It's Spring, let's shop...

I only went to look...I swear.



I have wanted this rug since last year. I have looked everywhere for something that incorporates the colors in my home, something that could tie it all together, and make it feel like a home. This rug has been the front runner all this time.

If you follow that photo link you will find that this rug "Earth & Sky" is from (believe it or not) the Mary Kate and Ashley collection. Don't bother saying anything bad because I just don't care. I love it.

It was originally $200 for a 5'x7' rug. According to the Rugs Direct web site, it is now on sale for $170. But yesterday, because I went in person to my local Rugs Direct showroom I ended up ordering this rug for only $160 dollars. They do not charge a delivery or shipping fee. If it doesn't work I can return it to the store for a complete refund.

Don't you just love a sale?

Totally tubular to the max!

Check out those 80's hits!

I have a few colorful record albums in album frames. However, I think I like this display method better.

• If you have a turntable, the albums can still be used.
  
• The display can be changed at any time.

Seen at desire to inspire as part of interior designer Scott Sanders' portfolio.

Lovely Geisha Girl

Buy this so that I can't.

Available at Etsy.com

Yet another way to change your kitchen

What, you don't like the cupboards in your kitchen and can not afford to replace your kitchen appliances from the 1970's?

Buy $30 of paint and you problems will be over.

"The basic color scheme is a soft buttery yellow for the cabinets, with periwinkle blue on the cabinet handles. For the appliances, Susan Churcher used rust-resistant paint for metals. She painted the oven doors periwinkle blue then touched up knobs and dials in a bright orange enamel paint."
Check out the details at Sunset magazine.

Another papered refrigerator...

Paula Smail covered hers with a London A-Z street map.

Cost Plus/World Market, who knew?

I just spent an hour in a Cost Plus World Market store. I had seen a few things online that I wanted to check out in person. These are the ones that stood the test of a real live viewing:

Two 3' x 5' area rugs, Kimono and Floral, only $50 each.


Note: the designs on these two aren't as bright as the pictures above, but they still looked good and the quality was great.



The woven green lattice wool rug is 5'x8' and $199.
The green stripe 5' x8' sisal rug was even better looking in person and is only $130.

Last, but not least, I tried out their Madison green velvet sofa.

It might not last twenty years but it will give you an enjoyable time as long as it lasts. I was amazed at how comfortable the cushions were and how solid the hardwood frame felt. the upholstery is gorgeous and it is a great apartment size at 76''W x 35''D x 34''H. But the best news is that this baby is on sale for $559.20. Yes, you read that right, only $560! A matching armchair and ottoman are also available.

How to wallpaper your fridge...

My 100th Post !!!
How much do I love Time Out New York? SO MUCH.

I first saw the NY travel guide after I had arrived in the big apple. That was way too late, you need this guide ahead of time so you can highlight and map all of the things that you want to check out when you get in town. Afterwards you need to take it home so that you can have the time to read the little articles that they produce for entertainment, like this one.

I remember Nick Olsen from an issue of Domino magazine where he covered his refrigerator in a floral wrapping paper.

Now, here he is in Time Out helping another New York apartment dweller do the same to her graffiti-covered fridge with the instructions included. Nick claims that it will be reversible and fine for renters.

Now their total cost came to $170 but that's only because they used $155 a roll wallpaper! One can easily do this project with less expensive but still gorgeous papers like these from Papermojo. These individual sheets range in price from $2-5 dollars for 20" x 29" sheets.








You should also check out TONY's Tossed and Found posts with the design team Wary Meyers. They take objects or furniture off of the NY streets and recreate them as new decorative items.

*For more inspiration, check out this older Shelter post about covering your cabinets with art posters.

Another Blue painting project...

I am painting my dining room table today and tomorrow. Which color do you think I should paint it?

Remember, this will go with my red dining chairs in the middle of this scene.

Starting from the top:

Behr's Himalayan Mist (same color of my bedroom walls)
Benjamin Moore's Blue Bayou, Ocean Breeze, Blue Flower (hard to tell, but it is a bit more green than Ocean Breeze), and Blue Spa
Behr's Himalayan Mist (again!)

Happy Blog-anniversary to Me!

Wow, I made it. I have posted about my home for a whole year!
Thanks for joining me on this journey.

At top, a new paint job for my cheap gold mirror that will now go on the pale blue walls in the bedroom.



My new sewing machine cover and the fabric purchased for the kitchen/living room divider curtain



My inspiration boards, framed, and unframed art are all ready to be installed on my walls.

I am also working on a new floor plan for the living area (well, once I get myself off of the couch to actually move it somewhere).

West Elm or Blue Box?

Before West Elm had “real” stores, I used to drool over their catalogs. At the time when they came out in 2002 with their catalog, their style was new, more streamlined than what the other catalog companies were doing at the time. Their colors calming, no floral patterns, and the importance of texture in the materials were apparent. Oh, the fantasy was lovely.

They existed before Crate & Barrel launched CB2 in 2000 as a Chicago-only store; in fact, they were probably the reason for that store.

• William Sonoma owns Pottery Barn, PBTeen, Pottery Barn Kids, and West Elm.

• Crate & Barrel owns CB2 and Land of Nod.

However, yesterday, I traveled a few miles to Richmond's premier shopping destination, Short Pump Town Center. We are now in possession of the following stores: Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, H & M, West Elm, William Sonoma, Urban Outfitters, etc.

I took it upon myself to check out the West Elm store in person. Well….

I liked the Parsons and Jay desks, which they had sold at their old store Hold Everything, however, just try to open one of their drawers. Just try it. You have to grip the drawer while holding onto the other part of the desk. I also would not trust that laminate to stay unmarred for long and why does each piece of furniture teeter-totter? Not great. Perhaps in terms of design, they are a step up from the Blue Box but their “quality” does not justify their prices being so much higher than IKEAs. Sorry.

I have nothing bad to say about their pillows, rugs, draperies, and bedding. They have great colors, sleek designs, and graphic patterns, but still try to buy them during a sale*.

* Shelter Rule #1
If you love it full-price, you will love it even more when it goes on sale.

However, concerning their furniture, unless I am upgrading and traveling to High Point, NC to furnish my house, I am sticking with vintage finds and the good old “Blue Box.”

Photo credits: www.westelm.com, www.asitis.org

AT: Chicago noticed!

I was clicking around the Apartment Therapy blogs on Monday and realized that a post on AT: Chicago was actually about this blog; MY BLOG!

"For our first look, we lovvved that a blogger so dedicated to design and organization would showcase her clutter. Lsaspacey just signed on to start the Spring Cure, to help with her pack-rat ways... Blogging for a year now, Shelter is one we're curious to watch."

You can see the whole thing here.
Thank you guys!

Made a little difference

I made some progress.

I went through all of the clippings that had been accumulating on top of the files that they belonged in. I was able to sort those away and also throw away the ones that were no longer relevant. Would you believe it took me over four hours?!



It doesn't look like it, but that was SEVEN POUNDS (!) of paper that I threw away.

I also recorded all the serial numbers of my electronic items on the back of their photos and stored them in my fire-proof safe.

Arranged my two inspiration boards. (photos later)

I will be doing some sewing tomorrow...just not sure what yet.

So much beauty in a small space

I just looked through the March/April 2007 issue of Blueprint magazine. The new Editor-in-chief received a makeover of her 307 sq ft apartment done by the staff of the magazine.

It blew me away.

Check out the online version of this article.



What inspired me:

• The use of wall shelving for storage that takes the least amount of floor space.*
• The blue Le Creuset dishes on those shelves, which apparently are only available in the U.K.**
  
• The curtain used to divide the living space from kitchen.*
• The handmade television cozy for her flat-screen.*
• The patterned bolster pillows for the sofa with the same fabric (in a different color) used in the bedroom.
• Painting everyday objects to make them part of your decor. They painted her andirons with Surf Blue paint from Benjamin Moore.

* The site includes instructions for the shelves, the curtain, and the cozy.

** Photos from Blueprint magazine and John Lewis.com.

There is Himalayan Mist in my bedroom

• Test Glacial Tint and Himalayan Mist pale blue samples from Behr and paint bedroom with the chosen color

In this post, I wrote about the changes I was going to make to my bedroom. Well, I'm getting ready to start work. I painted swatches ALL over my bedroom to check the color at all times of the day and I found the one, Behr's Himalayan Mist.

I was going to use the lighter one on three walls and accent the last with Himalayan Mist. However, Glacial Tint looks too much like White and doesn't satisfy my need for a pale blue.



It was so difficult to get these pictures taken, the room is so dark. Hopefully it will photograph much better after all the walls are painted. Well, I have to go tape all the baseboards and trim now.

Wish me luck!

Here it is...My Clutter

1. Buffet clutter, 2. Kitchen island clutter, 3. General clutter,
4. More dining table clutter, 5. Coffee table clutter, 6. Armoire top clutter,
7. Vanity chair clutter, 8. Landing strip clutter, 9. Dining clutter

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I took these pictures two nights ago so you could see the clutter that I woke up to on Tuesday.

Yes, I guess I could have cleaned up last night instead of photographing and blogging this but I wanted you to see how my house really looks like the majority of the time.

Hey, you asked where it was...

Tarjé! Tarjé!

Almost a whole year ago, I published this post on the cute furniture offered by JCPenney. Well, this one is all about Target (Tarjé).

Armless Comfort sofa in Tweed and Green Tweed $449.99
Morgan Chair in Wheat, Seafoam, Cranberry, Cocoa $359.99
Riley chair & ottoman in Cocoa $399.99 & $119.99
Velvet slipper chair in Jute and Teak $279.99
Audrey chair & ottoman in Wheat, Seafoam, Cranberry, Cocoa $359.99 & $125.99

They even have an Arne Jacobson Egg chair and ottoman knock-off in Red and Black $159.99

Don't forget that Target.com is selling Todd Oldham's La-Z-Boy collection online

Things to get done during or after the Cure

Goals:

• Test Glacial Tint and Himalayan Mist! pale blue samples from Behr and paint bedroom with the chosen color (Done 4/07)
• Assemble white IKEA Vika Amon/Vika Artur desk (Done 5/07)
• Mount empty brightly colored picture frames from to emulate this image from Wary Meyers (Done 7/07)
• Hang Inside a Black Apples' Mysterious Genevieve print (Done 7/07)
• Paint and patinate (yes, I looked it up) my gold mirror using pale yellow and blue paint (Done 3/07)
• Paint dining/craft table a very pale blue to contrast with the red chairs (probably use the leftover samples from Behr or extra Benjamin Moore sample pots) (Done 10/07)
• Special order a quart of the American Accents Leafy Green paint from Lowe's or Home Depot for the armoire (**I found out that Rust-Oleum no longer makes this color available in a brush-on latex paint, I would have to use the oil-based spray, which I don't want to use. Hmmm...)
• Take another try at tailoring the loveseat slip cover (still too loose) (Done 6/07)
• Make the bolster pillows (came up with new idea for the shape) (Done 5/07)
• Mount artwork on the walls, including my heavy Swingers poster and my Leia Bell prints (Done 5/07 & 10/07)
• Hang curtain dividing the kitchen from the living/dining area. The fabric I wanted was discontinued so I had to start again and I am now thinking about one of these below. They are from the same collection as the one I originally wanted.

Update: I bought over four yards of the green, yellow, and blue print.*
Bolded = Done
* = In progress

Pre-Cure Spring 2007

Ever since I started this blog, I have been thinking my ideal home will be small. However, I now have a 520 sq ft apartment [How do you figure this out?] and I feel it is stuffed to the brim. Will it be possible for me to have an 1,040-1,600 sq ft home and not do the same to it?

When I look at my files of apartments and homes that I want to emulate, I see space around each piece of the furniture; bookcases with books and tchotchkes arranged with a lot of white space; all objects up off the floor with skirt-less chairs and sofas, and all the tables without stacks of magazines, papers, and bills strewn all over them.

However, I am a researcher at heart, so I have many hanging files on design ideas, DIY projects, future recipes, insurance info, and all of my tax returns since the very beginning (almost twenty years). Therefore, even if I pare down stuff there still has to be a lot of storage space for these items. I also a have a few garments that my late mother made me when I was in high school, and some of my first (and more advanced) garments that I made in college that no longer fit. Yes, I Am a Pack Rat.

So how do I reconcile these two sides of me?

This will be the third time I participate in the Apartment Therapy Cure. I thought I did a very good job both times getting rid of stuff. My Out Box was always packed and most of the stuff actually did leave and stay gone. However, I still feel claustrophobic in this space. What am I missing, or what SHOULD I be missing? I hope someone out there will be able to help.

I know people who can get rid of furniture because they know that in their next place they will be trading up. My life has been so dramatically changed in the last three years that I can’t depend on that. Four years ago, I was less than $300 from being 100% debt-free, school and car loans were long paid off, making a decent salary, and possibly would have been buying property before that year was over. Instead I ended up out of a job and returning to college to finish a long unfinished degree. Two months ago, after attending classes part-time and working full-time for two years, I decided to put more of the emphasis on school and am now taking classes full-time. So for me “trading up” will take awhile as I first need the degree and to get another well-paying job so I can start paying off these new loans.

In the meantime, what do I do? I really don’t own that much furniture but it suddenly seems like too much in my living room. Is it the way I have it arranged? Could the “flow” be better? Can someone help me?