Pillow Project

I told you back in this post that I was on a mad hunt for pillows. It grew into a pretty ridiculous obsession (just ask Jared) and I was starting to get incredibly overwhelmed. Everything I liked was so ridiculously expensive. And given the fact that I change my mind a lot, I just couldn't justify spending more than $20 on a pillow cover. 

I gave Jo-Ann's fabric department a once over a few weeks ago but couldn't find anything I liked. I went back last week, however, with a new mindset and started putting some stuff together. This is what I came up with. The grey southwestern fabric is SO soft and the pattern on the blue pillows remind me of this Hmong pillow I have been coveting.

With a couple of coupons, my total for all the fabric came to about $7 per pillow! Can't beat that. And my mom made them for me because I couldn't sew to save my life. They grow on me everyday and this way I won't feel bad if get the urge to change them out again because I didn't spend a fortune! Winning.

Outdoor Lounge Space

I joke with Jared that I'm the interior designer and he's the landscape architect. I know my place and he knows his. I recently went creeping into his territory, however, when I made this nice little lounge outside the back of our house. You see, the way our property is laid out we always enter the house through the back door (just because of where the driveway is). Call me weird, but I wanted to see something pretty as I walked from my car, not just a wall of house.

I ended up getting this bench at Vintage Revivals - the same place we had our table custom made, and the rest kind of fell into place from there. I wanted pillows (Pottery Barn) to camouflage the metal windows and the rug adds color and character. The antique milk crate is filled with fake foliage because this area is covered and doesn't get too much sun. And bonus, I shopped it at my mom's so it was free!

Here are some other pics of the lounge...

The Great Farmhouse Table

{clockwise from top left: via, via, via, via}

I think in my past life I lived on a ranch. Which would explain why I am not at all outdoorsy in this life! I have a weird fascination with bull skeleton heads, horseshoes and anything comprised of reclaimed wood. 

I knew before we even moved into our house that I wanted a farmhouse dining table. I love that they are bulky and distressed and no two are the same, unless they're from Pottery Barn. I started looking for inspiration on Pinterest (see above) and then I started calling around to some independent carpenters in San Diego to price out what we wanted. Mind you, we weren't looking for anything too intricate; just a six foot table with two benches. I almost went into a diabetic coma when I started getting quotes back and they were averaging $1,300.00! 

Even though the tables were beautiful I couldn't justify spending that much money so I went to the next best thing: Craigslist! I ended up finding some stuff at this shop in Ocean Beach called Vintage Revivals. Jared and I headed down there one Saturday and met with the husband and wife owners to discuss our ideas. Their prices are incredibly reasonable for the custom work and it was ready in two weeks! Here it is...

Picture Arranging Like A Boss

I wanted to share a fun new project I finished up this past week. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're off work and in your pajamas until 3 in the afternoon.

Our house is two stories and the big blank wall along the staircase started to drive me crazy. I knew I wanted to do a photo arrangement but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a combination of pictures and objects like Jenni's or just keep it simple with photos. In the end, I went the easy route and did pictures  because I just wasn't patient enough to wait and collect things. 

I went to Home Goods for all my frames. They're reasonably priced and I was able to sprawl everything out on the floor and arrange all my finds before purchasing anything. I gravitate towards the earthy look so I went for wood, blue, cream and one distressed black frame for a contrast. 

I read a lot of tutorials before I started and they all said to make outlines of the frames and use painters tape to arrange them on the wall before nailing anything in. So I did just that...

Now, most of the tutorials also said to measure everything perfectly. I did not do this. I eyeballed everything and moved it around until I liked how it looked. I don't recommend this if you are a perfectionist. There is a good chance you will get overwhelmed and fall down the stairs.

Another thing I did was put marks on the outlines where all of the brackets were so all I (my boyfriend) had to do was drill right into them.

Here's how it turned out...

Crate Camouflage

Relationships are all about compromise, right? At least that is what the old people at weddings are always telling me. Jared and I have a seriously awesome relationship. We hardly ever fight. Life's too short to do anything but have fun and love on one another.

He has been so great about letting me decorate the house. He knows it's my thing and clearly outside is his. For the most part, everything has gone smoothly and the house is coming along. There's just on small thing...

The bass. For those of you who don't know (because I didn't until I looked it up) a bass is supposed to make your TV sound better. I really can't tell a difference but that's an argument right there and we won't get into it. Anyways, Jared says the bass stays and that's cool. Here's a before picture of how it looked against the wall next to the entertainment center:

Kind of an little alien eyesore, right? And here's a side shot when you walk into the house:

I mean, it's not horrible. I can be overly dramatic sometimes. I just thought it could use some friends. So with Jared's blessing I camouflaged it.

Ta da!

Doesn't it look way better? The wall needed something anyways and I needed somewhere to organize my 50 Shades of Grey books. And now the side view:

Barely notice it, huh? 

I grabbed some crates from Michael's and stained them using Minwax Dark Walnut from Home Depot.  The whole project costs me about $30. Staining is quite possibly the easiest thing in the world to do. All you do is paint and wipe, paint and wipe like, a billion times. I also highly recommend sealing them. Although it's a pain in the butt, just do it. It adds a little shine and helps with the stain smell. I love 'em! And that is today's lesson on compromise.  

Granite Counters, Character and Bike Jumps

When Jared and I first started house hunting, we both knew what we were looking for in a home. I wanted character and basically zero home improvement projects. I can craft but I cannot repair. He wanted a yard with lots of land.  

So, after one too many mimosas at brunch we decided to go check out this house that we both thought looked pretty neat online. Now keep in mind that before this boozy brunch we hadn't taken one step towards purchasing a house. No loan pre-approval, no agent, no nothing...Just casually looking at places online and watching House Hunters every night (which we thought made us pros in the real estate world). We literally went from 0 to 1,000 on the house hunting scale all because of a little OJ and champs. Ok, a lot of OJ and champs. 

Anyways, like I said one of Jared's main requirements was that the house had a big yard. He's from upstate New York where it seems you can practically buy the whole state for the price of one San Diego house. Why the yard, you ask? Well, allow me to show you...

And those would be...bike jumps! Aren't they cool? He's been working on them since we moved in, which was about 2 months ago. I mean, maybe you're a little confused and that's ok. I think I understand them because I've known Jared for almost four years now so I'm privy to his hobbies, but 22-year-old Richelle would have been like, wait, what are those and are they for rollerblading?! 

 I love that we both have hobbies and that one of his happens to include "landscaping" the yard. It also makes me happy to know that he has a distraction so I can sit on the couch and watch Bravo marathons all weekend.