Wine Country Love Affair – A Visit to Hillebrand Winery

Posted on July 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

I’m no oenophile, but I am a huge fan of wine country architecture and style. The other night, we took my in-laws to Hillebrand Winery in Niagara -on-the-Lake to celebrate my father-in-law’s upcoming 70th birthday. It was a lovely evening all around.

The Hillebrand grounds have exactly what I love about wine country style – a perfect blend of old and new, a perfect balance of natural and refined.

I got a lot of ideas to use for improving our yard, when the time comes.

I absolutely love this raised patio dining area. The stone steps and facing are rustic and beautiful. The wrought iron railing would be a huge improvement over our chainlink!

Beautiful raised patio at Hillebrand Winery

I don’t want to completely cover our patio, since it’s often foggy where we live, and we love every little bit of sun we can get, but an open pergola would look great, and I love the look of the grape vines growing up the posts. It would be a bonus if we actually get some grapes!

Grape vines on a covered walkway at Hillebrand Winery

I also got inspired by some practical tricks for great-looking pathways without a huge price tag.

Below are a surface used for walkway and patio made from stamped concrete that looks like flagstone and also a path of packed dirt and gravel with a simple grey brick border. Both look great without using expensive materials.

concrete stamped to look like flagstone

Simple walkway of gravel with grey brick border

Inside the restaurant, I was taken by these big interior windows and wondering how I might incorporate something like that when we redo our kitchen. It could be a good way to connect go the living room.

Interior windows are so charming and carry natural light through a space.

The food was delicious, and the setting was perfect. We slipped out to the garden with the kids multiple times between courses to run around in the grass, keeping everyone happy.

Playing at the Winery

Here’s a wonderful dilemma to have: besides the gorgeous wine country gardens, I also love a gardens with an Asian theme – the stone lanterns, bridges, Japanese maples, and bamboo. I’ll have to figure out how to blend these into the perfect outdoor space soon!

Here are some pictures from the garden at my dad’s house. It was planted about 15 years ago now, and it has grown in beautifully!

Lush garden with stone lanterns and Japanese maples

Beautiful layers of green form the perfect backdrop for this garden with stone lanterns, paver stepping stones, and Japanese maples.

Cheers!

“Jewels”

“Eco-chic” – The Evolution of Pants

Posted on July 2, 2012 by jewelsathome

When you think of decorating and crafts blogs, you usually think of cute DIY projects like painting and reupholstering Queen Anne chairs or adding fabric borders to towels. But sometimes, even the most ardent DIYer has to do something more mundane, like fix the bottom of a sagging drawer or, in this case, patch boys’ pants.

Although I occasionally question whether it’s worth the time and energy, I like to patch my boys’ pants with torn knees, rather than donate or trash them. If you have little boys – and we have three – you will know that those knees can wear through while the rest of the pants are still in perfect condition. And with three brothers, I know that each pair could get a lot of use, if I just patch up those knees.

This is a job I always save up until I have a pile, so it’s rather impressive-looking when done. One time, I took a picture of a pile of patched pants and posted it on Facebook. One of my friends commented that the result was “eco-chic,” and it inspired me to keep going. I started out using plain iron-on patches, but there are many with great patterns, too, like these camouflage patches or these bandana-patterned patches. I’m also planning on making some myself with fun heavy-duty fabrics and some iron-on adhesive like Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold.

Patch your kids’ pants with fun fabrics for an eco-friendly fashion statement.

How to patch pants

This is not at all complicated to do, but it does take a little patience. Although the instructions say that you can just iron on the patches, ours did not hold up that way, so I sew around the border.

Cut the patch about an inch larger than your hole.

Iron it over the hole according to the instructions.

Here’s the sewing part – gather the bottom of the pant leg until you reach the patch. Slip the patched area under the sewing machine foot. Sew a zig-zag stitch with short stitch length around the edge of the patch.

It takes some practice, but I’ve got the hang of it now. I have trouble with anything smaller than 3T or with skinny pants, as it’s too hard to gather up the leg and sew just the patch without catching other parts of the fabric.

How to patch kids' pants. From Jewels at Home.

To sew around the patch, start by gathering up the pant leg.

After gathering up the pant leg, pull the gathers to one side, so the patched area is exposed, without any other parts of the pants under it, and slip it under the foot of your sewing machine.

From pants to shorts

The final step in the evolution of our boys’ pants happens when the knees are ripped all the way across or there are just too many patches on a knee. Then, I just cut the pants across at the knee, fold up a hem, and sew them to make shorts!

Turn worn-out pants into short for an eco-friendly solution for kids.

Got Girls?

As usual when it comes to clothing, it seems like the options for girls are even greater and better. Think heart-shaped patches, stars, ruffles, and more. Here’s an example from SFEnvironment, where there are many more great ideas for kids and adults.

Fun patched pants from SF Environment.

A funny aside – I noticed that it is almost always the left knee that gets worn out before the right on my boys’ pants. I think it has to do with being right-side dominant and dragging your left knee when you get up from the ground, but it is still rather remarkable!

Patch your kids' pants in fun fabrics for a "green" fashion statement. By Jewels at Home.

Making a “green” fashion statement.

Hope to get back to something more glamorous soon!

“Jewels”

Updating Old Boiled Wool Jackets

Posted on June 30, 2012 by jewelsathome

I will freely admit that we have done a terrible job clearing out any of my mom’s things since she passed away over 14 years ago. It’s all just sitting in closets and boxes all over the place. Some of this is certainly sentimental, and some of it is logistical – my sister and I lived on the west coast for many years and were seldom back home to go through things. Now, we both have kids running around, and there is rarely a spare moment to sort through the piles. Since my dad sold his house, the piles have just gotten more intense and scattered, so we did do our best to make a little dent in everything this past week.

One of the finds were several boiled wool jackets. I remember my mom wearing these often, and I love boiled wool myself. Unfortunately, the jackets we found are all oversized and boxy – not at all current-looking. I am brainstorming how I might be able to alter these to make them wearable again. I’m not sure how to do it, so ideas are welcome! Here’s what I am starting with:

These classic Geiger jackets are great, but they are all oversized and boxy.

Classic Geiger boiled wool jackets

And here are some the more contemporary boiled-wool jackets that are my inspiration. It would be so great to have something that is both fashionable and makes me feel like I’m wrapped up in a little piece of my mom.

teal ruffle collar jacket

red wrap jacket from As We Change.

Go to As We Change

Boden Boiled Wool Coat

red boiled wool jacket from North Style. I think the seaming in front and gathers in back could help bring in the boxy style of my mom’s old jackets.

Go to North Style

oatmeal boiled wool jacket from Plush Pony

Go to Plush Pony

I’m wondering if I can get away with just adding some darts and seams to these jackets? I think more likely I have to pretty much take each jacket apart and use a new jacket pattern to cut pieces and re-sew. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

“Jewels”

Update: Here’s the post on altering the big navy coat, complete with step-by-step tutorial!

Helping Kids Write Great Cards

Posted on June 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

A brief and belated post from Father’s Day. I wanted to share the cards the kids and I made for hubby. This is not an original idea for cards, but I really enjoyed trying it with the boys and look forward to using it for other holidays and birthdays.

We took each letter in “Father’s Day” and wrote an adjective or short phrase about hubby that started with that letter. I think this project was good for helping the kids expand their writing skills. It was an easy template for them to create something more personalized and creative than a standard “Happy Father’s Day.”

Here’s the example I made:

Father’s Day card idea for kids

As you can see, our six year-old started with this concept – he wanted to write “awesome” for the “a” in “dad,” spelled it phonetically as “osum,” and then got sidetracked into other adjectives that started with unrelated letters. The result was very sweet.

Father's Day card by kids at Jewels at Home

Father’s Day card by our six year-old. He did all the spelling himself – “fantastic” came out a little more clearly than “awesome.”

Our eight year-old came up with some cute phrases as well as impressive vocabulary words.

Fun way to help kids write great cards at Jewels at Home

Our eight year-old came up with some sweet and creative words and phrases to describe his dad.

And last but not least, baby J’s contribution:

Baby J’s card for dad

Some other ways I would love to use this idea would be

Using the letters of a friend’s name for a birthday card
Finding words and phrases to summarize our year in a holiday card based on the letters of “holiday,” “happy new year,” “joy,” “love,”… the options are endless!

Love,

“Jewels”

Perfectly-Mixed Traditional Dining Rooms

Posted on May 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

I recently put together a contemporary mixed dining space for my dad’s house, but there are many examples of beautifully eclectic traditional spaces as well. As I mentioned in the previous post, the key is to balance contrast and connection between the diverse elements in a room.

Here are two examples from two of my favorite designers: Sarah Richardson and Candice Olson, as well as some pictures of our dining room at home.

Sarah’s House

This beautiful dining space has a modern take on many traditional elements, such as the wallpaper and Queen Anne chairs (remember when I repainted my Queen Anne chairs?).

Contrast:

The plush dining bench sits opposite – literally – to the wooden Queen Anne chairs
The trestle table has a simple, rustic style and dark color that give a strong foundation and sense of comfort to this light, glittery room.

Connection:

The grey color of the chairs reflects the overall light neutral palette of the room.
Both the bench and the chairs have an ornate, traditional feel, as does the chandelier.

Sarah’s House Dining Room by Sarah Richardson

Go to Sarah Richardson Design

Divine Design:

Candice Olson has a great eye for beautiful things. Her rooms always feel lush and complete to me. This dining room design looks fairly simple, but there is so much beauty in the details.

Contrast:

The white and black palette provides instant contrast.
Candice used two different chairs at the table, with more substantial arm chairs at the head of the table.

Connection:

The black and white color scheme is carried through every part of this room, including the chairs, rug and curtains.
Even though the head and side chairs are different, they have a similar scale and shape to them, so they work together.

Candice Olson dining room featured in Elle Decor

Go to Candice Olson’s website

Jewels’ house:

I also have a mixed dining set at our house, where I painted and reupholstered our Ikea chairs to work with a dining table from craigslist that I had fallen in love with. I started out looking for cherry wood Arts and Crafts chairs, and I am so glad that I ended up painting our chairs black.

Contrast:

Black and cherry wood look beautiful together, without disappearing into each other or feeling heavy and overwhelming, as a more traditional wooden set can.
I have two traditional Chinese chairs at the head of the table, which is a perfect place to introduce something different.

Connection:

The chairs all tie together, because of their dark color and similar lines of the chair backs.
The Ikea chairs have a geometric cutout design detail on the back that is similar to the cutout design on the base of the cherry Arts and Crafts table.

Dining Room with painted and reupholstered chairs by Jewels at Home

Dining Room with new chairs. The head chairs are Chinese antiques, while the side chairs are transformed Ikea chairs. They all work together, because they share color and/or other design elements.

Dining room from the other side.

When you are looking for home decorating ideas, you can easily work with what you have by switching pieces of a dining set, slipcovering your chairs, or painting them for a fresh look. Once again, I hope you feel inspired to create your own unique combination of elements in your dining space. It can feel intimidating, but creating connections with shape, material, and color will help bring all the things you love together.

“Jewels”

New Powder Room – Chair Rail and Baseboard

Posted on May 17, 2012 by jewelsathome

Oh my, it’s May! And it’s a very good thing that my friend Ari advised me to start my bathroom makeover after my son’s birthday party. That was two months ago, and I had some delusion that I could get the whole project done in a week – on top of taking care of the kids, going to work, and planning the party itself. I hadn’t wanted people to see the ugly old powder room at the party, but waiting turned out to the right decision.

As they say, good things come to those who finally get their behinds in gear and do some work. I had a little spurt of energy in April, when I put up the wallpaper. Now, I’ve finally added the new trim. I put up a chair rail and used the trick of adding a thin piece of molding a few inches above the existing baseboard to give the illusion of a more substantial baseboard. Adding new trim gives your room architectural detail and makes it feel more elegant and finished.

So here’s what I did:

1) Choose trim

For both the chair rail and the baseboard extension, there aren’t standard shapes, so pick something that you like. I picked a heavier piece with a slope for my chair rail and a very thin piece for extending the baseboard. I get almost all my home improvement supplies at our local hardware store, Papenhausen. I love that I can walk there, and the staff is always friendly and knowledgeable. In a relatively small space, they have just about anything you could need. This time, however, I did end up at a big box store to get a wider selection. It’s almost endless!

Left: small trim piece used to extend the baseboard. I think this is called “stop” molding.
Right: heavier trim piece used for a chair rail. This piece was pre-primed.

2) Measure (twice), cut (once – I wish!)

Measure each wall. If you have an old house like ours, measure at the exact height you will mount each piece, since the walls may not be even. Chair rail is usually mounted 36″ +/- 2″ from the floor. I picked the height of the baseboard to avoid some plumbing. A lot of older and more expensive homes have high baseboards, so this is a great trick to mimic that look, without using a lot of trim, since you’ll just be painting the wall between the old baseboard and the new trim all one color, so it looks like a single tall piece of molding.

You will need a way to make miter cuts (cuts on a 45 degree angle). If you have a table saw, follow the instructions for using that. If not, you can use a tool called a miter box along with a handsaw. Cut the trim into the lengths you need, with mitered ends at each corner.

DO NOT miter the ends that will meet that meet the door jamb, as these should be flush. Yes, I made this mistake – I must have been to0 excited about figuring out how to use the table saw.

Cut the trim pieces at 45 degree angles at the corners.

3) Install the trim
Mark a level line and nail the trim in place with panel nails. You can hammer the nails partway into the boards before nailing them into the wall. That makes it feel less like you need three hands! Once the boards are installed, countersink the nails, i.e. use a nail set or another nail to push the head of your nail into the board, so it doesn’t stick out.

Tools for installing trim:
1) level
2) hammer
3) panel nails
4) nail set (you can also use a large heavy nail)

Hammer the nails partway into the molding pieces before installing.

4) Patch and caulk

Luckily, this step can hide a multitude of errors, and there were a few! Use wood filler to cover the nail holes and any larger gaps (gaps? What gaps?). Sand the patched areas smooth. Then use paintable caulk to run a line along the top of the molding to fill the small space between the wood and the wall.

Tools for patching and caulking:
1) sandpaper. I store mine in a magazine file.
2) caulk and caulk gun. You can get ones that you squeeze by hand, too, so the gun is not necessary. Any kind that is paintable is fine.
3) putty knife for smoothing filler
4) wood filler

Wood filler used to cover the nail holes and fill the gap at the corner.

The caulk fills the gap between the new trim and the wall.

5) Ready to paint!

All the trim is installed. The next step is to prime and paint this area. I’m going to use a medium grey on the wall below the chair rail, similar to the inspiration room by Sarah Richardson.

The new chair rail and baseboard extension are in place and ready for priming and painting!

An inspiration for our powder room. Click the image to go to the image on Sarah Richardson’s website.

By the way, I learned how to install trim watching the Christopher Lowell over a decade ago. Did any of you watch him? He did a great job breaking projects down into steps, and he ended every show by enthusiastically saying, “You can do it!”. Those words kept running through my head as I was working!

Yay! The finish line is in sight for this bathroom makeover. I’m ready to paint, and I’ll call in a plumber to replace the sink with a new vanity. I hope I can post the completed powder room soon. Until then, remember, you can do it!

UPDATE: The powder room is finished! You can see it here.

“Jewels”

Creative Banners and Cupcakes for a Cause

Posted on May 10, 2012 by jewelsathome

Bake sale! Don’t those words just conjure all good things? The smell of fresh baked treats, hanging out with friends at the sale table, raising money for a good cause… add to that the fact that I was asked to make some crafty signs to advertise our bake sale, and I am in heaven!

For the past four years, a group of my coworkers and our friends have formed a team for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’ve always been excited by this event, but I was hesitant to join – partly out of the logistical hurdles of training and walking with small kids at home – and partly out of a fear that after working with people with cancer in my job and having lost my mom to breast cancer, participating in this event might lead to emotional overload. I can’t explain why, but for some reason, this seemed like the year that I wanted to make the Avon Walk a part of my journey.

As part of our fundraising and team-building, we are holding a bake sale this year. If you are in San Francisco and can come by the UCSF Cancer Center at 1600 Divisadero Street tomorrow (Friday, May 11, 2012) from 12-3, you can support our team and taste what I guarantee will be a delicious array of treats. We will be outside the cafeteria on the lower level.

The Signs:

These were certainly not works of art, since I threw them together at the last minute, but I still had fun with the design. I had some cake-themed papers from a large pack, so those were the inspiration for the colors. Of course, the pink also tied in to the Avon and breast cancer awareness colors.

I made the cakes stand out from the poster by folding a paper “spring” on the back. And the little pennants give a sweet homemade flavor, just like our desserts!

I hope our homey bake sale signs with the cheerful pennants attract lots of hungry customers!

The Goodies:

The slight incongruity of selling sweets to raise money for a health-related cause has not escaped me. While I will no doubt be indulging in the brownies and truffles some of my friends have planned, I decided to offer a slightly healthier option, with the banana bread recipe my mom used when I was little. This recipe is in a notebook she gave me when I got married. It has a lot of our “comfort” recipes from childhood and blank pages to record my own. I’m so very glad I have this book. I’m sure it’s just the description she transcribed from the magazine or recipe book, but the sentence “Very ripe bananas and slow cooping are the secret of this banana bread” makes me feel like my mom is sharing a secret just for me.

I love seeing my mom’s handwriting in this recipe notebook she gave me when I got married.

Banana Bread:

Very ripe bananas and slow cooking are the secret of this bread.

4 medium very ripe bananas

1 1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

3 1/2 c flour (I mix some whole wheat in)

1/2 c oil (you can use butter for a richer taste)

2/3 c buttermilk (you can substitute yogurt or add a tablespoon of vinegar per cup of regular milk and let the milk sit for five minutes)

Peel very ripe bananas. Combine with sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat at high spee for 1 minute (can use blender)

Mix in eggs, one a time; then mix in flour

Add oil and buttermlk Combine and beat for 2 minutes

Divide batter into two loaf pans

Bake in preheated 275F oven for about 1 3/4 hours

It’s hard to get a lot of very ripe bananas, at least in this house, because they keep getting eaten. This recipe calls for four, so if we have one or two overripe bananas, we put them in a bag in the freezer to save up until we have enough for banana bread or hubby’s amazing banana waffles.

The new thing I’m trying this time is chopping some of the bananas into chunks and folding them in at the end with the chocolate chips. I had banana bread from Tartine Bakery on Guerrero, which I think is very possibly the best bakery in the city, the other morning that had the small chunks in it, and they were caramelized and delicious!

Chunks of banana mixed into the batter for a fruity flavor and sweet caramelized morsels.

I love this bread with walnuts and chocolate chips, but we appear to be out of walnuts tonight, so I will have to “make do” with chocolate chips only. Hubby recently articulated that he thinks nuts ruin baked goods, while I think they make them – they’re crunchy, rich, and I love the bit of bitter taste of walnuts against the sweetness of a cookie… obviously he’s wrong, right? He did make me a batch of chocolate chip cookies with nuts for my birthday, and he presented them to me, saying, “I put nuts in these, even though I don’t believe in it.” That’s love.

Sweet dreams!

“Jewels”

Gallery of Plates for the Dining Room

Posted on April 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

UPDATE 4/20/2011:

I wasn’t completely happy about the first iteration of our plate display, but that’s okay! I popped into the Goodwill store on my way back from the hardware store today (buying spray paint – what else?!) and found two little plates that complement the collection nicely. They were just $2.49 each, so a good deal, too! I think flea markets and thrift stores are great places to find items for decor and styling. A lot of the items would not seem special on their own but work well together. It also gives your room a lot more personality to have a mix of old and new items.

I hung the new plates with the same 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips
that I used for the oversize initials project – I was paranoid and used way more strips than specified for their weight – and I think the display looks much more complete. The other thing I did was to swap one of the blue and white plates with one of the green ones. I was staring at it during dinner and just jumped up to try it! Sometimes, staring at things helps. It breaks up the line of blue and white plates while creating a small grouping with the two green ones. Getting a balanced design can take a few tries, but it’s so pleasing to look at when it’s done. Here is the new dining room display. I might still keep an eye out for something special at the flea market this weekend, but I no longer feel like something is missing.

Take Two: The collection of plates feels more complete and balanced after the addition of two more plates and changing the positions a bit.

Close-up of the plates. Finding the right balance can take a few tries. I needed to separate the blue and white plates, because they are so strong and formed a line in the original placement. It works to group some like items together, like the octagonal green plates, while separating others, like the two small plates.

ORIGINAL POST:

Remember the collection of plates I found for $11 at our local rummage sale (The Pleasure of the Hunt)? I put them up in the dining room today, and it was an easy project to dress up the space!

Wall display with plates from a rummage sale. $11 worth of plates and another $11 of hanging materials. I think I need a few more plates!

I got the idea for this plate gallery from Sabrina Soto’s High Low Project on HGTV. I like Sabrina’s style – it’s classic and comfortable with a fresh contemporary touch. If you haven’t seen the show (and I recommend you do!), she starts by designing a dream room for her clients that is full of high-end pieces and then recreates it for a fraction of the cost. There is an element of the show that is a bit silly – some of the elements in the first room are always exceedingly expensive – like original artwork or rare antiques – and she also saves a lot of money on the second version by having her assistant build things, but overall, I love the concept. Because she tries to recreate the original room, you get to see the project broken down into components, and she good tips for deals and DIY projects, which are right up my alley, in case you couldn’t tell!

Anyway, in one of the episodes (I think it’s the first one), she does a dining room makeover and hangs a collection of plates on the wall. She used these Invisible Disc Hangers which are a great way to hang plates securely without any visible hardware! They are made in England and available from a lot of vendors. I found a good price for mine on eBay. They are easy to use – just wet the disc and press it onto the back of a clean plate. I used blue painter’s tape to mark the top center of the pattern, so I could line up the hanging ring.

Just wet the disc hanger and press onto a clean plate.

I like how it looks, and I’ll see if I can find any more great deals on plates to add, when I go to the flea market next weekend.

“Jewels”

New Powder Room from Top to Bottom – Wallpaper!

Posted on April 26, 2012 by jewelsathome

Our powder room facelift is going slowly… but surely! Unfortunately, I started taking apart the space and then developed some inertia about getting the wallpaper up, as I hadn’t done wallpaper in a long time, so the sad state of this space got sadder before it started getting better. Today, I put our toddler in daycare for an extra day, so I could go to Kindergarten Spring Sing at kids’ school without distraction. After the performance – which was adorable! I took full advantage of the rare stretch of several hours “off” from both my office job and my mom job by having a lunch date with hubby and pledging to get this wallpaper up!

BEFORE: The whole room was very white – blah – with dated gold-tone fixtures and a pedestal sink that has no room for storage or even the soap!

A powder room is a perfect place to use wallpaper – it makes a beautiful statement, without overwhelming you visually, financially, or logistically, as you only need a small amount. I splurged big-time on the Imperial Trellis wallpaper in silver. It was pricey, but I had enough to do the powder room, as well as line the backs of our living room bookcases. I love the glow of the silver to brighten up our dark spaces.

Imperial Trellis wallpaper in silver by Schumacher. Click the picture to go their website for more information and colors.

I hung wallpaper once many years ago, so I remembered the basics, but I quickly refreshed myself with these instructions from This Old House. Some of the planning steps did not apply to me, since I was doing such a small area. I’m only hanging it above the (future) chair rail on one wall, because the ceiling slopes on the other walls (the powder room is under the stairs), and I thought the wallpaper on those walls would just draw attention to the changing ceiling line.

Here’s an overview of what I did:

TOOLS: From left, you’ll need
1. Squeegee: they make ones specifically for wallpapering, but a regular shower squeegee worked well for me.
2. Ruler or putty knife: to keep a straight line when trimming
3. Utility knife: for trimming paper at corners. Make sure it’s very sharp!
4. Pencil: for marking a plumb line.
5. Brush or roller: for applying wallpaper paste.
5. Wallpaper paste: mixed from a dry powder.
6. Sponge: for smoothing paper and wiping off excess paste.
Not shown: level or plumb line to mark a plumb starting line.

After spreading the wallpaper pasted with a brush or roller, fold the paper as shown (called “booking”) for the adhesive to set.

Line the first piece up with a plumb line. Then, using first a damp sponge and then the squeegee, gently smooth the wallpaper from the center towards the edges to remove bubbles and excess paste.

Wow! I was amazed at how the wallpaper made the room seem brighter and bigger. The silvery glow spread the light around the room, and the lines of the pattern made the space feel wider and taller.

Once the wallpaper was up, I started adding a few accessories: a large mirror which, again, helps with spreading light around the small space, a new chrome towel bar, and some art that I pulled from a calendar (more examples of this great art in an upcoming post) and put into an frame found for a few dollars at Goodwill. Again I used silver, to brighten up the room.

New mirror and towel bar added to the room. The “top” of our top-to-bottom facelift is done!

I am SO happy with the result so far. It’s now a pleasure to enter this room that I had been avoiding! What is the plan for the rest of the makeover? I’m going to add a chair rail and paint the area below in a warm blue-grey, like this inspiring powder room by Sarah Richardson. I’ve also got a new vanity going in to give us a little storage and counter space. Hope to post the finished room here soon!

[UPDATE: The powder room is finished! You can see it here.]

An inspiration for our powder room. Click the image to go to the image on Sarah Richardson’s website.

And on a different note, what projects on the horizon have me all excited? Check out these FREE chairs I am going to make over for my craft room/ office! I can’t wait (though maybe I should finally finish the powder room first…)

Sneak preview: A glamorous makeover is in store for these Queen Anne chairs I got for FREE through Craigslist.

“Jewels”