Dining Room Revamp: Louis Chairs

I have always loved Louis style dining room chairs, and someday upgrading our mismatched hodgepodge of different seating has long been on our wish list for the future.  Over the years I've kept an eye out at furniture stores and antique malls but have never found a large enough set (3 chairs does not count!) or a price that was low enough to justify them.  Until a couple of weeks ago.  While scouring Craigslist for another project, I found a guy selling a bunch of dining chairs from a church that no longer used them and needed the extra space.  Always up for a road trip in search of a great deal, Jady and I jumped in one of our church's 15 passenger vans and got on the road to Indiana.  

The crazy thing is, by the time we arrived, our guy had discovered even MORE of them, so that all told we came home with 18 Louis chairs!  And since he really wanted to get rid of all of them at once, we were able to negotiate a low price--  just about $30 a chair!

They are all in perfect condition and super sturdy, but they definitely need a makeover before they'll be ready for us to use.  Since we don't have a dining room table or a dining room space that can seat 18 people, I'll be dividing the chairs up into groups-- 4 for the kitchen table, 10-12 for the dining room, and a couple for extra seating around the house.  

Now we just have to pick a design!  Not painting the frames and leaving them as they are would obviously save me quite a bit of labor... so it's tempting.  But the light, yellowy wood isn't my favorite, so if we keep them as is I'll want to choose an upholstery color to downplay the yellow.  What would you do?  To paint, or not to paint?

Ballard Designs

etsy

The House Face

House & Home

Apartment Therapy

Savvy Home

New England Home

The Designer's Attic

Carla Aston

La Dolce Vita

J. Wheeler Designs

xo

Liza

New Year, New Baby, New HOUSE?!

This past year has been huge for us in so many ways that I can hardly believe how much has happened when I look back over it all.  Jady was offered the position of head minster at our amazing church here in Louisville, we went to Germany for him to finish his PhD, and after years of praying for kids we're expecting our first baby in April.  All HUGE.  All amazing.  Don't get me wrong- there have been plenty of hard things and challenges along the way, too (it is real life, after all), but I'm so thankful for what we've been given this year.

So, since we didn't really have much going on otherwise... (that's a joke;-)), we decided why not throw another major life change into the mix?  

We. Bought. A. House!  

We adore the house we already own and have lived in and renovated over these past two + years, and we didn't really *need* to move anytime soon.  But we had been "just looking" in a neighborhood we'd love to move to in the future when this little gem of a 1950s time capsule came on the market.  Because it needs some work, it was listed at a great entry point price for the neighborhood, where most homes would be out of our budget.  It's dated as can be, covered in wallpaper and even has a baby blue bathroom :-) 

I've had THE best time playing around with photoshop, graph paper sketches, the HGTV home design software and the IKEA kitchen design tool online over these past few weeks as we waited for the inspection and closing.  As of this past week, it's ours!  Stay tuned for lots of projects and renovation posts, and our favorite: Before & Afters :-)

xo

Liza

Garage Chic: Cheap Shelving DIY

At the back of our first floor we have a small extra room that can technically be counted as a bedroom, since it has a small closet and a bathroom nearby.  We don't really have much need for another bedroom at the moment, and honestly it's too small and awkward to lend itself to that use on a daily basis.  Until recently it was a catch all space for my painting supplies, wrapping paraphernalia, and even a few boxes that I just couldn't find the energy to unpack (yes, from two years ago!).  

Thankfully I knew once the rest of the house had been pretty much finished I would inevitably feel a surge of motivation to tackle this random little room and turn it into an office and painting studio area.  The first step was clearing out whatever junk had accumulated over time from laziness, and then I realized exactly what we needed: storage.  My painted gray desk from our Vienna days helps organize quite a bit of office materials, but it wasn't enough.  Not wanting to spend a bunch on mediocre bookshelves for this room, and also not interested in a two hour drive to IKEA this time, I decided to stop by our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore center, which sells a huge range of second hand home items.  This place offers a treasure hunt, with plenty of junk to rummage through but also the possibility of finding a cool light fixture, old french doors, a fireplace mantel (like I did here), or in this case, a shelving unit.

These basic metal shelving units you'd see lining the walls of a garage or basement seemed more interesting to me than a basic wooden bookshelf, so I brought home the largest one-- for 10 bucks.  

The whole thing was pretty grimy, and some sections of the shelves and the side rails had been rusted over time, so first off I used dish soap and water to scrub each piece well to remove any residue or dust.  I decided to spray paint it, and it's always hard for me to make myself do the cleaning/prep step in this process, but it's important!  So I waited (im)patiently while all of the pieces dried before beginning to paint.

Normal spray paint is wonderful at covering a multitude of problems, but with this much rust, I decided to bring in the big guns.  Rustoleum makes a special primer for rusted metal that seals in the problem and protects from further corrosion.  So all of the rails and shelves got a good coat of primer first.

I wanted to play with a more formal look as a foil for the industrial nature of the shelves, so I settled on a black and gold color scheme.  For the shelves I used a basic Rustoleum black matte spray paint, and for the rails I decided to go metallic with Krylon's "18k Gold Plate." 

Once everything was dry to the touch I tried to remember how to reassemble everything (the before photos I took were key here!), and I'm happy with the result.  I now finally have a place for our stationary and my oversized painting supplies, and our printer is no longer on the floor!  

The whole project took me a couple of days since I spread out all the steps, but you could definitely finish it all in one day, including dry time.  With all the spray paint I used up, my total came to about $35, including the original $10 for the shelves-- a pretty good deal!  And if we ever don't need them in the house, they can always glam up the garage a little:)

xo

Liza

Designer Splurge: Ann Sacks Tile

Over the years when flipping through home design magazines, I usually don't too close attention to brand names of high end products, simply because I know we're not at the point in life to be using more custom and expensive designer products.  And that's ok-- whatever sized budget I'm working with, I always find it helpful to get inspiration from the gorgeous, sky's-the-limit decor choices you find in the glossy layouts in magazines.  But over time I kept recognizing the same designer name popping up in the credits for the most beautiful tile installed in these stunning kitchens and bathrooms.  Jady and I have learned the basics of tiling and finished our bathroom floor here and here and the guest bathroom, too, using classic, simple tile available in bulk at Home Depot.  It's clean and lovely and affordable.  

But the tile that Ann Sacks designs is in another category entirely.  Her mosaics create the most mesmerizing swirls and geometric patterns, and she incorporates gorgeous combinations of marble, glass and porcelain tile into her designs.

Myekdesign

via Cococozy

I fell in love with this luminescent, large scale lattice pattern created out of marble and glass tiles.  If I only had an enormous master bathroom, this would be perfect!!

As special as these mosaic designs are, the company knows it-- and charges you appropriately:)  We're talking well beyond the range of anything at Home Depot here!  But thankfully, Ann Sacks does carry several lower priced tile options that still capture some of the special feel of her more coveted mosaics.  These glass tile patterns are all under $50, and a few are as affordable as $15 per square foot-- a helpful entry point for those of us who are fans on a budget:)

Seriously glam up a space with gold Arabesque tile.

Just in case I needed more inspiration, there was a fully installed bathroom to view at the NYC store.  Yes, please.

xo

Liza

I Heart Blue & Gold

This past week I noticed I had run out of stationary and happily stopped by to browse through the Kate Spade selection of notecards.  The last little box I bought for myself-- hot pink with gold accents-- made writing notes such a pleasure that I had to go back for more.  This time I picked up a different pattern in my favorite combination of turquoise blue, creamy white and gold.

This soothing, elegant combination of colors has been a longtime favorite of mine and one that I return to over and over.  Sometimes you just like what you like:)

White Haven Interiors

Decor Pad

xo

Liza

Deals of the Day: TARGET Home Decor

Right now at my local Target store they have several rows of clearance items in their home decor section, which I was compelled to check out, of course, on my way to buying necessities.  I found several summery, natural fiber and metallic pieces that all tempted me.  Like this oversized basket weave tray-- perfect for our outdoor coffee table on the deck...

I love this gold and glass lamp base!  Online it's still not on sale, so I might have to run back to our store and snag this one.

Some friends of ours have this awesome woven basket with painted top in their gorgeous home, and I had no idea it was from Target!  I might just have to copy them.

xo

Liza