Monthly Archives: October 2011

Living Room: The Inspiration and Progress

last updated 10.23.2011
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Mood Board for the Livingroom

Since we moved into our new apartment we haven’t had a full weekend to dedicate to working on it.  We’ve been to 4 weddings, I signed up for an AutoCad class that met on Saturdays all day (the Saturday part was an accident), and had guests visiting for the off weekends.  With all of this craziness we haven’t managed to accomplish much.  The first few weeks I did some online shopping – resulting in back-ordered products and others that shipped from a third party only arrive with random issues.  I am beginning to think I’m over mail order. In fact I could write an entire post about the issues I’ve had with mail order within the past few months.  For example, it took two tries to receive the correct garbage cans and you would not believe how ecstatic we were when we unpacked them!  It’s amazing how something like a trash can bring such joy to peoples lives. It really is all about the little things. . . .  I’ve also spent a lot of time antiquing – coming home with the purchases of nesting tables, a danish modern chair, some bookends, a french chair for the entryway.

Categories:LIFESTYLE & INTERIORS
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A Little Love for Design*Sponge

last updated 10.19.2011
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Grace Bonney and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan discussing the book

A few weeks ago my friends and I went to the Apartment Therapy Meetup Design Evenings at ABC Carpet.  These events typically consist of an interview or discussion with a valued designer/individual within the industry.  This month they featured Design*Sponge and interviewed Grace Bonney, the founder of  the blog.

Grace spoke about her humble and not so happy beginnings in the music industry to her now, major role in the blogging community.  She’s real, she’s honest and she’s inspiring.  Recently Grace has been touring the country celebrating the release of the Design*Sponge at Home Book.  She said that she’ll have visited over 30 cities by the time this tour has completed!  I wasn’t planning to purchase the book at this event, but I was so excited for her and the book that I bought it, waited in line and had it signed.  There are a bunch of new interiors featured in the book, as well as a ton of DIY projects that are divided into levels of difficulty.  What really sold me was that there are DIY projects for upholstery which is the area that I need help in the most.

Categories:LIFE & RAMBLINGS
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Sometimes Things Just Don’t Work

last updated 10.10.2011
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Robert Abby Gourd Lamp

I usually only like to post my successes but, lets be real here.  Not every idea we have will work.  Which brings me to my latest design dilemma

For the past 8 months I have been dreaming about these two styles of lamps from Robert Abbey.  The first kind is a gourd style lamp, very similar to the Christopher Spitzmiller lamps that I drool over but CANNOT afford.

Robert Abbey Diamond Style Lamp

The second is a little more contemporary.  A faceted shape that reminds me a bit of diamonds.  I decided to purchase two pairs, the diamond like ones for my bedroom in the yellow color and the gourd style for my living room in black with brass bases.  Both styles come with lampshades and are very reasonably priced.

I waited for these for 3 weeks before I ended up calling the company, only to find out they had not shipped from the “third party”.  Then 5 days later they mysteriously arrived at my door.  I was super excited to tear open the giant boxes the moment I stepped in the door.

The Mountain of Boxes

Categories:LIFE & RAMBLINGS
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Thrifty Thrifty Success

last updated 10.01.2011
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Jack carrying home the days catch!

Our last trip to Brimfield was fruitful.  We made several wonderful purchases including a sweet French chair, some great costume jewelry pieces – lots of Trifari treasures, and a few items for work.  The one thing we were missing from our basket however, was some kind of storage for the bathroom.

We made a decision that we would need to find something small and cheap because: 1. The space is long and narrow with a pedestal sink that accounts for zero storage and very little room for building something.  In fact, the only space that a piece of furniture could fit is in between the sink and the bathtub, which is less than 13″ wide and under 26″ high.  2. We could install a vanity, which could solve all of our storage issues but the pedestal sink is nice and suits the rest of the room very well and our budget can not account for a new vanity right now.  Bummer, right?

Luckily, along came mom to save the day.  I have to prefix this with the fact that the woman loves to shop and loves a mission.  This is how it all went down.

I called her on I think a Friday or Saturday and explained to her the situation.  By Tuesday or Wednesday I got a phone call while I was at work,

Hi, LAW-Ren! (that’s how she says my name)

Hello mom (I’m whispering because my co-workers can hear everything)

Lawren, why are you whispering?! Oh wait, are you at work?!

Yes.

Oh okay, well real quick! I found a cabinet for $125, should I buy it?

Um, what does it look like?

It’s nice and small, dark wood, you could paint it. If you don’t like it I’ll keep it! – She would keep everything if she could.

Then Yes.  Get it!

And that was it, I bought a cabinet, sight unseen!

The Winner!

When she brought it down a week later, I was second guessing the purchase.  I never thought it would fit. Until, voila! A perfect fit!  It’s a little beat up, but still super cute and holds all of the necessities.  I knew this would be possible! Thanks mom for such a great find!

Categories:ANTIQUES & VINTAGE