Sanford & Son... Bywater Style

To get the full effect of this post kindly click the video below...with your sound on.

This past week we rented a dumpster to clear out the JUNK that occupied the yard and our sheds. Of course the previous owners left all kind of... well... let's call it stuff  but I have a much better word that just wouldn't be appropriate in the blogosphere -but you get the idea!

STUFF:

Storage shed #1 cleaned out: 

Once everything was cleared out we noticed the shed has some awesome beadboard! And can actually store a lot of stuff.

Here's another little storage cabinet I organized. ** Great organizational tip - use clear plastic door shoe holders to store all the little things that you need easy access to! Like tape measures, brushes, nails, screws, etc.

And storage shed #3 cleaned out. We store our bikes in here now.

AND do you notice that mantle!?! Yeah, we found that in the back of the shed - SCORE! It was a mantle that was taken down when a closet was added at some point. With a little TLC it will be good as new!

And while we're on the topic of STUFF thought I'd share this hilarious George Carlin clip:

 

Have a great weekend!

- BOO

Designing for a party... Before & Afters...

This past week was NOLA Fashion Week - I know, I know, we're no NYC but apparently LA. is the new L.A.  ;) AND the interior designer I work for was chosen to design the VIP Lounge. I just wanted to share some shots of the space, setting up and the final results! Enjoy! 

The shows were held at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art - such a  beautiful space! The main museum is extremely modern but they have an old library that they rent out for events that it is connected to. It's gorgeous!! Check out the ceiling!!

Here are some shots of us moving around furniture and deciding what goes where:

It was such a huge space - it was fun but also a challenge to make it feel warm.

The boys texting away!

The designer I work for also has a store here in New Orleans - Shaun Smith Home - so he just moved a lot of things in the space from there. It worked out great because he had a large inventory to select from!

 

We were trying to create different areas for conversation. The two vintage chesterfield sofas flanked the MASSIVE fireplace, while smaller conversation areas were created on either side. There also was this awesome lucite table base with a glass top along with vintage metal chippendale chairs for seating. 

It was fun to move everything around until deciding what worked best.

AFTER shots:

These two areas were the smaller conversation areas I had mentioned. Notice they are almost mirror images of eachother.

I loved the way it came out - it looks like it could be in someone's house! (a rich someone's house mind you)

I love how he placed the four garden stools in the center - not only to rest drinks on but people can sit on  them if need be!

Lucite table I mentioned:

Check out the horse head near the mantle - adds a touch of whimsy!

 

Best part is everything you see here is for sale! This could be the death of me - I want it all!

Hope you enjoyed!

- BOO

Stencil Love!...

Poking around on Etsy today and came across these fun stencils!

One shop I'm loving is called Olive Leaf Stencils:

These peacocks are so wild and fun! It looks like they painted the feathers gold? Love that.

These jellyfish are whimsical and fun.

Cockatoos are fun too! I love all the possibilities you could do with painting them.

Some drama!

I find Ikat to be uber trendy at the moment and I would fear it looking dated soon but I do really like it in this room. I love the colors they chose as well.

Royal Design Stencils is another shop that had some nice ones...

The pattern below is cool. There is so much to it.

This stencil is called "Chopsticks" - you can come up with so many different ways to arrange them!

I am thinking about doing something graphic and fun in the hall or bathroom... there are just too many to choose from!

- BOO

DIY I wanna try!...

I came across this image and of course fell in love... then I looked a little closer and REALLY fell in love! Check out this light fixture!!

It's feathers!! Now I can make this right? Here's all I think I'd need:

White paper lanterm:

Ostrich feathers:

And some hot glue to secure onto lantern and voila!

Drama, texture, and just darn pretty no?!

- BOO

Before & Afters... Closets!!

We of course ran out of money to finish the staircase that leads to the big unfinished attic so we had to wall it in.

And while we were at it, decided to make a closet under the stairs. Since the house is so old, it had NO closets!

OK, this picture below gives you a good idea of how crazy our stairs are. We cut the last two stairs off as to not protrude into the new living room. Why you may ask? This wall is temporary and eventually we want to have a beautiful open staircase leading upstairs. SO, if we brought the wall out for those extra two steps, it would of been extra costs later to repair the sheet rock, etc. (and it would of just looked bad) I hope this makes sense?

We now use a little step ladder to get up there!

Here's what it looks like now:

Lucky us, we found an 8' door and frame at the salvage yard for only $25!! We needed a really tall door for head clearance when going up the stairs - thank goodness we found one! 

So, here's the other problem we had:

The ugly unfinished stairs protruding into this room! What to do?? Build another closet and at the same time hide the unattractive stairs!

My dad and Hubs tackled this weekend project while I was at work.

If you look closely below, you can see that we're also blocking the double doors to the other side of the house. We made a part of the house back into a rental for some extra home renovation income! So this acts as a good sound buffer as well.

 And here it is now:

I still have to paint it and decide how many shelves and rods to put in the inside but this is good enough for me at the moment!!

So, with two weekend projects down, we scored two new closets and a big pretty door leading up to a big ugly attic!

- BOO