Entryway Update

Just a couple of small updates to share with you regarding our entryway/vestibule.

Here's the before:

I've had probably 4 or 5 different rugs in this area since we bought our house.  This latest one is from Sundance Catalog and is a patchwork of different kilim rugs.  What I like about it for the entryway is that it is quite heavy weight so it stays put without a rug pad.  It also hides the dirt and doesn't look dirty even if you wipe muddy shoes on it.  The mud dries and you simply vacuum it up.

Here's the after:

New light fixture from West Elm.  It's not my favourite, but it was less than $70 and works a lot better than the previous one.  If we were going to stay in the house for longer I'd probably go with something a lot fancier and showy.  I also bought a new boot tray from Target which is copper metal (also an upgrade from the plastic tray that was there before).

To see how I made the curtains go here.

And finally, aren't you impressed with my photoshop skills?  I managed to make it so that you can see the outside through the window in the door.  Yeah, kind of looks a bit fake to me too :/

West Elm Pillows

So I got an email from West Elm saying that these particular pillows that I wrote about here, were almost sold out.  What!  They'd only just been on the market a couple of weeks.  Of course I fell for the marketing and was suckered into buying them, just in case.  It really is the saddest saga of the little sofa that could but really just can't.  They don't really work, but I'm sticking with them because they're bright and cheery.  The only thing that will work with this sofa is to be completely recovered in a more neutral fabric, or to buy a totally new sofa.  Either ain't gonna happen.  So I accept it for what it is, and enjoy the fact that because it is a browny green (my husband thinks it's green, I think it's brown) it hides all the food spills that have been made over the years.

Loving these new West Elm throw pillows

West Elm have certainly come along way. I remember a few years back when all they sold were earthy toned modular furniture and accessories. Now they sell lots of colorful and on trend designs. So it was no surprise when I spotted these lovely painterly pillows.

What I do find surprising, however, is that they are an almost exact replica of these gorgeous pillows/cushions (not sure which noun to use seeing as I'm now both British & American) from BlueBellGray.com.

New West Elm Grey Zigzag Rug

Do you think the people at West Elm saw my home office on Pinterest and decided to copy it?

Only kidding.  But I do like the new grey zig zag rug from here.

More Patterns

Wow, winter arrived rather unexpectedly this week in Utah when it went from 90 degrees to 45 degrees in a matter of days.  This cold weather is making me think of cozy things like blankets and quilts.  And although it was not my intention to buy any new bedding for my bedroom, I couldn't resist this quilt from my local Urban Outfitters store, when I saw that it was only, wait for it, $30! I knew that the colours would work with the colours I already had on the bed, namely blue and orange, but was a bit worried that with all the patterns going on it may clash.  But I think it actually works and enhances the boho vibe that was already there.  And if the patterned quilt wasn't enough, I also managed to score this rug for only $35.  And it's the same rug that I blogged about here but in blue instead of grey.  Oh, and that rug did arrive, amazingly, and looks great, but the office is such a mess at the moment that I hesistate to show you it.  Oh well maybe just a small piccy.

Here's a couple of piccys of the bedroom before the quilt.

And here it is after.



You may notice that I also have a new headboard.  It's the upholstered nailhead headboard from West Elm, that I came upon for half the price at DownEast (our local outlet store for all things Pottery Barn, West Elm & WS Home).  I'm still waiting on the bedframe which is currently on sale at West Elm, but unfortunately on back-order.  Again, we'll see if it actually materializes.  The current bed will be making it's way to The Cottage which we are getting ready to rent out for the winter.  Come back for a blog post on that transformation.

And here's a small picture of the office with the rug.  It does a good job of hiding the plastic floor protector under the chair.  I'll post better pictures once all of the mess is out of there.

Hubby is still working on the garagemahal and my lastest project is the music room.  Some major changes are going on there, so hope you come back soon.

Butterflies

If you know me, then you'll know that I have a thing for birds in decor.  I know, totally unoriginal.  And to rivial my bird obsession, is a slight partiality for butterflies.  So when I spotted this butterfly shower curtain from West Elm, I knew it would add that touch of pretty to the bathroom in our ski condo.

I'm thinking of getting this rug from Anthropologie to go with it.

wingbeat rug from Anthropologie

But I'm worried it might look too themey.

And I couldn't resist this pretty glass tray to go with the curtain. 

Owl Lamp

My new owl lamp from West Elm arrived yesterday, and it's so cute.

Here it is in situ.

And if you read my previous post, you'll know that the hubby is also renovating a home office for himself.  Here's the lamp that he chose!

Jonathan Adler Boob  Georgia Lamp from here.

Battle of the Home Offices

My evil plan worked!  I've made the home office so girly that Damian refuses to come in here.  It's finally spurred him in to action to do something with the absolutely wasted space that was formally a garage.  Let the battle begin, may the best girl/boy win.

Starting point.

mine

his

Items we have to reincorporate into the new spaces:
Mine: desk & chair
His: table, chairs, bookcase, office accessories, rugs, any old piece of crap furniture that has found its way into the garage.

New items:
Mine: bookshelves, bench, light, lamps, office accessories, stool.
His: nothing too expensive, I hope!  Although he is threatening to put in one of those god awful ikea office desks that go round a corner, yuck.

More before pictures of the garage.

Beautiful garage built in the 1950's

Yes that is a fence built across the driveway, hence no access for car, hence dumping ground for old furniture, electronics, paint, anything that was too much effort to take to the dump or sell.

New french doors

 Damian neglected to take before pictures of the old garage door.  Tsk, tsk.  Doesn't he know people want to see true before pictures!  Anyway, the french doors were my idea, don't let him tell you any different.  We also plan on putting a french door that we already had where the stable door was.   No more Mr. Ed, unfortunately.  (People always thought we kept a horse in there!)

What a mess!

Progress

So now that we are officially going to have a his & hers office, I can really go over the top.  Umm, where can I incorporate some pink?  I did buy this the other day, which wasn't on my original design board.

westelm.com

Isn't he cute?  Yes, I know another bird thing.

You're probably wondering where he's going to go, well I was in Ikea and spotted this:

Malm table from Ikea.com

So I bought it in white to go along the back wall of the office.

The lamp is from the living room and will be replaced with the owl lamp.

The posters were my compromise for Damian.  I'm thinking of framing them in black.  They're just temporarily propped up there.  I had planned on surprising Damian with an original 40 inches by 60 inches Help poster from the sixties from Ebay.  I even had the winning bid for a couple of hours.  I was prepared to go up to $150, really who would pay more than that for a poster (sorry Kevin!)?  But I was outbid by hundreds!!  Next time Dame.

Back to the garage mahal.  Here are some pretty garage conversions.  I wonder if Damian's plan will turn out like any of these?

image from apartmenttherapy.com

image from casasugar.com

New at West Elm

Just popped over to the West Elm website to see what yellow accessories they have for the home office.  If you haven't checked West Elm out recently, you may be pleasantly surprised.  They're introducing more colour, more whimsy and less boxy items.  Out of the new items, these are my favourites:

A pillow that reminds me of a traffic light or lollypops, and Orla Kiely inspired tulip bedding.

 Anthropologie-esque mugs and bowls, and delightfully designed sushi platters.

Melamine bird plates (of course), and cute as a button, bird bottle opener.  Go here to read more about my bird obsession.

And finally, a weird glass grasshopper.  Cool or creepy?  You be the judge.

All images from West Elm.