THE HOME I GREW UP IN

I was at my Dad's house tonight and we were going through some old photos. "Do you want to see pictures of our house when you were a baby?" Um, yes!!

And that's when I saw these gems. My home looked almost exactly the same until I was 17 years old. That's right - we had a mirror wall, rock accent wall, and brass fireplace with the metal mesh on it until the year 2000. Way too long, and yet I love the antique vibe in my home and seeing these pictures reminded me why I have a thing for Asian pottery, brass, and grasscloth wallpaper.

The only interior photos he had were of our living/dining room. I wish he had more! But enjoy these retro beauties:)

I broke that lamp on the side table - my parents bought it in China. It's safe to say my Mom was pretty devastated about the loss of that lamp and I was grounded because of it. The pillows on the sofa were beautiful embroidered pillows also from China. (My parents went to China for 3 weeks when I was 6 months old - a trip for work that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them.)

Call me crazy, but I kind of love the fireplace design even though it's really retro. And look at the lines on both of the sofas - so great! I wish I had the foresight to ask for those sofas when they were giving them away!

This picture must have been taken on a day they were having a party at the house. We only put chairs like that out on the patio when we were having family or friends over. Loving the wicker chairs on the patio and the bamboo chair in the corner.

I never liked that triangular window. But I'm guessing it was a cool design back then because I have torn quite a few of these windows out of homes we remodel - more than I wish ever existed. But the Asian screen could be very cool even today, right?! My sister gave it to someone and I'm kicking myself I didn't ask for it. It was hand painted and quite pretty.

I'm so grateful to have these pictures. Even though it seems a bit trivial, everyone should take pictures of their home. These pictures bring back more memories than other photos of specific events because they remind me of my everyday life in my home. They remind me of the details of my childhood. How I would sometimes sleep on the yellow sofa and how I told my sister on that sofa about my first kiss. Or how I hit the corner of the rock wall and got stitches. And how every Christmas morning we would come get our stockings that were hanging over this fireplace at 4 am because we were too excited to sleep. Looking at these photos has also helped me understand where my design influence has come from. As a designer, I really appreciate that.

If you don't have photos of your home for your kids, do it now. They will definitely appreciate it one day. There are so many details we forget!

IKEA HACK - MALM TABLE TO GRASSCLOTH CONSOLE

 As you know I'm not really a DIYer but I get so inspired when I go to Ikea. The low prices, clean lines, and easy to refinish furniture gets me every time!

Have you seen one of their newest furniture pieces, the Malm Occassional Table? This piece has wheels on the bottom so it slides over your bed to be used for reading, breakfast in bed, whatever. But when I saw it I knew it would make the perfect console table for my entry! I had been searching for so long but didn't want to spend a lot of $$ so when I found this I was super excited.

Here is the piece in real life.
(excuse the piece of the box left behind)

I considered leaving the table as is, but this piece isn't the glossy white finish a lot of their pieces are, and I would like it a LOT better if it was the lacquer finish.  I also don't love how the sides have a big seam (see pic below) and the fact that there are plastic caps on the inside of each leg that covers the screws. Other than that, the piece itself is really solid and worth every penny of the $129. (BTW, I didn't install the wheels that come with this piece)

But this table needed something more...

And it just so happened that I had some Thibaut Grasscloth laying around from a project. So I knew just what to do - cover this bad boy with grasscloth wallpaper! Here is what I used...

 WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1. A single roll of grasscloth wallpaper.

2. Something to cut with (I used scissors, but I think an exacto knife or something like that would be really effective and precise) Grasscloth is a little tricky because the grass strips make it more cumbersome to cut clean lines. The scissors worked great for me.

2. 1 can of Spray Adhesive + 2 rolls of Permanent Double-Sided Tape

3. Newspaper (to cut templates)

This DIY was easy, yet really time consuming (a lot of cutting and measuring). I think it took me a total of 4 hours, but some of that time included trial and error and cutting 2 pieces that didn't quite match up right. I am an impatient DIYer and I pay for that mistake :)

I recommend using the spray adhesive AND the double-sided tape because the tape helps the edges stay put and the spray adhesive ensures the middle of the wallpaper sticks to the console. I have to be honest, in some places I just used the tape and in others I just used the spray adhesive and I ended up going back a few days later and putting both on there. It really needs both.

I used newspaper to cut templates of the sheets needed to cover the legs and top. This didn't really work for the top piece since it's so long. The top piece I just cut the straightest line I could down the center of my wallpaper sheet. I had to do some trimming after I applied it, but that's the fun of DIY! 

I then for each sheet of wallpaper lined all the edges of the table (where the sheet would be going) with the double-sided tape, sprayed the adhesive on the back of the wallpaper and pressed it on the table. You need to be quick with this process to make sure the tape and the spray glue doesn't dry out before you adhere it.

And after applying 11 sheets of wallpaper you now have a finished product!

Notice how I laid the grasscloth so the lines were running horizontally on the top and it continued down the side of the console for a clean continuous look. I did a separate strip of wallpaper for the top and the side, and the side of the leg but they look almost like one piece.

I styled the table a couple of different ways. Here I have the big Bladet glass vases from Ikea filled with white rocks from West Elm (wish they were from the beach or something meaningful :) and the sticks are bamboo sticks I bought at World Market years ago.

I had this gold tray from One Kings Lane that works perfectly as a holder of my mail. I have a mail slot in my front door so the mail drops on the floor in my entry and I just pick it up, sort it, and set it in the tray! It's a lot better than setting it on my dining room table :)

Here you can see the inside of the legs. I had the wallpaper running horizontally again, but you could do vertical and I think it would look nice as well.

This is my "I just walked in the front door and set down my hat and scarf" pic. Don't you love staging areas for a photo?! But seriously, I love that picture of my husband and our daughter and while I'm not sure how I want to style this table, I kind of like this photo there.

In this photo I put my West Elm silver branch in the center for a very "branchy" decor look.

Here I took the branches out of the vase and just set them across the table. I think I may need to slowly collect things over time that I want to put on this table. I would love to eventually put a couple of stools underneath and maybe get a rug. This post should probably end as a "to be continued...."
But for now I think I've given you enough "versions" of the same Ikea hack Malm table, so this is it until next time. BTW, in "real life" I have a basket underneath this table filled with shoes! 

I would love to hear which styling you liked best for this table. And as always, if you have an Ikea hack you would like to share - please send it on!

And have a great weekend! I will be hanging with Leo at the theater watching The Great Gatsby with the hubby and some friends (how excited are some of you about this movie!)

DESIGN DILEMMA

We've had a great time working with readers on their Design Dilemma questions. Fabulous Angie needed some direction on how to update her living room. Her home is beautiful, and she has great taste as you can see! One question she had was whether to add grasscloth to the back of her bookshelves. We love using grasscloth but instead in this case recommended a few paint colors. Painting the backs of bookshelves gives similar impact for much less money and less effort, and you can change the color easily as your decor or tastes change. Looks great Angie, thanks for sharing your pics with us. If you have a Design Dilemma and need a little help click on the tab at the top of our page. For $10 per question we can help!

BEFORE - what a pretty before shot

AFTER - Love the interest and depth the dark blue-gray adds to the space. Great job Angie!

 Have a great week everyone!