Decorating!

February 5th, 2009

l have a disease called decorator-itis. I’ve been futzing with my interior decor and can NEVER STOP or be happy. But I have made a few significant thrifty contributions.

Below are the dining and living rooms Before…this is what we call slow decorating…



And After…

Yes, it is the ubiquitous Ikea Stockholm Rand rug. Scored for $75 bucks in the as-is section. There are some small spots and I had to beat and vacumn the dirt out of it, but for its size (9 x 12′ !) and awesome graphic punch – it seemed like a great deal. It does kind of make your eyes go all wonky.

SHAZZAMMM! My new baby is this lovely vintage Danish expandable teak table. Found it at a thrift store and had to argue and LIE to get it. I may have used Christmas and dinner and FAMILY and the LORD to finagle this beautiful gem for $150.

Totally worth it for the surfboard shape and great condition. Oh yeah, and the tulip chairs are from the Long Beach Flea Market. I can have a real grown-up dinner party with matching chairs and actual room on the table for eating.

Get ready for some more of the After tour:

The Bertoia diamond chairs were a steal off of Craigslist. $40 a pop. A friend from Los Angeles picked them up and delivered these beautiful bad boys.

I’ve been installing new Ikea ENJE roller shades in the dining room and living room…and I’m still working on it. Eventually those horrible mini blinds will be GONE.

Here are the new roller shades in the dining room instead of the curtains.

Curtains:

Ikea ENJE roller shades:

These little windows are getting the Ikea ENJE roller shades as well. They had to be cut down to size to fit the 22″ width (which I will outline the fabulous: How to cut Enje shades!)
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    27 Comments

    1. lisa on 02/06/2009:

      i liked your place before but now i am loving it!

      the rug… so good.

    2. Anonymous on 02/06/2009:

      Love love love. All of the changes look great. I love the new rug- nice score! And the table looks great. I’ve never able to find the fantastic thrift store finds that you do.

    3. Anonymous on 02/06/2009:

      wow, looks amazing.
      have you considered a colored light above the dining table? not that this one is not fab.. its amazing, but i think its getting a little lost. :)
      PS
      can you find a dining table like this for me too!

    4. THE BRICK HOUSE on 02/07/2009:

      i do agree about the light and have been thinking of a new dining room pendant…when i see the perfect one and love it i will probably switch the bubble lamp out. (but it is still my favorite thrift store find ever).

      i’ve been looking for a dining room table for 3 year! I never thought it would happen.

    5. boi2 on 02/08/2009:

      a wassily chair! nice one.
      but, can you comfortbaly sit on it?

    6. Anonymous on 02/12/2009:

      Great find on the creepy staring guy painting.
      It’s the first time i noticed it, and is now my favorite thing in your house.

    7. THE BRICK HOUSE on 02/12/2009:

      hey thanks!

      The staring dude is one of my paintings and not from a thrift store at all…its real creepy ART. Its called “The SEER”.

    8. East Los on 02/13/2009:

      It looks great! I LOVE the bullet planter and have been considering picking one up for myself. I’m wondering what the drainage/potting situation is for this type of container?

    9. my little apartment on 02/13/2009:

      loving it! i also scored the big Stockholm rug in the as-is section and it totally makes my entire living room…

    10. THE BRICK HOUSE on 02/13/2009:

      the bullet planter doesn’t drain. i still have my plant in its original plastic container just sort of sitting in the planter. i’m scared to actually plant it….

    11. Paper Dolls for Boys on 02/14/2009:

      Your dinning room looks great! Moving the teak bar and adding the big piece of art on the walkway wall really opens it up. And the table! What a find. I’m curious what lies you had to tell to get that one. SCORE!

    12. East Los on 02/17/2009:

      Brilliant!

      P.S. I love your blog and hit it daily!

    13. spearmint baby on 05/14/2009:

      I absolutely love your style! BEAUTIFUL!!

    14. Nepal on 07/08/2009:

      Did you post "How to cut Enje Shades?". I've bought these shades for my house and i need to cut them

    15. Liz on 07/09/2009:

      Love love love those enje shades!! Looks as if you were able to switch the roller end – please tell us how you cut and switched – awesome job!!
      thanks!

    16. Anonymous on 07/30/2009:

      Please…let us know how you cut the ENJE shades?

    17. THE BRICK HOUSE on 07/30/2009:

      Sorry, I don't have any pics or anything of what i did. Anna has a good post about it.

      http://www.doorsixteen.com/2009/04/09/enje-roller-shades/

      I used an electric miter saw with a super clean metal blade and sliced through the whole thing. I got the cut area a little wet to avoid singeing and wrapped the cut line with blue tape and just cut through it. Then I reattached the end caps and installed the roller shades.

      It was super easy. I just trimmed the edge with a xacto blade if there were any loose fabric fibers or to clean up any edges.

    18. Barclay on 02/04/2010:

      I think I have your dining table too! See:
      http://www.the-brick-house.com/tour/dining

      I have no pics of the leaves extended, but when they are, they look just like yours.

      Nice blog – great taste.

    19. Barclay on 02/04/2010:

      Whoops; I gave you your own blog post URL instead of mine about our shared table; here’s ours:

      http://doghouse.coyoteyip.com/category/dining-room/page/2/

    20. Lisa on 03/26/2010:

      where did you find that cool arc light?

    21. THE BRICK HOUSE on 03/26/2010:

      ebay.

    22. Titti on 05/11/2010:

      Hello ..
      I love both the optical style: that beautiful rug IKEA in fact give that effect?
      In my city, Ikea will open next year and I want to buy online now.
      You can tell me if the white is really white or beige-cream?
      I apologize for my bad English, but I’m Italian.
      Thanks and many compliments for the site.

    23. Steve on 08/13/2010:

      the light – how was it listed on ebay? we’ve been trying to find one… what do we search under? LOVE the house! (we just bought ikea cotton roller shades — need the privacy — and are going to hack!)

    24. cecelia westerberg on 10/14/2010:

      new to your blog. your place is killing me <3

    25. ann on 07/18/2011:

      who makes your sofa and where did you purchase it? thanks!

    26. THE BRICK HOUSE on 07/18/2011:

      It’s custom made and I bought it off a photographer in Palm Springs via Craigslist like six years ago.

    27. John Milledge on 08/14/2011:

      i didn’t see the name of your replacement sofa. what type is it?

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