Memorial Day Weekend Decorating Blitz

June 5, 2011 by

The MyHome Warehouse in Totem Lake (Washington state) is definitely our new favorite source of house loot.  The prices are at the upper end of what we consider reasonable but the goods appear to be high quality.  This jives with our new stuff-buying philosophy.

In the past, we’d snag cheap items from stores like Wal Mart and Target which were okay – and this applies to everything from clothing to home goods to shoes – but now we’re ready to save our pennies for high quality items we *LOVE*.  And we were DEFINITELY ready to start covering some of our bare walls with pretty art.

And oh boy, did we find some goodies!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Vase With Sticks In It” trend won me over at last!  The golden hue vase now cheering up the black shelf in our dining room was an amazing clearance find at MyHome.   The sticks themselves are from IKEA and this barely made a dent in the bundle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over on the right side of the dining room we have our second indoor tree!  I love the way the vase and the tree work together to soften up what was originally a very hard, geometric-looking room.

I photographed these babies at MyHome, intending to “think about them” and come back later if I decided I liked them.   Thinking about them lasted about the time it took for us to walk to the register.  I ran back and grabbed them!   And after putting them into the family room, I can’t believe we almost left ’em there!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of them is helping pretty-up the corner of the family room that currently features our very chic drying rack:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rested the other on top of the book shelf, where it now fills what used to be a very empty spot of wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surely that’s enough decorating by now?!  Nope.  Still decorating.  MyHome seriously has more art than I’ve ever seen in one place before.   We took three trips to MyHome before the weekend was over – the employees must think we’re nuts!

Jim and I both instantly fell in love with this beauty, which now graces our stairway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaaand this one too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Yes, that’s a pull-up bar mounted on the door to our computer room.  It’s impossible to resist the urge to do a pull up every other time we walk under it!)

Remember that episode of The Simpsons where, after he’s been kicked out of the All You Can Eat fish buffet for eating all the fish, Homer goes fishing?  That was us, except after we’d gotten everything we’d liked at MyHome we went to Fred Meyer, which has its own fairly robust home decoration department.  And there it was.

LOVE IT!   Especially love that it was 50% off!  But after getting it home I discovered a hitch in this grand plan:  it was meant to hang horizontally!  Not to be discouraged, I busted out my drill for some Arts and Crafts Time at the Level Up household!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was a little surprised at how easy it was to remove the hardware.  With a little help from my friends Yardstick and Level, I moved the hooks like so:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta-dah!  Now it hangs vertically and our entryway’s days of being a boring white wall are OVER!  In fact, the whole house just feels so much more complete with some art and decorations.

It was a little weird to buy things that serve no purpose other than beautification (especially when we still lack basics like end tables for our couch and furniture for several rooms), but it was totally worth it.  Never underestimate the power of art and decorations!

Filed Under: Decorating Tagged With: , ,

Quick Project: Crisp laundry… doors!

June 2, 2011 by

Our laundry machines occupy a small closet in the entry hall guarded by a fierce pair of louvered doors.  But we’re not ready to replace functional doors just because they’re old and dirty, and bearing the scars of a lifetime of defending the washer and dryer from the angry hordes of the hallway.  A bit of white paint might be all they really need!

Here they are in their original state, photographed during our first visit to the house.   Yes, that orange hue is 100% true-to-life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First up: removing the doors.   Jim just wiggled ’em out of their tracks and we hauled ’em into our dining room, which thanks to its still-original carpet doubles as our “messy project”  room.    (Once we finish the flooring downstairs, the garage will take over that responsibility!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A half-hour of scrubbing with a ret wag  removed the thick layer of dust and lint from front and back.  While they dried, I ventured to our paint stash and busted out a can of the same paint we used on the floor trims, which happens to be just regular ‘ole wall paint from Home Depot: Behr brand semi-gloss latex paint in a color known as “Popped Corn”.

These doors have hardly any finish on them, so I didn’t bother sanding them.  Thank goodness the paint stuck anyway.  The thought of sanding all those louvers was somewhat terrifying.

Before I show you the “after”, first take a gander at the battle damage these babies have suffered.  Dings, dents, water warping galore, but all cosmetic issues easily covered with a nice creamy coat of paint.  A nice creamy coat of paint that took me about six hours to apply to both doors (2 coats each).   To save time, I did not paint the back sides.  It’ll be my dirty little secret. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We let ’em dry overnight and then put them back in their tracks.  I was stunned at what a difference this made!  Before they were shouting “CLOSET!”.  Now they just whisper it. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: ,

Open trunk; insert tree

May 29, 2011 by

When you get a rain-free day in Seattle and you need to do something outside, you immediately DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND YOU GO OUTSIDE.  For us, that meant getting this fake tree home from MyHome Wholesale.  It didn’t fit in the car, but the trip was just a couple miles so we just took our chances and hauled it home like this.

Look, a tree indoors!

Actually, I think this looks pretty good.  It brings a nice natural softness to the room.

Filed Under: Decorating

Decorations? In MyHome?!

May 28, 2011 by

Jim and I ventured into the gigantic MyHome store warehouse in Kirkland for the first time. WOW.  I’m in love.   The decorating instinct doesn’t come naturally to either of us, but we’re both aware of the need to fill our empty corners and cover our bare walls with something.

To remember what we liked, I photographed anything we were both enthusiastic about in the store.  We’ll browse through ’em later at home and see what makes it to the next round.  Sometimes a photo is great at revealing details we didn’t notice in the store!  Giving ourselves time to consider a purchase also helps prevent overspending.

Some of my favorites from this trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A decorative tree would add some much needed texture and variety to an empty corner of the family or living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way its both organic and geometric at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NO WAY – a real throne!  Time out while we sit in it and photograph each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our vaulted-ceiling family room would love this super huge tree, but our wallets would NOT love its $800 price tag!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An entire niche of steampunk art and accessories?  Whooo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this tree painting.  The squares make it look pixilated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re ever in need of a giant vase to put some crazy sticks in, MyHome’s got you covered.  I lol’d at first, but now this “pot and sticks” look is starting to grow on me.  I could just see it in a corner or next to the fireplace.

We’re going to return to MyHome this weekend to (hopefully) snag some Memorial Day sale-price goodness.

Filed Under: Decorating