Redecorating the Den

Lately I've been working on redecorating the den into a fresh, new space.  Since Georgia was born, Michael and I have been hanging out down here to watch TV more and more (so we can turn the volume up loud while she's sleeping!)  

You may remember what our den looked like with the blue quatrefoil couch, cream chairs and Queen Anne coffee table.  We had the TV on the turquoise dresser (left), so it was difficult to watch from the couch or the chairs without turning your whole body.  Here's the BEFORE picture:

And after we converted our guest room into a nursery, we needed a new space for our guests.  Sometimes our guests would crash down here with an air mattress in front of the couch.  Not the best digs.  So, we decided what we needed was a sleeper sofa.  TV room by day, guest room by night!  Luckily, my grandparents had an old set of couches that they were willing to give us.  The big one was a sleeper sofa, what luck!  My mom reupholstered it for us.  Thanks, Mama!  There is also a matching loveseat that is in the midst of being reupholstered.  :)  But I couldn't wait to share the redo, so here is phase one of the den redecoration, the AFTER picture:

The couch is covered in this beautiful herringbone fabric from Magnolia Home collection.  It's called stone, and it's a warm light gray color.  Here are some in the process pictures from my mom's uphosltery workshop (aka her sewing room, aka where the magic happens).

In addition to the new couch, we got a new rug!  The floors are slippery and Riley was having a hard time running around, plus we are always playing on the floor with Georgia, so a new rug was in order.  I selected the Isburg Denim rug from Lowes.  Its blue, gray, cream and brown floral pattern coordinates nicely with the gray couch and accessories.  I'm still on the hunt for some blue or brown pillows!

Besides the couch, the television is the most important part of the room, haha!  After much deliberation, we mounted the TV on the wall next to the fireplace.  The wall mount allows us to angle the screen towards our couches so everyone has the best possible view.  We still need a cabinet or shelf to go under it to hide all the cords, and to keep little hands out of trouble!  Since the TV is across from the windows, Michael insisted we install blackout shades on the windows so we can watch TV during the day without a glare on the screen.  They are awesome for that "home theater" experience. :)

While we are waiting for the matching loveseat, I pushed the two cream chairs onto the wall that used to house the turquoise dresser.  Turquoise Dresser Lovers don't lament!  The dresser has gone to live in Georgia's room where hopefully it will gain even more fame and glory!  I'll post that update a bit later on. :)  

And to complete the room, I stole the brown leather ottoman from the living room.  We don't often watch TV upstairs (unless you count annoying baby nursery rhymes!) so I don't think we'll miss it too much.  I have plans to get a new ottoman or coffee table for that room eventually.  I also stole the framed barn print from our bedroom.  It matches the new rug so nicely.  

After the loveseat is finished, we are going to put a side table in that corner where the plant is, along with my gray lamp from the office.  So many wonderful accessories that I have collected from all the different rooms! :)  I also intend to repaint this room, either the khaki color that's in the hallway/foyer/living room or a slate blue color like our bedroom.  This current blue is too light and doesn't have enough gray in it.  Hopefully I can get to that after Halloween is over.  So many projects, so little time!! :)

The plaid pillows and throw are from Joann's and the burgundy pillows are from World Market.  To herald in the fall season, I decorated the mantel and the coffee table with child friendly velvet pumpkins from Joann's.  Georgia loves to play with these. :)  And I love that I can finally have a "centerpiece" on the coffee table.  No dogs allowed on my furniture in the den!! ;)  Sorry Riley.

The Gather sign is from Hobby Lobby.  The trunk is a TA Guthrie original.  :)  I can't help that it fits perfectly in the fireplace and keeps little toddlers from climbing in there with all the spiders and dirt!

I think the whole family approves of the new living room/den arrangement. :)  Georgia now has another comfy spot to watch her favorite show.  Over and over.  And over.  :-P

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Check out the evolution of my den design. Click here for all the past den related posts. :)

A Vintage Botanical Mantel

It’s time for a post!  I almost let January slip by with nothing to report from the Horvath House.  But of course, there have been a few projects here and there since Christmas.  We have some new art in the master bedroom, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph it yet.  I’ve been busy at work and catching up since the holidays, and also welcoming a new nephew to the family!  My sister had a baby boy on January 12th and we have been spending a lot of time there hanging out with the new little guy.  I’m hoping to do a feature on his nursery soon!

In the meantime, I want to show  you my mantel that I created last week.  Since Christmas had to come down, I decided to switch up the artwork over the mantel with the pressed ferns that were hanging over our bed.  They were the jumping off point for the mantel design.  You can see how I made those here. 

I joined the warm earthy tones and gray greens in the art with a dried hydrangea arrangement and a couple pewter candlesticks.

The other side continues the vintage paper theme with a collection of old books and some nature-inspired bird figures.

I topped the coffee table with my vintage toolbox filled with more dried hydrangeas.

And the bird pillow on the couch pulls it all together. :)

I’m loving the new look which can easily be updated with more vibrant accessories come Spring!  And it can’t come fast enough for me.  Come on groundhog!! :)

Okay, I will try to be back soon!  I have a Frozen party in the works and of course the baby boy nursery reveal! :)  Stay tuned!  Stay warm!

Forest Art for the Den

In the last issue of Lowes Creative Ideas magazine, there was a living room that caught my attention.  It was called Be a Little Bold:

The teal walls and fresh green accents were calling my name!  But it was the art over the mantel that I really wanted.  After a little research on their site, I discovered the art is called “Forest Study I Crop”.  And it just so happened that the day of my discovery, the 24” x 36” print was on sale for 50% off!  Score!  So I bought it with plans to build my own frame and hang it over the mantel in the den.
When it arrived, I realized that 24” x 36” is pretty large!  Unfortunately that wasn’t going to fit nicely over the mantel.  Then I realized I could hang it on the opposite wall where my secondhand prints turned fabric art were hanging, over the turquoise cabinet.
I decided to frame it with a simple thin wood frame and a 1 1/2” mat, similar to the inspiration photo.  After pricing some custom mats for a print this large, I thought perhaps I could make something myself and save some money.  That’s when I landed on an idea:  a wooden mat!  I went to Lowe’s and checked out the decorative trim aisle and found 1 1/2” lattice strips.  When mitered at the corners, they could substitute for a mat and layer like a frame within a frame over the art!  I bought a couple pieces of oak 1” x 2” for the actual frame. I also picked up a piece of clear acrylic to cover the art.  Glass is cheaper, but it’s also heavier and harder to work with since it can easily chip or break.  I will spend the extra to get plastic that way I don’t have to worry.  And you can easily cut it with a table saw (or you can get your Papa to do it for you!) :)
Once we had all our components, Papa helped me with the building process.  We cut our mat pieces first to fit the art.  Then we measured the thickness of the mat and the glass and cut a 3/8” wide channel in the back of the frame pieces for the mat/glass to fit into.  That way the mat and glass would sit flush with the back of the frame, just like a commercially-made frame.  Then we carefully marked our measurements in the outer edge of the channel and cut mitered corners to fit our mat/glass.  Next, I sanded all the frame pieces and rounded over the edges so they would be smooth.  We carefully glued our corners together and shot a few brads in each end to keep it all together.  Since the mitered corners of the mat were only 1/4” thick and I didn’t think glue would hold it all together, I decided to paint the mat before assembling it.  I stained the frame Bombay Mahogany (what else?) and painted the frame a soft muted turquoise color to match the art.  I used watered down acrylic paint for the mat so you could still see the wood grain through it.  After everything was dry, I laid out the mat and taped the corners together on the back.  Masking tape held the whole thing together nicely!  The weight of the art and acrylic sheet will keep it from falling apart later. 
Then came the frame assembly!  I decided to put the mat on the outside of the glass (rebel, I know!) to highlight the wood grain and also because my art was so big, I didn’t want to leave any air space between the art and acrylic.  The weight of the acrylic sheet keeps the paper from wrinkling and sagging.  If you are using fine art I wouldn’t recommend putting the glass right on top of the artwork, but mine is just a poster print. 

Assemble it upside down:  frame, mat, then acrylic, followed by the artwork which I taped to the frame with painter’s tape.  Hopefully that will keep it from wrinkling and sagging in our humidity, we’ll see.  Then I taped a piece of brown kraft paper on the back with masking tape to seal it all up.  Add a hanger and some wire to the back and you are done!



I think it looks great in here with all the blues and greens!  And I spent around $75 for the whole thing, which is pretty good for such a big piece of art.  Now we can finally get rid of those hand-me-down frames! :)

Yay! :)

Snow Birds Winter Mantel

Brrr! It’s cold outside!  Winter has officially arrived and in celebration of this wonderful cold, crisp, snowy season I have created a winter mantelscape! :)

I kept some elements from the Christmas mantel and layered around them: pinecone wreath followed by the white feather trees, plus the pinecone trees from upstairs, candlesticks and snowflakes, and front and center I put my new snow birds that I got for Christmas.  (Thanks Molly!)  And below I hung a pom pom garland.  Isn’t it cute?

I think the feather trees were clearly made for this arrangement.  They were crying out for some symmetry, so I provided. :)

And the little snow bird ornaments fit right in with the display with their furry white feathers and pinecone wings. :)  Cute cute!

Now if only we would get some snow! 

Hope you are enjoying this wintery weekend! 

Pretty Summer Pillows

I have been busy in the sewing room making some pretty new pillows to share!  The first one is a butterfly hand-painted on cream linen.  I first saw this pillow two years ago on etsy.  As soon as I saw it, I put it on my wish list because I knew it would be perfect for the den.  Eventually I realized I was never going to pay $40 for a pillow and then it became unavailable so I was forced to take action.  Fortunately I had saved a picture of the pillow, so I decided to make my own!  Here’s the inspiration:

Gorgeous, no?  I scaled up the image to fit my pillow size and printed out just the butterfly part.  I bought some cream linen and traced the design on to the fabric.  I used acrylic paint even though fabric paint would be have been better, but I didn’t have any.  I don’t intend to wash it, so the acrylic should be fine for my purposes.  It only took me a couple of hours to paint it and then another half hour to sew it into a pillow!

It looks just like the picture, right?  Except for all that postmark-y stuff in the background.

It’s currently living it up on the den couch with all its pillow pals. :)  Yay!  And all it cost me was the price of the linen which was around $6 or so.  :)  Score!

In other pillow making news, I made a couple of doily covered pillows for my sister-in-law, Laura last week.  While they were waiting to be gift-wrapped, I had to sneak a photo op of them in the cream wingback chairs. :)  They looked right at home next to the turquoise dresser:

This was another easy pillow project.  The doilies were passed down to Laura from her grandmother so we decided to reuse them on a pillow.  I just arranged them on a square of turquoise cotton and stitched them on.  I used a machine stitch in the center down the straight lines and then hand stitched all the way around the scalloped edge to keep them from lifting.  Then I sewed an envelope closure in the back and stuck a pillow form inside. 

There you have it:  a couple of do-it-yourself pillows that look like you bought them on etsy!  :) 

Closet Under the Stairs Makeover

I bet you didn’t know there is a closet under the stairs.  Maybe you’ve been to my house and you do know. :)  Maybe you guessed there was… maybe I’ve mentioned it?  Anyway there is!  It’s right across from my laundry room and adjacent to the garage and den, so it’s the perfect space for storage.

It’s fairly large as far as closets go, but it’s not big enough for Harry Potter.  And it’s cut into the staircase so the back wall angles up and hits you in the head about three feet into the closet.  I tried to make it work for a while with some cabinets and shelving that I already had.  I basically stuffed every piece of organizing furniture in there and filled them up with fabric and supplies and then shut the door on it!  Here’s what I am talking about:

That’s a bad picture from 2010, but still you get the idea—it was a mess!  It has been through various stages of “makeover” and organization over the past few years.  At one point there was even a file cabinet in there!  But it wasn’t until we had to empty the closet to lay new flooring that I really decided what I needed to do with this space. 

We cleared it out and tore up the carpet.  Before the new floors went in I painted the walls a nice crisp white.  The trim and door also got a refresh.

Not much to look at yet.  So we added some shelving to the back of the closet to maximize storage space against that angled ceiling.  And I forgot to take a picture before I began stuffing things back in there again.  :(

Anyway, since then I have organized a bit more (not likely to last!) and cleaned up things for a reveal!  You can see the shelving design as well as the upper shelf over the hanging bar.  I use this closet now to store giftwrap, giftbags, boxes, yarn, silk flowers, polyfil and party supplies.  Since I got my cubby bookcase in the den, I have moved all the fabric out of here to those or to the filing cabinet in the garage. 

The hanging bar is useful for storing all my pretty tablecloths so they don’t get super wrinkled.  The top shelf is the shallowest since the angle in the ceiling cuts off the back.  It’s perfect for relatively flat things, so I use it to organize gift bags and boxes.  Christmas and Non-Christmas are separated so it’s easy to find what I need.  The second shelf holds more Christmas boxes on the left and the two pink ones on the right are filled with bows, tissue and tags.  The third shelf has party supplies and yarn.  And the rest of the stuff is on the floor.  The laundry hamper in front holds all of my giftwrap.  I am kind of a giftwrap junkie so I have a lot and this is the perfect way to store it all neatly.

It is so nice to be able to get into the closet now and find what I need easily.  The three levels of storage I had before were just not working because I had to pull everything out to get to the things in the back.  This room has a lot of floor space left and that’s important because this is the space that Michael uses to brew beer when he does that.  It’s cool, dark and can be closed off from the pets, so I let him make it smell all yeasty in here sometimes. :)

Anyway that brings us to the end our quick little tour of the closet under the stairs. :) Hope you enjoyed seeing a secret nook in our house!

Silver, Green and Gold Fall Mantel

Last weekend I challenged myself to create a mantelscape with no orange or red for my fall mantel.  Here’s what I came up with using green, gold and silver.

Silver and green aren’t the normal fall hues, but they work well with my decor in the den. And lucky for me they actually sell green and silver pumpkins!

On the left side (or “the wonky side” as I like to think of it because the mantel shelf is warped and this side is slanted toward the floor… dangerous for candleholders and fragile things and things you want to look straight) I put a beaded green pumpkin and a green cinderella pumpkin from Michaels along with one of my silver candlesticks (from Goodwill) the mercury glass pillar holder (from Target) and a crystal candlestick.  Talk about mixed metals and materials!  Texture!  That is how I roll.  A gold taper brings in a bit of warmth and some hydrangea blossoms are scattered beneath for filler and color.

The other side is similar but with an antique oil lamp thrown in.  And there is a dried gourd painted gold instead of more pumpkins.  I am still digging through my fall boxes for some green and gold fall leaves. :)

And over on the turquoise dresser is the piece de resistance-- the etched mercury glass pumpkin from Pottery Barn.  LOVE.  Thanks Andi and Nick for the most beautiful birthday present!  It is hanging out with some more candlesticks and the mercury glass votives that were a past gift from A&N.  Thanks! :)

Ahh, fall is lovelier than ever in these shades of green and metallic.  Now I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate my new silver pumpkin into my Christmas decor.  Suggestions are welcome, please comment below! :)

Happy Fall!