The Console - Part II

I have to say, I'm still really happy with my lucite CB2 Console.  Since my last post I've done a little styling and it's looking a lot better.  I switched out some of the photography and accessories and put some artwork up on the wall.  Found this great abstract piece at a local estate sale and it adds the perfect touch of mint / aqua that I've been wanting in that corner.  And I like how the artwork bridges the space between the mirror and the console.  Still not crazy about the green of Bryan's ball when I see the space photographed. Perhaps he needs a mint colored ball, or a jute ball or a shagreen ball :)   

Living Room Roman Shades Complete

I swear this is my last roman shade DIY post.  I still want to romans one day in my office but I'm taking a serious hiatus from all this sewing and gluing.  We have a big deadline coming up for the house (more on that later), so I've been rushing to complete all my projects. This was one that I've been working on in stages for a while. I found a great grey linen at Gray Line Linens and then an awesome trim at M and J Trimming in the city.  Did the same DIY from Little Green Notebook as before but this time knew to do a few things different.  I made the shades slightly wider than the measured opening since the outside edges of the shade pull in and the mounting bracket sticks out a bit further than the narrowest part of the window opening.  I also tried my hand at creating a Greek Key trim.  Here is the before.

Here we are in progress.  For those of you who want to attempt this, it was fairly easy.  A little bit of math involved and some strategic folding and pressing but it was all glued down with Fabritac.  One piece of advice - put something under your fabric. You will be using enough glue that it will go through and glue your fabric to the floor.

And here is it installed finally.  I sort of fudged this a little.  The glue and trim really caused the sides to buckle in in a bad way so I used some large paper clips to clip the folds to the wood dowel in the hopes that they will create a crease and I can take the clip off in the future. Or I'll just leave it on since these will only be lowered for winter afternoon TV viewing which is not something that happens often in our house.  Regardless, the final product is something I'm pretty happy with.  Yay, one project down - 3 more to go!!!

Master Bedroom - Almost There

After a wild goose chase online that led to a weekend trip to Staten Island, I finally got my Target draperies for our master bedroom and had them customized with pinch pleats.  Got them up last week and then got our West Elm Headboard this past week. The room has really come together and I'm excited it looks so much like the concept board.

The nightstands will do for now.  I'm still digging the Jonathan Adler etageres and also like the idea of using an Saarinen tulip table on either side for a touch of mod, but neither has enclosed storage so I'm going to wait on this and see what crops up.  All in all, I'm loving the pops of color and the fact that we finally have what I consider to be an "adult bedroom". 

Stylin' Mamma: Somewhere, Summer

Maybe it was the "Mad Men" when Betty visits Bobby at summer camp, but suddenly I can't shake a vintagey, summer-in-Vermont-in-1967 vibe.  Looking out the window at a typical May-gray day in San Francisco, I guess it's wishful thinking.  Somewhere in my Facebook feed, East Coast friends are decamping for the Hamptons or Sea Island, but it's another two months before we shake off the city for some mountain air.

In the meantime, tap into your inner camp counselor with a fun whistle necklace, and consider the following: a high-waisted cotton skirt, paired with flat ankle-strap sandals and a weathered chambray shirt.  Cat-eye sunglasses (must acquire a pair for myself) and a straw tote that can do double-duty in the city.  (Beat the heat and keep make-up simple with a totally retro high-gloss red lip.)  See you on the open road!

- Jaime 

Adding a little spark to the living room

If you've been following along with my blog since I lived in Los Angeles you know that the pillows most recently on my living room sofa have traveled with me for a while. In fact, some of you may even know that they were throw pillows I got in college that I recovered with large fabric memo samples I received while I was working in New York.  They are nice pillows and they have certainly served me well, but it was time to retire them to the breakfast window seat and do something fresh in the living room.  Over the years I've favorited a number of etsy shops that make pillows from cool fabrics that are mostly available to the trade.  I'm in love with Kelly Wearstler's line of fabrics for Groundworks.  Originally I'd wanted to do dining room drapes in one of her textiles but at prices upwards of $150 a yard it wasn't even something I wanted to splurge on.  Enter Etsy Shop Spark Modern. They have a great array of throw pillows from the ever popular Chiang Mai Dragon to several of Kelly Wearstler's fabrics.  Now a half yard for a throw pillow is definitely more in line with my budget.  The overall color scheme of our living and rooms is grey, black and white and a dash of orange and mint/teal.  I decided that since the artwork already has orange in it and the pillows on the side chairs have a little goldenrod going, that I would add more contrast with the pillows on the sofa and window seat and also insert a dash of minty freshness. The mother daughter team at Spark Modern created a custom package of pillows for me in sizes I wanted and at a great price point.  I'm so happy with the result.   They add a pop of color and an extra dose of sophistication to the room.  And you lucky readers get an extra 15% off with coupon code "nesteaglerock". 

Stay tuned for more living room transformations including some Spoonflower reupholstery projects and yet more roman shades.

Living Room Console - see through solutions

Well, if you know anything about my harware line, you know I love lucite.  I have been coveting these Jonathan Adler lucite etageres for our bedroom nightstands, but they are more of a pipe dream than a reality at this point.  But I am happy to say that I got a little lucite fix recently, when we brought this wonderful CB2 console into our home.  I had been wanting to add a console near the door for quite some time.  Since our living room is small and there is already enough traditional stuff going on, this seemed like a nice, clean contemporary solution.  Bryan's basket for his crazy ball collection slips in nicely below (although I might have to find some balls in colors that work better with my living room scheme) and our land line phone (which is more of a toy for Bryan than anything we ever use) now has a home.  Still trying to dig through my accessories to get this nook looking right, but I figured it was better to share than to wait much longer. I think some sort of tall vase with branches and a small piece of wall mounted art would make a nice transition from the mirror above to the vignette below.  I'm so glad that we now have a place to drop mail and keys etc. What do you think? Do you have a "landing pad" at your house?

Roman Shade Fix

Sorry for the blog silence recently. We went on vacation (more on that later) and am now trying to play catch up.  After doing Bryan's roman shades and realizing that sewing a straight line over multiple layers of fabric is much harder than one thinks, I had to come up with a creative solution to make his shades look less janky.  I'd followed Jenny's DIY from Little Green Notebook on how to make a roman shade.  Her instructions show you how to create a shade that has a flap at the bottom that remains stationery (doesn't fold under) as you pull the shade up. This is a nice look for shades with banding and trim at the bottom. This worked well for our bathroom shade where I plan to add a border later on.  I'm not doing that on Bryan's though so I came up with a quick fix that took advantage of the extra flap at the bottom. I'd made my shades extra long, so using fabritac glue I pulled the bottom flap up and glued it to the dowel / wood piece on the back of the shade. This gives it a more relaxed feel as if the shade is being pulled up from the very bottom hem and also makes the unsightly wavy hemline go away.  Hurrah.  Here is what it looked like before.

And here is what it looks like after.

Much cleaner and tailored looking right?