Stately Kitsch | Design for the modern older home owner.

Ikea Summer Accessories

April 26, 2013 — 2 Comments

While we were at Ikea ordering up our PAX closet system, we did a quick trip through the store (after all why not take advantage of the ballpit for a bit). I wasn’t on the search for anything in particular, but I saw some really cute summer accessories that I couldn’t resist. How cute are these summer items? So colorful! My favorite are the flamingo cups ($1 a piece).

Here is a breakdown of some inexpensive summer accessories that I picked up and a few more that I considered:

Barbar Square Tray, Ikea $6.99

Sommarkul Striped Dish Towel, Ikea $2.99

Sommarflint Flamingo Glass, Ikea $1

Frasig Pear Paper Napkin, Ikea $1.49 for 30

Sinja Gingham Dish Towel, Ikea $5.99 for 2

Rotera Lantern for Tealights, Ikea $3.99

Blomster Glass Lantern Ikea, $16.99

I didn’t pick up this large glass lantern, but it was really nice in person. I need to think of how I could use it before I can justify picking it up.

Has anyone picked out any cute accessories from Ikea lately?

P.S. Our closets are in the garage waiting to be assembled. Pretty exciting! Now please try and excuse my dusty wrinkled clothes for a couple more weeks while we get our room together.

2 Comments

In -Fabric, -Shopping, INTERIOR PRODUCTS, FURNITURE & FABRICS

Second Floor Update: Master Bedroom Progress

April 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

Things have been moving along quickly here! I feel like a GC coordinating all of the trades. It may not look like much but we are one step closer to air conditioning. My electrician should be done with the new sub panels for the air conditioning and third floor today (Yeah!) Our bedroom ceiling is also drywalled (No more cracks!) and there is even an electrical box waiting for a ceiling fan. By the weekend we should be able to paint 3 sides of our bedroom and actually start putting a few things back. I actually need to order all of the stuff that I have been busy pinning on Pinterest for the past year including a couple of ceiling fans and barn door hardware. I also need to head over to Ikea to order the closets (fortunately the kids are more than willing to go to the “ball pit” any time).

Try and picture the future Ikea PAX Closets and custom doors. There is still some bits to figure out, like whether I want to install a laundry drawer, but you can get the general idea. Fortunately I can put in the closets before ordering the doors, so I can tweak everything. I am also planning on installing drawers in the baseboard for shoe storage. If all goes well I might be able to start installing the blocking for it this weekend.

I think the biggest surprise for us after our contractor finished demolition was how open the space felt after taking the tiny closet out. I now wish I had done that years ago, since it was generally useless in its old configuration. Of course we will be filling that in again, but this time with a much taller unit that I think will feel much better in the space.

Does anyone have any advice on installing PAX closets? Anything you like or don’t like about them?

Blooming This Week: A Chimney Pot, Lungwort & Kerria

April 22, 2013 — 4 Comments

I guess all it takes sometimes is a week of warm weather to get everything growing! This past week has been pretty epic in terms of how fast everything has grown and started flowering. We also managed to finally install the vintage chimney pot in the garden. I am planning on putting some sort of pot on top, although I haven’t found anything suitable yet. We found a date of 1916 on the top. In the meantime I will spend my time imagining the big chimney that this sat on.

Lungwort (Pulmaria) ‘Majeste’

My lungwort has been blooming like crazy. It could actually use some dividing. I love the mix of blue and purple flowers on the ‘majeste’ variety. The whiteness of the leaves is also nice later in the season. The only downside is that when you transplant them, they are really unhappy for a few months. By the fall they usually are regrowing nice new leaves, but they spend the summer looking half dead.

Virginia Bluebell

The Virginia Bluebells have a similar flower to the lungwort, but are quite a bit larger. These are a favorite of mine. They have been slowly expanding in several clumps in my side garden (in part-sun). They leaves are a really nice vivid green and I really like that they are a native plant.

Trillium

Another native that I actually planted at the same time as the bluebells is the trillium. Both of these were planted as ridiculously small root stock that took a full year to come up (I had actually abandoned all hope). The trillium is really a lovely little jewel in the shade garden. They don’t last very long, once the heat of the summer sets in they will disappear until next year. The leaves on the trillium are really quite beautiful. I bought both of these on ebay from a place in Tennessee (whose name escapes me). There appear to be several sellers now selling the Trillium and Virginia Bluebells.

Another shade plant that has shown up out of no where are my Bleeding Hearts. They were literally a few inches tall last week and now the larger ones are over 18″ high with flowers. I don’t usually choose pink flowers, but I will always make an exception for these shade loving plants. Mine have also grown large enough to divide and I have been adding them to several of my planting beds.

Kerria Japonica with Lunwort ‘Majeste’ below

Finally I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my Kerria Japonica. It is a bit of a weed (it sends out little runners) but it gives such a good show this time of year. I like to cut it back a little bit later in the spring, but right now I am enjoying this at both my back gate and side gate. This plant will grow in almost full sun to shade. The only down side of the sun location is that the flowers bleach out.

What is blooming in your yard?

To take a peak at all of my garden blooms click here.

4 Comments

In -Blooming This Week, GARDENING & PLANTS

Interesting Finds: A 100 Year Old Postcard & an Insurance Policy

April 20, 2013 — 4 Comments

I have a little weekend update. Our house decided to give us a couple of little presents this week. These are both thanks to our contractor, who uncovered these gems. Above is what appears to be an insurance policy cover. It reads “Connecticut Fire Insurance Co. Hartford. Henry W. Brown & Co. Agents, 505 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia”. Given it appearance it looks to me like it dates to around the time the house was built. There was a little bit of writing on the back which unfortunately is totally illegible now. This was found in the pocket door pocket. Needless to say it was a pretty cool find. So I was really surprised when he dropped off an even cooler surprise on Friday.

This is a postcard from Harrisburg (Bird’s Eye View No. 3 of Circle of City Iron Steel Pipe) addressed to Mrs. C. G. Grayer living in our house and postmarked April 25, 1913 (exactly 100 years ago next week). The card is in remarkably good condition. It was behind a piece of baseboard in our bedroom. The baseboard did a nice job of keeping in flat and out of the sunlight.

It is pretty difficult to make out the handwriting but Verde is living here with her family. It is pretty strange to think about the number of families that have lived here over the years. I would love to spend a day in the house back in its early years.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

4 Comments

In FAMILY, OUR HOME

The Piano: Spring Edition

April 17, 2013 — 2 Comments

I have been holding my family extra close the last couple of days. I am so saddened by what happened in Boston and my thoughts have been with the families affected. I didn’t post yesterday and still feel kind of ridiculous posting today.

We are making progress upstairs but I thought I would take a break from showing you half finished walls and show you the latest decorations for the piano.

Maisie and I did a little shopping last Friday. She even picked out her first decorations. She is in love with the elephant and rhino (after all who isn’t) although she doesn’t understand why I would buy something like that and then not let her play with them. But the thing she actually picked out were the seashells. We were at Homegoods and she gravitated to the bag of pretty seashells and asked if we could bring them home. She then very carefully put them in the bowl. I guess it is time to start having her help more often. She also insists on having a bouquet of felt flowers next to her bed.

I also finally picked out a side table for my chair. I originally ordered a metallic ceramic wood stump stool, but after the disaster decided I should get something that didn’t require shipping. I bought this metallic garden stool at Homegoods. It didn’t have a price on it, so they decided that it should be $49.99. I said sold, considering most of the metallic ones I have seen are over $100! Mr. S. said he still preferred the tree stump, but I am excited to have a place to put my coffee cup and wine glass.

So for my spring decorating I started with the brass elements and paired them with some nice bright blues. It was feeling a bit boring so I tried mixing a few of my more colorful kitschy items.

Who doesn’t want to be welcomed home by a picture of vintage apple computer and some wacky creatures?

2 Comments

In -Dining Room, -Shopping, INTERIOR PRODUCTS, FURNITURE & FABRICS, OUR HOME

Second Floor Hallway Update: Shifted Bedroom Door & Electrical Conduit

April 11, 2013 — 1 Comment

Sometimes it is the little stuff that makes a design work. I find particularly in renovations it almost always comes down those last couple of inches that makes or breaks the project. For our current house project the key dimension was fitting a regular depth closet in our bedroom behind our bedroom door. This unfortunately meant shifting the door 8 1/2″ to allow for the closet and the door to sit fully open. This design has been in the works for several years, just waiting for the right time (as I grow ever impatient with our closet situation). We have decided to pair this with our air conditioning and electrical work, since we need to coordinate duct and vent placement.

One of the first steps was emptying out our sorry closet and alcove to make way for the new closets. We had an old clothing rack that we hoped to use. Alas it was not meant to be and it crumpled under the weight. Fortunately Ikea came to the rescue and we picked up 2 of these Rigga clothes racks for $12.99 a piece. They are super sturdy! I give them a thumbs up. They even have wheels on them. Now the playroom has become the holder of stuff, it was time to actually get the door moved.

Of course this wasn’t an easy job and required my contractor to do some careful surgery (after Mr. S. and Sam demoed the hallway plaster). Fortunately it is now complete, and we even have a functioning door again (if you ignore the temporary plywood on the floor)!

The other thing that he installed was an electrical conduit to the third floor. This has been a hotly debated topic with me, my contractor and the electrican. We all agreed that we need a way to get electric up the third floor to feed the air handling unit for the new air conditioner. There was LOTS of back and forth. The general agreement was that somewhere near the pocket door and this newly exposed wall made the most sense. Unfortunately once we opened this wall, we realized it was not as straight as a shot as we hoped, and we didn’t want to hurt the structural integrity of the wall.

Fortunately my contractor came up with a great plan. The pocket door down below in within a thickened wall. We had planned on installing the wiring on the hallway side, but hadn’t considered the bedroom side. It turns out that as long as I could live with a conduit in the back of my closet he could get a straight shot from the basement ceiling all the way up to the third floor. Awesome (yes I did just express my excitement of gray electrical conduit)! So here it is, along with the partially removed ceiling trim (to be modified and reused) and some interesting wallpaper from probably the 50s or 60s (there was 70s-80s wallpaper on top of this pattern when we bought the house).

My contractor will be back next week to work on these walls and some more of the bathroom doorway. I just need my AC contractor, roofer and electrician to call me back. I’m sure with the heat this week my AC guy is now swamped. Maybe I need to reiterate my air conditioning before Memorial Day mantra to him.

I can’t wait until we are done with the bit of demolition and mechanical stuff so we can actually move onto the fun stuff. So stay tuned.

1 Comment

In -Bedroom, -Hallway, OUR HOME

Favorite Finds: Tales of Dumpster Diving

April 9, 2013 — 4 Comments

The lovely Victoria has decided to have a link party. I’m usually too ~~lazy~~ busy to participate in this kind of thing, but I like her subject and it doesn’t require me to actually make anything, just share a story. And we all know that I like sharing stories, so as my bedroom door is being moved and their is plaster dust in the air I will try and be amusing and tell you of my prior days of dumpster diving. Alas I don’t have any pictures, but I hope you enjoy the story.

In my previous life, a city dweller in her mid-twenties, I worked at an architectural firm that just so happened to be adjacent to a certain home store with the initials PB. It actually opened shortly after I started there. I was excited to check it out. Of course I quickly learned that my intern wages were not sufficient to buy much of anything. I would go in at lunch once every couple of weeks to scope the sales. Occasionally I would buy a plate or two, or some 90% off Christmas ornaments, but mostly I would lament my lack of funds. So I was surprised when I started to hear stories of the dumpster next door. Architects are generally a poor bunch, so you say “free” and we all coming running. One of my coworkers had scored some sort of PB accessory in really good condition. I said I wanted in, of course at first some of my coworkers were not so interested in sharing their special stash, but dumpster diving actually works better when there are 2 or preferably 3 people to sort through the stuff and then quickly carry it into the office. So I was a good team player and I joined in.

This was the late 90s, when the economy was good and the thought of throwing out perfectly good stuff by a certain flush retailer didn’t seem like a big deal. At first it was mostly small stuff. Candles, candle holders and plates with chips. I started a collection of colorful chipped plates to make a mosaic table. I’m not a big candle person, so I was perfectly happy to let someone else have the candles. After a couple of months of this, several of the regulars dropped out, not seeing the point. However me and the receptionist stayed at it. We would run down around 5:45 to see what was there. As we continued, the stuff started getting bigger and better. I snagged a dented metal file cabinet (the dent was in the back where no one would see it). I got some random table legs, good for my mosaic table project.

Then it started to get really good. One night there was a taped up heavy box. Sometimes these just contained broken glass or plates, but the two us decided to try our luck, because after all if it wasn’t good we could just go put it back in the dumpster. We pushed into the back door of the office. And what did we find? I box of lamps. I think there were 16 in total. Probably floor samples. But most were in really good condition. And by this point we were getting ready to buy our house, which was sorely lacking in any form of lighting. We divided up the lamps and even offered some up to my fellow coworkers. I came home with about 8 or 9 lamps all together. These are still the lamps that we are using in our bedroom and living room. They aren’t the most exciting, brushed silver with a thin stem, but they have been going strong for well over a decade now. So was this my best find? Actually no. It was the tables!

Do you think a major retailer would throw out 8 dining room tables? Probably not now, but back then YES! I was a dark (but not stormy night) and I went out to check the dumpster by myself. And there it was filled with table legs. Over 30 table legs! No tops but lots and lots of wood legs in all different finishes and styles. So still working on my mosaic table, and thoughts of future dining room tables, I decided to bring them all in to the basement. It required going into the dumpster and quickly trying to get them all out. Fortunately we had a large storage room in the basement, so I could put stuff down there for a while without anyone really making a big deal about it.

The next day I told my coworkers of my score. I think they all thought I had lost it. What was I going to do with all of those table legs? I said I wasn’t sure, but I could always put them back in the dumpster. Well low and behold the next night I go out to check and what is out there but table tops! I managed to find someone to help me get these bad boys into the basement. It took a lot of picking through, because the employees of the retailer had scratched up and marked a lot of the tops, but over the next 6 months I put back together and gave away 5 tables (to my fellow poor coworkers) and brought a stockpile back to my new old house. Mr. S. was not as keen on my stockpile as I was. The stockpile sat in the basement for some time. We finally decided to make a coffee table out of 2 leaves and 4 chopped down legs. It is actually in the garage right now, as we have switched to storage ottomans for the kids, but someday it will make a reappearance. The rest of the stockpile I finally gave away on Craigslist to some guy who had just built himself a workshop and was going to transform them into something new.

After the tables I managed to score a couple of rugs, but as the recession of 2001 started, less and less good stuff made its way into the dumpster and my house quickly filled, I stopped my dumpster diving habit.

Do you have any good favorite finds to share? Why don’t you join the link party.

4 Comments

In ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, DIY

Blooming This Week: Daffodils, Lungwort & Chionodoxa

April 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

Spring is finally here! We have reached the week in the spring where EVERYTHING makes an appearance. Granted it is still mostly little tiny sprouts and buds, but it is so nice to finally see all my little plant friends coming out of the ground. The weather has been warm for several days now, so everything is coming up fast. We were even able to be outside without coats! I managed to get a little bit of mulch down and part of the first round of weeding is complete. I was comparing this week to last year and we are almost a full month behind (granted we were a month ahead last year).

The daffodils have been in bloom for about a week now. Most of ours line our front steps, which is always a welcome appearance. I am actually thinking that I may divide several bunches this year, as the bunch is quite large and dense. That should allow them to multiply more, which is always welcomed. I may move some to the rear of the yard, to help add some additionally early spring blooms, especially since the squirrels and bunnies have eaten my crocuses even faster this year.

Also in the front yard is the Chionodoxa. Most of these are planted to the right of my front steps. They are there to replace the purple flowers from the vinca.

An ongoing battle for me is to remove the vinca front the front yard (I have almost removed it from one side but in the meantime the other side has been OVERTAKEN by it). It is VERY aggressive, but I have had a soft spot for it due to the purple flowers. It is actually one of the first things I wrote about when I started the blog. So 2 years later, I think the chiondoxa is a good choice, although I need A LOT more. The good news is in their second year blooming they have definitely come back stronger. I was a little disappointed last year, so much that I didn’t order any this past fall. Now I know that I need to order several hundred more (fortunately they are cheap and easy to put in since they are so small).

Speaking of purple flowers, my lungwort just started flowering. It is a favorite of mine, variegated leaves and purple flowers. The only caveat is that it doesn’t like full sun, so it isn’t an option for my front yard. This is another plant that I will be dividing this season. It actually looks terrible when you do it and you think it might not make it, but then it come back the next year all happy.

I thought I would leave you with a picture of the main shade garden. You can see it is still looking a bit sparse. It should really fill in the next couple of weeks, but it is hard to be patient. I also think it is good reminder how hard it is to have a garden that looks good all year around. Just look how it looked last year at this time…

What is blooming in your yard?

To take a peak at all of my garden blooms click here.

I will be back with some progress on the upstairs hall soon!

Stained Glass Options

April 5, 2013 — 4 Comments

I’m in a bit of a holding pattern here while I wait for my regular contractor to get here and coordinating with the other trades. In the meantime I have been looking at some stained glass options for the bathroom. I can’t finalize this until I know the ceiling height which is based on the air conditioning but I have a reasonable idea of the space so I thought I would show you my latest photoshop rendering of the hallway. I also added in the ceiling fan that bought.

I stopped over at Philadelphia Salvage recently but was disappointed with their selection. I need a pretty specific size so I have been lurking on ebay. I really like a lot of the stuff that Bigsteveareno29 sells. He is in Pennsylvania about 2 hours from here. I don’t think I would trust shipping stained glass, but we could plan a trip. He also sells some interesting closet fronts that I have been admiring.

This is a close up of the antique stained glass that I am currently favoring. I think it would look pretty good with our existing daisy stained glass window which is on the adjacent wall. I am pretty close to being able to make this fit with the lowered ceiling. It will be tight but I think I can make it work.

We had this our original daisy stained glass window restored when we were having the siding done. As you can see we never got around to fixing the plaster and trim around it. I figured I would add that to the list on this round of hallway work.

What do you think? Should I scrap the stained glass and just go with clear glass?

4 Comments

In -Basement, -Hallway, -Stained Glass, HOUSE PARTS, OUR HOME

A Note to The Contractors of the World

April 3, 2013 — 2 Comments

Dear Contractor,

Are you going to be late? Just give me a call (preferably not way after we were suppose to meet).

Are you not going to make it this week because of a delay? Just give me a call. In fact you can even text me if you don’t want to talk.

Do you not want to do the job? Just let me know and I will move on. I understand.

Is there a problem with the design? Please call me before you decide to just do whatever. Usually I drew it a specific way for a reason. I do actually know what I am talking about (even though I am a girl).

Do we need to spend more money and/or time on something because of some unforeseen condition? Really just give it to me straight up. I can take it!

What do you get in return? I will stay out of your way while you are doing your work. I won’t get upset when tell me that something isn’t going as planned. In fact I will work with you to come up with a solution. Trust me, I have plenty of other things to worry about. And as an added bonus I might actually recommend you.

P.S. I don’t recommend gossiping about your clients while in a crowded restaurant. It is a small world. We can hear you.

2 Comments

In ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, OUR HOME

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