Decorating around Mother Nature

I had all sorts of grand ambitions for the back room this past weekend. On Friday, I stopped by Ace Hardware after shipping my 103rd (!) Etsy sale for three more cans of yellow spray paint. And yes, the same cashier was there from when I bought my first two cans of yellow spray paint. She probably thinks I'm an addict. Little did she know what else I wound up buying over the weekend.

The initial plan was to spray paint the tall shelving unit (and hopefully not my feet). Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. As in humid 90+ degree weather, which doesn't mix well with spray paint. The Rust-oleum can recommends painting when the temperature is between 50* and 90* and when humidity is below 65% to ensure proper drying. Throw in some rain on Sunday and I failed the weather-test all three days.

Since I was still looking to make some forward progress, I headed to Home Depot (twice) on Sunday for more materials:

• A 4' x 8' piece of oak hardwood plywood at 1/4" thick - cut to size for shelves and the table top - $27
• Two cans of BIN by Zinsser primer spray paint - $17
• Polycrylic water based protective finish in clear satin - $9
• Assorted sanding paper and sponge - $8
• Tack cloth - $3

 

The Vittsjo series comes with a mix of 1/4" thick tempered glass shelves and 1/2" thick laminate/particleboard shelves. The TV unit originally came with a glass top and the dark laminate/ particleboard for the bottom shelf.

 

The original plan was to swap out the glass for the 1/4" thick plywood that would be primed and painted yellow. Since the 1/4" wood doesn't seem sturdy enough for our TV, we're going to make the 1/2" IKEA-provided shelf the top shelf. Sure, it will stick out a little past the frame, but it will give us more peace of mind. Both will be getting a coat of BIN primer (as recommended here) and then spray painted yellow. 

 

Here's the tall Vittsjo shelving unit with its new wood shelves and IKEA laminate/particleboard shelves. Once the tower itself is painted yellow, the shelves will also get the primer and yellow spray paint treatment. We don't plan on putting extremely heavy items on the middle shelves, so I'm not too worried about them breaking. I tested some of the 1/4" wood shelves with a stack of 4 cookbooks and they seemed to be holding up fine.

 

As for the entry table, I initially thought I would stain and then seal the wood. But after picking out the oak hardwood plywood, I'm happy with the wood grain and color of the natural wood. Therefore, I selected the Polycrylic crystal clear satin topcoat to seal the wood.

 

All of the edges of the wood shelves and tabletop need a good sanding so they fit perfectly in the Vittsjo pieces.

 

Overall, it feels like things are starting to come together, but it's still uncharted DIY territory for me. I've been reading all sorts of things to make sure I've picked up the right supplies and have a general idea what I'm doing. I definitely feel my brain stretching through the creative process :)

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Fiscally Chic Goes Global

Hi, friends! Can you believe it's almost December? I'm not sure where November went. And with the long weekend around Thanksgiving, my days are all jumbled. Did you enjoy all sorts of turkey, stuffing, and pie? I was a rebel and baked a lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving. It was a refreshing end to a tasty meal.

Since we stayed in Chicago for Thanksgiving, we had an opportunity to paint the back/TV room. John wanted to paint it green, so green it is. A little bit like this:

Or like this, with a little photo-editing:

You'll have to trust me on this one. And wait for better pictures.

The blue artwork in that pin reminds me of our blueprints, so they might go in that room. Plus, it refers to the navy in the front room. Fortunately, the curtains still work with the green. Now we have to hang art and get a few more things to tie everything together.

I had a pretty busy weekend with Fiscally Chic pillow cover sales, which was really exciting! I'm pleasantly surprised by the success of my little shop. Especially since I only work on it during nights and weekends. I opened in September 2011 and have already sold 25 pillow covers and 1 knit alpaca hat. That's gross revenue of almost $600 (yay!). And none to family or friends. I had multiple orders over the weekend, including one to Harvard and three international! Japan, Australia, and Canada! The big winner was the silver and gold polka dot one. It was featured in the Etsy Finds email on Sunday!!!

Due to the success of the polka dot pillow cover, I ordered some additional fabric, but at a slight premium. Which means the price of that pillow cover went up $1. If you're itching to get your hands on one, they're scheduled to be shipped out Monday December 5. Provided I receive the fabric in the next few days.

Speaking of the business, I opened a business checking account and signed up for a business credit card. I'm also in the process of registering my DBA with Cook County. Previously, I had only registered it with the IL Dept. of Revenue. I found out you have to do both.

Things are definitely chugging along with the biz. John likes to joke that my pillow covers are taking over the world :)
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Weekend Update

Hi, friends! Long time, no chat! What's new? I'm still trying to figure out my new routine and rhythm with the new job, so things might be a little slow for the next few weeks. By the way, it's going really well! They job is really interesting and my coworkers are beyond friendly and helpful.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy with a little of this:

Stephanie picked the winner of her giveaway, so I shipped Lauren her pair of berry ombre pillow covers. Plus I had a recent sale to fill (yay!)

Also, I registered for my first craft fair! I'm going to be at the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday November 19 from 10am to 3pm at St. Louise de Marillac School in La Grange Park, IL. More details can be found here. The pillow covers will be in full force, in addition to the alpaca scarves and hats knit by my Mom. Which means I need to increase my inventory big time.

John and I also decided to paint our bedroom over the weekend.

More updates to come once the room is back in order.

How did you spend the extra hour from Daylight Savings? Sleeping? Hanging out? Catching up on life?
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Home of the Yellow, White, and Blue

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend. I still have a slight "holiday hangover" from the 3 day weekend. Yesterday morning was a little rough with waking up early and going back to work. It probably didn't help that I had so much fun in St. Louis and then back in Chicago. When I got home, the front room was done! John painted it Benjamin Moore's Champion Cobalt (matched to Ace Hardware paint) with his friend Nick. I walked into the house and absolutely loved it!! The white trim totally popped against the blue. The floor and doors now seem warmer and more golden. We're missing all sorts of furniture, but I still love it. Thanks, guys!

Pictures on the wall for fun

 

The room doesn't look this shiny in real life, it's just a little tricky to photograph. The paint finish is eggshell, which is one step up from a flat finish. Ace Hardware describes eggshell as, "a versatile finish that appears flat when viewed directly and slightly lustrous when viewed on an angle."

Painting this room was a total kick start to finishing the rest of the house. The next unsuspecting room was the kitchen. We'd been waffling about the color and finally decided to go for it. At first we were thinking gray, but something wasn't sitting right. After looking at paint colors and kitchen pictures online, we thought about a sandy beige. And then I saw a picture of a kitchen painted Benjamin Moore's Golden Honey. The color combination also looked similar to this porch from Betsy Maddox's home tour on Design*Sponge.

via Design*Sponge

Our counters are gray like the floor, the cabinets are similar to the folding chair, and we have white trim around the windows, floor, and doors. Here are some "before" pictures:

So we gave it a whirl and bought the paint. It's not that expensive ($26/gallon less $10 rebate = $16/gallon!), so we knew we could always repaint. Plus, the lady helping us at Ace Hardware had just painted her kitchen a similar yellow. She said her kitchen used to be brownish-beige, but was too dark and gloomy in the winter. It's been so sunny lately that I didn't even consider how the kitchen would look during cloudier days in the winter. Here's our new happy yellow kitchen!

Yes, the pictures were taken while making dinner.

We're also really happy with the way the kitchen turned out. Now it's a matter of finding and hanging artwork. I think the canvases could look nice or we might hang those in the front room.

And the hunt for an accent chair for the front room is still on. John is now wondering whether that the blue and white chair from Target is a little too feminine. Plus, the chair is back to its full price of $300. Maybe we'll look for something in leather. At this rate, we'll probably wait until the couches are delivered to make a decision.

How do you balance different decorating tastes? Any tips for finding a "masculine" chair?

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