Bedroom Beautification

We've made a lot of progress beautifying the bedroom, and I wanted to share the so-far transformation since it is delightful.

First up, lets take a look at where we started.

This looks a little sadder than it should because I stripped the bed to emphasize the massive mc'mattress issue, which we remedied several months in.  Also fun elements to note, the collection of paint color options amassing to the right of the bed (and there were way more than that by the time we chose Van Deusen Blue, Benjamin Moore).

Still massive mc'mattress, but we painted! Or to be more accurate, Eli the BuJew and his merry men painted.  I am in love with the color, and am starting to convince Aaron it was worth it to make countless trips to multiple paint stores, to paint an unknown but alarming number of swatches on the wall, in prep for this love.

Ok well good news, we do own sheets and blankets and pillows.  Speaking of pillows, those gorgeous blue ones are a recent addition to the room.  I had exchanged some kitchenware at Williams Sonoma from the wedding, and picked up pillows at Williams Sonoma Home.

Williams Sonoma Home, Printed Ikat Masala Pillow

Williams Sonoma Home, Woven Raw Silk Pillow

Some might find it odd to exchange wonderfully functional kitchenware for the 5th, 6th and 7th pillow now gracing our bed, but thankfully I married a man who understands.

Also, we lowered mc'massive mattress, more on that in this post (which is long).

We also took a quick pilgrimage to Mecca (Ikea) this weekend, and among other goodies picked up these lamps for our bedside tables.

Ikea Jonsob Orod Lamp, $49

$49 felt a little expensive for Ikea, but considering the cheapest alternative I was considering on Amazon was twice the price, I was on board.  And, they come with a dimmer, which is perfect for late night reading.

We still have a few pieces to go before she is finished, but not much: a rug, and three dressers and maybe a bench.

The rug just need to be large, neutral, and comfortable.  I am planning on putting delightful area rugs on top of it, so it is just the base.  And the dressers, they're the functional addition.  The mismatched nightstands are on the chopping block, one is going to the mancave, and the other (Ikea) is just going.  In their place we're getting real 42" dressers, hello storage.

I also have some yet-to-be-installed art, antlers, and a blue rug.

This is what it all should look like when it is done.

I heart Photoshop.

There's your beautification update! I think the bedroom will be the first room that will be done, or done'ish.  What do you think so far?

Featured Artist: Irene Suchocki

I adore Pinterest like it is a cupcake, slathered in buttercream frosting.  And just when I thought it could not get more delicious I discovered a new trick, using Pinterest to search Etsy for great art.  Um, genius, if I dare say so myself.

If you've ever used Etsy, you've been overwhelmed by love for Etsy, but somewhere in the back of your mind, you've thought to yourself: discovery is freaking hard on this website.  In their defense, Etsy has clearly tried to untangle their unnavigable mass of talented artists by giving users the options to browse categories, advanced search, 'pounce' (recently active and undiscovered shops), time machine (recently listed items), featured sellers, and, not kidding, colors (click a color, they'll find items to match).  Uh, mess.

On Pinterest, you can type "horse photograph etsy" and voila, visual people have amassed a wall of photographs of horses, available for purchase on Etsy.

It was in this newfangled way of searching for art on Etsy that I found Irene Suchocki, Canadian photographer.

Irene Suchocki

I went mad for this.

Grand Central - Etsy Listing

It's $30 for an 8x8 inch print, which is precious and affordable, thank you.  She'll also do larger prints for very reasonable prices, an option I'm looking into for the living room.

She has her work organized by my favorite countries and cities, Italy, Paris, New York, and she also has landscapes, and flora and fauna.

These are some of my favorites.

Seascape

Venice

Paris

New York

I found an interview with Irene done in April, the interviewer frames Irene as the most popular photographer on Etsy, so it looks like I'm not alone in my appreciation for her talent.  This is a link to the interview if you want to find out more about Irene!

Also, check out her resources:

Etsy Shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/irenesuchocki

Website - http://www.irenesuchocki.com/

Blog - http://is-theblog.blogspot.com/

Flikr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/irenesuchocki/

So what do you think of Irene's work? Delish? Aaron hates when I abbreviate words that have no abbreviation.

An Unexpected Addition: The Bookcase

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Aaron rented a van and we schlepped (yiddish, so fun) out to Long Island to pick up a dresser of mine that a former neighbor was holding for us.  On our way home, we took another detour and visited The Lombards, also former neighbors and dear family friends.

Johnna, Melissa, Richie and Rich at our wedding.

The latest model, Ryan!

Ryan, third child, was eating ice cream in bed when we arrived, so adorable.  After a short visit, and having mentioned we brought a van, Johnna was generous enough to offer up a ton of furniture.  We checked out the possibilities, and settled on one thing, a bookcase, then buried in the basement.

The bookcase!

I had no idea where I was going to put it, but it looked great and it was modular (the levels of the bookcase come apart) so there were a lot of options for console tables, end tables, entertainment stands, etc.  Oh, or we could use it as a bookcase somewhere.  We packed it in some borrowed towels (which reminds me, we should return those) and headed home.

That night I woke up at 2:00AM and couldn't stop thinking about what we could do with that bookcase.  Then it hit me, we could put it in the kitchen and put all our glassware in it! Amazing.

I wasn't even planning on putting anything on that wall in the kitchen but the bookcase was slim enough and we needed somewhere to put all that gorgeous glassware from the wedding, so the whole thing worked out great.

And here is more bookcase.

I'm not sure if you can tell from the glamour shots, but the bookcase is a *little* beaten up, there are some scratches that have pulled off the stain in places, some of the glass doors are hard to open and close, and the hardware could use an update.

Time to replace the hardware, fo sure.

I formed a plan to spruce her up.

1. Either re-stain, or paint the outside of the bookcase, maybe in a high gloss black.
2. Fix the all doors.
3. Replace all the hardware.  Head to eBay for some Restoration Hardware gems on sale.
4. Mirror the back of the bookcase so the glassware will sparkle.
5. Paper or paint the shelves in a fun color.

Meet the 'rock cut' barware from Tiffany's, all thanks to some very generous wedding guests.

The bookcase is another prime surface to accessorize.  I knew I wanted to do something big, since the ceiling is still a good six feet away from the bookcase, but I actually found the perfect blueprint in Thomas O'Brien's book, American Modern.

Another Half.com score.

It arrived this afternoon.  I poured over every page, and tried unsuccessfully to get Aaron to participate (how is this not exciting?).  One page struck me, it had a dresser with a mirror and several pictures on top of it, a perfect model for accessorizing our bookcase.  Oh, just noticed, that same picture was on the cover of the book! Cool.  I snapped a picture and threw the accessories piece into Photoshop, and these were the results.

No accessories.

Photoshopped accessories from the cover of American Modern.

I love how it looks with the accessories.  I might just try to recreate this exact landscape: antiqued mirror, Grecian art, black and white photograph, lamp, candlesticks, etc.

So there you have it, a great find from a very generous family--thank you Lombards! Stay tuned for some future DIY'ing, like installing the mirrors and replacing the hardware.

Any opinions on if we should stain or paint the exterior? Should the interior be mirrored or painted a bright color? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Michael Kenna

I've been scoring a lot of books lately from Half.com.  One was Michael Kenna's Twenty Year Retrospective, which I bought used for $30 (50% off) with the intent of cutting out prints.  It's a little more of a guessing game to purchase art books online, sight sort of unseen, but from what I seen I was convinced Michael and was the older more talented more male version of me, the photographer.

Michael Kenna (Source: Flickr)

I got this little gem in the mail this week, and these were the images that captured me.

We have a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge from our apartment so I fell in love with this bridge series.

Paris

Prague

Florence (Right)

Florence, a must.

More Prague.

San Francisco

More San Francisco

This is just awesome, adding it to my winter art accessories.

Somewhere in...France?

Versailles

Someone needs a haircut.

I've actually come to really like buying art books online without getting to see every (or any) page in advance.  It's like, my comfort zone level of risk.  For $30, I can look up an artist, like what I find online and assume I'll like most of their work when it arrives.  I'm running a good track record so far.

Thom Filicia

So the story goes, that when I was a little tike, about four, I managed to skin both my knees on the playground.  Emotional weakling that I am, I retired to my parents' bed for the next eight hours, and did nothing but watch a Bob Villa's Home Again marathon, straight through.  Ah, to be four, and obsessed with renovating pre-wars.

In high school, I moved on from Bob, and found comfort in HGTV (Curb Appeal), TLC (Trading Spaces) and Bravo, the first network to let gays be gay in reality, on Queer Eye for The Straight Guy.  I loved Queer Eye, especially Thom Filicia, the interior designer.  Thom had a knack for taking ferociously bad bachelor pads, and transforming them into places I wanted to live, on almost no budget.

I bought the book, Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, when it came out in, err, 2004, and I think it was one of the first design books I ever bought.  It's now available for 75 cents on Half.com if you're interested.

Thom advises straight men on the basics (and non-basics) of taking it up a notch, starting with, "When you have guests, clean your dishes, and hide your porn" all the way though, "This is how to paint architectural elements."  All the advice is really accessible, and tailored for the zero budget, almost-zero effort man.  As fun as this is, I don't think straight men would ever own this book, unless their wives/girlfriends happened to force it upon them.  Which reminds me, I should have Aaron take a look at this.

Queer Eye loft, love the dark rich colors.

Simple tips.

Love the blue, and the idea of putting real art in the bathroom.

I haven't seen or heard from Thom in years, but in a major Half.com order during the wisdom teeth recovery phase, I discovered and ordered a book he came out with in 2008, Thom Filicia Style.

Also $0.75, love Half.com

Book arrived!

Klismos chairs, recurring theme of love.

Thom's lake house.  I love those accent chairs.

The moment we have a beach house, this is it.

If I were a bolder person I would have had our floors stained that color.
Also, where can I find that painting, and dining room set, for non-sultan prices.

Uh, where has this book been all my life? Love.  I've already post-it-noted the whole thing (you might be able to tell from the pictures).

I checked out his site to see what else he's been up to and fell even more in love with a project posted on there, "SoHo Mews."  Side note, "mews" are homes that are converted from stables, and though I don't understand why, in New York, they are the most ferociously expensive property available.  Washington Mews, near Washington Square Park, is a private street, inaccessible by cars, unless you have a code to unlock the gate.  SoHo Mews, unlike a real Mews, has just taken the ferociously expensive part and tacked it on to a new construction building in SoHo.

Falling over I'm so in love with this space, the rug is sold retail at QVC, the 9x12 is $1249

I love the idea of a really heavy coffee table, especially for our living room, which needs some anchor pieces.

Love the sisal rug under the wool rug. We need this -- our living room needs a giant square shaped rug base.

Love the idea of giant leather wing chairs as 'host' chairs at the ends of a dining room table.

Need four or twelve of those side tables.

Want that star thing sitting on the floor.

Klismos chair, swoon.

Nice job accessorizing.

Love those barstools.

Reminds me of the Ikea lack shelves. Also love the idea of an antique rug in the kitchen.

Rope as a banister, heart.

Dark bedrooms, my one true love. (Aaron's edit: Thanks, Anne)

Sea art in the bedroom, perfect.

Love the architectural elemetns of the trim going around the room.  Would that work in our bedroom?

I want wallpaper, rope, and stairs.

So if I wasn't insanely in love with Thom before, I am now.  I think this SoHo Mews apartment is going to have a big influence on how our living room turns out. The color scheme is already perfect (we have the gray walls and gray couch) and just need to build from there.

What do you think of Filicia? Worth the 75 cents to buy the book?