The record cabinet grows up and gets a job

Remember when I mentioned the record cabinet that I found on the side of the road? I'm sure at one time in its life it held cool jazz records but now it's all work and no play. Yeah, it has a new lame life in our office by hiding internet stuff and paper and displaying the lovely fax machine. I did try to make it a bit more pretty with some paper on the inside.

Please ignore the ugliness that is the wall color and carpet. Some time in the near future that all will change. Note to self: hide wires that live under the cabinet.

Stair Inspiration: Suzanne Kasler

Designer, Suzanne Kasler's former home

House Beautiful May 2006

Ridgewood Drive interior

After seeing these pictures, I'm finding myself drawn to neutral stair runners (either painted or carpet). Hopefully this winter, we'll have something on those steps.

A Maine Wedding

Over the weekend we took a short trip with a long drive up to Portland, Maine for a wedding of a college friend. The wedding and reception took place at the gorgeous Black Point Inn. We are already making mental notes to come back and stay at the Inn!

The home renovator/restorer in us squealed when we saw that the hotel is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Glass door knobs and beautiful woodwork! Yippie!

P.S.- We also had dinner at Hugo's in Portland on Saturday. Hugo's Chef, Rob Evans is the Winner 2009 James Beard Foundation, Best Chef Northeast. I highly recommend this place! I'm still dreaming of the duck entree.

Some blog business and shoe update

I changed the comment settings so that anyone can post a comment and not have to create a google account. Sorry for those that have been dying to post a comment and could not!

I did go to Payless on Friday and tried on many of the Christian Siriano shoes, but in the end got a no name ankle boot. The dude still threatens that he will not talk to me if I wear them in his presence but oh well I can deal with that.

Inspiration: Talking steps

both via the haystack needle

Inspiration: Painted Stair Runner

from this post at Apartment Therapy

Christian Seriano- Runway to Payless

Below are some pics from Christian Seriano's RTW Fall 2009 show. Check out how the pieces were translated into true ready to wear for Payless shoes.

Fall 2009 RTW

Payless

I'm going to run over to the store today to see if they are carrying the black boot.

Stairway to heaven?

Our house is a cape cod with a converted finished attic. This space has a full bath and tons of potential knee-wall storage. There are a few unfinished projects that are holding us back from making it the 'master suite.' Hopefully 2009-2010 will be the year of the upstairs!

Here's one of the projects that's sort of done. The dude pulled up the carpet on the stairs to find red steps and some plywood treads. He did an awesome job sanding, putting new steps in and painting.

But.... do we put a stair runner down or paint the treads a different color?? What do you think? I'm okay with the white steps, but they are a bit of a pain to clean. In the next few weeks, I'll be posting some stairs inspiration.

Before:

After:

I heart John Derian

Here's some John Derian eye candy. I have two trays that he did for Target, but I'm really dying to get a hold of a decoupage plate to add to the wall in our dining room.

P.S. Peacock Feathers has a John Derian giveaway going on right now. You have a chance to win an awesome paperweight!

I told you the ocean was angry

Angry ocean Duck, NC

Mini Vacay

We just got back from a mini vacation to Outerbanks, NC with our non-related family. The weather was poo and the ocean was angry but we still had fun playing games on the iPhones and pretending/dreaming it was sunny and warm.

Amongst all of the touristy stores that carry every item that you could ever think of that could fit a OBX logo on it, we found a cool home decor store. The dude had a good eye and found an ad in one of those tourist newspapers for Urban Cottage. I'm still dreaming of these lamps that they had in the window and the large selection of Dash and Albert rugs for my stairs. Here's some other cute stuff:

mercury glass pendant

wood spindle lamp

button art

barnboard rug

Canadian House and Home Mag

I received the House and Home magazine this weekend from Rambling Renovators. Here's some eye candy!

pale blue steps of a basement remodel, white frames with linen mats, modern/vintage kitchen, tied-dyed curtains

Laundry room

I'm so jealous when I watch House Hunters and people complain about a house's laundry room. "Oh, it's so small" or "Oh, I wish the laundry room didn't have a toilet next to the washer machine" blah blah blah. Hey, it has its own room and that is cool. Going into a basement to do laundry is not so cool. I guess I can add laundry room to my wish list for the next house. What's on your dream list?

What I'm really dreaming about

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today and I'm not thinking about cute house stuff. I'm just dreaming about a snuggie and my couch.

Entryway Shelf

from Better Home & Gardens DIY Decorating

Awhile back, I came across the BH&G tutorial for making an entryway shelf out of reclaimed wood flooring. We scored some wood flooring from Re Store (an awesome architectural salvage store in Philly) and used brackets from Lowes. I finally got a mirror from Ikea to put over the shelf and the dude hung it last night.

One more thing to check off on the imaginary to-do list.