Chairs Chairs Chairs

Chairs I do adore...
Name that song...except it's not chairs.
I have a problem.
An addiction.
To chairs.
Besides a massive sofa, two smaller matching sofas and a settee, I own.....10 chairs (not counting dining chairs, two awesome outdoor chairs I should show you sometime..two kids chairs currently not in the house since they're being painted..and the 5 at my mom's)
settle in for a long post..
*Disclaimer: I am NOT a hoarder. In fact I get rid of things too easily. There are a few things I have a lot of beauty products, lamps, picture frames, shoes, books..ok maybe more than a few things..but they're organized and I can stop whenever I want. I can. Becca, Summer,,help me out here you read the blog and you've seen every inch of my house..

My latest. My mom bought me these two channel back chairs...Love them, and I love that they're not super popular. The wood will get painted and the fabric will be one of the above or charcoal velvet and white for the wood..not sure....maybe...opinions welcome..

This red one is and old Ethan Allen chair...I've had it for a long long time. It is super comfortable and sits in our little reading area. My kids sit on it almost everyday.I got it from the girl  used to do my slipcovers in Utah..she was amazing. If I could remember her name..I'd get a group of friends together and fly her out to do all our slipcovers. Her Slipcovers are perfect!

This little one is adorable..also Ethan Allen. I got a good deal (at least I think so). This chair is small but mighty.. I sit on it all the time..the kids watch TV on it or scoot it up to their table.. needs a slipcover though.I'm thinking blue &and white ticking.

The Rocking Chair. Because every house needs one. This is where I sit while my daughter screams..don't leave my room mommy..almost every night.

You've seen theses two many times. Love them. One day will have them reupholstered and will only use the white slipcovers in the Spring and Summer. One day. BTW..i know that picture on the wall is lonely..I've had  a box full of frames waiting to be hung for the last oh..5 months..and I'm already planning the next move. Maybe in my next place.

I just got this one...$5. Vintage and has a sticker that says Stendig. I think that's supposed to mean something except I really don't care. It's adorable and just got painted black. So far my little girl likes to drag it in the kitchen and climb on it to help me cook. today it's holding pretty books.

This one I could do without honestly. Although my daughter uses it to climb my bed..and one day could sit near an entry table for tying shoes or putting my purse on.....This was a dining chair. I bought the wrong model...it's a little too small in scale for what I wanted. I'm thinking I may die the slipcover dark (black or Navy) and add some detail with grosgrain ribbon..someday maybe.

This is my desk chair in the master bedroom. I love it. But not the frou frouness of it all. This will also be redone sometime very soon in a simple solid fabric.

So..I have a lot of reupholstering in the coming months and I don't want to be super neutral and boring but I don't want a a cartoonish look either.
Anyway...
In conclusion, although it may seem like a lot. All my chairs serve a purpose and are well loved and well used. Less isn't always more. Chairs are so verstatile, they can be moved from room to room, they serve more than one purpose and they are so much cheaper to redo than the big pieces.. ◦

Chairs Chairs Chairs

Home Projects Update

Thanks for the comments and advice--I love them all. I think for the setee I'm still undecided but everything else has been decided and I can't wait to get started. I had my son choose a number and the winner is Shelley! Please email me your mailing address (tampaorganizer(at)gmail.com) for a little package from me. Thanks for playing..all 5 of you. My traffic reports I'm now convinced are bogus.

Sorry for the Fuzzy picture. I sold our dining set..it was too mission style for me..and bought this one on craigslist for $50. It was a nightmare to paint. Let me clarify about that for those curious you can paint with latex paint over oil based primer. In fact that's ideal. What you should never do is oil paint on oil primer..or something like that. Anyway paint was only peeling in one little area, the table looked a lot better once I stepped away from it for a day or so. I'm still not 100% happy and as you can see below I still have 3 chairs to finish. The chairs are in terrible condition (which stinks because I really like them) so we might do the ikea chairs seen below (2nd pic) or something simple and more modern to avoid a too country look..

I also painted the chairs by the piano (the piano will be painted tomorrow...I'm going with black) those were a NIGHTMARE..I got so much paint on the fabric..I had to scrub the fabric clean for hours..they need to be resanded and repainted or sold. We'll see. But they sure are pretty.

This was by far the easiest of all..and made a big big difference. I spray painted the legs on the wingbacks black and I love them.

I have more to show so stay tuned.

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Home Projects Update

More Corners of my Home

This is the master bedroom. I need better pictures--we have an antique armoire in here and a great lamp I spray painted white with a linen shade and I also hung linen curtains.

This is a $7 corkboard from Target. I stapled linen on it (no batting obviously) and used upholstery nailhead trim from Michaels (it only took 2 small boxes) and now it hangs on my upstairs landing for my kids art. This was an easy and inexpensive project.

and this is one of two chairs I bought on craigslist. They're on either side of the piano...what color should I paint them? black or white? I need advice here. ◦

More Corners of my Home

More of Summer

We moved! To a very small but very cozy little townhome. We're still debating moving back West or North or nowhere...this is the perfect spot for us to think in.

We have A LOT of furniture, lots of chairs, more armoires than any one family should ever need, and a piano..so it kinda looks like a used furniture store but we've already filled one whole room in my mom's house with stuff we can't fit in so we're making things fit, even it means walking around furniture. I'll show you all an after once I find my camera (tears have been shed folks).

We've also been reading a lot. Our weekly trips to the library have been super succesful. Have you read The Library Mouse?..great little book.

I've also been baking. Lots.

This little chair is one of my favorite things. I need a slipcover for it though.

The kids are sharing a room, which means I've had to put away some great little things I've been collecting for Isabelle..a chandelier, some fabrics, etc..thankfully Daniel has white bunkbeds so it works great for the kids. (pics to come) Those little red chairs are getting painted white too. So yeah. lots of fighting and fort building going on in this little room.

Our favorite thing so far has been playing at home. It's been either pouring rain or blazing hot so we've been spending lots of time on this couch. Have I mentioned I love chocolate brown with stark white. Not shabby white. Glossy, shiny, clean white. I plan on getting some white shelves for above this couch.

Ok so I've got to go. I have 3 girlfriends over and were chatting about a dress appropriate for a wedding.

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More of Summer

House Hunting Grievances

House Shopping is daunting, frustrating, overwhelming and not as exciting as I thought it would be. I've lived in rentals almost my whole life. I grew up in New York where the apartments were huge, had hardwood floors and incredible architectural details, oh and of course Supers who took care of all those pesky little maintenance issues. In my married life renting has afforded us many luxuries--we’ve lived in some pretty fabulous places. There was the old historic home full of charm, (which we would never buy because they’re money pits) the high-rise downtown apartment with amazing city views. We’ve lived in a quirky old building with our best friends on the floor above us, and nosy old ladies who kept tabs on everyone. We’ve had all the good stuff with no commitment and therefore no chance of disappointment. We’ve been livin’ the good life. The thing is it's time for us to make some better financial choices, that, and we are now a family of four, and my children must be able to play outside without going to the plastic playground.

What we want is an old bungalow with charm, but we don’t want to move to neighborhoods that have shootings every week, and as afore mentioned these adorable houses come with serious baggage. Actually no what we, ok, I, really want is a brownstone in Manhattan. But our choices are cookie cutter homes in the boonies that have no character, hideous kitchens, and can I say honestly, no offense because really it’s all about personal tastes, but those hideous enormous mirrors in bathrooms with the kitchen cabinets as vanities…NOT good. Oh and tiny rooms, hideous light fixtures, hollow core doors, beige carpet, ugly tiles…shall I continue. These homes are completely devoid of any architectural details and quality craftsmanship. I have literally only seen one house with crown molding. And by the way, this is not about size, size has never been an issue for me, honestly I think the size of homes now is absurd, people buy huge homes they can’t manage. They hire maids and gardeners (for their tiny little yards) all so they can “save” time, which is a whole other post about what they do with that time, like spend it at malls where they spend more money on stuff that just ends up in the garage. And honestly I hate to sound ugly and be this person, (because honestly I would hire a housekeeper too if I could, not really, I like cleaning but I would I’d hire someone to fold my laundry) but this is my thing..my home. I don’t want luxury cars or clothes I want a beautiful home.

Anyway, I think I’m suffering from house commitment issues among other things. This really is a good thing, to be able to own a home, but this is a huge commitment, there is so much work ahead and so much to lose. Who will I call when the dishwasher leaks, the fridge is on fritz or there’s a bug problem. How about crazy neighbors? Anyway, below are some images of our current home, and yes I call it ours because we have been pregnant in this home, brought a new baby here, had dozens of parties, a ton of friends, laughs, cries, and memories. I may be saying this prematurely but for my sanity I have to begin to admit it’s time to say goodbye.

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House Hunting Grievances

My Underdecorated Home

So...here are just a few rooms in my house. I love decorating, I pore over magazines month after month (and have been for years), I read more decorating blogs than I'd like to admit, I have a collection of pics of beautiful spaces on my computer, I sketch out my rooms, I buy paint, frames, fabric and yet I live like this. Notice there aren't any pics in the frames..so sad. We've been in this house for a year now and I haven't done much, partially it's because my ideas are all too expensive and partially because I have not had free time in a long time. Now that I'm home all day, I can't beleive how much my surroundings actually affect me, of course now it's even harder with a little 2 month-old and a very bored, always needing to be entertained 4 year-old but nevertheless the wheels are in motion. Consider these just a few before pics. ◦

My Underdecorated Home