Have you seen this gorgeous living room that Lauren Liess just completed? I kind of feel like she's my designer doppleganger.

 

 

 

 The natural elements -- linen, seagrass, raw woods, and the gorgeous geeens are my happy place, but I also think there is another great technique Lauren utilizes and that's the feeling of 'breathing room'. The curtains are taken all the way up to the ceiling to not create any divisions in an already fairly busy comination of window styles. 

 

 

When you walk into this space, you face the fireplace. Instead of blocking that view with a sofa, she used a pair of open woven chairs that offer additional seating, but, allows an unobstructed view of the whole room. Sometimes, it isn't possible to apply this 'open concept' if your room functions differently {say, TV watching, the size of the room, or the location of a feature wall }. And sometimes, in design, we actually place a sofa, with a console behind it, to create a division in the space.      

 

 

But, in this instance, it is just the icing on the cake, the moss between my sidewalk, the creamer in my coffee..you get the picture...I love it!

To see more of Lauren's project visit her at Pure Style Home 

{all images by Helen Norman via Pure Style Home}

 

  

 

 

 

So this is how my laundry room looked last year. Exactly the way it appeared when we bought the house minus the washer and dryer.

 

It's a very small room but it has great natural light! It's hard to tell, but those tiles on the floor are a glue on linoleum type with pretend grout lines on the edges. These same tiles were in my entrance and in my guest bath and they were replaced years ago. This room is right off of the kitchen and in between the guest room and guest bath so it's got a prominent spot in the house. And the door is almost always open.

 

 

I knew it wouldn't take a lot to make it pretty, but what I really needed was to make it functional. If you have been reading this little blog for a while, you know that I am the mom of 2 athletes. Our games can be hours away so each mom fixes dinner for an away game. Each time it's my turn, I am forever looking for my stash of cups, napkins, plastic silverware, etc. Some items would be in the hall pantry, some would be in the drawers in the dining room, some in the kitchen cabinet...frustrating. Not to mention that my baking items, my tablecloths, my Christmas dishes, were also stored here there and everywhere.

 

 

These cabinets were only inches deep and I couldn't reach the back. They just were not practical to hold all of the big things that I needed to store in here. These are actually the same cabinets that are in my kitchen. if you want to see them all painted up, visit this post. I wanted to take these off and use them in the garage to store tools. Then I could use the entire height and depth above the washer and dryer to create a 'pantry' so everything would be in one spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

I painted the walls with one of my very favorite whites - Natural Choice. It has a touch of gray and is just warm enough.  

 

 

At this point, I searched for baskets to line the shelves. I needed specific sizes and cheap they were not. I was not willing to drop $100+ on baskets. So, I searched through old plastic storage bins that I had once used in my store. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of these plus others. They were the right depth, there were plenty of them, and they were free! Because they aren't the prettiest things to look at, I decided to hang a curtain that could be pulled to cover them up. This way I could leave the door open to enjoy the great sunlight and not be embarrassed!

 

 

The curtains are a cute coordinating little green check number.  Tomorrow I'll show you how I hung the curtains and a break down of the ton of everything that is now being stored here. Oh, and did I mention that there's a new floor up in here AND that I did a little big painting for the opposing wall?? 

  

Some of you may recall that last summer Eddie Ross put out a facebook message that announced he was looking for a room that he could makeover using items from the up and coming 127 Corridor Sale {aka the World's Longest Yard Sale}.

Elizabeth Harris was the lucky High Point gal that Eddie selected. She had lived with her very traditional bedroom since getting married. But, with the years that passed, she craved a room that was lighter and brighter. Eddie saw huge potential.

Before: 

Saving money, Eddie kept the bed and bedside table and lacquered it with fresh white paint. He added canopy rails on which he tied blue buffalo check fabric panels.

Before: 

 

Dark bedding was traded in for a white duvet and pillows in coral, floral and blues.

Before:

Elizabeth got rid of the TV, and now the space is used as a beautiful work space.  

The fireplace wasn't given a lot of love or attention before.  

Now it's the focal point of the room with the addition of coral matted art, a patterned rug, painted and reupholstered vintage chairs, and colorful accessories. The awkward little space to the right of the fireplace became the new home for an antique screen that Eddie painted and added the same coral color with little painted inserts.  

Before:

The original dresser was lacquered white and got a new menagerie of accessories thanks to more yard sale deals. A bamboo mirror, wall pediments, and figurines--also received a new color. The lamps were garden canisters when Eddie found them. After he had them wired, they became lovely lamps that he topped with ribbon trimmed shades.  

And one last before shot:

Such a beautiful transformation. He continues to inspire me.

You can read more about Eddie's process and his shopping deals on his blog. And you can also check out Southern Living's story.  

{all images via Eddie Ross}

I have been talking about redoing my dining room for a while. {Ok, let's be honest, 5 years probably doesn't qualify as 'a while', more like half a freaking decade} If you are a returning reader, you might recall that I bought a dining table and chairs a few months ago. {They are waxed and painted, just not reupholstered--I will show them to you soon}.

The dining room also needed new curtains. I purchased the Concorde Medallion panels from Ballard's, in blue, for a client last year and I really liked them.

For my dining room, I wanted them in green. I looked for similar fabrics, but honestly I kept coming back to this one. What I didn't love about them, however, was the fact that they were rod-pockets {the curtain rod slides in a channel and is shirred on} and I prefer pinch-pleated {the top is pleated and attached with hooks onto rings}. But, I also knew that this was something I could do myself. I also like a much fuller panel than the typical 50-54" width that ready-mades usually provides. So, I ordered 4 panels--2 for each side.      

First, you must sew the 2 panels together. This involves removing the interior side seams and about 6" of the interior top seam.

 

 

Once the side seams are removed, iron the side seams flat.

 

With right sides together, sew a 5/8' seam from top to bottom.

If you have a serger, serge the edges, if not, then zig-zag the raw edges. Re-fold the middle top tab seam--the 6" of seam that you removed to open up the side seams, and re-sew. Iron the seam flat.

 

{FYI-the new middle seam gets hidden when it is pleated and hung}

On the wrong side, start at the top left edge and measure 4" across and mark with chalk, then measure 5" across and mark, repeat all the way across. The 4" areas are the spaces that will be between the pleats. The 5" areas will make the pleats.

Starting with one edge, Bring the 2 chalk lines together {these are the 'edges' of the 5" space} and pin them together. Sew a seam, on the right side, from the top edge down 5".

When all of the seams are sewn, it will look like this {on the back side} 

And the front side:

From the right side, starting with the first pleat, push it down and crease it so that is equal on both sides.

Fold the outer edges up

While holding the pleat in place, use a strong needle and thread, sew through all layers with several stitches at the base of the seam. Knot and cut off the thread.

Move to the base of the pleat {4" down}, and tack through the bottom of each pleat several times. Knot and cut off threads. 

Repeat on all pleats.

Stop and congratulate yourself because you just made pinch-pleats!!

Now you have to add the hooks. I bought mine at Lowe's for less than a few dollars a bag. You will need 1 bag for each {double} panel. The pins will slip into the rings.  

On the back side, measure down 1 5/8" from the top on each pleat seam and make a small mark. 

With the sharp, straight side of the pin, insert the pin into the seam at your mark. Only catch a small amount of fabric. 

It can be hard to push the pin all the way through, so I use my ruler to give it some leverage and force it through. It stops about 1/4" from the top.

This is the back view when all of the pins have been inserted. 

You will need 26 wood rings. I also got these at Lowe's--they come in several colors. I bought 4 bags at $8/per bag {it left me with 2 extra}.

Unfortunately, they come with clips which you don't need for this application.

They are simple to remove--force the larger thin ring open and take off the clip.

Place the rings onto the rod. Place each pin into a corresponding eyehook on each ring. 

 

 

Consider yourself pimped.