Two Stars

So exciting!  We got our new custom artwork yesterday!  It is a multi-media painting, called “Two Stars”, by the lovely and talented Laura Meyer.  We traded our services, taking pictures for her new handcrafted invitations business, for a 30x40 piece of art made just for us!

(Please ignore the plant-stand that is standing in as a side table for the time being.)

It’s hard to tell in pictures, but the background is made up of book and magazine pages, and a vintage map as well.

It goes great in our living room, and it is so incredibly nice to see some art on that bare wall!  Now we just need a cute, bold pillow to go on the chair.  We were waiting to see what the artwork would look like, to pick out something that goes with it.

Thank you Laura, we love what you made for us!!

The Throne

As we get ready for busy season with our business, the projects have wound down a bit.  But we did buy this lovely chair from Crate and Barrel.  It sits in the space where the table and chairs used to be, in the living room.  It's really comfy, just ask Sam.  He has claimed it as "his chair", already.  At least he has been good about refraining from scratching the chair.  He only needed a couple little corrections on the first day, but he got it very quickly that this is NOT his scratching post.

We are in need of a side table (right now we are using a plant stand), and another table/shelf of some sort to go behind the chair...underneath where our custom piece of art will be!!  We're waiting to see what the piece will look like, to pick out a pillow to go on the chair.  For now, the throw blanket from the couch jazzes it up a little.

Up next:  Our new custom-made-for-us artwork!!!  We are so excited to finally have some more art on the wall!

The Books are Back

Part Two of the "Move the Refrigerator/Make the Closet Doorway a Bookcase" project....the completed bookcase!  Above is a reminder of what the closet looked like BEFORE.

And here, we present the finished bookcase, AFTER:

Ta da! 

 We are so excited to have this project finished!!  We have had all of our books and photo albums stored in the basement for a year.  It was so nice to take them out of boxes again and pick out what we wanted to display.  This bookcase doesn't fit all of our books, but it hold all of the important ones (and let's be honest, the pretty ones).

The most important shelf: Photo books and Harry Potter :)

My Blessing Basket finally has a home again too!

If you want to know more about The Blessing Basket Project, it is a great program, that you can read about here:
http://www.blessingbasket.org/

Women in countries like Ghana, Uganda and Bangladesh are paid much higher than fair trade wages for their basketry art.  They can then use these higher wages toward their own entrepreneurial endeavors...bringing their families out of poverty and becoming self-sufficient.  The Blessing Basket Project started in St. Louis, and their baskets are now sold online and in 35 states.  I bought mine early on, but some of the new work is even more intricate and beautiful!

What Paint Can Do

Get ready...it's time for the big before-and-after paint job in the kitchen!  Above is what the kitchen looked like BEFORE.  Dark and dingy....And here is what it looks like AFTER:

Let there be light!!!

And keep in mind, all we changed was the paint. 

Another angle:  BEFORE

AFTER:

And again:

Aaaand last one:

And you can see the color of the accent wall above as well.  We wanted something fun and bold to go behind the table.  Actually, this is the color I wanted for the wall above the basement steps, when we (someday!) knock out the wall between the kitchen and the stairs and just have a half wall.  If that makes no sense, don't worry.  The important thing is: no more yucky red paint that turns rags pink when you try to wash the walls (it was Valspar red paint, just to forewarn anyone wanting to paint anything red...stay clear of this stuff!  BAD.)

Here are some more pictures of the "new" kitchen:






So right now you're probably saying, "Whoa, that's a really blue wall you have there.  What exactly were you going for there?"  Well, it's fun...and bright.  I dunno, it's paint.  We thought, "what the heck, if it doesn't work, we can redo it."  The color will be broken up a bit when we put art on the wall.  We will  use simple white frames for the artwork we put up, which will dial down the "whoa" factor a lot.

Plus, yay!  The table isn't in the living room anymore!  The table is now where the refrigerator used to be.

We still have some changes to do in here (new light, new floor), but this is definitely makes a big difference!

Materials:

Wall Paint: Behr - Aged Beige (Paint and Primer in One)

Accent Wall Paint: Behr - Southern Blue (Ultra Saturated line)

Trim Paint: Benjamin Moore - White Dove

Fruit bowl and wall platter:  Target (I've had them since before we moved in together)