Sick of Being Sick!

I can't believe that I am sick again. I seem to have been getting sick a lot lately. On Friday I found out that Jai had pink eye (he's better now). On Friday evening I went to bed with a pounding headache, and congestion and I woke up at 3AM on Saturday with a sinus infection. I have had a cough for two months that just doesn't seem to want to go away.  All this has resulted in me doing next to nothing on the house.  All my energy is taken up with work, spending time with Kiran and Jai in the evenings, cooking dinner, and putting them to bed.  After they go to bed I usually have work and email to catch up on.  Scott and usually sit around in the evenings with both of us doing work on our computers. 

We had our third floor office room and guest room painted almost a year ago.  While I managed to set up the bed in the guest room and make it nice (mainly because we have lots of guests visiting) I have hardly arranged anything in the office room.

This is what is the office room now (which used to be the guest bedroom).  Click here to see what the office room looked like before (when it was in what is now the guest room). 

It is basically a huge mess with papers everywhere.  I still love sitting at this desk, especially in the mornings, when the room in bathed in beautiful sunlight.  The drawings to the right were done by Scott's mother in the 1970s in art class.  We found them all crumpled up in his Dad's attic. 

At least the good thing about being sick today is I am getting lots of rest.  Jai is sleeping and Scott and Kiran are at the park.  Hopefully I can take a nap before Jai wakes up.

Black + White + Triangles

I am obsessed with all things black and white. Throw in a geometric design, especially some triangles, and I am totally smitten. My current obsessions are:

Ferm Living Triangles shower curtain.

 

Ferm Living Triangles tea towel. 

Bookhu Triangle Zip tote.



Triangles wallpaper by Lisa Gongdon for Hygge and West.



Super colorful triangles print from this etsy shop


Finally, this star tray also from Ferm Living is stunning.  Actually, I think all the new items on the Ferm Living site are fabulous!

Beautiful White House.

Our house has not been photo ready for a while so I haven't posted any pictures.  With two kids my house seems to be in a constant state of disarray.  To add to the chaos I really, really dislike the yellow paint in the living room and the blue paint in the dining room.  All I want is a white, airy open feeling home.  The first time I saw the pictures of this house, belonging to Orlando and Nicola Reindorf, my jaw dropped to the floor.  This is exactly what I want my house to feel like (now). I absolutely love everything about this place.  The neon orange accents on the table and bench in the image below are genius. 

Via Design Files.

Basements and the stairways leading to basements are often neglected and boring.  If I had rainbow striped walls leading down to my basement I would be thrilled to go down there. 

Via Design Files.

I am seriously considering having shelves installed on either side of our faux fireplace in the living room.  We really need more storage for our books. 

Via Design Files.

I wish I had an extra room that I could convert into a bathroom.  I would add a clawfoot tub in the middle of the room, instal a chandelier and add a few paintings just like in the image below. 

Via Design Files.



Via Design Files.

I love the blue and white wallpaper with the Muuto lamp.
 

Via Design Files.

This room is just perfect.  I love the mirror pendant light (Tom Dixon??) and the bright orange Jielde floor lamp. I really want a geometric wall sculpture like this.  I wonder how hard it would be to make one...


Via Design Files.



Via Design Files.

These matt black tiles in the kitchen look amazing. 

Via Design Files.

 I really like the dark exterior with the pop of color on the door. 

Via Design Files.

Seeing this home makes me want to start painting our house.  I have already started painting the dining room in Moonlight White by Benjamin Moore.  Now I just have to paint the living room, paint the back room, and paint the second floor bathroom. 

Kiran's Room Update.

It has been a while since I posted pictures of Kiran's more grown up room.  We replaced his crib with a full size bed.  We opted for a full size bed because there was ample space for a full bed and we both prefer to lay down in his bed while reading to him. 

This room has four large windows and is flooded with light.  I hung some fairy lights over Kiran's bed which looks magical at night.  There are a lot of different types of light in this room just as in the rest of the house.  I rarely use the overhead lights, unless we are doing a painting project, puzzle etc.  There is a yellow bedside light (Ikea) for reading, a desk light (for all desk activities also from Ikea), wicker light (Ikea) for when we have dance parties or when the room needs to look moody, and another task light over the settee for reading.  All the lights in his room were inexpensive.

The bedspread is from Urban Outfitters, the long cushion is a new Vera print bought on sale at Anthropologie and the other cushion is from Urbanoutfitters.  The dresser is Scott's old dresser from when he was a kid.  I plan on painting it sometime soon. 

 The vintage Casalino yellow chairs were our gift to Kiran for his 4th Birthday.  I think I paid $40 for the pair on eBay.  We made the desk using Ikea legs and a table top (also from Ikea) that Scott cut to measure the space.  The vintage settee (to the right of the below picture) needs to be upholstered. 

 The view from the second floor hallway into Kiran's room.

Wallpaper in the Hallway.

The wallpaper in the hallway is finally up! I blogged about the hallway here and here.  I bought the damask black and white wallpaper before we even signed the settlement papers.  I love the way the wallpaper completely transforms this very narrow corridor of space.  The smaller damask print and the vertical pattern emphasizes the high ceilings and somehow makes the hallway seems less narrow. 

Scott spend endless hours stripping the wallpaper and repairing the plaster.  We decided to hire someone to install the wallpaper (which only cost $325 for installation).  The guy who installed the wallpaper did an excellent job  however he hung it upside down! Maybe it was because I was pregnant, or maybe it was because I had too much going on at work but I wasn't upset about it.

I absolutely LOVE the way the curved wall looks clad in the wallpaper. 

The light (below) is from Schoolhouse Electric.

Here's a picture of what the hallway looked like before we removed the multiple layers of old wallpaper, repaired the horsehair plaster, and primed the walls.

Third Floor Overhaul.

So it took us almost five years from when we first bought the house and the impending arrival of a new baby to motivate us to remove the old carpets from the third floor.  While the carpets weren't old when we moved in they nevertheless were not attractive.  Carpets are just not my thing.  Especially old carpets really gross me out.

We discovered that there were old pine wood floors under the carpet and layers of linoleum.  I had no idea what condition the wood is in.  Nevertheless hoping for the best we hired someone to refinish the 100 year old pine sub floor.

We  moved everything out of the third floor (by we I of course mean Scott).  I felt totally incapacitated not being able to paint, move furniture or do any other type of renovation.  I was dying to paint the third floor but I've been advised it is best to avoid paint fumes when pregnant.  I decided to hire someone to paint the third floor and I was shocked to realize how much painters charge.  Scott and I painted the whole house ourselves and we were totally clueless as to how much money we saved by doing it ourselves!

Here are the "After" pictures of the third floor bedroom (used previously as an office room) and Hallway.  The floors look amazing.  I am really pleased with the way the third floor turned out. 

The paint is Benjamin Moore Aura, Tropical dusk in Matte.  The butterfly chair was moved here from the living room.  The rugs are a Turkish Kilim runner and Persian rug purchased a while ago on eBay.

The Mid-century credenza is from eBay (a birthday gift to Scott).

The hallway is painted in Benjamin Moore Aura, Moonlight White, Matte.  This runner was also purchased on eBay a while ago.

Here's what the room looked like after we moved everything out:

I had already painted the doors in Benjamin Moore Studio Finishes Chalkboard paint.

Here's a close up of the hallway of what the floor underneath the carpet looked like.

 Under the carpet we found an old Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper from 1960.

 I will post some pictures of the new office room on the third floor soon.

This, that and the other.

It's been a while...

Where have I been?  Well, we had another baby, Jai born on July 10, 2012.  Work has been crazy busy since my last post which has left me very little time to blog.  This does not mean that nothing has happened as far as renovating our house.  Partly due to my nesting instinct and partly because I was so busy at work and I was craving a creative release, we have done a lot of work to our house! More regular posts to follow.