Library/Music Room Update

This room is taking forever to finish!  I think it's because it's such an awkward space.  Everything seems to be in a corner.  Fireplace, piano, chair, drum kit, you name it, it's in a corner!  And having two massive pocket doors and a wall of windows doesn't help.  But I think I'm slowly getting there.  I just hope the family don't buy any more musical instruments because I'm running out of places to put them.  Anyway, a big decision I made last week was to put some doors on the bookcase.  We have way more paperbacks than nice hardcover books, and it was just looking too messy.  Plus now I have somewhere to hide the guitar amps when not in use.

Here it is with the tulip table that I bought a couple of years ago just for this space.  I think it actually looks really pretty, but it's not very practical if you want to open the bookcase doors.  So back upstairs it went.

I'm still considering spray painting the curtain rod gold.  Yes, I know, enough of the gold already!  But I really like the look of brass curtain rods and because the window is bowed, I had to make a curtain rod out of PVC pipe.  I should probably do a tutorial on that one because I'm sure there are many people with bowed windows that don't know what kind of curtain hardware they can use.

I'm not sure about the dead space between the curtain rod and the top of the window frame.  Maybe with the rod painted it won't look so odd to me.  I may even see what it looks like with matchstick blinds, but that again depends on whether I can hang them with the bow.

Roman got a new drum kit for his birthday/christmas.  I swear he chose the finish and wasn't influenced by me at all.  See that boy has good taste.  It's way bigger than his old drum kit, besides being a jazz kit which is smaller than regular kits.  But it still manages to take up the vast majority of the room, especially because he has 4 huge cymbals.  And it is really loud!  Hope the neighbors don't complain.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I'm thinking of entering Apartment Therapy's Room for Color Contest again.  I know, it's just a popularity competition, but I do have fun doing it.  And although this room isn't perfect, I do think it has something unique about it that may appeal to the Apartment Therapy readers.  So wish me luck.

This & That (a grasshopper, some books & a chair)

I just met Emily Henderson in a store in Salt Lake City.  If you're not familiar with her she's an HGTV Design Star winner and host of Secrets From a Stylist on HGTV.  Anyhoo, she's in town for the Alt Summit, a design blogger's conference.  I bumped into her in The Green Ant, an awesome, authentic mid century modern used furniture store.  She's very cute!  Anyway,  I didn't buy anything in that store because it's way beyond my budget, but I did purchase something usual from a store just down the block.

Isn't he cute?  And only $25.  

I also added some inexpensive frames which I need to fill.  And when I say inexpensive, I mean $1 each from the dollar store.  You can't beat that.

Look, he even does tricks!

He reminds me of the mercury grasshopper that I blogged about last year from West Elm.  I think I made fun of that one!

Mine is much more handsome and a little less creepy looking.

Talking of bargains, I also found these marvelous vintage children's books at a thrift store.  $1.49 each.

They're cloth bound from the early 1960's.  The illustrations are so classic.  Speaking of cloth bound, I've also ordered some Penguin cloth bound classics which are considerably more than $1.49!  But they're every so pretty and I may even read them one day.

Well, what else is new?  I had a burst of creative energy this week and finally decided to do something with the wing back chair that I bought from the DI for $10.

Umm, how about trimming it out with some Thomas Paul silhouette fabric in turquoise?

Nope, hubby said it looked unfinished, and I thought it would look too busy if I carried the pattern all over the chair.  Plus, I really want a pink chair!  And I will have one, so there.

Look chevrons, in an ombre fashion.  God I'm so trendy.

All the boys had a melt down over the design above.  Why, what's wrong with pink, ombre chevrons?  Damian said it looked like it belonged in a brothel!  Now, normally I do get my own way with decorating, but when people have such strong objections, then I have to listen, right?

So here was the compromise that I came up with.  I know the Union Jack has been done to death.  But I am British, and it's gonna be pink!  Funnily the boys all seemed to like this design, so a pink British flag chair it will be.  Or maybe not, I'm classic at changing my mind.  It may end up with a white linen slipcover with a skirt like this one from my favourite designer, Windsor Smith.

source

Wish me luck, and stay tuned for the big reveal.

Bookcase Inspiration

More progress is being made in the music room.  It's now a music room/library with the addition of some stacked Billy bookcases from Ikea.  I wanted the shelves to go up to the ceiling so we had to buy a tall and a short bookcase and cobble them together.  The short bookcase had to be cut down to fit which was a pain.  But they came out okay, for chipboard crap that is.  Just don't look too closely.

Here's some inspiration pictures that I pinned onto my board on Pinterest.

In the picture above, I love the juxtaposition of the plain shelves against the ornate cornices in the room.  I think it creates a certain amount of tension and unexpectedness (I'm pretty certain that's not a word).  That's kind of the look I'm going for.  I did toy with the idea of adding trim to the bookcases to make them look built-in, but I kind of like the look of them as is.  There's plenty of architectural elements in the room already.  I showed this to Damian and he didn't get it at all.

Isn't the above room lovely?

And of course, I had to include some bookshelves from my favorite designer, Windsor Smith.

The above two rooms are perfection in my eyes.

When I saw this room from Elle Decor what stood out the most to me were the sconces either side of the bookcase.  Umm, that would be a good way to dress up some plain Billys.

I even bought a tulip table like the one above, just smaller.  I was going to use it like this but I think it looks pretty in the bathroom.  I might just style it like this for a laugh (minus the dead cow), as I also have some tolix chairs.

Here are the lights that I've ordered to go either side of the bookcase.  They should be here in a few weeks.

And if I could style my bookcase anyway like this one I'd be happy.  Unfortunately most of my books are children's paperbacks.  I may have to hit up some charity shops to find some hardback books to fill the shelves.

All of the above pictures and their sources can be found on Pinterest.