living room in with the new and out with the old (table, that is)

We're in the process of rearranging our living room (more on that later!) and needed a new end table for one side of the Klobo (our Ikea loveseat, incase you have no idea what we're talking about...see this post for our re-do of the Klobo slipcover.)

We decided to visit one of our favorite local vintage housewares stores to see what they had to offer. 

We found this little side table with really nice detail.

Here's a close up of the detailing.  

We purchased it for the mere price of $22.  The table itself was painted a really light pink color which didn't quite fit too well in our living room.  So we knew we'd have to paint it.  I was leaning towards a super bright color, but didn't want to overpower the orange wall which it would be in front of.  So I looked around at what leftover paint we had and found a sample color we got for the kitchen.  (Which didn't quite look as we thought it would in that room.  It's actually still on a patch of the wall...we're still figuring out what color we want.  Another work in progress.)  Anyway, the color is called Carolina Inn Club Aqua and is a blue/green color.  

Here's a process shot.  I'm still deciding in this picture if I like the color or not for the table.  

In the end, we ended up really pleased with the overall table and color.   It adds just enough color to not be overwhelming and fits in to the colors of the room well.  Actually the color is pretty close to our lining set of curtains.  

Here's looking down.

I don't think I've talked about our new lamps we got a few months ago, but here's a close up.  They're by Thomas O'Brein for Target.  I love the crackled glass circle shape of the lamps.  I've been looking for lamps similar to these for a while, but never found anything really affordable.  I actually saw a very, very similar style of lamp, only blue glass, in a recent issue of County Living magazine for over $300!  Needless to say, these were much, much less than that!

One of the major things we wanted in end tables were a shelf or drawer to put things on/in.  Often drawers can seem a bit heavy, so this shelf is really nice and open.  The side detail is really interesting here, too.  Just big enough to hold things in place, but not too boxy.  

This is the hot mess that used to be our living room.  Actually it usually wasn't such a mess.  We were in the process of moving things around when I took this quick shot.  The table to the right of the Klobo is the one we replaced.  I love the table (Kinsey actually made this table in high school!), but it's destination in life isn't to be used as a side table.  It's much too big and as you can see, it was often used as a dumping ground for mail and other non important things when we came in the door.  This picture looks so crazy now that we rearranged everything.  (More on that soon!)

Shiny and natural inspirations

The other week, we were in Richmond selling our crafts.  We love going here and look forward to the time to relax and go to some of our favorite places.
There are a number of pretty interesting shops and restaurants in this area.
Kinsey always stops here to check out the hat selection and I usually end up "just looking" at the local bead store.  I'd work here in a second.

Here's my shiny selections.

I don't even really bead much anymore, but I fall in love with the selection here every time.


Another favorite is Maymont.  Tons of acres of plants, trees, gardens, and more.  Here's a shot of the Italian garden (with Kinsey).

I love these tulips!  We have a similar style in our backyard, only the pink and white are reversed.

Here's one side of the herb garden.  I'd love to have a nice herb garden in our yard.

And overlooking the back of the Japanese garden.

Such a peaceful place...even though it was spring break week and the place was packed with kids!  

My new favorite craftbook

About a month ago, I was reading a few different craft blogs and kept seeing the same book everywhere- Big Little Felt Universe.   The cover instantly caught my attention.  There's just something about apples and felt that makes me get really excited.  So I decided to look into this book.  

One of the first project pages I saw was the camping set.  Yes, that's a campfire and a lantern and a s'more made from felt.  Clearly, this was my kind of book!  

(above book photos courtesy of this great blog)

Then I laid my excited eyes on this photo.  Bamboo, african violets, and a cactus.  Really, who wouldn't want these lined along their windows?  No watering needed!  So I placed my order and waited for my book to arrive.  It took a week and then the package arrived.  The only downside was I was about a week and a half away from Spring Bada Bing. 

I really needed to focus on that show so I had to put my new favorite craft book aside.

Luckily, this past weekend, I was able to try my first felt project from the book.  I knew it would be a plant, I just couldn't decide which one.  In the end I went with the African Violet.

All the projects in the book are hand sewn, so you can really work on them everywhere.  Which is exactly what I did.  I took the leaves to work to sew during lunch, worked a little on the flowers outside, and constructed the pot in the wee morning hours in my craft room.

Oh, and did I mention that you can take the plant out of the pot?  This kills me.  How cool is that? 

Here's my newest plant soaking in a little sun in the bedroom.  

Up next, I'm leaning towards the cactus.  But first I'm planning on making two more of these for two lucky people for gifts.  I really loved sewing three dimensionally with the felt.  I usually do flat work, (with the exception of my owls) and liked the feeling of building something you could use or give to someone to play with or just feel. 

There's over 70 projects in the book and I doubt I'll make all of them, but it's definitely inspiring!

spring cleaning

 The past couple days here have been so beautiful!  Temperatures in the 80's and sunny.  Perfect spring weather for outside gardening and cleaning, as well as allergies.  Headaches and runny noses aside, Monday marked the first journey of the lawn mower.  Our grass needed mowed before this but every time we had the day off, it would rain.  A lot.  We got our mower used when we moved to our current house and really haven't had any problems with it, aside from needing to sharpen the blade desperately.   

Here's a overlay of almost all the backyard flower garden (the right side is only half showing).  Right before we left for Richmond (April 16th) all the red tulips were just about to bloom and when we returned a few days later, they were in full bloom. 

 We have a number of different varieties in our yard.  I  like the ones that come a little later in the season.  I have no idea what their official name is, but the edges are sort of frayed and the flower itself is orange.

(This picture is from last year.)

Bleeding hearts in bloom.  These are actually planted in the pot on the top of the steps to the right in the picture above.  These along with the other pot (which contain tiger lilies) are from the previous owners.  I don't know why, but we haven't moved these planters.  I'd like to transplant the bleeding hearts to the right side along the fence, but haven't gotten around to it.  I love the shape of this flower!

More red tulips along the left side of the yard.  If you look closely in the middle right, you'll notice two smaller pink and white tulips in bloom.  These are some of my favorite flowers we have.

Here's a picture of my in the process of moving around some of our ferns.  I love ferns.  A lot.  But the right side of our flower garden is overtaken by them.  At this stage they are rather manageable- not too big, not too small.  Big enough to enjoy but not big enough to block the view.  Give them a few weeks.  Or as it seems after just looking at them, a few days.  They get really big and seem to take over.  My plan is to move most to the far right side and against the lower fence (which you can't see in this picture).  This way the ferns won't block the other flowers, but be more natural grouped densely together. 

Spring...and bada-bing!

We recently just found out that we got accepted to Spring Bada-Bing this April!  We've done this show three of the past four years and love it.  Not only is it a great and well put together show, but it always gives us an excuse for a little spring trip!

Some of our favorite places to go are here and here and here and to stay is here.

We've been busy working on some new items for the show.  Can't wait to see the official list of vendors for this year's show.  If you're around Richmond, the show is Sun April 17th from 11am-5pm!  

New Shower Part II...The Finale

If you've ever tiled before, then you've probably have grouted (or at least should have).  Our night of grouting fell on a Wednesday evening (Day 4 of the Renovation) beginning at 7:30pm.  We knew that this step may take a little time.  

If you've never been acquainted with process, essentially you mix up the grout and using the grout float, spread the sandy mixture into the spaces between the tiles.  You leave this set for a few minutes and then the fun begins.  The grout leaves behind a white film that you need to wipe off with a clean, damp sponge.  You keep doing this until the white film stops reappearing.  

We figured on maybe needing to wipe over the area three times.  Foolish thinking?  Yes, most definitely.  I honestly don't know how many times we wiped the tile, but I do know we started around 8:30pm and ended finally just before midnight.  Yes, midnight.  Almost three and a half hours of this.  

I don't know why exactly it took this long or even if this is normal, but I do know this:  If you're grouting, after wiping the tiles a few times with the sponge, use an old T-shirt and rub over the tiles.  The white film fades away and you aren't a slave to the shower for the entire night.   

So after we successfully got the film off, it was time to wait for 48 hours to seal the shower.  We sealed after work on Day 6 and this was by far one of the most simplest tasks.  Just brush the sealer over and wipe off the excess. 

 Great!  Done!  After waiting another 24 hours, we could finally shower (at home)!  (Please note-we were showering during this time!)

Welcome to Day 7.  The expectant finish the shower day (well, night that is).  We were all set and ready to go when we realized.....the shower handle valve and diverter pipe were too short.  And the lower faucet pipe was too long.  By a lot.  This was going to need replaced before we could hook the fixtures up.  Obviously, this was not going to be as easy as we thought.  

 Luckily, Kinsey's uncle knows about plumbing and pipes.  Unfortunately, he was out of town until Tuesday.  

Day 10- Kinsey's uncle comes and replaces our lower faucet pipe and attaches the fixture.  He also uses his mighty tools to pry off the old shower handle valve setting that wouldn't budge for us.  At this point we were getting pretty excited and felt the end was in sight.

I'll spare all the minor details of "why doesn't this pipe fit?", "the pipe isn't long enough", "do we need a plumber" "various trips to local home improvement stores and plumbing specialist" scenarios we encountered in the last few days.
Let's just say we were beyond thrilled when we had attached the new fixtures and turned the water back on for a test run.

This was all that remaining of our old shower. 

And the finished product: 

 

 We picked up a new shower curtain, hooks, rug, and various other accessories at Target.

I love our new shower head.

We didn't raise the plumbing at all in the shower, but the new head is probably a good 18 inches or so higher than the old one.  The old head was just a stationary one that sloped down sharply.  The new hand held one is high enough that I almost think it's like this one that I've always wanted.

These shower hooks were purchased as well.  I love the little glass ball on the end of the hook.  Our old shower hooks were the circle kind that snapped closed.  It was always a hassle to un click each one and then re click each one to change the curtain.  Does this sound lazy?  Probably.  Does it look a whole lot better? Yes.

And another shot of the shower curtain because I love it so:

Shower all done, now it's time to move on to the sink/vanity and the floor.

New Shower...Part I

After just under 2 weeks (13 and half days to be exact), our new shower is finished!  

We barely recognize it!  Gone is the plastic shower surround.  Gone is the mildew.  Gone is the leaky shower fixtures.  We chose a warm beige/brown porcelain tile called piedmont noce from Lowes.

The plastic surround came off surprising easy.  It was never really properly installed in the first place and you could feel the sides weren't firmly attached to the wall.  We scored the edges and pried the three sections off the wall.  

Next, was the task of breaking through the drywall.  We enlisted a small team to help with this phase of the demo and was finished quite quickly.  

After the drywall was gone, this was all that remained.  Our house was built in 1933, so the construction of the walls is rather old.  It was rather thrilling to see everything removed and down to the bare bones of the shower.  We'd been talking and planning this renovation for almost a year and it was finally taking shape.

After the drywall was off, came the long process of measuring, cutting, and drilling the cement backerboard.  This is the only screw I believe I drilled during the whole process.  It really took a lot of pressure to get the screws in.  This task was left up to Kinsey and his father.  This essentially ended day 1 of the renovation.   

Day 2 involved beginning to tile.  We chose 12 x 12 inch tiles for the back main wall with a single row of 6 x 6 inch tiles about half way up.  The smaller two walls were 6 x 6 inch tiles the entire way.  This was our first attempt at tiling.  We went to a tiling workshop a few months ago at Home Depot and took diligent notes so we had a pretty good idea about the process.  The hardest part is setting the first row of tile to ensure everything is straight.  We mapped most of the tile out and tried our best to avoid unnecessary cuts.  Around this time, we also realized it might be handy to pick out our shower fixtures, which we failed to purchase yet.  We didn't want to cut holes around the plumbing that wasn't large enough.  So Kinsey and I headed off to Lowes, while Kinsey's mom mapped out the tile placement.

A few fixtures purchased and one special order placed and we were back to the shower.  Once we got the hang of laying the tile, the job went pretty fast.  We finished one wall.  And then another wall.  And finished about half of the last wall when we ran out of thin set adhesive.  So we took a break and headed back to Lowes for the second time that day.  

We managed to tile about 90% of the last remaining wall, and then our tile cutter broke.  And then it broke in a second place.  And then it broke beyond repair.  Granted, our cutter wasn't a very good one.  We bought it on clearance for under $15.  We later found out that porcelain is really hard to cut with this type of cutter.

Of course, every tile remaining needed to be cut.  So we checked the clock and returned to Lowes for the third time that day (30 minutes before they closed) to see our options.  We didn't really want to buy a new cutter.  The cheap ones aren't very good (especially for porcelain) and I really didn't see a need to spend $50 or $100 on a tile cutter we may or may not use again. 

 Lucky for us, the friendly guy in the tiling department told us that because we bought our tile there, they can cut our tiles for us!  For free! Not lucky for us, there was no way we could run home, measure the cuts that needed to be made, and return that night.  So we'd have to wait until the next day.  We were frustrated to have to wait to finish when we were so close, but were exhausted.

Day 3, began at Lowes (no surprise there) and we got the rest of our tile cut.  By the afternoon, our tile was all up and the only thing left to do was to wait.  The next step, grouting, couldn't be done until 24 hours after the tile was set.  

Part II coming tomorrow.....