3 x3 Cubby Bookcase {Den Refresh}

When I saw these plans from Ana White I knew that I wanted to build this piece.  I didn’t really have a place for it, but I loved it!  At some point I showed it to my Mama and she thought it would make a great fabric storage shelf.  Eureka!  A purpose for the dream furniture. :)

Despite my protestations that I didn’t really need it, she had it built for me as a gift this year.  Well I got it installed back in the Spring, but I just got around to filling in all the cubbies and accessorizing it for photos this past weekend.  Bad blogger Sarah.  Here it is looking all nice and organized!

Anyway I have been enjoying it all the while.  It holds all my fabrics for my bag business.  I looked far and wide for baskets to fit these holes (14” x 12” x 14”) but never found the right thing.  So I decided to make my own from cardboard shipping boxes taped together.  Then I covered them with contact paper from Target.  They hold all the scrap fabrics leftover from projects.

I was digging through secondhand art at Mega Thrift last week and came across this hydrangea print for $2.99.  Love it.  It went perfectly with the wall color/décor in the den so I put it over the bookcase and accented the top with some dried hydrangeas to match.

Another deal that I scored recently ended up down here, too.  I was shopping for lampshades for my mom’s bedroom the other day and came across this blue and turquoise floral shade for $3.97!  I had been eyeing this shade for a while but never considered spending fifteen bucks on it.  But at four dollars I was happy to take it home with me!  I may have finished my shopping trip singing a little song about my awesome deal.  What can I say… my life is a musical! :)

Anyway, I got it home and immediately plopped it on my old lamp base from college.  It goes perfectly with the turquoise dresser.  And the metallic silver on the shade plays well with the bronzey lamp base and drawer pulls, too.  I’m in love…

While I was sprucing things up, I popped some brown/teal floral fabric in these forlorn frames on the wall.  It’s a bit better than the goes-with-nothing travel prints, but the mat still needs work to coordinate.  I’ll get to it eventually. :)

I think with a nice white border they could resemble my photoshopped inspiration art:

At least it’s in the same family. :)

Thanks for joining me for an impromptu refresh in the den.  How do you like my new cubbies?

Tackling the Living Room

I finally completed a much-anticipated and much-dreaded project in the living room.  I’ve been planning to paint the walls, trim, and ceiling since we moved in because while the color was okay, the finish was bad.  There were spackle holes and cracks and dings and everything was dirty.  So last week I finally jumped in and got it done!

First was the dreaded paint color decision.  I wanted something mostly neutral since the color continues down the stairs and around the corner as well as down our main hallway upstairs.  After trying a few samples and finding most of them too orangey, I decided to mix in a little gray and came up with a custom color.  It’s a combination of Olympic colors Gravel and Toasted Almond with some gray thrown in there, too.  I call it Toasted Gravel. :)  But it’s more like greenish/grayish/beige.  How’s that for a color?

Here’s what I’m talking about:

It’s a color changing wall paint.  In daylight it looks more beige, in evening it appears grayer and in lamplight more green.  It’s kind of interesting, but I like it!

I had some fun with ladders in order to finish painting the trim in the foyer.  Good times.  But no pictures.  I wouldn’t relinquish my death grip on the ladder long enough to direct Michael to take a photo.  Mama came and helped me paint the ceiling, too.  It was my first ceiling painting adventure… let’s just say it’s not my favorite thing ever. :)  But it’s much improved from the dingy off-white ceiling we had before.  And now the hallway and living room ceilings match.

I love the foyer now… the color really pops against the white trim!

 

I’m hanging on for dear life to these floral print pillows I made last year.  Riley is an avid pillow destroyer.  I have lost three of my couch pillows because of these tendencies.  So I keep these remaining two pillows in the chair across the room where she does not go in an effort to prolong their life.  I also have extra fabric so I can make another set in case of accidental death. :)  Evil doggy.

I added the Wake Forest trunk that was my grandfather’s as a side table of sorts next to the couch.

I have a lot more plans for this room now that the painting’s done.  (It only took me four years to get it done!  Oh and four full days of painting.. whew!)  Next on my list is to recover the couches.  I have already purchased the fabric which is a warm beige/gold color.  And I also want to make new linen curtains in a brown/cream/green patterned fabric.  Wish me luck with fabric selections! 

In the meantime, here’s a look at the before and after!

This one is a bit more subtle and you can see how similar in tone the two colors are.

And this one is my favorite!

So what do you think?  You like the new look?  I’ll be back as we continue updating the living room this fall.  Thanks for coming along!