category.  The fun for him is in working with a designer and finding out how their aesthetic can find its expression in furniture, table top and decorative objects. 

A collection of glassware Jonathan recently designed for Baccarat and Thom Browne.

His designs for the collection

A few helpful insights from the expert himself:

- Be patient.  Designing anything is an evolutionary process.  You don't know how it's going to look until you see the prototype for the first time.

- When decorating a room in your home, buy things you love and see how you can work them together.  

-Be sure to mix old and new together.

- Furniture is supposed to be used! It's ok when it looks lived in.

Stay tuned to read about Jonathan's inspiration, and later see the tour of their amazing NYC apartment!

Liza 

Our 1st Guest

Happy Tuesday Readers! 
We are so pleased to have our talented photographer friend, Emily Large share a DIY project with us today. Liza and I both met Emily in college, and years later, while we were in seminary, Emily married a classmate of our husbands, and our paths have been crossed ever since!

Bienvenidos!

emilylargephotography.com

With a baby on the way, I’m flexing my organizational muscles as we move our daughters into the same room to make space for our new little one.  I’m not a naturally organized or linear thinking person.  I tend to put things where they “make sense to me” or “I’ll remember where I put that later.”  But now I will have to put some logical order to the “organized chaos.”  

And I’ll probably start that project next week.  (-:

Before we get to that, though, I have to re-decorate the room so that both girls feel at home.  And this part will be fun!  With a small budget and 2 budding artists in the home, I decided to put them to work for our project.

I bought about 30 8x10 canvas panels from our local art supply store (A.C. Moore), some child friendly paints, some ticky tack adhesive (it’s like putty) and let the girls at it.  It was a fun afternoon activity we could do together, and including the girls in the project 1) made the oldest more amendable to the rearrangement and 2) made the younger daughter feel more at home in her new room and bed.

We originally covered a small wall in the room from floor to ceiling with the panels with the ticky tack and enjoyed the brightly covered space.  The girls loved putting the ticky tack on the panels and were so proud of their work.  And again, we had another fun afternoon activity working together.

Unfortunately it occurred to me the next day that the beds would have to be rearranged.  Bummer!  Undoing all our hard work wasn’t easy, but it was worth it to get it just right.

We rearranged the canvases to create a bit of a headboard for each girl’s bed.  We moved in the beds, and it’s as cute as can be.

For the rest of the room, I’ve bought some big frames from IKEA and am printing 2 of my favorite photos of each girl to hang on the walls.  I LOVE the clean and powerful statements that large prints make.  (When the floors are cluttered and the beds are unmade, at least the walls are beautiful, right?)  I highly recommend printing your photos at mpix.com.  First class quality on a tight budget.  Beautiful photographs + mpix.com + IKEA = inexpensive, sentimental, and stylish walls.

Thank you Emily! 
If you need beautiful photos taken, Emily is your gal! Check her out at emilylargephotography.com &http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emily-Large-Photography/205407696161061




Besos,


M