Around the House

I just wanted to share a few little changes we have made around the house lately while we concentrate on chipping away at a bunch of larger projects that I can (hopefully) share soon.

A moody Easter arrangement in the dining room. I’ve been really inspired by matte black and mottled blue Easter eggs this year so I thought I’d make a few for my collection. I kind of want to make a few of these black ones into these if I find the right napkins to decoupage onto them (I could never paint the flowers freehand like that blogger did!). The black ones here are painted with a flat black latex wall paint that I had leftover from the kitchen cabinets, and the blue ones were dyed in 1 cup boiling water with a few drops of blue food coloring and 2 tsp vinegar.

I recently did KonMari throughout my house (more on that in another post), and got rid of SO many books. Before, I could barely fit them all on the bookshelf, and piles were scattered all over the house. Now, they all fit neatly and I was even able to style them with a few accessories. This bookshelf is in our sun room, which recently had an old (formerly) white carpet replaced with slate tile flooring that I still have to reveal here on the blog once I finish furnishing the room. For now, I’m so happy to have neat and clean bookshelves again.

Our little monkey. G is in the midst of The Language Explosion right now, and I am just AMAZED every.single.day. He comes out with sentences and conclusions that I didn’t even know he knew how to think, let alone say! I love having little conversations with him all day and hearing the funny things he says. It’s especially adorable how he imitates tones of concern or sarcasm when he says certain things. It’s pretty safe to say I’m obsessed with this sweet, tiny human.

We finally got around to hanging some photos and art on our walls in the past few months. The assortment of black and white drawings were all found at thrift stores and estate sales, as were the top two frames. I experienced extreme sticker shock at the price of custom framing for the bottom piece, but I have to admit it looks so pretty and professional. The three family photos in the stairway are the beginning of a gallery wall. Someday I will get around to picking out more photos and getting them framed, but for now, at least these ones have a home!

I found this cabinet at a garage sale last summer for $10. It was painted brown with a crackly gold finish that was chipped and peeling (below).

It ended up being a lot of work to refinish, because the screws were all stripped and bent and stuck in the wood and the hinges were bent and painted over. We had to physically dig some of the screws out, and others are still buried in there (we just moved the new hinges/screws over a bit). But this is the finished product, finally, painted flat black with the original handles and new brass hinges. I am obsessed with those handles and the handsome shape of the piece. It used to be a liquor cabinet, but we removed the sagging cup holders from the inside, and now S uses it as a cigar cabinet (with a lock, so G can’t explore it).