Farmhouse Industrial Modern?

Last year I told you about my Suburban style. “Real” decorators – especially those on TV –- seem to think “Suburban” is a bad word. I happen to think it’s lovely and warm and so ME.

Oh, the horrors! ;)

Over the past year or so, I’m drawn to different styles and feel like mine is changing a bit. I just have no clue what to call it now. I don’t know if it’s all the lovely blogs out there or just the natural ebb and flow of my decor taste, but things, they are a changin’. 

The other day I was looking around at some of my purchases over the past few months and they just showcase my decorating confusion. I thought I’d share a few of them with you. :)

I visited one of my favorite spots in Indy a couple of months ago – a salvage and architectural shop that I don’t think I’ve blogged about yet. (I will soon cause it’s amazing!)

We were in a bit of a hurry, (it’s the kind of place you need at least an hour to look through) but I did find this old crock:

I’ve always been drawn to all things old and full of character. I absolutely LOVE it and the light blue “6” on the front. The price was crazy good too – only $20!

It sits next to the sofa and I fill it with blankets:

Score one for the antiques! Or farmhouse style? Cottage? I have no idea.

For months and months I’ve been trying to figure out what to put on the wall to the left of our stairs. I can’t find a good picture of the scrolly iron thing that I had up there, but you can see a smidge of it here:

I’ve used those iron jobbies forever and a day to fill wall space, but I’m trying to move on and change it up a bit.

The iron piece was way too small for this wall anyway – but figuring out what to use instead was stumping me big time. I didn’t want a gallery wall, cause it would be too busy with the one on the stairs. I didn’t want to do a mirror, cause I have one over the foyer table. So what the heck else do you do?

Well…a find at a small town antique shop nearby solved that problem…at least for now:

(Yes. The Halloween mice are still out. I’m throwing in some spooky style into the mix.)

I found a few old antique windows, cleaned them up and hung them on the wall. I love the colors – they came in the white, blue and brown – perfect for our house! And I love how they fill up that large wall. I may do some adjusting but I’ve already got eleventy billion holes in that wall as it is.

Sooo…old stuff, two points.

Over the summer I found this little beauty at HomeGoods:

It’s the cutest little stool I ever did see! The grey color and metal legs lean more toward an industrial look, but the cute little number on the top is more farmhouse style:

Half point industrial, half farmhouse. I’m so confused. ;)

Finally, I totally blame blogland for this one. My friend Chris made my multiple decor personalities issue even worse. She found a lovely table at World Market and I was smitten.

I was sitting in a waiting room when I read her post, and it just so happened I was about 50 yards from a World Market. Curses!!!

So I went. And I got it:

(Yes. Those are seashells still on display. In November. I told you I’m all over the place.)

Dang her and her awesome taste!! I got it for a great price because I found a coupon online (they took it off my phone – hurrah!). You can find the table here.

I’m IN LOVE with it’s modern look – the shape, the design, the glass top. I swoon every time I walk by it. I’m still thinking about taking some Rub n Buff to it to change up the color a bit, but we’ll see about that.

Sooo…score one for modern style.

That leaves us with…uh. Major design confusion. ;)

I wouldn’t even call my home eclectic cause I when I hear eclectic I think funky – maybe I’m wrong? Who knows what’s going on in my head and house. All I know is I LIKE IT!

I love the different pieces throughout our home and that they change up the look up around here. I’m just more confused than ever on what to call my style.

Modern farmhouse industrial old stuff suburban? It’s got a certain ring to it.

Has blogland influenced your style? What would you call yours? I hope it’s easier than  mine. For your sake. ;)

The Deck Reveal!

Well, it’s been a loooooong time coming! Our outdoor spaces are finally wrapping up and we are THRILLED. The mulching was finished today, and a few minor patio projects are being finished up this week. I’ll show you that as soon as I get it cleaned up, but for now, I’m excited to share our deck space!

Warning: Picture overload. Don’t say I didn’t tell ya. ;)

It started when we decided to do the patio – we knew it was time to restain the deck and get that under control as well. It was looking OH so sad – when we had the deck built six years ago, we made the BIG mistake of staining it immediately after it was built.

The deck builder came by the day after we finished to tell us we weren’t supposed to do that. Which was AWESOME. Pressure treated wood shouldn’t be stained right away. Which would have been AWESOME to know. ;)

Have I mentioned our deck is about 800 square feet? Yes. We spent two whole days staining just to find out we weren’t supposed to do what we just did.

Live and learn. So after all that time, and because we stained before we should have (you should wait at least a few months to stain – now we know), it was in bad shape.

To make a very long story short – we were going to clean, prep and stain the entire thing over again ourselves. That was all fine and dandy until after about five hours of cleaning the railings and wanting to poke my eyes out. And I wasn’t even half way done.

That’s when we realized we had to decide where to dedicate our time – and we decided to hire out. I could have cried I was so happy! Did I mention 800 square feet – and that does not include the railings?

Happy dance.

The stain the company used isn’t what I wanted – at all. I wanted our deep red deck again, but that’s not how it turned out. But after all the hassle and time, I was just thrilled to have the furniture back on the deck and out of our yard:

It’s not at all what I envisioned but now I SO DO NOT CARE. :) It’s done and I’m happy. It is growing on me – I’m good. I’m especially good that we didn’t have to spend another 15 hours doing it ourselves.

See my mongo cabbage in that pic above? I heart them:

 

Gah…I’m so obsessed with this stuff! I found them at a local nursery (for $7 each)and they are as big as my head! BIGGER. I love these things. And the mums were on clearance at Lowe’s for a buck each – not sure why but I’m not complaining. :)

I don’t show the beast on our deck very often, but we do have a hot tub. It’s not the prettiest thing, but it is pretty darn awesome. We haven’t used it much lately, but it’s all clean now and ready for a nice (WARM) dip!

We moved the retractable pergola over the hot tub and it made that part of the deck look a tad better:

 

We had the hot tub placed down a bit lower than the deck when we put everything in. We would have made it flush, but it has a stereo system (I know! Fancy schmancy! It doesn’t even work anymore.) that we need access to, so we had to leave it up above the deck a bit.

On to the pretty stuff, shall we? ;)

I showed you our new outdoor table set earlier this summer and it’s held up great so far:

I got the plates from Target a couple summers ago, and the placemats at World Market this summer. I LOVE THEM. You’ll see them again soon. ;)

The mason jars are filled with split peas and LED lights – I’m obsessed with those little jobbies!

But the best spot, our very favorite, it rocks our world, we could sleep out there spot, is the other end of the deck. For about four summers now, hubs has wanted a gazebo – and he got his wish this year. ;) We found one for a steal at Sears earlier this summer:

It was on major clearance and now that we have it, I wish we would have done it four years ago. Every time I tell hubby that, he just smiles the “I told you so” smile. He’s always right…why have I not learned by now??

It feels like a ROOM – it’s also a fun new space to decorate:

And you know that makes me happy. ;)

You can see more about the DIY table in the middle up there here. It’s held up awesome and it’s one of my very favorite things on the entire deck:

LOVE it.

Love those pillows too – the square ones were all on clearance at Lowes. The rectangle ones are actually placemats from World Market:

I love their placemats – the stripe and floral are both the same placemat, but they have the different designs on each side. It’s like two pillows in one – for $4! (To see how how easy it is to make placemat pillows, go here.)

The furniture was a fab find on Craigslist a couple summers ago. The cushions that came with it fell apart (not because I left them out in the snow…cough…), so I grabbed up the brown cushions at Home Depot on clearance – in JUNE!:

I actually like these better than the old ones – they’re simpler and not so poofy. They are a bit rough though, so that takes some getting used to.

One of my other favorite parts of the deck is the candelabra:

It was a Wuslu.com find last year and it started out green:

I wanted it to have a bit more impact out there, so I spray painted it RED.

LOVE.

This shot gives you an idea of how monstrous our deck is:

And now you understand why I was giddy at the thought of NOT staining all of that. ;)

I love looking back – here’s  a shot the summer we had it installed – just days after we stained it (grrrrrr…):

Now it feels like we have three separate rooms out there, not to mention the patio.

We are THRILLED. :)

Of course, I love the space at dusk:

But even more when it’s dark:

The gazebo actually has LED lights in the pillars, which are way cool, but the light is a bit harsh. The garden lights are so much softer and prettier. :)

I got the light strands (I used two) at Target last spring, hoping I could figure out a way to use them. I wound them through the gazebo and they offer SO much light (when we want it):

It honestly feels like your inside (but outside) when they are on, it’s so bright. But it’s a warm bright – you know what I mean?

And I love their fun, whimsical vibe. We sit out there and just kind of sigh and look up and count our lucky stars (or light bulbs). ;)

So there you go – enough pics for ya? It’s been a long time coming, and we are so happy that we’ll get to enjoy some cozy fall days and nights out there. And on hot summer days, it’s much cooler under the gazebo, so we’ll be out there even more next summer.

I hope you enjoyed the little deck tour! We honestly couldn’t be more pleased with it. And the patio – well…it’s the cherry on top!! I will be back soon with that!

Wish I could have you all over for an outdoor party. ;) If you’d bring the sangria, I’d be tempted…

Picking out the floors

Well hello! I’m happy to announce we have some progress with the floors in the kitchen and family room. Nothing is torn up, nothing is laid down, nothing is even picked out. But the insurance company has given us the green light to move forward and that is AWESOME news!

I’m clicking my heals over here! (OK, in my head…I’ve tried doing it for real and it ain’t pretty.)

I told  you a couple of weeks ago about the water issues we had in the kitchen – and since then we’ve lived with a big rectangle cut out of the floor, down to the plywood. Thankfully most of that plywood is covered with our island again (I’ll catch you up on that soon), but we’ve got that pesky problem of covering the hole to deal with.

That means picking out floors. And if I thought buying a new sofa was bad, wowza…that was nothin’. This is BIG people. Very, very BIG.

One thing we know for sure – we aren’t going back to laminate. I know – I professed my love of laminate here and I have loved our floors:

But that’s back when they looked pretty and shiny. ;) Over the years they have lost their shine – they are dull and will not clean up no matter what – I’ve tried absolutely everything. The only thing that works is getting down on the floor and working on one square foot at a time, and even then they are just dull and yucky.

Secondly, the water issue. Overall our floors have held up GREAT – but you just don’t mess with water and laminate. I’ve discovered it takes VERY little time for the water to seep into the floors and then spread. And they can’t be dried out – at least ours couldn’t. I believe there may be laminate flooring you can “patch” now (replace sections), but at least with the kind we got, it’s not easy (if even possible). And once bitten, twice shy you know…I just want to avoid this situation ever again if possible.

With real wood, or even engineered, the floors can be dried out and then repaired. Even then I know it’s not fun, but it can be done. (We’ve already ordered these to try to avoid water damage in the future.)

And now…because we’re tearing out the floors in the back of the house…we’re considering tearing out the carpet in the front of the house too. Mostly because of things like Christmas trees falling:

And (lots of) red ribbon staining the carpet. :) And our beautiful (late) pee cat (in the pic above) did her share. And the dog. And the cherry that was stuck to the bottom of my shoe while I walked around the living room the other day – that was awesome too.

Let’s just say, it’s not pretty. I will spare you the pictures. :)

So anyhoo…the insurance will cover most of the flooring, and we’re deciding if we’ll pay some extra to have the whole bottom floor done. I’m leaning toward yes. Hubby is leaning toward putting his hands over his ears yelling “nananananananaaaa I’m not listening!!” because of all of our mishaps this summer. I can’t say I blame him. ;)

I started out looking at engineered flooring, but our “Guy” says his “Guy” is saying we could do real hardwood for the same price. Specifically unfinished wood, finished on site (our house).

Say whaaaaa?

I’m still looking into all options – engineered, prefinished and unfinished. The unfinished and all the work involved is already giving me hives. With the sanding and staining and moving furniture out and US out and three animals and a fish out – HIVES.

Our Guy swears we won’t have to be out of the house, but I think he’s sweet talkin’ me. I’m definitely leaning toward engineered or prefinished. So he brought  me a prefinished sample today and I’ve been showing her around the place. ;)

I picked out the laminate floors to match our kitchen cabs, which I will do again – umm…never. Wayyyy too much reddish going on. I like the contrast with these dark beauties:

Check them out against the black island:

Oh la la!! :)

I tested her out with the sofas – in the living room:

And in the family room, with the rug:

My heart was beating a bit faster. ;)

But I think I may have squealed a little (out loud) when I tried it up against the white dresser in the living room:

OH my gah. That. is. gorgeous.

And then I about passed out when I put her up against the white molding and the drapes:

Oh be still my heart, I am in LOVE. Is it bad to pick the first sample you see? (Those last few pics are more the actual color – it looks reddish up above.)

But I still need to look around – I’m a compare 342 options and then research it on 289 web sites kind of girl. This site is by far the best I’ve found to explain the different options in flooring and what you should look for. Check it out if you are trying to figure out the flooring conundrum yourself.

I’d also like to check out wider planks too – the sample has 3 1/2 inch planks and I’d like to see the four inch. I also love the look of the hand-scraped wood, but our Guy has mentioned that many he’s worked with have had issues with those. I’m not sure of the specifics yet, but I’m going to dig deeper on that one.

And of course there’s the budget – if engineered is cheaper, we’ll most likely go with that. But he keeps telling us we can do real for the same price. I don’t even know how that’s possible, but I want to trust Guy. ;)

So…again, I ask you to help a girl out! Any advice? I know I’ve asked before, but I would LOVE specifics! If you could pick between engineered and wood, what would you do? What reasons? Have you had issues with either? Happy with one over the other? Did you go prefinished or finished on site?

I’ve never had wood floors and never thought in a million years I would – but here I am, looking at wood floors.

That is why I never say never. Ever. ;)

I’m hoping to make this the fastest, most well informed decision ever, so hopefully I’ll have an update for you soon! Thanks in advance for all your help, my Squeeeeezies. I REALLY appreciate it! :)

Mini Transformations

Hey hey! How are you? I’m super excited because it’s only supposed to get up to 79 tomorrow – ahhh, I’m in heaven! Although that is perfect deck staining weather, unfortunately. Fortunately? Whatever.

I’m back with one more post about the family room redo – are you tired of seeing it yet?

Don’t answer that. :)

Many of you had questions on the little details in the space so I wanted to get the info on all of the accessories in one spot.

First up, the TV area – the old TV spot was a thorn in my side, and now I couldn’t be happier:

The dresser was (another) Craigslist find. I told you it’s story here. It’s a Henredon and I adore it – it’s one of my very favorite pieces in our whole house. It’s GORG.

The lovely lady lamps were from HomeGoods last year – they are a beautiful green with a gorgeous finish. LOVE.

The mirror was also a HomeGoods find and it started out black. I got it months ago for another room, and it didn’t work there, so I put it back in my car to return it.

When I went to open the back of my SUV to get it out, it fell out in the parking lot. GAH. So…it wasn’t going back. ;) Drats.

The corner was busted and it had a few scratches (I can’t believe the mirror didn’t break!), so I sanded those down a bit. It was way too dark in black (I wanted something brighter above the black hole of a TV), so I took the mirror out and  spray painted the frame bright white. It turned out beautifully!

I haven’t found the mirror again, but I did run across this one at Target just recently:

It’s so close, and I think it’s the same exact size! I love how the mirror balances out the dresser and TV and all that jazz.

I showed you the mantel changes awhile back:

And it mostly stayed the same, but that brown candlestick needed some color!

Enter my Mountain View spray paint:

It was just what the mantel needed!:

That mossy “S” was a crafty project using sheets of moss:

I showed you how I hot glued my fingers made that one here.

The IKEA sofa table got a little accessory redo too, yet again using what I already had:

I had never done much to accessorize the top before:

So I went hunting through the house. :) The lanterns were a smashing deal a couple years ago – I got them for $10 each at Walmart. They used to sit on our deck and looked like this:

I wanted a brighter look, so I busted out the brushed nickel spray paint and there. you. go:

The tray was a $4 Goodwill find I’ve had for awhile and was black, originally white:

Someone had spray painted it black and I sprayed it back to white. Again. Got it? ;) I picked large blue books, again to pull some blue over to that side of the room. The faux greenery puff ball I showed you here.

And the lamp has gone through a few transformations – the latest being a coat of blue:

It’s a vintage light that started out ivory and brown with a different shade:

Then went to black, then green:

I luuuuurve the funky shape of it! We’ll see what color it is next. ;)

The very first thing I do when we get a new sofa (which is all the time, you know) is to take off the pillows that come with it. I ditch the matchy matchy and use pillows as a chance to pull in some color and customize the space:

I used the pillow forms that came with the sofa and made the striped pillow covers with Waverly fabric from Joann’s. The large furry cream pillow in the corner is from Target and IT’S SO FLUFFY!!!! (Name that movie!)

The others are all Pottery Barn pillow covers I picked up last summer. The embroidered one on the left was a total splurge but I. LOVE. it. I don’t buy my pillow inserts there though – they are insanely expensive and I actually don’t think they are firm enough anyway. I use old pillows to stuff my cases, or get forms with a coupon at Joann’s or Hob Lob.

Whew! I hope that helps to answer any questions you had about the space! Other than a few pillows, I used what I had to finish up the accessories and wall decor for the whole space. I’m really, really pleased with how it all came together!

If there’s something I missed, let me know in the comments and I’ll let get back to you there! And…I swear, that’s the last I’ll mention the family room for about, uh…a few days? ;) 

So tell me, have you transformed something with spray paint lately? It’s magic in a can, I tell ya.