Pretty wallpaper DOES exist!

(first published in: Livingetc, February 2008)

I have spent the last two weeks removing old, ugly, painted over wallpaper!

This made me want to look for photos of pretty wallpaper!

Enjoy!

(photo from twenty2.net)

(photo from twenty2.net)

(photo credit)

(photo credit)

(Photo by Max Kim-Bee, Domino, March 2009)

(photo from thibautdesign.com)

(photo from Ideal Home, July 2009)

(first published in: Livingetc, July 2009)

(photo credit)

For anyone who saw Sex and the City 2; here is a picture of Big and Carrie's apartment bedroom which has pretty wallpaper :)

(SAT2 movie)

...back to tackle my ugly wallpaper...

Where to put our Linens?

We have been storing our towels and sheets on the top shelf of our coat closet. It was messy, unorganized and not very convenient. The top shelf in the picture is where EVERYTHING was stored.

(I forgot to take a picture with everything in the closet...but you catch my drift)


Our plan is to split this coat closet into two. Put a door in the hallway for the linen closet and move the door over to the left and utilize all the space left under the stairs. Instead of having a rod to put coats we are thinking about using hooks.


Last night Shawn and my brother Dave cut a hole for the door, framed it and now we have a door in the hallway! Shawn was ecstatic to use the nail gun!



Next we have to frame out the closet, drywall, put molding around the door and figure out the coat closet door.

Thanks for helping Dave!!

Golf Clock

The last two weeks my cousin and I have been painting and decorating my uncle's new condo. It has been alot of fun and alot of WORK! Our goal was to incorporate my uncles favorite things; his three kids, golf and plants. The end result looks fantastic :)

Here is one of my favorite projects that was successful (even though the guy at Home Depot had no faith in us)...

...sorry for the not so good photos...I forgot the Nikon so I used my iPhone...

We had a couple different ideas on what to put over the TV. We knew it couldn't be too large and because every other wall was covered in square pictures we thought something circular would work perfect. During our brainstorming we thought of screwing golf balls directly into the wall and gluing a tee to the bottom to create 3-D art. First we went to Modell's to get golf balls and tees. When explaining our idea to a Modell's employee he laughed and thought we were crazy. Next stop Home Depot. We asked an associate what we would need to drill through a golf ball. He gave us a funny look and said, "Can I ask why?" We told him our idea and he didn't seem to have much faith in us. He told us we would need a vice attached to a table or something. Since that wasn't going to happen (and after the associate walked away) we opted for an adjustable wrench that was large enough for a golf ball to fit in. We thought hey what's the worst that could happen?

Well we were successful drilling through the golf ball....


If you ever wondered what was in the center of a Nike golf ball, a rubbery blue substance that doesn't smell to good.

...But after we put two golf balls and glued the tees to them, we realized this wasn't coming out the way we planned. So off to brainstorming and filling in the holes on the wall.

We then came up with a clock using the golf balls as the numbers and purchasing an "arm" clock.

And....Success :)


Getting the clock right was a little tricky but after figuring out the 12, 3, 6 and 9 we were able to measure out the others.


You could do this project with almost anything; beer caps, soda caps, playing cards, coins, buttons....etc.

Removing wallpaper?!

After moving into our home we realized the white boring walls in the living room and hallway was actually painted over wallpaper?! Ugh we knew that one day soon we would have to tackle removing it.

Wallpaper can be a great way to transform a room, but if it isn't applied correctly it can be a long tedious endeavor to remove it. We had a feeling that we weren't going to be lucky; lo and behold we were right! I went straight to the internet and found this article for reference.

This article was dead on!

"How to Remove Wallpaper: Patience Is a Virture"

Here are the tools you will need; a ladder (I used a chair), a scoring tool (looks like a hockey puck), DIF (I used the gel spray so I didn't have to mix it with water), a puddy or broad knife, rags, a trash bag, a drop cloth and PATIENCE!

First score the wall lightly with your "hockey puck." Make sure not to gouge the drywall.


Spray the scored wall with DIF and wait 10-15 minutes.

Then use your puddy knife and start scraping. Be very patient you do not want to damage the drywall.

Here is what the wall looked like after an hour...


...after 3 hours...


...and this is what Harper was doing while I was hard at work...

Great Etsy find

Etsy is one of my favorite websites. It such a great resource to buy and sell things that are handmade or vintage. Two weeks ago I decided to finally buy something I bookmarked months ago. Guess who it's for?? Yes your right....Harper.

Instead of buying a collar for him at Petco or Petsmart I decided to look for one on Etsy that was handmade. I would rather give the money to an artist over a large business. I came across the shop TheModDog on Etsy and fell in love with their custom pet collars.

Check out Harper in his new "Duck Season" collar...

TheModDog was such a pleasure to work with and I absolutely love the finished product.

The start of our kitchen remodel

When we moved into our house we knew that the kitchen would have to be attacked ASAP. Well a year later and we are ready to begin. Well it won't technically start until after my parents kitchen is complete.

In the meantime we went to A&C Kitchen and Bath and found a deal we couldn't turn down! Someone returned a bunch of cabinets and we are able to get them for less than 50% retail. We then sat down with one of their design professionals and did a preliminary layout. We will still have to order a couple other cabinets, but all in all it really worked out well!

Originally we wanted a white kitchen but running into such a great deal we were willing to compromise. Now we are going with a Hazelnut Maple Slab cabinet. I know it will be so pretty once everything comes together.

<--this is what the color looks like

Here are some inspirational photos.

These cabinets are similar to the ones we are getting.

I love the dark handles!

Love the white subway tiles and the hanging lights.

A couple things we have to think about...

Tile floor or wood?
To move the stove away from the door and loose the corner bottom cabinet? Or leave it as is on the layout?
White subway tile? Or glass light green subway tile?

Married two years!

Two years ago I got to marry my best friend. Where have these two years gone? I feel like we were just moving into our apartment and painting the walls orange! Since then we have bought a house, welcomed Harper (our dog) into our lives, bought a new car, changed jobs, got laid off and through it all have remained just as strong (if not stronger) as the day we got married.

Here are some pictures to reminisce...

Photos by Richard Barnes Photography

Broad Street Run 2010

Yesterday Shawn and I finished our second annual Broad Street Run!!! This is 10 mile run straight down Broad Street in Philadelphia. We started doing this last year for our one year wedding anniversary (which is May 10) and it only seemed right to do it again for our two year anniversary.

This year 30,000 people registered!


Saturday night we laid out everything so we wouldn't forget something at 5:30 a.m. Thank goodness we didn't forget the suntan lotion!


We also made t-shirts again this year. We used american apparel t-shirts because they are the best!


Yes Harper made it on our shirts; are you surprised?! It only made sense to take him with us since he also did some of the training. ( I think it is so funny how serious Shawn looks in the pictures!)

We trained for 10 weeks but nothing could have got us ready for the heat! 89 degrees, sunny and humid!!!! This was much different than last years rain! Another thing that was different this year was we decided to go without our iPod's (I know can you believe it? Shawn without an iPod or anything Apple on him?!) I have to say it was great without them! We really got to experience the city, cheering, live music, Dj's, cow bells, harmonicas, bag pipes, dogs, kids and we got to run through open fire hydrants!

Well we finished! Slower than last year but we finished healthy and happy :)