Dining Room Before & After (Old House)

I've been in the new house for about 10 months now, it's finally starting to feel like 'home'.  I firmly say that I love the new house and neighborhood and though there are things I miss about the old house, on the whole I don't miss being there like I did at the beginning.  So those are all great things!

Before I begin blogging too much about the new house I want to wrap up the old house with a few rooms that I never got around to featuring.  It's funny to me how hindsight is always 20/20.  There were always spaces in the old place that never felt done or felt like I needed to redo or tweak them more.  I'm not going to bash our old style too bad because we used our spaces well and thoroughly enjoyed the life we had in them - which if you ask me is the true measure of a home, no matter how 'styled' and well put together they really are.

I feel so silly writing this post!  Clearly it isn't stopping me too much since I'm going through with it. I just feel like I need to 'preserve' it here on the blog for prosperity.  So here we go, let's start with a pretty world class 'before':

Dining room with two tone floral wallpaper and coordinating border

With our first house we inherited rooms full of floral wallpaper.  Sadly this wasn't the worst wallpaper in the whole house, and honestly it wasn't the first room that we planned to pull down (that would have been this one), but on moving day a dear friend of ours saw a seam of loose paper on this wall and riiiiiiiped it down!  And thus, makeover #1 was on the books!

I never hated this room, but it never felt quite right to me either.  Looking back now I see all the reasons why.  We chose and bought the paint in the store, we chose the wrong finish, we decided to stain all of the outlet/light switch covers (still not sure why we did that), the curtain rod and curtains were bought on clearance and were okay...but not a wow.  The table was purchased in the excitement of new house buying before we moved in and so was a little big for the room and we never found chairs that we loved to go with them so we always used these mismatched ones from our wedding (11 years in and they are still in use).  The light we bought from a big box store (our first foray into changing out light fixtures) and in retrospect is not something I'd choose again.  But we got the wallpaper down (WALLPAPER!!!! GRRR) and paint up and spent a fair amount of time updating the space and in the 9 years we lived there it was good enough.

In staging the house for listing we took out the small buffet and replaced our dining table with an oval table.  I'm not sure how but the room felt smaller.  Our house sold fast but we lived with the staged version for about 2 months before moving and after living with less furniture in there it is kind of funny to think that we had all of that in such a small room!  Here is the listing picture to give another look at the space as well as a few more pictures of it without the small buffet and with the round table.

So that's the reveal of a room that we no longer live with and that I was ready to redo :)  In total I lived with the space in a variety of forms (but always with the flat Havana cream-yellow) for 9 years.  I was ready to redo it by then, how long does it take you to feel like your rooms need a refresh?

Small Spaces: Kitchens

It seems as if the kitchen is the one area of the home that is the perpetual 'catch all' for every home. (If not, there must be something wrong with me and everyone I know.) This is a particular problem if you have very little space to utilize. The key in a small kitchen (or space) is to use every inch. Generally speaking most organizational items are reasonably inexpensive and really pay off in the end. Here are some items to help with essential and non-essential organization and storage.

This knife rack from Tiny Living {www.tinyliving.com} is perfect for compact storage. It can sit on a counter top or be wall mounted. What I like about this opposed to the popular magnetic kitchen strips is that the blades are visible but not exposed, seems like a much safer alternative. $89.99 Container Store {www.containerstore.com} Gravity-Feed Can Rack $14.99 Ikea Asker Container (5.99) Ikea Asker Dish Drainer (suspension rail or wall mount, folds up when not in use) (29.99) Ikea RATIONELL VARIERA Spice rack with 6 jars gray (Wall or cabinet mount) $12.99

Container Store Clear Corner Pantry Shelf On sale $12.49 Ikea RATIONELL VARIERA Shelf insert silver color $3.99 Ikea cabinet 'guts' rolling shelves with compartment dividers, lid racks, spice racks, etc. Great for using every space.A popular solution for additional small kitchen storage is to install a peg board like this one shown from Design Sponge. I have varied feelings about this idea personally, as I don't like to see a lot of 'clutter' and I think one would need to be very careful about the size and items used on a peg board.
Here is an organization hutch from Country Living {www.countryliving.com} that I think is absolutely adorable and very practical. I don't necessarily think that you'd have to have a large cabinet like this one to make an organization cabinet, an old buffet, desk, drawer, or any piece with good storage options could be re purposed to be dually used.

For permanent small space dwellers perhaps something like the YesterTec {www.yestertec.com} Complete Kitchen in an Armoire would be worth the investment. The armoires are actually concealing a COMPLETE kitchen - with appliances! They are customizable to fit any space or need, and then they fold up without a trace. For people who hate seeing appliances, dirty dishes, or kitchen clutter this could be the ticket. They do come with an investment price tag, $10k +/-, but for those in a small home, condo, or apartment, it may be worth the money.

Lastly here are some tips about things to get rid of while downsizing your living space from an MSN article that happened to be on the homepage today. {http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=18941056}

Always take it with you:

• Anything that has storage in it.
• Pairs of lamps; they add balance.
• Ottomans; create cozy spaces.
• Armless sofas, or ones with lower arms, to make the room feel more spacious. ("Here's a handy rhyme to help you remember: 'Keep a sofa with chairs, or love seats in pairs,' " says Ward.)
• Bookcases; they're visually interesting; they hold lots of stuff, and they can make great room dividers.
• Mirrors; they make a places appear brighter and bigger; lean it on a wall opposite good light and a view, and a mirror will reflect both and make a place feel larger.
• Furniture on wheels or casters; it adds flexibility.
• Nesting tables or furniture that stacks.

Sometimes take it with you:

• Love seats.
• Small desks or writing tables; they can often be used in a kitchen or a guest room.
• Modular seating; it can be reconfigured, or even broken up and used in different rooms.
• Throw pillows; if they're in good condition and work well with the color scheme, they can add comfort and a visual interest.
• Ceiling fans, so long as they hug the ceiling close.
  

Never take these with you:

• Unloved books.
• Extraneous bric-a-brac.
• Artwork that's not beloved.
• Small, never-used appliances.
• Doubles of anything.
• Square or rectangular glass coffee tables; they're too bulky, says Ward.
• Sofas more than 96 inches in length.
• Big plants and potted trees.
• Unused pianos or other instruments.
• Worn rugs, except expensive Orientals.
• Tired stuff: old audio gear, incomplete dishes, old magazines, worn-out bedding, tax records and receipts more than seven years old.

Small Space Organization Tips

In response from a (soon-to-be) small apartment dweller here are some great space (& sanity) saving tips to live by.


The following tips are taken from Apartment Therapy {www.apartmenttherapy.com} reader tips. I chose the ones that I thought were the most applicable (after living in a tiny apartment myself).

• If you have a small space use small pieces that fit the scale of the apartment. Your space will feel bigger.
• Dual purpose! Look for multiple uses in everything you buy. An ottoman is cozy, but an ottoman with hidden storage is even better.
• Go vertical and use the space up to the the ceiling whenever possible - shelves and storage that have a small footprint but are tall can really help in a small space.
• Arrange the space so it meets your needs for the way you truly use it, and put money into the areas where you spend the most time. If you always eat in the living room, maybe that means investing in a coffee or side table that's really comfortable to eat from and forgoing a separate dining area altogether.
• Edit, edit, edit. Look at everything with a critical eye. If you have a chair that you just don't love, get rid of it. If you notice you miss having a chair, find one that you love, is a better scale and a better investment of your space. Don't store anything that you don't need.
• Expandable dining table.
• Really invest in a closet organization system. You'd be surprised how on track that can keep you and you could always just shut the door.

The following are also from AT, but are more about making your small space 'feel' less cluttered than actually saving space. Good tips none the less.

• Furniture with legs feels less heavy in a space than pieces that sit directly on the floor.
• Large mirror to give the illusion of more space.
• A dark floor against light colored walls and furniture can really make a place feel more spacious. (Although this could be hard to achieve in a rental.)

Personally the best advice I can give to anyone living in a small space is, be smart. If you don't have alot of space then think through anything you bring into your home. Any object you bring in needs to have a defined space before you buy it and if possibly duel uses. Remember in a smallapartment/home/office there isn't room for 'good rooms', in a small space every space needs to be 'great'.

Lastly to finish off a very wordy post here are some photos of a great duel-funtioning small space:

This apartment from the AT Small Cool contest utilizes many of the tips from above; a unifying color pallate, a large mirror, smart storage solutions (under the bed drawers, utensils racks, shelving), and and still doesn't feel all that small or cluttered.

Stay tuned for more small space saving tips and inspiration!

Pretty bookcases

The past week the man and I have been kind of sickly so needless to say our weekend wasn't all that exciting. Plans were cancelled, sweat pants were worn, and our book shelf was organized! (Okay, so that part was exciting...) We have a really beautiful antique bookcase that we recieved from my in laws. The only thing about it is that it is large in a small way. It is about 5 feet long, 4 shelves high. Now we have a lot of books, but we don't have quite enough books for that whole 'study' look. Over the past 2 years I've played around with different arrangements and I think that I've finally found the one that is going to stick for a little while! Check it out: (Just ignore my awesome camera work)


And while we're on the subject of pretty bookcases, here is a little bookcase love:


This photo is EVERYWHERE! It has good effect, but is a little bright for me personally. Still looks like a comfy place to nap though! From Flickr user, Chotda {http://flickr.com/photos/santos/27538777/}:

I really like this from India Hicks, via Domino Magazine. Chris looked at me like I was crazy when I suggested wrapping all our books!

This is pretty fan-tab-ulous if you ask me. A secret 'stair-case' designed by Levitate Architects. {http://www.levitate.uk.com/}