Archives For -Bedroom

closetwall-progress

Things have been moving along quickly here! I feel like a GC coordinating all of the trades. It may not look like much but we are one step closer to air conditioning. My electrician should be done with the new sub panels for the air conditioning and third floor today (Yeah!) Our bedroom ceiling is also drywalled (No more cracks!) and there is even an electrical box waiting for a ceiling fan. By the weekend we should be able to paint 3 sides of our bedroom and actually start putting a few things back. I actually need to order all of the stuff that I have been busy pinning on Pinterest for the past year including a couple of ceiling fans and barn door hardware. I also need to head over to Ikea to order the closets (fortunately the kids are more than willing to go to the “ball pit” any time).

secondfloorplan-closets-elevation

Try and picture the future Ikea PAX Closets and custom doors. There is still some bits to figure out, like whether I want to install a laundry drawer, but you can get the general idea. Fortunately I can put in the closets before ordering the doors, so I can tweak everything. I am also planning on installing drawers in the baseboard for shoe storage. If all goes well I might be able to start installing the blocking for it this weekend.

secondfloorplan-closets

I think the biggest surprise for us after our contractor finished demolition was how open the space felt after taking the tiny closet out. I now wish I had done that years ago, since it was generally useless in its old configuration. Of course we will be filling that in again, but this time with a much taller unit that I think will feel much better in the space.

Does anyone have any advice on installing PAX closets? Anything you like or don’t like about them? 

 

Leave a comment

secondfloorplan-closets

Sometimes it is the little stuff that makes a design work. I find particularly in renovations it almost always comes down those last couple of inches that makes or breaks the project. For our current house project the key dimension was fitting a regular depth closet in our bedroom behind our bedroom door. This unfortunately meant shifting the door 8 1/2″ to allow for the closet and the door to sit fully open. This design has been in the works for several years, just waiting for the right time (as I grow ever impatient with our closet situation). We have decided to pair this with our air conditioning and electrical work, since we need to coordinate duct and vent placement.

ikearigga-clothingrack

One of the first steps was emptying out our sorry closet and alcove to make way for the new closets. We had an old clothing rack that we hoped to use. Alas it was not meant to be and it crumpled under the weight. Fortunately Ikea came to the rescue and we picked up 2 of these Rigga clothes racks for $12.99 a piece. They are super sturdy! I give them a thumbs up. They even have wheels on them. Now the playroom has become the holder of stuff, it was time to actually get the door moved.

hallwayprogress4-shifteddoor

Of course this wasn’t an easy job and required my contractor to do some careful surgery (after Mr. S. and Sam demoed the hallway plaster).  Fortunately it is now complete, and we even have a functioning door again (if you ignore the temporary plywood on the floor)!

The other thing that he installed was an electrical conduit to the third floor. This has been a hotly debated topic with me, my contractor and the electrican. We all agreed that we need a way to get electric up the third floor to feed the air handling unit for the new air conditioner. There was LOTS of back and forth. The general agreement was that somewhere near the pocket door and this newly exposed wall made the most sense. Unfortunately once we opened this wall, we realized it was not as straight as a shot as we hoped, and we didn’t want to hurt the structural integrity of the wall.

electricalconduit-installation

Fortunately my contractor came up with a great plan. The pocket door down below in within a thickened wall. We had planned on installing the wiring on the hallway side, but hadn’t considered the bedroom side. It turns out that as long as I could live with a conduit in the back of my closet he could get a straight shot from the basement ceiling all the way up to the third floor. Awesome (yes I did just express my excitement of gray electrical conduit)! So here it is, along with the partially removed ceiling trim (to be modified and reused) and some interesting wallpaper from probably the 50s or 60s (there was 70s-80s wallpaper on top of this pattern when we bought the house).

My contractor will be back next week to work on these walls and some more of the bathroom doorway. I just need my AC contractor, roofer and electrician to call me back. I’m sure with the heat this week my AC guy is now swamped. Maybe I need to reiterate my air conditioning before Memorial Day mantra to him.

I can’t wait until we are done with the bit of demolition and mechanical stuff so we can actually move onto the fun stuff. So stay tuned.

1 Comment

Second Floor Update

March 26, 2013 — 6 Comments

hall-before-glass

We are slowing making progress here. We are in the midst of a stomach bug epidemic, so life has been moving a little more slowly than usual.  The contractor was just here to go over moving the master bedroom door, discuss options for the bathroom door and the handrail and show him the plans for the electric. Mr. S. and I also managed to start clearing out our bedroom in preparation for moving the door over the weekend. That was actually quite therapeutic, and it feels good to get a good bit of clutter out of the space. Of course our playroom and garage are almost full and we still have one closet in our bedroom that will require emptying and demolishing. I am thinking that we may be installing our bedroom closets piecemeal so that we can continue to function. The alternate option is to empty out the space and work like mad for a couple of weeks. Currently that seems unlikely as there are a number of trades to coordinate. Which reminds me that I have a delinquent roofer to get a hold of.

bathroom-elevation

I thought I would show you my drawings for the bathroom wall since there isn’t a lot in actual progress to see.  In the picture above I threw in a couple of stained glass windows to see what I thought of adding them to the space. Of course this project cannot continue without some sort of scope creep! Since we are going to be working on this wall I thought it would be nice to add some light into the corridor from the bathroom. Well then we need windows. And well if we are going to add glass, why not add stained glass?

I think my contractor thought I was a little crazy, although he should know how I work. He did think my linen closet was ridiculously small (hey, I don’t have one, so any closet no matter how small is an upgrade).

Industrial-Barn-Door-Hardware1

I think I have decided in favor of exposed barn door hardware over a hidden pocket door. This one from Rustica Hardware is in a dark bronze finish which I like. The wheel are actually wood, which I think is pretty cool. I will be pairing this with a more traditionally styled Victorian Pull.

pottedflowerpocketdoorhardware

This potted flower bronze pull is from Charleston Hardware Company. It has the daisies which are always a favorite of mine. We will have to use some sort of latch to lock it, since the door isn’t thick enough for a locking mechanism.

ceilingfan-acquabronze

On the ceiling in the hall we are going more industrial again. I had been eying a different ceiling fan but I saw this one (Acqua Ceiling Fan II in Textured Bronze) for a great price on Joss & Main and decided to go ahead and order it. The whole unit rotates in addition to the wood blades. Overall this space is going to be a bit more eclectic and industrial then some of our other spaces in the house. Our first floor tends to stick much closer to the Victorian feel, but upstairs I think it is okay to have a little fun. I’m sure some future owner will abhor by choices, but I am liking the direction. And frankly most of my choices could be changed to something more traditional fairly easily.

What do you think? Have I lost my mind? Am I headed toward some sort of Victorian Steampunk craziness?

6 Comments

masterbed-moodboard2

I am on a Jacobean fabric kick! I was going to write about where I am headed on closet doors for the third floor tower, but I got distracted and thought I would show you my latest find. I have been stalking fabric again on Fabricguru.com. And they do have some pretty good deals, if you have the patience to sift through fabric pictures, since they don’t usually give you the fabric’s name. Granted these curtains won’t be installed for months, since we will be a construction zone until then. But I saw it and decided to pick up the fabric now, especially since I have been on the hunt for way too many months.

breamoreWonderland3

The fabric is Braemore Wonderland in Pearl. I have actually pinned this fabric twice on my fabrics board on Pinterest (once as a close up and once in a bigger repeat). There are several reasons I like this fabric. First is the scale. It is hard to understand in the picture but the pattern is huge!

braemorewonderlandpillow

from Lily on Blue on Etsy (no longer available)

I think it is easier to understand on this pillow. The second thing I like are the funky leaf patterns. I think that the fabric will play well with my giant Best Panels that will be installed behind the bed.  The third thing is the color palette. It works really well with the crazy striped rug, particularly the yellow and oranges. It doesn’t have a white background like I wanted, but it does have a white highlight which I think is important to work with the white trim in the room.

breamoreWonderlandchair-sarahrichardson

The third reason is that Mr. S. liked it and agreed it would work well in our bedroom. I held up a picture of it on the ipad next to the window and he gave me the thumbs up. And how could I say no after I found out that Sarah Richardson likes it. The picture above is from her Sarah 101: Premiere Episode. She is really a master with color and pattern!

So the downside is the price. I need about 18 yards of fabric, so price is pretty important. When I first started looking at fabric I really wanted to use a Premier Print fabric, in large part because of the affordability. The cheapest I had found Wonderland for about $30 a yard at OnlineFabricStore. Which wouldn’t be SO bad if I were only buying a few yards. At fabric guru they had 2 lots this week of this fabric. Just to make it confusing 1 lot was listed as Braemore (no pattern name) and one lot was listed as Kaufmann. The 2 totaled just about the right amount. Apparently it is fairly common for the different brands to have some of the same fabric listed under different names. I haven’t seen this particular fabric ever listed under Kaufmann before, but I suppose it is possible. The pictures online looked identical. We will see if there is any variation between the two when they get here. I ended up paying just over $12 a yard for 18 yards including shipping, which I think it a pretty sweet deal. The fabric shipped this morning and I can’t wait to see it.

Has anyone scored any good fabric deals lately?

2 Comments

Master Bedroom Rug

November 19, 2012 — 5 Comments

New Striped Rug

I think this should be entitled “Why does it take an entire weekend to put in a carpet?”. I guess that is what happens when you have 2 “helpers”, a heavy bed, years of dust underneath and a big rug. The good news is that it is in and my feet enjoyed stepping on it this morning. It is a major upgrade from our old sisal rug. The colors are a little darker than I would have liked in an ideal world, but it goes nicely with our brown leather bed.

Testing out the rug

Next on the list is deciding on curtain fabric, hopefully this won’t take as long as it took me to find a carpet or pick a gray wall color!  I didn’t want to finalize a curtain fabric until after the carpet was in. I am actually glad I made that decision. The rug is definitely bold, so I thinking about stepping back on my plans for red curtains.  At the same time now that I have gone bold, I can’t go too plain on the curtains. hmmm…

Mood Board from last Month

This is where I last left off with my Mood Board. I am still leaning towards the gray fabric featured, but I feel like it would be better with a little bit more color mixed in.

Curtain Fabric Options w/ Gray Wall Color & Artwork

I took out some fabric samples and put them up on the cat tree (which will be relocated when we finish the room) for inspiration. I feel like the light gray is too washed out paired with the carpet. I do feel pretty strongly that I need an organic pattern with some curves to balance out the stripes in the carpet and the geometric pattern on our bedspread.

Here are a few other options I am considering:

Curtain Fabric Options

Do I go gray or choose something with some color? Am I completely crazy?

 

5 Comments

New Rug Sneak Peek

October 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

New Rug Sneak Peek

The new rugs arrived yesterday afternoon. I haven’t unrolled them yet, but I did cut open one of the packages to take a little peek. The colors look pretty good (Phew!).  It is always a little daunting to order something like this online without seeing the colors in person. From the portion I have looked at there appears to be a little more purple in my rug than in the picture.  Also the edge is red (which is good since that is one of the main colors that I wanted to pick up).

Now lets see if I can get a little work done in the bedroom so I can put these in place. The thought of a soft wool rug in the bedroom as the weather gets cold is very appealing.

Leave a comment

Master Bedroom: Updated Mood Board

I first started a mood board for our Master Bedroom over a year ago but the project generally went on hold while we tackled the basement, thanks to a super wet fall last year and some moldy walls. Well the bedroom is still a mess and in desperate need of some new storage. We still have some smaller things to take care of, and some air conditioning to think about, but I thought I would give you an update. One item we need for the space is a new rug. We currently have a sisal rug which is okay, but not very soft on the feet. I have been on the search for the perfect rug for over a year now. At first I thought I might go with something light to make the space feel a little brighter, but the realities of that with 2 kids and 2 black cats made me decide against that. I then looked at lots of different patterns and quickly realized I didn’t want a rug with a border. I also wanted one that would pick up on the green and red on the panels. Did I mention that it needed to be 9×12 as well? And cost under $1000 (ideally quite a bit less)? I was beginning to think that I had too many parameters. So when I saw this one on Fab this week I jumped. I decided to go with two 6×9  rugs since they didn’t have a 9×12. Fortunately the stripes run the 9′ direction so we don’t have to match the stripes.

Safavieh Striped Wool Rug

So here is where it gets interesting. The downside to flash sites like Gilt, One Kings Lane, Joss & Main, and Fab are that once you put a product in your “basket” you have somewhere between 10-20 minutes to purchase it or it goes back up for sale and the sale only lasts for a couple of days but often the good items sell out fast. In this case, I had 20 minutes. So in that time I needed to decide was it a good fit, a good price and does Mr. S. like it. My adrenaline kicked in since this is the first rug with good potential in over a year! I was pretty excited (yes, I know I am a geek who clearly needs to find better ways to get a rush).

Fab Sale Page

The first thing I do when I pick out something from one of these sites is search online to see if I can buy it somewhere else for less or with better shipping prices and/or return prices (most flash sites only offer limited returns). This time I searched under the name of the rug on the sale (Kadirli). It is a Safavieh rug (they make a lot of rugs), so in my search I didn’t find anything. The price seemed reasonable, certainly well less then retail ($269 for a 6’x9′ rug). So after Mr. S. gave the okay I decided to place the order. Great! I was a little annoyed at the shipping price (I think it was around $40), so I did a little more searching after my order.

Overstock Rug Page

This time I searched under “Safavieh striped rug” and what turns up, but the same rug on Overstock for less with free shipping. Errrr…. That is what I get for not doing a more full search. So I popped back over to Fab and saw that you have 2 hours to change your mind on most items! Awesome! So I canceled that order, went home and double checked the size I wanted and ordered 2 on Overstock for $234 each for a total of $468. Now I just have to wait for them to get here and renovate the room. I think I might put them in there even before we do the rest of the room.

I have to say that as much I was annoyed that I found it for less somewhere else, there is some great stuff on these flash sites, you just have to do your homework! I have bought quite a bit of stuff from Fab, One Kings Land and Joss & Main and in general I have been quite happy.

Has anyone else regretted a purchase from a flash site? Or scored something amazing?

Chair from One Kings Lane that I purchased back in March

I am still in love with my chair from One Kings Lane, which funny enough didn’t end up in the bedroom but down in our Dining Room.  I still haven’t seen it anywhere else in this fabric (which is Waverly Santa Maria Desert Flower).

Leave a comment

New Rug with some of Accessories for the Playroom

I have been on the lookout for some new area rugs. I still haven’t found the perfect rug for our Master Bedroom (anyone know of a great 9×12 rug under $1000?), but I was able to cross one off of the list. I ordered a really cute rug for the kids playroom. Right now the playroom has a small colorful rug from Ikea, which looks too small and it is quite thin so it tends to slide around even with a pad underneath. So when I saw that Rugs USA was have a 75% Labor Day Sale on some of their rugs, I went to work sifting through what was still available. Of course quite a few of the rugs that I liked were sold out (boo!) but I managed to find one to my liking in the right size.Yeah!

Navy Trellis Rug

It is the Tuscan Terali Moroccan Trellis Navy Rug. I had set my budget at $100 a while back and quickly realized that was a TALL order for a 5×7 rug. Fortunately with the sale I got it for $112.25 with free shipping! I would add that I always compare prices on rugs. On a normal day Overstock has a lot of the same rugs and their everyday price is less, but RugsUSA runs lots of sales, so it is worth waiting for one. For instance right now they are having a 35% off sale.

The color is “navy” but it definitely a little lighter and brighter than a typical navy. I actually prefer the actual color, but if you want a true dark navy this isn’t it. It does also come in a charcoal that I’m bet is nice too. I haven’t fully unrolled it yet (I still need to finish assembling some shelving) but the part that I unrolled feels nice and soft and the blue is a loop style.

Wall Decals from NotNeutral with Hanging Balloon from Ikea

The playroom is the old nursery and the walls are a light and happy green. I still like the color and the window valances that I made when it was Maisie’s room. But with the Orla Kiely  flower valances, I wanted something that would ground the space and make it feel a little more masculine, since Maisie and Sam are sharing it. I think this rug will help along with some accessories.

A Few “New” Accessories

I have been putting together some old and new stuff for the space to make it feel less baby and more kid. I had these great number boxes from West Elm (no longer available) and I bought this adorable bright yellow rhino at Home Goods. I also have some new artwork to add.

I was hoping to have this space done by now. Unfortunately it is still a little ways away from being finished, but I hope to make some progress on it this weekend.

Does anyone else have a good inexpensive rug source?

Leave a comment

Sam's Car Bed & Room Before

My daughter has been requesting a car bed for quite a while now, so we thought it was time to get on that. This is not a surprise of course since we come from a long line of car people. Fortunately we are a couple steps closer to giving my littlest one the bed of her dreams. Sam has had a car bed for a while and they both love it. I am not usually in favor of giant pieces of plastic decorating the house, but this is an area where I have given in to make the kids and my inner child happy. The two are sharing a room now (it was their idea) so we needed a strategy that would still leave some space in there for moving around.

I measured and re-measured and decided that another twin size version was out of the question if we wanted to be able to open and close the door. Good thing Little Tykes makes a toddler size (it uses a crib size mattress). So like Sam’s bed I started scoping out toddler car beds on Craig’s List. It took a little while to find one not too far away and at a good price but we finally have it, assembled and all.

Option 1: Pink Pig Le Mans Porsche 917

Option 2: Hippie Le Mans Porsche 917

Sam’s car is based on the Gulf Livery Design for the LeMans Porsche 917, probably the most famous race car paint scheme. We originally really wanted to use the Pink Pig design but that would require painting the entire car bed pink first. Little Tykes does actually make a pink version, but only in a twin size. I was a little sad when we had to give up on this option. However we thought we could work with the Hippie design. We decided that we would leave the car blue and add the green pattern with white pin striping. We thought it was a fitting choice since it lives just down the road at the Simeone Automotive Museum (which by the way is an amazing place and well worth the trip).

Partially Masked

First Coat of Paint

First Coat of Paint

The process of painting involves lots of masking and some spray paint that is suitable for plastic. For masking tape we actually used electrical tape because it is more flexible for making curves. It worked really well! Unfortunately we didn’t have any newsprint so we used some rosin paper that we had in the basement. It was too thick and a pain to work with. Otherwise it is pretty straight forward. 2 coats of paint later and it was done. We then took off the tape and let it dry for 24 hours in the garage.

Hippie Car Bed w/ Pin-Striping

Rear of Car Bed

Next we decided that it definitely needed the white pin-striping between the two colors. We ended up using regular vinyl pin striping from the auto parts store (1/4″ wide to be exact). We used almost 2 40′ rolls, but at about $5 a roll, it was a good investment. It took Mr. S. about 1 1/2 hours to carefully place it and burnish it.

So far we have spent about $60 for the project, $40 for the car bed, $10 for the pin-striping and $6 for the spray paint (one can is plenty for the small bed) and $4 for the electrical tape.

There is still quite a lot to do. We need to do some rearranging of furniture in the bedroom and move some stuff into the playroom (Maisie’s old room).  I also need to make a bedspread with a big #3 on it and some interesting green patterning to match the frame. Not sure when it will be finished, but the girl is getting pretty impatient for her bed, so stay tuned.

 

3 Comments

Armless Chair in Desert Flower for the Master Bedroom, $329

Yesterday, like most days, I took a quick look to see what  One Kings Lane  had in stock and instantly fell in love. If you are not familiar with OKL, they are an online sale site that sells housewares in different categories for a limited time.  Often the popular items sell out almost immediately.  So for the first time in a while I felt the urge to buy something from them! So I called Mr. S. to see if he was okay with this chair and I bought it. I am normally the person that over analyzes every purchase looking for the perfect item so this was a bit of a departure for me. I think it will look great in our Master Bedroom (which is currently on hold while we finish the basement).  Maybe I felt the urge to pick this up after choosing off white walls in the basement. My inner kitsch is coming out! I am hoping it is as lovely in person.

In Progress Mood Board for the Master Bedroom

2 Comments