Fast forward to about a month ago, I saw the "wire towel holder wall bin" was on clearance from $49 to $19.99! So I bought it having our guest bath in mind. Well, we installed it a few weeks ago!
It was a year and a half ago when we painted stripes in the guest bathroom. And at that time, I basically called this bathroom done. Because, well it was! Here's what it looked like. Well, when my mom last visited us in November, she remarked that having a place for guests to put stuff in the bathroom would be nice. Actually, she was just telling me she's on the hunt for something (a basket, container, etc) to put on the toilet so her guests would have a place to put stuff. So she wasn't referring to our guest bath or anything like that. But it got me thinking. Yea...that would be nice. Fast forward to about a month ago, I saw the "wire towel holder wall bin" was on clearance from $49 to $19.99! So I bought it having our guest bath in mind. Well, we installed it a few weeks ago! I put a bunch of magazines there for now but when we have guests over, they'll be removed and the space will be free for toiletries, clothes or whatever.
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If you recalled, this is what our cafe looked like almost 2 years ago after we hung the chandelier. And even then I pointed out that the rug wasn't right for this space. First of all, it's too small. It looks like the chairs were being confined or constricted. Also I didn't like how it brought out more of the beige color. That beige is already in the tiles and chairs and it's not a color I wanted to amplify more. So I've been sort of on a lookout for a 6' round rug. Something still neutral but not beige. It turned out that pretty round rugs at good prices is not an frequent combination. Then finally, it appeared in a Joss & Main event. I later found it on Overstock as well but it's out of stock. I mulled over this for a while, pestered David about it a few times and finally just bought it. :D And it arrived a few weeks ago! Isn't it really pretty? I just love it! The pattern, the colors, the wool/cotton feel. All of it! I say hi to it a few times a day. :D I think it made the cafe cozier and a bit more sophisticated. The chairs finally have enough room. I didn't like how the painting was looking in here so I took it down. So now that's a nice blank canvas again. :)
Happy things have been happening in the kitchen. :) Right before we left for Paris, we decided to just buy the Ikea island we've been eyeing forever. Add that with the two World Market stools I've been loving since I can't remember when (bonus! I got them for $75 each in stead of $110 although they are worth the asking price!) And add this Urban Outfitter rug that I think totally makes the space and transformed it into a young and happy place. It just instantly breathed life into this sea of black and wood tones. Love it! Now the kitchen feels cozier and more personal. And not to mention much more functional, too! We basically eat dinner here now. :) I love having pots and pans right at my fingertips. Now I'm shopping around for fun/pretty kitchen towels and maybe some happy (and functional) accessories to finish up this space. :)
Happy Friday! So earlier this week I mentioned that I got myself a consolation prize from West Elm. Well, it's this beautiful (and kinda expensive) bowl! Okay, okay. I'll just come out and say that $8 for a bowl is way too much but I told you this was a consolation prize. I tend of think of this as spending the equivalent to lunch at a fast food joint. And that makes me feel better. But isn't it really pretty? I love the aqua lining with the white + gray flowers. It's sitting on top of a newly purchased box (this one from The Container Store), home to my receipts! And it's sitting next to my jar of ribbons. :) I got the jar a while ago from Ikea for pickling vegetables but never got around to it. Oh well. It's perfect for holding ribbons. Well, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
So maybe a month ago I ordered 2 yards of this beautiful fabric from Mary Jo's Cloth Store. It came in earlier this week. My plan was to hang it as art above our sectional. If you recalled, this is what that space looked like before. Yup, nice and blank. So we temporary hung up the fabric (using thumb tacks) to gauge how it will look on the wall. Isn't the fabric just unbelievably beautiful? It's amazing how well the colors fit with our living room. I also love the wispy "branches" and how organic it feels. I know geometrics are all the rage these days, but I do love how this fabric is modern yet not trendy. I also like how it draws your eye up so this space isn't just the sectional.
When we first put it up, though, we were almost afraid that with the colors it'll be too matchy-matchy with the room. Well, what do you think? Yay or nay? We're leaning towards yay. After some reshuffling, I think most of the contents in the office closet are in their places. :) So I figured it's a good place to document the progress. So here is what it currently looks like with the new Elfa shelving and the Expedit we added earlier this year. This corner has come such a long way and I'm loving all the added storage space and the ease of keeping this place organized! Here's what the left side of the closet looked like just weeks earlier. It's hard to believe that we lived with this for 2 years because it provided zero functional storage. It was basically a dumping ground for anything that didn't belong in a bedroom closet. And needless to say, I always kept those doors shut! And here it is today! I'm a bit embarrassed to say I basically keep the door open all the time to admire it. Haha. I'm weird, I know. The top shelf is stuffed with two king pillows, one accent pillow and a mattress topper. It isn't exactly beautiful, but I love how I can just stuff these things on top. The second shelf holds file boxes, which holds our tax information from since we both started working (you're supposed to keep tax documents for 7 years). I like them on this shelf because it's something we access just a few times a year. The next two shelves are the workhorses of our new closet space. I got these yweave baskets from Target earlier this week because the dimensions are perfect for the space. Plus, I love the weave pattern and the color! They're holding all our random crafting, sewing, electronics and RE/Office Supplies. Love these! And I'm not quite sure what to do with this blank shelf yet but I kind of love how I have a blank shelf I have no idea what to do with! Such a luxury. :) I have two baskets I bought from Home Goods on the floor level. The left basket holds all our scrap cardboard paper and other random paper supplies that are weird in size. The right basket holds all my larger fabrics like batting and felt. Those things take up a lot of room so it was nice to have a place for them. So that was the left side of the closet. Here's the right side of the closet just a few weeks ago after I pulled almost everything out. Before this there were two huge plastic boxes on the floor with pillows and other guest bedding stacked on top. And here is that same side now! The top shelf holds two euro shams (continuing from the left side). Here's a better picture of the iron caddy. See how the cord is nice and organized in the cord holder? It seriously took no styling or effort on my part to make it look nice. Even though the right side of the Elfa system is really a place for guests to hang things, I didn't want to leave it empty. So I figured I can put all the other guest bedding stuff there like pillows and blankets. When we actually have guests, these things will move to the bed which clears the space for guests to hang their things. And as you can see, I do have floor space here that I'm not sure what to do with. I did move my basket of wrapping paper here, which seems to be a good place for it. And I have plans to add a row of hooks on this wall so guests can all hang their bags or jackets or whatever. That was the best use of this space that I can think of, but feel free to give me your suggestions! Would love to maximize this space as well! And that completes the tour of our "new" office closet, a space that I'm really happy with. :)
Ever since we got the Valencia set, I've really enjoyed this new "room". The pillows made a huge difference in making it feel inviting. And the other day I picked up a few clearance candle holders and a white lantern to put on the coffee table. I'm definitely happy that I went with a wood set instead of a metal one. I think it related better with the rest of the garden. And it's set in a nicely shaded part of the garden whereas the container garden is in the sun. It turned out to be absolutely perfect. Oh, I'm quite well-pleased. Yes, I am.
I'm not sure if I should feel lucky or guilty, but I just got these two items that were on my wish list. The white 2x4 Expedit is $10 off thanks to our Ikea Family card. I've never seen this one on sale so of course I just bought it. I assembled it last night. (For any of you who will be doing this, do yourself a favor and buy a mallet.) it's already storing a ton of stuff. Show you guys later when I'm done. :) I also got the Pottery Barn Tavern Stool which is $20 off. Don't know about you but it's rare to find something I really want from PB on sale. We went to the store to pick it up last night and I think it's much better than the Asian garden stools. :) So the guilty part? Yea, I'm way over my furnishing budget again. *sigh. I suppose I'm more American than Chinese after all. I need to go on another home furnishing moratorium. And I need to do a lot more sit-ups and walk more to earn more health awards!
So I mentioned that we got 3 succulents at Half Moon Bay nursery. And I also mentioned that I had seen this perfect footed bowl for it at Home Goods. Well, I went back last week and it was gone. I searched high and low for any squat glass bowl that remotely resembled it. No such luck. :( And then I saw this. I couldn't wrap my mind around not having a glass one at first, but the size and shape seemed perfect. The crackled finish is definitely not something I'm usually drawn to but I figured this time I will think about it at home rather than let it go and regret later. So I bought it. When I got home, I placed our three wee succulents in and it just looked so nice to me. The lip of the bowl was curled in at just the right place and the blue/brown crackled finish looked surprisingly good with the green! Actually that blue is the same shade as our sectional! Perhaps I should branch out more and try something new once in a while. :) Now if I could only get my lazy self to actually pot them, they would be happy. :)
It's been quite mellow around the house lately. Mainly because work has been surprisingly busy so when I'm home I just want to veg. Also I haven't really been in the mood to do anything major even though I do have a few projects in my mind. And the one project that I'm "in the middle" of -- the bench reupholstery -- is not going that well. So all in all, it's been quiet around the house. On Monday we went to Trader Joe's and Sprouts to get groceries. While at TJs I noticed the daffodils are back! They're $1.29 for a bunch of 10 stems so we got one. They're just so beautiful. I love them. Last year I bought a bunch every week until they were out of season. We also got a pot of basil at TJs. I really should've taken a side view instead of a top view to show off its height and bushiness. It's currently living on the cafe table and it was part of a lovely artichoke dip in tonight's dinner! Yum! Last night we finally hung up the towel holders I got at Home Goods like 3 weeks ago. I got 2 of them because they were $4 each! I think the first week I took them out of the packaging. The second week I read the instructions on how to install them. And two nights ago I measured and determined where the nail holes should be. And last night they finally went up. Haha. Who knew hanging a towel rack is an activity to be spread over 3 weeks. I am still amazed that I found these at the incredible price! I was eyeing these from Home Depot for a while now because I love how it's not the conventional towel rings. And it just seems prettier without the "O" shape. So to get something somewhat similar for 1/6th of the price makes me happy. And doesn't it look like it belongs in the same set as our faucet? Yea, total happy coincidence! Tonight when we got home from work we visited our garden. It's been raining every day this week so far. In fact it rained this morning but stopped briefly in the afternoon when we got home so it was nice to finally step out. Every time it rains we would get a mixture of leaves, dirt, pollen on the brick so we did some sweeping to clean up. We also pruned back some of the trees and honeysuckle branches. And we pulled out a bunch of pine seedlings (see below). David calls me a plant killer for this and tries daily to market to me how "cute" the pine trees would be when they grow bigger. We would be driving to work and he would point to the pine-lined median and say, "Aren't they so cute?" The pine trees are like 2-3 stories tall, mind you. I try (with no avail) to persuade him that they would not be happy in our home because our garden is way too small for them. Anyway, tonight he finally agreed to pull out like 15 out of the bajilion pine seedlings in our backyard. I'll probably have to fight tooth and nail to finally put the rest of them out of their misery. And oh! Guess who's new in this picture!!! Can you spot it? Yea!!!! I finally caved and bought the birdhouse. Oh my it is so cute and perfect. :) I can't wait until a bird calls it home! Hopefully the hummingbird but I wouldn't mind if a wren lives there either. They have beautiful voices. And I would not mind waking up to their songs in the morning. Anyway, that was my scatterbrain report of what happened this week so far around the house. :)
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