Spring Has Sprung

Well, we had glorious weather on Easter.  Pretty much unparalleled for the Pacific Northwest.  In fact, many of the family members over at our house spent time sitting in camp chairs in the front yard.  The last time I can remember anyone sitting outside at Easter was in the early 90s.  With such a surge of great weather came about 4 days of clear-ish skies and temps in the low 60s (just enough to encourage all the trees to begin pollinating) and now we are back to chilly and wet, wet, wet.

Despite the lackluster weather, my living room has finished its transition to springy-ness.  The blue curtains replaced the purple ones that have dutifully served all fall and winter.  And I ordered some pillow covers from an etsy shop called Modernality.  Why, you ask, didn't I force my Mom to endure another sewing project with me?  Well, these folks had really cute color-coordinated fabrics, were running a sale, and the pillow covers had *zipper closures.* They have happily springed things up in the living room.

Chevron love.

Modern florals.  The log pillow really ties things together, amiright?

I love how everything in this room is playing nicely together and complementing the colors in both the entryway and the nearby kitchen and dining area.

So much lighter and brighter up in here!

How do you make your home more springy?

Spring is for the Birds

It's official.  After an insane snowy Friday, spring has sprung in the Pacific Northwest.  We've had a few sunny days and yesterday we topped 60 degrees.  Barely, but still.

I'll take it!!

So it was high time the top of the piano went from wintry to springy.  I'm not a big one for holiday decorating, mostly because I'm too lazy to redecorate for every holiday and also because I'm too cheap to purchase decor that coordinates with every holiday.  I do enjoy me some seasonal decorating though.  Make it cute once and leave it alone for three months?  Sounds good to me.

Springy!

What says spring better than the return of birds?  The geese head north and the robins and songbirds can be seen again.  I have fond memories of finding blue eggshells broken open under bird nests as a child, and there's something undeniably hopeful and about feeble baby birds breaking free of their tiny shells.  The symbolism isn't lost on me, folks.  And I do love me some birds in this house.  So, birds it is.

I have also always loved the look of a collection of vases.  And I've seen the beauty in displaying collections of items.  Well, it just happens that I had a cabinet full of vases waiting in the laundry closet.

Most of the goodies here are shopped from my house.  I used some leftover Spanish moss in a jar that was hanging out on top of my kitchen cabinets to make a sweet spot for robins to lay eggs.  The vase on the left was in storage and the stopper bottle was in the guest bathroom.

The eggs are NOT seasonal Whoppers.

Two sweet wooden bird cutouts left from Tabi's wedding are perched near a second next of eggs.  I love that the birds say "I Do!" and "Me Too!" on the backs, and nobody can see it.  Obviously the birds must've eloped and are keeping their marriage a secret.

Bird family.

And the part that's my favorite.  How perfect is that quote?  And how great does it go with that frame?!  And let's throw in another bird, shall we?

The colors are so happy.

I couldn't have all those vases without some greenery going on.  I love forsythia in the spring- the bare branches covered in bright yellow flowers.  For some people, crocus is the signal that winter is ending.  For me, it's forsythia.  (Maybe I should incorporate one into our landscape plans?)  So I put a few silk branches in a giant mason jar.  I think it looks a little cluttered, but the fact that most of what's on top of the piano is glass keeps it from looking too chaotic.  I'm also digging the idea that at some point most of those vases could be filled with fresh flowers like tulips or a rhododendron branch.  Can't get much more springy than that, eh?

Ready for flora.

Winter Wonderland

Even though we live in the foothills, most of the time our Christmases in the Pacific Northwest are green and damp rather than white and crisp.  I really love white snowy landscapes, so clean and sparkly.  That is what inspired the holiday vignette on top of the piano this year.  I went for wintry and woods, with accents of silver and gold.  This display was also not terribly expensive- we already had everything except the greenery and the filler in the jar.  Not bad for about $25!

Holy greenery, Batman.

Up close.  I need to learn how to remove the blue tones from my photos.

Steve's polar bear ornament.  His name is Pooky.

My fluffy white bird ornaments.  They don't have names but I imagine them singing the song "Sisters" from White Christmas.

A platter we scored on clearance from Target last month.  It's hard to tell, but the gold has a little sparkle to it.

Cinnamon pinecones, ornaments, a mercury glass bird and an antler.

My floral arrangement skills leave something to be desired but I  looove that sweater vase (also on clearance from Target).

I like that this vignette is more "winter" than "Christmas," so I'll be able to leave it beyond December.  Our only other Christmas decorations this year are our tree, a poinsettia we pilfered from Tabi & Will's wedding reception, and scented candles (I am obsessed with Bath & Body Works holiday scented candles).  We didn't even bother to put up stockings or lights on the outside of the house.  I feel bad that we have so many Christmas items just sitting neglected in our garage, but we haven't had time to break them out.  Oh well, we know they'll still be there next year.  And it's nice to feel like we simplified part of our lives amid the crazy full-on sprint that leads up to Christmas.  We were better able to focus on the important parts of Christmas, like spending time with loved ones.

I'll be busy spending time with both sides of the family for the next two days, but I should have a new post ready for Wednesday.  From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Pillow Casing

Last week I spotted a pair of perfect purple pillows to help transition our living room from spring green and aqua to look cozier for fall and winter.

Purple and chevrons.  Love.

But since we wanted this seasonal switch-out to be as cheap as possible, we opted not to buy any other pillows.  Plus we already loved the shape and size of the four pillows we had in the living room.  They were just the wrong color.  So we got a little creative.

We took inspiration from here:

Knock-off Crate & Barrel Citrine drapes

And here:

From Ashli's blog, Maillardville Manor

And the seemingly ubiquitous JoAnn Fabric coupons that are always crowding our mailbox.  Mix with three hours with my mom in her sewing room (thanks, Mom!) and we ended up with envelope pillow covers for our four existing pillows.

Ta-da!

I am so excited that I found a way to use pretty much every last inch of that Bella Porte Citrine fabric.  I continue to be completely smitten with it.  And Steve actually found the modern floral while we were "casing" (haha) JoAnn fabric.  Tell you what ladies, marry a man whose mother quilted when he was a boy.  Steve's grasp of color and texture are quite impressive.  The yellows are almost an identical match, the gray ties in our couch, and the white continues the pattern from the citrine and looks nice next to the TV stand.

We chose to sew our envelopes so that the seam ran vertically rather than horizontally, so it more closely resembles a pillow sham than an envelope.  It works perfectly.  Our blue pillows are inside them, nice and fluffy with the right proportions for our furniture.  When we're ready to switch colors back for spring, I'll just take the covers off and we'll be done.  My favorite kind of decorating:  THE EASY KIND.

Doing the splits.

Plus, my 95" drapes from Target came in!  Not sure why the picture shows them as having a rod pocket, because they have a very nice grommet top.  I chose these curtains (the "Grayson" if you're interested) because of one major factor: the price.  They were super-cheap for a set of two.  They're not high-quality, and they're not entirely light-blocking, nor are they lined, but they looked nice after a pass with an iron and  color is exactly what I was aiming for (and I didn't have to drive to Ikea to get them).

You can't really see the rich aubergine color in the picture (hello iphone and no photo editing), but it's awesome.  And plenty cozy.

And Star Trek on the TV.  Bonus points if you know which episode!

We are done with the seasonal switch-ups!  Well, until the day after Thanksgiving, and then Christmas will take over our house.  Can't wait!

Adventures in Cleaning Microfiber

Last winter, Steve and I purchased our big gray living room couch from Macy's on super-duper sale.  It was microfiber, which we loved- in addition to being deep and wide, the couch is velvety-soft.  But I wasn't totally sure how to clean it properly.  And as with any item that you love (and/or cost more than a couple of bucks), I want to keep it in as good condition as I can.

Even so, we do live real life around here.  We've got dogs that get up on that couch and as any dog owner can attest, dogs create schmutz (official definition here).  Also, sometimes Steve and I eat food while sitting on that couch watching movies.  And even though we're careful, sometimes we get a little schmutz on the couch too.

So I found this great tutorial on (where else?) Pinterest for cleaning microfiber.  I linked into Chris & Robin's Nest Blog and followed their instructions.  I experienced great results using their cleaning method without harming the microfiber.

One problem.  It took FOR-EV-ER to spot clean all of the schmutz.  And it made my arm tired.  I'm lazy, remember?

So this week, when it was time to clean the schmutz off the couch, I opted to be a risk taker.  I pulled the microfiber cover off one of the throw pillows and threw it in the wash.  I ran it on a delicate wash cycle with minimal detergent and a delicate dry cycle while biting my fingernails and hoping I wouldn't have to sacrifice a pillow because it shrunk or faded due to my recklessness.  Thankfully, it turned out great!  No color change at all, no shrinking, nothing.  And NO sign of the schmutz!  I did a happy dance and threw all of the pillow and cushion covers in the wash, and now we have a nice, clean, non-wrinkly, non-schmutzy microfiber couch again!

Success!

 Well, at least for a few minutes....

Indy the schmutz culprit.

Purple Haze

Our living room just got a little more cozy.  We are switching out our accent colors for fall and winter!  Turquoise and spring green are being traded for aubergine and warm yellow!  And we're doing it on the super-cheap.  Here's a sneak peek:  pillows with a great chevron pattern that we found for $14 each at Marshalls.

Pillow love.

Isn't she pretty?  Her twin sister ain't so bad, either.

I've got some sewing projects in the works and an order from Target on the way that will complete the seasonal transformation.  I should be ready to show off the finished product within a week!

Pumpkinized!

Like it's a real word.  The grocery store was indeed good to me and things look sooo much better.

Happy fall, ya'll!

Decorating for Fall

I know, I know.  Technically it's been fall for over a month.  Two things have prevented me from getting on the fall decor train, though.  I am a teacher, so obviously September and October are not months when I have a surplus of time to keep my house looking exactly the way I want.  And aside from our lightning fast exterior painting weekend in early July, us Western Washingtonians didn't get legit summer weather until August, and that summer weather kindly extended all the way into early October.  As much as I love fall colors and all things snuggly and cozy, I just could not bring myself to decorate for fall until the weather felt like fall (and because every teacher's favorite season is obviously summer).

My decorating has been pretty simple.  I was aiming for a fall feel without spending a lot of money or having things look too theme-y.  So essentially I've decorated the top of the piano and that's it.  But, oh what fun I had decorating the top of that piano!  The last we saw the living room, the piano looked like this:

Let there be light!

We had managed to hang the mirror and Frankensteined a lamp from Ikea (base) and Amazon (shade).  Now things look more like this:

Why yes, that *is* an antler.

Some of what is going on up there are items that are "shopped" from the rest of my house.  The pillar candle wraps I bought through Partylite four years ago and still love.  The stack of vintage hardcover books we inherited from our families or found at garage sales and thrift stores.

Bibliophiles live here (and use books to give height when decorating).

Some of the items were inexpensive finds that I intend to use or re-use across many seasons.  The wheat sheaf came from One Kings Lane.  I got it for about $10 after using my credit from my latest kitchen rug fail, and its twin is hanging out on my dining room table.  I bought the picture frame on sale from a local department store- I love the distressed green and it was $7, I couldn't say no.  And it went perfectly with the free printable I downloaded from the interwebs.

You had me at pumpkin spice.

The only item that really made a dent in our pocketbook was the antler.  It's resin, not real, and it's from Z Gallerie.  I felt like I could justify the purchase because it's manly and rustic (so of course Steve digs it), and it's an interesting focal piece with large scale that will be able to transition well through seasons and compliment a pretty wide range of decor (which made the $40 price tag less intimidating).  Also, I have been lusting after that antler since June, people.  It was time to pull the trigger.

Piano-tastic.

I usually straight up skip decorating for a particular holiday in fall, because I'm lazy.  And because I'd rather save my cash than buy holiday-specific decorations that take up space in my already cramped garage for 11.5 months out of the year.  But now that we've got a lot of the major time- and cash-draining projects in making this house live-able done, I'm happy to bring some fall goodness into our living room (and it'll be able to stay through Thanksgiving).

Although now that I'm looking at the pictures.... I think we have a serious defecit in the pumpkin department.  We'll see if the grocery store fairy has some sales for me tomorrow.

Coming Out of the Dark

Have a little vintage Gloria Estefan action.  You're welcome.

I've managed to kill two lighting-related birds with one Ikea stone. The corner by the TV has been chronically dark. It makes that end of the room seem smaller and makes reading sheet music pretty tricky. Also, I am soooo ready to start decorating the top of my gorgeous craigslist piano.

 A pretty lamp was in order, and Ikea filled that order like a dream. Although I considered getting a lamp with a green base, I decided that I'd rather go for something color-less, so that it'd be more likely to still "go" with whatever ends up on top of the piano across many seasons. Enter the Jonsbo Barby.

I like that it has a dimmer switch, which will come in handy if we want to watch TV but still want some light in that corner of the room. I also like that its shape contrasts with the mercury glass table lamps we have next to the couch. Best of all, the base was not only narrow enough to fit on top of the piano, but it's actually open at the bottom and felted, which means I can a) put decorative things *inside* the lamp if I'm feeling like an overachiever, and b) strategically set the lamp on top of the stopper knobs on top of the piano without damaging the finish.

Cameo!

 There was only one problem....

I didn't like the shade that Ikea sells to go with this lamp. I was really jonesing for a lamp with a drum shade. The less taper, the better. I had searched high and low to find a lamp I liked as well as Ikea's, but with a drum shade, and I came up empty. So I just bought the lamp shade-less and set off to find a shade that would work. What ended up working was Amazon. I purchased this drum shade, which was the cheapest one I could find ($24!) that would work with the existing harp, not be too wide (lampshades and walls were never meant to touch), and look pretty much cylindrical.

Hello, baaaaby.

And...  it's perfect!  I actually let out a little squeal after I attached the shade to the harp.  File that under "Things I Never Thought Would Make Me Squeal With Delight."  I couldn't tell what the trim was from the website- it's grosgrain ribbon, so it gives a little shine and a little contrasting texture.  Love it.  It's just classy enough without being fussy.  And it comes thisclose to touching the wall behind it but doesn't actually touch.

Ain't she pretty?

I think it gives the room a nice balance (especially when I picture the top of the piano decorated up like a mantel).  And it makes it so much easier to play piano after 7 pm because it's finally bright enough to easily read sheet music.

Work it.

Now I just have to wait for my October budget to kick in to start decorating!  Anyone have some good ideas for me?

Psst-  I've heard that several people have found it difficult to leave comments on my blog posts, and I love to hear from ya'll, so here's the quick and dirty how-to for commenting on blog posts.  Click the comments link at the bottom of the post.  Choose to comment as "name/url" from the drop down menu.  Enter your name, you can leave the url part blank.  Type in your comment, and then click "Publish."  Ta-da!  Go forth and comment, friends!

Let's Talk About Stools

By now you should know that you're never more than a few posts away from inappropriate bathroom humor with me.  Just to ease your mind, this has nothing to do with bathrooms.  It has to do with seating for piano-playing.

I am still in love with my antique upright grand piano from craigslist.  It's in amazing shape for being 99 years old.  But the previous owners didn't have a bench or a stool for it.  So I set off in search of a some piano seating.

There are a ton of antique piano stools on craigslist.  I love the ones with glass feet, like this:

It has talons.

I found two main problems with them, though.  They are expensive.  Like way more than I paid for the piano expensive.  Try at least $100 for one that's serviceable but in poor condition. and upwards of $200 for something nice.  Also, even if I did find a deal on a stool I liked, I would have no way to be sure that it'd match the piano short of hauling it home.  Do you think craigslist sellers offer a return policy for color-matching?  Um, no.

So I decided to just roll with it.  If it was going to be impossible to procure a "matching" stool for a price I was willing to pay, then I'd just look for something that purposely didn't match.  I still wanted a stool rather than a bench though.  It's not difficult to find height-adjustable stools, and a stool would be a lot easier to tuck deep under the piano or completely remove from the room should we need space for a project or a social gathering.  A stool would also work for extra seating in a pinch.

Our living room is already kind of eclectic.  The couch, framed photos, and turquoise drapes are modern.  The club chairs, grandfather clock, and piano are traditional.  The side tables by the couch and the TV stand are shabby chic.  The end table between the club chairs is rustic.  The coffee table is industrial.  That left me a lot of style leeway for finding an adjustable stool that could hit 22" or so.

Mish-mash.

So I did what I always do- I scoured the interwebs, pinned what I liked, and looked for a pattern.

It was pretty obvious.  I loved vintage metal industrial-style stools.  Then it was just a process of elimination (and waiting for a new month's decorating budget to kick in).  The one with the wooden top was under $50, but had so-so reviews and I didn't really dig the light-colored wood for the seat.  The four-leg one at the top may not have been low enough for correct posture.  The pewter four-leg one was from Crate & Barrel, so naturally it was out of my price range.

I ended up going with the three-leg stool with the metal seat.  It got great reviews, was around $80, and would for sure work for the height I wanted.  I ordered it in the darker color, called burnt wax.

And here she is!

In all her three-legged glory.

The color actually compliments really well.  It looks quite dark from across the room, almost black.  But when you get closer, you can see these great imperfections to it, like it's an old drafting stool someone pulled out of a forgotten city loft.

Vintagey yum.

It's nice and compact, so it tucks under the register easily when I'm done playing (if I remember to tuck it) which means less chances of stubbed toes.  And I am happy to report that it is more than adequately functional!  No wobbles, no sharp edges, no bent seat.  In fact, I piano playing has increased 300% in this house now that I don't have to stoop in front of the keys to play.  Although now that I am playing more, the piano's need for a good tune up has become more evident.  With any luck, we'll be able to budget for a piano tech to come out next month and whip it into shape.

Little Fixes

This past week found us finally getting around to fixing a few niggling details in the living and dining rooms.

Piano before, with mirror leaned on top.  (Read more about how the piano came to live with us.)

Don't you dare mess up the finish on that piano, mirror!

Piano after, with mirror hung from the wall.

Yeah, the mirror's a smidge too close to the piano.  But it's a start.

Crystal display hutch before, being crowded by the *awesome!* new drapes.  (Read more about making the Crate & Barrel Bella Porte Citrine knock-off drapes.)

I wish you could tell how cloistered that hutch is.

Crystal display hutch after, having been shifted about three inches away from the corner.

Breathing room!

Another pic with terrible lighting, just for fun.

Drapes before, being a steely blue-gray.

Muted and not-quite-going.

Drapes after, having switched to a fun turquoise velour.  (They seem to have mysteriously disappeared from Ikea's website.)

Turquoise funs it up in here.

You may have also noticed that the area rug we had in that room is missing.  We still love the rug, but once we switched pianos, there were just too many large, dark, brown items in the room.  It's chillin' in our garage right now.  We're thinking since it's an indoor/outdoor rug, it'll be great if we build the covered outdoor living space we've been pondering for next year's project list.

So the next steps will be to patch, sand, and paint the holes from our dining room drapery rods before we raised them about a foot to maximize their impact and match the height of the rod in the living room.  And hem the curtains in the dining room.  If my contract is approved (cross your fingers!), then I will be back to working a contracted schedule on Thursday.  Think I can get that taken care of before then?