Let There Be Light

Industrial Chandelier 

$249 from West Elm

Today I bring you the results of my exhaustive online search for a new dining room pendant light/chandelier. The one that came with the house looks OK, but needs to be replaced as the constant high-pitched buzz ringing out just inches above our heads is quickly driving my husband insane. We've decided to have a yard sale this weekend to 1) get rid of junk like old sprinklers and bird feeders that the former tenants left behind, 2) say goodbye to things that we have moved multiple times (sorry, Micky!) that just don't belong in our lives anymore, and 3) make a couple of bucks that we can put towards buying a new light and paying an electrician to install it. It will be my very first yard sale as an adult, and I am very much looking forward to bargaining with all of the early birds. I have real TAGS that I intend to tie to everything emblazoned with reasonable sale prices and I've been thinking a lot about our display strategy --- tables with objects arranged at arm's reach work way better than tarps stretched across a soggy lawn piled with things that no one wants to bend down and dig through. Yes. I've given this system many thoughts. Hopefully it won't rain and we'll pass all of our old things to new homes and make millions doing so. 

Oh! And I think the above Industrial Chandelier from West Elm might be the winner. Which one do you guys like the most?

Mobile Chandelier 

$249 from West Elm

Large Industrial Milk Glass Pendant 

$124.99 (on sale!) from West Elm

Vega 5 Chandelier 

$329 from Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Victory Pendant Lamp

$179 from CB2

Satellite 3

$259 from Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. 

Hampton Bay 1-Light Brushed Nickel Warehouse Pendant

$29.88 from Home Depot

Mobile Small Pendant 

$149 from West Elm

- Cathleen 

Heads Up!

We are thinking of cobbling together a headboard for our bed. I attempted this a few years ago, as a first anniversary gift to Micky, to lackluster results (above). Well, he said HE liked it. Basically I bought a square of unfinished wooden lattice from Home Depot that I had them cut down to size. Then I painstakingly sanded and painted every crevice of the thing a high gloss white. It was nice to look at, but very wobbly and a little bit short for the bed. And all of those crevices collected dust like WHAT.

Our new bedroom doesn't have a ton of options for furniture layout, so the head of the bed is unfortunately pressed slightly off center up against a window. I thought hanging curtains wide over the window to frame the bed would work, but come morning time, our pillows and nighttime tossing have pushed them up and pulled them taut. So really, a headboard of some sort is in order. 

But they are surprisingly expensive---even just the headboard, without the side- and footboard action. And since it's going to be in front of a window, we'd like it to be high enough to provide some bedtime reading support, but not so high that it blocks all of the natural light. So I've been looking for a DIY option online and I may have found a few decent contenders. What do you guys think? 

I like the look of these wide boards, but she's got it mounted to the wall. I'd rather attach it directly to bed frame for more stability.  

(DIY $25 Rustic Headboard via www.radicalpossibility.com)

This one screws into the bed frame, but isn't quite aesthetically what I'm looking for. Also, too tall.

(DIY Headboard for Under $40 via www.echoesoflaughter.ca)

This is one that I'd LOVE to have---no more Graham grabbing my glasses and swiping books off the nightside table! But it seems a bit too complicated for a novice woodworker. Plus, I can't find the original source. (So this one will have to do for now.)

I'll update you guys when we decide!  

- Cathleen 

On the Move!

We're moving today! So I don't have much to report besides that. 

I really wish the Etsy seller Anamarko was still making and selling these awesome custom hand-painted miniature wooden houses. It would have been the perfect house-warming present for me to give Micky (and myself?) today. 

Now I guess he'll just have to settle for backaches and strained muscles. The gifts that keep on giving!

See you next week, friends! 

- Cathleen 

Art from Anek

Blueberry

8.3 x 11.7" giclee reproduction print of original illustration 

$30 via anek on Etsy

It is now one week until we move into OUR NEW HOME and I am so excited I can barely stand it. We're in the thick of it, organizing and packing all of our belongings into brown cardboard boxes. I can't stop my mind from wandering into our future backyard, plotting where we'll plant the blueberry bushes we were already gifted (thanks, mom!). But mostly I am thrilled by the prospect of never having to move AGAIN. I know, I know --- nothing is forever. Who knows what might happen years down the line! But after relocating a fuzzily estimated 15 times in my life, I am SO ready to plant some permanent roots and put as many holes in my walls as I want, security deposits be damned!

Speaking of blueberries and hammering holes in the name of art, I love almost every single print in Anek's Etsy shop, but especially Ana Zaja Petrak's food illustrations. Any of these would make a great Mother's Day (or housewarming) gift if you are in the market.

Spaghetti

11 x 15" giclee reproduction print of original illustration

$45 via anek on Etsy

Radicchio

11 x 15" giclee reproduction print of original illustration

$45 via anek on Etsy

Botanical Chart Herbs Poster

20 x 27" giclee reproduction print of original illustration

$85 via anek on Etsy

Plums

11 x 15" giclee reproduction print of original illustration

$45 via anek on Etsy 

- Cathleen

Artwork of the Week: Sink and Mirror

Sink and Mirror by Antonio López Garcia

oil on wood, 38.5 x 33 in, 1967

It's official. We are moving into our new home at the end of the month! So I have to apologize but I've pretty much only got house stuff on the brain right now. Last night I went down a Pinterest rabbit hole searching for a solution to the Great Frosted Sliding Shower Door debate. Micky thinks it's fine---and really, it is. We probably won't update it for a while since there are far more pressing matters like roofs and HVACs to fix. But I keep thinking about all of the gross gunk that inevitably gets trapped in the door track. And that gives me the skeeves. 

This oil painting by Spanish artist Antonio López Garcia turns the grime and the mundanity of his private space into a poignant self-portrait. I like the hexagonal white floor tile too. 

- Cathleen

[Image via arttattler.com by way of Museum of Fine Arts Boston]

Come and Knock on Our Door

So we're officially under contract for a house (EEEEE!) and even though things might fall through at the last minute---you never know what the inspector might uncover, so keep those fingers crossed!---I cannot stop myself from fantasizing about all of the decorating that's in store. This is the moment my Domino collection has been waiting for!

First stop will be the front door! Right now it's a very stately black to match the shutters, but I'm thinking a pop of bright color will be just the thing to welcome us home. I've been collecting inspiration on my Home Pinterest board for awhile now, so I thought I'd share some ideas with you guys today since it's pretty much all I can think about. 

- Cathleen

[Image sources 1: free-home-decorating-ideas.com ; 2: flickr.com ; 3: shemakesahome.com ; 

4: houseofturquoise.com ; 5: hitherandthither.net]

Done: Window Shelves

We did it! All of my window shelving dreams have come true!

I don't think it warrants sharing detailed DIY instructions---we just went to Home Depot, picked out the right size tracks and corresponding shelves, brackets, and screw kit, then installed everything with a power drill---but I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. 

I convinced Micky that the window shelves could be our Valentine's Day gift to each other, but I'm the one who really wanted them. And he very kindly let me loose in the plant department to pick out some greenery. Including this bad boy: a Venus Flytrap!!! I have ALWAYS wanted one of these! 

Now to just keep them all alive. 

- Cathleen