Friday, January 7, 2011

New Year, New Look

Out with the old, in with the new! I decided to zhush up the blog a bit- a little dusting, cleaning, and rearranging. So.....whatcha think?

xo
SH

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Resolution, Shmezolution

Happy New Year dearest readers! Up to SEVEN now, woo hoo! I know it's been a while, but hey, I am blaming it on the holidaze.

Okay, so you know how normal people make their resolutions to do things like eat better, workout regularly, practice random acts of kindness, etc.? Yeah, well, most of those made my list. Of course, I asked Mr. Sweet Home what was on his resolution list for 2011 and after naming most of the usual types of boring albeit noble goals, he randomly threw out "stop using credit cards." Wait, what????
Yeah, that's right. The Mister has put me on a (ugh, I can't stand to even type it) "Budget." Yeah, that capital B was on purpose. Something about reining in frivolous expenses and that credit cards are evil, blah blah blah. Whatever. With a brand-new house to decorate top to bottom, I mean, it's just not faiaaaaaiiirrrr. For almost three years living in a builder beige rental I have been slowly compiling files and files of design ideas, fabric options, paint chips, and yes, of course, furniture. And some of my idea portfolio was leftover from our STL house- so we're talkin SEVEN years worth of hopes, dreams, and amazing fabric choices.

Now, we are in our dream home, which is painted in a nice builder beige. In. Every. Room. AGAIN. I swear, if there is a Hell it's probably beige with wall-to-wall builder-grade carpet, popcorn ceilings, and no crown moulding. Yep, to me that's worse than a fiery eternity. I guess though at least if there's fire, there's gotta be some color. Hopefully. Just sayin'.

So, back to this whole budget (involuntary shudder) thing. I do loves me a bargain as much (if not more) than the next gal. I can Craigslist, thrift, flea, and eBay with the best of them, and frankly I prefer my objets du maison to have a story- and not the story of how it would barely fit out the door at Pottery Barn. My friend E and I have kind of a contest over who can find the more amazing deal at Ross/Home Goods/TJ, etc. And I'll admit it, she typically wins. Probably has to do with the fact that she doesn't have a hubby who turns five shades of purple when the Amex statement shows up. But I can't help it...
So what's a girl to do? Well, I have power tools, a sewing machine and trusty hot glue gun, an oversized separate two-car garage to hide purchases from Mr. Sweet Home stash treasures, and probably more moxie than skill at this point. Thank God for the internet!

SO, my priority list, complete with "before" pics- ignore the furnishings, cuz they are the previous owners.

1) The master bedroom.  In the whole time we've been married, other than buying a new mattress and box spring, we haven't actually designed or decorated a space for us...high time, dontcha think? Especially when we've decorated and redecorated BOTH boys' rooms. We have vintage mid-century furniture that has been languishing in storage for our room, but I need everything else.

2) The living room. We have most of the big pieces of furniture for this space, but I am searching for end tables and lamps that I like and already found a coffee table I am swooning over. Just waiting for it to go on sale so Mr. SH doesn't have a stroke. And what to do with that fireplace wall? I don't hate the brick,  and the mantel is pretty, but why so high? Something about the proportions bug me.

3) The guest bedroom. I have the basics but need to fill in the details into this space.That dormer is just begging for a window seat or some sort of built-in...

Anyway, lovely readers (all lucky seven of you, haha) If you have ideas on how to fill some of these spaces on a b...b...buh....oh, forget it. I can't bring myself to type it again. But, I'm all ears on how to be uber flashy with little cashy. Until next time!