I’m sharing the before and after shots of our living room since we managed to get around to adding a checkmark in the “done” box a couple of weeks ago.As I mentioned before, the entire first floor, save for the kitchen, was painted grey. Normally, I wouldn’t object, but I didn’t think it complemented the red brick. The walls got the white paint treatment in Bakery Box from Behr.. which I DO NOT recommend since it took 3-4 coats. I can’t remember how many cans of paint we went through, but suffice it to say that Graham has traumatic flashbacks at the mere mention of the words “bakery box”.. even in the pastry sense.A working fireplace was high on Graham’s list of priorities while we were house hunting.. a wood-burning stove works out just as nice. Since moving in in March, we’ve gotten to use it a handful of times to warm the house while binge-watching on Netflix and making s’mores.Sadly, the cozy size of our living room puts a limit on seating. We added an extra chair in the corner. I love the lines.. it actually belonged to Graham’s grandfather. Deer antlers. The nice thing about the location of them in our new house vs. the old place is that we are no longer in danger of being impaled by antlers while lying on the sofa. The hexagon shelving from etsy houses the majority of my Polepole figures.

The media stand was the last thing we added to the room. It took us over 6 months to agree on a style.I should add that the kitchen wasn’t the only room with buttercream walls. The entryway was also yellow. I love yellow, I really do.. I always pick it as my game piece in Trivial Pursuit (it’s also easier for people to remember which player I am.. y’know.. being Asian).. but I disliked this shade. We wanted something that contrasted with the Bakery Box walls of the dining room and living.. so we went with Poppyseed… aka Black, as Graham would say. We really love the way it turned out. We found this side table at Jinxed in Queen Village. It was in need of a little TLC, but I fell in love with it. You might be able to see the empty coaster holder sitting there. We had a coaster problem at our house. We had various sets that tend to wander from room to room until they hit that other dimension where they’re never heard from again. We picked out a heavier set made from agate to prevent them from walking about that now sits on the coffee table.One of the first things I looked for when we moved was a maneki-neko or lucky cat. It goes well with our vespa kitty that sits below..Vroom. vroom.

Stacy

The floors of the house were definitely worn and scuffed. Initially, we were planning on having them stained darker, but once we saw the beautiful sanded yellow pine beneath our feet, we opted to keep it natural, only adding a couple coats of polyurethane. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned how much I disliked the buttercream walls on multiple occasions. I felt it clashed with the red brick behind the stove. Although the kitchen has multiple windows, the hanging eave off the back porch and the neighbor’s house to the east doesn’t allow as much natural light into the room as I would like. We painted the walls white to brighten the mood. I also dreaded the idea of trying to clean cooking splatter from painted walls, so we knew we were going to need a backsplash. Graham and I talked about doing white subway tiles, but when I found white honeycomb tiles on Wayfair, I fell in love with the vintage, yet modern, feel.  Although he always complained whenever I went on about how much I love chalkboard walls, Graham suggested we paint one in the kitchen (aww.. one of the reasons why I married him). We used to keep our grocery list on Google Keep, but I love writing it out on something tangible. We’re usually in the kitchen when we realize we’re out of something, so it’s convenient to scribble it out then, and really, who doesn’t like writing on chalkboard? It’s also nice to temporarily jot dates while you’re on the phone and can’t access your Google Calendar.Uh….we still haven’t gotten around to erasing the seasoning marks towards the ceiling..

Then of course, there’s the shelving…Our biggest accomplishment with the kitchen actually has nothing to do with paintbrushes, wallpaper, etc. When we moved in, we knew we were going to need a new kitchen rug since our old one had definitely seen better days. We first purchased one with a geometric print from Society6, but we freaked out when we opened the package and saw that the colors didn’t translate well from online to real life. We found ourselves face to face with lavender, navy, and neon pink triangles which I’m sure would be lovely!… in another kitchen. Strike One. We then tried our luck with RugsUsa. Well… we ended up being out $80, but we got a good laugh out of the rug that looked as if it would be more at home in a kindergarten classroom. Strike Two. We were definitely suffering from online rug shopping PTSD and were reluctant to try our luck again.

We took a chance on a hemp rug from Target that I wasn’t too crazy about. Once we laid it out in the kitchen, I immediately decided it needed to go, and back it went. Strike Three.

One day, while on yet another trip to Ikea (if you’ve bought a new house, prepare to spend so much time at Home Depot and Ikea that they should just start paying you to work there), we found a rug we thought would be perfect. In a perfect world, we’d have a white rug, but since we’re imperfect people in the kitchen, we knew that would never fly. But this rug was white with enough mottled dark hues that would hide potential cooking snafus.

We got it home and unrolled it…at least we tried to.. Although we knew the rug was wider than we needed, we thought we might be able to slip the excess inches under the refrigerator. Nope. My resourceful husband, however, was not going to give up.. He wasn’t going to be victimized by yet another rug. So he dragged the rug to the back porch with a hacksaw..Problem Solved.

Stacy

It wasn’t until after I’d ordered all the wallpaper that I realized we had a dilemma. We were planning on using the lowest shelf as a raised food stand for Huxley.The problem is that our dog PLOWS through his food. In cartoons, you might see a dog scarfing down his meal with bits of food flying up.. that’s our dog.. in 3D. At our old place, I’d have to scrub the walls at least once a week to remove dried kibble crumbs. There was no way wallpaper would withstand Huxley’s lack of eating etiquette. I was about to give up on the idea, when Graham, being resourceful as usual, suggested putting up plexiglass on the lower third of the alcove.Neither of us have had any experience with wallpaper, so I made the executive decision of begging inviting the help of an expert… my mother-in-law. She came armed with rulers, T-squares, pencils, and some other tools I couldn’t identify. We didn’t get to finish that evening, but the upper area would be easier than the lower for a solo job.I pulled the ladder from the basement last night to finish up the project. That’s when I realized how great my mother-in-law is with wallpapering. The entire time, she required minimal assistance from me, all the while maintaining this upbeat demeanor getting the job done. She made the whole thing look so easy! As I struggled with wallpaper curling over my head, unsticking it from itself (for the 8th time in 15 minutes), beads of sweat rolling down my face, I realized I’d been fooled.

Hearing the huffing, grunting, and whining, Graham wandered into the kitchen to see what the commotion was. That’s when he rolled up his sleeves, took the wallpaper from me, and climbed the ladder. Between the time he started and the 20 minutes that he descended from the ladder, he’d come up with ample verses for the song, “Wallpaper Is A Pain In The Butt, and We Are Never Doing This Again.” But it got done!I haven’t made up my mind about what to display or organize; I’ve been experimenting with storage containers, plants, tchotchkes, etc,  but I’m really happy with the end result!

Graham did add, however, that whenever it is that we renew our marriage vows, he’s going to insert a clause regarding never wallpapering again.Thanks, Graham and Christine! 

Stacy

“Don’t be mad at me. I know we said no gifts, but I was thinking about how marriage is about compromise… or more like.. how compromise is about making you happy.”

He took me to the dining room where I was greeted by this:

So, that last item on the list?

No starburst/sunburst clock

Done.

I won. And I don’t mean the design war.. I won the husband lottery. Sorry about the cheese.

Stacy

Another wall hanging…

Another hanging macrame planter..

... in front of the door that leads to Graham’s office.

Is he ok with this? He was actually the one who nailed the planter bracket to the wall. <3

For the curious, the greyhound statue was a wedding gift from the incomparable Aunt Flossie, spray painted from the antiqued bronze to white to match the rest of the house.

Stacy

When home ownership happened in January, after a lot of vetoing and eye-rolling, we finally decided on combining mid-century modern elements with bohemian accents. Just because we agreed on a theme, doesn’t mean that all details falling in the two categories are automatically approved. Graham set some guidelines for me regarding what’s NOT permissible. For instance, this Gemma Correll print is the extent of word art that’s allowed in the house:The rules are as follows..

1. No dreamcatchers
2. No antlers / mounted deer heads
3. No Starburst / Sunburst decor
4. No Sputnik-inspired lighting fixtures
5. No more painting post-move
6. No macrame
7. No woven wall hangings

With the exception of the dreamcatchers (I’ve just never been a fan), this list KILLS me. But you know what? That’s okay. Because I’ve managed to get away with strategically breaking six out of seven of these “rules” through covert operations.

Antlers? Check.Oh look, antlers! This is in a corner of the living room. I was able to pick this up after begging Graham for a mounted jackalope head. He caved on the antlers. The lesson? Pick something incredibly awful so your actual choice in decor seems like a compromise.

Starburst / Sunburst Decor? Check. I dislike our bedroom because of 2 annoying flaws – the warm cream walls and the hideous light fixture that every morning makes me think I’m staring up at a gigantic saline breast implant. I really wanted to add a set of sunburst mirrors in the room to help distract me from the flaws. Graham had already said no to sunburst and starburst decor in general. I waited for him to leave on his business trip to D.C, ordered them from Amazon, hung them up, and waited for him to notice once he got home. He didn’t notice.More Painting? Check. The aforementioned offending cream wall? I complained almost every day for two months until Graham caved so he wouldn’t have to hear me say “I hate these walls” every morning and every night.. with the condition that he doesn’t have to help. So.. that’s kinda like a draw, right?

Macrame? Check.I negotiated that I would keep the macrame planter I got from etsy.. (which I’d *ahem* forgot to tell him about) confined to the studio. Once I hung it, he was surprised that he didn’t really mind it. Soooo.. I’m taking that to basically mean that it’s ok to hang another one… on the 3rd floor.. right outside his office.

Woven Wall Hanging? Check. If you decide to make one yourself, what is he going to do? Tell you that you can’t display your hard work?That was 5 rules broken. Here’s the 6th..

Dreamcatcher? Check.I know I said I’m not a fan of dreamcatchers, but since Graham said, “No,” I just kinda HAVE to do it. It came as a surprise thank you gift from an etsy seller, so Graham can blame fate.. or maybe poor judgement in wife selection.

When asked if he minded terribly the reminders of violation against his list, Graham replied, “No, if they make you happy, I’m happy. Plus, I realized it’s much less painful to agree with you.”

Stacy