New Art Around Our House

I’ve been adding some new art around our house over the last few weeks—some from artists I know better than others. . .   I’m still working on putting together a collection on our TV wall and needed a big piece for the right side to help balance everything out.  Unfortunately, big art can be hard to find and pricey when you do find it.  So, I ended up ordering a 16x20 poster print of a painting from Zazzle for just $13.  It was my first time ordering from the site, but I thought the prices were really reasonable.

 

 

 

If you look closely, the poster version in that size isn’t the very best quality but it’s suppose to be a watercolor, so it doesn’t have to be perfect, right?  And, for $13, I don’t feel obligated to keep it for the rest of my life, or until I find something I like better. 

(By the way, did you know IKEA now makes their Ribba frames in a glossy gray?  Me neither--until I got two of them home and realized they weren’t black.  But, I kind of like them.)

 

 

 

 

I also replaced the black and white  framed photograph on our living room bookshelves with something a little more colorful.  I know the artist well.  In fact, I gave birth to her.  That’s the great thing about having kids.  It’s like living with little abstract artists at your beckon call :)

 

 

(You might remember I commissioned similar paintings for the kids’ bathroom in our last house.)

 

 

 

 

And, I made a little impulse purchase from One Kings Lane this week (heavily motivated by some referral credit I had in my account).  It’s called “Night Swim” by Lisa Golightly, and I *think* I know exactly where it’s going when it arrives in three weeks. There’s something about her paintings of ladies in bathing suits that I really like (which is weird because this lady doesn’t particularly like wearing a bathing suit and has no desire to go for a night swim, ever).

 

 

Have you added any new art to your home lately?  Any favorite sources?

 

Working With: A Dark Kitchen

I won’t act like I was working with the world’s ugliest kitchen.  Because I wasn’t.  I liked the kitchen when we moved in and didn’t have any thoughts of painting the cabinets or ripping anything out.  I just wanted to find some inexpensive ways to make it a little less traditional and a little more me. 

 

 

I’ve shared most of these ideas in other posts, but here are some of the changes I made (and easy ideas if you’re looking to give your darker kitchen a quick update).

 

 

White walls.  The previous wall color was actually a really pretty green-gray, but didn’t flow with the other gray in the attached family room.  I also felt like it dictated all of my other color choices and made the cabinets a little more “golden” than I wanted.  The white paint opened up the whole space and gave me more of a blank slate for adding other accent colors.  (Paint color is Shoji White by Sherwin Williams.)

 

 

 

Removing cabinet doors.  I’ll admit I wasn’t 100% sure about this at first, but it was a pretty low-commitment move if I didn’t like it.  We only removed two doors and it instantly made the kitchen feel less “heavy” to me.  I inevitably get asked about whether or not my plates get dusty.  And, I guess they would if they were sitting there long enough.  But, I use our open shelves for the dishes we use most and have also found it’s really convenient when I’m unloading the dishwasher (which feels like 17 times a day).

 

 

 

Painting for contrast. Just because you aren’t painting your cabinets doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate other paint colors in small doses.  I used a dark charcoal (Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams) to add contrast to the back of the open shelves and on our pantry doors.  You might even think about painting your kitchen island (an idea I tossed around for a while), a breakfast table and chairs, or even a small footstool.  Think of small places where you can bring in a paint color that you’ve always wanted to try.

 

 

Accessorizing with color.  Fun accessories are an affordable way to give your kitchen new life.  It could be as big as colorful curtains or chairs, or as small as a new tray or kitchen towels.  Sometimes it really is the little things that can give us a better outlook on our homes.

   

 

 

 

Changing out the lighting.  This was more of an investment than the other changes, but one that I think was totally worth it. (And, I was a good girl and waited for it to go on sale.)  I think lighting is one of the best changes you can usually make to update a room.  I also added a glass lamp on our countertop that makes the kitchen feel cozier.

 

 

 

 

What small changes have you made to update your darker kitchen?

More Working With What You Have

I’ve gotten a lot of positive response to my posts on working with what you have—which makes me really happy.  After all, aren’t we all working around one thing or another to find a pretty solution that we can live with?

 

Since we had no walls in our foyer, I created this “entry” along a narrow front hallway in our last house by using items I already had--a rounded console table, a flea market mirror and a thrifted lamp.  Photo from Better Homes & Gardens.

 

I have a couple more of these posts planned and an opportunity for you to share your own solutions soon.  But, in the meantime, if there are “working with what you have” topics you’d like for me to cover, I’d like to hear about them.  I’m hoping to feature problems that aren’t too specific to one home so that more readers will benefit.  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments, or email me.  Although it might not be possible for me to reply to each individual dilemma, I’ll definitely let you know if yours is chosen for a future post.

 

The Saturday 6

 

 

 

 

Sue at Home offers step-by-step directions for how to dye your slipcovers.  (I especially like the hot pink with her navy walls.)  This is a great idea if you have dingy slipcovers that just won’t recover from years of Cheeto-fingers.

 

 

 

Apartment Therapy gives you five reasons you should hang on to your old candles.  Did you know they prevent tears while chopping onions?  I have to try this.  I am the most emotional onion chopper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Saturday afternoon, we finally got our first snow at the new house.  It was just as beautiful as I thought it would be.  (And was completely melted by Sunday afternoon.)

 

 

 

I just found out this week that I’ll be attending the Haven Conference in Atlanta this August.  I’ll be part of a panel on design and can’t wait to meet the other bloggers who will be there.  Are any of you going?

 

 

 

 

I posted this picture on Instagram yesterday.  Our renovation is coming along quickly.  Here’s a shot of the new den windows that replaced the garage door.  So excited about all of the natural light in this room.

 

 

And, this weekend, we’ll be celebrating the fourth birthday of the funniest girl I think I’ve ever known.  When I say there has never been one like her, I know I speak the truth.

 

 

Enjoy your weekend,

Working With: Ugly Kitchen Countertops & Tile

Since I’ve been doing several posts on working with what you have, I wanted to share two inexpensive ideas from readers who tackled less than ideal kitchen situations. 

 

 

Instead of replacing her tile backsplash—adorned with flowers circa early 90’s—Amber found another solution for less than $50.  She was able to make her backsplash look brand new by using a combination of a bonding primer and paint. 

 

 

 

Amber shares a very detailed explanation of the process on her blog.

 

 

 

 

 

So, what if new granite countertops aren’t in the budget?  Rachelle’s “pink” laminate kitchen countertops weren’t exactly what she had in mind. 

 

 

She has a way with words, so I’ll just post her email about how she got rid of the pink for around $20 without ripping out the countertops:

 

“Rustoleum sells a kit that's around $200 that mimics granite. It's quite labor-intensive and involves sanding with diamonds and sprinkling little chips, and more sanding with diamonds and clear coats over that. But, Rustoleum also sells this plain countertop paint.  It just comes in a quart-sized can like normal paint, and you get it tinted whatever color you like.  I chose pale gray for my counters. It's about $20 and is not labor intensive. . .

 

 

I removed all caulk, cleaned the counters well, sanded them lightly with your non-diamond standard sandpaper. Then, I cleaned off all the dust and let it dry. Use frog tape to tape off your sink, backsplash, appliances, etc. You should open the windows, make sure there is good ventilation, and send the toddlers away for the day. The only negative for this stuff is that it's pretty stinky until it dries.

You want to have a small brush to do the edges and a foam roller to roll the paint on smoothly. I painted the entire counter, then waited about an hour and painted a second coat. I would recommend putting a couple of layers of poly on top because I think the countertops would look nicer longer, but I was too lazy. The two coats without poly will look good for six months but will start to chip and need to be repainted in about a year. I suspect with a couple of coats of poly, it would last much longer. In my opinion, this is a cheap and easy solution and I don't mind spending $20 and taking an afternoon to paint the countertops once a year in order to not have to look at pink countertops while I save up for new ones.”

 

 

 

Thanks to Amber and Rachelle for sharing how they were able to work with what they had in their kitchens.  I hope this helps some of you who are looking for inexpensive or temporary fixes around your home.

 

Congrats—And Oh Rats!

Yes, it rhymes. I’m trying to find the humor in my day.  More on that in a minute.

But, first, the “congrats” part….. Carmel Phillips is the winner of the $150 Stella & Dot giveaway.  If you still want to shop the trunk show, you can do so here through March 8th.  Thanks to everyone who made purchases already.

 

 

 

And, onto the “oh rats!” part. . . . The stomach bug seems to be making its way around the Clark house, and it’s not pretty.  I’ll spare you the details, but cleaning up after the sick  isn’t my strong suit as a mother. . . .I’m all about throwing it out and buying new.  What about you?  Are you a thrower-outer or a cleaner-upper?

 

Well, lucky for you, I have  no pictures to go along with that part of my post, but I'll be back soon.  Right now, I’m way too sleep deprived to give you advice on how to do anything.

 

Back to my nursemaid duties. . .

Changes Are Coming

The very first time my husband and I walked through our house with the realtor, I took one look at the third garage and said, “we could close this in and make it a den someday.”  Of course, he looked at me like I had three eyeballs.  Looking back, I like to think it was my trusty woman’s intuition kicking in. 

 

Neither of us realized, though, that we’d be looking for ways to make our house grow with our family so soon.

 

But, here we are, almost two years later.  A family of seven in a three-bedroom house (that we love and don’t plan on leaving).  The twins are still in our room, but have started talking to us until we wake up.  And, the kids have one full bathroom that we didn’t see all five of them sharing down the road—especially when we have a house full of teenagers. 

 

So, here’s what’s happening over the course of the next few weeks.  This catastrophe (or some might call it “the wonderland of riding toys”) will become our new playroom/den, with our current hallway extending out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The twins will move to my oldest son’s bedroom and the upstairs playroom will become his new room.  (Are you still following?)  We’re converting the toy closet into a bathroom, and the eventual plan is for both boys to share this room. . .

 

Yes, I am showing you this never-seen-before room, and now you know why it’s never-been-seen-before.  Let me tell you, this is the room on a good day.  It’s usually a disaster zone from top to bottom that gives me heart palpitations any time I go up there. . .

 

So, that’s the general plan.  And, if you’re excited to see how I’m going to decorate these new spaces, then that makes two of us.  This all happened so quickly from the time we decided to move forward that I haven’t had much time to just sit and think about what I want it to all look like.  (Well, maybe I do have a few ideas. . . )

 

(Follow along on Instagram @emilyaclark  for more updates along the way.)

 

Working With: Oak Kitchen Cabinets

I guess in a perfect world, we’d all have gleaming white kitchens.  But, in reality, some of us have spouses that don’t see the point in painting “perfectly good cabinets”, or we’re renters who just can’t make those kind of cosmetic changes, or we can’t invest the money or time . . . Or, (gasp!) we don’t really even want a white kitchen.

 

A question I’ve heard over and over again is how to update a kitchen with oak cabinets, if painting them is out of the question.  So, here’s what I would do:

 

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I’d go for high contrast on the walls.  My pick would be charcoal gray.  More traditional colors like yellow-gold or red can tend to make oak cabinets even more yellow but a deep gray will tone that down.  At first, I didn’t even notice that it looks like they left the original hardware on the cabinets in the photo above.  I also love how this homeowner used a modern white table.  All of it goes against the traditional oak cabinets, and it somehow all works.

 

 

 

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Choose only a small portion of the cabinets to paint.  Okay, I know this post is about how to work around your oak cabinets without painting them, but this is something to consider if a little bit of painting is an option.  This helps to break up some of the wood and is a fun way to incorporate another color in your kitchen.

 

 

 

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Don’t forget about your lighting.  Changing outdated lighting is a quick way to update your kitchen.  I would go for something simple with more of an industrial feel to go against the traditional cabinets.  New pendant lights can be a fairly inexpensive update.  Here’s one that’s similar to the pendants in the above photo:

 

 

 

Are you living with oak cabinets?  How have you made them work?  I’d love to hear your feedback on this.

 

 

PS—More “working with” posts to come.  This week, I’ll also be tackling ugly kitchen countertops, painted tile, and dark kitchens.