Author: laurenhallden

Whenever I feel depressed about the speed of progress around the house, I just drag out this picture. It was taken about 3 weeks after I moved in. The walls are blue, the kitchen is yellow, the curtains are lace, the floor is carpeted, and my stuff is everywhere.

I’m still not completely in love with my living room, but I’m certainly closer! Here’s a shot taken from the same position today:

And facing the opposite way:

If you guessed that the sculpture by my front door is there only because I’ve been avoiding carrying it back down the stairs into my basement, you get a sticker. Heavy sucker. If it stays there long enough, I might start using it as a coat hook.

I still love my cow rug, which is a relief considering how much of a presence it has in this room. It’s the easiest thing in the world to care for, though. Just sweep it off with a broom along the grain of the hair, or wash it with a sponge the same way.

If I were a real design blogger, with sponsors and advertisers and product reviews and fancy stuff, I would totally have styled this shot on the left with some summer scarves and, like, a burlap grocery bag full of flowers. But hey, this is how the house actually looks. I hang coats on my coat hooks. And I never have money for flowers.

The pipe shelving unit project is a favorite accomplishment. It has become something of a curio cabinet for me, attracting all kind of feathers, seeds, plants, shells, and art about feathers, seeds, plants and shells.

I do rotate items frequently, which keeps it fun. I’m trying not to bog this unit down with too much stuff.

Well, except for the gecko. He’ll be a permanent fixture once he’s big enough to move into the new vivarium.

Here’s the rest of the art collection:

These pieces also rotate. I’ll probably need to do some editing of the wall-o’-art in the near future; I’ve gathered a whole lot of stuff.

I like the effect for now, though.

And now it’s time to talk about the lingering ugly bits. Because while I may have a cute end table on this side of the sofa…

… what the heck is this thing? A bland Ikea bookcase holding a yoga mat and a cricket cage? No good. This should obviously be some kind of low, modern side table/credenza with doors to hide all of the weirdness. Like this thing. Too bad all the good thrifting for such furniture is on the west coast.

I think I have settled on using two end tables, though, over a coffee table. My living room is a decent size for a small Philly rowhome, but the space is long and skinny. Having that coffee table in the dead center of the room really messes up the flow of traffic. Which is why my table is here:

Yeah. That’s… special. I’m also going to need a low, modern media storage system, aren’t I. Why is attractive furniture so hard to get? Can’t I just build it all with pipes?

Oh, and then there’s that thing. Right. Pipes won’t fix that nonsense.

Ooorrr that situation. The astute among you may have noticed that my cable box is hiding somewhere that is nowhere near my TV. Definitely need to fix the wiring and consolidate this mess within a media storage unit.

And then there’s this. Every time my heating contractor comes in here, he tells me not to paint the brick. I remain unconvinced. I’ve scrubbed the heck out of these floor-level puppies and that’s as clean as they get.

Something’s getting painted. I don’t know what and I don’t know what color it will be, but it needs to happen soon.

My 2-year house anniversary post is very belated. Truthfully, I haven’t accomplished much this summer. Instead of painting and crafting, a lot of my time went into applying and interviewing for new jobs. It took 7 interviews, guys. It’s tough out there.

But that initial effort has resulted in a much happier, healthier blog author today. There’s even a little extra money kicking around for new projects (if I can manage to stop spending it on work-appropriate clothing!).

For this year’s entry, I’ve decided to go for honesty. I’ve made definite improvements to each room in the house, but lingering ugly spots remain. And ugly spots are entertaining, too, so I’m not gonna hide them from you.

Let’s start with The World’s Smallest Kitchen ™!

Man, every year I do this post I wish that my camera hadn’t been stolen, robbing me of all of my before pictures. These crappy inspection photos are worthless.

Anyway, that was then. Here’s where we are today:

The open shelving project has turned out to be one of my favorite things about this room. I had some concerns going in; people warned me that my dishes would get dusty or sticky, plus I cheaped out and went with some Ikea laminate shelves, so I was worried they might warp or peel. But so far, I have to say that the entire arrangement has been trouble-free.

And if you happen to have nice dishes (thanks, Mom!), it’s really lovely to see everything out in the open.

My second-favorite thing is this little window of bottles and plants. I rotate items in and out of this arrangement pretty frequently. Translation: sometimes I kill things.

I like the way the closed containers fog up in the morning.

And now for the ugly. I’ve pretty successfully rid this room of the ugly, except for one thing:

Sky. Blue. Counter tops. I’ve lived with them long enough now that I no longer wonder WHY anyone would pick this color every time I peek at them. And that scares me.

Let’s move to the dining room!

Ouch. Let’s not. I’m looking at this now and wondering if the green (?!) counter top in this room was picked to match the green chairs. I can offer no other explanation.

Today we’re a little better off, color-wise:

We still have the green and it still needs to go, but at least there isn’t any yellow for it to fight with.

That thing in the corner of the first picture is my gecko’s starter terrarium. He’s been living in this room because it has an air conditioner, and apparently I care more about moderating his temperature than I do my own.

I see you!

This is the first room I started working on, and it’s probably time to revisit it. I’d like to use this radiator cover space in a more interesting way. The room could use a rug, too.

Hulk smash green counter top! But that’s not even the ugliest bit:

Ah yes, the mouse hole that I plugged with steel wool, caulk, and a boat load of poison. Also, the electrical outlet that was stuffed into a hole far too big for it, and is therefore screwed to nothing.

I could fix most of this situation with baseboards, if I ever get around to baseboards. The kitchen had some that I saved when the floors were redone, but the living room had nothing. I don’t know if I can match the old ones so I haven’t reinstalled them.

Yeah. That’s a pretty poor effort.

Coming soon: the living room and more!