Happy New Year!

Hello everybody!  Sorry I've been such a bad blogger - let's do some catch-up, okay?

Over the holidays, we took a big family vacation up to Minnesota.  We had an absolute blast for our first White Christmas.  I planned lots of fun, winter activities that we don't get much chance to do here in Austin - like sledding and ice skating.  I'll probably write up a little post about the trip and some of the ways we saved money.  It took a lot of planning and a fair bit of stressing (I don't live in a climate where I have to ever worry about getting stranded in the blizzard in my car - almost happened, by the way) - so it's nice to be back and get into what I usually plan and stress about - house projects!

I also got a promotion at work!  For the first time since I had my son, I feel like I'm in a good place career wise - making good money and being fulfilled at the same time.  I cannot stress what a difference being happy at work makes in the rest of my life.

We went to a friend's house for New Year's Eve and the boyfriend decided to be the Designated Driver, which resulted in me partying - hard.  Which then resulted in me being very hung over and in pain (I actually fell down drunk - klassy), and sleeping most of the first day of 2013 away.  So the new year officially starts tomorrow for me.  I've got quite the list of goals for this year:

 Start working out
          I know, it's obligatory and a cliche, but I've done a good job in the last couple of months of changing my eating habits.  I don't ever want to be one of those women who's always on a diet, or always restricting myself.  I believe that eating well is eating good food in the right proportions.  I am guilty of enjoying food too much - eating big portions and going in for seconds.  And eating too late at night.  So, I've been working on that and I also cut my addiction to Coke - which was bad.  I feel 100% better since I stopped drinking it.  I used to think my body needed the caffeine, and made excuses since I don't drink coffee that it was somehow okay, but I have much more energy now that I'm not dependent on my sugary soft drink fix a couple of times a day.  So now I'm going to take it to the next level and get on an exercise routine.  I don't have any huge goals (lose so much weight by a certain date), because that usually leads me to stress out.  Just do better and hopefully see some results.

Be a better housekeeper
           I've never been a great housekeeper, but when I was working such hellish hours at my last job, I really let a lot of things go, and the house has become really cluttered.  So I'm going to focus January on de-cluttering and organizing, and then get back into my daily chore routine (instead of saving it for the weekend - really, who wants to clean on the weekend?).

Stay on budget
            With my new salary at work, I had the dream that extra cash was going to be floating around, but that's not really the case.  Mostly because we're switching my son's afterschool care and putting him in day camp for most of the summer, which pretty much eats up my entire raise.  However, we finally have enough money that we're not struggling to pay bills, which unfortunately was not always the case.  So, now we can actually save up, get out of debt, and hopefully be able to afford some big ticket items we've been putting off (I'm looking at you, sofa I bought to recover almost 2 years ago).  Plus, we have two weddings to travel to this year and we want to take a big Florida/cruise/Disneyworld trip in 2014 that we'll have to save up for.  So my Excel spreadsheet is my new best friend.

Have more adventures
                 We had so much fun family time on vacation, and I want to keep that spirit alive during the rest of the year.  I've made a list of local places I've always wanted to go to, but keep putting off, so I plan on crossing them off this year.

Finish the house!
              Okay, I seriously doubt I'll finish it - but I do want it to be in that 80-90% done category by the end of the year.  I have all of my ideas formulated and will try to not keep changing them and causing chaos.  Instead, I'm going to buckle down and get things done so the house stops feeling like a work-in-progress and starts feeling more polished.  I mean, this last year I've been reluctant to even have people over because I feel the need to explain, "Oh, I know this wall is empty right now, but I have a big art project planned" and "I promise I have good taste - this is just our make-do solution." I don't want to make excuses for my house anymore - I want what I see in my head to actually exist in the real world.

Be a Better Girlfriend/Mom
                I'm lucky to be a part of this family and I let them know how much I love them everyday.  But I think a big part of any family's success is for the people in it to be actively involved in making the relationships better and stronger.  No one is perfect, but we can always do better.  A lot of times I get wrapped up in the functions of running the house (cooking, cleaning, shopping, planning, etc.) and forget to just enjoy my family.  So at least an hour every day will be dedicated to real time with the family - talking, playing, making memories.

I'm going to start on that last one right now - we're about to play a board game as a family.  It feels cathartic to proclaim your goals outloud (even just on the internet) - maybe it makes me feel more accountable for my own success.  Best of luck to you in the new year!  2013 is going to rock!
               

Fabric Hunt

I woke up super early this morning (possibly due to the fact that a bony 6-year-old had climbed into my bed and was trying to elbow me to death).  I stumbled to the couch in hopes of grabbing a couple more hours of sleep before the school routine started, but instead decided to go on a fabric hunt.  Because that's what normal, sleep-deprived women do at 4:30 in the morning.

I recently designed an office to go with the guest bedroom plan I did for a friend.  I'll share the full design soon, but it was completely inspired by this fabric.

Pillow by Studio Tullia on Etsy, via Pinterest

Gorgeous, right?  I loved the pinks, gray, and pop of grellow.  Decidedly feminine, but also sophisticated.

Only, I couldn't figure out who made the fabric.  I searched a ridiculous combination of keywords like "pink""coral" "gray""chinoiserie""vase"- all coming up empty.  I hunted the Schumacher site because it looked so similar in style to the famous Chiang Mai fabric.  No luck.

Finally, after about an hour of blog hopping, eureka!  "Portobello Vase" in the "Ladybug"colorway. 

Hancock's of Paducah

And you know who makes it - Waverly!  Not some super, high-end design firm like I originally thought.  In fact, it's only $28.95/yard at HouseFabrics.com.  Well, it's not cheap if you're doing curtains, but for the yard I'll need for some pillows I think it's a steal.

Guest Bedroom Design

Recently, I've been coming up with ideas for a friend's guest bedroom.  I'm not sure if we'll end up going in this direction, but I love everything about it so much I thought I would share.  She's a single, professional lady, so I had fun embracing a more feminine style than is possible in my house (where it's 66% male). 



Veranda via Design Crisis

This picture from Veranda was a huge inspiration.  As a child of the '80s, it's hard to find any kind of love for the color peach, but the right shade (like this) is killer in a bedroom.  I've heard numerous times that pink walls make everyone look better - and I'm thinking the same can probably be said for peach.  I definitely want to find the perfect shade - more yellow than pink and light enough to steal the show without screaming in your face.



Benjamin Moore's Delicate Peach

I found this one online here, but haven't tried it in person.

Also like the above image, I love the tonal drapes.  I found this gorgeous glazed silk at Fabricguru.  Of course, it's no longer available there, but might be worth tracking down elsewhere.

Brunschwig and Fils Glazed Silk in Golden Apricot

Although I wanted the room to read more feminine, since it's a guest bedroom, I definitely wanted to have more of a gender balance than the inspiration photo.  I decided to pair the peach with a classic navy for a dash of traditionalism and orange to warm everything up.

Alice Lane Home via Decorpad

We'll make a simple orange headboard with nailhead trim and then pair it with classic hotel-style bedding in a crisp navy and white.

Lastly, we'll finish out the room a few antique, wood pieces (I'm thinking the dresser, a small writing desk) and more modern, glamorous touches (glass, gold and lucite), for a nice balance.  Although this picture isn't the right colors, I love the mix of the antique wood table and the sleek brass lamps.

via DecorPad

 

Those are my thoughts on the guest room so far.  Now I'm going to try and figure out how to make a mood board to properly sell the idea to my friend.

Halloween 2012

Atticus wanted to be a zombie this year, so he (and just about everyone else) was a zombie.  Give the kids what they want, right?

It definitely wasn't one of our most creative costumes, but I liked that it was cheap (old t-shirt and a $7 make-up kit from Target) and quick to put together after work (mid-week Halloween sucks, am I right?). 

Of course, Atticus is already planning next year's costume (which will change about a zillion times before then).  And I'm eating my weight in Milk Duds.  Hope everyone had a good one!

Docksta!

I finally bought a Docksta table for my living room corner!

I wanted a pedestal table to go with the director's chairs, and the Docksta is the cheapest option.  It's $199 at Ikea, but I waited four long months to score one off of Craigslist for only $50.

Unfortunately, it's about 15% too big.  If it was just 2 inches shorter and about 5 inches less in diameter, it would be perfect.  I worried that was going to be the case before I bought it, so I searched (in vain) for a similar table with slightly smaller proportions.  I'm a big fan of buying it once, and buying it right, but the corner looks SO much finished now, even with slightly too large table, and since I got a good deal on the Docksta, I can probably sell it later to offset the cost.

DIY Spice Rack

I hate my kitchen.  It's small.  It's ugly.  It's poorly designed.  It has practically no storage space whatsoever.  When we decided to rent our duplex, it (and the equally small and ugly bathroom) were the two things that really made us debate whether or not we could live here.  Fortunately, I was born with a "make it work" personality and, once we moved in, decided on three projects I could do to make the kitchen more functional and less crappy.

#1 Paint the cabinets.
#2 Put up a spice rack.
#3 Build a pantry on wheels to go between the fridge and the wall.

So, we've been here 1 1/2 years, and I finally got around to crossing something off the list.  A spice rack!

Whoo hoo!  A little disclaimer - I know the rest of the kitchen sucks, it's a wood-tone nightmare right now.  But I'm working on it.  Glacial speed, but working on it.  Picture red cabinets and some art above - now doesn't that look better?

Anyway, back to the spice rack and how I made it myself.  It was super easy and I really liked the way it turned out.

First off, I bought 32 spice jars at World Market.  I bought the cylinder style (the one in the back of the picture), not the round style.  They are $3.99 for a set of 4, and I coupled that with a $10 off coupon they e-mailed me.  What I like most about this style is the lid, which rotates so you can shake the spices, and it's nice and big so my measuring spoons fit inside the jar.  Plus, out of the $1/jar category, they looked more expensive than the other options I found.

They're not officially labeled yet, although I did put ugly labels on the bottom as a makeshift answer.  I'm still looking for a label I like enough to commit to.  So let's file that under the "still in progress" part of my kitchen.

Then the spice jars sat on my counter for a month (or two...) while I figured out what kind of shelves I wanted to build.  As you can see, I have a galley kitchen, and the best place for us was this unused back wall by the dishwasher.  It's close enough to the stove that I can reach it easily, and it obviously needed something.  I did not want deep shelves that stuck out a lot because I do have two upper cabinets that need to open into that space.

At Ikea this weekend (where my fabric was sold out - boo) I saw the Ribba picture ledges and thought - they'd work well.  Only, I knew Ana White had a similar plan that would be cheaper to build. 




Ana White - $10 Ledges


We stopped by Home Depot and I picked up $23 in lumber (2 1x4s and 1 1x2 in "select pine" because I knew I was going to stain them).  That was the perfect amount to make 4 24-inch wide shelves.  I had stain and screws on hand (although I did have to buy finishing nails for the front).  If I did it again, I would also pick up some wood conditioner - pine doesn't take stain as evenly as you would like it to.

I made my cuts first, then stained all the boards (Minwax Jacobean) and left them to dry overnight.  The next day, I put them together assembly-line style in all of 40 minutes.  It took me longer to hang them on the wall than to build, honestly!

In person they look pretty awesome.  You might have to take my word on it, since my photos kills at 7 am  (or any time, really) are a little lacking.

Now, maybe they'll inspire me to cross something else off my kitchen to-do list.

Ikea Fabric

I'm not the biggest Ikea fabric fan, although they usually have one that I don't think is horrible.  However, I definitely think this is super divine.




Tradklover Fabric - Ikea $7.99/yard

  I am thinking of using it to make a cover for a body pillow in the master bedroom.  Maybe with some contrast piping.

It reminds me a lot of Hinson's "Fireworks" by Albert Hadley - available as a wallpaper or a fabric.