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. 

Missing Summer.

I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving.  I am definitely not ready for Winter or the holiday season.  I have been really busy at work and that coupled with the short, dark and cold days are leaving me longing for some fun, sun and warmth. 

In reminiscing about the warmer days I thought I'd share some pictures of our house from Summer.  The picture below is of a spider that lived in the plants in the front of our house.  He spent the whole summer spinning his web on the various plants near our stoop. One day he would be sitting in the middle of his magnificent web on the Zebra Grass and the next day he would be furiously spinning his web on the rose bush.  He moved often but did not stray away from the front of our house.  Then one day it got colder and he was gone.  

We painted the brown stone on the front of our house in Toucan Black by Benjamin Moore.  By "we" I mean Scott.  He also painted the stone trim around the door and the six windows on the front of the house.  I would generally not recommend painting stone but it had already been painted brown by the previous owner and there was no cost effective way to restore the stone to its original glory. We primed the wall first with Benjamin Moore Fresh Start Exterior Primer.  Then we used "breathable" Benjamin Moore Ben Waterborne Exterior paint  in flat finish so that there wouldn't be any issues with water retention.

These pictures were taken in June 2011.

Another addition to the Dining Room.

Lighting the dining room seems to have been my recent obsession.  I added a light to the wood paneling (opposite the wall of photographs) to mainly light up the space but also to shed some light on a fabulous painting that I recently purchased on eBay.

Here's a close up of the painting:

The light is the Beryll wall spot light from Ikea (which cost only $14.99).  It comes with a really long white cord which is perfect for lighting pictures and blends in to the white woodwork.  I used wire clips to secure the wire behind the painting and along the bottom of the molding so that there weren't an unsightly tangle of extra cord on the floor. 

The Vestibule.

When we bought the house one of the first things that our contractor suggested was that we get rid of the vestibule.  I am so glad that we didn't.  I love walking into the house and having a space to put my keys, hang my jacket and take off my shoes.   The vestibule also has the added benefit of keeping out any cold drafts from entering the house.  In the winter we shut the vestibule door which keeps out the cold air from the living room.

Since the vestibule is really small I opted to cover the walls in Moroccan tiles.  I have always loved the designs of the tiles but it would have been very expensive to cover a large area with Moroccan tiles.  We used Saltillo tiles for the floor.  I bought the Moroccan cement tiles online.  I wish I could remember the site but Berber Trading, Tazi Design and Casbah Decor all have similar tiles available.  Here's a close up of the tiles:

The lamp is a vintage Spanish fixture that I purchased on eBay. 

 

The ceilings are really high and the space looked a little cold so I decided to cover the walls gallery style with mostly Kiran's paintings and drawings.  I put the pictures up in inexpensive Ikea Ribba frames.

We have one rack for coats, scarves, and bags.  We also have another small rack for keys, mail, sunglasses, umbrellas and other smaller items.  These racks are for our everyday use.  When we have guests we generally throw everyone's jackets on our bed.  My next project is  to finish the stairway to the basement and install a long row of coat racks so that when we have people over they have a proper place to hang their jackets.  Old row houses are notorious for having minimal storage space and ours is no exception. 

This is a wrought iron coat rack I bought years ago at Anthropologie. 

I bought the Triple Hook Up Strip in Olive (below) by Three by Three from Velocity Design a couple of years ago.  It comes with four small magnets which hold notes, checks etc.  The larger hooks are great for sunglasses and mail and  we use the smaller hooks for umbrellas, Kiran's sweaters etc. 

In this picture you can (barely) see the floor tiles.  It took us forever to find Saltillo tiles.  Scott and I went to a dozen tile places and then we finally found a place on Washington Avenue that had these tiles.  I think that they complement the Moroccan tiles perfectly. 

The last thing that we need to do in the vestibule is to strip the varnish off the wood door, prime it, and paint it in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace which is the same white paint that we have used throughout the house on the moldings and panelling. 

When we bought the house the vestibule was covered in the ugliest brown, beige and cream tiles. Most of them were falling off and the space was just uninviting.  Unfortunately I don't have a great before picture but this is what the vestibule looked like a few days after we bought the house.