Look What Arrived Today! Thank you PVE!!

It's a beautiful little package from Patricia van Essche, of PVE Design!  She did an adorable drawing of a pair of little blue baby booties for the outside of the package and also included a pretty pale blue alphabet chart- both of which will go perfectly in the nursery- for baby Justin.  I'm so touched to have met such wonderful friends this past year and a half.   

In the box was this adorable little hand-knit stem hat (below).  Oh my goodness I love it!!  It went right onto poor Justin's little head for a photograph which he was VERY unhappy modeling for.  (Ah the life of a child of a blogger! He'll learn ;)

Thank you Patricia for this beautiful & thoughtful gift.  It means so much.

xoxo,

lauren

Pure Organization Project #3: If It's Broken, Fix It!!

Hope you're still enjoying the long weekend!!  And now for Project #3...  This one has the potential to feel boring but it is one of those things that just feels so good to get over with.  Nothing very "wow" about it, but when you've done it, you can pat yourself on the back...  or better yet, pour yourself a nice glass of wine. 

It's sad to say but this sconce has been broken since we first hung it up in our bedroom.  It was one of those things, "we'll get to later."  --or so we thought---  A few months later the broken sconce still hung in our room.  It was irksome but really it should have bothered me more than it did.  I actually have quite a collection of broken things around the house.  Why didn't I fix my broken stuff right away you ask?  The answer is simple:  I didn't have any Krazy Glue.  It really took me this long to acquire Krazy Glue.   No joke.  We'd always say "Oh we need glue," but it really wasn't high on the list of priorites with all of our renovating & baby-having, so we went without our glue.  Well let me tell you how much better Krazy Glue got while we were out forgetting it!!  It's got a brush on it now!!  AMAZING INVENTION!!  I didn't glue my fingers together once in the fixing process and only have the teensiest amount of glue to peel off & that's because I'm sloppy & impatient. 

 

So here's my little collection of broken things (below):  A poor piggy bank lost his ear when we first moved in (my fault I think?), My grandmother's vintage sconce got broken (seriously-  this is real-  6 YEARS AGO when it was hanging in my first apartment's tiny entryway and our very large handsome Danish friend, Esben, walked into it.  The laugh alone was worth it breaking!) and finally, my beloved $5 flea market Wedgewood bowl ( my fault again...  This one has been sitting on top of the fridge in our fruit bowl in pieces for a couple of months). 

SO if you aren't a procrastinator of little jobs (like me) then this week's project might not apply to you at all.  BUT, if you're even a little like me, here's Project #3:  If it's broken, fix it. 

(This can apply to anything:   broken accessories- toys- jewelry, clothes in the mending pile, loose hardware on drawers or cabinets, ANYTHING you've been "meaning to get around to" but just haven't.  ) 

Below, I feel so much better having fixed the sconce!! yay!!!  (It took 1 minute to glue-  why did I wait so long?!!)

Below, my kitchen piggy bank is much better!!!

And finally, here's my sad broken bowl out of commission for months...

...  Glued back together...

... And {almost} as good as new!  (I'm not a perfectionist.)

So, if it's broken, fix it.  And good luck.  It's honestly not as bad as you think!

xoxo,

lauren

ps-  I was REALLY dragging my feet this week so good thing I promised results or I would have given up ;) 

To check out readers' awesome takes on Project #2, go to the previous post here

Project #2: Organizing the Coat Closet- Reader Projects

Last week's Project #2 was organizing the coat closet and I got some great photos of projects from readers!! Here's ours, below:

Many of you had already tackled this project brilliantly & needed no help from me, but it was so awesome to see your creative solutions & thank you for sending them in.  First is Elisabeth from BOVAGOODS and how adorable are the rows of pegs outside the closet for her daughter's things??  I love the periwinkle blue too! Does this not look like it's from a magazine?!!

And here is Chelsea's coat closet before:

And here it is now:  Super-organized, she's even made an accessible spot for her cleaning supplies!  I also love the clear hanging door rack because you can really easily see what's inside:

Sarah from Miss Trixie's Table (who's 37 weeks pregnant & nesting hardcore!) did a beautiful job too.  Here's her before:

And here's her 'after':  LOVE the color of course (she had it leftover in the garage) and it's organized to perfection...  even the coats are color-coded! 

Tina, below, took a plane Jane organizer & made it pretty & personal with some turquoise Martha Stewart twill ribbon.  Go Tina!!

 

Lisa from Lists in My Pocket  used labeled baskets for pretty storage.  Here's her before & after:

How cute are the baskets?!!

 Christel, below, a home stager, took her once- average closet: 

...  And used this an adorable red check to make it fun & unique.  It's adorable!  She mentioned how important it is for staged homes on the market to have attractive & organized closets.

Yvalie took this dark space here:

And totally freshened it up into a bright & welcoming mud room.  How amazing is the antique harp case she found to use for storage?! 

She stores hats, gloves, mittens, bags, etc in there.  I've never seen aything like this!  So creative...

Kacey at She's.No.Martha uses the pocket door hanger and also mentions that having coat hooks at her children's height is a huge help & that thay hang their own things up 75% of the time - which is 75% more than happens in our house! :)  Love these pretty glass hooks:

 

Devon of The Wisteria House sent me photos of her coat closet and it was when I saw this beautiful coat closet a year ago on her blog, here,  with moss balls in the forefront, that I knew she had an amazing touch:

I can't get enough of the paisley fabric!!!  JUST HEAVENLY and I'm jealous (boots too please! :): 

So thank you everyone so much for being up to the challenge!!  I LOVE seeing your beautiful handiwork & creative solutions!!!

xoxo,

lauren

I LOVE LAMP: My Faux Bois Flea Market Find

Last weekend I made it out of the house!!  wahooo  (I really do just hibernate after I have a baby.)  I headed to the "DC Flea Market" in Chantilly with one of my best friends, Lindsey.  We CONQUERED that place in 3 hours:  Power-walking & bargaining till it closed.  But my first find of the day was LOVE:  This awesome 1950s Faux Bois Lamp!

When I saw it at first I smiled.  It looked a little tacky as things surrounded by mounds of other things often do at flea markets...  but it piqued my interest.  I took another look at it started to imagine it in the right setting (errr my house ;)...  It had that quirky element I love and the turquoise leaves were perfect for our family room.   It was interesting & unique & overscaled and I knew it could be beautiful!  (AND I've  been looking for a lamp to replace the temporary tiny one in the family room that belongs in the baby's nursery.)

At first the 3 shades kind of threw me off.  We don't really see much of this anymore.  But again, this is part of what attracted me to the lamp.  And I love the stars on the shade...  It's beautiful when lit but I coudn't get a good photo of it.  The lamp was marked at $65, but I very nicely asked the dealer what his best price was and he kindly dropped it to $50.  SOLD. I did a little research on faux bois and any faux bois over 50 years old is considered an antique & is highly collectible if it's in good condition.  yay!  I wonder if I got a deal?

The faux bois is a fun play on all the real driftwood we have in our family room like this huge cypress root by dad found while fishing in Georgia:

My "end table" next to the sofa is actually a console table standing in until the right piece comes along & attacks me at another flea market or thrift store.  To get the lamp at the right height and to keep it from receeding below the arm of the shelter sofa, I piled a few books under it.  The artwork above the sofa is a growing collection of flea market & thrift store paintings I've been collecting.

  I know it's not a piece that's to everyone's taste, but I'm so happy with it!!  It''s such a unique & personal find and I love incorporating accessories like this into a room.  Our family room is a fun, playful place & nothing in it should be taken too seriously.   (My cousin was over with her new boyfriend the other night & he looked around the room and said, "This is a fun color."  The first words out of my mouth were, "Who told you to say that?!" and looked accusingly at my husband & cousin.  Both shook their heads in innocence and I realized he'd come up with it all on his own. =  Best compliment ever because that's exactly what I'd assured my skeptical husband about the wall color before it went up & what I've been going for in this room all along! ;)  One last little pic of my lamp.  I repeat:  I LOVE LAMP.

Have a great weekend & keep sending me your Project 2 Closet pics!!  Thank you- I LOVE seeing your takes on the projects!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps- Sofa: discontinued Restoration Hardware Sofa

      Striped Blanket:  Dash & Albert