Drapery Drama

I have decided that drapery is my nemesis. My Lex Luther. I have spent entirely too much time thinking/agonizing over what type of patterned fabric to hang from a metal rod in my living room, and I’m not even sure why. This decision has been a long time coming, to say the least, but I think I can finally put a cap in my curtain dilemma thanks to a productive weekend. Hallelujah!

After months of online research and busy, traveling weekends, I finally had a chance to visit Mary Jo’s cloth store and see if I couldn’t find the perfect fabric to fashion my own curtains. If you haven’t heard of this store and happen to live anywhere in NC/SC, you really need to make a trip. It’s HUGE. I’ve never seen so much fabric in my life – it’s really overwhelming and incredible all at the same time. All of my online research led to me believe that A) buying curtains cost a lot of moola and B) surely making something on my own would be less expensive.

These were just a few items that ended up on my cellphone. And what do you know? Despite the immense amount of fabric in this warehouse, I couldn’t find anything that I was completely in love with. And I found out I’m only drawn to really expensive fabrics. Go figure. So Saturday morning was a bust and I washed my hands of the day, assuming it wasn’t meant to be. Then 8:30pm on Saturday night* rolled around and I had an epiphany – why have I not checked out World Market? I knew I was looking for something with some pattern, a little bit of red to bring into my blue/green space, and something that wasn’t the traditional floral. Sounds a bit like World Market’s product line, right? Well, it WAS. As my husband would say, well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I checked out the website, got entirely too excited, and rushed down to my local WM to beat the 9:00 closing time. 20 minutes later and not a lot of money lost, I returned home with these lovelies.

Hello, new curtains! Welcome to the barren living room. I’m really smitten with our new lighter paint color, but this room is in definite need of some accents. Yes, I started with a paint color (a definite designer no-no) but it was so neutral that I knew I wouldn’t be hindered in my accent pieces. These curtains are definitely a great jumping off point and I’m so glad to be done with my 5 month curtain search.

Sure, these may not be the perfect curtains, but really, is there such a thing? These certainly meet all of criteria I was looking for and the price was just right. I really think I’ll learn to love them – and the room already feels more complete, so I consider it a success!

My stance on curtains is very adamantly anti-pole pocket. I’m not sure why, but the look of a scrunched curtain top just gives me the heebie jeebies. I decided to pick up some simple curtain rings from Ikea to give these pole-pocket curtains the look of a pleated (or grommet top) curtain for cheap. The drapery rod also hails from Ikea, which is consistent with the drapery rods in the rest of our house. Ikea really is the place for hardware like this – you just can’t beat the prices!

I’ve also been looking for a little pillow to spruce up the womb chair, and I spotted this ikat beauty on my WM whirlwind trip as well. Yes, bizarro Audrey is apparently authoring this blog today. I just used the word “beauty” to describe ikat fabric – I’m not sure what’s come over me! My intense hatred of ikat has started to subside in my old age. I must be growing.

It seems my drapery drama is quite possibly come to an end… until I attempt to tackle the living room. Home improvement is never-ending.

*Just realized I admitted to thinking about curtains at 8:30 on a Saturday night. Yeah, I’m wild.

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Decide-a-phobia

Am I crazy for loving this rug? And am I insane for thinking that the $450 price tag is a down right steal?

This beauty was a floor model in Crate and Barrel the other day that was marked down considerably from its original price. I spotted it underneath some other rugs and said something along the lines of “oh my god i have to have that it’s wool and on sale i think i might die let’s bring it home today”. But, I resisted. I was a good little girl and realized that you should never jump into a big purchase like this after a 20 second look. I’m not even sure that the rug is still in the store, but what do you think? I think I might be crazy, but I need some reassurance (or someone to convince me I’m not).

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Mini Updates

I’ve hinted about a few things that we’ve done to the abode recently, but they just didn’t seem blog worthy enough in my book. I’m basically just buying new things and repainting some rooms (for the 50th time) but after several reader requests, I decided to share the goods with the blogosphere.

First off, I decided to paint our über green living room. My husband and I were talking about how, although we love color (and especially green), we were growing a bit tired of such a vibrant color in our main living space. Maybe we’ve matured dramatically from 25 to 26 or become more dull in our old age, but we’ve slowly been gravitating towards more neutral colors in our house.

Quite the departure, right? The reason I’ve been hesitant to post this change is because it’s not completed. Shocker, I know. Nothing is ever complete in this house. I love the new paint color, but the room is almost too neutral for me now. I’m dying to DIY some drapes that will bring in a necessary pop of color, but those are still in the planning stages (ie. swirling in my brain).

We decided to paint our kitchen the same neutral color (Sherwin Williams – Ancient Marble) to make the two rooms feel a bit more cohesive and a bit larger. This is the new color that I’m using as a backdrop for kitchen cabinet decision 2010, so feel free to weigh in now that you’ve seen what we’re up against.

You’ve seen the new bedspread in the master bedroom, which leads me to another little update in the house. We moved the rug from our front living room into our bedroom to have something cushy underneath our feet when we wake up, and we’re loving every minute of it. This rug swap was definitely the right move, but it left us with an empty hole in the living room. Enter, lovely yellow rug.

Ever since I saw this rug on Making It Lovely, I knew I had to have it. I reminded me of the Pottery Barn moorish rug that I’ve kicked myself for 3 years now for not buying – and with a lovely price, I purchased this bad boy immediately. I love how the yellow plays off of the gray wall color, and ties in with the subtle yellow and orange accents throughout our living room.

Oh, and we got a new roof. Crazy, right? Our roof had some leaks in the past and it was well past its prime, so we did the adult thing and paid some nice roofers to spend a very long day in the extremely hot sun for our hard-earned dollar. I won’t bore you with a picture of our new onyx black shingles, but I will do a post later with the things we learned through the whole (extremely thrilling) roofing process. Enjoy the newest additions to the abode!

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Nifty Gift Idea

Since the holidays are gone and done with, I’m sure you’re relishing in all the amazing gifts you received. And by you, I mean me. This Christmas wasn’t necessarily a blow out or anything, but the gifts I did receive were thoughtful and down right bitchin’. My creative Mom definitely went all out by making all the girls custom aprons and finding cool scarfs on Etsy, but her best gift was something that I thought I’d share with the blogosphere because of its heart-felt sentiment and simple DIY-ness.

My Mom and Dad recently visited an antique car show, and my Mom had the brilliant idea of taking pictures of numbers on the cars and turning it into a framed piece of artwork with our wedding anniversary date. Now, not only was this genius because it gave her something to do at a car show, but also because it made the perfect gift for my brother, sister and I, all of whom are recently married. You may have seen the trend of architectural letters to spell out names, etc. (which I love as well) but trying to DIY it and find letters hidden in shrubbery and buildings is a bit on the difficult side. Numbers, on the other hand, are everywhere! You could take pictures of unique house numbers, road signs, etc. and plop them into a frame to commemorate any special date. This would be a perfect wedding gift or a gift for new parents with their babe’s birthdate, or even a housewarming gift to new homeowners with their house numbers displayed. The possibilities are endless and the cost is basically at a minimum.

Our wedding date does a nice job of completing our gallery wall in the den, don’t you think? Did any of you receive any super creative/thoughtful gifts that you’d love to share? Sound off!

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A good White Elephant

This blog is slowly turning into a showcase of “look what I bought”. Sorry for that. But I had to share this little guy since I’ve had my eye on him for quite some time, and finally bit the bullet and dished out a few bones to make him mine.

Why, it’s my favorite little elephant friend from West Elm! I’ve been watching this guy for some time, waiting for him to go on sale or jump into my lap, but he wasn’t budging. I noticed that he wasn’t available online anymore, so I popped into my local store (which by the way, has the nicest employees ever) and took a few laps, getting closer and closer to the elephant at each passing. The saleswoman and I got to talking, and she shared her love of this little creature as well and how she was waiting for the perfect moment to scoop one up. She also added that it was so versatile that it would one day grace her future child’s nursery, even though she didn’t have a child… or a boyfriend. Talk about a planner. She let me know that they were no longer restocking these and they only had a few left, so I took it as a sign. Man, she really made that sale, huh?

Our new little friend now resides next to our television in the den, bringing a bit of lightness to our dark furniture and tying in nicely with our new, white picture rail above. The irony in this little trinket is that Scott is not a fan of my chotchkies. He says they just collect dust and are a waste of money, which is the opinion of every husband I think I’ve ever encountered. Don’t they know that items like this are necessary to make a house feel like a home? I digress. It’s ironic because a white elephant is usually associated with “a valuable possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness” (thanks, wikipedia). Let’s just hope the hubs isn’t right on this one.

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Wavy Lady

What’s this? Christmas come early?

Tuesday afternoon got off to a great start with a rather impulsive trip to West Elm and this. A lovely box, filled with something I’ve been coveting for quite some time. That’s now ON SALE. Hence the impulsive jaunt to my friendly neighborhood West Elm to pick up a little something something and finally make it mine. This new addition to our abode actually had Scott uttering “even though it’s just a lamp, it does look pretty good back there.” Score one for Audrey!

The lamp situation in our den was a bit dire, in my opinion, so I’ve been on the hunt for a new lamp to take its place for quite some time now. I had the wavy glass lamp in my “Buy me this” column for a month or so now, and every day it was staring me down, begging me to purchase it. So naturally, as soon as this puppy popped on the sale rack, I obliged.

Say hello to my new best friend! I’ve named her Mary J Blige because she’s so smooth and cool. Our old lamp wasn’t quite our style, but this new addition is right up our alley. Our totally awesome, glass lamp base alley.

You may recall another glass lamp that we have in our front den, that now ties in nicely with our new glass lovely. The waves of the glass also mimic the Hokusai print that I gave Scott for one of his birthdays, that also resides in the den. You see how nicely everything is coming together? It’s like I planned it or something!

And here’s the lamp in the grand scheme of the den. Quite a nice addition, eh? Any lamp love you’d like to share? Join in!

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Adventures in a Remote Land

I’m married to a boy. Obviously. Along with a boy comes tons of wires, electronics and remotes. Freakin’ remotes. When I lived alone or with girl roommates, we literally had one remote. We turned on our 13″ television and watched week long marathons of America’s Top Model and that was that. Easy peasy. Now that I’m getting a glimpse into boyland, I’m the owner of 5 remotes, countless Wii controllers and other accoutrements that make the boy happy. And wires. Loooots of wires. I won’t get into our constant battle with wires today, but I will dabble into how we make my adventures in remote land a bit more bearable.

This is our television station, aka Scott’s happy place. Note the “small” tv that will one day be updated to something gargantuan that will overtake our den. Again, another post all together. Our sleek little media console does a great job of housing all of our boy equipment (receiver, cable box, DVD player and surround sound speakers), while still looking uncluttered. The glass fronts make it easy to control these boxes, all while keeping the doors closed and clean looking. Even our huge sub woofer to the side of the TV stand serves as a nice table for a framed picture. See how nicely I made something not so pretty into something useful? Go me.

Luckily for me, I married a boy that’s extremely neat and organized. Some may say OCD, but I say methodical. Or maybe I say OCD as well. At any rate, he’s organized our DVDs in 3 rows, 3 deep, so all of our movies (and every Friends season, I might add) are housed in one section of the console. The other side is open for me to fill with “chotchkiesthat will collect dust” (his words, not mine) that I haven’t tackled yet. Project! Notice our Wii peaking out from behind the television? The (thankfully discrete) sleek sensor is on top of the television (and barely visible) while the actual Wii console is quietly hidden behind the TV, adding to the uncluttered mystique.

Our side table on the other side of the room is where our extensive remote collection is housed. We have our Wii controllers sleeping soundly in their charging dock, while the other Wii paraphernalia is looking oh so organized in a wicker basket. Baskets may be my new best friend. You can have tons of little doodads, but throwing it into one simple basket instantly makes everything look organized.

On the top of our side table is another basket which houses all of our remotes. Do you see the insanity? An extra Wii remote even creeped its way into the remote basket. We do have a universal remote that should ideally control all of the boy equipment, but the other 4 remotes are there as backup in case the universal remote fails (which it does) and we have to change the input on something (which we do). This basket also houses a brush for our little pooch, some lotion and fingernail clippers which are all in an arm’s reach during some serious tube surfing. What a multi tasking basket! Any tips you’d care to share about your adventures in remote land?

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