House tour -- bathroom

So after my last post on bathrooms, I decided I should come clean and show you my bathroom, which does indeed have a wood vanity (but not a wood toilet seat!).

I don't think the dark wood vanity overwhelms the room.  I tried to use a lot of bright things throughout the rest of the space (a large mirror to reflect the window opposite), nickel faucets and such, white towels, and a creamy marble countertop.

 

I made the roman shade over the window out of a thick brown linen and trimmed it out with some cream grosgrain ribbon.  I am a big fan of that window; it makes the smallish room seem a lot bigger, and I just like having natural light in a bathroom.

So there's my confession in photos: as much as I love all-white bathrooms, mine is anything but!  :)

Bathroom design -- "wood" you...?

When we moved into our first house, the one thing that didn't even make it through one night was an old oak toilet seat in our master bathroom.  We closed on the house and headed to Home Depot to buy a replacement (new, white!) seat.  Since then I've been kind of ambivalent about wood seats.  If they're stained a pretty color to match a vanity, they sometimes look nice.  But if they're grungy and nasty with old brass hardware, not so nice!

But this post is not about toilet seats as that would be gross.  It's about the use of wood in general in bathrooms.  I often gravitate toward all or mostly white bathrooms; I think they just feel classic and clean, which is what I like.  But these images show that when used correctly, wood can look great in a bathroom too!

Phoebe Howard

Country Homes and Interiors

Lazaro Rosa-Violan

Tommy Smythe

Walter Lees via Peak of Chic

Whether it's a mahogany vanity, a simple chair to hold towels, a framed mirror, or a whole wall of panelling, the wood breaks up all the white in the bathroom and brings in some warmth and a natural texture.  Maybe I should have kept that toilet seat after all...um, no.

Want to see more pretty pictures?  Phoebe Howard's Mrs. Howard, Personal Shopper blog posted a great collection of bathrooms they've designed using wood vanities (check it out here).

To do this weekend

Hope you're all having a nice ending to your week.  Here in Iowa, the weather is beautiful, and despite the fact that I am a little swamped with work right now, I'm hoping to take advantage of a few fun events this weekend:

Image from Raccoon Forks Trading Co. website

Today, Raccoon Forks Trading Company is clearing out their warehouse in the East Village (511 E. 6th St.).  They will be having a sale from noon till 4:00 p.m. on Friday.  Look for consigned items like antique furniture, vintage accessories, etc.  And don't forget to check out their regular store on Ingersoll Avenue here.

And this weekend (Friday - Sunday) is the Des Moines Art Festival.  I am ashamed to say that I've actually never been before, so this year I'm really going to make an effort to get downtown for this event.  With more than 200 artists coming in from Iowa and around the country, I hope to find a new piece or two for our home.  For more information, including where to park and a list of the artists and events, visit their website here.

And on the home front, I'm planning on finishing my little rehab of this mirror I found in an antique store recently.  Mostly, I need to dig out our stud finder and hope that there is a good place to hang this heavy piece in our foyer!  I have a few more changes I want to make to our entryway, then I'll post some before and after photos.

What about you?  Doing anything fun this weekend?

IKEA MICKE desk

We are in the process of slowly making over a small bedroom to function as a home office (see the tentative plan here).  The latest thing we did was to put in an actual desk instead of the kitchen table we'd been using for about four years!  I actually really liked the table as it was roomy enough for two laptops and a bunch of books, but it didn't have any storage or drawers and was really too big for the small room (especially once we moved a full-size couch in!).

Here's what my desk looked like a few weeks ago.  I was working (well, kind of...notice the IKEA website up on the laptop?) and realized how surrounded I was by electronic devices.  All those electronics mean cords and cables, which kind of drive me crazy.  So when we were up in Minneapolis recently, we stopped by the Twin Cities IKEA store and picked up the MICKE desk in white.  IKEA has a couple new variations on the MICKE, including some with deeper drawers, a small one-person desk, and a corner workstation.  Prices are really affordable, $150 and below, which means we certainly didn't pay for an assembled product!

The IKEA man from the directions and and my husband were not on speaking terms for a few hours.  But once put together, the desk has been really sturdy, and I am happy with the dimensions, especially the depth since the desk doesn't stick out very far from the wall.  The best part, however, is the built-in (and hidden!) tray along the back for storing all those USB cables and power cords.  There is a hole in the top right corner of the desktop so all the cords can be dropped down into that tray.

I think I might like to eventually add a piece of glass to the surface, but for now we are pretty happy with this desk!  Now on to the next project: a desk chair!

Living room design

If you like the feel of the living areas I featured in the last post, here's a little room design for bringing the same look into your own home.  While the drawing rooms I posted about last time are beautiful, they are also situated in 100- to 300-year-old houses, so I've tried to update the concept to still be appropriate for those of us who live in newer construction homes and apartments.

My starting point for this plan was the ivory/gold antique rug.  It's pretty big (8' x 12'), so it would be the dominant pattern in the room.  I pulled most of the other room colors from the rug, including a soft green and some darker purples and reds.  The sofa is slipcovered in a brown and cream outdoor fabric, which adds to the informal look and makes it practical for everyday use.  The sofa table is an antique, but the lamps are new.  I would hang two or three Moorish lanterns along the length of the room rather than having one central ceiling fixture.  I added a couple green ceramic pieces to balance out all the brown and ivory tones.  The Farrow & Ball paint color ("Setting Plaster") provides a soft, pretty color for the backdrop and has a more historical feel to it.

Sources

Antique rug - eBay

Antique mahogany sofa table - eBay

Hollis sofa and slipcover in "Canopy Stripe Brown and Sand" - Ballard Designs

"Camille" celadon table lamp - Ralph Lauren by Circa Lighting

Morris hanging lanterns - Circa Lighting

Wall color - "Setting Plaster" by Farrow & Ball

"Marissa" ceramic footed bowl - Pottery Barn

Collection of 19 Rudyard Kipling works - eBay

Irish houses + striped upholstery

I was looking through a copy of Romantic Irish Homes and noticed a similar look in a few of the houses photographed for the book: a combination of old wood floors, faded rugs, and striped sofas.  Here, a few variations on that basic formula:

 Horizontal stripes on a sofa just barely visible through an enfilade leading into the dining room (by the way, isn't this old wallpaper stunning?)

 Thicker stripes on a sofa in a drawing room.  Wouldn't that table in the foreground be great for playing games, eating breakfast, or writing?

 Another view of the same room -- I think all the colors here work really well together and I love that navy and white sofa!

A light blue and cream striped sofa on top of another faded rug, which works well with the soft pink wall color

Other basic components of this look: lots of books, antique tables and side chairs, china or ceramic collections, white woodwork, and use of color on the walls (I was surprised to see that there were almost no houses in the book with white walls!).  What do you think?  Do you like this look too? I think the stripes really help tone down some of the formality of the rooms and make them seem more livable.  Or maybe I just really like stripes!

All images scanned from Romantic Irish Homes by Robert O'Byrne; photography by Simon Brown

Local alert: Changing Places consignment sale

For any local readers, you may want to stop by the Changing Places consignment store on 100th Street in Urbandale.  They are having their third year anniversary tent sale.  I ran in today and they have a nice assortment of furniture (sectionals, contemporary and traditional pieces, several dining sets), as well as lots of art (some prints, some original) and accessories.

Here are a few things that caught my eye:

 An old nightstand for $30 - this could easily be sanded down and repainted

 With the right lampshades, these white ceramic lamps could be really nice ($25 each)

A pretty wall mirror

 A vintage Barcelona chair (not sure if this is "authentic" or not), for about $500.  I love the butterscotch-colored leather on this chair!

 This fun printed chair was reasonably priced - around $80

A very cool Henredon table with inlaid top, curved sides, and tulip-shaped handles (and a cool price to match; this guy is over $1,000)

A pair of short barstools in great shape (about $50-60 for the pair)

Everything is an extra 10% off today through Sunday.  Hope you can find something fun!

Royal Worcester 'Black Dragon' china

I recently picked up this amazing piece of china in excellent condition  It features an all-over pattern of swirls and a large dragon figure in the middle of the plate.

Gold trim along the edges and in the pattern itself

A signature of some kind (?) on the bottom of the plate (there is also a number for anybody out there who really knows china...not me!)

One big dragon and one little dragon, or is it a snake?

The maker is Royal Worcester 

Both my son and my husband thought this plate was really cool.  This is the most excited they've ever been about a piece of china.  Royal Worcester also made this in a blue pattern, but I think the black is more exciting and modern looking.

Having said that, however, I would love to buy this set of six teacups and saucers (in the blue version of the pattern):

(On eBay right now for 43 pounds plus shipping; seller is in the U.K.  I really really like this!!)

I haven't been able to find many other pieces of the black china online since this pattern has been discontinued, but if anyone knows more about the pattern or has seen other parts of a set, let me know!  Then again, I probably couldn't afford a whole set!  But wouldn't a whole table set with this pattern look amazing?!

Front yard plans

For Mother's Day, my present was that I could do whatever landscaping I wanted in the front yard.  To me, this is a very good present, especially since it requires my husband to do more than pull out a credit card and buy a bouquet of roses.  I am thinking of a fence and climbing flowers and such.  I hope that's not more than what he bargained for!  Here are a few inspiring images:

Do you see the common elements?  White picket fences, stepping stones, shady plants like hydrangeas and ferns and hostas, some climbing roses, lines of boxwoods, an arbor...

All this might be a bit much.  We don't have a huge front yard, so I'll have to tone it down a little.  But I'm looking forward to getting our house looking a little more presentable.  I'll be sure to post pictures later!

How to dye a lampshade

 

A while back I found a pair of these ceramic figurine lamps, likely made in Japan during the 1950s.  They have brass bases and depict a man carrying flowers and a watering can and a woman holding a basket of flowers.  I thought they were fun and liked the bright colors of the figures' clothing.  However, I was not really into the color of the lampshades.  They were in okay condition but looked a little dingy, so I decided to experiment with dyeing them.

Here are the two lamps and shades before I cleaned them up. 

I started by vacuuming the shades and the figures; then I got out a damp cloth and gently wiped the dust and dirt off the lamp.

For dye, I mixed together two Dylon colors: amazon green and ocean blue.  There was no big reason why these were chosen.  My son and I went to the fabric store and he chose one color and I chose another.  He was set on blue lampshades and I wanted green, so we compromised, bought one packet of each, and mixed them together.

Supplies you will need for dyeing fabric:

A bowl, bucket, or stainless steel sink

Salt

Packages of dye (look at package to see how many you will need)

Warm water

Spoon for stirring

Rubber gloves

Measuring cups and spoons

A place to let the fabric drip dry (and a dye-proof surface underneath to catch any drips)

Timer

 First we mixed together the two colors of dye, being careful to use an equal amount of each.

Then I followed the directions on the dye packet and washed the lampshades and left them to dry a little bit in the sink.

In the meantime I mixed together the dye with the recommended amount of warm water in a large stainless steel bowl.

I then added the salt (it's a good idea to measure it out ahead of time) and more warm water to the needed depth.  Keep mixing until all the grit of the salt and dye is gone.

I added the first lampshade to the dye.  It didn't cover the shade completely, so I rotated it periodically.  Set a timer and be prepared to stand there and stir for a while.

 After the dyeing time was up, I washed out the remaining dye and repeated the whole process with the second lampshade.

Here they are drying in the kitchen sink.  The colors obviously look more muted than the packets of dye would lead you to expect.  This is partly due to the lampshade fabric (the dye takes better on natural fabrics) and to the amount of water I used to dilute the dye to help cover the lampshades.

Let the fabric dry for a while (it look mine a good day to completely dry out).  The color did even out more as it dried, although there are still a few places where the dye is uneven (which I expected since this is old fabric and probably synthetic of some kind). 

So here is the finished product:

BEFORE

 AFTER

What do you think?  I think they look much better, and I'm pretty happy with the shades.  I may eventually replace them, but I like the shade and size, and the blue-grey color goes well in my house.