The Attic Bedroom: Rated PG-13 (almost)

Starring an almost 13-year-old and her room.  Special appearance by: Justin Bieber!! 

Seating fit for a Tween Queen: floor pillows, frenchy chair, and chalk tables!

Since movies have been shot, edited and canned in less time than it's taken me to premiere photos of some of my completed projects, I'm rolling out the red carpet for this 'After' series. 

The seating area above is from this room...rememeber it?:

Imagine it a white box with a sad green window seat.

 (This pic. was taken after I painted and treated the walls with a glossy turquoise.)  

Drumroll....

detail of greek key trim on the drapes...loved the way they turned out!

the chalk board tables I made -- a huge hit with she and her pals!

the Craigslist chair I redid

And making his cameo, as promised:

The Biebs playing his most popular role: adorning a tweener's bedroom door. 

Special thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, photographer West Freeman, for shooting these 'after' photos!  (The Biebs photo courtesy of my iphone).

Someone's Dear or Stag on Valentines?

No hunting or killing, just Blow It............
Up!   (Inflatable deer head)
{Mind out of gutter people!!}

So, now that I have you attention...
Were you someone's 'Dear,' or did you go Stag on Valentines?!?
I know my dear (or deer) readers did it in style, either way.  xoxoxo

paper deer head 

cool in a bedroom 

papered stag for your wall...from etsy! 

scary, too many, and too real, and......just, no... 

resin antlers 

a nice resin for your wall

wall vignette

Just saw this beauty the other day at Shaun Smith Home...

I dare admit...
The blow up version actually exists and resides in my son's bathroom.   We call him Bruce, and he's a BIG hit at bathtime (and for the unsuspecting visitor to said bathroom!)
Yes, my son's mom is a NUT!

XOXO to all my DEAR (and deer) READERS!!!  

And the Superbowl Ring goes to....

My bed!  Yes, rember this lovely-dovely 'ole-beddypoo that I redid for my friend's lovely little girl?  **(so, technically, it's not my bed since I don't sleep on it...but since I had a hand in it's creation, I feel like it's mother.)


Long story short, a knock on my friend's door from a producer evolved into her house being chosen to shoot a Chase Bank commercial, featuring Drew Brees.  The :30 spot will run this very evening in the advertising Superbowl of Superbowls, the Superbowl!


In the commercial, Drew's adorable little boy kicks a football that ricochets through a few neighbors' homes.  The scene starring the bed begins at the :04 second mark when the football crashes through the room where a teen girl is doing yoga.

So, my bed's famous...and it better thank me in all it's acceptance speeches!


I feel like Navin R. Johnson right now:

"This is the kind of spontaneous publicity....Things are going to start happening to me now."


PS: I have been a horrible blogger lately, I know.  More updates soon!  Lots of fun projects! xo.

No Mommies Allowed

While I've been busy not blogging, a certain five-year-old in my house has been busy maturing into a teenager.  Seriously, he turned the big 0-5 on Monday and he's already trying to get rid of me.  


The fiver in question politely asked me to help him write a sign for his door.  As he dictated, all I could think was:
a) He was so courteous about asking me to stay out.  
     (Notice the two 'pleases'...I can pat myself on the back for that.)
b) At least he's still calling me Mommy, and not by my first name yet.
c) He only asked me to stay out for A minute -- that's not that long.  I can handle that.
d) Where has my baby boy gone?


The best feature of this door sign is, of course, the drawing he created at the bottom:

That's a picture of me in the circle with a red X on top of it.  

So in the event that I can't read what I wrote, I can refer to the 'No Mommy Allowed' symbol.  He's a genius!


Here's big boy's room:

The mid-century chest actually came from grandmother's house --
it was in my Dad's room growing up!  I hand colored the old baseball photo above it.

I love this flame-stitch wing chair!  The colors in the room are green
and blue with orange accents so I put a fun orange zebra  pillow .

You know me and how I love to paint things...his bed got the orange treatment!
I painted the pop-art piece above his bed to add more color.

Sock monkeys with an awesome needlepoint pillow by his God-Momma!

His bookshelves are such a mess right now I will spare you that view.  I really want to do some canvas curtains in here with a fun blue trim, or just a big fat blue border on the bottom.  What do you think?  You think this look can last him a few years?


And speaking of kid's rooms...my niece's room is almost finished!  It has taken forever due to several fabric back-orders.  But, curtains are done and hopefully will be put up this weekend!  Look out for pictures soon!


xo.

A Star is Born

Stage fright is not an option when you look this good.

She can't dance, she can't sing, and she definitely doesn't smoke.  In fact, she just sits there. But she's really good looking and full of personality.   

The chair reprises the role made famous by Ms. Garland.

It's the classic story as retold by me and a chair.  (Hold on, that's Hollywood calling on the other line.)  Unknown talent discovered and born again under the spotlight.  Alright, so maybe the chair's no Judy, but I'm still its Norman Maine -- with the exception that I'm not fatally jealous of its success.  You get the idea.   Remember this chair?

Grandma mint-green disaster in poly-blend floral rash 

It was a $40 Craigslist chair.  Apparently its only redeeming quality, besides its cute frenchy curves, is that it's really photogenic considering how ugly the finish and material were in person.  You can read more about me, the chair, and its transformation here.

Here is our star now:

So what if it just sits there?  It received a standing ovation from its most important fan -- its new owner, my niece.  A little paint, new material and it sparkles under the spotlight (a.k.a. the track lighting in its new attic bedroom).  The wise Judy Garland once said, "Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."  Mission accomplished, star. (Applause track...)

There’s no place like home, unless you’re a pet fish.

This is what you get for a week long stretch of good behavior 

(and a back to school gift) if you live in my house:

If you're good, and you live here, you could have this too.

My son named him Nemo.   The fish is neither talented nor smart (as far as I can tell), so Picasso and Einstein were out, but even Bob would have been more original than having a pet fish called Nemo. Let's face it people: there's no convincing a four-year-old once his mind's made up, so Nemo 2.0 (or 2million.0) is home.  Anyway, I digress.


The downside about being a pet goldfish is that you have to live in a fishbowl.  And I can't be positive, but I'm not sure there's an upside.  That being the case, why does fish bowl decor have to be so depressing?  Plastic skulls, wrecked ships, ancient ruins...and fish gravel that looks like crayon shavings -- no, thank you.

There's no place like home, unless you're a pet goldfish.
Choices for fishbowl decor are quite limited.

These are better, but still:

Put your fish to work?  Who wants to live in their office?

Or worse, in their bathroom?

*(If you're a practical person, please read no further.  The following requires a suspension of all rational thought.)*  Here it is: pet stores should start selling some quality miniature furniture for fish bowls, à la the following:

A whole line of miniature moderns to make your fishbowl stylish.

With that in mind, here's what I've put together for Nemo 2.0's stylish abode:

In all seriousness though, PETA needs to be called about this disaster:

Do you really think your pet fish enjoy the view provided in this set up?
Not nice at all!

Fit for a (tween) Queen part II

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes...

Fit for a Queen part I.  One thing I love is the challenge of a budget. Things add up, and there’s no shame in saying, hey…is there a less expensive alternative? Creativity is really tested when tackling the almighty dollar. I love the thrill of transforming something bought at the cheap into something fabulous and unique. The more the frugal, the more the creative.

First, plans for my niece’s room changed when I found the above rug from Garnett Hill. I love the combination of coral and teal, and so does my 12-year-old ‘boss.’ With the rug, however, the hot pink fabric for the chair no longer worked. So all the original fabrics got tossed, and I decided on this budget friendly trio:

Fabrictastic!

Next, instead of spending money on custom curtains, which can add up quickly, we are getting plain white sailcloth curtains from Pottery Barn and trimming the lead and bottom edges with this coral/pink greek key trim:

Custom trim on store bought drapes = a Custom look

Third, instead of spending money on the coffee table for the seating area, I bought two of these puppies from Target for $15/ea. and painted them with chalkboard paint:

$15 table + chalkboard paint = tween dream

Here is the room before the rug, etc. (but after the paint glaze):

O Room-eo, Room-eo, wherefore art thou cool Room-eo?

Deny me a rug and refuse me more color....

Or if thou wilt not, at least refuse thy sad looking window seat.

Room in Transition:

I can imagine she and her friends really enjoying this seating area,

and I love the way the rug gives a big pop of color to the space.

Floor pillows ...

and a striped window seat to lounge on,

and two cool chalkboard tables (which she immediately got to work on)!

Fabric ordered: check. French chair at the reuphoster: check. Curtains on the way: check.

Soon enough, my favorite pre-teen queen will have something to write

home about, or rather, write about home.

Fit for a (Tween) Queen

Did I mention I’m ‘tween-tweaking’ (slap me for that) my 12-year-old nieces bedroom? Guilty. Am I correct in thinking that a pre-teen is tween, and what wordsmith came up with this term? Why the added ‘w,’ and does it denote anything in particular? Forgive me for this very philosophical line of questioning.

Before I sink myself further down this rabbit hole, let me take that elusive w back, and just call her a pre-teen. As they say, age is only a number. She is wise beyond her years, or maybe I’m unwise below my years. Either way, we just ‘click,’ and I’m lucky to call her family.

Above is my inspiration board for the room.

A few months before she asked for my help, she had had the room painted a very bright teal/turquoise. A great color, but it was so bright I had to bring my sunglasses just to consult on the space. I decided the first thing I would do would be to add a glaze to tone the color down a bit, and add a little high-gloss glamour to the space.

The only item that Momma said must stay in the room is an antique Victorian bed. Other than that, my niece and I were on our own.

If you can see the design board and its accompanying descriptions, congratulations, you don't need Lasik. (For whatever reason, no matter how many times I've resized these images in photoshop, they still show up teeny on the blog? Try clicking on the photo to get an enlarged version.)

For the not so visibly, and the visibly challenged people, here are the design cliff-notes:

1.The idea was to pour a bunch of hot pink color into the turquoise room with various fabrics

2. Floor pillows, a french chair (the one I'm redoing), and a coffee table to provide a seating area in one corner of the room

3. The Celerie Kemble Betwixt fabric to cover the window seat and to trim out the curtains (for the big window facing front of house), and roman shades (for above the desk and window seat).

4. A Parson's desk and french chair for studying in the corner across from the bed.

Of course as with any good plan, there have been multiple changes, mainly in the name of el budgeto. Check back tomorrow for more, and progress pictures.

I can promise you this:

It's looking Tweentastic!