Darker Dining Room with one of Behr's 2018 Color Trends

As a follow up to my post earlier this week, I'm charging right ahead with my 2018 organizational goals.  This is the first step towards completion of goal # 3.  Behr recently released its 2018 color trends.  I picked up some color samples recently and ended up deciding to paint our tiny dining room in one of their newest colors - Unplugged.   It is this VERY DARK, really complex shade of brown that in some light looks brown, other lights looks nearly black and then other times almost feels an incredibly dark shade of army green.

Our house has a very small room in the back that I am sure was meant to be a breakfast nook.  It is right off the kitchen and has two walls of nothing but windows so it gets great natural light.  It also has two really cool built in corner hutches.  Originally I decided to make this little nook the playroom for our kids however after about 4 months in our house, we totally outgrew the space.  So, we made a swap and put the playroom in the room that should be the formal dining room.  Definitely not a move I ever thought I'd make (you can read about my decision to do that here) however for this time in our lives, it has dramatically improved how we live in this house.  So, the breakfast nook is now our dining room.  It's small but it can easily seat six for a dinner party so with the limited amount we are entertaining these days, it works for us.  Unfortunately, it has just been sort of neglected as I focused my efforts in getting the playroom and more "living" spaces in our house set up first.

To say this color transformed our space is an understatement.  I've got a few things to do to get it picture ready (namely a new light fixture) but in the meantime, you can get a gist of the color from these spaces:

Here's a swatch of it on our wall so you can see a sneak peak of the drastic change that is going to take place!

Happy weekend everyone!

New Living Room Rug

Our new living room rug has arrived and I love, love, love it!  It has completely transformed the room in a number of ways. 

First, here is the room with the old rug so you can get an idea of what an improvement the new rug gave the space.

BEFORE:

The old rug worked well in our old house but when we got the new couch and chairs when we moved to NC, the old rug just didn't work.  

Enter the new rug.  Details on where I purchased can be found here.  

AFTER:

The first noticeable difference is obviously the color and style of the new rug versus the old one.  It is much more traditional and I love the more muted color palette that works much better with our current furniture.  

Secondly, and you can't get this from the picture but although this rug isn't as thick as the old rug, it is SO much softer under foot.  It feel so good to walk on it.  

Lastly, this rug is bigger than the other rug (9x12 versus the old 8x10) and it makes the room feel so much bigger because I was able to push the furniture out some and it still sat on the rug.  

All in all, I'd say the new purchase was a major improvement to the space! 

The couch and chairs were custom upholstery from The Warehouse 1924 and the side tables were custom lacquered from Finds Raleigh.  The ottoman is custom upholstered Ballard Designs in dodi beige. 

#traditionalmodernmix #rugsusa #livingroom #livingroomrug #moderntraditional #blueandgraylivingroom #homedecor #cameronjonesinteriors #findsraleigh #thewarehouse1924

Old Furniture, New Purpose

We bought these shelves for our old house in Virginia at Ikea.  They are one of the best purchases we've made from there.  First of all, they don't really scream Ikea which makes me happy.  And because the piece connects across the top with another shelf, they almost have the feel of a built in.  It was the perfect piece to house my husband's need for a ginormous television and I was able to style things around it that I liked to look at.  Also, when you do something simple like change out the hardware, people truly don't believe that you got the thing at Ikea.

SHELVES BEFORE:

I almost didn't bother moving them to the new house because I wasn't sure where I was going to put them.  You see, the layout of our living room is a little hard to work with.  There is no foyer so you walk directly into the living room and the front door is over to the side of the room.  The only wall without windows is the wall beside the front door and so it would be really weird to put the tv on that wall because when you walked in the door, you'd be in the middle of the seating/tv area.  And the tv is just too big to put in front of the windows because a) I wouldn't want to block all the great natural light; b) um, major eyesore and c) the glare would be so bad it'd be hard to watch tv.  That left us with one option...mount the tv over the fireplace.  And that, my friends, is a saga for another day.  Suffice to say, our marriage was a little rocky for a while until we got that crazy ass situation sorted out.

So, because we mounted the tv over the fireplace, and situated the seating accordingly, we were left with this big long empty wall over by the front door which posed two problems.  First, the wall is so big that it required something SUBSTANTIAL.  A dinky piece of furniture would look dwarfed and out of place.  Second, remember how I said there is no foyer in our new house?  That means no hall coat closet either.  That in and of itself is annoying for adults but try having two little kids who constantly need coats, hats, gloves, etc.  So I got creative.

I decided that the height of the lower shelf would be just about right for a bench seat and that I could utilize the interior blank wall space as a spot for hooks to hang jackets, scarves, bags, etc.  Plus, I still got to have a place for my pretties to jazz it up a little so that it still looked nice in our living room.  The fabric I chose for the bench seat is upholstery grade and I chose neutral colored ikat that gave enough texture to make it interesting but was neutral enough that I wouldn't tire of it.  I had the bench cushion made with 3 inch foam and it ran me a couple hundred bucks for the fabric and labor.  I found the antler hooks at Anthropologie.  Originally I wanted to have one of each of these but they were sold out of the duck ones I two wouldn't have been enough hooks or looked right on that big of a space.  In the end I think the fact that they were sold out of them turned out in my favor because I think having the hooks match ultimately looks better than it would have to have three different kinds.

SHELVES AFTER:

So, there you have it.  For around $300 I have a new entryway piece that is pretty to look at and serves an important purpose in our new house.

#cameronjonesinteriors #ikeahemnes #ikeahack #livingroomentry #moderntraditionalmix #raleighdesign #anthropologiehooks #ikeaupdate #ikeashelves #ideasforikeashelves

Before and After: Utility Room Redo

I'm embarrassed to say it but I still have a few boxes that I haven't unpacked yet.  Yes, we moved over two months ago. I also haven't taken as many pictures of my new house yet because everything seems to be a work in progress.  For example, we got the basement walls done, fireplace done and carpet in but we have no furniture down there so there is nothing to take pictures of. 

However, last weekend we did get one big chunk done.  It isn't the most exciting transformation but it has really made a big difference. It is amazing what a shelf can do.  You may remember that we built a wall in the back of our basement to close off the utility area.  The hot water heater, furnace and washing machine and dryer are all back there along with a little hallway and another little closet.  The idea behind building the wall was two-fold: 1) hide the unsightliness of the necessary but not pretty need for utilitarian storage and appliances and 2) block the noise of the appliances so that my husband can work quietly in his office space downstairs.

Here was the space B.S. (before shelves):

And here it is now:

The best part of the whole thing?  Being able to close the door and ignore it all.

We got the shelf at Crate and Barrel.  It was affordable, is sturdy, and was easy to assemble (well, easy for my husband to do).

Before and After: Chinoiserie Chic?

I found this mirror at Goodwill for $25 last week.  I loved the shape - it felt very Chinoiserie to me - but hated the dated wood look.

So, I got out my paint and hit it with a bright light blue glossy paint.  For now it is in my dining room over the bar but I can see it going lots of different places over the years. 

Before and After: Octagonal Mirror

I made a trip to Goodwill the other day to donate some old clothes and a vast array of old VHS movies.  It was hard to part with those - I've had them for years and some of those movies I haven't seen in years.  But seeing as how I don't even own a VHS player anymore, I finally forced myself to part with them.  I digress.

So, after I dropped off my donations, I decided to take a spin through the store.  I'm so glad I did!

One thing I bought was this mirror:

It is made out of a funky material that I can't quite figure out what it is.  It feels very 1960's or 70's but I can't put my finger on it.  Does that make sense what I mean about feeling like the 60's?  Or maybe it was just the horrible gaudy dirty bronze that it was.  Regardless, I was a fan of the shape and of the detail of the frame:

For $7.99 I figured it was a must have.

So, I started by priming it.  

My natural inclination would be to leave it white but I decided to go a little out of my comfort zone to spice things up a bit.  High gloss red!  Can't get enough of that high gloss paint effect lately.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I've put it in my guest room for now but am considering selling it.  It would look awesome in an entry way over a console - our house is just too small!

I got this cute plant at Home Depot the other day for two bucks.  I had a little terracotta pot and used up the rest of my high gloss red paint to spice the spot up a bit.  I love the little splash of color and the bright green of the plant.

Before and After: Megan's Kitchen Shelves

My friend Meghann knows how much I like design and decor.  Her friend Megan (are you confused yet?) just bought a house and wanted some decorating advice.  A few email exchanges later and Megan and I were fast friends and up and running!  Her first project to tackle was the bathroom.  She is a major (and impressive!) DIYer and did all of the work (including new floor tiles, lighting fixture and sink installation) herself.  We talked that over via email but today I finally made my first trip over to her house.  Super cute and I am definitely envious!  She's got an efficiency apartment in the basement which she will rent out and a roomate and good friend that lives with her and they will split the remainder of the mortgage. 
She's got lots of great ideas but it can be a little daunting to know where to start.  I know she'll get there but for today we tackled one project that she created herself - inexpensive and adorable kitchen shelves.

Here was the blank slate we started with:

The ceilings are luxuriously high and Megan (rightfully so) wanted to accentate that.  So she decided to do open shelves to lend extra storage but also to show off the height of the ceilings.

She has this Farmer's Market print which is serving for the inspiration for future kitchen plans/remodeling.  The picture has a flash issue but you can get the general idea:

She had boards cut and bought brackets at Home Depot.  I helped her sand down the edges today and attach the shelves to the brackets and the brackets to the wall.  The level was our best friend by the end of the day!  She's got plans to add wine glass holders to the bottom of both of the higher shelves but you can get a general idea of the added storage this gives her.  I feel so productive after today!  I'm already looking forward to the next project and for getting to virtually shop for someone other than myself!

Twelve Dollar Makeover: Front Porch Bistro Chairs

My Dad and Stepmom gave me some starter furniture years ago when I first moved out on my own.  One of the things they gave me that I still really love are a little wood and wrought iron set of table and chairs.  In my old condo we ate at this table every night but in the current house, there just wasn't room.  So, I set them on the front porch.  It is the perfect spot for them except because of the outdoor elements, the fabric on the chairs had seen better days...

I found some fabric online that I loved and decided to recover the chairs.  It is the Robert Allen Kiki Pinata and I ordered it from fabric.com.

I love how it turned out!  Springy and fun!  Just need to find some scotch guard to protect it.

The other thing that became blaringly apparent to me after doing this project is how badly we need to organize our tool room.  It took me ages to find everything I needed and it is a mess down there!  A project for another weekend though.  Off to lunch!

 

Before and After: Grandma's Chairs

My grandmother gave me these beautiful chairs that my grandfather brought back from Italy during the war. I loved them but the peach velvet wasn't exactly jiving with my style.

Before

So I had them recovered. I knew I wanted something fun and possibly an animal print. I love not only the giraffe pattern that I found but the texture as well. I also love that the slope of the legs of the chairs almost resemble a giraffe. The fabric is surprisingly neutral - the chairs go with all types of table settings and colors. I like that they bring a contemporary youth to a very classic and traditional chair that otherwise felt very grandma-esque.

After

As an aside, my grandmother was more than a little horrified when she saw her chairs. But she got over it. After all, it is only fabric. I'm sure they'll be recovered many times as my design tastes and houses change.