Savin' the Stairway

Do you know what I love about our stairway? How wide it is, the lovely wood stairs, the way it sets the tone for our house (wood and cool and wow!)

Do you know what I don't love about the stairway? The ugly risers. Now, obviously, we will refinish the stairs treads at some point. Although they are in great shape structurally, they are pretty stained in the middle (the part people walk on) But you don't see that just looking at the stairs when you walk in the door.

What you do see are the risers. Are they as pretty as the stair treads? No sir, they are not. You'd be safe to assume that they are finished, as are the treads. No, wrong again. They were just plain wood, with exposed screws. Ew.

I got my inspiration from this picture here, with the decorated risers.

I thought about trying to find some pretty tiles to recreate this idea, but I was worried about how permanent it would be if I changed my mind, not to mention the expense of the tile and other necessary materials.  (Money is always a big factor in my many creative ideas.)

So, I went off  to the store to wait for inspiration to strike. I came home a little later with four rolls of wallpaper and a bottle of adhesive. Then I waited for a quiet day with not much else to do.

As far as execution, it was a relatively simple project. The wallpaper border had to be trimmed down a little to fit the risers, and cut to the correct length. Then I used a cheap throwaway brush to spread the adhesive onto the back of the paper, and went about sticking it to the risers. The adhesive was easy to manipulate so I was able to move the piece around to get the best fit. Lastly, smooth out the bubbles, and voila! Easy peasy.

Here's a few before and afters. I really like the effect, and I feel like the view is that much more calming and impressive as you walk in the front door. Yay for easy projects!

Friday Favs: Decorating

I love to decorate, and dream up beautiful spaces, especially if the "before's" were particularly cringe-inducing. Here are some of my favorite websites for inspiration:

This Young House

Chock full of DIY, project ideas, moodboards and inspiring before and afters.

Better Homes and Gardens

Great project ideas, and a wonderful gallery of beautiful rooms to peruse.

Life In The Fun Lane

This lovely blogger has a fabulous home, mostly done up in white. She has great tips and tons of inspiration!

Rate My Space 

Although this site can become slow and difficult to navigate, it is an endless source of inspiration.

Hope you enjoy these sites as much as I do!

Summer Goals

Being homeowners means that your house to-do list is miles long, and your want-to-do list is even longer. That said, there are a few things that we want to try to accomplish this summer:

1. Turn up our curb appeal

Our house is the only one like it on our street, and dare I say, the only one of its kind in the neighborhood. The outside, much like the inside, has been sadly neglected and abused, so we'll be ramping up the TLC so that the outside starts to match the beautifully renovated inside! Stay tuned for our outside to-do list of summer projects and gardening.

2. Refinish this dresser

I'm thinking a deep dark stain, and pretty glass knobs. It will either stay in the living room, or move up to office. Or the attic, or the basement... ah the possibilities! ;-)

3. Refinish the floors in the living room and dining room

Nuff said. We're gonna try to DIY, so we'll let you know how that works out.

4. Paint the kitchen walls, and possibly the cabinets.

The plan is to paint the walls, and then evaluate whether the cabinets should be painted as well. We'll keep you posted.

5. Finish guest room, living room and master bedroom.

Our to-do list for the guest room is as follows, you can read about what's still to do in the other rooms here and here.

• Cut, install, and paint baseboards in guest room.
• Finish outlining and painting damask design on wall.
• Buy rug for guest room.
• Cover or paint chair for desk
• Make cushion for window seat
• Paint doorways

6. Begin next four big projects; the front and back entryways, the office and the basement.

Stay tuned for posts about these spaces in the next few weeks. UPDATE: Front entryway is done!

I know that this list is ambitious to say the least, but at least we are shooting for the stars, right? ;-)

March 2009 Recap

• Increase emergency savings by $500 We're up to 68% of this goal!
• Increase car fund by $1K Like I said last month, we had done this, but Luke's car cost us this amount to pass inspection :-(
• Do more sewing this year I've made a cardigan, and a tunic so far. I also made a curtain for the laundry room, so I think I'm doing well on this goal so far.
• Plant a vegetable garden We've bought the seeds and the greenhouse to start them in. I've researched the planting schedule for our zone, and am now researching soil/compost, etc. We'll be starting the seeds at the end of April.
• Take a summer vacation in WI Luke took the time off of work, now we just have to plan the vacation!
• Get together with family more often We've been seeing the immediate family a lot lately, and I even had lunch with my grandparents this month. Now that Luke's Grandma is back from FL, we can see her too.
• Study other religions I checked out a book called the Illustrated Guide to World Religions. I've only read through Judaism so far, but it was very interesting.
• Get shoulders in shape (Luke) His shoulders have been improving little by little, he hasn't dislocated one in months (a record!) He was also able to swing a bat this month, which is huge progress.

Overall, I think we're doing really well with our goals this year. If you notice different goals from last month, that is because I only post the goals that we made progress with each month. Let's see how April goes!

An Inspiring Office

I'm loving this cute little office area I came across today. Usually, when I come across a space I like, I copy the image to my inspiration folder, and that's that. However, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on what I like about this image, in the hopes that it will help me find a solution for my own office chaos.

First off, I love the color scheme. Since paper stuff and office stuff can be so stressful, this palette of aqua, tan and white is oh-so-peaceful. I love the way the colors are repeated throughout the space, and how the aqua draws your eyes to the vases and boxes.

I like that everything is pretty. There are decorative items, (vases and flowers) but even the functional stuff is pretty. We've got pretty and functional paper boxes, labeled neatly.  A pretty, white cabinet with sliding panels keeps messier stuff covered up, although it still looks pretty organized up there.  The parsons' desk is cleanlined but very useful, with a large workspace. The chair looks pretty comfortable, and very, very cute. The wastebasket is obviously useful, but attractive at the same time.

Let's look at the elements that are included in this very small office space. I think it would be safe to deduce that these are the essentials, as there isn't room for much else besides the essentials!

• Laptop


• Desk & Comfortable Chair


• Lamp


• Bulletin Board


• Concealed, Labeled Storage (Boxes and cabinet)


• Magazine holders


• Pen Cup


• Notebook


• CD Storage


• Wastebasket


• Decorative Items

My guess is that additional office supplies are in the desk drawer, and it looks like there may be a printer and other accessories under the desk on the right side.

All in all it is a fabulous use of a small space, and it has definitely inspired me!

Loving the Living Room

I'm really trying to get every room in the house photographed before the end of the month so I can have an updated album of how the house has changed since we bought it last February. I can't believe it's been a year already! The Castle is feeling more and more like home, and a pleasant one at that!

Here are some pics of the living room in its mostly finished state. But, before I show off all of our hard work, here's a reminder of where we started.

And now, the stunning afters :-)

Here's what we've accomplished in this room:

• Tore out icky brown carpeting


• Scraped glued on cork (!) panels off the walls


• Spackled, patched, sanded and primed walls


• Painted walls


• Tore out weird light thing in fireplace area


• Found gas logs in attic, placed in fireplace


• Tore out terrible header over mantel, documented here


• Installed new lights, wiring, primed and painted mantel area


• Replaced hardware on bookcase doors


• Installed moulding around window.


• Replaced all outlets in room


• Hung pictures, shades and curtains.

Still to do:

• Install moulding around other window


• Install moudling on mantel


• Hook up logs if possible


• Replace tiling in front of fireplace


• Refinish floor, install quarter round next to baseboards


• Make new grates for floor vents

All in all, I'd say we've made pretty good progress in this room, and we spend lots of time in it so we definitely love it!

Dressing the Chicken...

...bouillon jars, to be exact. In rearranging my pantry I found these little jars that hold my beef and chicken bouillon cubes. I love the size of the jars, and just keep moving fresh batches into these jars I bought a while ago. A few months ago, probably during my fall cleaning, I hastily used a sharpie to identify the contents, on each top, so I wouldn't have to play the "which bouillon is this?" guessing game. 

The size of the jars is great, but they're not the prettiest to look at. Today I thought, why not dress these little jars up a little? That way they would completely follow my policy of every item in my home must make me smile. I am a huge clutter magnet, and this mantra really simplifies my decision making process. And, it ensures that the things that surround me are ones that I really do like.

Here's what I started with:

And the finished product:

I basically took some scrapbooking supplies and a white charcoal pencil and went to town. I cut two strips of the green paper to fit around the jar, and two circles to fit the top, with a detail cut from the green paper. Tape and mounting squares holds everything in place, and then I took my trusty sharpie once again and wrote the equivalent on the bottom of the jar so as not to forget it. 

Voila!