I’ve had requests to share my favorite etsy shops and finds. Dare I say I spend more time browsing etsy than pinterest? It’s true. I’ve decided to try weekly etsy features and see how they go over. Let me know if you enjoy them!

This week on etsy I stumbled upon the most amazing collection of handmade chandeliers and sconces via Stimulight. The urchin-like starburst lighting has a midcentury vibe that reminds me of the Sputnik but is more affordable than the popular vintage pieces. Most of the fixtures are listed with a price tag of less than $400 while true Sputniks and even high end replicas can sell for upwards of $1,000.

The custom fixtures are made with the utmost attention to detail. The metal spines are crafted from high quality wire and can be adorned with hand painted wood beads for an explosive effect.

Along with chandeliers, the shop also offers handsome wall sconces and table lamps. I could see a pair of urchin sconces above a buffet in a dining room or flanking the bed in a master bedroom. A single sconce near a rocking chair or glider would be so adorable in a nursery.

After discovering this inspiring little shop, I was delighted to find out more about the maker and designer behind the pieces. The shop is the result of a creative collaboration between a visual display manager and an engineer. Zach Dutton, one half of the Stimulight duo, is a visual display designer for West Elm. Yes, THE West Elm. I’m a huge fan of West Elm so it’s really no surprise that I’m drawn to the experimental lighting gig spurred by one of their designers. I don’t think this newly introduced tangent shop will be sitting on the sidelines for long!

What do you think of these affordable spins on a vintage design? Are you a fan of West Elm too?

images: Stimulight

A few weeks ago I mentioned a last minute gallery wall above the fauxdenza that we threw together for the Tile Shop photo shoot. For being a totally spontaneous {i.e., unplanned and non-researched} project, it turned out pretty well and served the purpose of filling up the wall above the fauxdenza for a photo op. I guess it wasn’t totally unplanned. I had been imagining a gallery wall in the mudroom/dining room but hadn’t put any real thought into it. I was assuming it was something that would happen over time. But opportunity knocked and I answered.

We started out with a blank canvas. Well, pretend you don’t see those white pock-marks all over the wall. Those come later. I was a baaaaad blogger and didn’t take any pictures of the wall’s creation in real time. I had a good reason. I was in bed. Sleeping. Basically, I designed the wall quickly the night before the shoot then HH took over the reigns and actually installed the gallery wall. He practically forced me to go to bed. It was midnight and I was already crazy sleep deprived and needed some rest before the big day. At least, that’s what HH told me. I obeyed and went to bed. Yeah, HH is awesome. He knows me better than I know myself.

My “in-progress” images are simulated.

Before I hit the hay, I mapped out a spot on the floor in front of the fauxdenza to mimic the wall area above the fauxdenza. It happened that three rows of floor tile were the same height as the wall area above the horizontal planks on the fauxdenza wall but, if that happy accident hadn’t occurred, I would have just used masking tape or painter’s tape to map out a fake “wall” on the floor. I gathered frames, art, photos and scrap fabric from our attic {oh, the attic. It could use some organizing. It will happen.} and a few new frames from Target that I had picked up earlier in the day while shopping for photo shoot accessories.

After configuring, stepping back, reconfiguring, editing, stepping back and then nearly falling over from sheer exhaustion, this is the arrangement I ended up with. I was going for an asymmetrical arrangement that looked good as-is but could be added to in the future. I didn’t fret over keeping the same distance in between all of the frames. I didn’t measure anything. The entire process was pretty loosey-goosey.

I mixed white frames, wood frames, metal frames, a fabric-covered frame and even an unframed canvas to keep things interesting.

I was under the gun to have the wall ready for the photo shoot the next morning so I used framed photos that you might recognize from my previous house. There was no time to get new photos developed. This is also why there are no photos of Mabrey included. I do have pictures of her developed but none made it into the gallery wall…yet.

While I was coming up with the layout, HH ran to Lowe’s to pick up a bunch of 3M Command picture hanging strips. It was nearly 10 o’clock at night on a Tuesday and Lowe’s was the only place open.

At midnight, HH took over the installation of the frames and art so I could catch some zzzzz’s. You should have seen his reaction when I told him not to worry about the frames being exactly level or perfectly spaced. He’s an engineer, people. When it comes to hanging stuff on a wall, the words “unexact” and “imperfect” aren’t in his vocabulary. I didn’t watch him hang everything but I’m pretty sure the finished wall is an exact replica of my haphazard floor arrangement.

Why the 3M strips? Two reasons: 1) The wall that the fauxdenza hangs on is a block wall. On the other side of the wall is the garage. Drilling into a concrete wall would have been time-consuming and labor intensive. 2) Drilling into a concrete wall at midnight would have awakened all the sleeping little people in our house. I don’t know about you but when our little people are asleep, we like to keep them that way as long as possible.

The picture hanging strips are basically velcro strips that adhere to the wall and frames. They are super strong and can handle up to 16 pounds of weight. You stick one side of the velcro onto the wall and the other onto the frame so they will line up with each other. Then hold the frame up to the wall and press. You will hear a loud “click” when the strips line up properly and secure themselves to one another. Pretty sweet stuff right there.

FYI – Be sure to adhere the velcro directly to the frame – not the cardboard backing that holds the frame’s contents in. We had one casualty due to overlooking this important detail. When I woke up early the next morning, one frame had fallen and busted on the tile floor. Oops.

It helps to start with the lower frames and work your way up the wall.

There she blows.

Up close, from left to right…

It’s difficult to take non-glaring pics of the gallery wall because it’s directly across from a set of french doors. If it wasn’t BELOW FREEZING here I would have opened the doors and got a wider angled shot. I tried my best.

I absolutely love how the open ironwork of the pendant light lets you peek beyond to the gallery wall.

And because I know I would want the specifics if I were reading about a gallery wall on someone else’s blog…

A – IKEA frame, family vacation photo

B – IKEA frame, wedding photo

C – estate sale, abstract painting on canvas

Fun fact #1: The previous owner of our house painted the abstract art. I bought it at the Underdog’s estate sale before the house was officially ours. I’m so glad we finally found a place to hang it.

D – Ikea frame, Allposters.com print

E – Target frame, fabric scrap

F – IKEA frame, candid photo of Everett at 7 months old

G – Target frame, fabric scrap

H – West Elm frame, photos of Spain from HH’s high school trip abroad

I – IKEA frame, photo of Layne’s shadow kissing my shadow’s belly when I was nine months pregnant with Everett

J – IKEA frame, photo of HH and Layne as a newborn

K – Target frame, photo of me pregnant with Layne

Fun fact #2: HH gifted me a professional maternity shoot when I was pregnant with my firstborn, Layne. It was so much fun!

L – Target frame, fabric scrap

Fun fact #3: After failing to get this little round tabletop frame to stick to the wall, we decided it looked better just resting on the chair rail.

My favorite frames are the new distressed wood ones from Target. I’m pretty sure I need to run back and grab at least a half-dozen more. Megan, from The Tile Shop, said the frames tie into the reclaimed wood shelves in our kitchen. That must be why I like them!

The wall isn’t done but it’s done for now. I’d like to switch out some of the contents of the frames and, over time, I want to add to the gallery wall. {Don’t worry. I’ll share any changes I make.} As-is, it’s feeling a little too feminine and white-on-white for my taste. But it sure does make our house feel more personal and homey. Gotta love any project that does that.

I want to share a few tips for creating a unique gallery wall but think this post is already too lengthy to include here. So, look for my gallery wall tips in a future post. Coming soon!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was also my birthday. It was also the day HH hung a bunch of stuff in our house. He knows me all too well. I’ll take home decor projects over traditional birthday gifts anytime.

We finally added curtains to the picture window in the family room. It’s an improvement. What hasn’t improved is my ability to shoot directly into a window.

The curtain panels are from West Elm and you can find them here. I bought them over a year ago when they were on sale with free shipping and I had a stash of gift cards. The rod that West Elm suggests using with the panels doesn’t come long enough to work with our large window. Ideally, I was wanting a plain matte black curtain rod with enough thickness to it to hold its own above the big window. I finally found this less expensive simple rod that fits our window but the diameter doesn’t allow for the curtain rings to slide over.

I resorted to buying two $7 packs of metal shower curtains rings from Meijer to hang the curtains. I actually don’t mind the ring on ring action. It feels casual and undone. If I ever tire of the look, there’s enough length to the panels for me to remove the tabs & rings and sew a rod pocket into the top. By then, maybe our kid/guest bathroom will be complete and I can use the shower curtain rings in there??

One day we’ll add some textured woven blinds to fill the gap between the top of the window and the curtain rod. I’m thinking I’ll probably have to buy two or three narrower blinds to extend the full width of the window as a single blind that size would be crazy expensive and might sag. I’m also going to woo HH into building a window seat bench with open cubbies in it for toy and book storage. Or I might go all Ana White and bust it out myself. I keep asking HH to show me where all his tools are and how to use them but he keeps doing everything for me. I think he’s afraid I’ll mess it up. Which is highly possible. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world, would it? I should totally start wielding some power tools.

The curtain panel on the right is doing one of my favorite curtain tricks: hiding the big a$$ subwoofer on the floor. My feelings towards this piece of home entertainment equipment are similar to my feelings towards the surround sound speakers in/on the wall. As long as HH keeps hanging stuff for me, I’ll keep covering up his ugly speakers. Hehe.

Love the narrow ivory frame around the panels. You could DIY something like this with inexpensive gray curtains from IKEA by hot gluing narrow ribbon along the edges or even painting the narrow frame around the panels. In fact, you should do this. Don’t be lazy like me.

HH assembled and installed this shoe cabinet next to the front door months ago. I don’t speak of it because we don’t use it yet. Our original front door is, well, original and still out of order. Once we start accessing the house through the front door, this slim cabinet is going to be all the rage. Last week, I was feeling brave and ventured up into the attic to rescue the capiz mirror. It’s from a Ballard Designs outlet near Cincy and it used to live in the master bedroom of our previous house. It’s found a new home in our new old home. I love seeing the reflection of the kitchen in it.

Eventually, we’ll hang something on the other side of the window to balance out the mirror on the left. Not necessarily a round mirror though. That would be too matchy.

HH also hung a light over the dining table. Surprise! It’s the Hoyne pendant and it’s pretty much the most amazing light ever. We had purchased a really inexpensive FOTO pendant from IKEA and spray painted it matte black. HH had been trying to install it for months with no success due to a missing bracket part that IKEA was refusing to send us and HH was fuming over the idea of having to go buy one. After the snafu, I realized the solid pendant probably wasn’t a great choice for the room. The dining table needs direct light and the FOTO would have provided that but the rest of the room also needs lit. The ceiling light is the main artificial light source in the mudroom. There is a small can light in the laundry nook but it doesn’t provide enough lighting for the rest of the room.

This pricier pendant is the result of a new collaboration in the works {I can’t divulge all the details yet!} and it was my inspiration light. It’s the light I was dreaming would live in our dining room/mudroom and if I’d have had $350 burning a hole in my pocket I would have snatched it up before now. With the open weave of the Hoyne, the rest of the room recevies light – not just the dining table. The shadows that the light casts onto the ceiling at night are beautiful! And I like how the pendant lets natural light from the window and the french doors pass through.

Did you notice a change in the location of the dining table? When we moved, we thought we’d like to have the table over by the sofa for a casual place to eat. But after living with our mudroom/dining room for a while now, we’ve found that placing the table in the center of the room works better. We toss mail on it when we come in. I fold laundry on it sometimes. It’s multipurpose. Of course, we still need chairs around the table but having the table in the middle of the room makes the room flow so much better and keeps all the big furniture from tilting the visual weight of the room to one side. It reminds me of those fancy entries you see in magazines where there’s a big pedestal table gracing the middle of the foyer.

The sofa is staying put but I’m going to make a slipcover for it. And add pillows. Ahhhhh. Pillows.

So stuff is happening here. Slowly but surely. It’s starting to look and feel more like home with each tweak.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

It was this time last year that we learned we were unexpectedly expecting. Wouldn’t you say it’s about time Mabrey had a proper nursery?

Mabrey’s room is teeny – not even 10′x10′. Normally, I wouldn’t think of painting a small room a dark color but it felt right and the room faces south so it gets a fair amount of natural light. I absolutely love the dark walls. It feels like a cozy cocoon in there. The enveloping mood is fitting. I like the idea of this being her little cocoon. A place for her to rest, prepare and grow her wings before she turns into a busy butterfly.

There’s something not quite right about sharing a nursery minus the baby, so I made sure to include Mabrey. Don’t worry. The pillow comes out of the crib when Mabrey is sleeping.

The paint color is a chameleon. It changes throughout the day and even from wall to wall depending on where you look. Sometimes it’s charcoal, sometimes navy, sometimes black, sometimes a tint of green. I adore colors with this trait. There’s less risk of me becoming bored with the wall color if it’s always changing. It’s a great defense mechanism for paint in our house!

To brighten the room and add contrast, I kept most of the furnishings white.

Floor space is limited so I enlisted the help of popular wall shelves for open storage and display.

Opposite the crib is the changing table and closet. The placement of the changing table near the closet is convenient.

Now that you’ve had a brief tour around the room, let me divulge more details.

The crib is new. Our old crib – one of the only baby things we didn’t get rid of in the midst of downsizing – had a totally different aesthetic. It was curvy and large and screamed country. It was obvious it would hog a lot of room in the nursery, so I bit the bullet and bought a white replacement with cleaner lines and a slimmer profile. It converts into a toddler bed {the old crib didn’t} so we’ll use it longer, too.

I DIY’d the art above the crib. It’s actually an old frame that I had in the guest/playroom of our previous home. {I bought it as a mirror but when it arrived, the mirror was shattered. The company sent me a replacement right away and told me to keep the mirror-less frame because return shipping would have cost them more than what they would get out of the repaired mirror. Seven years of bad luck? Myth debunked.}

I had HH put together six small scraps of tongue and groove leftover from our mudroom and screw them to the back of the frame. Then I painted them ombre ranging from white to light pink to coral to raspberry. I used two bottles of craft paint {a coral and a berry} and simply mixed them with the white trim paint leftover from painting our baseboards to get the various shades. I brushed the paint on with small foam brushes and left the tongue and groove seams exposed – partly for an imperfect look but mostly because I was in a rush. I love the raw pine seams. They make the art look rustic and handmade.

Before I brainstormed the ombre idea, I tried painting ‘I hope you dance’ on the pine boards but it didn’t turn out so well. I painted over it. You can see the faint cursive writing in the pink and coral boards. Thank goodness for Plan B’s. The ombre turned out way better than I had envisioned. I think it looks like an abstract sunset.

The cradle rocking chair is new. It arrived missing the assembly instructions but after contacting the seller I had directions emailed to me within minutes. Assembly was quick and easy. No tools {other than the included wrenches} required and I had it together in 10 minutes.

Until recently, I used a thrift wing chair for night feedings and while it was super comfy it took up too much space. The cradle rocker is perfect for the small room and surprisingly cozy with a pillow for back support. It probably wouldn’t be a good choice for long newborn feeding sessions – say, longer than 25-30 minutes – but it’s great for quick feedings and bedtime stories with older babies and kids.

Even after the baby phase, I see this chair growing with our family. It could easily become Mabrey’s go-to chair when she’s a toddler climbing up and rocking herself. Maybe it will follow her to college since it’s so light. Maybe it will make its way to the family room. The possibilities are endless.

The open shelves hold baskets that store extra blankets and clothes that Mabrey doesn’t fit into yet. They’re a little sparse but I’m sure I’ll fill them up with more pictures and plants as time goes on.

And baby makes 5. The little basket behind the frame is original to the house. I bought it at the estate sale. I put Mabrey’s hair clips and bows in it.

The wire baskets hold board books and burp cloths within arm’s reach from the rocking chair.

I know owls in nurseries are totally cliché but I couldn’t resist this guy. I put a mini pot of aloe in him. His spiky succulent hair reminds me of Mabrey’s crazy ‘do.

For a feminine touch, I added a pair of gold vintage-looking flower hooks. The lightweight blankets are perfect for warmer weather.

The changing table used to live in our previous home’s playroom {as toy storage} and in our previous apartment’s family room {as a media console}. It gets around. I’m working on a handmade mobile to hang above the changing table. Hopefully, it will add some much needed color to this side of the room. As soon as it’s done, I’ll share it.

Baskets and bins corral baby clothes that currently fit, diapers {cloth and disposable} and swaddling blankets. Three of the bottom baskets are empty. Plenty of room to grow!

The basket on top of the changer holds wipes, lotion, cornstarch powder and diaper rash ointment. I’m not much of a scrapper {and by scrapper, I mean scrapbooker} so pinning Mabrey’s hospital bassinet tag to the basket is a fun way to show it off.

I hung a large mirror above the changing pad to bounce light around the room. Mabrey loves smiling at and talking to her reflection after a diaper change. {Not to worry. Big brother Everett was spotting Mabrey.} This is another piece – like the cradle rocker – that I can see following Mabrey around into her teen years and beyond. At some point, we’ll probably rehang it vertically so she can primp.

I love looking back into the room. The mirror gives the nursery another dimension and makes it feel bigger than it really is.

In the bottom corner of the mirror I used stickers to spell out ‘I hope you dance.’ Like I said, I had originally tried painting this phrase on the frame above the crib but it looked awful. Still wanting to incorporate it into the room somehow, I thought adding it to the mirror would be a subtle personal touch. The phrase holds a lot of meaning for me:

*It was the song I danced to with my dad at mine and HH’s wedding reception. I love my dad. We’re really close.

*Literally, I hope Mabrey dances and appreciates her body.

*I studied ballet for 10 years and was really good. Then one year, under peer pressure, I suddenly quit to take on cheerleading. My parents could only afford one activity so I had to choose. I wish I would have stuck with ballet. Cheerleading wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I hope Mabrey doesn’t crumble under peer pressure and sticks to what she wants and enjoys – whether it’s dancing or conducting science experiments.

*In a broader sense, I hope Mabrey is active in living her life. I hope she tries new things, scary things. I hope she takes chances and risks failing in order to find her passion. I hope she chooses to dance through life instead of sitting it out.

I’m not sure how well the stickers will hold up to regular cleanings but I think the meanings behind them are worth giving it a go.

On the floor next to the changing table is a dirty clothes basket. I hang the wet bag for dirty cloth diapers in it too.

I was going to write ‘wash me’ in chalk but I couldn’t find any in the house. {I know it’s here somewhere.} Instead, I used more stickers to spell it out.

The door to Mabrey’s room opens up right onto the closet. We removed the closet door and I hung a curtain to make things less cumbersome. I still need to hem it. The only things in the closet right now are a box of disposable diapers, a babywearing wrap and sleep sacks for winter. Again, room to grow!

The trunk under the window was a wedding gift from my parents. It’s empty but I think it will make a nice toy chest in the future.

For the life of me, I can’t take good pictures of windows so forgive me for reusing the first photo to talk about the window treatments.

One of the first things we did when we moved in was add room darkening roll-up shades to all the bedroom windows. This was purely for function. In Mabrey’s room, I added long white curtain panels with a subtle chain pattern and textured wood blinds. The roll-up shade is still there, mounted within the window frame, for function but you can’t see it unless it’s down. By contrast, the bamboo shade and curtains are purely for aesthetic – although you could close the curtains or lower the shade if you wanted. Hung high and wide, they make the window appear much larger and the ceiling appear much higher.

To soften the wood floor, I bought a jute chenille rug in a chevron pattern. It has color variations throughout – from ivory to beige to tan to brown – and it makes a world of difference against the dark floors and walls. It’s soft, too. I layered a small sheepskin right in front of the crib for added texture. It’s also a good landmark in the dark when I go in to get Mabrey for her night feeding {or feedings, depending on the night}. I don’t have to turn on the light.

I think that just about covers everything. Many items we already had on hand but here’s a source list if you’re interested:

paint – Benjamin Moore dark pewter

ceiling light – IKEA {discontinued}

floor lamp – gift

curtain rod – Target

curtains – West Elm {discontinued}

bamboo shade – Overstock

trunk – gift

jute rug – West Elm

sheepskin rug – IKEA

crib – IKEA

ombre art – DIY’d from a broken mirror

cradle rocking chair – Amazon

wall shelves – IKEA

ceramic owl, wall hooks – Kirkland’s

hanging blankets – gift, Amazon

changing table – IKEA

mirror – IKEA

changing table bins & baskets – IKEA

laundry basket – gift, Target

red stripe pillow – West Elm {discontinued}

other pillows – etsy {discontinued from here, here and here}

stickers – JoAnn Fabric

all other accessories – from our attic!

What do you think? I have to admit…HH isn’t a fan of the wall color. He keeps asking me when I’m going to repaint. He can have his surround sound; I’ll keep the dark nursery thankyouverymuch. ;)

Lauren Liess wrote something that spoke to me when I was decorating Mabrey’s room. I don’t recall her exact words but it was something to the effect of a nursery really being a room for the parents, especially mom, since babies spend most of their time in there sleeping and eating – not paying much attention to the decor. When I’m in Mabrey’s room, it feels right to me. Like a room I would have if I had a house all to myself. I don’t know if Mabrey likes it as much as I do.

But she sure seems happy. Love you babygirl.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Our EIL {electrician-in-law} completed his work on updating all the original ’50′s wiring this past weekend. It looks great! We can’t believe what a difference the lighting makes and many of the fixtures aren’t even in place yet. Plus, artificial lighting in every room allows Handy Hubby to work well past dusk if he feels like it {i.e. when putting together base kitchen cabinets :)}. Before, we were working off of a few shop lights after daylight hours and having to move them from room to room.

The first image above is looking into the kitchen from the family/living room. Those base cabinets are the kitchen island. More on the island a little further down. Let’s talk lights for now.

The trio of lights above the island are actually these globe pendants {on sale!} from West Elm. The glass globes are intentionally MIA. We don’t want them to get shattered while renovating is still underway. We’ll probably end up switching the bulbs out after renovation is complete. The standard ones we have in there now are a little too blinding for everyday living but great for DIYing at night! We’re leaning towards an Edison-style bulb.

I’m loving the galvanized light over the future sink area. It projects out far enough from the wall to light the sink and countertop but doesn’t steal the show from the trio of pendants over the island. Our EIL said it’s not going anywhere. He’s very impressed with the quality.

That’s the view you get when you’re standing on the kitchen side of the island looking back towards the family room. Without skylights and pendants on the family room side of the great room, it’s noticeably darker. I plan on adding a floor lamp and table lamp to brighten things up over there. I’ve been dying to incorporate a tripod floor lamp into our home’s design and I think the family room just might be the place to do it.

Along the ridge beam, we chose to have track lighting installed to wash the vaulted ceiling with light and provide indirect ambiance over the great room. We bought the track lighting from Menards. They don’t have it listed online or I’d link to it. The brand is Quantum and the price was extremely reasonable.

Looking into the mudroom/dining room there’s a recessed light and what will be a dining pendant {haven’t quite figured that one out yet} where you see a naked bulb.

I knew I wanted a light in the laundry nook {it used to be a closet!} and recessed seemed to be the way to go. Again, we have plans to add overhead storage and a means of disguise to hide the washer/dryer. I see this nook being multipurpose – laundry room and bar area. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Back to the other side of the great room…

Could it be that this lit hallway is my favorite lighting element in the house? Yes. Yes, it could. And it is. I think it’s because it started out so dark and dingy. Design and DIY people say it all the time, “Lighting is a key element.” Our lil’ hallway is living proof of that – minus the hanging thermostat, dusty floors and messy closet.

When we first started planning the lighting scheme for the entire house, I’ll be honest, I didn’t really care about this hallway. I was thinking maybe hang a ceiling light and call it a day. After all, it was just a pass-through from the bedrooms to the great room and vice versa. But our EIL was very adamant about installing recessed lighting in the hall in a way that would wash the walls just in the right places. So we told him to go for it because we trusted him.

And I’m so glad we did! He obviously knew what he was talking about. The lighting is staggered so that each can washes a portion of wall. I can just see the walls lined with family photos and artwork! This hall is definitely going to become more than a pass-through.

Just off the main hall is this smaller hall to the kid/guest bathroom. It originally had no lighting but now it does.

The bathroom is lit up too although there’s nothing to see here except for a broken toilet and paint sample.

If you wanted to run the exhaust fan you could. It’s fully functioning! HH and I cannot – AND I MEAN CANNOT – wait to start tiling the bathrooms. They are going to be such unbelievable ‘afters!!!’ I hardly even remember the ’50′s pink tile and mold in the walls.

The nursery light is from IKEA. I’d tell you its name but I don’t remember and it’s not listed online because it’s being discontinued. I bought the very last one at our local IKEA a few weeks ago. It was less than $20. I was at IKEA to pick up the floating vanity and bathroom sink and hadn’t planned on buying any lighting but when I saw this ceiling light and its price tag, I knew it’d be perfect for the nursery.

The boys’ bedroom has a place-holding lightbulb for now. I want an industrial ceiling fixture for them. Something that’s appropriate now {at ages 6 and 3} and ten years down the road. Like the nursery, I’m steering clear of any themes in here. I want the boys’ room to flow with the rest of the house but have a youthful, playful and laid back feel to it. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but this room is going to have to function as a bedroom and playroom.

Another great idea that our EIL had was to light the closets in the two larger bedrooms. {The nursery closet is teeny-tiny and receives enough light from the ceiling light to go commando.}

So in the boys’ bedroom he wired a light inside the closet just above the frame. It comes on with the flip of a switch.

It should come in handy for getting dressed on dark school mornings…and keeping the Boogie Man away.

Another lone lightbulb in the master bedroom waiting to be replaced with something better. Since the light in our bedroom will be over the bed, I’m thinking a chandelier or hanging lantern could work well. I think I’ve talked HH out of a ceiling fan. I have my ways. ;)

We have the same closet light as the boys.

Eventually I see us needing to install a floor-to-ceiling closet organization system and when we do, this light will be well outta the way.

The wall sconce in the petite master {now there’s an oxymoron for ya} bathroom is perfect. It’s simple, industrial and slightly rustic. We love it so much that we’ll be installing another one in the kid/guest bath too. Below the sconce will be a mirror {hint: I already bought one and can’t wait to share it!} and floating vanity.

A recessed light over the tub/shower area should keep our small master bath feeling bright.

And, finally, a view back down my new favorite hallway. Ahhhhh. Sorry for the crooked shot. I was probably waddling.

Oh, and what’s that at the end of the hallway?

The beginning stages of a kitchen cabinet installation. If you’ll take a step back with me for a moment…we discovered that installing base cabinets onto a floating floor {like our engineered hardwood} could pose problems down the road. SO…in order to complete the flooring install, HH is installing the base cabinets in the kitchen then laying the flooring up to them. And that’s why you saw our kitchen island way up at the beginning of this post.

When we planned the kitchen layout eons ago, we knew we wanted a big island for food preparation and casual dining. It required knocking down a wall to get it, but it’s something we don’t regret one bit. In fact, I think we would have regretted not knocking down that wall. The 9′ long island {yes, I said 9′…that’s more than twice as long as the island we had in our previous 2,700 sq ft home!} is totally worth it. What can we say? We like open living spaces and a kitchen that allows us to see everything going on around us while we cook.

Not to mention all the added storage we’ll gain from those island cabinets. For fun, HH assembled the drawers of one cabinet…he just couldn’t wait. {Note: while the cabinet frames are white, all the lower cabinets including the island will be black. The sides of the cabinets and island will be covered with black panels so that everything on the exterior is black. For more specifics on our kitchen design, click here.}

Like everything else in the Underdog, the cabinets are dirty. HH has been working non-stop assembling and installing the base cabinets all last weekend and during the week as time has allowed. He says it’s gone smoothly. I think the hardest part has been just searching through all the IKEA boxes for which cabinet/part he needs next.

Update: HH finished installing all base cabinet frames tonight! That means the rest of the flooring can go in…after I work all weekend and HH gets back from two weeks of business travel. Ugh. But I’ll be sure to get some new pics up of the kitchen layout for you in the meantime.

That should bring you up to speed on the Underdog. Many, many thanks to our EIL, Jared. He sacrificed family time and free weekends to help us out. And he made our future home safe and bright! Still, Everett refuses to stop wearing safety glasses and a head light.

Things are moving along and we’re loving this phase of the renovation…installing the finishes we’ve been carefully selecting over the last several months. I’ve secretly been shopping around and making a few decor purchases too that I’m itching to share with you. It’s really starting to come together although there will still be LOTS to do after we move in. I think we’ll be tweaking this house into our home for years and years to come. And that’s a good thing.

FYI – Two of the light fixtures mentioned above are from one of my sponsors, Barn Light Electric. They also sent us two ceiling fans to be mounted in the great room and once those are installed, I’ll be writing up a review of their sponsored products which will include detailed images. So far, we are beyond pleased with them. All other lighting elements were purchased with our own money. Just being honest, folks!

Congrats to Suzanne T!! She is this week’s random giveaway winner!

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

First of all, WE HAVE INTERNET ACCESS!  Yay!  Okay, carry on…

This is the ‘in progress’ view of our kitchen from the living area of our future great room.  The oven and hood will be in the middle of the two windows.  {For more details on the kitchen layout, look here.}  If you look at the ceiling, you’ll notice three blue electrical boxes for light fixtures.  Specifically, they are the electrical boxes for our kitchen island pendants.  As you can see, there will be a trio of pendants centered above the kitchen island.  I thought about one big pendant over the island but since the island is going to be over 8′ long, I think 3 smaller pendants will balance the length of the island better.  I thought I’d share with you what pendant lights *I think* I’ve officially decided will go there.  Not just for your benefit but for mine too. Handy Hubby says I have to start making some design element decisions and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad overwhelmed.  So, I’m taking it one step at a time {while still trying to keep an overall aesthetic in mind} and starting with something relatively easy first.  The kitchen island pendants seemed like a good place to start.

I’ve been stalking this minimal, industrial-like West Elm globe pendant for months now.  {Maybe that’s why I’m somewhat fond of the globe lights in our apartment‘s kitchen.} I think a trio of them will work great above the island.  I want something see-through so that, when you’re in the living area of the great room looking into the kitchen, your eye travels past the pendants to the wall that will eventually house a streamlined hood.  A more solid pendant would stop your eye short at the island’s location and cut up the space taking away from that open, airy feel we love so much and are trying to achieve.  But the pendants still have enough presence to define the island.

Like I said, I’ve been eyeing these globe lights for months.  Mostly with the hope that they’ll go on sale and I can snag them up.  {Currently, you can get one of these lights for $99 and a trio for $269.}  But, alas, no price reduction has occurred and we’re getting down to the wire {bad pun} on picking ceiling fixtures for the Underdog.  At least, that’s what HH is telling me.  So, with thriftiness in mind, I bought $300 worth of West Elm gift cards from our local Kroger store while their quadruple fuel points special was running.  That means I got $1/gallon off my last fill-up at the gas pump! {For those of you who don’t shop/have Kroger stores, they offer point rewards for gift card purchases. The points can be used to deduct money from your fuel purchases at Kroger fuel centers or participating Shell stations.} I plan to use the gift cards to purchase the pendants.  Not exactly the clearance-priced globe lights I was hoping for but at least I got some savings elsewhere.  It all adds up.

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of minimal, non-view impending globe lights over the future kitchen island?  I think they’ll look like fabulous little fish bowls lit up in the evening hours.

images: 1) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking  2&3) West Elm

Erin contacted me wanting help with her newly refurbished vintage condo.  Although she liked the open floor plan, she was needing help separating the spaces into zones that still felt cohesive.  As far as function, the space needed to incorporate zones for dining, watching TV, reading, working and occasionally entertaining.  Erin professed to loving midcentury design, neutral big ticket items with pops of color elsewhere, and bold patterns…especially Moorish ones.  Other than her fiance’s TV, ceiling surround sound speakers, and subwoofer, Erin was open to replacing all other items. With great bones {neutral wall colors, hardwood floors, architectural columns, fireplace, massive mantel, built-ins}, all Erin’s space needed was a little tweaking.  I set to work creating mood boards for three separate areas in her long, narrow living space: dining area, media room and living room.

To keep things simple, I’ll share and discuss each zone separately in 3 different posts.  Yep, that’s one space, three posts!  Let’s start with the dining area.

BEFORE

As you can see, the dining area is just off the kitchen and adjacent to the media area.  The walls are already painted Benjamin Moore’s Quiet Moments, an airy blue-gray, and Erin wanted to keep the paint color as-is.  Here’s the mood board I came up with for her space…

It’s Feature Friday!  On Fridays, I’ll be featuring one room in my house in its current condition even if there are some things I’d like to change about it.  If I do happen to improve something later, I can always revisit it when the time comes.  Plus, I’d kinda feel dishonest if I only focused on “finished” rooms in my house.  And if what they (the professionals) say is true, a room is never really finished anyways…you’re always tweaking it.  Concentrating on just one room weekly should give me some time to tidy it up a bit, too.  At least, I can throw all the toys into another room!  So, without further ado, let’s tour my dining area.

Just off the family room and sunroom lies my open dining area.  When we were looking to buy a house over 2 years ago, Handy Hubby and I knew we didn’t want a formal dining room.  It would have been wasted space.  Our dinners (even with guests) are casual; we didn’t need 1 room designated just to fancy meals.  So, we hunted down houses with open floor plans and both agreed on our current home.  Here’s what our open dining space looks like…

The view from the sunroom…

The view from the kitchen…

To ground the floating dining area (and add texture), I laid down a seagrass rug that I stained with a pattern.  This rug is great for hiding crumbs and easy to vacuum.

For ambience and to further designate this space as a dining area, I got Handy Hubby to hang a West Elm capiz chandelier (that I stalked for months until it went on sale).

Handy Hubby even put it on a dimmer switch which lets us change the mood of our dining area on a whim.

The dining table is from JCPenney and has a self-enclosed leaf that can be pulled out to make a large square tabletop that seats 8.

It originally came with black X-backed chairs.  To avoid matchy-matchiness, I decided to switch them out for 2 different styles of white IKEA chairs.  The side chairs are plastic and make cleaning up after 2 kids a cinch.  I made the pillows out of $0.75 closeout cloth napkins from Target.

Just beyond the dining table is a console that we treat as a buffet of sorts.

The framed prints are photos that I took of my Grandma’s succulent plant in Florida.  I had them blown up then inserted them into IKEA frames.

The buffet tablescape gets changed up at least a half-dozen times a year.  The baskets below hold table linens.

A few “for fun” shots…

So, that’s where our family eats day in and day out – from grilled cheese lunches to birthday dinners.  And that lost shot was taken from my walk-in pantry which we’ll peek into next week.  It’s a room of function more than form…but a room nonetheless.  Happy dining!

I finally got around to reading the March 2010 issue of Real Simple this past week.  (My subscription was a Christmas gift from Handy Hubby’s folks…thank you!) 

Of particular interest to me was an article entitled “What’s Your Decorating Style?”  I’m all for not ‘labeling’ yourself as akin to one specific design style, yet I find myself a little overwhelmed by all the home decor options available nowadays.  It helps (me, at least) to have some sort of guideline when searching for a piece of furniture or home accessory.  I took Real Simple up on their little design soul-search and decided to share my results with you this week.  I’m hoping it will help me define a loose design style and also maybe assist you in pinning down your decor preferences.  Feel free to grab a pad of paper, a pen and your camera to follow along!  And your style might be waaay different than mine – that’s great!  Remember, that you’re just trying to find out what you like…there’s no right or wrong.

The first page is a collage of images on which you are to circle the ones you’re drawn to.  No thinking allowed.  It’s meant to help you visualize a general sense of your design taste.  (You can quiz yourself here with similar images.) 

Each item is labeled with either an A, B, C or D.  (I detest these quizzes because I already know that the letter I circle the most of is ‘the winner.’)  It’s difficult to tell from the photo, but I circled 6 images:  a mid-century modern chair (B), a potted orchid (A), a leather riding boot (C), a silver metal bracelet (B), a vase of pink roses (D) and a starburst clock (B).  The B’s have it with a little bit of everything else thrown in.  So, what do mostly B’s mean? 

You’re into color, contrast and clean lines.  You’ll probably like the style Modern Graphic.  Modern Graphic is a fresh, fun contemporary look that combines urban styling (imagine a downtown loft) with edgy, colorful elements and midcentury designs.  Simple furniture forms balance out bold accents and patterns.

Well, I can go with the clean lines, downtown loft and midcentury designs but I’m not really into bold accents or colorful designs.  While the jist of my style may be modern, I prefer more serene colors.  Good to know.  I’ll keep that in mind…

On to the actual Step One, where I’m asked to tour my home and make 2 blatantly honest lists:  “Love It” and “Wish I Could Replace It.”  Easy.  I could do that in my sleep.  I ran around my house snapping pics of my faves and my not-so-faves.  Take a look.

“LOVE IT”

(a chair I found on the side of the road and brought back to life with some wood stain and new upholstery)

(my DIY pedestal table…pedestal base and chairs from Craigslist, tabletop from Lowe’s)

(a Home Decorator’s Outlet find that I painted green inside)

(my West Elm dining chandelier that I splurged on when it went on sale last year)

(my IKEA craft/sewing desk)

(our tall 9-foot ceilings which lend an open feel)

(our functional IKEA console for storing toys in the family room)

(our rustic family room side table from Ballard Designs outlet for a steal!)

(our light and airy sunroom)

Now, for the “WISH I COULD REPLACE IT”

(our busy builder laminate countertops)

(this horribly ugly intersection of wood, vinyl and carpet floorings, UGH!)

(our orangey oak stair railing and carpeted steps)

(our electric stovetop…we’d prefer gas)

(the boys’ orangey oak bathroom vanity)

(our first-floor carpet…have I mentioned I don’t like our floors?!)

(our master bath light fixture)

(our master bath orangey oak vanity – have I mentioned I don’t like orange oak?!)

(our master bed frame…a little too delicate and feminine)

(our master bedroom dresser…it was left by the previous owners of our first home…we painted it white)

So, there are my Step One lists.  Don’t know about you, but that was pretty cathartic for me!  Wow, I really don’t like our floors, oak vanities or master bedroom furniture.  Oh, if only I had the time and money to change up those “Wish I Could Replace”-ems.  What about you?  What items in your home popped up on your list of favorites?  What would you change if money wasn’t an issue?  Sometimes knowing what you absolutely don’t like is just as helpful as those things you ogle over.  Stay tuned for Step Two where I’ll (you’ll) conquer the little things.

This is the boring white cabinet that I bought from homedecoratorsoutlet.com.

I added new knobs and painted the back of it for a fresh look with a hint of color.

Today, I finally got around to filling it up.  Take a look.

The only thing I specifically bought for dressing this cabinet is the picture frame hanging above it.  I found it waaaaay on sale at a West Elm store closing.  It was just what I was looking for!  I filled it with some photos taken from my handy hubby’s high school trip to Spain.  (The only thing he knows how to say in Spanish is, “Donde estan mis pantalones?”)  So even though the trip didn’t hone in on his foreign language skills, at least we’ve got some sweet pictures to show for it.

A tray houses two IKEA vases and a lone candleholder that I found at Goodwill.  The tray itself is from Goodwill also.  It was originally hunter green and donned a country motif of painted apples.  I gave it the ‘white treatment’.  (My 4-year-old wants to know why I paint everything white.)  I stole the lamp from our office desk.

I dressed the shelves with some of my favorite interior decorating books and magazines.  The two wooden boxes hail from IKEA and are empty at the moment.  (You’d be surprised by how many of my ‘storage’ containers are actually empty.  Room to grow!)  A few family photo albums, a mortar and pestle (a prize I won in pharmacy college), and a lovely porcelain box given to me by my grandma round out the third shelf.  My grandma really enjoys playing cards.  Some of my fondest memories are of her staying up late to teach me new card games.  So, of course, I keep decks of cards in there.  The two sculptural lanterns on the top shelf were a steal from Big Lots.  Again, I had all this stuff sitting around my house just waiting for a home.

Don’t you love the way the green acts as a subtle backdrop for all the goodies?  The bottom drawer holds some activity books, Playdoh and art paper for the kiddos. 

What’s that, you say?  The knobs are different?!  Well, as with any project of mine, this one wasn’t perfect.  When I replaced the knobs I made a mistake.  Oops!  I used screws instead of bolts to attach the knobs and ended up stripping the knobs’ threading.  My 1-year-old had a knob off in two days!  Not good.  So, off to Lowe’s for new knobs and I actually found some clear, glass ones that I liked better anyways.  Handy hubby attached ‘em this time…the right way.  And he secured the entire cabinet to the wall for the kids’ safety.  He’s pretty awesome.  Finally, one last shot of the glass-front cabinet in all its painted, knobbed and knick-knacked glory. 

Have you ever ‘shopped’ around your house for decor items?  It’s amazing what you might find because you’ve stowed it away and forgotten about it.  Plus, it’s FREE.