Painful Hutch

We have this hutch.

Things That Make Me Smile

Last night I read this post from AtticMag. I have always loved banquette seating, so I was really excited they featured some well done ones. We have often recommended them to clients for multiple reasons, the main reason being space. A chair needs about 36" to be able to, comfortably back the chair up or for someone to walk behind it, while a banquette only takes up about 18". I have considered doing some type of not-built-in banquette in the corner of my eating area.

As Is (in all honesty, the table is usually pushed against the left wall)

Bedroom Closet pt 2

Almost two months ago, I posted before pictures of our master closet. 

Spring cleaning has begun!

I know it's only March but somehow I feel like it is no longer "New Year's Resolution Cleaning," now it is "Spring Cleaning." Also, it helps me keep that resolution going just a bit longer. Living in a small place like ours, is like living on a boat. Things just need to be shifted and cleaned out constantly. So I began with a few kitchen cabinets and drawers that had not been touched recently.
This is our utensil drawer, not terrible but there was a bunch in there we either don't use or got a better version as a wedding gift.

Bookcase move

Have you ever moved a bookcase to a new spot in your room? It might be the WORST piece of furniture to relocate. It seems to me that I move them more than my other furniture. I married a bookworm. He loves to read and re-reads many books. I have some architecture and building books, he has the rest of our 3+ bookcases. This bookcase was a $5 find. I brought it to my parents, I was very proud and my dad said "I will have to beef up the structure, I can't believe you paid $5 for this." I asked him if the wood would cost more than $5, he said "of course" I said, "well then I got my money's worth!" It has been a great bookcase for us. I haven't decided if I will paint or re-stain it, so, 4 years later it sits in it's original state: worn. 

Productive Tuesday

Today I helped my aunt air seal her basement. I have recently completed an air sealing technician training. Simply, air sealing is used in conjunction with insulation to restrict air flow. We were attempting to keep warm air in her home by insulating the joist bay pockets. 

Joist bay pockets are the area where your floor joists intersect your rim joist. This is a great picture from National Energy Audits. Her joist bay pockets were not nearly as clean or evenly spaced (the house isn't exactly new.)

For partial payment she gave me a bunch of gold  frames for a future project and some round black framed mirrors. I love goodies from people's basements!

Launch Pad Challenge

This is our launch pad in the front hallway

Bedroom Closet Before

We moved here in August of 2007. I was in heaven! We had 14 feet of closet space in our bedroom. 14 feet. 14 whole feet. It was one rod with two shelves above it. I knew at some point we would want to change it and make it more efficient, but it worked for a while.

Conquering Our Overworked Hall Closet

After our wedding this fall, our already overloaded hall closet just about exploded. We use it for a pantry, linen closet, coat closet, broom closet, and anything else that needs a home. We have remodeled our bedroom closet, but because this one holds so much, I am having a hard time committing to a configuration I will like. So in the mean time, I will make it work for us and our "stuff"

Before

Portmerion Pt 2

After moving all of our glasses (or as many as would prettily fit into our glasses bookcase,) I now had two LARGE shelves available for all of our dishes! We didn't have any small plates before, but we did have some adorable dessert plates that happened to be the same size. We also had some bowls that had serves us well and somewhat went with the Portmerion. Everything has a home in our new dishes cabinet!