New Mirror

I wanted to show my gallery wall today, that I’m doing in the blue living room. But it was not to be. I tried to save some money by using store bought frames. But they come without the hanging mechanism attached to the back. And the stupid pilot holes are not always big enough for the equally stupid tiny screws! Ahhhhhhh!

A couple of weeks ago, after hemming and hawing for over a month, I bought a new entryway mirror at Pier1. I like it just fine right now, but it will look even better when we repaint the hallway someday… (Don’t hold your breath. Scaffolding will be involved.)

Before - sorry, I know this is a bad shot.

After - once I fill up the display cabinets in the LR again, the reflection should be not so blah.

What do you think? I am pretty happy. I almost think I could go even bigger with the mirror, but the table is not big and I don’t want to completely dwarf it.

4 Down, 10 To Go

Window saga has finally begun.They got the exercise room done today. I don’t think that I’ve ever put pictures of that room on here before. We are lucky enough to have a ginormous room over our garage that houses an old TV, the elliptical, a weight set, and miscellaneous other workout paraphernalia. And we actually use it! The trouble was that the windows did not seem to be very efficient. When it was really windy, I would find bits of leaves on the sills. And that was with the windows closed and locked! Combine that with an over the garage room, and I figured we were probably cooling the outside a lot.

There's a hole in my bucket, err I mean wall!

Ta da!

Please ignore the hideous curtains that came with the house. We have been using them so that the neighborhood is not subjected our workouts. And also to try the fight the whole “we now live on the surface of Mars” thing we have going on here in Texas these days. 😉 Someday soon I will be getting shutters.

the other 3 windows in the room

The other 3 windows are without their equally hideous curtains because I got rid of them years ago. Again, shutters will eventually come to the rescue.

I am in awe of these guys who are working in this heat day in and day out. I hope everything else goes as smoothly as today did.

Before and After: The Wall Of Mary

After months and months of procrastination, the wall of Mary project is finally complete. I must confess to having been inspired by Lauren’s foyer at Pure Style Home.

foyer: during

more during

foyer: after

from another angle

We’re pretty pleased with how it turned out. Here is a rough cost breakdown:
20 frames from JoAnn – $100
20 custom cut mats and 20 pieces of non-glare glass – $220 (I think)
16 pictures from a book – $40
3 pieces of art from ETSY – $40
1 invite to a priest’s first mass – free (Thanks, Anne!)
1 borrowed ladder – free (Thanks, Ms. Sugarbaker!)
picture wire and picture hangers – $5
Project Total = $405

***Special thanks to the husband who put picture wire on all 20 pieces and climbed up and down the ladder on the stairs a zillion times. Thanks, honey!***

The Long Awaited Blue Living Room

Over the next few months I will be trying to finish the blue living room. I think the most recent picture I have posted of it is this:

Here is some of what will be going into the room, along with some of what is already there.

Blue Living Room by nichtuck on Polyvore.com

This is the first time I have used Polyvore. There were some items that it wouldn’t let me clip. And some that I couldn’t find on the internet anymore, because I have been buying stuff for this room for too long.

from High Street Market

from Furiousdreams on Etsy

Pillows and throws not on Polyvore design board.

BTW- I am becoming less and less sure about the very orange pillows every day. So I think those will probably go. I still have not figured out the coffee table situation, or the windows. I am thinking of using this fabric for both:

Richloom Lucy in Licorice

What do you think? Opinions and suggestions, please! I can take it. 🙂

A Lucky Outcome

No, I’m not talking about anything too serious. But it would have been really bad for my credibility with the husband if we hadn’t figured this one out. Remember this picture?

It arrived in March, and is just as pretty as I thought. But it was ruining the future flow of my blue living room, by sticking out too far into the room. Thus, causing me to have to consider purchasing a very petite sofa for that room.

I told the husband I was going to have to back out of displaying the giant, hand carved manger scene year round. He handled it pretty well. Then we decided that the study could use another desk. The former owners had a desk in the middle of the room when we looked at the house and it looked nice. Honestly, it’s nice to have builtins, but the space is not very deep and taken up by computers. Having this large, clear surface in here will help the husband a lot when he needs to work from home. The last time, he had to use a card table.

I think it has worked out quite well. I wasn’t too sure about angling it. That was the husband’s idea. But in the end, it’s the best way to fit in the “Giant Bed Of Bingley”. Bingley’s bed has to be in the study now, because I get to buy a couch for the blue living room. Woo Hoo! Much to the consternation of the husband and some friends, this is what I asked for as my anniversary present. More details to follow, once I make a final decision. But here’s a hint: MG + BW.

PS I hope everyone had a happy Easter. We went to mass, and hung out at home. We’re both still getting over whatever this sickness is. So we really enjoyed doing nothing. 🙂

Lighting Makeover: Before & After

Ever since moving into this house in 2008, I have been on a (slow) quest to eradicate the shiny brass, cheapo light fixtures. As of today, we stand at 10 down, 2 to go. This does not include all of the florescent light bars in closets and utility areas. I really don’t know what to do about that. They are ugly, but energy efficient. So let’s just forget I even mentioned them. Okay? Pretty please?

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned here that I would be doing a product review for CSN Stores. Well, the project is done!

Before

After

I know what you are thinking: Where the heck is that?! It’s in this tiny hallway that has four doorways.

A shot of the tiny hallway.

Also, I would appreciate it if you don’t look too closely at the crown molding in these pictures. This is our house’s 15th winter. Apparently, the 15th winter is when the caulking goes on strike. It’s an epidemic in this place! Alrighty then, back to the light fixture. Click here to see the fixture at the CSN site. I don’t think my review is up yet. They said it can take up to a week to show up. We are very happy with the light and very happy with the service. We have never ordered from CSN before or purchased Hudson Valley lights before. Will definitely be spending money with both again. As I stated before, CSN gave me a $45 gift certificate for the review. The light was $129 with free shipping. So we are out of pocket, $84.

Coincidentally, our friends D & J gave us a CSN gift certificate for Christmas. We used it on another light fixture. Here are the results:

Before

After

This light can also be found at CSN by clicking here. And it’s even more on sale now than it was when we purchased it two weeks ago! Thanks, D&J! We have added a few more things to that same hallway in the last month.

Christmas present from the husband.

Where the picture cards from Christmas live.

Dear friends and family who are nice enough to send us cards, I am sorry that I have now failed to do Christmas cards for two years in a row. I will try to do better in 2011.

We also changed the fixture in the hallway leading to the downstairs guest room. But I’m a bad blogger and didn’t take a before picture.

After

I think I may have gone overboard on this one.

Is it just me, or is that enough light to land a plane at night? I may remove a light bulb, or two.

What do you think? Do the light fixtures in your home bug you, even when they are in places that may not be super visible to everyone? Or is it just crazy old me?