Pretties

Just daydreaming here. I’ve been having a bad case of the wantsies lately. So, for fun, I thought I’d share a few of things I’ve been crushing on over at West Elm.

This Stackable Chair would look awesome in my kitchen:

At $99 each they aren’t that terribly expensive compared to everything else I’ve seen. They had been on sale for a bit, to about $80 each, but I reminded myself that it wasn’t the last sale they’d ever have and I didn’t impulse buy them. I went to look them up a few days ago and there was an ugly note saying “no longer available.” I was stunned! I was getting ready to write an “Always Impulse Buy” post! Just today I looked again and now they’re there, just back ordered. Phew! But I’ve actually already gone and purchased a different set of chairs for the kitchen so these will have to wait again. The set I got is a 4-fer but I’d like to eventually have 6 chairs for the kitchen with the other 2 being a different set to the first 4 (maybe 2 of these!). So, maybe one day!

I briefly mentioned in my last living room post (here) that I was eye-ballin’ some pillow covers for my couch pillows. They were these Sculpted Origami Pillow Covers:

The gray one seems to be the only one left right now. It’s on sale for $25, but I don’t feel like spending the $50 to get 2. We’ll see how long it is before I’m writing that “always impulse buy” post about these!

I think I want this Cluster Glass Pendant for over my kitchen table:

I’m currently working on some kitchen nook updates so I might see about getting this! Or at least making an official lighting decision and then saving up a little more or waiting for a sale.

This last one makes me swoon. I would love to put this in the little area of my living room that I want to turn into a seating/reading area. Not that this would necessarily be hugely functional for reading… but it’s sooooo pretty! Right now I just have basic track lighting there.

Large Rectangle Hanging Capiz Pendant

It’s actually on sale, but I’m not ready to spend $260 on an area who’s design has been changing in my head on a near daily basis. Sad. It’s soooo pretty!

__

That was so nice of me to give West Elm some free advertising! Can’t help a daydreamer. The pictures are all links to the product pages.

 

Living

Wow, we haven’t spent much time in my living room at all.  The last time we were there was September of last year when I put up my shelves (here).  Prior to that it was June of last year when I got my furniture (here).

This is what it looks like today:

The differences now are mainly the console stereo under the shelves, the curtians, and some changed around knicky knackies.

I first showed you the stereo here.  What I mostly want to talk about are the curtains!

Pre-curtain-in-the-living-room days I didn’t have anything terribly specific in mind.  I knew I wanted some, knew I wanted decent light blockers (to reduce glare on the TV), and knew I likely wanted grommet top (because that’s my bag).  One random Target trip I decided to swing through the curtain section, for funsies, I wasn’t ready to buy anything that day.  Mostly because of the anticipated price of the project.  All of the thicker/light blocking stuff was typically 30 bucks + per panel (and I would need 4 panels).  I hadn’t found any that I loved enough to drop $120 on yet.  But then!  I saw The Deal of The Century.  Grommet top.  Blue (default favorite). Thermal. On some sort of magical, amazing clearance.  The original price was $30.49 per panel (which is still what they’re going for on the website today).  I got them for

**drum roll**

Six dollars and 85 cents per panel.

YOWZA!  That means I got 4 panels for $27.40.  That’s less than the original price of one panel!  Again, YOWZA!!!!!!  Now that‘s my kind of pricing!  And I love them.  They’re beyond perfect.  When they’re closed they also make a noticeable difference in keeping the room cooler during the hot summer days.

Here they are flanking my shelves:

And here is a magical closeup:

It actually took 3 Targets and 4 trips to buy these 4 panels… The first Target was out but had a rain check.  The second Target only had 2 and said I would have to surrender my rain check if I bought them.  Called another Target who said they had 4.  Got there and they only had 2 but they laughed when I asked if I had to surrender my rain check, they said that was nonsense.  Purchased those 2 and went back to get the final 2 from the second Target.  Then spent the rest of the day cackling with glee.

As for the changed knicky knackies:

I keep playing around with the arrangement of my shelves.  This current arrangement is my favorite so far, but I keep eyeballing it anyway.

I’m working on a pillow scheme for the couch.  I like pillows, but not too many.  I probably won’t change the current quantity, but I do intend to change patterns and colors.  Right now I have my eye on some West Elm covers for the currently couch-color-and-red-on-the-other-side pillows.

I finally got the bowl I’ve been eyeballing forever at IKEA.  Newly $10 cheaper price tag so I snatched that up.  It’s hard to see in the above picture since I have it on the shelf under the coffee table.  It doesn’t show up very well in person either so I’ve been contemplating where I should move it.

My other favorite bits are the animal friends scattered throughout.  I have an elephant, my pug bookends, a reading cat, and a springy pup who actually just got a new outfit half an hour ago (paint, I’m not that crazy).

That empty wall above the love seat is where I’m planning to hang the TP art project I’ve been talking about.

But I can’t leave you without the before and after journey.  Here you go:

Ta-da!

But I have to go in for final overkill here with the original original and the today shot.  I was just blown away by that original original shot!

Mem-reeeeees!  Okay, I’m done.

Masterful: The Rest of It

You’ve seen the little things.  You’ve seen the paint.  Now lets see the rest of it!

Curtains

I got my curtain panels from Le Target.  The two little windows flanking the bed (you saw a preview here) got a subtle gray pattern that reads solid from far away:

I didn’t have a definite idea going in that the side window should or should not match the two lil guys.  After browsing the options in the store, playing around with various combos, and (no surprise) taking far too long in the process I opted for some stripes for the larger side window:

The best picture I have of the two little windows in action is still this shot:

Now for wall number two!

They look fantastic open as well, but since I’m am neither a photographer nor in possession of major Photoshop skillz I haven’t been able to capture any photographic evidence.  But trust me, they’re bueno.

Art

For wall number three (the dresser wall), I made my own art!  I got a good size canvas on sale from the Hobby Lobby for about $17 and change.  Then I made my own chevron (zigzag pattern) stencil with help from a pattern on the internet.  Using a leftover Glidden tester (I’m aware this is probably artistic sacrilege.  House paint on a canvas?  Egads!  But I already had it and I sure don’t claim to be an artist) I went to town making my art.  I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!  Of course, I still debate whether I should have made the chevrons a little taller & skinner, but that’s just how I roll.  Here it is:

The wall is pretty giant, so I’m sure I’ll add more stuff to it eventually (I’ve got some ideas for behind the door as well).  But for now this is totally working for me.

My original plan for the dresser wall was going to be three giant IKEA frames, but after taping up templates I decided I didn’t like the scale of it.  Before scrapping the idea entirely I tested out how I liked them on wall number four instead.  Much better, so I swapped my concepts.  I got three of the 20.5 x 20.5 Ribba shadowbox frames with the intent to Photoshop some silly posters of some sort (a la this and this).  I put random scrapbook paper as temporary filler so I could hang them up.  I love the random scrapbook paper so much though that I’ll likely just leave them as is for awhile!

Here’s the wide shot:

Pardon the glare, here are the closeups.  Wood planks, Pebbles, and Corrugated something or other:

You may have noticed the gold Z’s hanging out on top of the frames in the wide shot.  I have a 3rd hanging out on the frame on my dresser (you can see it in the chevron picture).  I’m still pondering where I want these guys.  I would like all three together (you know Zzz…) but haven’t quite found the right spot yet.

___

There was a superglue incident with the Zs.  I taped them up at one point to test different locations and one kept falling.  Eventually it broke.  Enter the superglue!   Though I’m sure it will disappoint you to hear that I didn’t get stuck to anything or to myself.  Just had dried globs of glue left on my hands.  Turns out acetone is superglue’s worst enemy!  Came off right quick.  Log that solution away for the future!