We Painted Our Floors WHITE! Yeah... we are cray cray...

When we had to renovate our living/dining room we of course ran out of money and decided to just paint the subfloor. Click HERE to see the before!

Here's a shot from 2011 to see the floor color - I was trying to go for a deep charcoal color but apparently I was color blind that day in selecting a color because I wound up with a deep navy!

The navy floor color never bothered me but The Hubs and I always wondered how it would be with white floors... and that day came after our annoying bath reno. The contractors trampled through the living room for weeks with their nasty shoes, etc. and there was no saving the floor.

So what the heck.... let's paint the floor a HIGH GLOSS WHITE shall we?! We scrubbed the floors clean, vacuumed the floors about 40 times and then started the process. It took 3 coats and we used an oil based white. The key here is to use oil. It took about 5 days total but was worth the wait! Here's what it looked like drying:

And here's a sneak of it with the furniture in. I have to take some more pictures of the rest of the room but wanted to share this:

 Don't these floors get insanely dirty you may ask?! Well, yes, they do get dirty. But since they are shiny, glossy oil based all I have to do is take a wet rag and wipe them down. And I kinda like to see just how dirty my floors are. Then I know I need to clean them! 

So, for the time being we love these white floors! That's the fun thing with just having a subfloor - we can do anything we want to it and it doesn't matter because it's not permanent. When the back of the house undergoes its massive reno the whole back will have wide plank heart pine floors but that day will come.... never... ;) 

Bye Bye Wires...

OK, remember how much I HATE wires?! Well, I was delighted to discover that all but ONE of the wires I despised for the TV aren't actually for the TV! They are all for the surround sound!? (which is no longer hooked up to the TV, we mainly use it for radio and streaming music)

Please ignore the dust. But just look at all these wires!? WTF?! ALL this for one surround sound system!??!

So all this madness is tucked away to the side of the sofa...

Ignore the rubber duckie... I have no clue how that got in this pic?!

So now all those nasty little guys are hiding out by the wall -

And the TV has been moved to the other wall (are you surprised I yet again moved around furniture?!)  I decided to put the TV on this hand me down crap little book shelf and in a pyscho crazy fit I very half ass-edly DIYed a staple gunned skirted white fabric to it! 

The scale is totally wrong for the TV but this whole project was free and looks so much better than it was! BONUS I get extra storage hidden by that fabric! :) 

AND I just so happened to have just enough fabric to continue on in my psycho I have a staple gun and I like to use it mode and tackled this chair:

It's a funky reproduction but I bought it for like $20 with the intent of it being a reupholstering project for me - I've never upholstered a chair so thought this was a good starter!

And here she is!

It's definitely not perfect and that pillow is hiding a booboo! BUT I definitely understand how to upholster it now and will re-do it once I find a great fabric. It was much easier than I thought! And good old trim will cover the staples! 

OK, that's it for projects this week... I think....  ;)

Anyone else out there tackling big or small home projects?! Does it ever end!!??

** Update! Ikea must of been reading my mind about Tvs and their wires... CLICK HERE**

What If...

OK, yesterday I posted about how challenging my living room can be because I have FIVE doorways into it. I currently have a white curtain covering one of the openings but it's still annoying me bc you obviously know it's an opening because of all the molding. 

(Where #2 is)

SO, what if I did that whole back wall in floor to ceiling neutral, light weight fabric? It would add drama, texture and the illusion of one solid wall. And I could center the TV without it looking "off" because of all the molding to the right...

Here's my awesome drawing of what I'm thinking:

Use your imagination people!

What do you think? I could do it pretty inexpensively... and easily reuse the fabric for another project down the line... just thinking out loud today... 

Thoughts?

Body Shots...

Came across this image via my lover, Pinterest:

image via Rue Magazine

And my eye went straight to that body target.

Why hello, lover....

I need you in my home. Preferably a little tattered with tons of bullet holes....

Told y'all I was in my "masculine" mode!  ;)

Mr. Futon Is In!...

Just wanted to share some pics of the futon that came in! I never thought I'd say this but I love my futon!

** Sorry for yet again crap photos - I can't for the life of my find my camera!!?!**

I will be making a white duck slipcover so if it gets dirty I can just wash it. The fabric is a faux leather that can easily wipe off any dirt too. For now it's in the room next to our bedroom...

So the furnished rentals mainly going to be white, camel, little black... I'm really drawn to my masculine room inspirations these days.... Here's one of my favorites from Pinterest:

I LOVE the colors here... and it's not at all girly...

But then this is how psychitzophrenic I am:

Love this look too!

I think a compromise is something like this:

That my friends is why I'm keeping the big items neutral... so my crazy ass can change out pillows, accessories as my brain shifts from girly to manly!! Do y'all suffer from the same disease!?

Yet Again Another Rearrangement of the Furniture!...

I'm always rearranging my furniture... it usually happens when I'm doing a deep cleaning of the house and get annoyed with this or that so I start moving around everything. Well... here's a shot of the latest state of one of the walls in our living room....

I'm playing with the whole "gallery wall" here and put the TV on an angle. MUCH better like this - it was centered on the wall on a too big console but now it's perfect and I can fit another chair in! (notice I painted the chair GOLD! It's a wee bit too shiny for me so I'll have to find a more muted gold to lightly spray over it...)

It works for now! Here's what the wall was like 6 months ago...

Yes, The Hubs thinks I'm nuts but he's used to it by now! And tonight we're swapping the dining room with the guest bedroom... Our house has too many options I just can't stop myself!! ;)

Adding Some Color!...

I think I'm finally commiting to some colors for the house! Other than white and camel that I have everywhere! My good friend Rebecca was over lastnight - she loves color so much she even has a whole blog devoted to it! - anyway - we are thinking about some accents in lavender and chartreuse!!

I know those colors aren't for everyone - especially lavender but it's one of my personal favorites. The trick is going to be in not making it look to "girly". Plus I already have some GORGEOUS chartreuse silk curtains from my momma I can put up on the huge window!

Here are some inspiration pics:

Gwen Driscoll Designs

My curtains are almost identical to the ones above. I do not plan on going this over the top with the lavender though!

via House Beautiful

OOOOOBSESSED with the room below! I luuuuvs these colors together! Although this is aqua and chartreuse - still in love!!

I can't find photo credit for this guy! SORRY!

 

Any thoughts on the color combo? Love it or hate it? It's OK - you can tell me :) I'll still love it!

Ohhhh and we're going to NYC to visit The Hubs family over Christmas so you know I'll be hitting up the fabric and trim stores!! CAN"T WAIT!

** Small world update - the last image is by St. Louis designer Amie Corley and she coincidentally came into the shop right after I posted this! I of course told her how much I loved the room... but I forgot to ask her what that wall color was!! Dangit!

Even MORE New Paintings Are Up!....

A friend of mine, Elizabeth, recently painted these Natasha Law inspired pop art paintings. She felt they were too bright for her place and was giving them away - so of course I said I would take them!

I put all six up in my living room on that annoyingly long wall that I could not figure out how I wanted to place art work or furniture. I like the symmetry and height these add to the room - these paintings are 22 x 30 so they add a lot of drama! Plus my ceilings are so high - 12' - I can get away with such large paintings!

As a reminder here's the evolution of the living room...

March, 2011:

November, 2011:

I need to get a shot of the room now at the same angle but you get the idea of where these guys are - right where the pineapple and 2 other paintings are and I centered the bench under the paintings.

I question if they may be too bright for me too - I never see myself as a "red" person but I actually really like them. I love how they are huge and there are six of them! Plus let's face it, I'm constantly rearranging  my house!

They are just taped up there temporarily now but if I commit to them, I'd buy the largest Ikea Ribba frame for them. They would look somewhat like this:

SOURCE

Here's a closeup of all my ladies... I'd love for you all to guess what the upper right one is doing!! ;)



SO, what do y'all think?? I think they add something fun and modern to the room.... thoughts??

My Hide is in!!....

My cowhide just came in and I LOVE it!! Yay for Overstock! It's super soft - it almost feels like silk. I am very pleased with my purchase!

Here's a quick before shot of the living room with my mom's zebra hide:

And here's a shot of it today with the neutral hide:

Please excuse to super lumpy sofa - that's a whole other issue! But I do love how light and airy the room feels with all the white and camel colors throughout.

 I could go for a larger sisal - like an 8 x 10 but this one I already own so it will do for now!



My Hide Dreams Have Come True...

I have been on a search for a white hide rug for years now... and even with our Trade Discount at work, I still could never find a CHEAP hide that was big enough or the right coloring... until I stumbled upon this beaut...

Close up:

He was over at Overstock for $262 WITH shipping!! I've never seen them for under $300 so I ordered one and can't wait to see how it will look in the living room!

Here's an old picture of our living room - yes, I completely changed it around since this but you get the gist! The zebra hide was on loan from my mom and I think the black and white was too busy for the room. I'm going very neutral, with camel, white and black being the dominant colors throughout the house... so I think the white hide will look smashing dahling!

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