Why, hello!

Yes, I am still alive, in case you were wondering :) Lots going on around here actually; hopefully I'll get some time in the next few weeks to catch you up!

I'm calling the guest room done.  Come visit, friends!

Mostly small changes, except the bad-ass new curtains (thank you Mom!).  Dunno if you recall, but I was going to attempt a version of these curtains:

Aaand they were actually looking pretty good until they fell into a puddle of dye/water while they were hanging under the deck drying.  That was the end of that.

All's well that ends well though, because the ones Mom made are soooo much better.  The aubergine linen is quite beautiful, and ultimately I think I prefer a crisp line, rather than the ombre.  Too trendy.

Next up: screen porch updates.

Skirts

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post these pics!  Well yes I can - it's because I've been too busy just standing in the dining room admiring them.  Seriously.  I mean, wouldn't you?

Mom is a genius, and a sewing whiz, no?

So weird

I was looking at the last month's House Beautiful, and lo and behold came across this gorgeous home...

...with the exact same color scheme as we have planned for our newly renovated screen porch, right down to the yellow and white striped fabric and the minty accent on the door!  So weird.

Anyway, since I last posted about our screen porch plans, we've been rethinking the curtains/shades.  Although floor to ceiling striped curtains would look fabulous of course, I'm worried about the ventilation that might potentially eliminate when they're closed.

Sooo now we're thinking about something like these to provide privacy, and still let light/air through:

Except instead of standard lattice, I'm thinking about using the design of the railings from the HB house, kinda like this:

Or this...

Or maybe something simpler...

What do you think?  And have I mentioned that I can't wait for spring??  Although to be fair, this hasn't been a very wintery winter, has it?

Union Jack bandwagon

Yep, both feet firmly on it.  Look, it just seemed like the best way to solve my lack-of-storage problem, and use something I already had.  Besides, look at these super cute ones!

Not exactly a dresser, but so stinkin cute!

Mine started out as an AutoCAD sketch (to figure out line placement):

Then involved a lot of sanding, taping, and careful painting to get to this:

Cool eh?  Not my absolute favorite thing in the world, but for a completely F-R-E-E solution, not too shabby.  AND it will look killer with the chair skirts (coming soon)...

I'm here, I'm here!

Sorry for the radio silence!  I have been working on stuff, just lots of things in various stages of incompleteness (is that a word?) right now.  So annoying.

Anyways, here's a tiny little something.  So I have discovered that "styling" is so much harder than it looks!  But finally, I am fairly happy (for now) with this little corner of the living room:

Sorry for the nighttime photo!

I'm mainly trying to camouflage the heinous cable box - did it work?  I still want to swap out the green pillow for something more neutral - maybe something like this?

But other than that, I think I'm satisfied.

We (ok fine, I) have big plans for the living room in general.  Roman shades, new couch, new rug, and some other odds and ends.

Here are the couches I'm pondering (all from Room and Board), probably in a mushroom brown or deep navy:

Yeah, I think we're going to do the chaise route.  It feels kinda cheesy, but the reality is, it will probably work much better for us.  AND Niko will finally stop complaining about how uncomfortable the glass coffee table is on his poor tootsies!

One of these days we'll head up to the Room and Board store in DC to actually try these out - no way I will order a couch without sitting on it first.

Chair skirts!

Well that was the fastest fabric hunt I have ever undertaken.  After searching for the perfect living room curtain fabric for almost 2 years (only to find it in my basement, aargh), I thought I was in for it.  BUT I found this gem on the first stop:

And here's the "inspiration photo" - courtesy of Ramona :)

Oh they're gonna be so great!  Here's what my chairs look like now:

Sorry for the blurriness!

Will keep you posted, of course...

Dining room switcheroo

Typical, I know, but shortly after bringing the Docksta table home, I realized the functionality wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for.

The look was perfect, but it kind of wobbled (due to the pedestal base, I guess) and it just wasn't big enough to accommodate more than four people, which isn't exactly ideal.

So the hunt began, and I ended up with a great dining table and chairs from Craigslist.  It came with two leaves, and can expand to double its size.  The chairs are in great shape, but the fabric on the cushions has seen better days.  My mom suggested little chair skirt slipcovers, and she's right - they'd be perfect!

Let the fabric search begin...!