re:read

i love books! love reading them, love being surrounded by them, love libraries, love bookstores. so, we decided to get these billy bookcases from ikea to make our den look and feel more homey, lived in, and loved. :)









this room still needs work, but this goes a long way towards the feel of the space. now i just love this room! one day these shelves will be completely full of books. :)

as you'll see, we left precisely enough room to the left of the unit to add one more of the single-wide bookcases at a later date to fill the entire wall.

window caulking & painting remains in progress.

happy thanksgiving!

re:cover

trim work continues -


we have the perimeter of all 3 doubles plus the triple window trimmed out, and just need to cut new pieces for the spaces between the windows.

and we've made a couple of furniture purchases via craigslist...
1. a pair of chairs for $100:


i bought some fabric to recover them for $28 and voila:




one day i may paint this chair a fun color, and i was hoping to find a more punchy or funky pattern to make these chairs less formal looking, but didn't find anything just right, so this will do for now. charleston is sadly deficient in fabric resources. does anybody recommend any online sources for modern fabrics?

2. a pair of MCM dressers for $100 that just need a little TLC...




just another project to add to the list! this will be my first experience refinishing furniture. wish me luck!

re:cession

merry christmas!

so, i suppose my lack of posts over the last 2+ months indicates that we haven't done much on the house front. it's a recession, ya'll! we're supposed to be saving up for the next big thing - namely the stair & loft railing or the master bathroom, but between weddings, the holidays and the occasional $200 used-furniture purchase, we're getting nowhere.

so, to satiate your need for pics, i'll post our holiday decorations and furniture finds!

this is a simple holiday wreath i made with our christmas tree clippings and a few glass ball ornaments -



we have some modern christmas decorations in our modern living room -





and our traditional christmas tree is in the den -


we put up some of anthony's sketches from italy in the dining room, along with a few other frames with just placeholders so far -


table found at an antique shop ($190) being used as a kitchen 'island' -


dresser found thru craigslist ($40) and chair found at an antique shop ($70) in one of the guest rooms -


bedside table found thru craigslist ($15), currently being used as a side table in our den -


i hope in the spring we can make some progress on our other major house projects. in the meantime, we should be painting the window sashes on the interior and continuing with baseboards and door/window casings....

re:fuge

we spent an exhausting weekend repainting the den & office and the master bedroom, as well as finishing the stair installation. yay!

we filled the gaps in the mdf with a resin compound, let it harden overnight and then sanded it smooth...



and then we painted everything and installed the treads with construction adhesive and a few finish nails. we still have to caulk and touch up a few spots with paint.



as far as paint goes, i haven't been digging the 'fenland' we put in the master bedroom - it would be more well-suited to a den or office rather than a bedroom. so with this inspiration pic in mind -

[sorry i don't have source info]
...we repainted the master bedroom 'site white' with 'refuge' on the bed wall (all paint colors are sherwin williams). i love it! it will look even better after we get the trim & baseboards installed.





i also wasn't happy with the 'tony taupe' in the den - the whole room was looking rather drab because that taupe was absorbing all the light, so we repainted it a lighter color - 'alpaca' by sherwin williams. it reminds me of the color of my favorite starbucks drink - the chai latte. yum!


we also painted the office 'refuge' as well - so now you get these cool glimpes of the blue from the den and then a modern color combo with the 'wheatgrass' in the powder room...


(the office still needs a 2nd coat of paint)





and here are some more pics of the living room now that it's been properly cleaned -





up next will be the stair and loft railing. no plan for that yet...

re:tread

lookie here!


anthony (and i, kinda) worked really hard on putting the stair together this weekend! our friend david the woodworker suggested using mdf for the risers and trim, so we cut out the stringer/skirt boards and the risers. we still have to fill any gaps with some compound that dave will mix up, sand it and then paint it all white.

before, with temporary treads and railing -


in process...




the treads are just sitting on top now - not fastened yet. they need to be trimmed to length and then we'll glue them down after all the mdf is painted.

i'm so excited about how it looks! it makes the house feel more normal and less like a construction zone!

we also got our furniture delivery this weekend!


we both loooove the new sofa and chair. (please excuse the mess on the table - we were busy!). our old furniture went into the family room with the new tv. i'm leaning towards repainting the family room now...

re:collect

not much going on at the casa this weekend - we helped some friends knock out some much-needed sheetrock work and were going to start building our shed, but we got pounded with rain so all of the materials and our backyard got soaked.

we did make a quick trip to atlanta to purchase some very cool mid-century modern clam shell chairs from a woman selling them on craigslist. i looove them!







they are from circa 1960 and have their original tags and white vinyl upholstery (which is in good condition except for just a few spots of wear). a magic eraser worked wonders!

right now they are taking up in our dining room where they happily coexist with the nelson saucer pendant, but who knows where their final resting place will be once we get some nicer furniture.