{IN}Design

Deals and Steals

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:30:00 +0000

This past weekend my sister-in-law Christie and I took a trip to Midland Arts & Antiques Market. If you live in Indy and have never been- go! It's a great, huge antique mall with all sorts of treasures. I do think many of their booths are a bit more expensive than other antique malls out there, but they have a lot of quality pieces, including a lot of beautiful furniture.

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We went to Midland with no particular purpose in mind, other than the fact that I've been itching for a new furniture-painting project. (Ignore the fact that I have multiple unfinished projects at home. I certainly am). Unfortunately a lot of the things I loved were outside my price range, but I did come home with this mirror for only $30.

My plan is to paint it either creamy white or gray, distress it a bit, and hang in on this wall in the dining room.

And of course I couldn't leave Midland without adding another Ball jar to my collection.

I loved the little size, intense bluish green color, and the bicentennial eagle on the side. (See Bobby, it is different than the others I own!) For $7 I couldn't resist. I believe my exact quote was "Oh yeah, this little guy's coming home with me".

But the most exciting purchase of the day was actually a Craigslist find. I've been looking for some dressers and other pieces of furniture that are in good shape but just need a paint job. This one definitely fit the bill for $35, including a matching mirror!

For now this picture from Migonis Home is serving as my inspiration, but I may change my mind between now and then.

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There you go- my weekend deals and steals! Anyone else finding anything good from Craigslist or a thrift shop recently? Anyone in Indy have suggestions of "must visit" thrift shops?

Getting the Deck Summer-Ready

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:07:00 +0000

Now that the warm weather looks like it's here to stay (although I probably just jinxed it), we thought it would be a good time to drag out our deck furniture. Here's what the deck looked like all winter:

Pretty sad and lonely.

We got our deck furniture at the end of summer last year. This is a great time to buy since prices are seriously reduced as fall approaches. After a lot of research and debate we got a loveseat, chair, and table from the Target Threshold Belvedere Wicker set, seen here.

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Because we have a Target Red debit card we got 5% off our order, plus free shipping. The free shipping alone saved us over $75! (Side note- best card ever. I love that it's a debit card, instead of a credit card. There's also no minimum purchase to get free shipping).

After buying those furniture pieces we found two side chairs at Lowes, also on clearance at the end of the season. They are such a close match to the Belvedere design that we had to add them. I didn't see them on the Lowes website, but they are the Allen + Roth 'Connelly'. They came as a set of two that retailed for $100 and we got them for $50.

Drum roll please... Here is our deck after getting out the furniture.

Not bad for mid-April, right? The two pillows are from Lowes. The lantern is from Homegoods. The flower pots are a mixture of Target, IKEA, and Homegoods. I'd like to get some more bright plants and flowers to add some color. I'm also considering an outdoor rug. Does anyone have any suggestions? Finally, our big project for later this month will be to stain the deck. We're currently leaning towards a dark espresso brown to contrast against the green house. Just checking things off that summer to-do list.

Now all we need are some burgers and pitcher of sangria!

Outdoor To-Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:23:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but I am SO happy for the warmer weather we've been having recently. At one point I was pretty sure Indiana was never going to see sunshine or temperatures above 40 degrees ever again.

This nice weather has me thinking about all of our outside projects. So here is our outdoor to-do list, as of today. My hope is that most of this gets accomplished in 2013, but we all know how that goes. I'll post progress pictures as we chip away at the list.

1. Stain the deck a dark brown. It's a light natural wood right now.
2. Stain the concrete steps in the back. Maybe gray?
3. Paint the front porch area and trim around the windows (cream?). Right now our house is an olive green color, and the front porch columns and trim are a slightly lighter shade of green. There's not much contrast in the colors, so the really pretty detail work is lost.
4. Paint the front and/or back door a fun color. Maybe navy?
5. Remove the front screen door. It's ugly and we never really leave the front door open anyway.
6. Fix the broke basketball hoop. Right now we have just a post, with no backboard or hoop. Bobby would like to change that, so he can get his Cody Zeller-on.
7. Do some landscaping and plant flowers. Since we moved in in August we don't know what will bloom this spring, so I want to wait and see before we do anything. I do know there are peony bushes in the backyard, and I can't wait to see them in full bloom!
8. Work on decorating the back deck area. We already have furniture, but I'd like to get some more planters, lanterns, and maybe bistro lights. We'll be setting up the deck furniture this weekend, so prepare for a post on that in the near future.
9. Get a rain barrel. Maybe a compost bin?
10. Plant an herb garden. We have a little planter left by the previous owner. I just need to fill it!

That's all I can think of for now, but I think it's enough to keep us busy well into the summer! What about you guys? Any big outdoor to-do lists?

I'll leave you with a few inspiration pictures!


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Recipe Round-Up, March 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:01:00 +0000

So far this blog has been all home renovation and not much else. But in addition to painting and decorating, I love to cook in my free time. Bobby and I take turns cooking dinner most nights of the week. I recently added all my favorite recipes to a Google Drive folder, which makes organizing and accessing them much easier. (Let me know if you'd like me to share the folder with you!)

Pinterest has definitely helped me expand my cooking and baking horizons, so I wanted to share a few of our recent favorites!

Asian Slaw with Peanut Ginger Dressing from Once Upon a Chef: I brought this to a work potluck (or pitch-in, as people in Indiana say), and it was a huge hit. It's colorful, full of flavor and texture, and a great way to eat your veggies. I used one bag of coleslaw and one bag of shredded carrots and it made a very large batch. Add some grilled chicken or shrimp and you have yourself a substantial meal.

Crock Pot Pumpkin Turkey Chili from Skinny Taste: I love pumpkin and I love using my crockpot, so this is a match made in heaven. The pumpkin flavor is subtle, but a great new take on chili. We've made it with turkey and chicken, and both are good. (Tip: Aldi carries canned pumpkin year round).

Black Bean & Quinoa Veggie Burgers from Prevention RD: I've been trying to cook vegetarian more often, so this recipe seemed like a good place to start. We both really liked the flavor- even Bobby, who was very skeptical. Instead of a chipotle I used some chili powder. The yogurt sauce is excellent too. They're very filling, so we froze the patties that we didn't eat for a future dinner.

Banana Banana Bread from Amandeleine: Way too often I'm guilty of letting bananas get too ripe on the counter before we eat them. When this happens I just throw them in the freezer (peel on) to save for future banana bread making. This has become my go-to recipe. It's super moist and actually tastes better after a few days. The recipes calls for six bananas, but I often use five and it turns out fine.

What new recipes have you been trying? Any good ones that you would recommend?

Project: Pantry

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:42:00 +0000

File this one under "nothing groundbreaking, but totally necessary". (You have a file for that, right?) I'm talking about pantry organizing. Our kitchen has two pantries- one is fairly small and the other I would call medium sized. It holds a lot, but it's not like some of those beautiful walk-in pantries you've seen on Pinterest. Case in point:

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Can you even imagine? I would just take my book in there and relax among the organized canned goods.

Here are the two pantry-types areas in our kitchen. The smaller one is really two vertical cabinets. The other is more of a small closet. Here's the view of our pantries from inside the kitchen.

Before I did any organizing I used some leftover white semigloss paint and did a quick two coats on the inside of the door. You can see in the picture above the difference in the colors after I painted those two squares at the top. Here's another shot.

Gross, right?

In the top right pantry we keep oils, dressings, soups, and canned goods. That lazy susan is from Crate and Barrel, although I've seen them at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Goods. On the bottom right we keep cat food, onions and potatoes, baking supplies including flour, sugar, etc., and other odds and ends like peanut butter and pesto. We used to also kept our spices on that tiered wire shelf.

The bigger pantry on the left keeps all boxed goods like cereal, crackers, cookies, pasta, rice, cake mixes, etc. We also keep our broom and Swiffer Wet Jet in there.

The main issue I had with the pantry was the way the spices were stored. Even though I had one of those three-tiered shelves it was difficult to see anything beyond the back row. Reaching for anything in the back row required also taking out anything in the front or middle rows. Plus I had too many spices for the shelves, so then I had another plastic basket next to it with the overflow. It was a big pain. (First world problems, I know).

The back of the door of the bigger pantry wasn't being utilized, so I decided attaching a rack there was the best option. Lucky for me, The Container Store (TCS) was having their 30% off Elfa sale at the time. Their stuff isn't cheap, so I'll take any discount I can get! You can view their wire storage systems here.

After some debate we got three Spice Rack Baskets, one Shallow Basket, and two Narrow Deep Baskets, plus the vertical mounting bracket and screws. We got everything in white to blend in with the door. Don't forget to measure the height and depth of your door before heading to TCS. I didn't measure the depth and had to return one basket (a regular Deep Basket) that didn't fit.

Installation was super easy (especially for me, since Bobby did all of it). Here it is, in all its spicy glory!

It's so much easier to find our spices. And yes, I alphabetized them. Might as well go all out. This project wasn't difficult or time consuming, but I love small projects that make your life easier in a big way. Bobby has caught me just staring into the open pantry on more than one occasion :)

Totally Floored (AKA Half-Bath Makeover, Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:25:00 +0000

(You can read part 1 here and part 2 here).

At this point in our half-bath makeover I was feeling pretty darn good. In a little over two days we had transformed our tiny boring beige bathroom (say that five times fast) into a fun striped room with plenty of style. However at that point it also become painfully obvious that the old laminate flooring was not working. Before the makeover the floor just blended in with the beige walls, making it barely noticeable. But since I painted the trim bright white, along with white and gray walls, the laminate looked pretty dingy. Bobby was actually the one who pointed it out and got the ball rolling on this part of the project, which never happens!

Yes, there is plastic wrap around the toilet. This was our fancy way of protecting it as we painted the wall behind it.

After researching and debating a few options, we decided to head to Lowe's on Monday and check out peel and stick tile. It seemed like an easy and affordable way to do a new floor in a small space. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of tile options they carried. Prices ranged from about 75 cents to a few dollars each, for a 12" x 12" tile. Since our room was 5' by 6' we calculated we would need 20 tiles. (5x6= 20. Even I can do that math). We ended up getting 23 just to give ourselves room for error in case we messed up one of the cuts.

When choosing a tile design we wanted one that had some gray undertones. Thankfully we were able to find one that we loved. It's called the Style Selections 12" x 12" Gray/Brown Slate Finish Vinyl Tile, from Lowe's.

It was even one of the cheaper options at 88 cents per tile, making our total for 23 tiles $20.24 plus tax. Online reviews were overwhelmingly positive, saying they looked great and were easy to install. Some commenters said they didn't hold up well over time in high-traffic areas, but we don't have lots of people walking through our half-bath on a daily basis, so we figured we were in the clear. However if you're looking to do the floors in your kitchen or a main hallway you might want to look for a more durable product.

After getting our tiles home we did a little prep and planning. First I swept and wiped down the floor to get off any dust and grime. You want to put down tiles on a floor as clean and level as possible. We then layed down tiles (paper backing still attached) to see how it all looked. We also wanted to determine the best placement to avoid as many cuts as possible. We decided we would start in the center of the room and lay our tiles off centered, like a brick pattern, rather than stacked evenly on top of one another. And then, basically, we winged it! Honestly the process was pretty easy until you get to the cuts. You just peel off the back, place the edges of the tile where you want it, and then press down. The backing is very sticky, so there's not a lot of wiggle room once it's down. So just make sure you have it where you want it and press each tile firmly against the others before putting it down. We used a level to make sure our edges were lining up and that we were staying on a straight line. Here's a picture of some good progress:

To do the cuts Bobby measured very carefully, and then used a large utility blade to score the tiles. Once you've scored them a few times you basically snap them in half. We definitely learned the importance of a sharp blade. The duller the blade got the harder the cuts were to make, and the edges were rougher. We had to use sandpaper on some tiles to smooth the edges. If you look closely on the right side of this picture you can see some white in between two tiles. That is a spot that wasn't very smooth. Fortunately those spots are few and far between, and you really have to look closely to find them.

We debated whether or not to remove the toilet to tile underneath, but by that point Bobby was feeling pretty confident in his cutting ability so we left it there and tiled around it. He used a sheet of paper to make a template to cut those rounded parts. Tiling around the toilet was definitely the most time consuming part of the project, so I would probably recommend moving it to make your life a little easier.

After a three day weekend, around $38, and a little hard work we went from this:

to this:

Towels from Marshalls

Shelf from Home Goods, vase from IKEA, succulent from Hobby Lobby

Pretty awesome right? I love our new half-bath so much. It really goes to show you what a little time, and an even smaller budget can do for a room!

Get Your Fix!

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:13:00 +0000

Ok, I know I said I was going to write next about our new half-bath floor and post some final “after” pictures, but I lied. I hope you will forgive me, because I have something really fun and non-home related to write about first. Bathroom info will come later this week!

So have you heard about Stitch Fix? It’s basically an online personally shopping experience. You fill out an online survey listing your age, height, weight, body shape normal clothing sizes, etc. Then you answer a lot of questions about your style and the types of clothes you normally wear. So you tell them what you do for a living, what you wear to work, how often you wear casual/professional/date night/fancy outfits. They also show you collections of pictures and you indicate if you love/like most/like some/dislike the pieces. The questions help you narrow down your style profile. Mine is a combination of classic, preppy, and casual. You also tell them what types of jewelry you wear, what colors/prints/fabric you like or don’t like. There is a section for comments or to request certain pieces. Finally, you can share your social media sites with them to give them a better sense of your style. I share my Pinterest StyleBoard so they could see the types of outfits I am drawn to. Based on all that information they send you five items on a date you choose.

I got my first fix this past weekend, and I loved it! They seriously nailed my style. I am keeping three of the pieces, although honestly I liked all five. Ready for my fashion show?

My favorite! Definitely a keeper. (I actually wore it to work today).

Great casual top. Keeper #2.

Love the style, but I don't think it's very flattering on me. Brady agrees. Returning.

Like it, but didn't love it. It's going back. (The belt is mine, from LOFT).

This is so "me". I love stripes (example numero uno) and cardigans. I think it looks even better unbuttoned. Here's another picture:

Don't worry, I don't plan on wearing those patterns together.

So here are more details about how it works:

-When they ship your fix you are charged a $20 styling fee. If you keep something that $20 gets credited to your purchase. If you keep nothing you lose the $20. That is the only real risk.

-They send you a prepaid envelope to mail back anything you don’t want. You have three days to do this.

-If you keep all five things you get 25% off your whole purchase.

-You get to set a price range for different clothing categories (As cheap as possible, $50-100, $100-$150, unlimited, etc.) and Stitch Fix will do their best to accommodate your request. I believe they say their average piece is $75. Four out of my five pieces were $78 or less. Admittedly, this is more than I normally spend on clothes. However I am trying to start buying more “investment pieces”, rather than always getting cheap things that last a season or two, so I’m OK with it.

-You can schedule a fix as often as once a month, or just occasionally when you want one. There is no obligation or sign-up fee.

-There is a waitlist. I think I waited about three weeks after signing up before I got my first fix.

I am not being paid or perked to write this post, I just had a great experience with Stitch Fix and I highly recommend them! But here’s where I will ask a favor of you, lovely reader J If you’re going to sign up, will you please do so through my referral code? I will get $25 credit if you do. Then you’ll get your own referral code that you can send to your friends. Thanks! Click here to sign up with my referral link!

Half-Bath Striped Makeover, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:29:00 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about the first steps I took to turn my half-bath from a boring beige box to an inspired, striped room. You can read the first part here.

When I left you I had finished all my measuring and taping by Saturday evening.

Sunday: Take a credit card and smooth out all your tape to make sure there are no gaps or bubbles. This will help ensure that no paint bleeds under the tape. Then, and this might be the key step of the whole process, with a mostly dry brush paint your base wall color (for me- white) along the edge of the tape that butts up against the stripes you are going to paint gray. Don't over do it, you just want a little paint on your brush. The reason this step is so important is because it helps to seal down the tape, and if any paint gets under the tape it will be your base wall color- which is the color already found under the tape!

Since you're not using much paint it should dry relatively quickly. After that step was fully dry I used a small textured roller (and a brush when needed) to paint my stripes gray. I did two coats. Here it is after one coat:

Right after I finished the second coat, before it was fully dry, I slowly and carefully peeled off the tape. And this is what I was left with:

Peeling off the tape is so fun. I seriously beamed every time I pulled off a new strip. Because of the precautions I took I had very few touch-ups to do. There were only a few spot where paint bled under the tape. I just used a tiny craft paintbrush to do some touch ups.

At this point I was feeling pretty good about myself. Keep in mind that my only expense so far was a quart of paint for around $15. But then I had to address the elephant in the (tiny) room. The floor.

It's like the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". Except this story is called "If you give a girl a new striped bathroom she's going to want a new floor". I hear it's moving up the best seller list.

Tomorrow: A new floor for $18.

UPDATE: View part three, the new floor, here.

Half-Bath Striped Makeover, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:16:00 +0000

Our house was built in 1952. If you know much about older homes you know that they tend to have certain characteristics. Some of those are great things like detailed woodwork and beautiful fireplaces. Other thing are not so good, like limited closet space and small bathrooms. Fortunately we lucked out on the closet space. But when it comes to the bathrooms we didn't exactly hit the real estate jackpot.

We have three bathrooms- one connected to the master, one in the hall, and then a half-bath on the other side of the house. I'm saving pictures of the two full baths for another day because it's too much fabulous-ness for one post (please read that sentence in your best sarcastic voice). Think lots of tile in colors like bright turquise and mustard yellow. The half-bath however was a blank slate, which lent itself to an easier and cheaper update. Here are the before pictures (after a little taping to start the project):

You can see that it was basically a 5 x 6 beige box. Nothing too offensive, but nothing too exciting either.

My inspiration for this makeover was my long-time obsession with stripes. Clothes, bags, art, you name it, if it's striped, I love it. With Bobby on board I decided that I would do wide stripes in gray and white. This was my main inspiration photo:

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So over a three day weekend in January we decided to tackle the bathroom once and for all. I read a lot of stripe tutorials and found this one to be the most helpful: Lessons in Painting Stripes, from Emily A. Clark.

Supplies needed:
Base color paint (Totten's Inlet, Valspar Signature, eggshell- we had it on hand)
Stripe paint (Rocky Slope, in Valspar Signature, eggshell)
Trim paint- Not necessary, but my trim was cream and I wanted it white
Painting tape
Long level
Short level (I used a level app on my iphone)
Tape measurer
Pencil
Paint brush (as always, I recommend this one by Wooster)
Paint roller

Here's the schedule of how our project worked out:

Friday evening: First things first- prep the area. Take everything out the room. For my room that consisted of two hand towels, a box of tissues, a trashcan, and a soap dispenser. Back-breaking work, I tell ya. I wiped down the walls and trim, and puttied (and later sanded) holes and dents in the trim. I also taped along where the baseboards meet the floor to avoid getting paint on the floor. Turns out I didn't need to do this since we ended up putting down new flooring, but I didn't know that at the time. We also went to Lowes and bought our gray paint on Friday evening. We had all the other supplies on hand.

Saturday Morning: Stop hitting snooze. Have a few cups of coffee. Get off Pinterest. Then paint your walls your base color. Or if they're already the color you want skip this step and consider yourself lucky. I also painted my trim. I used a semi-gloss paint/primer in one on the trim in a shade slightly whiter than the walls to make the trim stand out. I did two coats on each the walls and trim, and it took all of Saturday morning and into the early afternoon.

Saturday Afternoon/ Evening: Here's where the math comes into play. Don't worry, it's relatively easy. The first thing we did was decide how thick we wanted the stripes. Try to be strategic when planning your stripes. For example, you want your towel bar and toilet paper holder to be fully inside a stripe to make your life easier. Otherwise you need to measure and paint around those objects. I thought I wanted my stripes to be around a foot wide. We ended up making them 10.5" to best work around those objects and so we could create an even amount of stripes. Yours will depend on your ceiling height and how wide you want your stripes. Drawing a diagram helped me.

Now, measuring from the ceiling, use your tape measurer to start marking down 10.5" (for example). Make a mark in approximately the center of your wall, and then use your tape measurer and do a few more marks from wall to wall. Connect the marks with your long level. You should have a level, horizontal line all the way across the wall, 10.5" down from the ceiling at all points. Now measure another 10.5" from that stripe and repeat the process, until your wall is completed lined. It's OK if your bottom section isn't exactly 10.5", because people won't be looking at the bottom of your walls as much as they look at the top and middle.

Now do the rest of the walls. Yes, this is tedious. But you'll ~~ask nicely and your husband will do it~~ get in a rhythm and it will go relatively quickly. The most important thing is to keep your lines level. Because once you do walls one, two, and three you need to do wall four and have it join walls one and three. If your lines aren't level on walls one through three, wall four is going to be a slanted mess. So go slow and be accurate.

My room had some little walls that were too small for our level. That's where the iPhone level app came in handy.

Once you have your lines drawn with pencil use pieces of tape to mark the spaces that will not get painted. (the white stripes). Looking at a room of stripes can be dizzying, so this step will help prevent you from painting a white strip gray. I decide to keep my top stripe white so I didn't have to edge along the ceiling with the gray paint.

Next you want to use painters tape to create your lines. Just go slow and keep the tape as straight and level as possible. You will want the actual strip of tape to be inside the stripe that is staying white (or whatever you base color is). It's sort of hard to explain, but you know what I mean, right? You need to keep your gray stripe completely open and free from tape so it ends up being the correct width.

Here is part of the room after taping:

So the areas with tape pieces will stay white, and the blank areas will get painted gray. The stripes staying white look narrower, but once the tape is removed they will be the same width as the stripes getting painted gray.

That was the end of day two! Tomorrow: painting and - the best part- pulling off the tape to see those stripes!

Update: See part two here.

Pinterest Challenge: Winter 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:32:00 +0000

Have you seen the Pinterest Challenge project, start by Young House Love and Bower Power? If not, check out the newest challenge here and here. (How cute is that video of the kids?!) The basic gist is to encourage bloggers to actually make something that they've pinned! Novel concept, right? :) It's also a great time to go through all your boards and do some purging. You know, from when you first got a Pinterest account and pinned anything and everything that looked remotely cute, pretty, or tasty?

I tend to be pretty good about making recipes I've tried on Pinterest (see my 'Accomplished' board here), so I wanted to try a craft project this time. After some debating, I finally decided on my project- a DIY sunburst mirror! Woohoo! I've wanted one for awhile to hang over our guest bed. I think a white mirror would look great on the new teal walls (which I still need to write about). But, along with most things I want in life (new jeans, a vacation, a master bathroom not designed in 1952), they're typically pretty expensive. Thankfully there are a lot of great tutorials on Pinterest, and the Winter Challenge was just the motivation I needed. I used this tutorial from House of Fifty. Here's what her awesome mirror looks like (please pin directly from her site, not mine):

Supplies needed:
Mirror (Hobby Lobby, $3.00- I had a 40% coupon).
2 packs of faux bamboo sticks (Hobby Lobby $7.00- they were 50% off)
Glue gun and lots of extra glue (already owned)
White gloss spray paint (Hobby Lobby $4.80- It was 30% off)
Spray paint primer (already owned)
Newspaper and tape to protect the mirror while painting
Hanging kit (Hobby Lobby, $1.47- paid full price. Darn it.)
Scissors, to cut the bamboo

I was looking for a regular mirror, but I found this flower shaped one and I thought it would provide extra support for the bamboo sticks. I found the bamboo sticks in the floral section and got two bunches- each of them had about 25 rods. I used almost all of them, so if your mirror is larger I recommend getting three bunches. They're somewhat fragile, which made moving the mirror tricky, however I could cut them easily with regular scissors instead of needing a saw.

I started by cutting my sticks in various sizes. I didn't really measure anything because I wanted it to all look natural and not too planned. My sticks were about 24" long. I cut some of them into thirds, and others I cut into a 18" piece and a 6" piece. I first glued the longer sticks evenly around the mirror. (Sorry for the dim pictures, I was working in the basement).

Then I used the shorter sticks to start filling in each section. I tried to alternate shorter and longer sticks. I would often place them on the mirror to see how they fit before I glued them since some sticks were thicker than others and I had to make sure they would all fit. Try to fit them together as tight as possible and make sure they're lined up at the bottom along the mirror. Also, don't go crazy with the glue gun. I definitely overdid it in some areas and you can still see the hardened glue globs.

After it was all glued together and dry I taped a piece of scrap paper over the mirror to protect it from the paint. Here it is all taped and ready to be primed and painted.

Because the spray paint I got at Hobby Lobby didn't have built-in primer I decided to use separate spray primer first. I did one coat on each side of the mirror. The next day I used white high gloss spray paint to do two coats on the front and one coat on the back. Make sure you spray from all angles to fully cover the bamboo rods.

After it was dry and back inside the house I attached a picture-hanging bracket on the back of the mirror. This would have been much easier to do before all the rods were glued on, so now you can learn from my mistake! Although only two pieces of bamboo had to be glued back on, so not too shabby.

Here it is in all it's glory in the guest room!

(Bed, nightstand, and striped pillow from IKEA, bedding from Crate & Barrel, rug from RugsUSA.com)

I hope you liked my Pinterest-inspired project! Check out the four founding blogs' projects here: Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor & The Dog.

*If you like this one, check out some of my other Pinterest-inspired projects:
Staining a kitchen table
DIY Chalkpaint (Dining room buffet)

Next week I'll be blogging about our $33 half-bath transformation, including painting thick horizontal stripes!

Adventures with Chalk Paint, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:29:00 +0000

Have you read part 1 about making your own chalk paint? If not, start there.

So last time I left you hanging on the edge of your seat with my 'before' picture:

Ugly, right? But great potential. I bought this buffet off Craigslist for only $55 (plus the previous owner accidentally left some cute white napkin rings and Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shakers inside, so we'll call that a bonus). It is a solid piece made of all real wood, but it needed some serious work. Obviously I wanted to change the color, and I needed to replace the glass in the front doors since one was missing and the other was cracked.

I bought the buffet to go in this space in our dining room. Since the room is very neutral I wanted the buffet to be a pop of color (the shelves and wallpaper were put up by the house's previous owner):

This picture was taken the day we moved in. Can't wait to change that chandelier!

Here's what I used once I was ready to paint:
Homemade chalk paint (recipe)
80 and 150 grit sand paper
Rags & cleaning solution
Paint brushes (one small and one large)
Finishing wax (Minwax) & brush or rag (I used an old white undershirt)

For my chalk paint color I chose Eucalyptus Leaf by Behr. If I'm being totally honest now it is a little brighter than I intended, but overall it looks great.

My first step was take out all the drawers and do some serious cleaning. I wiped out all the crumbs, used my dust buster, and then cleaned it off with some Mrs. Meyers general purpose cleaner. The reason I decided to use chalk paint on this piece is because I knew sanding it down first would be a huge pain. The finish was really shiny, almost laquired, and who knows what was underneath it. Since chalk paint requires no sanding I figured it would be much easier and still give me the slightly distressed look I was going for.

After everything was clean and dry I did two coats of my homemade chalk paint. It dries fairly quickly, so I didn't really let much time elapse between coats. Make sure you do some light sanding between coats with a high grit sand paper. Not enough to distress it yet, just enough to smooth out any bumps. Here is the color after just one coat (with no distressing):

If I wanted a lot of the black to show through I would have stopped at one coat, but I only wanted to see the black on the edges where I sanded it, so I did two. The next day after it was dry I sanded the edges and certain areas on the top and front with coarse sand paper. Doesn't the distressing look awesome? This part was so rewarding.

This picture shows a true color

For the shelves and inside I ended up making some white chalk paint with paint I had on hand, but honestly in retrospect I don't know why I did that. I should have just used normal paint since I wasn't planning on distressing it. Live and learn.

Since chalk paint does dry somewhat, well, chalky, you want to use a furniture wax to protect it from scratches. Many people recommend using a big round brush like this one to apply the wax, but I didn't have one. I also read that a cloth or old t-shirt would work, so I cut apart one of Bobby's old undershirts that was otherwise getting thrown away.

I bunched up a section of the shirt, pressed it in the wax to get a good among on my cloth and then rubbed it onto my piece, using a good amount of pressure. I worked in sections until it was all covered. I wiped off any excess, especially in the nooks and crannies of the legs. Later that day (although I have since read that you should wait overnight) I used a piece of clean cloth to buff it (think 'wax on, wax off' motion). This step makes it amazingly shiny and hard. The wax will be dry and hardened in a few days but not fully cured for 3-4 weeks, so try to be patient and not rest anything on top of your piece until then!

A note about this particular wax- Although it is labeled as 'clear' it has a slightly brownish tint to it. In some of the small crevices on my buffet you can see where some excess wax dried and it is not clear. So I wouldn't recommend using this particular brand on white or light colored furniture. Get wax that is truly clear (Annie Sloan has one).

Here it is- the big after shot!

Ok, it's not a 100% after shot because I still need to replace the glass and put the side doors back on. So it's an 85% after shot.


(Top shelf, from left: Target vase, Ikea vase, Ikea plants and pots. Bottom shelf, from left: Marshall's candle, Marshall's hurricane jar, Target bowl, Target ceramic urchin, Hershey Chocolate tin)

Ta da! See, chalk paint is easy and affordable!

Adventures with Chalkpaint, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 18:54:00 +0000

Have you caught the chalk paint fever yet? I'm not talking about chalkboard paint, which you can use to write on. I'm talking about chalk paint, which is used to redo furniture to give it a distressed, shabby chic or French country look. Here are some examples:

Source

Chalk paint is easy to use because it requires no sanding beforehand. It supposedly covers any surface, even something shiny or plastic. Due to the chalky finish it's easy to distress the edges to get that worn look.

Although there are lots of 'pros' to using chalk paint, there are some cons: it's expensive and not readily available everywhere. The only brand of chalk pain is Annie Sloan, which is only sold at specific approved retailers. So you can't just go pick it up at Lowes. There are only four retailers in the whole state of Indiana. One of them isn't too far from me, so I may go check it out some time. But again, the paint is expensive. I bought a piece of furniture from Craigslist that I wanted to redo, so rather than make the trip to that one specific store and spend a lot of money on Annie Sloan paint, I decided to do what any normal DIYer on a budget would do- make my own.

There are several recipes floating around on Pinterest, but I went with this one from i heart nap time. (I do heart nap time!). You can read her whole process on her site, but the basic recipe is:

2 cups latex paint (any color or brand. I got flat but I'm sure other sheens would work.)
5 tablespoons plaster of paris
2 tablespoons water
(I really eyeballed everything and it turned out fine. I think it's one of those projects that's hard to mess up.)
You'll also want some furniture wax to finish the job

First mix up the plaster of paris and water in a bucket or leftover plastic container. Try to get out any lumps. Then stir in the paint, mix well, and adjust the ingredients as necessary. It should feel like thicker, slightly gritty paint, but not so thick that it's difficult to use. It also shouldn't be lumpy, so you want to mix the plaster and water really well before you add the paint. Add more water if it's too thick or more plaster if it's too watery. Voila! You've made chalk paint! Pat yourself on the back and buy those new shoes you've had your eye on. OK, maybe just the pat on the back. We're trying to save money here, remember?

If you're not going to finish your project in one day, I recommend using a container with a lid to store your paint. It should keep for a few days, but you might have to add a little water to loosen it up. Although another benefits of chalk paint is that it dries quickly, and you can can a second coat within an hour or so.

This was my paint on day two. I stirred in some water and it was good as new.

Now you're probably wondering what I did with this homemade chalk paint! Stayed tuned for tomorrow's post on the whole project. Spoiler alert- this is the 'before'. (Update- read part 2 here).

New Lights & Short Fuses

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:30:00 +0000

After I finished staining our new table (read part 1 and part 2) and put it in our kitchen I was in love with the way it looked. But then there was just one problem- the chandelier.

The previous owner of the house had great taste, but her style was definitely more feminine and formal than ours. So I knew the original chandelier had to go. For our replacement I turned to my usual source of inspiration, Pottery Barn. I knew I wanted something like their Calhoun Glass Pendant:

Then I looked at my usual go-to sources for actually buying things: Overstock, Amazon, Target, Homegoods, Lowes, etc. I was all set to buy this light from Lowes to save $31:

But then the Pottery Barn light went on sale! And I had a 15% off coupon! And I had some money left on a gift card! Talk about a money-saving trifecta.

Bobby and I figured we could install it ourselves, even though we had literally zero experience. But after a few YouTube videos you can become an expert at anything, right? So a few videos, half a day, and many curse words later (by Bobby, not me. I was good this time) our new light was installed:

Gorgeous right? The three pendant lights above the peninsula got a makeover too, but that's a post for another day. (And yes, this was taken around Christmas, hence the table decor). And I have big plans for those blue IKEA chairs.

You may be wondering about the title of this post. Well just a little piece of advice: if your spouse agrees to install a light fixture for you and is having a hard time getting the wires connected correctly, leading to a lot of frustration, it's not a good time to make the following pun "Wow, you really have a short fuse today". (HILARIOUS, right?) He was not amused. I still laugh about it to this day.

Craigslist Kitchen Table, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:04:00 +0000

If you missed part 1, read that here.

Once I was ready to begin refinishing the table I bought I gathered all my supplies. Here's what I used:

Electric Sander with 80 grit and 200 grit discs (I love this one and highly recommend getting one if you plan on doing several projects).
Sandpaper, 80 grit and 200 grit
Goggles & Mask to wear while you’re using the electric sander
Chemical stripper- I used Citrastrip (You might not need this, but I used it in the small rope detail where I couldn’t sand and it was a HUGE help! Plus it smells like oranges.)
Brush with stiff bristles, to scrape off the stripper
Wood conditioner- I used Minwax Wood Conditioner (not required but nice to have)
Stain- I used Minwax in Red Mahogany
Polycyclic top coat- I used Minwax Polycrylic in Clear Satin
Foam brushes (I got cheap ones and threw them away afterwards)
Tack cloths, or other rags

For my process I really followed Centsational Girl's tutorial found here. I'm not going to type it all since it’s her tutorial, not mine, and I think she explains things really well. Young House Love also has a helpful staining tutorial here. (I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I redid the table before creating the blog, so I wasn't really thinking about taking step by step pictures).

Sanding it all down and getting it ready to stain was the most time-consuming part, especially since my table had that decorative rope detail. That’s one of my favorite parts of the table now, but it certainly was not during this project! So after sanding the top and legs as best I could, I used the chemical stripper as directed on the rope, let it sit for a while (about an hour?) to work its magic, and then used the brush to scrape it off. It took multiple attempts but after a while the table looked like this and was ready for the wood conditioner:

I did two thin coats as directed. The next day, after the wood conditioner had dried I did two super thin coats of the stain, allowing a few hours of drying time between coats. You also want to use a clean rag to wipe off any excess stain so it doesn't turn out streaky. I liked the look after one coat, but I decided I wanted a richer, more even toned look so I did a second coat. Here are some progress pictures:

After the stain dried for a day or two I did my first coat of the poly. The directions state that after your first coat of poly is dry you should lightly sand it with fine grit sand paper (200 grit), wipe it off with a tack clot, and then apply the second coat. Well, after I lightly sanded and wiped down my beautiful, gorgeous, newly stained table, it looked like...crap. There was a weird chalky/milky look to the whole table, ruining the beautiful stain.

I freaked out. I may have shed a tear, and I definitely said some unladylike things. (Bobby can attest to this). I was convinced I ruined my table. I didn't even take a picture because I was not thinking clearly. After calming down a bit, I decided I couldn't do much further damage and I would just do another coat of poly to see what happened. Well miracle of miracles, it worked! It looked perfect! I don't know why none of the other blogs addressed this, but let me just assure you that it will in fact work out in the end. No need to freak out like I did.

And now lovely readers (aka my mom), here is the glorious before and after:

And how it looks in our kitchen:

Yes, we also changed out the light. More on that here.

UPDATE! I sold four of the five original chairs on Craiglist this weekend for- get this- $45! Meaning the table and one chair I kept only cost me $10, plus the cost of supplies. Beautiful new kitchen table for under $40. Beat that, Pottery Barn.

Craigslist Kitchen Table, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Shortly after we moved in I was on the hunt for a new kitchen table. My beautiful new eat-in kitchen deserved better than my 8 year old, faded, fake wood IKEA table. When I started looking around I knew two things:

1. I wanted a dark stained pedestal table that look like this one from Pottery Barn.

2. I did not want to spend $599 plus tax and delivery. Clearly.

So I set my budget at $100 and stalked Craigslist for a few weeks. After a few failed attempts at purchasing something, I came across an ad selling a pedestal table and five ladder back chairs. The table had great detail to it and was in OK shape, but definitely would need some sanding and refinishing (which was fine since I wanted to make it darker anyway). The best part- they were only asking $55 for everything!

Commence normal Craigslist purchasing process: Convince Bobby that this was THE table and yes we have to go get it TODAY. Get him to ~~cave in~~ see the light. Borrow in-laws’ big SUV so we can transport the table. Drive 25 minutes, getting lost only once, to the woman’s house. Make small talk with seller, hear about her divorce, debt, how she redid the cabinets in her bathroom, and then take a tour of her new bathroom. Yes, I know, Craigslist 101 says to NEVER go into a stranger’s house, but Bobby was with me and I’m pretty sure I could have outrun her while giving Bobby a piggyback ride. Sorry mom. (Her cabinets did look fabulous, by the way). So a few minutes of awkward conversation and $55 later the table and chairs were ours! They looked like this:

I had no real interest in the chairs but I figured I could use them somehow or resell them later down the road.

After we got everything home it was time to get to work! Part two tomorrow, including the big reveal.

Update- See part two here.

Our House-Buying Process

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:00:00 +0000

Bobby and I looked at over 40 houses during the course of about four months before we bought ours. A little nuts, I know. It took us awhile to get on the same page regarding ours 'must haves' and 'nice to have'.

In the end, here were our must haves:

At least 3 bedrooms

At least 2 full bathrooms

Mature neighborhood/ non-cookie cutter

Good outdoor space

Good sized kitchen

Within 30 minutes of both our jobs, but preferably closer

Here were our ‘nice to haves’:

Basement

Updated kitchen

Hardwoods

Open floor plan

Not a huge yard

Deck and/or sun room

2 car garage

After seeing so many houses (and losing a bidding war on another house) we knew this was the house for us the moment we walked in. It had almost everything on our lists, including everything on our must have list. The location is convenient to both our jobs (we work on different sides of town), plus lots of restaurants, shopping, etc. I love the other houses on the street and the area in general. Basically, it was perfect for us. Unfortunately, it seemed to be perfect for a lot of people- the open house we attended was PACKED. We later found out over 30 couples/ groups went through the open house. Talk about a realtor’s dream!

Ultimately we put in a strong offer the same day we saw the house, and it was accepted the next day! We didn’t even have to deal with counter offers. (I will admit, the bargain shopper in me was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to do any negotiations, but I am thankful for a smooth process!) Along with our offer we submitted a short letter introducing ourselves, explaining that we were newlyweds buying our first home, and looking forward to starting a family there. Our realtor suggested that it could help set us apart from the crowd. We later learned that there were multiple offers and the seller chose ours in part due to our letter! It might not work in every scenario, but it definitely worked for us.

Here are some pictures from the original listing (aka not our stuff). It looks beautiful, but not totally our style. We’ve slowly been painting and decorating to make this house our house.

Family room- where we spend the most time.

Dining Room

Eat-in kitchen with a built in hutch on the right side


Kitchen


Living Room


Master Bedroom

Basement

Back Deck

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Carly @ {IN}Design) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:49:00 +0000

In August of 2012 (after a very looong search), Bobby and I bought a home in Indianapolis. As first-time home buyers we knew we had a lot to learn, but we were excited about the projects and possibilities. I'm still learning a lot; not only about home ownership, but also about blogging, writing, and photography. This blog is a way to document our progress and what we learn along the way. So put on some coffee, pull up a chair, and enjoy the ride.

Our house, sort of :)