a library in our foyer

I have trouble sleeping.  Most people can fall asleep in fifteen minutes or so after lying down.  If you're like Andrew, it's more like thirty seconds.  But me?  It's takes me a solid hour at the very least to fall asleep no matter how tired I am.  Most nights, I go to bed when Andrew does (around 11pm) but don't fall asleep until 2am.  So what do I do with those solitary hours?  I read.  A LOT.  So much so, in fact, that we're bursting at the seems in our closets right now with books.  It takes me on average a week or less to finish a novel.  Multiply that by 52 weeks in a year, 8 years of constant reading...yeah, that's a lot of books.

We'll be doing a built-in bookshelf in the foyer eventually.  Something along these lines...

I pulled these four images from Pinterest.  There are things I like about each of the inspiration pics - the arches, the bench seat, and yes even the hidden door.  We have a coat closet on the wall that we'd like to add the structure, so I'm thinking this might be the perfect solution!

This project is not going to be happening any time in the next year, unfortunately, but I thought I'd share anyway!  Until I have proper storage for all my finds, I'll keep them tucked in my master bedroom closet.  Can you imagine how many more shoes I'll be able to fit in there once they've been cleared out?!  Woohoo!

One more thing - would anyone be interested in reviews of some of my favorite reads?  If so, comment and I'll think about adding a book review column!

I know I'm a little slow, but...

...I finally bought a bed.  I posted about making a decision months ago and even with all of your amazing comments on which one you would choose, I still couldn't make up my mind.  I know I know.  I'm so slow!  But Andrew and I went to Southpark yesterday and walked into Pottery Barn then Restoration Hardware to compare each bed in person.  And the final choice was {drumroll puhlease}...

Ta da!  The finish is a little less cherry looking than the first image and a little less country looking than this next picture below.  Not sure why we can't get a good picture on their website!

We picked this bed not because we liked it the best, but because we thought it had the most longevity and we liked it best for our room scheme.  The dark wood is going to look amazing against my crisp white bed linens and cheery yellow side tables!

I can't wait to get this amazing piece for our bedroom!!!  We've been married for almost eight years now and this will be the first bed we've ever had.  I KNOW I KNOW!  We're slow! haha  I'll be sure to post pics when the bed finally comes in.  Which will be some time in late June - it's backordered.  Go figure.

finishing the master bedroom

Our plan when we moved into our first new home was to finish decorating one room before starting on another.  That...didn't work.  haha  But I'm determined to be done with the master bedroom before I finish any other room!!!  We only have a little ways to go.  Here's the to do list:

1.  Buy a bed.  I know, I know.  We should already have a bed.  But I can't decide which one to buy!!!  It's a big purchase and I consider it an investment.  I've narrowed it down to these three.  Does anyone have a preference?

Choice "A" is from Pottery Barn.  It's rustic pine and very simple.

Choice "B" is from Restoration Hardware.  It's made of kiln dried hardwood and is dyed to a vintage grey tint.

Choice "C" is also from Restoration Hardware.  The linen is the same texture as our couch, which we love.  The wood is done in the same technique as choice "B".  

So hard to decide, right?!  I love them all and they're all comparable in price.

2.  Lighting.  We're thinking something along the lines of this, but with a darker shade.

3.  Crown Molding.  I am SO ready to get this done.  We need to do two levels of molding like the picture below because of the tray ceiling.  Hopefully when we're finished, our bedroom will look as fantastic as this!

Besides a few more little details like a custom canvas print over the bed and some nick nacks for the side tables, we'll be done!!  

how Martha Stewart changed my life

Besides being a genius decorator, Martha Stewart is as influential as they come in the long forgotten world of etiquette.  I remember watching her show ages ago (before her show was live and super popular) and realizing for the first time how important it is to treat your guests with care.  In most houses, the guest room is the last room attended to.  It is usually the smallest room in the house with hand-me-down sheets, no curtains and the storage is already filled to the brim with the homeowner's things.  It's a great way to say to someone who has traveled a long way to visit "you can stay, but I'd rather you not stay long".  When is the last time you remember going to someone's house to stay and wishing you could stay just one more day?  Exactly.  

After Martha Stewart's education on how to treat a guest with excellence, I feel responsible to do so!  Here's a few tips from the Martha Stewart website on how a guest should be welcomed in your home:

*Allot adequate closet and drawer space and provide hangers.

*Have a full-length mirror in the bedroom.

*Have a working alarm clock in the bedroom.

*Invest in a few small touches in the room, such as bottled water, chocolates, or fresh flowers.

*Provide a sitting area with a pillow and throw, an adjacent table, and a good adjustable- brightness lamp in the room your guests will be staying in.

*Provide extra blankets for temperature control in the bedroom. 

*Provide reading material, including several magazines and a daily newspaper. 

*Stock enough towels, washcloths and hand towels for all guests.

*Stock up on toilet paper and other necessities and make sure they know where to locate extras.

You may see this and think it sounds more like a hotel than a guest room.  I agree.  Actually I don't.  It should be so much nicer than a hotel room!  I have started working on the guest room in our own home and am pretty pleased with the results.  From the above checklist, I can cross off the full-length mirror, working alarm clock, sitting area, extra blankets and reading material.  All done!  A few more minor touches and my guests will feel like they have hit the guest room jackpot!

Here's a few shots from my recent guest room endeavors:

I decided to add a few photos on the wall that I had taken originally for my art gallery in NoDa.  Adding artwork that I have made adds a personal touch and makes a guest feel right at home.

I originally asked for a quilt for Christmas for the living room.  You know, something to cozy up in during those cold winter months.  But when Andrew found me this one, I couldn't resist putting it in the guest room.  It's going to be a lovely addition!  Hopefully my guests will sleep like a baby...

I've also added a few prints in the guest bath.

Some other things I've added to the guest room and guest bathroom:

So, just to be clear, you are welcome in my home any time (if you're not a freak and I know you). ;)  While you are here, I'll treat you like a welcomed guest should be treated!  I hope this little soap box rant has inspired someone else to transform your guest room into the ultimate guest retreat!

little heres and theres

While we are waiting for wedding season to kick off before tackling any more major projects at the Barker house, we have plenty of little odds and ends to finish that won't cost too much money.  The first?  Our master bedroom light.  We bought this baby from West Elm months ago, but Andrew never got around to installing it until yesterday.  To make up for his extreme lateness, he was super nice and offered to patch up the part of the ceiling that was covered by the old fixture.  I was so thankful for the kind thought until I went to see him in action and noticed that he was using our wall color for the ceiling.  Fail.  I guess he looked for the can with the closest thing to white in it.  So, I'll just add that to the little projects I'll be finishing later.  Andrew has been banned from ever painting again, by the way. ;)

So, here's our light all put up.  I made the cord cover out of chocolate brown burlap.  If it wasn't for the gray spot on the ceiling, it would look pretty perfect if I do say so myself!

There are quite a few little heres and theres to be finished in that room.  Remember this picture from an old post?  I was waiting for the perfect images to fill the frame...

... and these three images of our rings made the cut!  I love how the colors fit in seamlessly with the other art on the wall.

In other news, I recently found an amazing place to shop!  It is DANGEROUS for me to go there.  I always end up spending way too much!  The Depot at Gibson Mill in Concord is my favorite antique mall ever.  I just found this amazing side table (left) and collectible apothecary jars in mint condition (right).  The side table is going by my sofa and the apothecary jars in our guest bathroom.  Love love love that place!

PS If you decide to take a trip to The Depot, I have a few tips for you:

1.  Give yourself plenty of time!  Don't even step in there if you don't plan to spend a few hours browsing.

2.  Take notes.  I found it really helpful to do price comparisons.  Take those little jars (pictured above).  They were $21 for the pair, but I found similar ones earlier on in the day for $24 each!  I write the items I like down, the price, and the aisle and store number so I can find something later if I decide to go back.  That way I'm not lugging the whole store with me.

3.  Talk to Joey Reese. Joey is a friend of mine that will gladly help you find something quickly.  He is responsible for helping me score a GREAT deal on the side table that I love so much.  Just ask for him at the front of the mall.  He also has a fantastic booth himself, so be sure to check out his stuff!

4.  Bring me with you!

Goals for 2011

If you haven't noticed, home improvements have pretty much come to a complete halt at the Barker house.  There are a few reasons for that.  Money and time.  But I am determined to change all of that once my wedding season kicks off!  Yes, I'll still have no time but at least I'll have the extra cash flow!  Ehh, I can sleep in November. :)

Here's a list of things I'd love to accomplish in 2011:

1.  Wainscoting.  I'm thinking around the back of the kitchen island, through our long hallway and maybe even on a floor to ceiling focal point in the master bedroom.  Depends how ambitious I get. (Image below from Centsational Girl blog)

2.  Garage door.  I think this is super important since it is the part of the house that is closest to the street.  Adding windows will make a huge difference in that dark garage as well!

3.  Outdoor lighting.  What we have now is the definition of builder grade.  A quick change to something fun like this will boost curb appeal, I'm sure!

4.  Learn to sew.  It's my new year's resolution.  Two years ago, my mom bought me a sewing machine (or at least gave me the dough to buy my own) for Christmas.  I have yet to do anything with it.  If you know someone who likes to teach people how to sew in exchange for pretty pictures let me know! :)

5.  The foyer.  We have the world's largest foyer for a house under 2,000 square feet, so it needs to be addressed.  I'm thinking a built in bookshelf on the right with crown molding and lots of drawers on the bottom for extra storage.  On the left, an old church pew or fancy bench like the one pictured below.  The perfect spot for getting shoes on/off, right?  I'm super excited about this one!

6.  Pendant lighting.  The current lights over the island make me want to gag every time I look at them.  The glass actually has petal patterns on it.  As soon as our budget allows, those babies are coming down!!!  I doubt we'll go with something as industrial as these for re-sale purposes but a girl can dream can't she?

7. Paint the front door.  I'd love to go with a funky color like one of these, but our HOA would skin me alive.  Something eggplant might just squeak by as acceptable, though.

There you have it.  Well, most of it.  I have a few more projects up my sleeves, but a girl's gotta have some mystery to her life, right? ;)

DIY: dressers and side tables

I have been a bad, bad blogger.  I guess I may have been in denial about how much wedding season was going to overtake my life.  That didn't stop me from finishing a few project in the bedroom, but it DID stop me from blogging about them.  So, here's the first project.  I am so tired of painting after these quadruple coated projects! Here's the before:

And here's the lovely after:

I'm pretty pleased!  The pictures don't do them justice as they are sleek and feminine in person.  Even though I'm getting so close to completing the bedroom, I'll be taking a short break to tackle a new Christmas tree design scheme and host a baby shower.  More details on that to come.  Yay for the holidays!!!

Curtains for the Master Bedroom

HUGE sigh of relief.  Buying curtains was way harder than I ever imagined.  Probably because I'm so dern picky, but I had no idea how hard it would be to find exactly what I wanted!  Here's what I was looking for:

108" or at least enough length for floor to ceiling plus a little puddling on the floor
chocolate brown
blackout curtains
linen or brushed silk
anything but grommets for the hooks
white painted wood curtain rod

And here's what I ended up with:

108" - sooooo hard to find, btw
white opaque curtains with chocolate sheers
not blackout
white canvas, brown linen
pole pocket top
chocolate brown wood curtain rod

I think it turned out OK, but I will definitely be pickier with my next curtain purchase for the house.  Honestly, I just got tired of looking at store after store and finding nothing!  Everyone seems to only carry 7 foot drapes, but I've always heard on design shows and such that if you want your space to look and feel taller/bigger, you should hang them from floor to ceiling.  Our master bedroom is not all that large but it has great height, so I thought it was important to play on that.  

The other thing that threw me was budget.  I only reserved $150 for drapes and rods.  Call me naive.  The ones that I really wanted were $500 per drape.  There was no way I was going to double my entire room's budget for curtains, but compromise is suuuuuuch a dirty word.  After two weeks of searching with no luck, I finally surrendered and went with something else but I still went over budget.  I spent a total of $285 including the rods (which is GREAT compared to a lot of stuff out there).  It's just fabric, though!  Why is it so dern expensive?!

One thing that I DID love in the end was the curtain rods.  They are sleek, not too modern, and a perfect contrast to the white canvas.  Finials are sooooo gaudy normally, but I love the simplicity of these.

OK so I have a question for you - how do you iron your curtains?  We don't have a steamer and the instructions say low iron...but a low iron does nothing.  I'd love to know what all you curtain experts out there are doing!

The Master Bedroom Checklist

I recently went through my checklist for the bedroom and just about fell over from dread.  I feel like it's never going to get finished!!!!  Here it is, in all it's glory and longness:

crown molding
wainscotting detail on primary wall
wainscotting detail on ceiling
purchase sheets
purchase/find/diy chandelier to replace ugly boob light
diy throw pillow detail
paint and distress dressers
paint side tables
purchase lamps and accessories for side tables
purchase bed frame and headboard
take pictures for art wall
get prints made for art wall
get canvas made for primary wall

My goal was to finish the master bedroom AND bathroom within the first month of living in our new house.  Baaahahahahaha!  Anyone want to take odds as to when I'll finish?  I'll put a dollar in for sometime next year. ;)

The Room/The Plan: Master Bedroom

For years I have told Andrew that when we bought a house and I could finally decorate how I wanted, I would do the master bedroom first.  You see, decorating and design goes deep for me.  It's my way of nesting.  All my friends right now are popping out babies left and right!  While that is not in our future, I still have the instinct to nest.  I want to do the master bedroom first as a psychological gesture to the importance of our marriage in our home.  Marriage is first.  So the master bedroom should be first.  In my case, anyway. :)

I have reserved my favorite color palette for this room.  Silvery gray, pale yellow, chocolate and white.  The master plan (insert evil laugh here) is to save money by dressing up vintage finds so that I can splurge on a beautiful bed that will last a lifetime.  The budget?  $2500.  That's including the furniture, new lighting (no more boob light!), paint, crown molding, wainscotting for one entire wall, window dressings and accessories.

Here's where the room is now:

Ugh, it's so embarrassing!  Pathetic at best.  It looks like college furniture and is covered in hand-me-down linens.  Which is why it needs a makeover!  Here's my inspiration:

Above - I've always wanted an entire walled covered in frames and art.  One of the walls of our bedroom will be completely covered in art with our color scheme.  I'm SO excited about this and plan to start immediately!

Below - A sleigh bed that's distressed is the perfect addition to this quaint little bedroom.  It's the only piece of furniture that will not be getting painted and it's a huge part of my budget for this room.  $1500 might seem high for one item of furniture, but I've decided to invest in long-lasting pieces and save on the little things that will go out of style anyway.

Themes in a room can quickly become tacky, but I love anything that can psychologically pull a room together.  So here's the theme - lovebirds.  And everyone says "aw".  Now, don't think there will be birds all over the place.  Just hints of the theme here and there, like this amazingly simple print I found on etsy.  Only in pale yellow, of course.

I am typing this so that I can't back out of it later.  Hear me now - I am going to do crown and decorative molding on our trey ceiling as well as the focal wall.  Yes I am!  I'll save around $1000 doing it myself, but I've never done it before, so we'll see how it goes.  My mom bought me a miter saw for Christmas, so there's no turning back now!  This is one of the cheapest and quickest ways I can add character and value to my house.

The side tables (a hand-me-down from my great aunt) are going to get a paint job in a tone similar to this hutch.  Butter yellow makes me happy.

The dressers are getting a bit of restoration and distressing.  I am in love with this dresser that I found in a magazine with that lovely cream color.  The tops being left in the natural wood is like *muah*.  Another DIY to come!  I am already so tired just thinking about this room! haha

Accessories in layering.  Lovebirds and books.  

OK so after all that information, does this all make sense?  Sometimes I lie awake at night and think otherwise. ;)