New Balcony Chairs from Fab

Good news! I am working on a zinc table DIY for our balcony that I’m really excited about. Since I’m saving about $500 on that project, I felt okay about spending a little more on chairs. I had plans to buy four vintage Bertoia chairs (or this new version), but it’s true they aren’t the most…

Good news! I am working on a zinc table DIY for our balcony that I’m really excited about. Since I’m saving about $500 on that project, I felt okay about spending a little more on chairs.

I had plans to buy four vintage Bertoia chairs (or this new version), but it’s true they aren’t the most comfortable chairs out there (especially without the chair pads). So I decided to nix the idea, mostly because I thought something more on the solid side would look better with the tumbling block floor pattern.

I’ve always loved Blu Dot furniture (Jenna Lyons’ pink desk is such a favorite.) And while I might have not picked these chairs on their own, the modern lines mix so well with traditional and other vintage styles. I can’t wait to pair them with my zinc table.

Fab had the Blue Dot chairs on sale for about the same price as the Bertoia knock-offs I had been considering before. One of my friends has these on her balcony and they made for a very comfortable long dinner party. And of course, I’m crazy over the red color (though they come in other colors too if you’re looking for something similar).

Even though I purchased the chairs myself, Fab is a sponsor of LGN and I’m happy to share some of the great products available on the site today. The Fab site is super fast-moving (the sales last 3-7 days) so when this stuff is gone, it’s gone. A sad lesson I learned this week when the kantha quilt I loved sold. Never wait when it’s true love! :) Luckily, there are plenty of beautiful quilts left here.

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Blue

Moulding: Going All Out?

You guys, I must be a glutton for punishment. Just as I’m reaching the home stretch for finishing the crown moulding on the parlor level, I start dreaming of trimming out the rest of the walls. Like, top to bottom moulding. Looking at the room they shot the West Elm Branch floor lamp in, did…

Looking at the room they shot the West Elm Branch floor lamp in, did not help. (which, PS I really want that lamp!)

I think it would be easier to DIY this type of trim that lays flat on the wall. Crown moulding is such a beast!

Have you attempted anything like this? Maybe I’ll just try it in the dining room and stop there if it’s too much work/money. I’m especially drawn to the way the moulding and walls are painted that only makes the moulding look chunkier.

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Furniture

Coffee Table Makeover

I’m slowly but surely chipping away at the project list for the living room. For the most part we didn’t use a coffee table in the loft and we really missed having one. So remember this vintage coffee table? In the loft, we used the marble top on our kitchen island (both incarnations). I kept the fruitwood…

I’m slowly but surely chipping away at the project list for the living room. For the most part we didn’t use a coffee table in the loft and we really missed having one.

So remember this vintage coffee table? In the loft, we used the marble top on our kitchen island (both incarnations). I kept the fruitwood base, thinking I would use it to make a foot-of-the-bed bench, but I liked the marble in our living room, so the frame and marble top were joined together again…

I knew the wood would have to be painted out though – it was not pretty up close. I thought about doing a gray shade, but the room really needs more white, especially for when the sofa fabric gets changed to a darker color.

I remembered seeing this Christine side table from Oly Studio with a client and I love the painted and gilded finish. I especially liked that the gilding was a little worn and not so new looking.

I didn’t want to do an antiqued white paint though, but I did want it to look chalky and very matte, so I knew I wouldn’t spray it. I had a tupperware of the flat paint that was on our walls in the loft. It is a very soft, creamy white, with some gray undertones. I think it’s BM’s Arctic White.

I sanded the old finish just enough to sort of rough up the surface and then I dry-brushed a base coat.

I lightly sanded again – it goes really fast with those handy little sanding blocks. I use them way more often than my electric hand-sander for light jobs like this because I feel like I have more control.

Then I did another dry coat. Sometimes, if my paint is a little on the dry side or my brush is not perfectly new, I’ll get more brush strokes than I want and that’s why dry brushing works well. For the final coat it works well to sort of quickly beat the barely wet brush on the surface. It makes for a soft, burnished finish.

To make the finish look more like the Oly table, I used my favorite Krylon gold leaf pen to lightly draw on some faux gilding.

To make it look a little more beat up and not so new, I lightly sanded the gold, too.

I thought about gilding down the ridges of the legs too, but I think it would have been overboard. I might go back and add it later though, once I lay down the new rug I’ve been working on.

Along with the rug I’ll layer on top of the jute, I have plans to reupholster the green chairs and the vintage sofa and to change out the pillows.

I also really need to add a window treatment. I think I’ll make three roman shades in a medium gray color and layer those under curtains in a shade close to the wall color (which is all washed out here). The goal is to sort of hide most of the unfortunately placed a/c unit.

Lots to do still, but it feels good to be steadily knocking out the projects. :)

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Musings

It's the Weekend!

HEY! It’s the weekend again somehow!! What are you up to? We have been sick with colds all week, so all I want to do it clean and disinfect the house. We might try to run up to Jane’s Carousel (Evelyn’s favorite) since the weather looks like it will be on our side. Thank you…

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I was super spoiled by Michael and our families (his was actually in town visiting).

I usually feel really, very guilty when I receive gifts (I know, weird – are you like that?), but this was the big 3-0 for me, so I welcomed the presents in the hope they would help drown out my sorrows. J/K. I was like, Peace out 20s! I will sound a little less crazy for having three kids now. :)

PS We always secretly hope that when family visits we’ll run into some cool celebrities on the street – it’s so fun for everyone. Well, my inlaws didn’t spy any Meryl Streep or Robert De Niro types during their trip, but luckily this guy came through for us. :)

Happy weekend, doggz. See you here Monday.

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Musings

It’s the Weekend!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I was super spoiled by Michael and our families (his was actually in town visiting).

Happy weekend, doggz. See you here Monday.

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Art

Art for the Girls' Room

Thanks to Art.com for sponsoring this post series. In the next few days, there will be a $500 give away on the Art.com Pinterest page. Follow them here, where all the details will be announced! When I was shopping for art for the room my girls share here at the brownstone, I knew I wanted…

Thanks to Art.com for sponsoring this post series. In the next few days, there will be a $500 give away on the Art.com Pinterest page. Follow them here, where all the details will be announced!

When I was shopping for art for the room my girls share here at the brownstone, I knew I wanted something feminine, but modern. And I wanted it BIG! Something to work with this vintage french poster from their last room.

Art.com has a ton of Warhol prints, several from his Flower series. I thought this color way would be perfect on the pale lilac walls. And the black background helps keep things from going too sweet.

Then I used their “View In Room” program to see the actual scale of this huge print.

I uploaded a couple photos of different walls in the room, which ended up being really helpful, because it looked horrible in the first place I had in mind. I loved how it looked next to the windows where I planned to put the play table.

The other cool part of the View In Room program is you can do multiple prints on one wall (in your saved gallery, use their room photos, or upload your own like I did). It’s a SUPER easy way to map out a gallery wall! The hardest part is figuring out your favorite prints – there are so many good ones to choose from. You can see my saved galleries here, here and here. (And I just noticed they are having a 20% off sale this weekend! Awesome – I’ve been saving a special print in my cart.)

Here’s the Warhol print hanging in the girls’ room. It feels so bright and happy in there! They love it.

PS The frame truly looks like something I would have paid $500 for here in Manhattan. Want to know what it cost to frame this 40×40″ piece? Just $150 – a complete steal for something this large. You can tell the work was done by craftsmen (I sort of choke up in their videos! This one is awesome too. Man, art is so cool.)

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Art

Art for the Girls’ Room

Then I used their “View In Room” program to see the actual scale of this huge print.

Here’s the Warhol print hanging in the girls’ room. It feels so bright and happy in there! They love it.

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Accessories

How to Bind Two Natural Fiber Rugs

I’m working on a really fun rug DIY right now that I’m excited to share with you next week. It’s a rug that will be layered on top of my two braided jute rugs from the ABC clearance basement, originally made by FibreWorks. I thought today I’d report back to you on how those rugs…

Long-time readers will remember when I had a BIG problem with a jute rug way back in the day. This rug I’ve been a lot happier with. I know now to only use a dry rag or this powder to clean up messes (though I’ve only had to use the powder once). For good or for bad, this rug hides a multitude of stains and crumbs. I give it two thumbs way up.

If I had to give any teeny tiny complaints, it would be that the rug sheds just a little bit. But pretty much every rug does in the beginning. It’s really not bad, and if anything, just encourages me to vacuum up all the hidden dirt I’m not seeing! :)

Since the living room is long, I was able to buy two 8×11’s and save a ton of money over going with a custom size. I used upholstery thread to bind to two rugs together.

I started with the part of the rug that goes under the sofa, and after getting the hang of it, I found it was best to stitch mostly in the middle and the underside of the rugs’ edges, so the thread wouldn’t be visible, and then I pulled very tight on the thread every foot or so. It’s almost impossible to tell where the seam is in person! The weave makes it so the two edges fit together like puzzle pieces.

If you need an odd-sized, large natural fiber, and don’t want to break the bank, try binding together the IKEA Tarnby (or Pottery Barn’s Jute). Also, I think the ABC clearance basement still has some of the FibreWorks jutes left? They have sales often, so wait until they are 30-50% off.

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Living Room

Vintage Mushroom Lamp

I found this adorable little vintage mushroom lamp at the thrift store recently. I love it next to the girls room! I like that it feels a little bit whimsical but not too cheesy – and the girls love it. It casts the perfect soft light so we leave it on for them at night. I’m…

I found this adorable little vintage mushroom lamp at the thrift store recently. I love it next to the girls room! I like that it feels a little bit whimsical but not too cheesy – and the girls love it. It casts the perfect soft light so we leave it on for them at night.

I’m a big fan of quirky little lamps, and these feel fun and not too serious.

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PS These lamps look great in grown-up rooms too!

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Musings

Searching for a Round Dining Table

Now that our kitchen is almost done, my eyes have been wandering over to the dining room. We have way too much furniture crammed in the 13×13 room, that’s it’s high time we downsize. I’m looking for a round or oval table around 60-65″ wide. I’d love to be able to have six chairs and…

I’ve been thinking about this 60″ round arch table from West Elm (which is 15% off right now!). It looks nice in person, though I’d probably end up painting it or faux liming the finish to work better with my new chairs.

I am going to check out this vintage Saarinen style oval table today. I would love to buy a real vintage Saarinen, but the rounds are too small and the oval tops are way too long. This one has the perfect dimensions (60×45″), but I’m a little nervous about the thickness of the table top. I want sleek here, like the original. I’ll let you guys know how it goes!

And in the DREAM table category, I would give anything for one of these Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb arch tables.

The dimensions are spot-on perfect and I could not love the design more (arches and octagons!?). If you see one at auction, please please please let me know!

Do you know of any other amazing round tables on the market right now? I’m itching to make some process here and would be willing to just buy something as a place holder. Not my favorite design approach, but I’m going a little crazy here. :)

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Home Renovation

DIY Shaker Style Cabinet Doors

Last week I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when I discovered trimming out the cabinets was much easier and much less stressful than I was worried it would be! (In case you missed it, I filled the heavily grained cabinet fronts here and the kitchen befores and inspiration images are here). First I measured all the…

First I measured all the doors at once and had a huge list of measurements. Then I cut all the wood at once too (here’s the saw I love). A little tip here – when working with precise measurements like with crown moulding or any trim work, make sure you take the saw blade into account – don’t center your cut line on the blade. You’ll need to scoot the cut line over a little to make it so the edge of the blade just kisses your line.

I thought a lot about whether I should do mitered corners, but ultimately I ended up going with straight cuts. It made my life a million times easier I think – after working on crown moulding inside, the last thing I wanted to do was more mitered cuts! I just had to subtract two of the trim widths to get the correct measurements for the side pieces.

Once all the wood was cut, I used my brad gun to attach the trim. It took some playing with to figure out the right amount of pressure to use on the gun. If I pushed too hard, it dented the wood a little. If I just put a bit of pressure on the brad gun, the nail stuck out about 1/8″ and I was able to set it in. The little nail set hole is a million times easier to fill! Don’t dent that wood!

Most of my cuts were pretty precise, but every third cabinet or so, I had some gaps between the trim. It was no big deal at all though once I filled the gaps.

(oh man, guys, sorry for all the foggy photos. It was so rainy the day I trimmed these out!)

If there were any gaps on the outside lip of the cabinet fronts I filled those too.

I ended up using a full tube of this amazing, extra strength wood filler on my 20 cabinets and drawers. I found it was best to overfill and sand until smooth. You’re going to have to sand no matter what, so might as well get the filling done quickly and make sure you’re getting enough filler everywhere.

I was so thrilled with how smooth and almost completely seamless the new trim was!

I know this was a little bit of a teaser post, but next up is priming and painting! I ended up spraying the primer and hand brushing the F&B Down Pipe and I liked the combo. Stay tuned!

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Living Room

More Sharpie Les Touches

The lovely and talented Caitlin emailed to say she was inspired by this old post and took a sharpie to her IKEA slipcovers. Talk about bang for your buck! And I’m really liking the more open pattern she went with here. It’s a little more subtle. (also much easier to pull off!) The rest of her…

The lovely and talented Caitlin emailed to say she was inspired by this old post and took a sharpie to her IKEA slipcovers.

Talk about bang for your buck! And I’m really liking the more open pattern she went with here. It’s a little more subtle. (also much easier to pull off!)

The rest of her home is so lovely. Check out her full house tour here.

PS Caitlin mentioned she has a new color in her Deco pillow line – mint. So pretty!

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