deidre on design

before and after: bedside table lamps redo

As part of my bedside table redo I am re-purposing lamps I already have. They are really old and I’ve been tired of the look for a long time. These puppies are getting a coat of “hammered metallic gold” and a spanking new white drum shade!

First, I wont be reusing the shades, so those went.

This little doo-hicky is called a lamp harp. Comes off super easy and I wont be using it with the new shades I bought.

Then within seconds my boys turned the lamp shades into hats and megaphones!

Can you hear me Mom?

Ooooh I love that little face!

Before spraying with primer I wrapped the cord so they wouldn’t get covered with paint.

This winter I turned our main floor bathroom into a spray booth. This room of the house needs to be redone badly and I don’t even care to use it in it’s original state. I can seal the room off from the rest of the house, put a fan in the window and spray away! It moves the air through pretty well!

After a coat of primer and two coats of paint I put on the new shades and was pleased with the new look!

I love gold right now!

This was such a simple project with a big change. All supplies totalled less than $25!!

Need help transforming your bedroom or another room in you house? I can help put together a plan to make you love your space again. Contact me here!

let the sunshine in

I’ve mentioned before that our house has gone through some major renovations. Our upstairs used to be an apartment and where we have a master bedroom used to be a nasty old kitchen. The kitchen was torn out when the roof was replaced and raised. With the architectural mayhem behind us now it’s time to decorate. While I love design and have oodles of ideas for my clients, I’m a bit slow when it comes to my own house.

Here is a picture (please forgive how dark it is) of the french doors in our bedroom that will lead out to a balcony we have not yet built. On this balcony I see overflowing pots of flowers and a comfy chair to read in, but for now this serves as the only window in our room.

Still working on the window treatment thing!

Since this is the only source of natural light in the room I wanted to add mirrors on either side of the bed. This will help get some of that sunshine to the other side of the room.

I am really bad about piles of books and magazines at my night stand. Usually I have them all over the floor and on top of the bedside table. I need to find the right size basket for this shelf to hide them!

I bought two of these mirrors on Craigslist for $10 each. My hubby, even though he is crazy busy with full time work and school, wanted to paint them and install them for me. Before he started school we did a lot of diy projects together!

Thank you honey for doing this for me!!

Designers best friends; tape measure and level!

I like having the reflective surface next to the bed!

Jeff has an anciet alarm clock that REALLY needs to go, but that he is somehow insistent on keeping. I just need to confiscate it and appologize later.

With both mirrors up its one step in the right direction but far from complete! Ummm…. A little boring yet, right? Pillows, lighting, accessories. All in good time.

If projects in your house happen one step at a time, even if there is a bit of a time LAPSE don’t dismay! It’s worth the wait; you’ll be so proud of your space in the end.

Design Board: Aunt Denise’s Kitchen

My Aunt Denise (my mother’s sister) lives in a house in the city built in the 1890’s. My house was built in 1896 so I sympathize with the project load that comes with an older home. While the “to do” list is long she has completely re-landscaped and brought in new furniture and window treatments. To say my Aunt is creative is an understatement. Last week she woke up in the night to create a floral arrangement for her front door, then stood outside tweaking it to perfection at 3am. She is an amazing gardener and quilter and loves planning her home. She watches my boys once a week while I go to yoga so we get to catch up on her projects, and she has me put in my two cents!

Here are some before/demo pictures…

My Aunt Denise striking a pose in her unfinished kitchen! Yeah… been there done that.

See that 1950’s sink cabinet under the window? We’ve decided to reuse it and I’m sooo excited! This old house has a basement full of vintage interior fixtures, many of which have never been used. My Aunt goes shopping in her basement to decorate her house! For the kitchen she has found:

Cool 1950’s cabinet hardware, still in the box.
A funky ceiling mount light fixture, probably 1950’s or earlier.
Dishes and accessories.

Here is a closer shot of the super cool (I’m just a little jealous) sink and cabinet.

I think this project will be hanging around for a while, they are not in a huge hurry (i.e. budget, time, diy, careers and a life…) Aunt Denise and I have discussed some interior finishes, but I threw this design board together so we can dream and plan about it’s completion!

My Aunt is very creative and loves design, she has been clipping kitchen photos for a long time. Here are a few examples of her design persuasion!

What do you think of this aesthetic? Rusticy, vintagey, casual… Do you try to keep or enhance architectural aspects of your home?

Love that Ikat!

I love this pattern, it’s cheerful and versitile! Ikat, pronounced ee-kat, is one of the oldest patterned textiles in the world. They appear in cultures as diverse as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Guatemala, Turkey and India. Check out more on the history of this textile, which goes back thousands of years!

Here are some pretty pictures of one of my favorite patterns right now! These ikat window treatments make a big statement.

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IKAT DIY…

Some of the brighter Ikat patterns can be a bit expensive, so if you want a custom look for less check out this diy fabric stencil project! This bright coral Ikat pillow was created by Elizabeth Chaffee at The Mustard Ceiling and featured on one of my favorite design blogs Design Sponge. Go there to find a great tutorial on how to create this pattern in any color!

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Diy Ikat side table from Design Sponge…

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I want to lounge in this window seat and fall asleep with a book!

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Do you need new beach towels? These are happy happy!

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Yellow and gray, always good in my book!

I like the orange, white and brown in this bedroom!

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Banquets are so cozy, I’ve always wanted one! This photo makes me crave coffee on a beautiful summer morning (alright, that’s not hard to induce!)…

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Spray Paint a Lamp Shade? (round one)

I’ve read tutorials online about spray painting just about anything. It’s a cheap thrill and gets the job done, most of the time… I thought I would try to spray paint a couple lamp shades (since really big cool ones can be $$$!) and see how it turned out. What would I have to loose except for the cost of the paint?

These lamps were purchased for the night stands in our master bedroom for $5 each off of Craigslist. I wasn’t crazy about the color and was ready to change it!

These are the empty nightstands where they were to go, as you can see our bedroom is pretty bare, more on that in another post!

I wanted to add some drama with the lighting (please ignore the color!) And didn’t want small lamps, small these are not!!

So I set one of the pinkish textured humongo lamp shades on a 5 gallon bucket in our backyard…

And without taking the time to change out of my clothes from church (who has time when creativity strikes?) I started to spray, and spray, and spray.

And spray, until it looked like this, meh… Crispy and still pink.

Up close? Crispy, crusty, pilly and STILL slightly pink… I think deep down I knew this wasn’t going to work but for a $5 can of spray paint I was willing to let myself be pleasantly surprised…

So in the end I decided that these large lamps were actually TOO large. I will play with re-purposing some lamps I already have that are slightly smaller. You’ll notice that this post is the first round of two parts. I will try this project on another lamp shade and here is the main reason why: the texture of my second lamp shade is smooth and a single layer of material which will hopefully produce a better finish. I will keep you guys posted on that project, you never know until you try!

Put a Bird On It

Unless you’ve hiding under a rock you’ve probably noticed bird motifs have been pretty popular over the last few years! They are beautiful and versatile and speak to our desire to “bring the outside in.” Bird décor can be modern, abstract or very traditional, take your pick!