Wing Back Chairs

As I’ve mentioned before, I bought two matching wing back chairs at an estate sale back in August. They were an absolute steal and are in great condition. I love the design – not only for aesthetic reasons but for comfort too. The fabric is sage green velvet, and although I plan to have them reupholstered eventually in something more modern, it works for now.

The new issue of Elle Décor has an article entitled Top Ten Elegant Wing Back Chairs. This classic is back in style and I can see why!

Crafting Debut

What a nice long Thanksgiving weekend! We have so much to be thankful for, even if we don’t always take time to acknowledge it. It was a wonderful time to appreciate our family and our many blessings.

I’ll try to give a brief summary of the family festivities. Wednesday night we had dinner at my parents’ – my mom made her specialty meatloaf for Jord. We hurried home to finish cleaning and do a couple chores before the out-of-towners arrived. On Thursday, we attended the typical family events – Jord’s family gathered at his Aunt Patty’s house and from there we headed to the Collins dinner at the Cunnick’s. The Cunnick’s décor continues to amaze me! I can only strive to have such an array of holiday adornments. Stuffed to the brim, we went home and to bed early for the long Friday ahead.

Collins cousins enjoying some "crafted" cocktails

We had mass and brunch on Friday morning with the Collins clan. Afterwards, we had our inaugural cousin crafting event at our house. I don’t really know if you can call it crafting – at my mom’s suggestion, we did something a little different this time. We “crafted” cocktails. I asked everyone to bring a recipe and ingredients for their signature drink. I provided the shooters (jello shots), a tradition among the cousin crafting affairs in the recent years. A dance party ensued into the night. Needless to say, it was incredible!

I had intended to recruit Sarah and do some Christmas decorating, but the weekend slipped away from us. Hopefully I'll be productive this week and get it all done!

Re-upholstery

My dad and I picked up our two re-upholstered chairs on Friday. I wanted to give them their own post, that’s how much I love them! Had to do some minor paint touch-ups once we got them home, but otherwise they came back perfect!

The first chair has some significance. I found it in my parents’ garage attic, along with some other treasures. It used to belong to Granny Bea, my mom’s grandmother. Worn and falling apart, no one else had nabbed it yet. But I saw the potential and I love having a piece with a bit of history. I found some navy and white striped fabric at IKEA, reverting back to my comfort zone. We sprayed the wood white and made some repairs before sending it off. The chair didn’t have a particular destination, but it looks lovely in the living room against the dark walls.

The office chair was picked up at Bruce’s in downtown Davenport. The place is a bit sketchy, so we had to do some searching. We were there looking for Sarah’s apartment furniture, and she spotted this chair. She has such a good eye, and luckily she thought I should purchase it rather than get it for herself. And she was so generous as to give me the black and white fabric, again from IKEA, which she had bought for curtains but no longer needed. Just a little white spray paint before the upholstery and voila! The back cushion was tufted, but because of the design she wasn’t able to keep that feature. Although it’s not a traditional office chair, it works for me. Now the office is almost complete – I just need to find some window treatments and a couple guest chairs and it’ll be finished.

To the Dome

Cheering on the Regals

We spent Saturday at the UNI-Dome watching Iowa City Regina win the 2A state championship game against North Polk. Had to break out all our gold and navy for team spirit! It was a fun day with family and a memorable end to my cousin Joe’s senior football season. I only wish we could have driven a few miles farther to Waverly for a trip down memory lane. Wartburg, where Jord went to college and played football, had a home game but it was at the same time as the Regina final. I didn’t care to go to the game as much as The Diner for a cheese frenchy. Yum! I also regret that I couldn’t meet the girls in Williamsburg on Sunday for a day of shopping, but there’s too much to do at home before the onslaught of visitors next week. And I would have loved to go to Chicago for Sarah’s housewarming party – I’m dying to see her decorating. Too much to do for one weekend!

Office dresser is done!

The rest of the weekend was spent working on our list. I have a slew of things that I want done before Thanksgiving. Between my parents, Jord and I, a lot was crossed off in just a few short hours. The last two storm windows are painted and in place, the gutters and down spouts are cleaned out, most of the Christmas lights are up, the replaced garage shingles are painted, the office dresser is done and looks amazing, more pictures have been hung, the living room furniture has been re-arranged – you get the idea. As my grandpa used to say, we hit a good lick!

1st on the block to hang Christmas lights

Fireplace

Carpenter recruited his son to come over to help finish the fireplace. Way back in September we had the masonry guy chop off this awkward little shelf that was floating on the fireplace façade. He sawed it off and basically left it raw. Then the painters added this white shellac to cover it, doing a poor job, per usual. So Carpenter’s son had to chisel it away and start over. He added two new bricks in its place. We will be adding a coat of paint to the fireplace so everything is the same glossy white, but it already blends in so you can’t even tell what was there! Now, this is the exciting part – he replaced the floor tile for the fireplace. We swapped out red tile with marble. The wood floors were raw around the fireplace (I had told the installer that we would be replacing the tile) so it’s been driving me crazy to look at the unfinished product. I would have loved to substitute the whole thing with this old marble fireplace my dad has, but that was too big of a project for right now. I’m happy with the results!

Fireplace is almost complete - just needs a fresh coat of paint

Carpenter has been busy at our house this week. Jord gave him a list of things to accomplish before Thanksgiving to try and get things moving a little quicker. On Monday he replaced the garage people door. It wasn’t “true” so he had to essentially re-frame the whole thing. A big project! He also fixed the dining room light, finished the inserts for the kitchen (surrounding the dishwasher and microwave) and installed the last of the baseboard and quarter rounds. The crown molding is now complete in the kitchen too! This all means more painting – the shingles that were replaced on the garage, the fireplace and the kitchen molding. Jord also started priming two more storm windows – after getting a quote to replace those five windows, we decided to wait on that expensive project. It’s never ending…

Community Involvement

Tonight I attended my first Junior League meeting. I never felt a connection to Oak Park, so I wasn’t motivated to get involved. Now that we’re in Davenport for the long haul, I want to have a positive impact, no matter how small. Junior League feels like it will be a good start to meeting people and becoming an active member of the community. I have also joined the St. Patrick Society, although I haven’t made it to any meetings yet. I’m in the process of starting a Junior Circle, not to be confused with Junior League, for the area to stay connected with Alpha Gams who live close-by. In the meantime, we’re trying to think of a way for Jord to get involved, but the only thing that’s sparked his interest thus far is an indoor soccer league. That’s a good way to meet people too, I guess.

Junior League is a volunteer organization for women. They only accept new members in the fall, so I just made the deadline. I’ll be a provisional member until spring and will have to earn so many points, through attending functions and volunteer opportunities, to become an active member. I saw some familiar faces tonight and met a lot of new women as well. I think this group will be a good balance between volunteering and socializing.

Workin' for the Weekend

Before: Dresser I found in my parents' garage
Plan to paint it black and add new knobs to go in office

We didn’t have too much on the agenda this weekend, so we were able to focus on some projects. Saturday morning, I dragged Jord to John Deere Seeding Group Family Day. He saw my cube and the factory, met a couple people and we were out of there in 45 minutes. Then we picked up the mirror that was being repaired for the dresser I’m going to refinish. Now that I have all the supplies, I really need to start painting that thing. Jord, my mom and I spent a couple hours at Carpenter’s house – the intent was to meet his wife and discuss the curtains that I’d like her to make for the living room, dining room, kitchen and office. After introductions and a tour of their home, we didn’t broach the subject until it was time to leave so we didn’t get into specifics. After further discussion, my mom and I think it may be more cost effective to just buy some curtains I have found online for the living and dining rooms. Once you add the cost of fabric (not to mention trying to find the right fabric) and the price she’ll charge, it might not make sense to go custom. Plus she’s a busy lady and I’m not sure how long it will take. We needed curtains weeks ago, not only for privacy but to protect the floors. I have something very specific in mind for each room and, since I haven’t found anything, it’s just been easier to move it to the bottom of the list and focus on other things.

So we got home and were ready to hang pictures – the goal of the day. We didn’t have a lot to work with, so it’s all spread around the house. We’ll just add as we find things. We started in the hallway of all places, and after about five hours, we finished up with the office. It was a team effort! Although Jord isn’t exactly thrilled with the placement of everything, it certainly makes the house feel more homey.

 

Collage of pictures in the office

On Sunday, I started my housework at 7:30am. I work better in the morning, so it’s best if I just get up and at it. I began with scraping, which became the theme of the day. Jord had painted some storm windows and my task was to scrape the excess and dried paint from the window panes before he switched them out with the screens. Once that was done, I cleaned out this little cubby in the basement and filled it with excess candles, vases and decorations. Now everything is within arm’s reach! At that point it was about 11:00 and I decided to join Jord outside to get some things accomplished in the yard. I didn’t quite make it to yard work – instead, I scraped the exteriors of all the windows, a project that I’d think the painters would have done. I found that some of the windows are so old that they’re falling apart. The house has a mixture of old and new windows, so we may be replacing five windows – one in each bathroom, one in the dining room, and the two that line the sides of the large picture window that we already ordered. We would have ordered them all at once had we known that they were in such poor condition. If they’re installed before the end of the year we’ll qualify for a tax credit.

Basement cubby for excess decor items

At about 3:00pm we cleaned up and ran some errands – dropped a load of cardboard at the recycling center, delivered some items to Goodwill, hit up Target, stopped at Sears for Friends & Family – then had a lovely dinner at Jord’s mom’s house. A nice end to the weekend and start of another work week!

House Fatigue

I think I’m suffering from a case of house fatigue. There is still so much to do before we’ll feel settled, but I’m just exhausted! Maybe it’s because I’m always playing catch-up. I overextend myself with other responsibilities, then the house chores just don’t make the cut. I’m trying to combat this – I keep one list going of all the big projects that need to be completed, and formulate daily lists to make it more manageable. I guess we’ll continue to get things done little by little.  


New living room sofa - will be reupholstered eventually, but for now we'll rock the gold look

Several things have been accomplished this week. The dining room light was installed, although I think it’s too high. I’m going to try to get used to it, but something just doesn’t seem right – it should be at least six inches lower. It’s our own fault since we didn’t give precise instructions. The living room couch was delivered, the backordered carpet tiles for the office arrived, 15 glass door knobs were ordered (although they won’t ship until November 19th) and my new iPhone is here and works like a gem.

To end on a bright note, the randomly selected winner of $20 towards csn.com is Andrea. The code will be sent to your email address by CSN representative Caitlin. Thanks to my three lovely contestants! Cheers!

Freebie

I’ve been presented with the opportunity to have a giveaway for my readers. The website csn.com contacted me about this and I thought why not! Everyone loves a freebie! CSN is comprised of over 200 online stores, selling everything from cookware to children’s backpacks. All I ask is that you leave a comment to this post by 5:00pm Central on Thursday, November 11th to enter the drawing for $20 towards any purchase from csn.com. I’ll let you know the winner by Friday of this week. Now, in all honesty, I’ve never shopped on this website. I checked the site to make sure it’s legit, but we’re on the decline from shopping for home necessities. I’ve been trying to curb my spending habits!

Last night, my dad and I dropped off two chairs and fabric at the upholsterer. They should take a couple weeks, so I’m hoping to have them back before Thanksgiving. I did a bit of touch-up painting in the office, but that’s about all we accomplished except for calling iPhone. I know people love their iPhone, and I’m so happy with most of its capabilities, but one important function doesn’t work: the phone. The frustrating part is that Jord’s works and mine doesn’t. We went to AT&T last week but they couldn’t do anything as it’s been more than 30 days since we purchased the phones, so we called iPhone and they sent me a new case that’s supposed to improve reception. The case arrived on Friday and I gave it a few days, but I’m still at one bar with lots of dropped calls. So they are now sending me a replacement. Hopefully I won’t get another lemon!

I’ve added more photos for your perusal. There are two albums – I’ve added to “Back in Iowa” and I’ve created “Fall 2010”.

Eventful Weekend

Luke's 4th Birthday Gift:
Green Train from Granny & Baca

This weekend was hectic! I worked a double event – a reception for fifty people on Friday night at Johnny’s Steakhouse and an open house on Sunday afternoon for the same couple. I have helped this family in the past for the eldest daughter’s wedding reception, so I think it’s a good sign that they hired me again. They will definitely be a good reference in the future!

In addition, it was Luke’s birthday extravaganza, so Sarah was in town. We started Saturday by volunteering at the Holy Family Parish Bazaar. Mom, Sarah and I decorated Christmas ornaments for two hours. With our good deed out of the way, we headed over to our house for Sarah to check out all of the updates. She approves! That afternoon, we went to an antique store in the East Village and I found a couch for the living room.  We got a good deal, and although it will need to be reupholstered at some point, I think it's a chic starting point for the space. It will be picked up this week by Carpenter. We also stopped at an auction in Rock Island in hopes of finding a church pew for the front entry. We’ve always had a church pew or two at my parent’s house and I thought it appropriate to get one for our house. The pews at the auction were about five feet too long, so we'll have to keep looking.

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast pizza at my parents’ house to celebrate Luke’s 4th. We have all been anxiously awaiting this day to watch him receive his gift – a Luke-sized train that my dad found at an auction, then painted the perfect shade of green by Sarah. The painting took place in our Oak Park apartment and has been hiding in our basement since the move, so it’s been about seven weeks in the making. My mom has been prepping the room for the last few weeks with other train paraphernalia, and Luke has excitedly noticed each addition to the room. His reaction when he saw the train wasn't what I thought it would be, but I think he was in shock. Sarah let Jord and I go in on her gift to him – a Radio Flyer deluxe wagon. It has all the bells and whistles, so Luke will be riding in style.

Rugs

Master Bedroom

The two rugs we ordered from Overstock.com came in on Monday. I stopped home quickly before heading to Iowa City for the Regina playoff game, so I schlepped them inside and tore off a corner of the packaging to get a glimpse. I liked what I saw, but didn’t get a good look until we opened them on Tuesday night. Exactly perfect, if I do say so myself! The one for the master bedroom is 8x10 with a brown and tan geometric pattern. It’s not as soft as Jord would like, but it’ll do. This delivery inspired us to finally move around the furniture, so our bed, dresser and nightstand are now in place. The room is so big that it looks pretty sparse, but I’m sure we’ll fill it up over time. Now we just need to figure out what to hang on the walls! Jord suggested life-size portraits of the two of us, but I think I’ll pass.

The rug for the living room is 6x9 with a beige and blue pattern. We couldn’t decide what size to order, but I didn’t want it too big so this seemed like a good middle-ground. I’m really happy with the design – I stepped outside my typical stripes for a change. Once we have some furnishing for the living room, I think this rug will be ideal for the seating arrangement I have in mind. This space is the farthest from done of all the rooms on the main floor – maybe because it’s the biggest area or maybe because all of our furniture from the apartment fits in the den – but I have a picture in my head that I’m striving for.

To go off subject, we hung up some curtains in the den last night. I ordered the finials from Anthropologie about a month ago, and found the curtains at Urban Outfitters within the same week – another pattern that’s outside my comfort zone. We had some trouble at our first attempt at putting them up, and they’ve been sitting there tormenting me for two weeks. I’m really happy with them; however, I might need to have a liner added as they aren’t very substantial.

Now we need to get serious – there’s a lot to do before Sarah arrives in town tomorrow night. This will be our debut since all the changes have been done! We’re far from finished, but I think she’ll be impressed with the progress thus far.

Lighting

My rejuvenated office light
fixture found at Habitat Restore

The light fixtures were installed over the last few days for the office, sun porch and exterior. This is what I’ve been waiting for – it really makes a difference to have good lighting, in my opinion. The office light is one that I found at Habitat Restore that just needed some white paint. I hadn’t even noticed the inside gold detail of the black shades before it was hung! It really adds some glamour to paying bills and blogging.

The sun porch light was in Sarah’s room at my parents’ house, but since she moved and the room was converted into Luke’s train room, the Tiffany blue chandelier didn’t exactly match the décor. So I found a more masculine fixture for his room and inherited the other light. Although it’s been installed, it isn’t functioning yet as there is some trouble with the wiring to the sun porch. It looks fabulous though!

The exterior lighting was a bit complicated. I found some inexpensive sconces to place at each door. I modeled it after a photo from an old issue of Blueprint that I’ve always admired, but not everyone was in favor of the fixtures. Now that they’ve been installed, I’m glad I stuck to my guns because it’s just what I’d imagined. The light pole in the front yard was replaced while I was out of town on Saturday. Apparently they had to rent a jackhammer to remove the old light, so it ended up being more of a project than anticipated. Unfortunately the instructions for the new pole required sinking it five feet into cement, so it’s not as tall and grand as I had imagined. It’s definitely an improvement to the rickety one that we replaced! Our street is really dark – like, scary dark – at night, so it improves visibility.

The dining room light will be installed next week sometime. I’m still in search of fixtures for the den, kitchen and living room. I’ve found plenty of options but haven’t been in a hurry to purchase. I guess I want to hold out in case something unique comes along. Plus, as Jord says, I have “champagne taste on an imported bottle beer budget”.