Cool Flooring Idea...

OOooohhhh wouldn't this be fun to do?!

via

LOVE IT!

- BOO

Console Table Love...

We have this gorgeous and HUGE Asian style console table here at the shop that I am really in love with! (That is the unfortunate thing of working at a place with beautiful furniture and accessories - I want it all!)

Here's a picture of this beaut:

I think it could look great as our TV stand. Plus, it's so long - 8 feet! that the other half could be a side table, bar, place a great lamp on it, stack some books... endless possibilities!

 Here's a silly mock up of the table in the room:

I am not ready to commit to anything really yet for that space but a girl can dream right?!

- BOO

Our Living Room... Before/After

I think I'll share yet another before/after today with ya! This is the BIG one - the new living room that caused termite ridden stress for us for 6 months... but now it's finished and we're all moved in!

BEFORE:

Yeah, we had to rip out everything because of termites!!

Almost there...

And After:

It's not finished but it's getting there! The ceilings are so high I need really substantial pieces on some of the walls still... but you see that tall door to the right of the room? That leads up to our unfinished upstairs. So, eventually we will take out that whole wall and have a beautiful exposed staircase leading down. I think it will really open up the space.

(Ugh, dark picture! But not near photo shop - sorry!)

Have I mentioned the floors in here are just painted plywood sub floors? We did not have the money for real wood floors and sorry guys but wood laminate just makes me cringe! And they are holding up great! Plus I can touch them up with paint if they ever get scuffed! (Or repaint them if I get sick of the color.)

Our latest furniture addition is the knock off Eames Lounger - The Hubs found it at a thrift store and scooped it up a couple of weeks ago! At first I wasn't crazy about it - I thought it looked like E.T.! But after living with it I can see why it's such a design classic. It's actually very comfortable and does not take up much space and I love that it swivels!

Lucky me, my mom has let me borrow her zebra hide until I find the perfect one! The coffee tables are from an antique store here in New Orleans - Greg's Antique's on Decatur.

Here's a shot of the "office" area. The huge pineapple is a painting I did years ago... I'm tempted to paint a Rothko inspired painting over it... The crazy orange/hot pink painting to the left is from a thrift store. I'll do a whole post on that guy - I love it!

So, there ya have it! The stress causing, cash draining, 23' x 12' room we can finally call our Living Room!

- BOO

Our $650 Kitchen!.... Before/After

We just installed the kitchen for the rental side of our house. This was fun for me because it's my first kitchen design. It's no fancy $30,000 remodel mind you! I was able to design the whole thing for about $650 - including appliances!! 

The room was at one point a kitchen then it was converted to a bedroom and now we're making it a kitchen again... whew! It's a small room - maybe 9' x 11' so every inch counted. Below is a collage of the major elements I planned on going into the kitchen...

Since the space is so small I wanted to try and keep it open and airy. I felt that traditional cabinets would be too much in this tiny room. 

Going with my love of the industrial look, I decided on two stainless tables that will act as the counters.

 In the picture below you hopefully can make out what I am talking about (look to the bottom right corner of the "soon to be kitchen")

The fridge was free - we just moved our old fridge into the room.

The gas stove is from Craigslist.

The sink is actually one of those deep laundry sinks! It sounds weird but I think it looks fine - it's free standing too which definitely helps because we're not doing any built ins. And let's face it - this is for a rental so I am not investing too much into it - especially because we plan on converting it back to a single family home in about 3 - 5 years.

My mom says it looks like a Barbie sink!

We also put in a stainless upper shelf from Ikea. We plan on installing a second one but they were sold out of the small version. 

The paint color is Benjamin Moore Aviary Blue. (I happened to have an extra gallon)

So, ya ready for some before and afters!? I love this part!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I love the way it came out! We are still waiting on a couple of organizational items for the shelving from Ikea but I couldn't wait!

Cost breakdown:

Stainless Shelves (2) -    $350

Laundry (Barbie) Sink - $130

Ikea Shelf -                      $35

Gas Stove -                      $100

Fridge (free) -                   $0

Rug (Target)-                    $20

                                     = $635!

Disclaimer: The labor was FREE!! Gotta love a dad that's been an electrician, plumber, contractor, and now electrical engineer :) Thanks Dad!! :) 

So for less than a month's rent we were able to put in a whole kitchen - best part is that the counters and sink we will more than likely reuse once we take out the rental!

Hope you liked it!

- BOO

Hollywood South Invades The Block....

I think it's pretty well known by now that Louisiana is now nicknamed "Hollywood South" - it's now ranked 3rd as far as film production in the U.S. Over 95 films are scheduled to shoot in Louisiana this year! I just never thought they'd be on MY block in the Bywater!

A neighbor of ours never really fixed up his house after Katrina so it has this great weathered look that the movie chose to use as a home of one of the characters. I hear they pay tens of thousands to film in your house - PLEASE come use ours!!

Neighbors house - it's actually been in a couple of movies! (side note - he's the cousin of the family who once owned our house for over 100 years!)

It was very weird seeing these huge 18 wheeler trucks with film equipment trying to squeeze through these tiny old streets...

They would not let me take any pictures of them actually filming but let's just say SYLVESTER STALLONE is the lead!! Haahaaa... maybe a "Rambo" type movie filmed on the mean streets of da Bywata?!

- BOO

Cool DIY For A Bed...

Saw this cleva idea while at Anthropologie last week... Looks like a pretty easy DIY that packs a lot of punch!

Just get some ribbon and tie from a headboard to a makeshift bracket nailed into the ceiling.

I love this idea because the possibilities are endless...

Some things I would do:
 - use all white ribbons and some ropey twine mixed in for different texture and have a shabby chic look going on...
- get bright and crazy and make it look like a circus tent for over a crib in a nursery... or a child's room
- the French Bohemian girl in me would really like to use a corona on the ceiling to really boho glam it up with the above mentioned white and twine goin on!

via 1st Dibs

Of course I have to find a $2,800 antique corona to make this cheap and easy DIY into some ridiculousness!

- BOO 



Banana Leaf Love...

Remember this post about my undying love for banana leaf wallpaper?! Well, Robert Allen has one upped it with this FAB elephant ear fabric from Calico Corners!

If you don't want to be as bold as this:

You can now have the same bold look but not as in yo face:

I would love to use this fabric for window treatments! I think I love the banana leaf so much because they literally grow likes weeds here in New Orleans and they just remind me of home.

The very unfortunate reality is that this fabric is $54 a yard!! Whhaaaaa.... times like this I wish I still worked there for that discount! Guess I'll have to settle for a pillow or two instead...


** UPDATE! - Went to Calico and the fabric was a let down in person! Very drab greys and more upholstery weight than drapery... ah well!

- BOO

Second Saturday July...

The second Saturday of the month is the St. Claude Arts Districts promotion of all the new exhibits at the galleries along St. Claude Ave. (the main Avenue to enter our hood).

Here's a summary for ya - "The St. Claude Arts District is in the forefront of contemporary art in New Orleans. This area really shined during Prospect 1 and challenged anyone who thought New Orleans might lack a contemporary art scene. This area is off the beaten path and will guarantee an intellectual evening of gallery perusing. Every Second Saturday come visit the St. Claude Arts District for innovative and cutting edge art works" - artsneworleans.org

This past weekend we only had time to pop over to three galleries and they did not disappoint! (forgive me but I did not get any of the artists names!) The first gallery had an artist that cast cement molds of random objects.

I really loved everything he made. I can't even imagine how heavy they all must be!

The TV below must of been a 48" flat screen. How did they mount that sucker?!



Of course my absolute favorite piece - and the designer in me loved this series of hand guns!! I would LOVE to use these in a clients home. A young, hip, modern bachelor type... or heck anyone that would let me get away with mounting 35 cement guns on their wall!

At the next gallery we saw this 7 foot tall crazy I don't know what monster thing...

There was so much detail - it was fun to look at so much going on with it. In the photo below you can make out the eye - it was a video of a blinking eye!

This little bird was just fun.

The last gallery we went to I unfortunately did not get any pictures of but it was SO COOL!! The artists made a black maze and there were little openings randomly throughout with gourmet finger foods! The idea was that the food was art and they were all beautifully made and even more delicious to eat! There were also specialty cocktails which might explain why I didn't get any photos... ;)

I definitely recommend a night out along the St. Claude Arts District on the next Second Saturday!! It runs from 6pm - 10 pm.

- BOO

Awning Is Up!...

We finally installed our black and white striped awning over the weekend! (You know I needed it to be black and white!)

We desperately needed it with these summer rain storms soaking us as we entered the house!

I even love that as you walk through the living room you get a nice shot of the black and white stripes! And do you notice out in the yard the little rose budding from the rose bush I feared to be dead?

Guess it might be thriving afterall?!

- BOO



White Knights...

Do I need a knight of armor?? NOPE. But I've been looking at this stud on Craigslist for over a week now trying to get my mom to buy it! (I currently have no place for a life size knight - but she does!)

I know it might be a sin but I would spray paint him all white and put him in a foyer.... I think it would look fabulous!! I don't have an extra $350 laying around to buy a knight... darn I wish I did!!


Here - I dug up two pictures of different foyers that a white knight would look smashing in...

Get rid of this dumb little table and put a big ole white knight there instead!

This big tall vase is OK... just a little safe and boring... white knight = POW!

Do you think I'm delusional or do you see my vision??? To my mother in particular - buy this knight and I'll buy it from you in a couple years!!

- BOO

Pillow Talk...

The Hubs and I have a total of 6 pillows on our bed... he needs more. Since I already have 2 down pillow inserts I figure I should just make them myself! They measure in pretty big - 27 x 27 so hopefully this will accommodate Mr. I Need 45 Pillows on my bed... 

I got inspired by the beautiful HUGE pillows we have at the Shop - they measure in at 30 x 30! BUT I could not stomach Hubs leaning on these gorgeous silks!

Silk & Velvet pillows from Shaun Smith Home 



Another shot of some of the pillows we carry...

Here's what I'd like the bed to eventually have a resemblance to...

Interior Design by Timothy Whealon

So I chose a cotton blend with a subtle pattern in a creamy white to keep with the neutral look. It's so so SOFT! It should be coming in next week and I'm excited because I'll be sewing in zippers (you know I'll have to wash white pillows!) and I have not done zippers in a while so it'll be a good refresher!

Welby in Natural available HERE

Just a reminder - here's what the bedroom looked like a couple months ago... (sorry for dark photos!)

And here it is after some minor updates...

I think adding the extra pillows will at least make the bed look "finished" - the rest is still a work in progress!

I am debating on cording for the new pillows?? I feel like the pattern is enough... any thoughts? To cord or not to cord... tis the question!

- BOO