Our House: The Laundry Room

I feel like this little room has dragged on forever.....pretty much because it has and that's totally my fault.  Anyway!

This is the only 'before' I have of this space and it's not really a before, it's more of an in progress photo. You don't get to see the gross laundry tub and blah flooring that was there when we closed.  The new tile had already been laid (and was being protected) and the trim painting had already started.

When we moved in, we had this.....

The upper cabinets were existing, we added the crown and had them sprayed BM White Dove (using Cabinet Coat). No doors in this picture because they were still being sprayed when we moved in.  I figured of all the things to live without this wasn't the worst thing in the world.  The walls are painted BM Quiet Moments.  The floor tile was a closeout tile from a local supplier. There was barely enough of it to get that room done.

I really wanted a built-in look to the washer and dryer so I had a carpenter build a cabinet and side panel the same overall style as the (very simple) cabinets above.

And after what seems like a ridiculously long time I'm finally completely and totally done with it.  The cabinets are all painted with the Cabinet Coat in BM White Dove.  I had a carpenter build the countertop using one of the Wilsonart HD laminates (to coordinate with the granite in our kitchen).

Trying to keep jackets from ending up in the kitchen I added a couple of hooks from Lowe's, the mirror was a consignment shop gold mirror (though even and I type this I'm contemplating swapping it out for a faux bamboo gold mirror I have in one of the guest rooms) spray painted Heirloom White and the table a flea market find.

So mostly I'm done....unless I swap out the mirror, decide to paint the table, or get motivated to DIY some faux roman shades.  

I'd like to think it'll stay this tidy but let's be real.  Not going to happen! 

Local Artist: DJ Herda

I recently had the pleasure of meeting local artist, DJ Herda.  In addition to being a genuinely nice guy, he's an incredibly talented photographer.

I was immediately drawn to his work, and with images like this who can blame me??

 And I really love his entire series of photos of the wild mustangs.....

DJ does standard printing as well as gallery wraps, split gallery wraps (which I LOVE) and a really cool split metal printing technique I can't wait to use somewhere.

I included some custom photographs by DJ in a design proposal I presented recently, but whether it's on this project or a future one I hope to be able to incorporate his work into a project soon.  I love the idea of custom (or semi-custom) art work that is uniquely created with a specific space in mind and supporting local artists in the process.  If you're in the market for some new art work I strongly suggest reaching out to artists in your area whose work you like, in general they are pretty accommodating and willing to work within any reasonable budget constraints.

More of DJ's work can be seen here.

H&M Home

I've been a long time fan of H&M.  It started 17 years ago during the year I spent in Belgium and Luxembourg, long before we had access to it here in the States.

SO could I have been anymore excited when I came across today's post on 4 Men 1 Lady?  Not a chance.  I didn't know that H&M carried home goods but I'm totally geeked about them as of right now.  I'm headed to London 8 short weeks from yesterday and there are 4  Zara Home locations (I've been dying to get inside one of these for a while) and apparently the H&M Home stores as well (I just need to figure out which actual locations carry the home line).

Let's hope some of these come home with me!

From H&M:

From Zara:

I need to stop now because I could go on and on.  Clearly Zara has the better selections between the two....and clearly I may need to be bringing an empty suitcase with me....

Rue La La today, Hamburg Kennedy

I really love some of the photos, I wish I could bring myself to buy one!

Of course I love this, love all things peacock

Continuing the horse trend 

Why can I drop $120 on other random items but can't bring myself to do it for these?

When To Give In?

Thanks for the email DwellStudio (though we are clearly living in very different worlds if your $72 throw pillows are being marketed to college students), I needed to be reminded that my life won't feel complete without this pillow:

I realize it's just a pillow but I love everything about it.  The print, the colorway.  The peacocks most of all. I just loathe the price tag and really don't know if I'll be happy with just one.  Not to mention I could have sworn the price was $58.00 not long ago?

Madness right?

New Crate & Barrel Sofas

I was excited to see the new C&B catalog in the mail today, but a little afraid to open it......I'm still waiting on THIS sofa from them:

The Lounge 93" sofa in Otter.  It's super deep and squishy that I'm really looking forward to moving this guy to make room for it...

The Loring sofa from Room and Board.  I love it and it's pretty but now that we've nixed the plan to finish our basement, our TV watching/lounging room is also our main living room and this sofa just isn't cutting it for us.  Sad since it's barely been used for 3 months.

I LOVE the new C&B catalog for fall, in particular several of their sofas.

The Barrington

The Klyne

This one is hands down my favorite.  I love the nailheads and Chesterfield styling but it still looks deep and comfy.

The Tailor

No buyer's remorse though, I'm still confident the Lounge sofa is the right one for us.  Now I just need to get this crap with the dining table from them cleared up before I take delivery on the new sofa!

Crate and Barrel is Killing Me

One failed delivery attempt at a time.

We purchased the Crate & Barrel Cabria table about a month after we moved into our house (thanks to couple of wedding gifts!):

I then bought upholstered chairs with legs the same color of the table, this is one of the few items I have a hard time NOT matching.  If the wood colors are going to be close I want them to be really close.

When we returned from an extended trip I noticed a split clear through the top of the table.  I don't know if it was always like that or if the lack of humidity due to the weather caused it.  Either way, I called Crate & Barrel's customer service and they promptly arranged for an exchange.  I was totally impressed by the fact that they were willing to do the exchange with very little discussion 4 months after delivery.

That's where I stopped being impressed.

Since the first exchange I have rejected 5 different tables, waited 6 weeks during a backorder period and still have a defective table.

The new round of tables have all had issues with the way the leaf fits into the table.

Customer service tried to tell me that this was the table design.  Hah.  The first table I exchanged had a leaf that fit into it properly.  The table on display in the store has a leaf that fits into it without any gaps.  Why can't I get a table that has a leaf that fits into it?

In addition to the issue with the leaf several of the potential exchanges arrived with tops split clear through, just like the first one I exchanged.  After reviewing the comments on C&B dining tables it would appear that this is not an uncommon complaint

Initially customer service was very helpful and convinced they could make it right, promised to inspect the next table before it was delivered to me.  Only to have the next several deliveries rejected.  Now they want to know what I want to do.

Clearly I want the non-defective table that I bought and paid for, but I'm just not optimistic at this point.  But I'm still really disappointed by the fact that I'm getting the clear impression from them that they just want to give me a full refund and be done with me.

So, I'm going to look at this Z Gallerie table tomorrow

Fingers crossed!