Take the Side Street

Form Follows Function (I'm Not Lazy, Swear!)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 01:01:00 +0000

Most of us have heard the quote "form follows function." Maybe you're better informed, but I was unaware that the original quote (which is technically "form ever follows function" and is attributed to American architect Louis Henry Sullivan) had more to do with efficiency and construction profit margins than poorly chosen billboard fonts and prohibitively ornamental bathroom faucets.

Regardless of the original spirit, the saying is apropos to any form of design. So that's what we're going to talk about. And specifically, we're going to discuss my bedroom. The blinds. And how I don't want to cover them in fabric anymore.

(Side note: I'm going to make a scientific hypothesis here and say that fabric left at rest stays at rest.)

Okay, yes. I realize that it sounds like I'm just being lazy. But hear me out: my laziness was actually a blessing in disguise, because it allowed me to live with the blinds for a bit. (I hung them before Christmas so that when I covered them I could just pop them right back into their mounting hardware, easy peasy.)

During this past month, I realized that my bedroom window coverings need to both provide privacy and let in natural light; the window is street-facing and it's a darker room. If I cover the blinds with fabric, I will achieve privacy but I will lose the delicious filtered morning light that I find so precious in my east-facing room.

No matter how pretty the fabric is, or how great it would look, I can't sacrifice the function simply for the sake of a beautiful window. That would be foolish. So now I'm not sure what to do. No window coverings at all? A small tailored valance? What are your thoughts?

Gift Guides 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 03:49:00 +0000

This time of year is dangerous for the shopper in me + I love lists. So without further ado, let's look at some gifties.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

P.S. Don't forget to check out my books-as-gifts recommendations, too!

Bedroom Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 02:23:00 +0000

First, you need to know that I'm always cold. Even inside with my furnace running.

Second, I'm really bad at blogging. Sorry about that.

Third, I'm also sort of lazy.

I can't excuse my blogging laziness, so instead I'm going to blame the slow progress in my bedroom on my perpetual shivers. Y'all don't understand how hard it is to go outside when it's 10°F (especially to do something as dumb as cutting pieces of trim). This whole winter thing is for the birds, and if someone in San Diego wants to trade houses with me, I will throw in my ~~kids~~ chickens to sweeten the deal.

(pretend this is a roman shade. I know I am.)

To sum up, I'm practically incapable of doing anything productive when it's cold. It is one thing to venture into the freezing temperatures for a pair of boots at 50% off on Black Friday. It is another thing entirely to do anything else during the months of December, January, or February (and November, March, and April if you live in Idaho).

Last week it warmed up to a semi-reasonable temperature and I finally got the casing done. Baseboard, not so much. Paint, not so much. Baby steps.

You can still see all the progress I've made. I really need to turn those blinds into DIY roman shades, and I've realized over the past week that staring at the box and willing it to happen isn't getting the job done.

I'll keep you posted (about if anything new happens while I stare at the box).

Books to Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:16:00 +0000

I am a hopeless book nerd, and one of my deepest desires is that both of my boys will love reading with that same passion. Maybe not 'spend your entire summer vacation under the tree reading the entire "The Baby-Sitters Club" series' passionate... but passionate nonetheless. Normal passionate. I digress.

Books are one of my very favorite gifts to receive (and give) at Christmastime. Some of my other favorite gifts to receive are: everything else. See what I did there? In fact, I'm working on a post with some fun ideas for the ladies in your life (or yourself, in case you're stuffing your own stocking this year like I am!).

Today though, let's talk books. Here are some books that I can't wait to read, or love and want to share. I've also thrown in a few books that I'm getting for my kiddos or as gifts.

"If I Stay"

"The Paying Guests"

"The Skinnytaste Cookbook"

"Barefoot Contessa Foolproof"

"All the Light We Cannot See"

"The Fault in Our Stars"

"The Year of Billy Miller"

"Diary of a Worm"

"The Book With No Pictures"

"The Essential Calvin and Hobbes"

"Hatchet"

"Treasure Hunters"

Some honesty (and a bedroom makeover for good measure)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 04:05:00 +0000

Sometimes, life sucks a little. I'm just being honest. If we can't stop bumps in the road from coming, we just have to hope that they make us better, not bitter; right? I'm going with that. Suffice it to say, the past couple years have been a challenge for me personally... the last couple months, even more so. Maybe I'll share one day, maybe not. I've felt like I lacked any control over my life, and if you know me, you're aware that I'm a fan of the control... there's that darn honesty again.

When faced with the grim, humbling, horrible, awful, no good very bad reality that I didn't have control over a lot of the things in my life, I started to fall back into some old, unhealthy patterns of "pretend-control" that I used to practice. Things involving food. Not good, friends. Not good.

So I decided to stop. This time around I've benefited from being older (oy), wiser, and therefore possessed with the ability to recognize "pretend-control" behaviors a little easier, so hopefully it will be easier to redirect them... into home projects! Of course.

Believe it or not, I've missed you, and I've missed toiling away in my little house. If I have to control something, it should be the color of my walls and the alarmingly slow speed at which I execute any sort of carpentry project. Measure forty-seven times, cut once (or three times and then go back to the store) - that's what they say!

Right now I've decided to tackle my bedroom. I never really finished it and have been living without baseboard and with lots of plans for several years now. It's time to put an end to all of that silliness. So what did I do? I slapped some paint samples on the wall, duh. That's pretty much my solution to most existential crises.

I've been in love with navy for a long while, and decided to take the plunge. On 1/4 of my bedroom walls (I have commitment issues and/or my bedroom lacks in the natural light department).

I'll spare you the suspense, because I totally already chose one, since I'm used to not blogging anymore and I'm learning how to be zen in making design decisions alone. I chose Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy for its delightful greyed out, deliciously pensive self. And then I painted the other three walls white.

And then I forgot how to clean up for blog photos and left my sock monkey pajamas and half of my earthly possessions at the foot of my bed.

This is where I'm going:

And the next stop, besides replacing all the baseboard and casing that I ripped off this morning, is picking some fabric for some roman shades. I'm thinking something geometric, gray or mushroom maybe? This is what I'm looking at:

(Source: 1, 2, 3)

As always, hit me up if you have any amazing ideas.

It's good to be back! I can't promise quantity... but I'm just happy there are still people out there who read. xoxo

Kitchen Reveal (Oh, hi there.)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:33:00 +0000

I've been absent for a while, and the longer it's been since I last posted, the harder it's been to make myself sit down and write even when I felt the desire. I've been working on projects, even taking photos... but it's been very difficult to find the time or the motivation to start again (an object at rest tends to stay at rest, right?).

I'm going to try, though! One of my favorite things about writing this blog is that I can fit it around my life; I can post when I have time and projects to share, and remain quiet when I don't or when my "real" life demands more attention. I'm going to work on posting a bit more regularly, especially since (a.) that won't be hard when you look at my recent posting history and (b.) it makes me happy!

So without further ado, some news about my kitchen. We got it done just in time for Christmas, thanks to our contractor friend Joe who was immensely helpful and The Tile Shop which sent me all the gorgeous tile.

Part of me still can't believe it's done because the kitchen has been an ongoing, never ending project for several years. Let's look back:

Now back to today...

Such a change, don't you think? I'll be back to share some details in a day or two, promise!

Jute Living Room Rug

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:05:00 +0000

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may have heard me lament my front room's awkward layout before. It tends to feel like a big square hallway dominated by multiple doorways and a piano, which makes it hard to use large furniture pieces without interrupting the multiple flows of traffic.

My challenge was to make the front room feel more like a room, especially one that people would like to spend time in. The first idea I had was to get a big rug to help anchor the space, so I started speaking with the people over at Rugs USA and they were kind enough to send me a rug of my choice!

I picked this 9' x 12' jute rug with a beige border. I love the classic, casual look of natural fiber area rugs, and I knew I wanted a neutral border that would blend in.

I feel like the rug plays a huge role in making my front room feel like one cohesive space instead of a collection of small furniture groupings in opposite corners of the room. There's still plenty of space for the heavy traffic patterns the front room sees, without it feeling thrown together or disjointed.

As for this specific rug, here's the lowdown now that I've been living with it for a couple months:

The Good:

I love the color and the texture that the natural fibers bring to the space!
Did I mention that it's a great size? Big rugs can make a room.
The jute doesn't shed -- I love this. Our last jute rug was a nightmare.
No lasting smell! This is another complaint I've seen for natural rugs. When I opened it, I could smell a rubbery-smell that most likely came from the backing, but it was gone in a day or two.
It's surprisingly soft -- not plush, but pleasant enough for bare feet or lying down to play a game with kids.

The Bad:

The fibers catch all manners of pet hair -- easily vacuumed, but it definitely doesn't hide anything.
The rug stains with water -- a characteristic of a lot of jute rugs, from my understanding. There are products out there to clean spills, but I won't lie: I had water spots on it within a week of having it in my house... such is the life with kids and pets.

The verdict:

I was worried at the beginning with the water spots, but the longer the rug has lived in my house (and the more regular dirt/wear and tear it's accumulated), the less noticeable the spots are. It's developed a sort of rug patina. Ha!
I really, really like it. A rug like this is probably not for you if you have lots of kids and pets and a high traffic house (all of which apply to me) and you lose your mind when your house looks like people actually live in it (not me). It works great for us!

Do you have natural fiber rugs in your house? Do you love them? Hate them? Have tips for getting stains up? Lay it on me!

P.S. Rugs USA always has great sales on their rugs -- I've seen discount codes for up to 70% off before. It's a great website to bookmark!

P.P.S. If you're thinking more about a natural area rug, Lauren Liess at Pure Style Home wrote a great post about the differences between materials, their upkeep, etc. It's a great place to start!

P.P.S. Go check out the front room reveal if you want more pictures!

P.P.P.S. I'm done now.

P.P.P.P.S. Promise.

Front Room {Reveal}

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 20:58:00 +0000

I'm so excited to share this room! It all happened so quickly with other people doing the board and batten and painting... I have to admit, I could get used to that.

But for now, some pictures. We'll talk later.

Squee! After four years, I have a front room!

It's in the Details: Rope & Pipe Handrails

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 17:10:00 +0000

I realize I may stand alone in my love of funky handrails, and that's okay. It's been a very divisive topic at my house, especially the rope versions, so it won't hurt my feelings if you think I'm not quite right in the head.

But really, people. Rope and pipe handrails. I feel like they can work. Don't get me wrong, I feel like sometimes they don't. But they can. And when they do, they're fabulous. Let's look at some that work. (In my opinion, not my husband's!)

via House Beautiful

via Houzz

C designs via desire to inspire

via Remodelista

via Honeysuckle Life

via one forty three

I love quirky, unexpected touches like this. And these are obviously not for everyone, but I love the look of both of them in the right space.

How do we feel about this? I can handle it, so be honest!

Board & Batten Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:49:00 +0000

Last week I made the impulse decision to go ahead and make some progress in my front room while waiting on some things for my kitchen (AKA "the project that must not be named" or "the 5 year project that just wouldn't stop").
I gathered up my motivation and my DIY know-how, and I used them both to call our contractor friend. I could have done it myself, but when I'm talking through a project with him and it starts "maybe I could help you with that," and eventually morphs into "maybe you should help me with that," I know I'm beat.

Anyway, we emptied the room and he spent a few hours throwing this together. He's way faster than I am. And you know, probably a tiny bit more precise and better, since finish carpentry is his specialty and all.

And bonus, he rebuilt the window seat so it's bumped out a little from the wall and has cubbies. I love it!

The painters start today. Color me giddy. And color the walls Palladian Blue.

I can't wait to share what it looks like later this week! This is proof that when I make a decision, stuff can happen fast. See last year's impulse kitchen wall demolition for reference. So it's not that I can't make progress... I'm just lazy. :)

Fall Booties

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 02:03:00 +0000

You. Guys. I need some booties.

I need high heeled ones to wear with skirts and tights. I need low ones to wear with skinny jeans and casual skirts.

To be fair, when I say "need," I actually mean "want intensely and single-mindedly."

Except... I sort of need them.

How can something with so ridiculous a name be so essential to my life? And how could I have held out this long, only to crumble in a fit of Fall 2013 bootie-loving euphoria? It's like my unfulfilled baby hunger has finally manifested itself into something else: a shoe with a baby-sounding name. It may be misguided, but I like it.

1. Michael Kors / 2. Nine West / 3. DV by Dolce Vita / 4. Jessica Simpson / 5. Vince Camuto /

6. Frye / 7. Rocket Dog / 8. Sam Edelman

Metal Topped Console Table

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 20:55:00 +0000

I tried to finish my table before I had surgery last month, but it didn't quite work out the way I had planned. So it's been sitting partially complete for weeks now in my front room, along with all the other half-finished projects that I'm tackling this month.

The table, I swear, has been really simple -- it only takes weeks and weeks to complete if you're me. I shared the construction in a post earlier this summer, and I briefly mentioned my plan to have a metal top bent for it.

I spent a couple hours sanding it down to smooth the rough finish on the inexpensive 2x2's and also lend a more worn, rustic look to the table. I didn't want it heavily distressed with chains or anything.. I just wanted it to look broken in. No crisp corners allowed. I was purposefully uneven and loosey-goosey (a technical term) with my random orbital sander, though; this way even though the corners are all rounded similarly, they're not all straight lines:

The whole goal is to make it look more naturally worn than not, just like distressing paint. Less is usually more in my book.

After sanding, I used pre-stain conditioner since pine is soft and tends to accept stain unevenly which can result in blotchy finished products.

Then I stained the table with a 3:1 mix of Minwax's Ipswich Pine and Provincial stains, since I wanted a lighter finish on the wood to contrast the darker, rusted metal tabletop.

Speaking of the tabletop...

And there it is, my new console table. Very easy, pretty inexpensive (helpful tip: ask your steel yard or metal supplier how much it will cost before you order the tabletop! Just because it's rusted and laying in their garbage can waiting to be recycled doesn't mean they won't charge you full price once they see that you want it. Learn from my mistake. Doh.)

My favorite part about this table is that it's a bit different than most of the handmade or upcycled furniture I see or make. I love a good painted-and-distressed piece, but in my (completely uneducated) decorating opinion, those pieces look more unique and have a greater chance of passing for authentic when they aren't one of 10 similarly finished pieces in a home. So I jumped at the chance to make an easy piece of furniture with an entirely different aesthetic!

What do you think?

Banana Bread (No Oil, No Sugar!)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I'm alive and well, I just had some minor surgery earlier this month and underestimated the number of posts I needed to have scheduled. You live and you learn, right? I am doing great, I just couldn't work on any house projects for a while...

I realized that I can still cook, though. So I decided to share a recipe for banana bread that has no oil or added sugar (or honey, or agave, etc.). I like it because I'm really working on limiting my sugar and sweetener intake, but I don't want to go low carb. The bananas make this bread sweet enough for a yummy breakfast bread without sending it into the traditional dessert territory of regular banana bread recipes.

The process is very simple, just a regular quick bread recipe! Start with your wet ingredients:

Next, mash up the bananas. Make sure they are very ripe since they're providing all the sweetness to our bread.

In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together:

Add the bananas to the wet ingredients, followed by the dry ingredients:

Bake & enjoy! It's really good toasted, and still sweet enough for my kids to enjoy without it being a dessert. I still love traditional banana bread, this is just a healthier way to enjoy that yummy taste more often.

Sugar & Oil-Free Banana Bread (adapted from The Sweet Beet)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups mashed banana (about 4 very ripe, medium-sized bananas)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Beat eggs until fluffy, then add applesauce, milk and vanilla. In another bowl, mash bananas. In a third bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add bananas to wet ingredients and stir well. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes.

Completed Spa Room

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, of the friends I got to know in esthetics school asked me to design and decorate her facial room. And now it's finally done, and I get to share it with you!

The spa room is located in a local salon suites business, where business owners can rent individual rooms rather than renting stations in a larger salon. It's a neat concept and my friend also has the suite next door for her hair business of over 15 years. (yes, she's a talented lady!)

I posted the design board in June, but here's a reminder for you:

My friend wanted her spa room to feel warm and southwestern, but more Sedona than geometric or Native American-inspired like the trend that's really popular right now.

Because a lot of the esthetics equipment can be pretty expensive, we shopped smart for decor. In fact, the mirror, sconces, chair, pillow, and orange throw were all on clearance! We also hit up IKEA for things like canisters, small bowls for product, and towels.

I had her buy unfinished stock cabinetry which I painted, distressed and lightly glazed.

And now for the sad part: I tested it out, and getting waxed still hurts, no matter how pretty the room. Dang it.

My New Delta Faucet

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Okay, friends... remember this trip?

Delta was such a gracious host to all of us when we were visiting them in Indianapolis for the blogger event.

Well.

While we were there, they took us to an amazing restaurant for dinner one night and presented us all with gifts.

Yeah, I was pretty excited. We got to pick a shower head with Delta's H20 Kinetic Technology and a Touch20 kitchen faucet. So obviously, my facial expression in the above photo makes perfect sense. Talk about perfect timing for this girl who is currently knee-deep in the world's longest kitchen remodel.

Last month I got this in the mail:

And last week it finally turned into this:

I can tell Delta is working hard to make their faucet installation as simple as possible. I could have done it all by myself if I needed to. There was a full color booklet with step-by-step drawings, and the parts were all in small bags organized by when you needed them during the installation process.

I won't lie, it was also pretty nice to be able to put it together on the kitchen floor instead of under an existing sink! In the above photo, you can see the black box that houses whatever fancy magical parts are responsible for the touch response of the faucet -- the only thing missing is the battery pack that plugs into the end of that wire.

I love the clean lines of this more contemporary faucet paired with the classic look of my new counters, and I'm officially addicted to having a touch faucet. Delta provided the faucet, but I'm being 100% honest when I say that I think their touch technology is second to none.

My five year old loves being able to wash his hands in the kitchen without needing a stool to reach the handle, and I love being able to turn it on by tapping when my hands are dirty.

So now that I've shared my love story with this new favorite toy, tell me: what kitchen product or feature can't YOU live without?

Here a Tile, There a Tile...

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 12:00:00 +0000

I wanted to wait until the counters were installed to pick the backsplash tile, because I'm slower than molasses when it comes to making decisions for myself. If this kitchen belonged to anyone else, I would have picked everything at once and it would have been done a year ago... but that's because I'm sort of bossy and (not so) secretly enjoy making decisions for other people. Ha!

I have it narrowed down to three options. I'm all about options.

Thanks to the magic of computers and my limited skills, I threw three images of my kitchen together with samples of the colors.

Option 1: Green glass tiles (3x6")
Pretend these tiles are 3x6.

Option 2: Green marble tiles (2x4" or 3x6")
This is what I'm leaning toward because I think they're so darn pretty. And I think they're different enough from my Formica counters that there wouldn't be an issue of the real marble making the fake look cheap.

The mosaic sheet shown is just to illustrate the color variation -- they're each 1x2" in this sample which I don't like as much. The hang up is, if I do go for the slightly smaller 2x4 tile, I have to wait a couple months because they're out of stock. (So naturally that's what I think I want at this point...)

This green marble tile also reminds me a little of this kitchen's beautiful crackled ceramic tile, and I've always loved this kitchen.

(original source unknown)

Option 3: White subway tiles (3x6")
A classic choice. Would make for a very white kitchen, though..

So, what do you think? Does anyone have any words of advice for me? Let's pick some tile!

New Kitchen Counters

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:34:00 +0000

Some serious progress has been made in the kitchen! There's still plenty to do but for now I'm just going to enjoy my new counters.

They are from Formica's 180fx line -- the pattern is "Calacatta Marble." We bought a couple sheets of it and our contractor friend installed them for us so we saved a lot of money, but it also means there's no fancy seamless edge. I still think they look really nice so I will certainly not complain!

It was a big job and it involved a last minute unplanned sink purchase. The one we were planning on using was free from someone we know who had upgraded, but it turned out to be missing a big part necessary for mounting, and I didn't have time to order it from the company!

Could you imagine going a week or two without a kitchen sink? I think I'd lose my mind.

Next up is the backsplash! You probably noticed that my $53 slate version came down with the old counters... it's time to move on to bigger, better and more permanent things. I'm trying to make a decision about tile right now, so I'll share the options on here in the next day or two. For now, though... let's just enjoy.

No Sink in Sight

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:22:00 +0000

Yesterday, when I went to work, my kitchen looked like this:

And when I came back (and had completely forgotten), I was surprised with this:

So, while I might not have a sink... or even a hole for one, I will today! Finally! You can't see me right now, but I'm jumping up and down with excitement.

Okay, that's not true... I'm actually sitting and typing this out, not jumping. But it's happening on the inside, people. The inside.

New counters! Without weird, gag-worthy built in cutting boards! Apparently, y'all should be happy I wasn't here to take photos of the removal... lets just imagine years of water sneaking in around the edges of that cutting board. I heard it was pretty gross.

Let's focus on the good stuff though. After 4 months, the counters are going in. Be still my heart.

Now excuse me, I have to go wash some dishes in my bathroom sink!

P.S. Yes, I got a job. I'm such a grown up!
P.P.S. Happy 500th post to me!

If You Give a Girl Some New Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 03:09:00 +0000

Last week I had two new chairs delivered. It was sort of a big deal, and I like to stare at them.

I can't show you anything else in the front room because it's still a wreck but it's my next project! The entire point of this post is to illustrate how something as simple as a delivery of two chairs can set off a chain of events similar to what was described in the classic children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

If you give a girl some new chairs, she'll probably realize that none of the other furniture in the front room works with them. So she'll probably drag her big chair and a half to the living room.

Once the chair and a half is in the living room, she'll quickly find that the entire room needs to be rearranged, and that the white sofa table doesn't fit anymore. So she'll probably ask for help to carry it to the basement play room.

After the table is in the basement, she will decide that the black dresser in the dining room needs to find a new home, too. So she'll move it to her bedroom (where it technically belongs) and marvel at the idea of filling it with clothes.

Before:

Once the dresser is in the bedroom, there will be a big empty spot in the dining room! So she'll probably relocate some more furniture and go on an impromptu shopping trip for a mirror.

Now:

And after a day of rearranging, her husband will come home and wonder what on earth happened to his house... and he'll probably question why he gave a girl some new chairs to begin with.

To Build a Table

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:56:00 +0000

While I wait on some things that will allow me to finish my kitchen makeover, I decided to tackle a little project for my front room, which is next on my list of rooms that need love. And trust me, that room needs a lot of love.

First up, I needed an entry table. The space has a pretty challenging layout -- both my narrow hallway-style entry and the front room itself. I started looking for narrow console tables but nothing worked; they were either too expensive, too short, or too deep. Most of the time, all three!

Obviously, it was time to build one.

We grabbed some really inexpensive 2x2s and threw this simple table together with wood glue, clamps and screws (placed on undersides of the boards in pocket holes so I don't have to fill anything with wood putty!). It's important to select as straight of 2x2s as possible since it's not high quality lumber.

The finished table, with tabletop, will be 36" tall by 33" wide and 9.5" deep. That's about 6" taller than usual for console tables and much shallower, since the wall it will sit against runs right into a doorway and it can't block traffic. Check it out in its new home:

(On a side note, how classy is that unfinished wooden cube in front of the wall without baseboard? Maybe I should have some guests over and really impress 'em with my decorating skills!)

Speaking of tabletops though, maybe you're wondering where it is? I'm glad you asked.

I took a little trip to a local steel yard...

... and saw rows and rows of shiny metal sheets. Not exactly what I was looking for... so they showed me their rusty remnants outside.

Bingo! Today they are bending a piece of steel to fit over a wooden tabletop like a slipcover.

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited to see this come together. Stay tuned!

Four Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 06:14:00 +0000

Four things to start this weekend off right:

1. Clearance sales can still be expensive when you buy 25 plants:

As you can see though, my backyard gardens really need some love. At least there's something there now.

I don't want to talk about the pathway. I swear, it'll get done. Wah.

2. In April, when I made the decision to get a teeny dog from the shelter, it was part of a master plan. See, my giant slobbery dog stresses me out and sheds constantly even though she loves me unconditionally, and my neurotic cat sits and plots my demise while grinding her teeth and licking plastic grocery bags at 1:30 am. So the obvious solution to my pet woes would be to find a catdog that could magically merge the best qualities of both animals into one furry creature. People laughed, people said I was crazy...

...but I was right. Violet is pretty much the best catdog in the world. Just saying.

3. Here's a little peek at my living room, which is going through some changes right now.

My husband just loves it when I start moving things around! It always ends with me saying things like, "I think we need a new coffee table. And a bigger rug."

4. I'm going camping this weekend... that should be fun, right? Think good bear-repelling thoughts for me!

Ooh also, 4.5. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A Quick Storage Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 02:00:00 +0000

My boys are pretty hard on their belongings. Heck, they're pretty hard on my belongings.

Really, my boys are like two child-sized furniture staining/breaking/scuffing/dirtying tornadoes.

Maybe you have some kids like that? If so, you understand the need to surround them with sturdy things. I made a quick, easy upgrade to the storage bins in my boys' closet which get a lot of daily wear and tear.

When I first put the closet together I filled the shelves with some clearanced fabric bins -- they had metal frames inside them which probably would have held up okay against mere mortals, but we're dealing with my boys here, so several of the frames had snapped where they had been soldered together.

Recently, I found some cute metal locker-style bins at Walmart and snapped up six.

To help my kids tell their bins apart I wrote their initials on some chalkboard tags which I tied to the bins with twine.

Five minutes later and the closet has a fresh new look. I'll add felt slides to the bottom of all the bins to help protect the closet's paint job, but I didn't have enough on hand when I threw these together.

I love them! I'm also pretty optimistic that the solid metal bin will hold up better against my children and their destructive tendencies.

If only new bins could restore the harmony to the space! My older son officially asked for his own room this week. I giggled, because I'm a bad mom.

It's In The Details: Rustic Industrial Tables

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 02:52:00 +0000

Oh, y'all. I'm climbing the walls with an overwhelming urge -- no, a need -- to make one of these for my house. They're rustic! They're trendy! They're industrial! I'm crushing on these hard.

I see a lot of DIY farmhouse tables with planked tabletops that are stained or treated to look like reclaimed wood, which I love... but today I stumbled across one with $10 metal legs (ten dollars each, y'all!) and I quickly fell down the rabbit hole. Come join me!

DIY Table with Trestle Legs via Stylizimo

Custom Bar Table via Urban Wood Goods

DIY Table with Hairpin Legs via A Beautiful Mess

DIY Pipe Table (with plans!) via Cafe Cartolina

Oy, that last one with the crossbars. I die.

Even Restoration Hardware is getting in on the trend (they must have heard me talking about it) with their gorgeous Flatiron Table, which is just a teensy bit out of my price range...

What do you think? Am I nuts or is this a delightful marriage of rustic and industrial? Who wants to help me convince my husband that we need one?

June Recap Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:51:00 +0000

The last week of June gets its own post because it was hectic.

Like I said in yesterday's part 1, the day we got home from Jackson I packed myself back up and took off for Salt Lake. Monday morning, I caught a flight to Indianapolis for a blogger event hosted by Delta Faucet.

I had an amazing time with the other ladies and Delta Faucet took such great care of us. They made us install faucets and what my team lacked in plumbing prowess we made up for in panache and a couple extra parts (my bad... apparently there shouldn't be parts left over.)

The team: our Delta engineer "helper" Ben, Kim from Newly Woodwards, me, Julia from Chris Loves Julia, and Hillary from The Friendly Home (hard at work, saving our behinds)

Seriously though, learning about the design process, touring their department and getting some exciting sneak peeks of upcoming designs (excited about faucets? Yeah, I just said that and totally meant it) was enough to make me want to be a designer when I grow up.

(Judd Lord, Director of Industrial Design)

I shared my flights home with Monica from Hammer Like A Girl and Michelle from 4 Men 1 Lady. Monica helped keep both Michelle and I calm during the flight because she is all sorts of knowledgeable about planes and Michelle and I are big scaredy cats. Really though, some of the sounds planes make midflight aren't okay. Oh, and I spilled my entire Diet Coke on my lap... yeah, I'm sort of the coolest thing ever.

We got back to Salt Lake Wednesday evening and I hustled my behind over to Park City to spend the next several days immersed in wedding plans and celebrations!

It was wonderful. I met my friend Menaka in first grade and she's still very dear to me, so it was a special weekend. I didn't get to take many photos though!

Some highlights:

I got to see some old friends!

I bossed people around (coordinator) while carrying around glasses of champagne (guest).

I finally learned to Dougie. (probably not, though.)

Some lows:

I ate my first oyster and all the champagne in the world couldn't wash the taste out of my mouth... trust me, I tried.

I scuffed up my new shoes. I'm still upset.

I had to spend several hours cleaning up my hotel room so housekeeping wouldn't permanently bar me from visiting again.

My July plans:

Avoid all July plans.

June Recap Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anna @ Take the Side Street) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 19:52:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but in my world the month of June just flew by, and I am so grateful to be staring at July on my calendar now! I'm breaking this recap post into two parts because I have too much to share and too many photos.

School let out at the end of the first week...

We celebrated by visiting Grandma & Grandpa and spending some time at the local pool, then stuffing ourselves full of ice cream.

I filled all the free time I had with wedding preparations and cabinet painting for the facial room I'm decorating. My days were consumed with excessive caffeine consumption while hopping back and forth between projects. ("the cabinets need time to dry, I'll work on table numbers!")

I took our new shelter dog Violet to get her first haircut. They shaved her body, which was sort of traumatic for me... but when I look at her "before" face I can't help but laugh because she looked so, so bad!

Then I got my first tattoo. I'll be sharing the story behind why I chose it soon.

My family was lucky enough to spend a weekend in Grand Teton National Park at the Jackson Lake Lodge with my husband's company for their annual family meeting. This was the first year we took our kids, and although there are babysitting services set up for the "grown up" times and lots of family activities, it wasn't quite as relaxing as years past! I had a great time but they might go back to Grandma's next year... no judging!

The park was goooorgeous, we saw a mama Grizzly with three cubs, rode on covered wagons to dinner and a western show, and caught up with lots of fabulous people. Oh, and my husband accidentally drank my contact when he forgot that I had stored them in cups overnight because I had misplaced my case.

(See the bears at the bottom?? Click the photo to make it a little bigger.)

The day we drove home from Wyoming, I spent a few hours unpacking and repacking my clothes and the 700 pounds of wedding paraphernalia I had accumulated before taking off for the busiest week of. my. life. No exaggerations, people... and that's where I'll pick up tomorrow!