house tour

20 Jan | 2012

House Tour- Art and Craft Room

January 20, 2012 By The Lucky Lass 2 Comments

I know you’re going to judge me when you see these pictures, but I don’t care. Right now, my craft room is a big giant mess. It’s always a mess. Mostly, it’s a mess because I’m usually doing stuff in there and I have a lot of little projects going on, and I’m really not good at putting everything away. Part of it is I don’t really have a place for everything to go. So I just bit the bullet and took pictures, to show you my whole room devoted to craftiness because otherwise you’ll never see it. It’s one of those projects that is never really finished, and this is honestly about as clean as it’s been in the last year.

So here we go, a little tour of my craft room studio.

View into craft room

The craft room is upstairs in a room that we also call “The Loft”. It has a giant opening to the great room below, and as such I’ve never felt completely comfortable calling it a guest room, or having it set up like one. Instead, I can close this door to all my crafty messes when company comes, except for what they can peek in as they walk upstairs.

Craft Room

I guess this post is one they would consider “keeping it real.” This is so real, I didn’t even bother to pick up anything before taking these pics. I still have temporary blinds on the windows (which really are great for filtering light), and there’s nothing but primer on the wall. To the left, under the table, are several paintings, frames, and other various pieces of canvas and cardboard. Behind the table, not visible are more frames and mats. I felt like I didn’t need to show you every corner of the room, or else you might try calling me in to be on the show Hoarders. I also have my childhood furniture in this room– an Ikea series from the mid-to-late 80s. A desk, bookshelf, and dresser with storage on top. Other than a few chips and dings from moving, these pieces are all still functional and sturdy. Now the dresser primarily acts as my sewing station.

Painting of Florence by The Lucky Lass

A detail of the painting hanging over the sewing machine. I did this for a landscape painting class a few years back.

Crafting Table

With this view of the table, you can also see the opening to below. The large star is a light that I’m going to put up in the twin bed room. Using a coupon, I got a green cutting board from Michaels. This surface is great for cutting fabric or paper on.

Craft Room ikea storage

On the other side of the room, you can see the other two pieces of Ikea furniture. And ugh, more stuff. Books, and most of my jewelry making supplies, paints, brushes, framing materials, and other odds and ends are stored here. Also, extra fabric, sewing notions, buttons, and decorating rocks live here. The “dress form” I made myself from an online tutorial years ago. It was kind of fun, and really easy. Basically, I put on an expendable white t-shirt, and then had someone wrap me in duct tape. You then cut the shirt and duct tape off (carefully!) in one long cut up the back, and tape it shut after filling it with stuffing. For the base, so that it would also sit at the same height, I added a very thick and sturdy tube cut to the right size, resting on a music stand base. It’s not as fun or as sturdy as an actual dress form, but it works for simple stuff.

Craft Room Closet

And finally, the closet. Also completely stuffed. I added extra standing shelves in here to help sort everything. I’ve got a couple of easels, lots of ornaments (ready to be painted), and storage of other photos, papers, and other random stuff. I didn’t want to get to close up on anything because frankly, I think it’s a bit overwhelming in terms of the amount of stuff. This is not a sanctuary, this is my room to create and be messy. I love that I can dedicate an entire room to this, and that it’s big enough to hold all of this stuff. I’m very lucky indeed ;)

Thanks Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick for sponsoring the Office/Craft Room party! You spurred me to get off my butt and write something finally!

Filed Under: Homey Stuff, Uncategorized Tagged With: craft room, crafty space, create space, house tour, ikea furniture, messy craft room

17 Dec | 2011

House Tour: Twin Guest Bed Room

December 17, 2011 By The Lucky Lass 2 Comments

Time for another house tour! I’ve recently made some progress on this room, and want to share it. I still have a long list of to-dos in this space. In particular, I need to paint the closet doors and trim, bring in the curtains from the master bedroom, and turn them into black-out curtains, finish making the upholstered bench (part one seen here), bring up an old secretary from downstairs, and continue to add and rearrange accessories and art. First, to get to the bedroom, you have to go up the stairs which are guarded by a ferocious troll:

Guardian of the Stairs

Okay, he’s not ferocious, or a troll. He’s a gigantic orange cat with a tiny pipsqueek meow. The stairs are one of his favorite places to play/lounge/sleep/attack.

Back to the bedroom. The twin bed room is so called because of the one twin sized bed in it. Also known as the sleeping room, where my husband goes to for naps during the day because it’s so dark, or where he goes to get some sleep when one of us is restless at night.

Twin Bed Room

The walls are painted gray, I believe in “Elephant Skin” by Behr premium ultra plus. That paint is awesome. My parents recently brought the bed to me, it was my childhood bed, and was my grandfather’s childhood bed as well. The quilt was made by a great-grand aunt (or some distant relation) and was given to my grandmother. I feel so lucky to have it. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s actually for a full sized bed, but seeing as I don’t have a bed that size, I think it’ll do just fine here for now. I love the designer Sarah Richardson, and love watching all her shows. In her series, Sarah’s House, where she buys a country house and renovates it, she finds a large, antique bed quilt that has a beautiful, bright and bold design on it. When I my quilt, it reminded me of what she did and gave me a spark and direction to go in this room.

Detail of quilt

I know I’ve got a ways to go, but this is a great jumping off point. From this, I knew I had to paint an old bookcase bright yellow to match the sunniness of the quilt. You can see the whole project here.

Bookshelf next to bed

The yellow color really pops against the gray wall, and looks great with the bed and spread. Just a few of my favorite details from the shelf:

Vase with Ansel Adams print

Brass buttons, recipe box, and antique candy tin

On the other side of the bed, I have an Ikea table (left from my post-college-graduation-poor-trying-to-furnish-an-apartment-days), with a little frame I found at Target a couple years ago. The lamp is OK, but again just something cheap we picked up to make do. And by cheap I mean, my husband paid $150 for this lamp, another just like it, a full sized brass bed and mattress, floor lamp, kitchen table, six chairs, a computer desk, and a chest of drawers. He had found a listing in the paper of a couple who were combining two mature households into one, and moving to Florida. Score!

Lamp and frame

On the walls, so far, I have a few framed photographs I took. One of the Washington monument in D.C., and one of a neat rock formation in southern California.

Framed photos

Across from the bed, I still need to bring up some furniture, but I do have “Unfinished Virginia” on the wall.

"Unfinished Virginia" painting

I started on this painting nearly four years ago, and never finished it. At some point, Mr. Lucky said he had grown to like it just as it is, and wanted me to hang it up. Okay then. :)

And lastly, but not completely finished is the painted closet.

Painted Closet

Sooooooo exciting, I know. But hey, it was a project, and it’s finished now. One day, I will paint the doors in gloss white to match the rest of the trim in the room. I painted the interior a light shade of cream- leftover paint from the other guest room next door.

And that’s the twin bed room. A work in progress, but hey, what’s not a work in progress?

Twin Bed Room

Filed Under: Before and After, DIY, Homey Stuff, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique quilt, antiques, guest room, house tour, painted laminate bookshelf, twin bed, twin guest room, vintage

12 Aug | 2011

House Tour: Guest Bathroom

August 12, 2011 By The Lucky Lass Leave a Comment

Last year I decided to make a quick and cheap facelift to the guest bathroom. Other than wanting this room to be calm and cozy for our guests, we’ve been using this as the main bathroom since we found out our master bathroom shower leaks. Before, it felt a little cold and stark being all white and black.

Guest bathroom before

My entire budget for this project was to be under $200. First, paint. I found the “Perfect Beige” at Home Depot (by Behr). The best thing about painting bathrooms, is that they are (usually) small and quick. I didn’t even tape for this project, and cut in everything by hand. I did take off the door, because it needed a coat of paint too. I painted the door, and all the trim the same bright white as the rest of the house. I also caulked in a few strategic places that needed it.

Guest bathroom in progress

I brought up the bath rugs from the master bath, reinstalled a magazine rack, changed out all the hardware and knobs on the vanity. I liked the chrome look, and thought it would go well with the black vinyl flooring. I actually really like this vinyl, it looks like black marble. The first time through the house, I actually had to touch it to see what it was.

Looking towards the door, guest bathroom

I bought a new towel holder, toilet paper holder, and hook (on the wall behind the door). I wanted a simple, modern look, with a bit of elegance. I wanted it to feel a little New York, so my husband chose his favorite Kandisnky print, “Dominant Curve”:

Detail of Kandinsky print, "Dominant Curve"

I bought the print from some posters site, and framed it myself in a thin, silver metal frame. Above the toilet, I framed a drawing I copied in an art class.

Drawing

We bought a new shower curtain, white and modern.

Shower curtain

There are still a few things I would like to do in the bathroom, when budget allows for more. I would like to replace the counter/sink on the vanity, the faucet, and maybe the light fixture too. It’s the simple builder basic brass grade right now, and I would love something in chrome to match. I think the shower is OK, but a real estate agent told us to either clean it really really well, or we might need to replace it when it comes time to put the house on the market. Oh yeah, I would not mind replacing the toilet too, with something more efficient.

It may not be a huge transformation, but I still feel happy whenever I walk into this bathroom.

Filed Under: Before and After, Homey Stuff, Uncategorized Tagged With: art, chrome, guest bathroom, house tour, paint

2 Aug | 2011

House Tour- Guest Bedroom

August 2, 2011 By The Lucky Lass 2 Comments

I have two rooms in my house that I’ve set up as guest rooms. The first room, the one I’m featuring in this post, is the more finished of the two for now. I felt like going with a slightly french country chic look in this room, especially after I found some wonderful fabrics.

First, a look at the dull, bland room before. When we purchased our house, none of the rooms were actually painted. There was a basic primer over everything, and that’s it.

Guest bedroom before

We had purchased some furniture from a newspaper ad for very little money, and threw a few of those pieces in this room. Namely, the bed and dresser. About a year after we moved in, my stepson and his girlfriend moved in for a few months. When they left, they took the bed with them. So now I was left with essentially a blank slate.

Guest bedroom before, looking at the dresser

I tend to go about things a little backwards, and love to choose paint colors before anything else. I am just in love with a color and want it on the wall. In this room, it was a compromise because I really felt it needed a color that would be neutral enough to appeal to more potential buyers. Also, I wanted to keep a lightness to the room, so I settled on a creamy color. It is more of an off-white than yellow or beige, but it’s enough to pop against the white trim. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of this particular color, but I’m sure I have the extra paint around somewhere…

Guest room in progress

The headboard I upholstered myself (found here), and made the pillows to match. I just went with a simple white comforter cover and bed skirt for now- we had guests coming and I wanted it to look presentable and I did not want to spend very much money on it. (To me, anything over $20 was too much money). The painting on the wall was a ‘thrift’ store find for less than $25. I did a quick dry brush of white paint over the frame to spiffy it up a little. I’m still trying to decide what sort of lamps I want (I’m leaning towards mounted wall lamps), and I still need to refinish the side tables.

Upholstered King Headboard

These side tables are another freebie from the studio. I was told they originally had blue glass tops (how neat!) but they are unlocated at present. Originally I had hoped to put some sort of marble tile in there, but they are a whopping 16″ square. Time and money were prohibitive, so I settled on a mirror top. This one is painted brown, so I don’t feel so bad refinishing them. Even though it may not fit the room, I think they’d look best with a dark or black stain. I also considered painting them something bright, like a turquoise color. But, I’m just not feeling it.

Art deco side table

There’s one window in this room, and for now, one curtain. I found the curtain at Target and loved it- especially since it seemed to mimic the design on the headboard.

View towards window in guest bedroom

The dresser stays, for now, even though it’s a poorly constructed 1970s plywood-like special. I do like the pulls though, and might consider doing a two-tone paint job to make it a little more fun. On the dresser I made a little vignette.

Dresser vignette

I framed a picture I took of the interior of the Pantheon, and a photo by Ansel Adams from an old calendar with frames from Michaels. The mirrored tray and pitcher are family pieces handed down. The pink dog was a freebie from Victoria Secret, and I can’t remember where I got the stars and candle. The painting is one I did for my landscape painting course, after Cezanne.

That’s all the progress for now, but I hope to be able to add some things to the room to make it feel more finished. At least, I think my guests feel cozier than before in this room! :)

Filed Under: Before and After, DIY, Homey Stuff, Uncategorized Tagged With: guest, headboard, house tour, paint