Zig Zag Mad

November 11, 2011

Zig Zag Mad

These patterns are definitely not new - will they ever get old? Maybe, but for now let's enjoy a round-up of herringbone and chevron designs!

As I plotted my Ikea Hack this week (bought the supplies last night!), an ode to herringbone and chevron emerged. Not sure if I'll chevron (or herringbone)-it-up or not, but I amassed so many inspiration pics surely something will come of this zig zag madness.

Prudent Baby
This colour blocked fabric is a DIY!

Merrypad.com
Another fab DIY.

Cozamia

Apartment Therapy

The Silhouette Blog

denizyazicioglu.tumblr.com

The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle
Yum.

Wit and Whistle
This is a DIY!

Our DIY'd kitchen backsplash in a white herringbone, and our adored useless table with a hit of chevron:

DIY Art Potential - Welded Metal Art?

I did it. I finally ordered the chair for the office, so we can get to work welding the desk soon-ish (we wanted to have the chair on hand before we started, so we can be certain of the height, and it should be here in about 10 days). I can't believe we're three months behind on adding a workspace in the office for Hubby. How did that happen?

I'm excited to do a welding project. When I designed the master bedroom headboard my talented grandpa was on hand to do the welding. Luckily, he gave me the welding equipment he used & Hubby has some mad skills of his own. And now my mind is wandering to other things we could weld. Could we make something like this? Hmmmmm . . . .

Etsy

It is just like me to complicate a project. Instead of just struggling by with welding a desk, let's make some art at the same time!!

Unusual Soap Dishes

Before I babble on, I want to mention: yesterday the townhouse was featured on The Design Enthusiast. You can check it out here.

In preparation for my Ikea Expedit hack, I first de-cluttered and re-organized (and dusted! Eegads) the shelves. My beloved Shelley sugar bowl was not re-united with her Expedit friends, but I found her a new purpose in life: holding soap.

I thought it looked nice paired with my bright DIY painting and our grey floors & marble counters.

My secret for avoiding soggy soap? I snagged the little "drain rack" from my legitimate soap dish.

It is a teeny, tiny pop of additional colour. Microscopic, really, but it makes me happy!

Ignore the ugly outlet that STILL needs to be replaced.

And I have officially eradicated soap dishes from the townhouse. One half bath has a pottery dish made by a young artist from my hometown, the other has a find from West Elm. I don't know what I have against traditional soap dishes - I think I just like the opportunity to display something more unusual in a small space like a bathroom.

Model Ambitions

As you might have guessed, I keep a close eye on comparable homes for sale in our city and neighborhood. Although Hubby and I do not plan to list until I finish my PhD (another 2-3 years), I do get nervous about the future because we have invested money into improving the townhouse. To see a return on that investment, housing prices need to move skyward a smidge.

Impeding our potential home-selling success, new builds seem to be priced scarily close to the price of our neighbours' townhouses. Big construction companies, like Ryan Homes in America and Mattamy here in Canada, are often behind these types of developments and it's hard to compete with their prices.

Yesterday I passed by the build site of a new set of townhouses I had seen advertised. Although the new construction has one fewer bedroom, less green space and is further from the downtown than our townhouse, will shiny & new lure potential buyers?

Although I'm openly glaring at this new construction (all new construction in our price point, really), I'm secretly scoping out the model homes, looking for design tips. How cute is this model townhome?

Source

Source
Love the cream coloured kitchen cabinets. A nice departure from white.

Source

What is interesting, is that the photos of this new home show little of the actual home, like the kitchen, for example. The close-up shots of accessories seem more like a magazine photo.

Some Blog Love + More About Me

HUGE thanks to Shannon, from 8foot6, for passing on some blog lovin' and sending a Versatile Blogger award my way. But, in actuality, I am a bad blogger and received a Versatile Blogger award in August from My Beautiful Life but I didn't blog about it! But I'm following through now and am hugely appreciative that anyone reads my blog, let alone deems it award-worthy.

As per the rules, 7 things about me:

1. You know I love silhouettes, is it any surprise I love cameos, too? This is my most recent purchase, from an antique show that came to town.

2. My McCoy collection is growing but not in my favorite colour, turquoise. Maybe if I meandered online I'd find more, but I like to buy in person (preferably when traveling) so each piece is special. I'm a softie.

3. I am not a fan of my giant knees. I refer to them as my "skull-crushing knees" (or skull-crushers, for short) because they are just. so. large. Mostly filled with bone, too. And this skull-crushing-knee gene is a dominant trait, with my dad, aunt, grandfather and cousin all sporting them.

4. I'll have to keep this interesting,so you stop staring at my knees. Something shiny will do the trick. I love my wedding band (Hubby & I picked it out together), but I can't stop staring at uncut diamond rings.

Something Shiny Moved
Uncut diamond ring. Oooo. Sparkly. Whose thinking about knees now?

My wedding band.

5. I have re-read this collection of essays dozens of times. As a voluntarily child-free woman, Nobody's Mother: Life Without Kids is one of my favorite books.

6. I need more time. I just never have enough. I don't mean that I miss deadlines - I am super on the ball about that. I mean that there are so many things I want to do, try, taste, see, accomplish and I worry that I will never fit all of my goals into one lifetime.

I'm still hooked on posterize, but have been customizing it.

7. I'm working on my first-ever Ikea Hack. Stay tuned, but here's a hint:

Ikea

Now to pass on the fun. I'd love to learn more about the bloggers behind these versatile blogs, that I check in on most every day:

Not a House, But a Home

P.S. For more tidbits about me, check out this, this and this post from previous blogger awards.

Guest Post @ The Crafty Bee

In case you missed it, yesterday I was over at The Crafty Bee, blogging some motivational words to help anyone who has ogled a piece of DIY art but hasn't given it a go - yet. Check out the post here.

Thanks for inviting me to guest post, Beatrice!

How to Keep a Light Sofa Clean During a Move

Monday I blogged about giving the old sofa the heave-ho. Yesterday you met the new-to-us sofa. One last post before I move on from the sofa topic: how we managed to get a cream-coloured sofa home from the seller's house.

We searched for a mover on kijiji.ca (seemed fitting) and prices ranged from $50-85 for a sofa transport 15 km, with hubby providing one-half of the required muscle. After some chatting, one mover agreed to $40 but his van, although clean, wasn't cream-sofa clean (nor were his hands, I'm betting). And, although leather is easy to clean, I cringed at the thought of mucking the sofa up before we even got it home. But between the two of us, Hubby and I (mostly Hubby) have moved about seven times in ten years, so we've picked up some tips & tricks.

What's our tip in this case? Furniture-sized plastic wrap! Office supplies stores and Costco both carry this delightfully clingy wrap and we've use it to wrap furniture, artwork, things that won't fit into boxes - even to keep drawers from sliding out of dressers during a move.

That's the secret to how the cream-coloured sofa stayed smudge-free on the journey over. Maybe we should have left the plastic wrap on so we can keep it that way?

New Sofa = New Living Room

Now that our frustrating sofa from The Brick has exited, stage right, I'd like to introduce you to our new sofa. Although the proportions might make it look like a loveseat, it is a sofa. Specifically, it's the Natuzzi Editions Sassi II Sofa, from Sears.

Although this colour/leather grade retails for $1849.99 plus tax (yikes!) we paid only $660 + $40 delivery. How? This sofa is a kijiji.ca score! I was trolling the online classifieds (actually looking for new side tables) when I spotted this sofa. I recognized it because my parents have this sofa, and the matching loveseat, in their living room (in a pretty, cinnamon-hued leather). The seller had purchased this sofa in 2009, moved to a larger home and no longer had a use for it. Minus one unfortunate blue spot (behind a cushion) this sofa is in fantastic condition and spotlessly clean. We took some time to think about it to make sure this purchase really was a good idea, but ultimately we went for it! Having decided not to splurge on a new sofa until we settle in a more permanent house, I thought we'd have to suffer the disintegrating sofa until then. This impromptu purchase was a pleasant surprise and we couldn't be happier. Although we'd never purchased a previously-loved sofa before, you'd never guess it wasn't brand new.

Because it is a touch narrower than our previous sofa, we can turn the side tables sideways! I think the whole effect makes the living room look brighter, warmer, and bigger.