jilly's breakfast nook and a mini-tutorial

Even though I don't feel like this space is quite ready to show the world, it's as done as it's going to be for awhile, and the white tile floor (aka: the bane of my existence) unfortunately isn't going anywhere anytime soon.... 

This is the breakfast nook in our home and this picture was taken a week or so before we moved in while I was cleaning out all the stuff the previous occupant had left behind.

You've got to love the vertical blinds, cultured marble windowsills and a ceiling fan that unfortunately wasn't captured in this photo.

Here it is today:

This space was largely "completed" (will it ever really be done?) just a couple weeks ago when this piano bench, previously adorned in this hot pink Asian silk was given new life.

It was reupholstered in a sturdy, wool, herringbone curtain panel I found at a garage sale for $1.  One of my best friends and fellow members of {Club Project} who is often referred to as "G" here on the blog, upholstered this at the last project day at {MY house}.  I finished it off with a contrasting welt cord, and thought I would give a mini-tutorial on how I did it. 

Have you ever wondered how the pros make the welting look like there is no starting or stopping point?  Well, YOU are going to be a pro after a quick how-to!

First off, make (or buy) enough welt cord for your project.  Pull the fabric back a bit to expose about an inch of the cord on one end.

Snip off an inch of the cord and smooth your fabric back out.  There will be about an inch with no cording inside.  Don't panic.

Pick the stitching out until you reach the cut end of your cording. 

Start stapling a good two inches from the start of your welt cord.

Continue on around until you get close to where you started.  Leave plenty to play with.  Now is not the time to have cut it too short!  I always make my cording at least a few inches longer than I think I need.

Now find the end of your cut cording inside the little sleeve, and cut the other end dead even with where the the other one starts.

Fold back the fabric where you picked the seam out and make sure your cording edges butt up to each other.  You don't want to leave a gap at all.

Fold your cut and raw edge under a 1/4" and tuck the side you just cut right inside.  Staple it in place really well where it joins.

 Look, now YOU can be a PRO!  The joined edge is hardly noticeable at all.

I've seen one too many bad upholstery pieces where they cross the welt cords over each other and it looks so bulky and unprofessional, not to mention clearly obvious as to where it starts and stops. I hope this little tutorial helps you!

The windows of the nook were a little bit involved.... I can't lie.  Back in the early 80's when this house was built, they must have sought out the squattiest windows available. They never made sense to me, and since ripping them out and replacing them with taller ones wasn't a viable option (trust me, I checked!) I had to come up with another plan.  I decided to run some moulding all the way up the sides of the windows to the ceiling and make some custom roman shades to hang over the dead wall space above the window to make the window appear much taller.

Melanie helped me work on adding trim to this bay window area for an entire day of  a Club Project session about a year ago, and then me and my man finished it off.  We used MDF for the whole thing, except for the piece of pine trim we attached to the front of the sill to dress it up a bit.  There were some sizable gaps due to my lack of knowledge in trigonometry about how angles and corners come together.  Thank the heavens for wood filler and caulk. You'd never guess there was a problem.

Mia is such a sport, although that's no surprise.  These are the SECOND set of window treatments she helped me make for this space.  (We aren't going to talk about the first set, they were my bad idea)  I LOVE the current roman shades though!  We made them out of fabric I got for $1 a yard at Wal Mart, and the gray trim was found at SAS for $2 a yard.  They are casual and comfortable looking and add some much needed softness to a space with so many hard finishes.  Mia posted a {great tutorial} so you can make your own shades, too. It has great pictures and instructions.  You know you don't need a sewing machine, right?  These are no-sew shades!  Be sure to use black-out lining if you plan on hanging your window treatments above your window to help them appear taller.  The top of the window is about 3 inches above the bottom of the new shades.  By mounting my shades to the ceiling, I added 2 feet to my window height!  I have some cheap roller blinds mounted at the top of the window that we use in the summer afternoons when the 672 degree sun comes blaring in.  They are completely hidden by my new roman shades. 

The table was a $30 Craigslist find and I'm obsessed with it!  The marble is so pretty and the rest is shabby and worn.  This is the bench on the opposite side.  Thrift store piano benches were the perfect size!  I painted the base and stripped the top, then sealed it with wax.  It gets used and abused every single day and still looks great. 

I gave the chairs a makeover a year ago and I detailed the process {here}.  Remember when they looked like this?

They have held up amazingly well.  I scrub the painted upholstery seats about once a week, and they still look just about as good as the day I finished them.  If you find a well-upholstered chair that you want to use at your kitchen table, I highly recommend painting the upholstery.  It becomes almost like a really soft vinyl and is a breeze to keep clean.

The light fixture is just a very temporary $5 fix found at Habitat Restore. The stuff on the table is all thrift store finds, and I always have a fresh plant or flowers in a small pot.  Right now it's rosemary and everything I cook gets a few fresh sprigs!

The wall adjacent to the table is another area I've had a lot of fun with recently.  I have no mud room per se, so it's the main drop spot upon entering the back door. (which is more like the front door for our family and friends)  I'm going to blog about it next week.

Thanks for checking in and spending some of your time here.  It's fun to hear from you, and we just got our first male follower.  Thank you, Sebastiono P.    We really hope you're a legitimate human, because this is BIG!

   

    

potty break

I'm tired of the bathroom.  The kids can shower AND use the toilet in there now.  They just have to walk about 15 steps to the laundry room to wash their hands and brush their teeth.  Vanities are overrated.  And I'm tired.  I'm praying for another burst of energy next week.

And I'm praying hard.

I had the extraordinary privilege to host {Club Project} at my house last week.  Despite the prep that goes into getting ready for it, it's one of the best days of the whole year for me!  I have at least a thousand things we could have worked on, but I narrowed it down to some upholstery pieces I've been wanting to transform.

A piano bench (bought at a thrift store for $10) that needed to have the hot pink Asian silk retired.

A neo-classical bench (bought on Craigslist for $25) that also needed some fresh upholstery.

A very puffy, upholstered queen headboard (Craigslist, $30) that had seen better days in the early 90's.  We had already started tearing it apart..... 

And six parsons chairs ($20 apiece on Craigslist)  upholstered in a very neutral, but ugly southwest print.  I love their boxy shape and non-rolled backs.

I'm putting the finishing touches on each piece, and I'll blog about the "afters" soon.  They are all SO much better.

For lunch that day, I duplicated a delicious salad from one of my favorite places called Pita Jungle.  It's a roasted vegetable salad with  chicken, feta cheese and toasted pine nuts, tossed in a vinaigrette. I paired it with a garlic focaccia bread that I found in the refrigerated section at Costco.  It was really good.

For the salad, you can use any vegetables you have on hand or that your family likes.  I used fresh corn on the cob, french green beans, zucchini, red bell peppers, onions and carrots.  I cut the corn off the cob, cut the green beans in half so they were shorter pieces, cut each zucchini in thirds, then in spears, sliced the onion and bell pepper in bite sized strips, and I left the baby carrots alone.  I put all my veggies in a huge bowl and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper.  I spread them out in a single layer on two jellyroll pans (because I had so many) and put them in the oven on 400 for about 35 minutes.  When I'm using two trays, I just switch their positions halfway through the cooking time.  I also broiled them each on the top rack for 5 minutes when they were done just to crisp them up a little.  I did this in the morning so that they would be room temperature by lunchtime.

For the greens, I used a mix of baby spinach and romaine.  I got a rotisserie chicken and took the meat off the bone.  To toast the pine nuts, place them in a single layer in a dry skillet and cook them over medium-high heat, stirring them around frequently so they are evenly toasted.  As SOON as they are brown, take them off the heat and OUT of the skillet.  If you leave them in the pan, they will continue to cook and be black in no time.  At $23.99 a pound, we are definitely into babying the tiny nuggets of gold.

Toss the greens, room temperature roasted vegetables, chicken, crumbled feta cheese, toasted pine nuts and your choice of vinaigrette together in a large bowl and serve immediately.  Mia made the dressing because she is literally the dressing master and I'm terrified of making dressings.  She just makes it up every time as she goes.  It's never the same, but always delicious!  This particular one was a creamy vinaigrette.

I'm sad I didn't take a picture of my salad all done, but here is a picture of a very similar one.

A day spent with my project girls is good for my soul.  They are all like sisters to me and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have them as a part of my life.  We treated ourselves with a trip to Southern California a couple of weeks ago and it was a ball.  We laughed and cried so much that I never wanted the trip to end!  We are good for each other.  I love my dear friend {Katie's} post on Why Women Need Women.  It's so, so true. If you want to be a better wife, mother, daughter, friend, neighbor, grandma, aunt, cousin, or anything really, spend some time on Katie's blog, {The Vintage Mother}.  This girl has got it figured out.

Another highlight of last week was getting to tour my new friend {Dorie's} home.  It looks even better in real life than it does in the beautiful pictures she puts on her blog, if that's even possible!  Dorie and her husband are so friendly and kind, and their work is impeccable.  The white, six burner Viking stove stole my heart.

And her French Bulldog Wallace.....oh my, is he ever cute!

Thanks Dorie!  It was such a treat for me!

Check back next week.  Hopefully there will be some progress on something to share!

The Tale of Four Bookcases

What's happening on the Nate Berkus Show today you might wonder?  We are!!  Get your tv on!  And please pray we don't embarrass ourselves....

I'm a big fan of making a house work for the family that lives in it.  If there are rooms that aren't being utilized, turn them into functional spaces that you need! 

The house I'm living in now has a formal living room/dining room combo that just wasn't being enjoyed.  After living here for almost a year, I hatched a plan to turn the dining room space into my home office.

Problem number one:  It's one long, continuous room.

The solution?  Find a gigantic, former built-in wall unit at a thrift store, borrow a truck and trailer, and persuade your husband to drive over an hour to pick it up in a rain storm.  No biggie.

Skip the drama. We placed the big built-in behind the living room sofa as a divider, with the storage part facing toward my new office space.  One room divided into two, instantly!

Problem number two:  Her backside.  So unsightly.  Facing right into my formal living room.

I laid awake at night for months thinking of a way to cover it up. Wallpaper? Fabric? A board and batten treatment?  Nothing was convincing me into action.

Until the day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, {Little Green Notebook}, and saw Jenny's library.  Done.

After tirelessly searching Craigslist for the ideal thing for weeks, I came up with four,  perfectly sized  beauties.  This sweet couple was taking 12 of them out of the home they had just purchased.  I didn't have the heart to tell them they were crazy!  The units were big, brown, and kind of homely, but I could smell the potential, and I had just hit the jackpot.  They were $200 total.  I was swooning over the tongue and groove backs.

Fortunately for me, I was hosting {Club Project} that month, and I put Lettie and Cara right on painting them.  Not a word of complaining from these two warriors.  They just got 'er done.  Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl for the back, Valspar's Cincinatian Hotel Hannaford for the shelves.

Mia skillfully traced and cut the arches for the tops with a jigsaw.  Her entire body vibrated the rest of the day, but these are the kinds of things we do for each other.  And she was fine by bedtime.  Yes, that's one of my chickens in the pot behind her, laying her daily egg.

Jenny put together an excellent {tutorial} on how she added the arches to her Ikea Billy bookcases, which I followed ever so carefully.  What a brilliant way to make regular bookcases so custom.  Mia came over on another day to help me install the arches, because she's awesome like that.  The wood for the arches was $20.

I decided that because the bookcases were for my formal living room, I would dress them up just a touch with some very basic trim.  It was also a good way to hide the seams where the arches joined up with each other.  I found just what I needed at Lowes for $30,  and called in the big guns for some assistance. 

Caulking is your friend when you're working with wood.  It will make the BIGGEST difference in your finished work.
 

Be sure to cut your tip really small so you have maximum control when using it, and have a wet cloth handy.  There were lots of spaces like this in my bookcases because they were so old.

After caulking, you will never suspect the imperfections once it's painted.

After painting all the trim came the fun part.  Accessorizing!  99% of the items came from thrifting/flea markets/my backyard.  Even the $10 butterfly print, remember the one I hauled around NYC for 10 hours?  You better believe that thing was going to be front and center!

I found the sofa on CL for $40 a couple years ago.  I'm so sad I didn't take a before shot of it. I found 10 yards of striped linen at Goodwill for a total of $3.49 for the whole piece.  Can you believe that?!  One of my best girls, G, came over and  helped me reupholster it.  She's a keeper for sure.  I finished it off with some aged nail heads.  Lots of them.  I painted the wood a cream color, then rubbed a light gray all over it. I adore the detail on the arms and sanded a little bit of the finish off to highlight it.

Me and my mom made the three big pillows out of a couple curtain panels I found at Goodwill.  I love their feminine, pleated edge. 

And here is the highly anticipated final picture!  I'm so glad we finished it before the holidays. Total for the bookcases was $255.  If you add the couch in, the total goes up to $340.  And just for fun, let's throw the {coffee table} in there too, for a grand total of $355.  If you must know, the pair of chairs were a lucky CL find at $60 apiece.

Now, on to the curtains, which is the last task to check off for the completion of  this room.  I'm going to give myself an award when they are done.  Guess what?  I have had my own place for the last 20 years, and this is the first time I have done one thing to any formal living room.  I feel like such a big girl now!

We used to have to explain a lot when visitors came in the front door.  Like why there was the back of a huge, jacked-up piece of furniture behind the couch.  It's going to be so nice to welcome friends in, and not have them look at us like we're from outer space.

Don't forget to sign up for our {November Giveaway}.  It's a fun one!

wedding

Remember this face?

Ya him.

Oh, mommy!

I'll give you a moment to catch your breath.

So in case you're not up to speed, last Friday I surprised 5 of my best girls when I persuaded this cutie pie to do a segment on Club Project. 

You can't IMAGINE what kind of hoops I had to jump through to get them all in the same place at the same time, not to mention coordinating a 6 man camera crew and a field producer.  But I pulled it off, fabricated lies, sleepless nights, and sweaty armpits.

I coordinated back and forth with Jenny, the shows producer, to work out all the kinks and let's just say, I have a new appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes. You can't fathom what kind of planning, coordinating, and scheduling must align to make something like this happen.  The most miraculous thing of all is I kept it a secret for 6 weeks! 

Jenny and I worked closely together on every detail including what pieces we would make over for the show.  She thought it would be best if we took on two small projects that groups of three could work on,  something that would take no more then a few hours to transform.

I found this old cart on casters at a flea market in Long Beach and thought it would be the perfect thing to
showcase.  I know, it's a diamond in the rough, but I knew it had some potential and the 6 of us could bring out it's inner rock star.  G said if she had found it on the side of the road, she wouldn't take a second look, but I fancied it right from the moment I laid eyes on it. 

Lettie, Candice, and G sanded down and re-stained the top, painted the inside and outside light gray, and stripped the hardware and key holes. 

G hand painted numbers on the drawers. 

Nate and I both agree, a room needs at least one modern piece with clean lines.  I knew this would sit in perfect juxtaposition next to my traditional, leather sofa, and french settee. 

Remember this small scaled chest from Gracie's Thrift?  I purchased it during a trip we took {junkin' in Phoenix}.

It was only thirty bucks and with a smidge of creativity, I knew it would make a great night stand for my teenager's bedroom. 

Jilly, Cara, and I worked on this one, stopping along the way to explain exactly how to DIY and maybe shoot an occasional oops, "take 2".  Jesse was an expert, asking us just the right questions so viewers at home would be able to re-create the process.  We used the tutorial from Jami at {Freckled Laundry} to create this zinc inspired look right from restoration hardware. 

I searched the internet and found this inspiring idea for drawer pulls. I knew if we put our heads together, we could come up with something just as innovative.

Cara took some jute rope and after a few minutes, she invented this.  Now, that's what I call friends with benefits. 

Here's the finished product.  I love the little carpet tacks we hammered into the drawer fronts to give it the look of zinc veneer.

Little did I know, there was one more surprise in store for us.  A big one.  At the end of the day, I opened the front door and there on my porch were six huge, beautifully wrapped, gift baskets from Nate and the crew!  In them we found gorgeous linens from his home shopping collection,

battery operated candles with decorative, holiday cuffs,

linen scarves,

a sequined throw pillow,

and a little note from the man himself.

That's G in hot pink scrubs.  She was so excited, she gave the note a big, juicy, kiss.  Jilly's expression comes in as a close second (don't judge her, she was a cheerleader, and a Bon Jovi lover).  We've honestly been trying to get ourselves to the Miravel Spa for years and surprise, NOW WERE GOING!

It was such a special privilege to be able to give this opportunity to 5 of my friends.  The six of us know as well as anyone that life isn't always exactly the way we we'd imagined it would be.  It was so exhilarating to take a break from the cares of the world and experience pure joy for one day.   

Our segment airs next Friday, November 11th and you bet we'll be together.  Just the 6 of us (plus Nate), some yummy treats, and a TV tuned in to channel 10 at 11:00am. 

PS. Nate, if you're reading, there's still a chance for us.  In my book, there's only two things standing between us. 

Call me.