Master Bedroom Sneak Peak

Well, I guess it's more than a sneak peak, but I wanted you to see how it's coming along since my last post. Our old bedroom looked like this.....





We sold the furniture and stuff on craigslist and used the money to buy this new Edlund bed from Ikea and a new memory foam mattress from Overstock. We'd been sleeping in a full bed and thought it was time to upgrade to a queen!! Here's what it looks like now!!




The duvet cover is from Ikea as are the bed and nightstands. The pillows and throw blanket are from Meijer!! I am in love with the new Katie Brown home decor line they are carrying in stores. Beautiful colors and great prices!!! I'm going with a tiffany blue, yellow and beigey/gray (greige?) color scheme in the room. Also keeping my eye out for a sweet sunburst mirror for over the bed. Here is what the rest of the room is looking like...


I am planning on some type of gallery wall of frames for this little space of wall next to the HUGE window. Thanks to Young House Love and House Tweaking blogs for showing me how to hang curtains high and wide. It makes such a big difference in how your windows look!!


Got this little round table for a steal of a deal at my local Target store. I have been searching craigslist and thrift stores for the perfect chair to go next to it!! Possibly something armless or maybe even rattan/wicker?? Or wait..... leather????? Who knows!!!! As far as what's going on the wall above, I'm leaning towards some type of canvas painting - probably from Homegoods or Etsy. Oh, and I'm trying my hand at customizing a lamp shade with some cool yellow chevron fabric I found. Which is why there's no shade on the floor lamp yet!!!


We will also be tackling our walk in closet at some point. Instead of spending buttloads of cash on built ins from California Closets or even Home Depot, we're going to try making our own. We might end up opening this wall up somehow - either by doing double doors with mirrors on them or maybe even some sort of curtained "dressing room" situation. I'm not sure yet. We have quite an issue with doors in our room. See below photo....


I have never liked how all of these doors look. The door into our room, the closet door and then the door into the bathroom are all right smack next to each other. Part of me wants to do away completely with the bathroom door, but then the other part of me thinks it would be a mistake. Esp when Kevin gets up at 5:00 am to shower and wakes me up because I've removed the bathroom door in the name of good design. Who knows what we'll end up doing. It's a dilema. A door dilema.

And now for my very cool, very affordable furniture project!!! We got rid of all of our dressers because I felt like they were really junking up the room. Plus, once we pimp our closet out we won't need them anyways. But I think every bedroom needs nightstands with cool lamps on them. I scoured thrift stores and craigslist for the perfect nightstand, but nothing really jumped out at me. Then I found this amazing Ikea dresser makeover at Aubrey and Lindsay's blog: http://aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com/2009/09/side-table-project.html

Enter Ikea's $29 unfinished "Rast" dresser. Given it's small size, I wouldn't really call it a dresser. But it makes a perfect nightstand!!! After finding some affordable silver drawer pulls on ebay, I bought some black/brown wood stain and stained the outside and top of the dresser. It took about three coats and a quick sanding with steel wool in between each coat. Then I bought Glidden's "Parchment White" paint because the peeps over at Young House Love blog said it matched the Ikea white perfectly. And ta-da!!! My little Ikea dressers went from this:



To this!!!



I love a good makeover!!! Once I find some cool lamps to paint yellow and some frames and other little accessories, the nightstands will be complete! Now for one last photo: the hallway. I had this mirror that was originally in my bedroom that I didn't know what to do with. So, I hung it on the awkward wall in my hallway right at the top of the stairs. I feel like it opens the space up so much more!!!



That's about it for now, but you know I'll be sure to post more photos of the progress as it happens.

On a more serious note, we had quite a scare today. My youngest daughter Lulu had her first seizure in almost three years, so we spent the afternoon in the hospital keeping an eye on her. She seems to be doing much better now, but of course we are very upset. We had thought she'd outgrown these episodes, but apparently not. These next few weeks will undoubtedly bring a lot of testing and questions to which we may or may not get answers to. What we do know is that Lulu is very healthy otherwise. The seizures she's had in the past have not in any way affected her brain, her body or her spirit. She is one of the toughest, bravest people I know and she's only four. Any prayers you could offer up on her behalf would be much appreciated!!

New Music Monday 5/16/2011 'William Fitzsimmons'

Well, hello there. I hope this blog post finds you warm and well. We're having a bit of a cold snap here in the midwest. We went from almost ninety degrees last week back down to the forties this afternoon. Brrrrrrr!!! Nothing like running both your A/C and your furnace in the same week!! No worries though..... we'll be sweating it out in the summer heat soon enough.

Today I spent the afternoon at home catching up on some much needed laundry and housework. I was also nursing a sickish husband. He came home Friday afternoon from work with a terrible toothache that drastically worsened over the weekend. Our dentist put up some pain meds and antibiotics to hold him over until he can have it pulled tomorrow morning. Poor guy. There's nothing worse than tooth pain!!!

While catching up on said housework and putting together some unfinished nightstands with Ethan (that kid is so amazing at assembling furniture from IKEA - he must get it from me right?), I of course had our Pandora radio playing in the background. We were keeping busy when this amazing song came on and I just had to stop and see who it was. It ended up being this guy I had never heard of before - William Fitzsimmons. That doesn't happen very often, so instantly I was super curious. I started looking up some of his work and listening to his other songs. Wow. I am hooked. It's so hit or miss with Pandora. You never know if it's just going to be the one song you're hearing that's great or if there's a whole album of amazingness.

William Fitzsimmons is one of those rare artists that really make me excited about music right now. The radio is so filled with crap. You can yell at me if you want to, but it just is. In a world full of overproduced crap, singer/songwriters like Fitzsimmon's are a breath of fresh air.

Who is this guy, you ask?? Well, he has had quite a different life from you or me. Both of his parents were blind, but quite musical. Due to their inability to communicate through visual means, their home was filled with the sounds of musical instruments and family sing-a-longs. He taught himself how to play several instruments and began recording his own music during the summer break of college. He was noticed on Myspace and gained quite a following from there, but once his songs were featured on hit tv shows like Grey's a Private Practice it didn't take long for people to get on board. He stands right up there with artists like Iron & Wine, Mumford and Sons, Sufjan Stevens and even the late great Elliott Smith. Most of his songs are quite serious in nature and tackle difficult subjects such as betrayal, divorce and mental illness. He has quite a few albums out - none of which I currently own at this time. I am still working my way through all of the tracks to decide which ones I'm going to get for myself!!! For now, here are a few of my absolute faves so far.....

'So This Is Goodbye'


'I Don't Feel It Anymore - Song of the Sparrow' duet with the lovely Priscilla Ahn


'I Kissed A Girl' Katy Perry Cover - this is brilliant!!!


'If You Would Come Back Home'


'Passion Play'


'I Don't Feel It Anymore' George Raquet Remix - I do love some remixes


'The Tide Pulls From the Moon' - luuuuvvvvvvv


That's about it for now! There are so many other songs of his to explore! But now I'm off to go enjoy the rest of the Bulls game with my doped up husband, a cup of tea and a blanket. Happy listening!!!!

I've Been Framed

Or at least my front room wall has!! Ahhhh, the front room. What a transformation!!! Here is what the blank sofa wall looked like before...



Here is my inspiration photo a la Pottery Barn...



And here is what it looks like now after my trip to Ikea!!



I wish I would have taken some "during" photos. I used brown packaging paper and traced each frame before hanging them on the walls. It was quite a process but I think the end result is fab! Now I have the fun job of finding photos to put in all of these frames. I'm planning on making it a "Kevin and Molly" wall. Each photo will have something to do with us or where we've been or lived. Or what we do. Should be cool! I am still planning on making a piece of art for the upper right part of the wall above the one frame - maybe a black beat up board with the "312" area code on it??

Here's a look at some of the other parts of this room....


Ahhhh, the fireplace. It's such a hard thing to decorate given it's oddness. I will make it happen!!!


Da bar. This bar is one of my fave pieces of furniture. We make some good drinks here!!!


Notice how there isn't much wine in the wine rack?? I guess we drink it too fast to keep any there!! Want to know what my new fave wine is?? The Barefoot Sweet Red. It's amazing! And I don't normally even like red wine as much as I do white. I also love their Moscato. Amazing!!! Ugh. And don't pay any attention to the stairs. They are messed up AGAIN. The paint didn't stick. Why why why do I have so much trouble getting these stairs right?? I think I need a glass of wine......


I'm still collecting pillows from etsy for the sofa and chair. And I'm also on the lookout for a cool tray for the ottoman!!! Oh and there will be another photo over the chair. I just have to get to target for another one!!

I love how the wall turned out. Once we get some photos up in the frames and finish a few other things in here, I'll have more to share. Until then I'll be searching for the perfect photos!!! :)

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep....My Master (Bedroom) Plan

Well, it finally feels like spring (and sometimes summer) here in my neck of the woods!! Yay! There is nothing like spring sunshine. All of my plants and flowers in the backyard are starting to come up, there are tiny little buds on all of my trees and the grass is the prettiest shade of green.

While there's a lot to be done outside, we were able to get a few things done the past few days. The garden is ready for all of our vegetable seeds we'll be planting within the next month - probably Mother's Day weekend. We took down the kids' wooden playset and gave it to a very nice family with two sweet little boys from our home town. And we've cut back some of the dead stuff from last year to make way for all the little green growth that's happening. I've also been spring cleaning and washing windows inside. We've made lots of donations to our local Good Will Store. It feels so good to get rid of all that extra stuff!! After all, less is more right? More or less. :)

As I was spring cleaning my master bedroom, I got to thinking about the changes I've been wanting to make in there. We are so happy with how the main floor renovations have turned out, I thought, "What the heck? Why not get started in here??" Haha. Nevermind the fact that we aren't technically "done" downstairs yet. I mean, we're done with the major stuff. But there's this....

I need to put another coat of the black on the stairs and then do the other ones, but I have to do it after the kids go to bed at night so they won't walk on them. And lately I haven't had the time!

And then there's this.... I still need to find an end table and some throw pillows (green like the office) and I can't decide what to put on the wall over this sofa....


Or this one actually.....still looking for the right pillows (green ones) to complete the look on the big sofa and make up my mind about wall art/pictures....


So many little things to finish up!! Really it's just wall art related. Nothing too tricky. So!! I decided to just go ahead and sell the orangey oak matchy matchy dressers and nightstands that we've had for the past few years. And the wrought iron bed. I listed them all yesterday on craigslist. When I spoke of my plans to my wonderful husband he just laughed at me. So I took that as his enthusiastic blessing!! :) Basically the plan is to do built-ins in our walk-in closet to maximize the space. We're making them ourselves rather than buying a closet system because they're just too freaking expensive. Once we get the closet done, we won't need so many huge dressers and chests. Right now there is just too much furniture in a not so big room. Here are some inspiration photos of where I'm going with this...









Aren't they gorgeous? I'm thinking - dark wood canopy bed + white bedding + lots of comfy throw pillows... maybe some second hand nightstands that I can paint white.... maybe an armless chair in the corner with pillows and a throw.... and a little round table next to it. There it is! My master bedroom plan!! Stay tuned for photo updates of that and also maybe some progress on the other crap I haven't finished yet. Hopefully.

New Music Monday 4/4/2011 'Faded Paper Figures'

Can it really be Sunday again?? The weeks go so fast I can hardly keep up!! I'm going to have to type this out fast because I just checked the weather map and it looks like we're in for a pretty decent spring storm. Those of you who know me well know that storms are not my favorite. Guess I will be taking the weather radio to bed with me tonight!

The band I'm writing about this week is an indie electronica group called 'Faded Paper Figures' that hails from LA. The trio consists of John Williams and Kael and Heather Alden. They started writing music back in 2007 and ended up putting a few songs up on myspace under the name Machine Discourse. Obviously, they later changed their name to Faded Paper Figures or FPF.



FPF's first album titled 'Dynamo' was well received and described as "a balance of upbeat and soothing electronics.' They've been compared to The Postal Service which certainly shouldn't hurt their feelings. I personally love the balance of chill and fun these guys offer up in their songs. And not only are they musically talented, they're smart. Heather is currently a med student at UCLA and John is a professor of English and media studies at Yale. But they've still been able to follow their passion and make great music. Here are a few top picks from their 2008 album....

'North By North'


'B film'


'Logos' :) maybe my fave of all


'Polaroid Solution' sooooo Postal Service-y & yep it was played on Grey's


'I Fell Off My Name'


'The Persuaded'


Despite how busy they've been with school, FPF came out with a second album last year called 'New Medium.' I freaking LOVED the first album, but this one is amazing. I love everything! It's too hard to pick which songs to share here, but are my faves....

'Invent It All Again' LOVE


'Limelight'


'You Know What I Mean'


'Small Talk'


'One More Crash'


'The Cold Wars'


'New Medium'


If you're looking for fun and upbeat music, neither of these albums will let you down!!! Happy listening and Happy New Music Monday!!!

Do You See What I See?

I've been pondering over what to hang on the walls since we painted them way back before Christmas. One wall in particular that's always been a big question mark for me is the wall opposite our kitchen table. It's an odd little wall that isn't really big enough for any sort of buffet or hutch or even really any shelves. But whatever gets put there needs to really make a statement. It's a dilema, I know. I thought about doing a grouping of frames but I've done that before. I thought about a big piece of art, but nothing I've seen has really spoken to me. I've gone back and forth about a big floor mirror, but worried about the size. Size is always an issue isn't it? And I wondered, "do I really WANT to see myself eating?"

Sooooooo, after much debate we took a trip to Ikea on a Sunday afternoon (don't ever go to Ikea on a Sunday, by the way) and picked up the black/brown framed Mongstad mirror. At only $99, it stole my heart without stealing all of my money. I was worried, but I am really happy with how it looks on the wall. It's big enough, but not too big. And you actually can't see yourself eating because of the fact that the wall isn't really in line with the table so much. Win!! Here's how it looks from a couple of different angles....

From the family room:


It works out nice because the frame of the mirror is the same finish as the shelves just around the corner in the front room:


From the kitchen:


Phew. It feels good to have at least one wall out of the way! Now I can focus on the walls over the couches!! Stay tuned!!!

New Music Monday 3/28/2011 'Radical Face'

Holy balls, it's been a long time since I've written about music. I don't know how many people actually read my blog, but I used to post music reviews every Monday. With everything going on I just haven't had the time to keep it up, but I really miss it. But it's been so long since I've done it that it's hard to know how to start again. So here I am on a Sunday night trying to type out my latest find!!

We're at that weird time of year here in the midwest where it's not winter anymore (thank you, Jesus) but it's not really that nice outside yet. It sucks. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some consistently warm temps! Being stuck inside has its advantages though. I'm getting a lot of projects done (more on that later) all while listening to some great new music!! One new find I'm really enjoying lately is a one man band called 'Radical Face.' Radical Face is just a dude named Ben Cooper who happens to be from Jacksonville. He's also part of other popular groups Electric President and Iron Orchestra. If you like Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith or Animal Collective you will be a fan of Radical Face.



Cooper's album 'Ghost' was four years in the making and came out way back in March of 2007. Why it hasn't gotten more attention is completely beyong me. There's a subtle layering of drums and lyrics and sound effects of times gone by - maybe one of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard. It is a discreet masterpiece. What makes it even cooler is that it's a concept album. The idea behind it is that houses retain stories of things that have happened in them. The people that live in a home leave their "ghosts" behind. Each track on the album tells a story - some from the house's point of view. Ben Cooper even talked about an old house he grew up in as one of the inspiration's for the album. I'm a dork, but I think this is so right on and cool. I grew up in an older home as well and this gives new meaning to the phrase "if walls could talk." Everytime I go back "home" I can almost hear the memories that were made there - making blanket forts, doing homework at the kitchen table, playing in the side yard..... It always made me wonder what kinds of memories were made in that house before I lived there. I think that's sort of what this album is all about.

Here are some of my favorite tracks from Radical Face's Album 'Ghost.'

"Welcome Home" - looooovvvvveeeeeee


'Let the River In'


'Glory'


'Wrapped In Piano Strings'


'Haunted'


'Winter Is Coming'


'Homesick'


I feel like this album could be a soundtrack for a little unknown, indie film or something. The more I listen, the more I love. I hope you will too!!