Monday, March 15, 2010

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...

We had a lot to smile about this past week/weekend.  And because we haven't done an update in some time, we have a lot to share.

The week began with Evan putting the finishing touches on the long awaited bathroom mirror and fixtures.  We found a great sized mirror on the cheap at Home Depot and Evan built the perfect frame around it so we could mount it to the wall and also allow for it to curve around the tile.  The light fixtures were a total score at IKEA for around $12 a piece--- not too bad! 

Alex also joined in on the fun by creating a time capsule drawing of a circus on the back of the mirror and "helping" to hang it up. 







The Before:


And After!




I am super excited about how this turned out!


Moving on....

So by now everyone knows that we love Craig and his List.  We decided early on that for every new purchase we made for the house we would try to buy something reclaimed or recycled.  Well.... we've bought a lot of new things and while we haven't matched every single purchase, we have found quite a few pieces and repurposed them in our home. 

Earlier in the week we found an $800 table at Crate & Barrel that was never really an option until we found a rather close cousin of it on The List.  We're still in search of the perfect chairs to go around it, but for now, 4 of our other purchases also appear alongside it...including an orange chair I picked up a few weeks back that I was pretty certain I would die without. 

If you or someone you know is holding her sister hostage---PLEASE LET ME KNOW!  :) I HAVE ROOM FOR BOTH!


Below, The $800 Crate & Barrel Table:


The table we found on Craigslist and scored for half the asking price...



Our $20 table getting cozy in our dining room with a plethora of other chairs we picked up for a great deal!



Raise your hand if you are in desperate need of some fabulous window treatments.  (We're raising.)

And speaking of orange...  A while back I had this crazy idea to bring orange into our house via the kitchen.  We found an old chandelier (one of our very first purchases) at Habitat Restore for $5.  We picked it up with plans to spray paint it for use somewhere and finally decided we could add a pop of color in the kitchen with this piece.  

And when we our Stendig Calendar arrived in the mail, we could hardly wait to see this piece--- a staple of modern designers and a regular at The Museum of Modern Art---make its debut in our very own kitchen.  And while we are still totally undecided on the wall color(s) for the kitchen, I couldn't wait any longer to see the fixture and the calendar up against a gray accent wall that we're currently flirting with...   

Evan hanging the tangerine dream at 2 a.m.! (Swoon!)
 


The "In Case You Forgot" Shots....



The new and much improved look...



We still need to figure out seating for the nook....but for now, we're loving this new space!

But we didn't stop there. 

The craziness continued to the backsplash where we have also been debating what in the world we could do there.  We've gone back and forth on  painting it, tiling it and pretty much ignoring it....but we think we may have found a unique solution....

I tend to think that most art can be a DIY project, and so a few weeks ago I began making some random pieces for throughout the house. I started framing different things that meant something to us and also looked pretty cool.  When I laid them all out on the counter to decide where they should go, I realized that they looked perfect right where they were and thus our a personalized backsplash was born. 

A quick look back...




And now....



We incorporated some orginal artwork---from left to right they are: a Charles Eames house bird on an orange and gray print (Thank you Google Images), a tea towel from Pier One with a reminder to "Live Green", the exact CL posting I clicked on and met the love of my life, our house number framed on Ray Eames fabric and last but not least "Orange Cheetah" by Alex.



What I love most about this project is that each frame is filled with something that is unique to us and the color combination really helps to unify the space. We're still deciding if we'll continue on with the green wall color we started with behind our open shelving or if we'll go with the crisp white and gray accents, but either way, we're loving the look that the kitchen is starting to take on.

On Saturday we kicked off the Irish celebration early with our very first neighborhood parade.  We invited a few of Alex's friends (and their parents) to join us and even though the weather wasn't great, we still had a nice walk up to the parade and the kids really enjoyed it. 

A little Irish Pride to get the weekend started (a housewarming gift from the fam)





Treat bags for the kiddos.


Alex debuting her new headband.


Ready to catch some flying candy at the parade!



Good Times!

And to wrap up the week we decided to embrace our access to public transportation (basically our front yard) and ride the MAX to dinner downtown.  

Now that's what I call convenient!

Waiting for the bus


All in all it was my favorite kind of weekend; one filled with good food, good fun and  good friends.  Oh, and not having to go very far for either. 

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