Please Vote

Forgive this momentary deviation from the bathroom update (more coming on that after this next weekend)...

Last weekend, whilst buying supplies for the second bathroom at Home Depot, I spotted two light fixtures I'm now considering for our entryway. I had originally planned on trying to spruce up and refab the chandelier that was left for us by CrazyDecoratorFormerOwner, but I've since given up that plan, because I just don't like that chandelier enough to invest in it. That said, I'd love some input on these two choices we're considering:

Option 1 - a rectangular cube pendant in white glass:

Option 2 - a bowl pendant in clear glass:

Both are simple and clean, and the price is right... so, what do you think? Any preferences or strong opinions? Do you hate them both, or love them equally? Throw in your two cents -- didn't you know this is now an interactive home update adventure?!

Thanks in advance!

Upgrades!

It has been an awfully long time since I last posted anything, and I am as dismayed and disappointed as some people have expressed to me that they are. Sorry. The truth is, on the home-improvement front, not a lot has really been going on since early November (when I last posted, though that was not a home improvement post). And on all other fronts, LOTS has been going on, and we've been busy. On top of that, the winter hours and lighting made it difficult to take photos, since it wasn't so bright and well-lit in the morning before work, nor was it light out at all by the time we got home at the end of the day. And our weekends have been busy. All of this is excuses, but also explanations. And that said, we have done some stuff, and it's all been in the upgrade department. So, here I am at long last with a little post regarding our recent upgrades.

First, in the fall we updated the second bedroom with a day bed, which serves as a couch during the day/when we have no guests, and which has a pull-out pop-up tucked below it so that two people can sleep comfortably when YOU visit!

(I also waited to photograph it until I'd done all my pillow shopping. I have one more pillow to buy - I have a pretty cover and just need the stuffer for it. It will go in the middle there, front row. It'll be worth it.)

Then we treated ourselves to a trip to the 21st century and got a new TV in our bedroom! Woot!

(It's a Bravo marathon kind of a day...)

So inspired by that purchase were we, that we also upgraded the TV in the living room. You can now enjoy a 55-inch movie experience thanks to the TV and new stereo system Dave installed:

(Millionaire Matchmaker Marathon Sunday. Forgive me. You can see two of the speakers for the stereo there in front of the screen - there are two more on the bookshelf on the back wall)

And then we rearranged the living room a bit, and moved the couch off the wall, pulling the living area closer together.

(cozy)

We're planning to get some taller bookshelves and to find a long console-like couch table (under which we'll have some storage something or other) to go on this back wall under the mirror where the couch used to be:

And finally, the most shocking upgrade of them all for anyone who's been in our home in the past five years... we have a microwave!

(what?!)

Look at us crazy folks go. We do have some more upgrading and actual work on the dock. Some more furniture updates are in the pipeline, and then a bathroom update (one, not both yet), and a balcony refresher are definitely lined up to go. And somehow we'll do all of that before our most dramatic HSS upgrade to date...

(I'll leave it at that for now!)

Finally! Floors Part II and a Call for Organization

The floors are here (again)! And they're glorious! They really do look beautiful. And maybe even (dare I say it?) better than before? Wood's a funny thing. We ordered the exact same product as we did before and this time around it has more variation, interesting coloration, and richer tones. Or maybe we're just SO excited to have consistent, seamless flooring in again that it just looks and feels that much better to us? I'm not sure. But I think it's the former.

(it also looks yellower and brighter in this shot than it really is, as you can see below where I've panned out)

Again I have to apologize for the lack of sufficient photo evidence - we were so ecstatic about getting our home back the other night that I never took pictures of the floors before we put back all our rugs and arranged the furniture back into place. Still... come on, this is fabulous, isn't it?

The relief at having this all set back up and put into place lit a little flame under our butts. We kicked it into high gear yesterday getting our organization on. The second bedroom had suffered as a paint storage, everything storage, furniture storage, catch-all room for a few months. Our plan for the summer was to get it set up as the guest room/office it's truly meant to be. That will wait just a bit more, but after yesterday's work we can finally see back to imagining it in its final glory again.

(clean, virtually empty of random stuff, besides the pictures we haven't put up that still need to find their homes)

(an organized closet = Maayan is happy!)

And since we were also already at the organization game and doing so well, we figured why not tackle another project and took the extra closet in the hallway to task. It, too, has fallen into a state of chaotic question marks, actually, since we moved in. We're not really sure what it's real purpose is, but it's just extra closet space in a somewhat awkward placement in the house. With all the work we've been doing since we moved in, it sort of just start being a holding pattern for random odds and ends that didn't yet have their own place in the world, as well as for tools and supplies we are using more regularly. With the bathroom debacle and the other work going on the past few weeks, it actually really got horrifyingly out of hand. I was ashamed to open it if I needed anything and someone was over, and a lot of stuff fell into the black hold it had become and I couldn't find it anyway. But look:

THIS HOUSE... IS CLEAN!

(ahhhhhh... that's a collective sigh of relief, since I know I can hear you sighing with me. thanks for the support.)

Biscayne

After a LONG search... new runners in the hallways:

They are the Biscayne runners from Crate & Barrel in Terra. Also at long last, we spent a good chunk of a wedding gift card to Crate & Barrel! Bonus: the color we'd picked out a couple of weeks ago was the only one on sale! (I'll shop like a Heller forever!)
 

We Love Lamp(s) and Other Random Stuff

I apologize for the slight lapse in HSS postings... we've been enjoying a much-warranted lapse in projects since the floor is finished (both because we *deserve* to enjoy a weekend here and there without working, and because we *need* to save money again). In the mean time, there has been a shift in focus to simple updates and sprucing's up.

Last weekend involved a venture that will never again be repeated: a solo trip to IKEA. Yes, I went to IKEA... alone. This was a stupid idea from the get-go, and I knew that. I called and/or texted nearly everyone I knew didn't have plans to see if anyone was up for losing their mind along with me. No bites. So I decided that I'd just suck it up and go anyway - we had a little running list of things to look for/hopefully pick up there. This list included, among other miscellany: runners for the hallways, another dog-tail hook (as seen here), and lamps -- two lamps, to be precise.

For any friends of ours reading this who have commented either to me or behind our backs about how dark Dave likes to keep the house, you'll be pleased to know that it was Dave who said, "you know, I think we need a floor lamp for the living room." There was fist-pumping in victory going on inside my head, but I calmly said, "Oh, really? Yeah, that's not a bad idea." And I'd also recently concluded that our existing table lamp in my little reading corner also didn't really fit, and it needed to go. So, deep breaths in, and off to IKEA I went.

I was at IKEA for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. This was not because I had that much to do there. It was almost exclusively due to the anxiety-related wandering that came from feeling overwhelmed with having to make IKEA decisions without any input. I found the few aforementioned "miscellany" quickly, as well as an art-and-frames request for my SIL, and then moved onto the Lighting department... where I spent at least an hour. I narrowed down the floor lamps to three, and then called Dave to look them up online, and we picked one. Then I picked a table lamp in a similar chrome base, and spent the next 40 minutes having lampshade anxiety. I called my SIL and mother for consults, and texted three friends. Ultimately, I nervously came to a conclusive choice and, voila, two lamps were chosen. I'll show you the lamps before I tell you how I spent the next 45 minutes of my IKEA experience:

(floor lamp! yay! and p.s., how cute do those little stools I found look with little plants on them?!)

(pretty impressive shade for such a dramatic selection process, eh? don't judge me if you've never been to IKEA alone.)

To conclude this tale of why never to go to IKEA alone, let me tell you about how I finally found our third dog-tail hook. I recalled from the last time I bought these that I found them in a giant bin of at least 800-45,000 different-colored dog-tail hooks somewhere downstairs near the registers. So, I saved this item for last. I went downstairs and found my Lack shelves (see above photo - they don't have an actual home yet, but I'm sure you'll see them unpacked and on a wall in an upcoming post) on the self-service shelves, and searched through the rugs--no runners came home with me, but I did pick up a little kitchen rug that looks good... see:

(dark blue stripes if you can't tell)

I browsed the plants and planters, but nothing struck my fancy, and all the while, I hadn't seen the bin-o-dog butts. Finally I gave up and waved down a yellow-shirted man. "This is going to sound odd, but you used to carry these wall hooks that look like the back end of a dog," I said with eyebrows raised in mild embarrassment. "Hmm..." he scratched his scruffy chin. "Yeah, well, if we have them, they'll be on the second floor in Home Accents. But, we discontinued everything that has to do with animals." What? What does that even mean? "I'm sorry," I said, "everything? These aren't for animals," I explained. "I know," he said matter-of-factly. "You still have them online, I checked before I came," I said knowingly. "Oh, well, then maybe you should just buy them there," he said and walked away. I'm not kidding.

Well, I was determined. I got myself onto the elevator in spite of my parched throat and slowly-creeping-in headache, an obvious symptom of too much time alone in an IKEA. I got off on 2 and went straight to the map of the floor. I located myself and then Home Accents and started making my way back around the floor. But for the life of me, I was walking in circles. No dog butts. I finally found another friendly employee and made my same awkward request. "Oh, yes! If you go directly across to the opposite side of the floor from where we are now, when you see the mirrors, they should be in a giant white bin on your left. And if they're not there, I'm sorry we're all out." OHMIGAWD. If they weren't there, I was going to hurt someone.

So off I went again, and sure enough, there were the mirrors, and sure enough, on my left was a giant white bin of dog-tail hooks. Red, orange, and hot pink dog-tail hooks. I was not dismayed. Just as I recalled, there were somewhere between 800-several thousand hooks in this bin. I dug in elbow-deep and moved them all around. And there, on the bottom, were two black dog-tail hooks. I grabbed one, sighed heavily, and made for the elevators. I will not add to the story by explaining how I got my loot to the car (since you can't take the carts into the lot, and I had no partner in crime to watch my stuff while I went to find the car), but I made it, and though I'll never again go there alone, I will go back. And all's well that ends well.

(*someone* told me that you should always accessorize in odd numbers!)

By Request: Rug Close-Ups

I've had a couple requests for closer-up shots of the colors and pattern of the new living room rug, so here you go:

I like it more every day...

Sit Down and Let Me Tell You a Story... About Buying a Rug

Long ago I purchased a rug for the living room that I got really excited about. But it was too small (see here), and after I conceded that fact, I also decided I was really just all excited about *a* rug, not *that* rug, and so it was returned. Once we determined we were replacing the floors, we decided to wait on the rug-hunt and find something then. The hunt started back up again a few weeks ago. First we went to peruse the selection at Home Depot (thumbs down). Then we went to a local shop, The Exposition Flooring Design Center (which sounds fancy by name, and which looks fancy by website, but which is pretty busted in person). Then we decided to take a nice long walk with Lanie and make our way down Chicago's Devon Avenue.

Devon has been settled by many immigrant groups throughout Chicago's past. Along Devon was or is an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, a Russian American neighborhood, an Indian American neighborhood, a Pakistani American neighborhood, and a Bangladeshi American  neighborhood. Locally, though, it's known most, I'd say, for being Little India. Block after block is punctuated with sari stores, Indian restaurants, Indian video stores, grocery stores advertising Indian spices and other imported goods, and more. In between these there are Orthodox Jewish bookstores, Chinese restaurants, cell phone vendors, furniture stores, and RUG SHOPS!

Our first outing in the rug hunt included Lanie, and it was more a research expedition. We went into at least four different rug shops, and found they were filled with great items, very comparable to what we'd seen in other stores and online, and generally for great prices, or at least reasonable prices that seemed fair. So this was the spot. We found a shop we liked and decided we'd come back another day with the car to make our purchase.

Then it started raining. For days. DAYS! Today, finally, the sun was shining, we decided it was the day, and we drove back over to our shop. After wandering about the store a bit, looking through some of the piles of beautiful (and less-beautiful) rugs, and listening to Indian customers bartering with the shop employees, we were finally approached by someone and asked if we could be helped. After showing us somewhere in the range of 30-40 options in the size-range we were seeking, we finally landed on our pick. Previously we had been looking almost exclusively at more traditional, Oriental-style designs. Our choice, while traditional, is not in that style at all. But we both really liked the colors, the look, and the feel.

But I digress. Bartering. The rug we picked was out of a pile with a "fixed price." Once we'd agreed on a selection, Dave looked up at the guy and said a price $50 lower. The guy looked at us and chuckled out loud, and then repeated the "fixed price." Dave repeated is offer. The man scoffed, audibly, and told us "no, no. We set fixed prices so they are fixed, you see." We saw. But still, Dave was unrelenting. "You can't do anything for us?" He asked. "We'll walk away with it right now." He said no, and walked away. "Fixed price." We mumbled between us a bit. I was feeling a little like it might be time to let go. We either buy the rug at the fixed price, or take a walk. There were at least four other rug shops we'd already been to on this very same street that we could revisit. But Dave persisted. He went up by $25 and told the man he'd pay in cash. "Cash, credit card, no matter," the man said, "the price is..." Fixed, we know. Dave's eyes twinkled at him. He came back over to the pile and lifted a few rugs to show us another we'd considered and said he'd give us that one for the reduced-by-$25 price. "That's not the one we want," we said. "Come on," Dave said, and repeated the price. The man began walking away again. I was squirming. Let's go, I looked at Dave and silently insisted. And then, suddenly, the man turned around. "Okay," he said, "but plus tax." We won! (sort of.)

So that's the story of buying a rug. Now see what it looks like in our living room:

(Go Bulls! Go Celts!)

(Lanie approves)

What say you, dear Family and Friends? Do you approve of our selection? What about Dave's skills?

Simple Bargain

Bargain Hunter is my middle name! Well, it's not. But with genes like the ones in my family, I was destined to uncover the most hidden of good deals. I have had this nagging desire to fill the space by the window part of the sliding glass door in the living room with something. I have also thought that we could stick something on either side of the television, but haven't found that something yet, either. So my eyes are basically always peeled, and I have been searching for a bench, or the perfect ottoman, but haven't found quite what I thought would work there. Yesterday, on a wandering-about trip to Le Target, I found something that I thought could work (even if just temporarily). And it was on a clearance shelf, so I had to check it out. Two stack-able wooden stools. A dark stain, similar to that of the new dining furniture. A design just simple and cute enough. And only $11.18 each, to boot! There was no harm in bringing them home. So I did! And they look great.

Now I just need to get myself over to the Gethsemane Garden Center in Andersonville like I've been planning and get something to top that other guy! Satisfied.

Painted Doors

This weekend's big project was not the mirror - nor was it a big project. We decided to paint the inside side of the front door, as well as that of the door in the kitchen. We have been deliberating on what to do with the kitchen door for a while... At one point we considered buying like-stainless contact paper to cover it... but then thought that could be too much, and somewhat distracting, plus we couldn't find sheets of it that would be wide or long enough to cover the door, so it would have to be done in sections, which would leave obvious seams... Anyway, bad idea. So then we decided we should paint it. But if we were going to paint it, we needed to decide on a color... the wall color? the cabinet color? a contrast color? Conclusion: cabinet color - white. Here's the door before:

(not the prettiest)

And here's the door after:

(much better, right?!)

And once we were talking about painting the kitchen door, we agreed that the front door should be painted, too. The front door looked exactly the same as the kitchen door, except, you might remember it had some odd equation-looking writing etched into the top of it:

(19 + G + M + B + 89)

We were told by the realtor representing the seller that it was the remnants of a blessing left on the door by a Hungarian priest when the previous owner had the home blessed upon moving in. I have done LOTS of searching to try to figure out what it means, or even if it's truly what he claimed. I haven't found confirmation, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, I guess. Anyway, I hope it's okay that we covered it!

This is going to be an exciting week at the HSS... we do, actually have a big project starting in a few days... and we'll be excited to share it with you!

Mirror Project

Months ago, our good friends E&Z came over to see our then-new place. I remember we chatted about how to try to compartmentalize all of the things we wanted to do, and how to begin thinking about the things we knew we wanted, but couldn't yet picture as we tried to prepare to make this crazy place our own. E had a great idea about reflecting the water throughout in our design... an idea that's sort of taken over as the guiding principle for much of the work we've already done. It's almost like every change we make is done with the idea behind it being a thank you to whatever stars aligned to make it so we could live here, and have the view we have, and be able to wake up and go to sleep each day by the water. So, thank you to E.

We found a huge mirror yesterday at a thrifty shop in the 'hood, which we've hung over the couch in the living room. We've been searching Craigslist, the numerous vintage/thrift/resale stores in our city, online shops, and anywhere else we could think of for just this find. Yesterday, Dave took Lanie for a long walk, and in the aforementioned neighborhood shop, he found two huge mirrors that he thought could work. We went back together later, and agreed that the bigger of the two could really look great. It's HUGE. It actually used to be a sliding mirrored door, maybe for a hotel closet if that helps you imagine it better. It's about eight feet long, and maybe three feet or a little more wide. We could only get it home by sticking it into the car through the sunroof. I sat in the back and held it, while Dave drove, at approximately 3mph with the flashers on, the five or so blocks home.

The plan is to spray paint the frame... probably black? Maybe a brushed silver? White? Thoughts? But for now, it's up on the wall, and it's amazing to see the lake from the front hall in the reflection when you walk in... and to see the blue hues in the paints we chose in the reflection from the living room.

Lighting: Part II

And now Lighting Part II is complete! This one was a little more complicated. We had a challenge from the get-go because the build-out of the window in the new kitchen wall (and thus the extension of the counter into the dining area) meant we needed to move the dining room table out from under the center of the existing (wack-a-doo) light fixture. As the dining room lighting was set up with the previous wall in place, this meant that we'd need to either hire an electrician to rewire the thing, or find a light fixture that didn't depend on obvious centering to work in the space. As bonafide DIY-ers now, we clearly opted for the latter. Initially we thought we'd go with something big, and maybe flush mounted to the ceiling, taking up so much space that the true center wouldn't matter as much. But we couldn't really see something that big working in our dining/living area, so back to the drawing board. When we went to Home Depot earlier, we looked at several options that we thought could work, and ultimately landed on something that itself was off-center and could be mounted perpendicularly to the table and dining wall, such that the true center, again, wouldn't be as, well, central. Again, I have to give you the "Before" image as a recollection of where this all started...

(yes... it all began with this stunning basket-o-flowers chandelier)

The new light fixture is so different, and certainly light years more modern. We're having a hard time deciding if we will stick with it, but we're leaning toward yes, at least for now. I think making the leap from 1961 to 2011 overnight with one single home accessory is just a little bit of a jolt so we need to let it set in more! Anyway... here it is from installation to lit:

(basket gone!)

(putting up the bulbs and shades was tricky, actually)

(one up, three to go)

(much better, right?!)

(and just to further prove Dave's handy skills... lit!)

 

Lighting: Part I

I feel like I've been saying "you may recall..." a lot lately, but we've been accomplishing so many easy, beautiful updates, that it warrants recalling the wack-a-doo that was this place when we moved in! Today's installments relate to lighting. Part I, in the kitchen, has already been tackled with great success. Part II, in the dining room, is in-process right now, so I'll have another update shortly. So here's what the previous lighting/fan situation in the kitchen was:

(sorry for the bad lighting... but you can still see it's wack-a-doo-ness)

You may also remember that we joked about it having the tiniest fan blades in the world:

Well, goofy-old-tiny fan has been replaced! We took a trip to Home Depot this afternoon, and found a replacement that, while still small, wasn't as ridiculously small, and is a modern, sharp update for our nearly-complete kitchen. Having never replaced or put together a ceiling fan before, Dave was a little nervous. But once again, he's proven himself a handy handyman, and we have success:

(goodbye ugly oddity!)

(putting together the base for the new fan/light)

(fan: installed! now for light)

(lights going in... and...

(new ceiling fan/light fixture installed and functional!)

Now for the dining room light...

Curtains

In honor of a visit this weekend from our good friends R&R from sunny Florida, we did a bunch of cleaning up to show off our Home Sweet Schwab and mostly to make room for guests! As a result, I was finally able to put up one of the sets of curtains I bought a few months ago at IKEA. I have been thinking about painting the living room a gray shade for a while, so even though we hadn't yet reached the paint purchasing or application phase, I knew I wanted a gray compliment for that room. I also knew that our curtains would probably stay open most of the time for maximum view-enjoyment. So, they needed to work as framers for the window and to help complete the room. I went for a heavier, dark charcoal-y, heavier linen material. They are simple and straight-forward, classic and lovely (in my opinion). Here's Lanie modeling the well-framed, curtained window:

 

Butcher Block Cart

We have spent a lot of time debating how to make use of the narrow space between the kitchen pantry and the wall where the electrical panel is. That sounds even stranger now that I've typed it for public viewing. Who worries about these things? Anyway, I digress. You may or may not have been aware that before we bought the new base cabinet that is now in place beside the oven (where the old dishwasher previously resided), we had toyed with the idea of buying (or having built) a large cart with a butcher block top. One that would provide more shelving, but would also roll out and provide more surface space for cutting, prepping, etc. But then, we bought the cabinet, and the rolling cart faded into the distance. Well, it's back! And Dave found one that fits perfectly into that little narrow space by the pantry. And it's adorable! And it's perfect! Did I mention that it is perfect? Here it is:

(in it's new nook)

(close-up, and a different angle)

(butcher block top)

We're debating whether or not to paint all but the butcher block portion white like the cabinets... not sure about that one yet... input?