Cheater Shades and Red Frames

We need roman shades for a few rooms in our house. I'm thinking about tackling the real-deal sewing project for the shades I want to put in our living room. But the others will hang in bedrooms, and I think I'd like to do something a little faster there. I still use and love my <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/02/make-shades-out-of-mini-blinds.html" target="_blank">shades from mini-blinds project</a>, but when I need something really sturdy, that can be used and abused, and I'm in a time pinch, I just glue fabric to store-bought fabric or bamboo shades.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/2AbbeyKitchen.jpg" /></div><br />I glued this heavy linen (Schumacher's Zimba) to bamboo shades from Home Depot for <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results" target="_blank">Abbey's</a> kitchen redo. I used spray glue to adhere the front and Fabritac to glue the wrapped around edges. I also glued a piece of black-out liner on the back for a cleaner look from the outside. If you're going to use bamboo shades as the base, make sure your fabric is thick or else you will see the texture of the bamboo peek through a little bit. Using a fabric shade as a base is an easy project too (as seen <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/12/master-bedroom-in-rhode-island.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/abbey-house-tour-new-york-apartment-nyc-kitchen.png" /></div><br />PS How cute are the framed pictures in Abbey's kitchen? She picked up a ton of the $1 frames at IKEA and framed her toddler son's art. Such a big visual impact for not a lot of money. Reminds me of <a href="http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/ideas/how-to-hang-artwork" target="_blank">this Steven Gambrel room</a>.<br /><br /><i>Bottom photo by <a href="http://www.sethsmoot.com/" target="_blank">Seth Smoot</a>, styling by <a href="http://www.kendrasmoot.com/" target="_blank">Kendra Smoot</a> for this <a href="http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/09/new-york-city-house-tour.html" target="_blank">Cup of Jo house tour</a>.</i>

Cheater Shades and Red Frames

We need roman shades for a few rooms in our house. I'm thinking about tackling the real-deal sewing project for the shades I want to put...

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Roll On Wallpaper

My friend Grace from <a href="http://www.astoriedstyle.com/index.php/2013/01/patterned-paint-rollers/" target="_blank">A Storied Style</a> (who posted the <a href="http://www.astoriedstyle.com/index.php/2013/01/gebhardt-guest-roomoffice/" target="_blank">cutest room reveal today</a>), <a href="https://twitter.com/jennykomenda" target="_blank">tweeted</a> me a link to <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/patternedpaintroller" target="_blank">this company</a> recently.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/il_570xN376705914_8ri1.jpg" /></div><br />I think I got a PR email from them or something once and was intrigued with the idea. Do any of you have any experience with patterned paint rollers? I wonder how hard it is to line up the patterns perfectly and to get the paint on the wall in a consistent layer? I suspect you'd have to get okay with the idea of there being a lot of variation in the color shades. Could look cool though?<br /><br />I'd be tempted to try something like this neon pink in a kid's room, or a closet or the backs of a bookshelf. A stencil would work just as well, though I wonder if the roller application would be much faster?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/gasl_wallpaper_20-783466.jpg" /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>domino</i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Happy weekend, friends! Let's make it a great one! xx</div></div>

Roll On Wallpaper

My friend Grace from A Storied Style (who posted the cutest room reveal today ), tweeted me a link to this company recently. I think I go...

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Gems at Urban Outfitters

In the past I've not always been an easy style fit for most of the home offerings at <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/index.jsp" target="_blank">Urban Outfitters</a>, so I don't check out their website regularly. But I popped over last week and ended up buying a bunch of things. (A lot of it was on sale, too. Bonus!). I can't believe all the cool lighting they have right now. Floor lamps galore.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/UO1.jpg" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=23610322&parentid=SALE_APT" target="_blank">Ikat door mat</a>  //  <a href="http://bit.ly/103noP2" target="_blank">Brass floor lamp</a>  //  <a href="http://bit.ly/W4gIcY" target="_blank">Mint hanging shelf</a>  //  <a href="http://bit.ly/103o07o" target="_blank">Tiered brass chandelier</a>  //  <a href="http://bit.ly/SAfrOY" target="_blank">Faceted terrarium</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=25778515&parentid=A_DECORATE" target="_blank">Tripod coat rack</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=25834862&parentid=A_DECORATE" target="_blank">Constellation globe</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The robot bank below is really cute in person and the girls <i>love</i> it (are your kids obsessed with piggy banks like mine are?).  I'm also so excited about those cute brass sconces. I bought a pair for Heather's room redo - they were only $29! Total steal.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/UO2.jpg" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=26090027&parentid=SALE_APT" target="_blank">Sequin pillow</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=25778754&parentid=SALE_APT" target="_blank">Italian style floor lamp</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=21151428m&parentid=A_FURN_WALL" target="_blank">NYC poster</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=25515958&parentid=SALE_APT" target="_blank">Telephone</a>  //  <a href="http://bit.ly/SAerun" target="_blank">Brass wall sconce</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=23454119&parentid=A_DECORATE" target="_blank">Knob door hanger</a>  //  <a href="http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=26851972&parentid=SEARCH+RESULTS" target="_blank">Robot piggy bank</a></div>

Gems at Urban Outfitters

In the past I've not always been an easy style fit for most of the home offerings at  Urban Outfitters , so I don't check out their ...

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Framing Baby and Vintage Clothing

Not to get all TMI on you all, but we're in the thick of some big family planning decisions around here. I would love to have more babies I think, but we're trying to be thoughtful about the timing and about what makes the most sense for us and for our future.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/meohmy_MG_2415.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://meohmymama.blogspot.com/2011/02/presleys-room.html" target="_blank">Me Oh My</a></i></div><br />Before <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/05/no-sleep-til-brooklyn-rip-mca.html" target="_blank">we moved</a> this summer, I donated, gifted and tossed basically all of our baby clothes. Truthfully, it was a little heart-breaking. I'm the kind of person that can remember what I was wearing at every single important (and semi-important) event in my life. Isn't that weird? There's a similar memory attachment to my kids clothes too.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/eddieross6a00e55391c48e883301157070367f970b-400wi.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/eddieross6a00e55391c48e88330115707036b2970b-400wi.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Both images above from <a href="http://www.eddieross.com/eddie_ross/2009/05/inside-the-box.html" target="_blank">Eddie Ross</a></i></div><br />But, after three girls in a row, most of the clothes had been passed down once or twice (poor Evie!) and they were just <i>done</i>. It made sense to not waste precious storage space any more. I did keep a couple of really special pieces - blessing dresses and some of the really teeny tiny clothes from the newborn days. And I love to have one or two of those items framed - maybe in the hallway to the girls bathroom?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/luciteframes.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scwinteriors.com/" target="_blank"><i>SCW Interiors</i></a></div><br />I also love all the vintage bathing suit ideas that have been floating around for the past couple years. Shoes, purses, wallets, jewelry, glasses - all of these would look great for those heirlooms you'd like to be able to enjoy, but that need protecting (<a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2011/05/heirloom-button-art.html" target="_blank">like my grandmother's buttons</a>).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/Image11.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.kdhamptons.com/featured/exclusive-kristina-davis-shares-her-navy-beach-design-diary/" target="_blank">KD Hamptons</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/jeffreybilhuber59109813829945806_bJY7KEyR_c.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Jeffrey Bilhuber design</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Camila from Effortless Style recently framed her son's going home outfit in a standard acrylic frame from the craft store. It was a really cute and easy DIY that I might just have to copy! <a href="http://blog.effortless-style.com/2012/12/diy-lucite-shadow-box-framed-outfit/" target="_blank">Check it out here.</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/effortlessstylefinishedshadowbox-520x643.jpg" /></div>

Framing Baby and Vintage Clothing

Not to get all TMI on you all, but we're in the thick of some big family planning decisions around here. I would love to have more babie...

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Hanging Guitars

<img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/0DSC_0114.jpg" /><br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you all for your kind words about <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2013/01/making-billy-bookshelves-look-like_7.html" target="_blank">the bookshelves</a>! Some of you commented on how lucky we were that the Billys fit perfectly in the bump outs that flank the fireplace. The true story is neither side was a perfect fit. On the right side, we had to cut off two inches of the outer most bookshelf, so that a pair would fit in that nook.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/aDSC_0073.jpg" /></div><br />And then the bump out to to left of the fireplace was too big for a pair to fit snuggly. There was about about 16" of leftover space that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. I didn't want to add more shelves because of the opening to <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/11/diy-shaker-style-cabinets-part-2.html" target="_blank">the kitchen</a>. Luckily, it was right around Michael's birthday when we were trying to figure this all out. One of his presents was a vintage ukelele I ordered off eBay and when it arrived I thought the wood grain was so pretty that it was a shame to hide it. ((lightbulb!!)) So I grabbed a couple <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009K9MUA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=littgreenote-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0009K9MUA">guitar hooks</a> and a small one made for ukeleles at the music shop down the street, and while Michael was at work I installed the guitars on the wall in the nook space. His guitar, acoustic bass and the new ukelele fit perfectly, one on top of the other.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/DSC_0153.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I told the girls to not say anything to Michael when he came home so that he would sort of stumble on the hanging guitars and it would be a great surprise. But of couse they pointed him right to the guitars, wildly giggling, as soon as he walked in the door. Kids are so awesome at keeping secrets.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/aDSC_0111.jpg" /></div><br />Michael is a really talented musician and I love having instruments around the house so he can keep up with his playing. This hook-hanging solution has been perfect because the guitars are protected, but they're still easily accessible.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="text-align: start;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/aDSC_0165.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/aDSC_0071.jpg" /></div><br />I also love how the three different depths here (the wall, bookshelf and fireplace) are outlined by the dentil moulding. I'm telling you, just putting up those 5.75 measly inches of cheapy crown moulding completely transformed this room. My mom and I both agreed that suddenly it felt like the house was an old brownstone and not a bad condo from the 70s. I'm <i>dying</i> to do the baseboards now and maybe some paneling <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/10/moulding-going-all-out.html" target="_blank">like we talked about before</a>. Also, I promise there's a crown moulding tutorial coming soon. There was a bit of a learning curve for me in this first room, but now I'm tackling the garden level and I feel like I have some good pointers to share.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/0DSC_0119.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, I'm really curious. If you have instruments, where do you keep them? I play the violin, and I'd love to have it out so that I would practice more, but the case is really bulky and it stays in my closet for now. If we ever have a big house someday, I'd take a music room over a media room in a heartbeat.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>PS A hanging guitar in <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/01/joannas-bedroom.html" target="_blank">Alex and Joanna's bedroom</a>.</i></div>

Hanging Guitars

Thank you all for your kind words about the bookshelves ! Some of you commented on how lucky we were that the Billys fit perfectly in the bu...

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Making Billy Bookshelves Look Like Built-Ins

I've always loved the way that books make a home come alive. When we were planning on where to put all the books <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-arched-bookshelves.html" target="_blank">from our office in the loft</a>, there was only really one place to put the Billys - the living room. So we bought four more sets of the extender shelves and spent a few days last fall "building in" our IKEA bookshelves.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/DSC_0078-1.jpg" /></center><center></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Here's how the space looked on move in day. It looked like a giant H to me.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_6329.jpg" /></center><center style="text-align: center;"></center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center style="text-align: left;">I love it all so much more now. That nook was the worst! Ready for all the details on how we filled the nook and built up and in the Billy bookshelves?</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/0DSC_0100.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></center><center></center><center><a name="more"></a><div style="text-align: left;">This project got done much sooner than I had planned on. We moved into our place and we had a huge wall of book boxes that were oppressive and dangerous. So in an effort to make at least some progress on the house, we threw up the old Ikea Billy shelves on the wall flanking the fireplace and quickly unpacked the dozens of boxes. Here's what the shelves looked like for the first couple weeks we lived here:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7025.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Then my amazing parents, who are always up for a project, came in to town and on a whim we decided to tackle the bookshelf wall. We raced to Home Depot for supplies - lumber, moulding and drywall.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7096.jpg" /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Joint compound, drywall tape and a grouting sponge...</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7181.jpg" /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We worked to quickly frame out the bookshelves and the nook in 2x4s. And actually we put 4x4s underneath the bookshelves, so they would be lifted up off the ground.</div><br /></div></div></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7129.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">We all signed the inside of the wall. :)</center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7137.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Drywall was marked with chalk tape and cut with a razor blade knife.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7136.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">And the first pieces went up and we happily said goodbye to the nook.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7157.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Once the drywall sheets were screwed into place, we taped the seams.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7172.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Then we went over the drywall and the tape with joint compound.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7248.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, after "wet sanding" the joint compound with the big grout sponge, we also started the crown moulding. Also, I'd love to point out the obvious here - that we should have taken down all the books first. They were a dusty mess after all the work we did! I just didn't really have a place to put all of them before we started. I told you this was a spur of the moment project!</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7220.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Probably my favorite part of the project was the footing of the shelves. Like I said, we sat the bookshelves on three 4x4s running lengthwise. This gave the bottom a lot of height.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7235.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">Then we framed out the whole bottom with 2x8s, which gave the bookshelves a really chunky base and made them look less IKEA I think.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7238.jpg" /></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/6DSC_0114.jpg" /></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">For the face of the bookshelves, we found this great small moulding at Home Depot too. We measured and cut everything to size and then sprayed it with a black gloss enamel.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><center><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/IMG_7118.jpg" /></center><center></center><center></center><center style="text-align: left;">It was so easy to add the moulding with my brad gun. We used thicker stripe moulding for all the vertical lines.</center><center style="text-align: left;"></center><center></center><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/DSC_0133.jpg" /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I love how the white shelves and shelf backs contrast with the dark black trim on the face of the shelves.</div><br /><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/DSC_0156.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not bad for just the cost of some lumber and supplies and a few Billy Extender shelves! Now just to find a mirror that better fits that wall space!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/9DSC_0073.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />And also, to make a sofa back table to help hide the fireplace a little more and to hold a pair of lamps.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/DSC_0094.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I tried a new method for organizing books - one that's functional and pretty! I'm excited to share the how-to!</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/Album%203/rightside.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">How was your weekend? </div>

Making Billy Bookshelves Look Like Built-Ins

I've always loved the way that books make a home come alive. When we were planning on where to put all the books from our office in the ...

Read more »