The Dining Nook & Its Amazing Wallpaper

First impression: awesome wallpaper.

When this house was for sale, I peeped through the windows before being showed the home “formally”. Glad I didn’t get accused of being a Peeping Tom. I was peeping but not for those perverted reasons. Trust me, nothing to see here but junk and not that kind of junk. Geez. The windows through the back were open and I was amazed at what I saw. It was the most amazing red and gold wallpaper ever in a small dining nook. I just knew that I had to see more and boy did I see more.

I love wallpaper and this stuff is tops. It is felt and foil and completely fabulous. Unfortunately, it is grotty (filthy, peeling, felt rubbed off in areas) and it has to go. New windows are being put in and some electrical stuff needs to be done. It’s sad because I would love to work with this stuff, but dirty is dirty and repairs must be made. I hope to salvage and frame some of it. The print is just too good to disappear. I did find the exact same stuff online, Rosie’s Vintage Wallpaper (awesome site BTW), but for  $325 a roll! I would of splurged but a roll won’t do the space and the ceilings are tall and coved. It’s hard to “draw a line” of when to quit. I just thought it would be cool to be able to keep that bold print in such a small space. Heck, Brocade Home (pictured below) does this all the time and people love it. Brocade has tacky light fixtures as well but I don’t think any are as tacky as a Tiffany styled swag Huskies lamp. The carpet is going too. Can’t wait to see the wood floors beneath!

Everybody is doing it!

After looking for vintage wallpaper online, I came across some pretty groovy stuff at a thrift store for like a $2 a roll, some very Buck Rogers stuff. It’s foil, no felt. It’s a mod in a 70’s way design with silver, white, macaroni n’cheese orange, and yellow. I don’t know if or where I’ll use it but I do have a bit of a wallpaper bug right now. Perhaps in the speech studio?

-Victoria

Read Full Post »

Charming White Bathrooms

Who doesn’t love an all white bathroom? It’s screams cleanliness and looks like it would simplify your life. It’s crisp and it has never been out of style. If you want to add color, than do it with accessories, towels and stuff like that. I’m thinking of doing the upstairs bathroom in an all white color palette. I hope to put up my vintage Brocade Home styled mirror, have shiny fixtures, white tile (a pain in the arse to clean), and walls that are a shade of white with the faintest tinge of gray. This has been my plan, if we ever get into that house to start remodeling. Anyways, I am trying my damnest to stay positive and thinking about French bulldog puppies, humid florals, carnival glass, and decorating. This makes me happy.

Country Living bathroom

The first bathroom is from Country Living Magazine. I like it because when I started searching for bathrooms online all you get are these humongous, monster bathrooms that are at least 1000+ square feet. My life will not have the jumbo bathroom complete with hot tub and an entire sitting room furniture set and a flat screen TV and wine bar. I will have a 30’s bathroom, tiny, efficient, but it can still be cute. I was happy to find a small, cute bathroom. It isn’t completely white but it is almost. I am attracted to this one because in my little mind I thought the tiles upstairs where white hexagon under the awful linoleum. When we walked back through, it isn’t. It is more like this tile. I was heartbroken. I wanted white tile with white subway tile. I wanted it to be the “original”. But, when I found this and saw how they kept that clean and neutral vibe, it made me happy. Maybe I can use that floor. It’s a tiny bath that is still cute and very functional. I love the gray shade add a few more squirts of white and I’ve got my ideal shade for my bathroom. It’s a cute and simple bathroom.

My "dream" bath

Sorry HGTV but I have never fallen for the colossal master bath bull hockey. I do not want to bust out A Picture of Dorian Gray and relax on a plum velvet chaise lounge, well, at least not in my bathroom. Bathrooms are for hygiene. Not as an oasis, go to a freaking spa for that. I want to go in with Ghost Busters attire and be able to bleach blast everything in sight. And I’d rather spend my dough on making a living space more efficient, investing in a studio, something that doesn’t get doo-dooed in. Plus, I have no desire to clean these fairytale bathrooms. If I had one I would pay somebody to clean the floor to ceiling tile and all those extra showers. I would rather have actual living space. My bathroom is a room that is necessary, not a room to make me feel rich or pampered. If I can’t have the solid black marble Valentino bathroom (or the mansion), then I’ll have my little functional white bath. This other bathroom is my “dream” bathroom. It’s large but still realistic. I love the tile, the tub, the little Saarinen side table. This is my “oasis” bathroom. But, the house we are supposed to be closing on someday, does not have clawfoot tubs. It was more of a “modern” home at the time with “modern” fixtures. The bathrooms aren’t really designed for clawfoots and I really don’t want to do a huge bathroom renovation. Not now. I just want a place to live.

-Victoria

Read Full Post »

My Desire For A Stuffy Living Room

The pug room

For some reason I am super siked about finishing the living room. This is the largest room in the house and it is sure to see the quickest and biggest improvement. It has tall molded ceiling, a fireplace, and nice built-ins and 2 large windows. It has the potential to be super elegant. It has the potential to have a couch with plastic wrapped on it 🙂 I don’t know why I want a formal, stuffy living room. We have a “formal” living room now and we rarely ever use it, but geez, it looks good.

Of course I love this 1st room just because there is a pug in it. Other than the dapper smushed face dog, I was attracted to this hilariously, stuffy, and formal room because I like the gray shade and the mantel is lovely. (We are shopping for a mantel since the current one is not up to codes, well, it doesn’t exist). The gray walls are very nice but I have decided to use this shade in the dining nook and maybe my “boudoir”. I also like the dark floors. David and I throw this back and forth. The current hardwoods that are in need of refinishing are the original white oak with a natural finish and this is what was typical of the time. The dark is elegant but will it be too dated since it seems to be what people go for now? I don’t know but we will know more once we actually see the floors! Currently they are covered with somebody else’s junk and 2 rooms are carpeted. If there is severe staining, water damage that refinishing can’t get rid of, then we will go darker.

Brocade Home formal living room

I like this Brocade Home living room even if it is staged. I occasionally like things in Brocade. I don’t like everything because it just reminds me of a single middle aged female’s home. She has to have a great job to afford the stuff, established,  and she can’t be married because the stuff is just way too femme. No guy could put up with it!  This room is a bit more masculine because of the dark floors and dark upholstery. I like this room but once again because I like the mantel, trim, etc. I could live without the random number 8 and the funky low chandelier. But, I do like the atmosphere of this room. It’s polished a bit feminine and masculine.

I like these rooms but I know that mine will be a bit more livable and it won’t have a pug, but a buttermilk French bulldog. It will be stuffy but it will be funkier and more fun than these magazine homes.

My 1st time in the living room.

This is a picture of me taken by the real estate agent on her phone since the batteries went dead in my camera as soon as a walked in the door, I tell you the house is haunted 🙂 I mean check out that blurry pic. It’s spirits. You see David was not there through the 1st walk through. This was the cleanest room in the house, see, it already was being used as “formal”. As you see a new light fixture is needed, the color needs to be lighter, the built-ins need some help. Carpet is down but underneath is the original white oak. The windows could use some fancy trim. I can’t wait to see what we end up with!

-Victoria

Read Full Post »