Birdcage

Found a cute wire birdcage at Ross:

Again, Restoration Hardware's Vintage Birdcage Chandelier for a mere $2,795.00 is calling my name and wondering how I can do this with it:

Which may be a little too involved, so maybe I'll just do something cute and fun. I saw this cute yellow birdcage on the @csiproject Outdoor Spaces Challenge, like this:

Jen at Tatertots and Jello has a great eye for design and I just love looking at her blog for inspiration! Check her out!


I'll let you know what I decide and show you the results soon!

Window treatments, improving!

When we moved into the apartment all the amazing, beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows were tarnished by their ugly coverings. The window coverings are the "sliding blinds" ala college apartments and the landlord refused to take them down. Hmm. Mr. B. and I decided that even if we took them down, where would we put them? Its not like there's a lot of storage in this apartment, especially for giant 6 foot bars and 10 foot blinds. Ugh.

After hours of staring at them, I decided that we could just put curtains in front of the sliders and "pretend" that we couldn't see the blinds. Somehow, Mr. B agreed!

Off to Ikea we went and bought some inexpensive curtain rods and curtains to try out this little experiment.



IRJA curtain rod set $1.99



Bomull pair of curtains $19.99





We ended up zip-tieing the blinds back and were mildly happy. Well at least happier than we were feeling circa 1999 with red plastic cups.



Mildly happy about the dining room



Mildly happy with the living room



THEN!



About 10 months later, Mr. B was examining the slider bars/rails (a better window treatment vocabulary would clearly be beneficial here!) and realized that they snapped out. Genius!

So, we unscrewed all the curtain rods and unsnapped all the slider bars/rails and then screwed the curtain rods into the walls UNDERNEATH the slider bars/rails! The look (to our eyes) is so much cleaner and a little less "noticeable."

You can really see how far out in front the curtain was before!

Not to be outdone by Mr. B's astounding discovery, I decided to use the hemming tape that had come with the curtains (10 months ago, sheesh) and hem the curtains to fit.

Curtains dragging on the floor



Then to put it over the top, I sewed the top loops in half so the blinds show even less!



Obviously not the greatest window treatment of all time, but my fellow apartment dwellers will appreciate the little ways to look more homeowner-ish. I hope?



Thanks for reading!



Best Book Ever!

Thank you to my little sister, @tiffanipalooza for introducing me to this book last year. It has been such a fun way to spend time alone and with friends/family!

The Big Ass Book of Crafts is chocked full of fun, witty projects that I have had a blast trying! The instructions are great, not too step-by-step but detailed enough that they are easy to follow. This is a tough tightrope to walk, but the author, Mark Montano, did a great job! Thanks Mark!

Here a few of my favorite projects:
--Light switch covers
--DIY plates
--Photo magnets

And some I still need to try out:
--Glowing frame
--All the cool body products

Check out the book, I think you'll love it!

Oh, and I just found out @MarkMontano wrote another book, The Big Ass Book of Home Decor! Has anyone read this book? If so, let me know you're favorite projects, I'm going to get a copy and pack my weekend full of crafting!

Patio Lights

Last summer we moved to this apartment, a pretty basic apartment in Los Angeles, not a lot of architecture detail, but definitely a blank canvas! 

Our landlords told us that sooner or later they were going to sell the land so that new owners can tear down the building and build condos, so we took this to mean that we could play! And we have! I will be posting some of our favorite before and afters in the coming weeks and can't wait to hear thoughts, reactions, and advice for next projects. Not that we are anywhere near finished, we call this apartment our "work in progress" and I suspect that our homes will always be "w.i.p." because we love to tinker and are those rare people who LOVE change!

First up: The balcony. The reason we moved into this apartment in the first place and the reason why we put up with leaky faucets, ceilings caving in (eek!), mold, popcorn ceilings, and terrible carpet. Ah, the balcony! We knew we needed to install lights asap as to really take advantage of our new outdoor space (and as fellow LA'ers know, outdoor space is a premium in this beautiful city). This project was completed last August.

Our inspiration was the wedding reception scene in the movie, 500 Days of Summer, did you see this movie? It was GREAT! But the wedding reception scene was so beautiful and really idyllic to what Mr B and I thought about "outdoor life in California" is supposed to be. Here are a few inspiration photos if you didn't see the movie (and see the movie already, its too cute):

So, we weren't sure what materials to use to hang the lights, we don't have and didn't want to install a pergola,    and it took a few different trials to find our ultimate material. 

First, we tried these "green sticks" from the garden section:

Mr. B and T!

Once they were up, the string lights were just too heavy:

Zip Ties, the new duct tape!

The lights we used from Target:

Funny story about the lights... Mr. B and I could only find two boxes in the entire LA area and they were sold out online, so we had T buy some while she was visiting Missouri and bring them with her when she moved out here. Score!
P.S. They are currently still sold out at Target (I just looked)!

Next we thought about tiki torches and would have the bonus of having the torches, but after measuring, realized the torches weren't tall enough for some of our guests to walk under without hitting their heads on the lights.

Ultimately, we found some great 8 foot wood posts at Anawalt Lumber for around 3 bucks each (we used 3 posts for the whole balcony) and are so happy with the results and Anawalt Lumber in general, its our new favorite store!

Happy Summer!

Silhouette Boxes

Again, I am so inspired by all the bloggers out there and keep trying to bring some great diy designs into my home!

This great idea is one I picked up from Nikki's Nifty Knacks:

The inspiration photo:

This was a pretty easy project actually, just a lot of Mod Podge and drying time. Maybe a little too easy....I ended up going a little overboard and making multiple versions!

Mr. B's childhood "safe" that wasn't secure enough to protect anything, but that he couldn't bear to give away:

Now, I think its much more bearable to look at and even still "locks"!

A shoe box from Aldo that now can be used for pretty storage:

Two Ikea CD boxes:

And an oversize box:

Such fun!

P.S. Thank you to the books who were 'recycled' for this project, you will always be remembered!

Artwork

Welcome back after a long I-got-a-new-job-and-have-been-BUSY pause!

The space on this shelf was frustrating. It lacked a cohesive look, but one can only put up with so many knick-knacks before wanting, no, before needing a more substantial piece.

We commissioned an artist to paint something for the space. We took our chances with an unknown artist, actually one that had never even painted before!

She worked in her studio for hours until presenting us with the perfect work of art!

It looks great, thanks T!

Closet: Before

The worst part about apartment living? Small closets.

Although, even small spaces can be functional if the space is utilized well. Clearly, our space does not currently fit into that category!



We are on a mission to make this space more functional! We can't turn it into an enormous walk-in closest with ottomans and a bar, but hopefully Mr. B and I will be able to find our favorite jeans by the end of the remodel without the fear of being caught in an avalanche!

My side

Mr. B's side

Stay Tuned for the big reveal!

Lighting is important. It can set a mood, allows for reading, and the perfect lighting makes everyone look more beautiful. This apartment provided ample opportunity for us to be creative since we can't have overhead lighting in any of the living spaces.

We eagerly set off to find some great lamps and were shocked by the prices of lamps! Since when have lamps gotten so expensive? And you have to buy the lamp and shade separately?? Evidently, we have not kept up on the price point of lighting, sheesh, we were going to have to get crafty.

The struggle we found was finding a pair of lamps. There were beautiful lamps at the thrift stores, but most were flying solo. We found these beauties and even after the cost of rewiring, painting, and bulbs, we were WAY under the retail cost of similar styles.

We found these lamps:

For the bedroom nightstands

For the living room table

We ended up having to buy the shades from Ikea and HomeGoods because we couldn't find any discount ones.

Here are the afters:

Bedroom

Living Room

We are lit!

Clover's New Home

I didn't diy this little house, but someone did and I couldn't resist.


We found it at the Golden West Swap Meet in Huntington Beach, CA for $45 and are in love!

Clover, on the other hand, is ambivalent. Hopefully it will grow on her!

Too cute, right?

Hollywood Regency Mirror

We needed a mirror for the "entryway" in the new apartment (and I put entryway in quotes because its more like the-space-where-the-front-door-opens, than a traditional "entryway").

I scoured the usual places for a similar look to these inspiration pieces:

And of course, there was the Angelique mirror at Z Gallerie that was so decadent, but so was the 349 dollar price tag!

Luckily, I found one at a swap meet for $8!

Here is the before:

I knew the brassy look had to go! I painted it black, but then we decided to paint our walls a dark granite, so I repainted it white so it would "pop."

And the after!

This look is coming together!