The Steve Buscemi's of Lamps

Months ago, my friend Kristi sent me a picture text with these lamps and said she was going to throw them out and wondered if I would like them.  "Sure!" I figured if I couldn't rescue them, I could always just donate them.  They have been sitting in our basement since the move and yesterday, I finally remembered them and wondered how they would look in our room.  Currently:  pretty bad.  But they do have potential.

For one, they both are just about the same height (the one on the left is 3/4" taller).  I love how tall they are.  With a low bed and low nightstands, the room is begging for some height--and these tall lamps might be our ticket.  They also both have a gourd shape to them.  The fact that it isn't the exact same lamp is kinda endearing to me.  Of course, I would spray paint the bases the same color for unity and and I would also need to do something about the shades.  The lamp on the right has the shade shape that I would like to work with--a tall drum shade that I can easily cover:

The lamp on the left has a bizarre shade that I am most likely going to have to break down to the bones and try to recreate the same shade as the one on the right (oh, and do something about those tassles!):

I am excited about the prospect of upcycling these lamps and making them something special again.  Chris?  Not too excited.  In fact, he would rather just buy new lamps.  Which is our backup plan.  But you know me, I love a challenge--even when I don't know exactly what I'm doing.  How to make a lampshade?  No clue.  But I'll figure it out and share every last detail.

For now, we are just super excited to have lamps.  For the first time since moving, we had a warm glow  illuminating our room last night:

What do you think?  Are you frightened?  Are you stoked for the transformation?  Are you confused as Chris was when he saw these lamps flanking our bed?

Swank-stands

We needed nightstands, bad style.  We had one that we had been using on my side of the bed (I always claim the side away from the door) that was actually used as an end table in our last apartment.  It is from Ikea and too tall and looked a little pinkish against the gray-brown walls.  And we only had one.  We thought about forking out another $79.99 for a second one--but that didn't really make much sense if one wasn't jiving with the bed and paint color.  The search continued.  The problem is, nightstands are not cheap--but, we are.  

We thought about putting a couple of small floating shelves on each side of the bed.  One for a lamp and a second shelf or basket underneath for storage, like this picture:

But most floating shelf options that we looked at had a weight capacity of 7 lbs--which would be fine for a lamp (I think...we haven't gotten that far), but not fine with a toddler pulling down on it which would inevitably happen.  So we passed on that idea, but I still gawk at that photo.  Lovely solution.  Next I turned my attention to the online classifieds here in Utah (KSL.com).  There was a plethera of nightstands, but all the dimensions and/or prices were too high, or there was only one for sale.  Then, I found it:

The dimensions were perfect and the price was right.  The lady selling them said they were about 50 years old and Chris wasn't crazy about the look of them in the pictures, but I assured him I could refinish them if he didn't like them once we got them home.  We went and picked them up last night.  We were stunned when we saw them in person.  They were gorgeous.  And heavy.  And sturdy--and had to be worth WAY more than $12.50 a piece.  We just smiled and put them in our car as fast as we could, paid her and bolted before she changed her mind.

After putting them in place, we concluded not to touch them at all.  They are just too pretty in their natural state.  I saw a stamp on the back that said it was "Inspected.  Ayers Furniture."  I googled around and found a similar (but not nearly as cool) Ayers nightstand going on Ebay for $299!

Alas, I am not going to sell them.  Instead, I'll count myself one lucky duck and enjoy our steal-of-a-nightstands....which would be a little easier if we had lamps.

Soooo swanky, right?!

Our Costume Party Invitations

We are suckers for Halloween.  Suckers.  This year we decided to take the opportunity to dress up and party into our own hands by throwing a costume party at our place.  So last night, we decided to put some costumes together and snap a few photos for the invitations--that way we would drive the message home that it is a costume party.  We had so much fun dressing up and posing for the camera and browsing through all of the hysterical photos (Chris played his character so well! Ha!) that we decided our party MUST have a photo op.  And a costume party wouldn't be complete without awarding prizes for the best/worst/most comical costumes, right?  Here's how the final invitation ended up (with our address blacked out).

Of course we'll be sharing every last detail on DIY decorations and the ghoulish (I couldn't resist) recipes we whip up.  And if you're in Utah on the 28th, we'll see you there!  Anyone else throwing a killer party?

Lighten up.

A couple weeks ago, we toyed with the idea of painting our bed frame and we got lots of support from you.  So, over the weekend I dove in and got it done and I am here to tell you all about it.  There were a couple reasons we wanted to paint the frame of our bed.  First, it was really dark and after we painted our room (read about that here), it seemed to suck all the light out of the room.  Second, while the leather headboard was in good shape, the wood was scratched in a few places.  Third, it was stained a dark dark cherry, which Chris and I both admit now wouldn't be our first choice of bed if we were to pick one up today. 

Here's how it all went down:

1.  Remove bedding, mattresses and headboard from bed.  This was quick!  I thought about just taping off the headboard and painting around it, but I didn't want to take any chances of painting the leather and we weren't sure if we were going to cover the leather with a lighter fabric or not (we decided not to).

2.  Sand.  Because the frame was super slick and shiny, we knew it needed some roughing up if any paint was going to adhere.  There were spots where we got all the way down to bare wood without trying and some places the shine just got sanded off--which is the goal.  Either way, if you are thinking about painting your bed, make sure to sand it first if it is real shiny like ours was.

3.  Prime Time.  Chris jumped in and helped me prime the whole bed (except the back side that faces the wall) which was sweet because it went so quick.  We used the same Zinsser primer that we used for our cabinets and just about everything else around here.  On the label it says no need to sand, but we took the extra step to be safe.  Chris stoked about priming at night:

4.  Get your paint on.  This is where I stopped taking pictures because Chris wasn't around and I was racing the clock against Greta's nap time.  I painted 4 coats of a creamy white paint from True Value called "Picket Fence."  I used a small foam roller so it would go on smooth and evenly and I used a trim brush for the corners.  Yes I was bummed it took 4 coats, but going from an extremely dark bed to a really light one--I wasn't expecting a quick go at things.

5.  Last thing I did was brush 2 thin coats of Polycrylic clear gloss finish over the whole bed to protect the paint job.

Here she (he?) is:

The white frame really makes the bed pop and breaks up all that darkness.  And after we checked out the leather headboard next to the white--we loved it all over again and decided to stick with the high contrast look.  We also picked up some new white sheets (a tan set came with it) at Ross for $25 and those fun, shaggy gray pillows for $8 a pop!  We definitely still need to get a duvet cover because our insert is looking a little dingy.  And if you are worried about where the color injection is:  it's coming.  We still have art to hang.  Nightstands to get.  Lamps, glorious lamps and window treatments.  We are just getting warmed up in here, folks!

Before:

Currently:

Giveaway Gold: My Memories, errr YOUR Memories

Giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to Laura--lucky number 28!

Today I am wrapping up your memories in a box with ribbon and handing them to you.  You're welcome.  Let me start off by saying, I am not a scrapbooker.  The thought of cutting out pictures and adding a slew of embellishments is not my cup o' cider.  I am more of a minimalist.  I like a clean, crisp, white background for my photos and neatly, handwritten captions--even better: typed (It drives my sister nuts).  I'll pass on the ribbons and foam sunglasses and buttons glued on the page.  So, yeah, I'm not a scrapbooker.  But, any time photos are made into scrapbooks or calendars or announcements--I melt.   No matter how you store your memories, I think it is most important to keep them.  Dress 'em up.  Keep is simple.  Add a soundtrack.  Whatevs.  I am a strong believer in creating memories and keeping them handy to look back on.  

My Memories is giving one of our readers their complete My Memories Software Suite.  It's an award winning digital scrapbook software that is extremely easy to use. My Memories Suite helps anyone create digital scrapbooks, cards, calendars, etc. without having to buy expensive programs and then learn how to use the software.  Because this blog is one HUGE memory, I started toying with the idea of "scrapbooking" (I'm actually scrapbooking--gasp!)  it all into one book with My Memories Software.  Plus, I had to show you some examples.  Chris laughed when I showed him the first page I did:   

"Babe.  It's very...you.  But doesn't really show off all the features."  He's right.  The software allows you to choose from their templates that are full with digital embellishments and colors and creative pages for backdrops, or you can create your own.  At first, I stuck with what I knew I liked--white and clean.  And then I started adding some colors and patterns to step out of my how-I-like-my-photos comfort zone:

Are those dotted-ring embellishments?  Why yes they are.  Baby steps, friends.  And if you really like the traditional, crafty, scrapbook look, they have ready-made templates that you can add to, or just plop your pictures in and call it done:

The Nitty Gritty--

Prize: My Memories Suite Software.  Sweet!

Number of Winners: Uno

To Enter: Leave a comment that jogs our memories of the good ol' days.  For instance:  Remember when the cool thing was AIM chat?  Weeeiiirrrrddd.

Bonus Round:  "Like" My Memories on Facebook. 

Details: This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.  Woot.  Giveaway closes Thursday, September 29th at 9pm MST. The maximum number of entries is 2 per person (One regular entry, plus one bonus entry). Any additional comments will be deleted. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and announced on Friday, September 30th. 

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In case you want more details on what the software can do (like making your scrapbook interactive with videos and music---my brain exploded), or maybe you just love a cheesy good infomercial, here are those goods:

5 Fall Favorites.

Fall is my favorite.  Then Summer.  Then Winter (until after New Years, then it is terrible).  Then Spring....sorry Spring.  In the spirit of the favorite season starting today, let me share a few of my favorite things and sure signs that the autumnal equinox is upon us:

5.  The leaves change colors.  In Pittsburgh, where I grew up, it is breath-taking.  Out here in the west, the wind seems to blow so hard at times, I feel like if I blink, I'll miss those pretty, dying leaves.  If I don't, I can think of about 10 projects I want to do with leaves, including this one:

I am definitely cutting our last name out of leaves and then maybe mounting in on a canvas and displaying it--gah!  I'm not blinking until December.  Stay tuned for this project.  It's happening. 

4.  Fall apparel.  It's the best.  I love layering button ups and sweaters and jackets.  I am going to be channeling J. Crew's Marissa Webb this season.  She does stripes in an amazing way:

As far as men's apparel, I'm equally excited for Chris to start wearing a zip-up hoodie under his pea coat or jacket.  He's been doing it since I met him in 2005 and he still rocks it.  

3.  New episodes of all of our favorite shows!!  Robert California had us cracking up last night and Jim's note to Pam had me tearing up.  

2.  Hot Apple Cider. Bomb.

1.  Our fall snack staple is on the dining room table -- honey roasted peanuts and candy corn.  We have concluded that two nuts to one candy corn is the ideal ratio...and we've already refilled the candy dish--twice. :)

I hope this allowed you to forget the fact that it is 84 degrees outside (here, anyway).  Yeeeesh. What's your favorite thing about Fall?  

You win some, You lose a lot.

 It may seem like we are always entering contests, it isn't far from true.  Chris and I are pretty competitive, but more than that, we look at it as a fun way to earn some extra dough to fund even more projects around here.  However, in the case of Chris's recent cooking competition--it was purely for fun and food (even the prizes were restaurant gift cards!)  The thing about competitions is that we don't always win.  In fact, despite what most of our friends and family think, we lose a lot. 

Last year, with tons of help from our friends, we scored a $1500 gift card to RC Willey.  That was awesome and unbelievable and A LOT of work.  We actually contacted (mostly through facebook) all of our friends and even some people we haven't talked to in 10 years and asked them to vote for our entry.  Yeah, we were those people.  At first it was embarrassing, but after a while it was so fun to catch up with some people that I hadn't heard from in a while.  Conversations sparked and reconnections happened and in the end, we won--on all accounts.  

Earlier this year, we entered another contest where the prize was $5000.  You entered a photo of a room in your home into a contest and then rallied people to give it a thumbs up.  Unfortunately, there were also people giving your room a thumbs down.  In the end, the room with the highest percentage of thumbs up, wins.  There was a lot of cheating (clearing of caches and cookies--which we decided we weren't going to do) when it came to voting and the contest wasn't fun.  And not just because we didn't win.  The person who did win, didn't have the best entry--not nearly--and it was obvious the contest was skewed.  We decided we weren't going to enter anymore competitions that involved the crowd's vote.  We didn't want to put our friends through that anymore.  

Recently, I came across two contests (I really do just happen upon them as I am blogging) and both fit the kind of contests that I like to enter: low entry, short entry time and large prize.  The first was the True Value DIY contest which we won!  It involved sending in photos or a video entry of a space in your room that you have been wanting to renovate and what you wanted to do in the room.  Our basement was the perfect candidate.  I had Chris film me one night and I submitted the video.  We were thrilled when we got the news that we scored the $2500 to redo that room.  

Before we heard that we won that contest, we entered our basement into another contest--for Olympic ONE paint.  There were less than 100 entries and the prize was $10K.  You had to incorporate the can in a humorous way and show how it covers in one coat.  Chris's brother, Brandon, came over and took the picture for us and we thought we had it in the bag.   

Wrong.  They just announced the winner and it's this gal:

Get it?  The can is doing the painting.  Good for her!  Although we totally wanted that $10,000, we still feel like we won big with the True Value contest.  Those walls need more than just paint.  In fact, that paint is all being sanded off (we just rolled on enough of a bright color for the picture).  There have been lots of other small contests we have entered, and lesson learned: you win some, you lose a lot--but it is mostly a good time, and when you win, it's a great time.

Funny--we just discovered it was exactly a year to the day from when we found out we won the $1500 RC Willey gift card to when we won the $2500 True Value contest.  Next year, we better shoot for $3500!
 

New-in-progress Art

We are all pretty under the weather here at Casa Marcum, but I didn't want to let this roaring stomach bug leave you hanging.

I am sure some of you will not approve, but I painted over our big orange painting.  By now you should know that I am not afraid to redo things or change things that don't feel quite right.  This change was kinda spur of the moment.  Chris was headed off to a meeting and I mentioned, "That orange painting doesn't really go with our house."  He agreed, "Nope."  Right then he helped me take it down and in the hour he was gone, I splashed some colors that it SHOULD contain on the oversized canvas and then figured I would come back to it soon.  Well, I haven't touched it since--and it is kinda growing on us, although I definitely  plan need to go back in and tweak some things.

It feels a lot more free than the orange--probably because I didn't think and just did it to get rid of the orange that seemed to clash with everything else in our home.  Originally, we had plans to add in a few more orange-y accents into our decor, but we haven't--and I am pretty sure we won't.  

So, although I think the big orange painting could work very nicely in someone else's home (you know we're big fans of bold color)--it wasn't doing it in ours.  So instead of seeing this when you walk in the front door, "Hello big orange painting, Oh! you have furniture, too?":

The new art takes a bit of a back seat and lets other aspects of the space really shine:

Was:

Currently:

Although "in progress," we like it so much more.  Now excuse me while I curl back up into bed with Chris and listen to Greta jump in her crib instead of take a nap.  Why does she have so much energy on days when we definitely don't?!

FüD Feud 2011

Saturday morning, we headed up to Salt Lake City for the first annual FüD Feud.  Chris (with a little coaxing from me) registered to compete in the amateur "home cook" contest.  There were 4 possible categories: appetizer, main dish, side dish and dessert.  After some thought, Chris went with the appetizer category....and then he took the rest of the week to decide what he wanted to make.  In the end, he decided to make his stuffed cucumber bites (mmmyyyy favorite!)

He was instructed to bring three plates for the judges and enough to share with the other contestants and guests because there was also a taster's (similar to people's) choice award.  While there were plenty of cucumber bites, we totally spaced bringing a tray to put them on.  Chris thought quick and wrapped up our cutting board with white paper....towels.  Ha!  His judges plates looked great, but our portion of the table was really lacking the extravagance that others had.  

For instance, Chris's spot is the far right.  Check out our neighbor on the left!  Yowza!

Too bad all that decorating was for fruit salad.  Cut up fruit.  For a competition.  Hmph.  There were plenty of other gorgeous dishes that were equally as tasty, like this over-the-top cake:

We stuffed ourselves with soups, pork, homemade applesauce, fresh salsa, cakes, macaroons, rolls, salmon sandwiches, curries and much more.  It was fun to be food critics for a little while and give each dish our score.  

In the end, the homemade garlic-parmesan rolls took home the gold and neither of us could argue with that.  They were delicious and we snatched up the recipe to try ourselves.  Chris didn't leave empty-handed though.  He got a goodie bag with a tiny spatula, and a little chef's hat and a couple oven mitts. He also won a cooking class in the raffle, which we plan to make a date night out of....because let's face it, I need the cooking class far more than he does.

All in all, we were convinced we would have faired better if Chris made a casserole, but it was a great day and lots of fun and lots of food.  

Chris's Stuffed Cucumbers

8 oz cream cheese

3 oz bleu cheese

8 oz sour cream

4 scallions—trimmed (use green parts only), cut into small 2 in. strips

1/2 Golden Delicious apple—thinly sliced into wedges, stored in water

4 Hot House cucumbers –-peeled, cut into ½” rounds, centers hollowed out

12 oz bacon—cooked, cut into small wedges

In a bowl, mix together cream cheese, bleu cheese and sour cream until smooth.  Pipe cheese mixture into cucumbers.  Top with 1 wedge of apple, 1 wedge of bacon and scallion.  Enjoy.

  

New Video + Outtakes.

Our first video is live on True Value's facebook page!  There will be 5 videos total and each one is just a few minutes long.

Go check out the video here.  (Scroll down to "Part 1: Twilight to Tranquil).

In this first video, you get to see:
1.  Us introducing ourselves.
2.  Me not knowing where to look?? My eyes are everywhere!
3.  Chris constantly checking me out with the camera while we were shopping.
4.  Greta with her arms full.
5.  Me getting too excited about the word, "definitely" at the very end.  I really wanted a re-take after I saw it, but we had already done it about 12 times.

I really am more of a behind-the-scenes kind of gal, but we're making the most of the experience and having a blast with this.  We are already busy getting the first project underway: taking care of those walls, but I couldn't leave you without a look at the outtakes from trying to make this first video.  Hope you get a kick out of it.

Don't forget to check out our final cut, too!  Happy Weekend!

A Look at Where we Came From.

I am in the process of updating our House Tour Tab.  Things change around here so quickly, it is hard to keep that page 100% accurate.  However, with my new camera in tow, I have been making my way from room to room--tidying things up--and snapping a few current photos.  We have now lived in our home 5 1/2 months and there are still a few spaces that we haven't touched (you can see those rooms on the house tour tab), but I thought it would be fun today to show you all of the things we have done.  You can find links to all of the projects that went into our spaces (everything from paint colors to making our dining room chandelier) in the DIY tab and the House Tour tab, but let's just make this a pure show and tell.  And if you think you have seen it all--there are a few tweaks that we haven't shared yet.  Buckle down and let's get started:

This was our living room when we first moved in:

And this is how our living room looks today:

The dining room is adjacent to the living room.  Back in April, it looked like this:

This is how it looks today (I recently changed the huge artwork):

The neighboring kitchen has gotten several easy-fixes in the last 5 months.  It is hard to believe this is what it looked like when we first moved in:

Today, it looks like this:

Down a few stairs is our family room.  When we first met the space, it looked like this:

We are still trying to find the direction we want to go in this room, but for now it looks like this:

Back up the few steps leading to the family room and headed up the larger staircase, we are met with a large wall.  When we moved in, it looked like this:

 
Five months, and a few tweaks later, it looks like this:

At the top of the stairs, is the hallway.  Once plain jane:

It has since received a coat of paint and a few frames to up the sophistication:

The hallway bath recently got a quick revamp.  When we moved in it looked like this:

Today, it looks like this:

Down the hall a little further is Greta-girl's room.  Her room was the very first room we turned our attention to upon moving in in April.  Back then, it looked like this:

We recently added a large poster above her desk and moved a few of her poms over some floor cushions to create a reading space.  Today it looks like this:

The last room we have started in our home is our room.  But just barely.  When we moved in, it looked like this:

And all we have done is add paint so far:

That's where we stand today--5 1/2 months in.  We have yet to touch some rooms, but we are happy with the progress we have made so far.   What's your favorite transformation?  For me, I am completely enamored with the kitchen these days.  The white cabinets and new appliances are so welcoming now.