room crush: my parents' new office

The weekend before last The Fox and I visited my parents new home. It's a 1950's ranch/bungalow-style house that sits on a large corner lot with a traditional influence. It was previously owned by an elderly couple, so naturally the inside is dated. But with a little TLC, it's going to be a charming little home.

I inherited my love for homes, style and decorating from my mom. She's very talented and loves the unusual as much as I do. That's why I love visiting. Especially, when I can help her unpack and decorate! Which is what I was there to do!

The first few times I simply helped my parents unpack their many, many boxes. Some might say my mom's a hoarder, but collector is more preferred :). Nonetheless, we had to get all the great stuff she had packed, out and ready to find a home! This time we were working on the office.

We arrived Friday evening and immediately started working. Most of the boxes were unpacked, but we needed to sort. I give you, the before:

After working 'til about midnight, we retired to our rooms. This was mine and The Fox's (which is also adorable, even as a work in progress...)

With breakfast on the mind, we were up in the morning and ready for a day full of sorting, organizing and DECORATING!

By the end of the weekend we were exhausted, but the end result made it worth every second. Like I've said before, a decorator's home is never finished, but we have to start somewhere. I give you, the after:

Go ahead. Take a look back at the before. It's kinda unbelievable. And do you see all the cool stuff my mom has??? I'm jealous.

I guess you're wondering what the thing below is, right? Well, I'd seen this idea once before and my sister reminded me of it a few months ago when she saw it online, but it's a vintage bed spring. When my mom was moving, I told her she had to keep it. I knew we could do something fun with it. And we did. Feast your eyes on her new office "pegboard." 

Hung with little hooks and clamps, we decorated the spring with a mix of functional and decor items. Including baskets (which we hope to spray black) for small items, a place for stamps/notes, a wall pocket for scissors, a cluster of paint swatches for her other rooms, and clamped vintage images/valentines from my mom's childhood.

We used an old Scottie planter as her pen cup and a Ball jar for her rulers/paint brushes. The royal blue jar is a cold cream container that we used for rubber bands.

The pie rack (at least we think that's what this is) is where we hid all the office stuff like extra paper, envelopes, pens/pencils/markers, etc. In an office, everything (or at least most everything) should have a use. Like the basket on the right, which holds her extra note pads. 

I don't even have 1 turtle shell. Love these!

And then the bookshelves. This was a challenge for both of us, but finally it came together. My parents have a lot of books, so this shelf was the perfect place for them.

And that's it. There are still other rooms in the house we need to work on, but this was by far one of my favorites. I can't wait to go back and work on the formal living room. We have lots of ideas for that room...

Stay tuned! And happy decorating!

the fox moved on up...and so did our office

The Fox got a new job. A working from home job. And what do you need for a working from home job? A place to work!

Yep, project mode was officially on.

The room we chose for the home office was the catch-all room. It was where many of my decor items went to vacation. It's where I housed all my craft stuff. It was Mr. Poose's room...

The Fox accepted his new position around Christmas. So, after celebrating the holidays with family, we swiftly came back and began the transformation. First, a plan. I knew for sure it needed 4 distinct areas:

1. First and foremost it needed to be functional for The Fox. After all, we were doing all of this because of his job. 
2. It had to accommodate all of my craft junk goodness. I can't pitch it! How else would I create my Halloween costumes? That mask, collar and wings are all leaf/moss encrusted... What was I? Great question. I went with forest fairy...yeah, I know.
   
   
   
   
   
3. I needed a space for my computer. Otherwise, where would I blog and edit pictures??
4. And Poose had to stay. We didn't have any other room for him. 

After some serious planning (and rummaging through random pieces of wood that my parents gave us when they moved this summer), we were able to easily design a layout that would work great for all 3 of us! Hooray! 

The kicker was storage. The room doesn't have a closet. Which is good and bad. Good because otherwise it would eat into the square footage of an already tiny room (9 x 9.5). Bad because it left us with zero storage. My immediate thought was bookshelves. I had the industrial look in my head. Like this:

(Source: Here)

But after pricing out piping and opting out of large, anchoring holes in my plaster walls, we went for option B - tabletop, freestanding, copper shelves. Surprisingly, the copper was cheaper - weird. 

It took us a good week to measure, cut, glue and paint all the pieces and parts, but in the end it turned out pretty good. I give you the mostly final office/craft room/cat lair. Can you guess who sits where???

Disregard the left side...we're still in working mode there. We've got to figure out what works and what doesn't for The Fox. So, let's focus on my side :).

Mr. Poose isn't quite ready to showcase his side either, so stay tuned for his post. 

The wall color is Eagle Rock by Benjamin Moore, but I had it created at Sherwin Williams since they were having a sale. Everything is something we had in the house or had gotten when my parents moved. In fact, the only thing we purchased for this project was the copper piping. It was a little costly, but it didn't break the bank. 

The things left on the wish list for this room are:

• More lighting - the limited table space makes having lamps difficult. I'd like to do either pendant or wall hung lighting.
• Better chairs - the chairs are some we had, but I'd like to spend a little money on more comfortable ones. 
• More organization - My stuff is mostly organized, but it's not perfect. There is a hidden bookshelf behind the door, but I just need to get my ducks in a row before showing that one :). 
• Get The Fox's side in order. It's killing me!

But other than that, that's it! The new home office. I'd like to say it's 1/2 The Fox's side and 1/2 my side, but let's be honest...It's probably more 1/3rd his and 2/3rds mine :). 

Happy decorating (and working), all! xoxox

curtains or bust

As we close out 2014, I figured one last blog post was fitting. There's no significance, but it seems like a pretty good topic on which to end; a fresh look for a drab room. So here it is! Enjoy!

I don't normally buy expensive (or new) items for my house. Things in my home are usually from yard sales, thrift stores or the side of the road, but there are some things that you just need to splurge on. In fact, shopping the way I do allows me to spend a little extra money on other things. Like curtains.

If you've never heard anyone say, "curtains make a room," let me be the first. CURTAINS COMPLETELY MAKE A ROOM! It doesn't always make sense to have curtains, like in a bathroom for instance, but when a room is lacking that special something, curtains are usually an instant transformer.

It turns out that curtains are one of those things that you get what you pay for. If you're talented enough to sew your own, good for you. Do it. Otherwise you'll spend a FORTUNE on store bought ones. Not to mention you've got limited options when it comes to fabric, pattern and length. Enter Tuesday Morning.  Not only did they have cute patterns in a decent weight, they had 3 lengths to choose from - 84" (standard), 96" and 108". Score!! I'd been looking for curtains 96" or longer for months! You can find them at IKEA, but they are usually either super modern or very bland.

Ack!

Blah...

Now, most of the foursquare's rooms are 95% complete (I don't think they are ever 100%, especially when you're a decorator), but there was one room that was screaming "HELP!" The dining room...

Yuck, right?! It kinda resembles a padded cell, without the padding... Also, this was taken after a party, so please disregard my hodge podge of junk on the table..

Now, I wasn't necessarily looking for curtains at the time, but curtains are one of those things that when you find them at a good price, buy them! And thank goodness I did. When I finally put them up, it was instant style. I didn't event need to paint the room! It's crazy!!

So, you wanna see the after? Do ya? Do ya?? Ok, here you go!

Notice I took them straight to the ceiling. I wanted to elongate the room and allow the curtains to puddle the floor. I HATE when curtains are too short...

See how short curtains just cut a room! It's like wearing high waters! No, sir. 

I digress.

Hanging curtains added a whole new dimension to the room. And I didn't even have to paint! Crazy, right?!

The runner is from Carolina Pottery and the china is my grandmothers. The candlesticks and pitcher in the middle are from a family member on The Fox's side, and the other items are from yard sales. Like I said, I don't buy expensive often.

This is our flow over bar area. See our main one here (scroll to the bottom). The mirror is from Goodwill, cart from a flea market. Other items were picked up here and there...

I leave you with an artsy shot :). I got a new tripod for Christmas so I was testing it out! I hope you all had a great Christmas! I sure did. 

Stay tuned for upcoming projects....next is the office! Ekk!

Happy New Year!

an artist i am not...

I'm not an artist. I'm creative, for sure, but definitely not an artist. So, when I decided to free hand a design on a small table, I was a little skeptical of the end result.

This pitiful little table came from The Fox's house. I adored its lines, but it needed some love. After attempting to sell it at our yard sale AND craigslist, I caved and decided to bring its sexy back.

Before I got a hold of it (well, technically, after I sanded it and before I got spray happy...), the table was drab and boring. Again, the lines were good, but it was otherwise depressed.

I sanded down the top, wiped it down and started thinking of a design. My inspiration came from Target wrapping paper. I loved how eclectic the design is and it seemed simple enough for my first artistic attempt. To coats of gold spray paint later, I grabbed a brush, some leftover paint and went to free handing!

I probably should have tapped off straight lines, but I didn't think about that until I was 3 rows deep. Nonetheless, I finished in about 45 minutes and the final product didn't turn out too bad!

Again, straight lines were not to be had, but I'm chalking it up as a win in my book. It's not styled in the pictures because I haven't decided where to put it. I wanted to take it to work, but it's been in the back of my car for weeks now, sooooo.

Have you free painted something? Maybe a wall? Go for it! It's not so bad...if you can deal with it not being perfect. And it was fun, too! Maybe I'll attempt our powder room wall :).

Happy almost Thanksgiving, y'all!

yard of the month coming in 2015

At least that's what The Fox is telling me these days. We recently sodded our yard and we've been watering. And watering. And watering. I've never in my life had to water so much. And leaving me in charge of keeping plants alive? Not the best idea. But apparently, The Fox trusts me enough for when he has to go to football games... I digress.

The yard wasn't horrible when we bought the place in April, but it wasn't "Fox-approved." And part of his "I sold my house" celebration was taking the foursquare yard up a notch. And we have.

We started by tilling up the lawn on Sunday. By the following Sunday, we'd sodded, watered and planted some fall-hearty flowers; not the most pleasant of projects, but rewarding if nothing else. If ever you weren't sure you had back muscles, do some yard work, you'll find 'em...

Nonetheless, I'll give The Fox credit. It does look better.

When we bought the foursquare, the front yard looked like this.

Again, not terrible, but it was in need of a little love. So, that's what we did!

First step: till. Thankfully The Fox had a friend who let us borrow a tiller. Such a lifesaver! And thankfully x 2, we had good, soft soil, which made for much easier tilling. After the tilling and sifting to find clumps of old grass, it looked like this.

Second step: Lay down sod & plant flower... I didn't get a picture of us doing these tasks. And frankly it wasn't pretty. But this is the what it looked like after!

Pansies up the walkway.

Side yard.

We also fluffed up the front bed and added a corner one (but, shh, don't tell anyone - we ran out of sod and this was the natural solution. Thinking cap, on! :)).

And finally, our porch planters - still going strong from the Summer. The two with the geraniums will soon be switched out with some pencil holly and snapdragons for Winter, but I didn't have the heart to trash them just yet since they are still producing beautiful blooms. 

There you have it! Nice and purdied up before Winter. Stay tuned...maybe next Summer you'll see one of those fancy "Yard of the Month" signs in our yard! 

And in typical, Ebonn fashion, I forgot to take a picture of the entire yard. So, I've mashed one together for you :).

Happy Fall!!

it's fall, y'all

The weather has been a little cooler these days (although, in SC, you never know what you're gonna get). And cool weather always brings along changes in a decorator's home.

I'll keep this post short and sweet. Here are my fall additions to my favorite foursquare.

The front porch:

Those large pumpkins were cheap, cheap at the farmers market in NC. It was crazy!! Also, my mum hasn't completely bloomed yet...but you get the drift. I also tucked in some dried hydrangeas for texture. 

And here is my dining table. We will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. Ekk! Here's to hoping we have enough room!!

Those candlesticks were 5 bucks! At a yard sale. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I wait to find at sales. I couldn't believe it! They would easily cost $50+ in West Elm or the like. Solid brass and oh so cool! The rest of it was stuff I had, and thanks to Mother Nature for providing me with the leaves and chestnuts. 

That's it! I don't go overboard with decorations...I guess I'm just too lazy to change it all out :). 

Happy Fall, everyone! Won't be long before Christmas is here!