trying to come up with Halloween costumes

The agita of Halloween costumes has begun.

 Some people enjoy dreaming up creative costumes to put their kids in. I do not.

This year, Peter is going to be Darth Vader. I am strongly hinting to Greg that he should be Anakin or Obi-wan.  He wants to be Shun from Bakugan.  Who, you ask? Shun is a Japanese-anime-ish character who travels to the Doom Dimension to throw little toy balls on the ground, screaming "Bakugan Brawl!" Still not ringing a bell? Yeah, I'm having a hard time coming up with a costume for that too.

Princess wants to be Minnie Mouse, but the two costumes I have bought so far have not fit.  I have a TON of costumes out in the garage that DO fit her, but they are not Minnie Mouse.  We had such a time trying to get OUT of the second ill-fitting Minnie Mouse costume that she was crying, and when I finally got it off her, she said "I think I will just be myself for Halloween."  

What are you/your kids being for Halloween?

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I linked up my bedroom to the Roomspiration party at Just A Touch of Gray today. There are some great bedrooms there, check them out!

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shower curtain: the one that got away

I've been searching for a shower curtain for the downstairs bathroom. I don't think I've ever posted a picture of the bathroom on the blog, but it has this fairly ugly dark green tile on the floor, with a matching row of dark green tile running around the middle of the wall.

My landlords must love this green, its the same as the rug upstairs.

Decorating around the green has proved challenging.  No one seems to be using hunter green as a popular color these days.  Tobi Fairley has put out a lovely line of kelly green fabrics that might work, but I can neither afford her fabrics nor does she make a shower curtain with those fabrics to my knowledge, so we will just have to admire from afar.

I found the perfect curtain at Urban Outfitters:

Source: urbanoutfitters.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Lots of green that won't clash with the green tile, but also tons of happy yellows and blues and pinks.

Aaaaaand its out of stock, never to be ordered again, according to Urban Outfitters. Can't find it on ebay, or craigslist, or anywhere else, and waaaaah.

Today I went to the Urban Outfitters website, and saw the curtain, and saw that it was in stock, and excitedly emailed my sister that HEY THAT CURTAIN WE LOVE IS BACK IN STOCK and so I ordered two, one for her and one for me, and then I was looking at my order confirmation and it said Woodland Garden Curtain.  Not SHOWER curtain, just curtain.  And I went back and looked a wee bit more closely and oh crap, I ordered the wrong thing.  Hey sister! Remember how we were all excited about that shower curtain?  Get unexcited.

The search continues.

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Princess's room, mostly finished

Princess's room has been 98% done for a while.  There's a few more things I'd like to do in there, but for now, here's what it looks like:

As you can see, its not a very big room.  I think its about 9x11, and it doesn't have a closet.  Luckily Princess refuses to wear dresses, so all her clothes fit in a dresser.

The inspiration for this room came from the Pottery Barn Kids drapes that I picked up earlier this year.  This print came out when I was pregnant with Peter, but since we were having a boy, I had no need for it.  Even though Princess was sharing a room with the boys in our old apartment, I bought a pair of these curtains when I discovered that PB was discontinuing the print.  Then I had to scour ebay to find another pair when it turned out the new house had two windows in her room, not just one.  I wish that I had been able to find 96 inch curtains so that I could hang them above the window molding, but maybe one day I'll get around to adding more material to the bottom.

As you can see, the light in the pictures varies dramatically.  Its been a difficult room to shoot; I've been taking pictures of it for weeks, trying to get the far wall not to be dark and underexposed.  I've finally gotten a good shot of it.

The previous tenants had a little boy in this room, which is why those sports balls are on the door...they seem to be adhered with incredibly strong glue, as I have been unable to get them off without damaging the door underneath.

The one project remaining in here is something over the crib. I have thoughts of attempting to DIY a monogram, but have been in no particular hurry to get it done.

The source list for this room:
The crib: no-name, bought from a toddler and teen place after discovering Peter's drop-side crib was a death trap
Curtains: the Emmy pattern from Pottery Barn Kids, you can still find some on Ebay
Rocker: discontinued Lullaby rocker from PB Kids
Dresser: Malm six-drawer dresser, painted with an ombre treatment of Benjamin Moore's Autumn Red mixed with Decorator White
Mirror: Homegoods
Bookshelves: Ikea Bekvam spice rack
Rug: Overstock, you can find a similar one here

You can read more about the individual projects in this room:
Mood board, Dresser, shoe memento box and tissue poms, spice rack shelving, ribbon trimmed roller shades, matriyoshka dolls, stripe paintings, orange dresser, rug fail, curtains and paint

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I'm linking up to the Roomspiration party at ala mode.  Check it out, there have been some fabulous rooms in these parties so far!

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state of the union

Hi peeps.  I am missing blogging every day.  However, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.  A bit grumpy, if truth be told.  Class is interesting, but a lot of work, and my children are lovely, but a lot of work, and there is very little time left over for much else. I also have some Very Grumpy Feelings about Some Things That Are Going On but I haven't really decided what to do about Those Things (an entire Legion of Things--SO MANY THINGS), so I will not bore you with the details but anyways, now you know that I am Grumpy and Frustrated in addition to being Overwhelmed and feel free to leave some hypothetical vague advice in the comments.

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Princess got her first haircut yesterday.  The mullet is no more.

There's no boo-boo on her forehead, she just likes bandaids.  Grandma asked if she could take the bandaid off and Princess said "no, my forehead hurts too much."

She likes to sing London Bridge Is Falling Down, except she just sings "my faih wayyy-deee" over and over and over again.

Grandma told her the story of Jack and the Beanstalk (about 4000 times, she asks for it every night, and I hear her telling it to herself when she's playing.)  When Grandma got to the part where Jack hears the giant saying "fee fi fo fum," Princess said "Oh, you know that can't be good."

Princess is using the potty.  Generally she uses the potty twice a day--once in the afternoon, about ten minutes after I put her down for a nap, and once in the evening, about ten minutes after I put her down for bed.  She is quite clever--she has totally figured out that she can get at least 45 leisurely minutes out of bed by saying that she has to go to the bathroom.  I'm being played by a two year old.  She actually does go to the bathroom--she just takes her (very long) time about it.  Its really cutting into my doing stuff while children sleep time.

Peter is obsessed with Legos.  He will play with them for hours. He builds things for Princess--"here, look, I made you a spaceship!  You can use it to kill people! Shoot the guns!"  When my father was here last weekend he and Peter built a firetruck out of Legos.  Peter was in heaven.

The kids played basketball with Grandpa:

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new blankies

Its been getting cooler here, and soon it will be time to bring out the winter blankets.  My summer blanket is a pretty coral, but my winter blanket is a dark brown stripe that doesn't go at all with my pretty bedroom.  However, its a massive, enormous blanket, its thick and warm, and it covers all five people who end up in my bed every night.  I tried all last winter to find an alternative, but nothing fit the bill.

Instead of trying to find a new blanket that fits our extensive requirements (must not be a duvet, must be quilted, must be enormous, must be extremely warm yet not too heavy, must be a down alternative, and on, and on, and on...), I've decided to attempt the duvet one more time.  I hate duvets. Which is sad, because generally duvets are the most beautiful bedding. But I find that the blanket always slides around the inside and that drives me nuts. Regardless, I will give the duvet one more try.

I've made a few mock-ups of possiblities. I plan on buying two 16x16 chiang mai dragon pillows for the bed, regardless of what duvet I might pick.

I could go with a navy blue duvet, the coral Euro shams I already own, and the chiang mai pillows.  Drawback to the navy blue duvet--that attracts lint and crap like nobody's business.  Yes, I am the kind of person who will take a lint roller to her bed on a daily basis if needed, but that doesn't mean I want to.  Especially since I'm already lint rollering the boys' beds.

Or, I could do the navy blue duvet and greek key Euro shams.

Greek key duvet with coral shams? My fear with this one is that the brown blanket will show through the white duvet, which is very thin.

Blue ikat?  I love this pattern but it seems a bit too cobalt blue and not navy-ish.

Your thoughts?

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Roomspiration dining room party

Sorry I did not get this link up earlier, but I linked up to the Roomspiration Party at Involving Color.  There were some fantastic dining rooms over there, check them out!  I am hoping to get pictures of the Princess's room up for next week's nursery post as well.  (The boys' room is....not going up for a while.)

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china cabinet progress

I had high hopes of finishing this by today in order to link up to the Roomspiration party, but....no.  Maybe by the weekend.

Got any home improvement plans for the weekend?

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the worst dinner in the whole world revisited, the shoe

Since the weather is getting colder, yesterday I decided to make soup for the first time in a while.  We had taco soup, or, as you may remember it from earlier this year, The Worst Dinner In the Whole World.

Here is Greg, seven months later, eyeing the taco soup.

Two seconds later, Greg decides to avail himself of some crackers remaining in his lunchbox.

Peter and Princess liked it just fine.

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I am missing Peter while he is at school far more than I thought I would.

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My college degree was a B.S. in Environmental Planning.  Not because I was interested in Environmental Planning, but because it was the second semester of my junior year, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and that was the degree that got me out with the least amount of credits and the least amount of math.  The Environmental Planning department was a sub-department of the Landscape Architecture school, and thus one of the core courses I had to complete for graduation was a six credit studio course of Intro of Basic Landscape Architecture blah blah blah.

It was a very drawing-oriented course.  The first assignment was to draw a picture of your shoe. The other students, almost all of whom were Landscape Architecture students (who actually wanted to be Landscape Architecture students), brought in these amazing sketches of their shoes, with appropriate perspective, shading, etc.  It was essentially an art studio class.

I can't draw my way out of a paper bag. I would have had better luck if I had traced my shoe on the paper.

All the pictures were hung on the wall, and then the professor critiqued them.  When he got to my shoe, he paused, said "Okayyyyyyy.....are you an Environmental Planning student, by any chance?"  He very kindly gifted me with a C+ at the end of the semester.

Last night my first assignment was due for my design class.  I brought in my hand-drawn floor and elevation plan. I had some difficulty with the scale and the math (math = my nemesis).

It was like deja vu. I pulled out my simple drawings, and the girl next to me pulled out her architectural plans, complete with soffit lines and furniture.  The professor went around to each desk for a critique.  He got to my desk, paused, and said "Okayyyyy....."

At least he didn't ask me if I was an Environmental Planning major.

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picture ledge gallery inspiration

I am so enamored of the shelf-style gallery, with all the art or photos leaning against the wall and layered on top of each other.  Its also a concept that can be executed in so many different styles. My gallery has a more casual vibe, with frames in every color of the rainbow. You could use the same style of black frame for a more formal look, or thrifted funky frames for a vintage vibe, and so on.

This picture of India Hicks's dining room is what started my fascination.  I love how crammed full of history the shelves are, inviting you to come closer and explore each picture.  The frames seem to be mostly black, brown and gold, which fits into the more formal dining room.

Source: whereyouhangyourhat.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Just in case you haven't seen enough of India Hicks's dining room, here's another side view....I have not found any pictures depicting the entire room.  If you see any, let me know.

Source: rachelhazelton.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I like this room for its large, blown-up photos.  The larger scale looks simpler, and having less photos on the shelf lets you focus on each in turn.

Source: hollymathisinteriors.com via Lisa on Pinterest

The next two galleries are moody and monochromatic, with a modern look.

Source: marcusdesigninc.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: yournestdesign.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

There's also the casual, collected over time look.

Source: yournestdesign.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: birchandbird.com via Lisa on Pinterest

You can take this concept in so many different directions! Are you as enamored of this look as I am? (I'm guessing not, but I think its fabulous.) 

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dining room picture ledges revealed

If you've been reading for a while, you know that I've been in love with this picture of India Hicks's dining room forever.  We didn't have a place to put a wall of picture ledges in our last house, but here, there are two short walls on either side of the back window in the dining room.

I love the way this came out.  I bought a four large turquoise 17x14 frames from Ikea ($3.99 each) and three Ribba picture ledges ($14.99 each), but other than that, I didn't buy anything for this project.  All of the frames were previously owned, and we re-used the picture ledges that were previously used as book ledges in the kids' room of our old apartment.

 We put up five ledges on each side, 18 inches apart.  Because of the large space between each shelf, I tried to put one extra-large frame, at least 11x14, on each shelf, and fill in with more 8x10s and 5x7s.  I did not have any 17x14 pictures, however, and didn't want to spend a lot of money on expensive mats.  Instead, I put some of the kids' art in the bigger frames.  It adds some nice color and the kids love seeing their artwork displayed.

Princess loves to stand in front of the pictures and tell me who is in each picture, and she tells stories about each picture, which is the cutest thing ever.  Every few days I like to rotate some new pictures down to the bottom two shelves where she can see them.

This room is coming along nicely.  I have a few things that are still in need of paint--the china cabinet, a different chandelier, and the art for over the sideboard.  But its slowly coming together, and I love that this back wall is what I see when I sit on my sofa in the living room.

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Felt Flora art

I've been looking for art for a few spaces in my house.  I feel that I have enough photos and little tchotchkes.  While I don't have a specific thing in mind, I am looking for something that has depth, dimension and texture to it.  Something with a sculptural quality to it.  Not giant cement statues, but something woven, or wooden, or layered, and can be hung on the wall.  One possibility that fulfills these requirements is these fake Cameroon juju hats I've mentioned before.

Today I was reading Kim Myles's blog (of Design Star and Myles of Style fame), and she showcased these felt floral thingamabobs sold on etsy.  I think these are SO COOL.

I'm not positive, but I think the two above are actually two panels together, as they are sold per square foot.  

There's a large number of colors to choose from, and you can put more than one together for larger installments, like this enormous one:

Neat-o, right?

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weird-size art for the dining room

I'm searching for art to hang over my sideboard in the dining room.

 The sideboard sits under a window, and the space between would be suitable for a piece that is approximately 20x40. I'd like a single, large piece of art in that space, as I feel there are lots of small collections on the first floor (especially in the dining room, which I haven't posted about yet). Twenty by forty is not exactly a common size, and I'm reluctant to invest lots of money into weird-size art that may not have a place in our next house.

I came across this picture on 20x200, and it has totally captured my imagination. Sadly, it doesn't come in the right size, and even if it did, its way out of my price range.

Think I could DIY something like this? I have learned making that attractive art is way harder than you think it should be.

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first day of school, for me this time

I saw one of those inspirational sayings on Pinterest that the work you do when you are procrastinating is probably the work you should be doing for real.

I spend a fair amount of time reading design blogs, design books, and decorating my house.

Today was my first day of school at Parsons' interior design certificate course.

It was fun :-)

Forgive me if posting is a little light in the next few weeks while I get settled.

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I linked up my console post to Abode Love's link party.  There's some fun stuff over there, go check it out! I hope I can get some more posts of my dining room up in time for the next party.

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my styled bookshelves

I styled our bookshelves:

 

In our last two houses, we have not had a place to put our books out on bookshelves for easy perusing. Instead, we have had one large bookshelf with doors, where each shelf was crammed two or three books deep.  Right before we decided to move, I bought two white Billy bookshelves, put them facing each other in a bump-out in the living room, and put the books so we could easily see them.  It was lovely, but then we moved.  

In this house, I put two bookshelves in our living room.  We have more books than we have space for, so I added an additional bookshelf in the basement.  I displayed some of our larger tchotchkes on the shelves among the books.  It just looked cluttered.

I knew this, but I was reluctant to get rid of the books or the tchotchkes.  I really enjoy having our books easily accessible, rather than packed in boxes in the basement.  Then it occurred to me--the ledge in the attic stairwell could hold two small Billy bookshelves.

I bought two small bookshelves and put them on the ledge, then moved half of the books upstairs.  The books I read the most I kept downstairs in the living room.  I also bought doors for the living room bookshelves.  Our frequently read books and magazines now live behind those doors.

All the tchotchkes were moved to the top three shelves.  Because the waxy cardboard back of the bookshelves does not take paint easily, I took two large pieces of foamboard, cut them to size, painted them Gossamer Blue, and put them in the back of the bookshelves behind the shelves.   Then I arranged our tchotchkes.  

All of the tchotchkes we already owned, and most of them are from friends or have a story behind them. 

I won't bore you with the stories behind every piece, except one.  The blue and white ceramic mask on the second shelf was made by my baby sister when she was in middle school.  Its looking worse for wear (it used to have ears and teeth), but it always gives me a giggle when I look at it.  That mask has been in every house I've had since my dorm room in college.  

That second shelf with my sister's mask on it is still a work in progress; the only things I really like on it at the moment are the mask and the painting.  I consider it room to grow.  New adventures will find their way onto that shelf eventually.  

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