Author: Making it Lovely

Dreaming of a new bedroom.

Our bed is falling apart. It hasn’t happened lately, but the mattress sometimes likes to just fall right down to the floor. *thump* It’s a little alarming! So… I would love to buy a new bed.

And a new mattress. And new sheets. And a new dresser. And some nightstands too please. Oh, and maybe a lighting fixture and some lamps?

Because really, why stop at just the bed when you can spend all of your money in one fell swoop? Hey, maybe we should change the yucky carpet in there too! Hmmm… probably not the best idea to go crazy in the bedroom when there are more pressing needs (hello, blue bathtub and toilet). But I can still list the things I want! Such as:

An upholstered bed
The Hoffman bed from Room & Board:

Or the Tate bed from Crate & Barrel:

A new mattress
Yep, that would be nice.

New sheets
Oh, I’m not picky. I just haven’t found the perfect set yet. ;)

A long dresser
The 6 drawer dresser from west elm:

Or the similar (but nicer) Calvin dresser from Room & Board:

Two new nightstands
I’d like these to be either very understated and simple (clean lines, medium/dark wood), or an interesting shape that’s been painted with a bold color (red, orange, teal). I’m hoping I can find an inexpensive set (thrift shop?) and then paint.

New lighting
Perhaps if I find an extra $2798 I’ll get this sexy red chandelier from Design Within Reach:

(I’ll take that KWID wallpaper too, please.)

Hardwood floors
Oh, who am I kidding? I’d settle for non-yucky carpet.

January 25, 2007
Hiring movers?

I’ve been calling around for estimates. $110-$160/hour (for 3 or 4 guys) plus a flat rate of $55-$79 depending on the company. I think it will be totally worth it, even if we only hired them to move our books… 30 boxes, and counting! We’ll probably have at least 50 by the time we’re done. And they’re going up to the second floor in the new house. Eep! I think my arms would fall off after moving all of those heavy boxes!

January 23, 2007
Wallpaper Contenders

Ack. Shopping for wallpaper is not going as well as I had hoped.

A lot of the great wallpaper designs seem to be coming from England these days. That’s fine, but buying it can be a bit tricky. And then there are fabulous designs that are available to the trade-only. I had considered trying to fake it as an interior designer so that I could request samples and possibly buy certain patterns. How hard can it be? I do have a design business, it’s just not an interior design business… but I decided that would be a bad idea! So I’m trying to narrow the choices down to the wallpapers I can buy retail.

I did find a fabulous website though: walnut wallpaper! Most of the papers below can be purchased through them (numbers 4-12, specifically). Plus I have a book on the way (The Cutting Edge of Wallpaper as recommended by Holly), so I’m hoping to get a few ideas when that arrives.

Wallpapers by: 1.twenty2 2.Kelly Wearstler (KWID) 3.Jocelyn Warner 4.Mibo 5.Romo 6.Romo 7.Romo 8.Romo 9.Romo 10.Romo 11.Neisha Crosland 12.Neisha Crosland

Hmmm… I still have no idea which one (if any) I’ll choose. I do want to be sure I love it though. I’d hate to choose a pattern and then hate it two years from now! And when (if?) the day comes to move again and sell the house, I’d probably have to take it all down and paint the walls beige (yawn). That would be sad, but I’m really getting ahead of myself there – we haven’t even moved in!

It would certainly be easier to just paint the dining room and get my pattern fix from curtains, but I still love the idea of wallpaper. I’m not giving up quite yet…

January 22, 2007
Sexxxy art.

I just bought the most wonderful prints from The Black Apple: ‘Little Dunces’. Note that these are not what the “sexxxy” title is referring to… that’s coming up. But first, here are the prints:

I’d like to put them above our nightstands or directly above the bed. Cute, no?

OK, now let me state right now that our bedroom will be a classy affair. We will be including the handscreened print from Rar Rar Press that Brandon bought for us at the Renegade Craft Fair. It looks a little something like this:

Yep. We also have a framed montage of women wrestling in bathing suits (hair pulling! leopard print!) and wrapping paper featuring Spanish erotica pulp covers. So now you see: sexxxy.

January 18, 2007
Color Scheme?
I’m trying to plan the colors for the new house so there’s a nice continuity throughout the home. I probably won’t do it all at once and I’m sure I’ll change my mind, but it’s worth a try!

Here’s what I’m thinking (as of tonight):

It’s not bad, but it’s not quite right. I’ll go through it, room by room, and explain…
- The wood in the background is meant to be the wood trim in the house (and there are wood floors throughout too).
- kitchen: This is the room I’m most sure about! I picked up that little patterned vase at Anthropologie recently, and I adore the ochre/green color in it. The cabinets are old and worn, so I’ll prolong their life by painting them white and getting new hinges and knobs. The countertops are worn out too, so I think I’ll put in an inexpensive dark brown laminate. I kind of like the ones that look like wood. Is that too cheesy?
- downstairs: The stairs lead to the unfinished basement. We won’t do anything there, so they can stay as-is.
- bathroom: There are hex tiles (not in great shape, but they’re OK) and a cool freestanding tub. Unfortunately, the outside of the tub has been painted forest green, and I don’t like it. I wouldn’t normally choose to paint a tub, but since it’s already been done I’ll just be painting over the existing color. At least it’s not on the inside! I’m thinking a butter yellow – something to compliment the kitchen, but not match exactly. Maybe pink walls? That could be cute.
- dining room: I want wallpaper! I haven’t decided yet which wallpaper, but I know I would love to have some pattern in there. There’s a great built-in buffet and nice windows in there, plus several doors, so maybe there wouldn’t be too much surface to cover? Wallpaper can be prohibitively expensive. :(
- office: My office is pink right now and I like it, but do I want the same color again? Maybe it’s time for a change, but to what?
- media: There is a tiny little room off of the living room. We’re not sure, but we’ll probably line it with the bookcases we have and store DVDs and CDs in there (and maybe a little chair to sit). All of our books will be going upstairs (more about that another day). This is the only room with the wood trim painted white. I actually like white moulding, but the rest of the house has such beautiful wood – it’s unfortunate that it was painted. However, I figure I can go a little darker with the paint in here because of the white. So mustard? The same color as the kitchen? Maybe even a chocolate brown…
- upstairs: The walls are clad in knotty wood paneling and the stairs have beige carpeting. Not my taste but this is probably not changing anytime soon.
- living room: OK, I have no idea. White? Cream? Mustard? Gray? Taupe? I don’t know! I don’t want to use the same purple we have in our apartment now. My husband wouldn’t mind if we did, but we’ve had it for five or six years now and I don’t want it again. I think it would be nice to have something a little more subtle in there, since the rest of the house will be fairly colorful. Plus, if we put wallpaper up in the dining room, I’d love for that to draw your eye and not have the living room walls clashing or competing. Maybe we should wait until we choose a wallpaper (if we do)? Also to keep in mind: we have a tan/taupe couch, pale pink lamps, and that orange and white/cream chair. The chair could maybe go upstairs and I could bring in the Eames LCW instead, but I don’t know. I’m stuck!
I don’t have to decide on any of it now, of course. I just like thinking about these kinds of things! As I mentioned, I’m sure things will change…
January 17, 2007
The Inspection Report
We had the house inspected yesterday afternoon and it’s in good shape! Brandon was at work, so I went alone (though our realtor was there too). There were some problems, but nothing structural or dangerous. And hey… the house is almost 100 years old. We didn’t expect it to be perfect.

So what’s wrong with the house?
- The catch basin (surprise – didn’t realize that was there) needs to be cleaned out.
- GFI outlets are needed in the bathrooms, near the washer in the basement, and in the garage.
- One of the circuits is controlling two portions of the house. It’s not dangerous, but it could stand to be fixed.
- One outlet is wired incorrectly (where we wanted to put my computer), and one outlet upstairs is dead.
- The exhaust fan in the hood above the stove is broken.
- The stairs (to the second floor and to the basement) should have railings.
- The doorbell doesn’t work.
January 16, 2007