Archive for the ‘decorating’ Category

Window (shock) treatments

Thursday, July 24th, 2008


I went to the big orange – Home Depot silly – to find out how much it would cost to outfit the Brick House with some solar shades. Wowwwweee its pricey. To cover all my stupid custom windows with delicious white roller solar shades would end up costing about $3000 (without this months advertised 15% discount of course).

Surprise, surprise, I don’t have $3000 just laying around burning a hole in my pocket. Yes, the shades would save me money on my energy bill and be great looking – but I don’t think that I’m going to get any real money out of the Brick House due to its questionable location – so I don’t want to invest too heavily in upgrades I can’t take with me.

Being cheap, I went to the big blue and yellow – Ikea you scamp – and checked out their selection of roller shades. Oh by the way – I hate hate HATE blinds (vertical or horizontal) or shutters – yuck. So I think simple roller shades are my only option besides curtains…or roman shades…but I kind of hate those too…

Meet:

ENJE Roller Blind $24.99 (34″ x 98″)

TUPPLUR roller shade – $19.99 (32″ x 77″)


I bought one of each to test them out. The winner is Enje – I guess. The Tupplur shade is good for privacy – its much less see through but poorly made and cheap ugly vinyl with a cheap ugly white pull chain that looks like it was made as an elementary school toy (or maybe its just all the warning pictures of choking babies giving me that impression). So its ass is getting returned – pronto.

For mere aesthetics I like the Enje roller blind more, but it has its issues. Its pretty see through at night but opaque during the day. The hanging hardware sticks way out to the side – so it fits in my 34″ window, but there is an inch gap between the window frame and fabric shade – so only the glass is just so slightly covered. I have to mount it to the inside top of my frame so the unit hangs about an inch below were I would want it to. And for some reason my test roller sits a little crooked. Its probably my crooked house, but I demand symmetry!

On the plus side – I think you could really easily cut these Enje shades to a custom size! For my weird sized windows this would be great and I bet you could replace the fabric if you got really fancy – which of course I’ve already started thinking about. So they can be customized pretty easily and I could to do my whole house for only a few hundred dollars. It was pretty easy to install as well, which is always a plus.

Inspirational thingies

Friday, July 11th, 2008

A few things on the current “to do” list are giving me a little bit of trouble. Namely the front door hardware, and the direction the pink bathroom is going to go in. I’m on the hunt for some inspiration……cheap delicious inspiration…

I saw these on EBAY…and stupidly forgot to bid on them (they sold for only $15.51) . What a really great pair of vintage door escutcheons that I would have loved to use on my front door. How do you even pronounce that word – escutcheon?

Anyhooooo…I really want to address the front doors lack of hardware. The reality lock box is still hanging on the cheapo home depot brass entry knob, making the Brick House look abandoned. Also check out the nice plate instead of a deadbolt.

The big problem is that stupid giant hole. I have to get something with an escutcheon or a back plate to cover it up. This is proving to be difficult in my price range which is about $150 – $200.

Here are a few options I’m thinking about:


5th Avenue Combo Pack


Satin Nickel finish with a 5th Avenue knob : $208.24

Schlage Century Door Entry Set
Satin chrome finish with the Orbit Knob :
$166.40


Deadbolt Lockset Double Cylinder Knob by Omnia
Satin Chrome : $223.30

* I don’t think this will even work to cover the holes, I can’t find the dimensions…aaaahhhh.

If anyone knows of a good cheap mid century style entry lockset that will cover all the stupid holes in my door, let me know…I’m desperate.

For now I’m just going to cry about it. I can’t seem to find something that meets all my door measurement criteria and will be affordable and stylish. Stupid money and my lack of it.

Living Room

Monday, July 7th, 2008

The new couch has arrived and allowed us to start decorating the long neglected living room. We’ve been using the 9 foot gray beast of a sofa in the den and now she is free to take her rightful place in the living room…

This is sort of the first trial run for the furniture placement. It will most likely be moved around, and we need to do window treatments, and get a rug, and accessorize, ect

Now the den needs some love. Maybe the couch will be OK…with some fun decorating…and snazzy accessories…