Shutters, and Singing, and Sidebars, oh my!

Well, we decided not to use the shutters in the reading room after all...



We loved the idea of having shutters, but we just couldn't get used to the look of them. They were really easy and inexpensive to make, so it's okay that they didn't end up working out.

Basically, I sent Kevin to Lowes to get some picket fence posts ($1.30 per picket) and four small hinges so we could attach them to the window.



He used an old plank of beadboard (we salvaged from an old, abandoned house next door to my Mom's) across the top and bottom...



And would you believe all he used to hold everything together was wood glue?
(Waaay easier than finding the right sized screws!)

I might try and use them somewhere else, maybe as doors or maybe some sort of wall hanging. We really do like them....just not in the reading room.

:-)



In other news, my shutter-making husband is flying home from New York today.



He flew there yesterday to meet with a record label that's interested in signing his band. This will be there second go-round with a label (they first got signed to Geffen Records in 2001, but got "dropped" in 2005). It'll be interesting to hear about his big night in the Big Apple when he gets home tonight.
All I know so far is that they took him to Morton's for dinner last night and that he was presented with a menu that had his bands name printed on it.
Crazy!
Definitely a lot fancy-schmancier than our usual supper set-up: tray tables in the living room.

:-)

I'm glad he had an opportunity to go out and be spoiled for a change. I'm very proud of him and no matter what happens, I'm just happy he knows there are people out there that still love his music. (In fact, he was so touched by your comments about it that he's been talking about writing and recording an acoustic/piano record just for you lately.)

:-)

The house was so quiet without him here yesterday.
Not that's he's super loud or anything, but he is usually either playing acoustic guitar or working on some part of the house.
When I'm home alone, I don't even turn the TV on. I just listen to life outside my window and that helps me feel less alone.

Since it was obvious that we were the only ones home, Mr. Bean even hung out in the living room for a while...





He's very skittish, and normally hides all day long when anyone other than myself is in the house.

Maximus, on the other hand, was a little on edge all day...



He kept looking out the window for "Daddy".



We got him when he was very little, so he's super attached to the both of us...



It's hard to believe he turned four last week!

He's always cold, so he can often be found curled up inside my clothing as I work on the computer.



:-)

Okey dokey artichokey, I've gotta clean up the house before Mr. LC gets home, so I better get a move on- I've got about sixteen projects going at once for my "Mantel Mania" post next Monday and it looks like a tornado blew through here!

Before I sign off though, I did want to take a second to direct you to a few areas in our sidebar. I've received a lot of emails asking where certains things are located, so I thought I'd take a second to point them out.

You can follow us using a reader, or on Twitter, grab one of our buttons, or subscribe to our blog underneath our Sponsors section:



If you're looking for a particular post, you can find it in the Categories section:



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And you can find our Blog Roll by clicking on the "Lettered Loves" button:



Alright. I'm off to see the Wizard. Wait, I mean, the Swiffer.
Have a happy day!

:-)

Layla



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PS- Hudson Goods is giving away a great looking basket on CountryLiving.com! Click on the photo below to enter...



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We Now Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Reading Room Re-do

Howdy folks!
Did you miss me?
I haven't taken three days off since I don't know when!
It wasn't by choice though. My pupils made me do it.
Yep, I woke up on Thursday morning and they were huge. I looked like a cast member of "People Under the Stairs". (In case you missed that one, just imagine a bunch of people forced to live in a dark basement their entire life. Now think about what their pupils would look like. Yeah, that was me on Saturday.)
Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out. Normally, when you look at a bright light your pupils get smaller. But unfortunately, my pupils weren't in the mood to move, and after several unsuccessful attempts, I finally gave up and decided to wake up Mr. LC.

"Honey?" (me)

(grumble, grumble) "Yeah?" (Kevin)

"I think I have vertigo again." (me)

(wide awake now) "Really?" (Kevin)

"Yeah. The whole room was spinning when I woke up, and my pupils are huge." (me)

(sigh) "Well, just take it easy." (Kevin)

So I did.
I took it easy for three whole days, and I'm happy to report my pupils are no longer huge. :-)

While I was "taking it easy" I managed to sew a sweet little pair of curtains for the reading room. You remember the ol' reading room...

(Move your cursor back and forth over the photo below to see how the room looked when we moved in, and how it looked as of last week.)



Well, now that Kevin is finished working on the ceiling...



...it was time for me to dress the window.

Money's tight, and vintage napkins are super cheap, so that's what I decided to use as curtains.



I bought six of them about of year ago at a flea market. Kevin was with me at the time, and I remember him looking at me like I was crazy when I held them up for his approval. The look in his eyes said, "Why do you want to buy white, linen napkins? We eat on tray tables in the living room and I can't remember the last time you used a regular napkin, let alone a fancy-schmancy white, linen one."

But boy was he happy when I pulled them out the other day and introduced them to my friend Janome...



A) because he loves window treatments, and B) because he can now justify what once seemed like the weirdest impulse purchase ever.

That little basket sitting next to my sewing machine belonged to my Grandma Evelyn. I have her pin cushion too...



I haven't sewed since before my blog was born, so I had completely forgotten about her little name tag...



And I'm not sure I ever knew my Grandpa Richard's tag was hidden inside hers...



It was a really nice surprise, and seeing them reminded me of the day they wore them. It was their 50th wedding anniversary. They rented a great big building for the celebration because they loved, and were loved by, so many people.
My Grandpa is still alive (he's 92 now), but my Grandma has been gone for eleven years now. Finding their name tags folded together like that made me think about how much I miss seeing them together.
I also thought about the time my Grandma tried to teach me how to sew on her antique machine. I never got the hang of it, but I bet she'd be so happy I managed to make friends with Janome. :-)

I started by sewing a rod pocket across the top of one of the napkins...



Then I sewed another napkin to the bottom of it...



I love a simple, "farmhouse fresh" kinda look, so I hung them on a small branch I found in the woods behind our house...



I adore the way the sunlight filters through them, and the little embroidered bits make me smile every time I see them...



I did buy a new pillow cover from Pottery Barn to use on the smaller pillow in the middle of the bed...



There's something about blue and white stripes that just drives me wild!

And come to think of it, I've got quite a thing for Pottery Barn's pick-stitch bedding too...



...and their Medici pattern (which is now discontinued) is not only beautiful, but a whole lot of fun to say too. Kevin has worked it into conversation a number of times since we bought these pillow covers, and our dogs name (Max) has morphed into "Medici" on more than one occasion as well.



I'm totally diggin' the way the pillows coordinate with the sheets now...




(TJ Maxx)

Our design plan continues to evolve, so there are still lots of things to do before the room is ready for it's big reveal. Kevin spent part of today building some shelves for the wall on the right...





His feelings aren't the only thing he wears on his sleeve...



I'll be back soon with some more pics of his handsome, new handiwork.

'Til then, cheers!



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Check out my e-book "Creating an Inspired Home"!

Reading Room Ceiling Re-do (Part 2)

Howdy folks!
Are you having a good week? Hope so!
If you downloaded, left me a comment or emailed me about my book- I want to say thank you! You're a real day maker and I appreciate your thoughtfulness so much!

:-)

On the homefront- things are moving along nicely in the reading room. That being said, Kevin has had a lot going on musically lately, so he hasn't had quite as much time to "fix 'er up" as usual. (That reminds me, quite a few people have asked about his music. This is one of my favorite songs/videos of his. Kevin's a pretty shy, low-key guy, and he'll probably make me delete this part when he sees I've included it- so watch it quick if you want to see/hear it!)

So far, he's removed the drywall from the ceiling, to expose the wood planks that were hiding underneath...



For those who asked about how exposing the wood ceiling would affect our power bill, I'm happy to report that the planks are tongue-and-groove and there is a thick layer of insulation above them. There's also a plywood floor on top of the insulation in the attic. And for those who wanted to know what was on the ceiling before the drywall was installed, well, all that originally covered the wood ceilings was a thin layer of wallpaper that had a fabric backing that was secured to the ceiling with little tacks. Weird huh? The wallpaper was sort of a dusty mauve color, and had little silver lines on it that resembled fireworks. We have found it underneath every bit of drywall we've removed from the ceilings on this side of the house, so apparently someone was into it. Big time.

Kevin painted the ceiling in the reading room a light blue color (that has just a touch of green in it) called "Sea Salt" (Sherwin Williams). We had about a half a gallon left over from when we painted the walls in the guest bathroom.



The light fixture is from Ikea. It's called Ottava. We bought it last year for $29.99.

I loved the look of the fixture itself, but the black cord was contrasting with the rest of the room too much. So I used some jute twine I had from another project to cover it up...



First, I tied the twine in a knot, closest to the fixture. I covered up the short end of the twine by holding it flush against the cord and wrapping the rest of the twine around it.





After we hung the light I tied the other end into a knot. Then I cut end off and used some Tacky glue to hold it up against the cord. I used a piece of painters tape to hold the loose end in place while the glued dried...



As for the electrical stuff, well, we had to cut the cord a little shorter to make it look right. If you ever need to do something similar, it's really no problemo.
Just figure out where the cord needs to be cut, and carefully score the outer part of the cord with a pair of scissors (unless you are fortunate enough to own the tool that electricians use to do this type of thing)...



Once you've got it scored, slide the outer cover off...



Inside, you will find a black, a white and a green wire...



Carefully score the covering around the wires...



Finally, whatever you do- do not leave the room to go check your email at this point. If you do, your husband may not remember to take any more photos of this process because his hands are full, and he's sitting on top of a ladder with live wires in his hands.
(Yeah. Oops. Forgot to turn the power off before we started working. Don't recommend doing that either.)

Because I did leave the room to go check my email, I don't have any photos to show you the next few steps, but it's really pretty simple. Twist the black wire around the black wire in the ceiling- then cap it off with a wire nut. Twist the white wire around the white wire in the ceiling- then cap it off with a plastic wire nut. Twist the green ground wire around the ground wire in the ceiling- then cap it off with a plastic wire nut. Easy breezy!


(Plastic Wire Nuts)

Design is definitely in the details, and since our fixture hangs way above eye level, I took an extra step to make sure the unsightly light bulb looked a little less unsightly by frosting the glass on the fixture.



Also, because this bulb hangs above our heads, the light was a little too harsh without the frosting. Now it isn't as difficult to look at the light fixture. I think we're going to install a dimmer switch to decrease the harsh factor even more, too.


(available at Lowes and Home Depot)

I sprayed on two coats, and let each coat dry for about an hour.



So, here's last weeks light fixture...



And here's this weeks light fixture!



I think we'll stick with this weeks.

:-)

Next up, window treatments! Kevin built some shutters and I made some cafe-style curtains out of vintage linen napkins. More photos coming soon!

Happy Thursday,
Layla

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Check out my e-book "Creating an Inspired Home"!