Blinds

Our blinds for the bedroom arrived a few weeks ago, and I finally got them hung up! I'm loving how much control we have over light and privacy. And, I'm hoping that the fact that these are wood blinds will keep the cats from bending back the slats like they did with some of the vinyl blinds in Wilmington.

Here's another shot with the blinds closed more to get a better sense of the color. 

Next, I want to find some drapes to add more texture and color. And, I need to paint the wood block in the left window to match the trim (well, I actually need to paint ALL the trim in the house, but that's another story!) Greg put that there to support the air conditioner. If I can stand leaving it there, we've found it's quite convenient to not have to reinstall it ever year. 

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, that I installed these all by myself! Greg is not the only handy person in this family. (But it's usually just so much easier to have him do it!)

It's Purple

I know you're all shocked. The color we settled on for the master bedroom is a lovely warm shade of purple. It's a Sherwin Williams color called Kismet, which I found especially fitting since this was the name of my thesis design that I was working on when I met Greg. He helped me come up with the name.



I'm loving the way the color looks with the wood and the bed spread. I am also working on getting some more orange in there for Greg through some accents. The coasters on the nightstand on the left came back from Africa with my sister in law. I found some orange baskets to coral the random items that tend to gather on top of our night stands and dressers. And, I'm trying to gather up some of the more eclectic, international feeling items we have in the house, especially in brown tones, an you can see in the vase. We have a great carved wood dragon that will end up in here eventually as well, as soon as we resolve our dresser/dressing table issues.


Here's what the room looked like in progress. Greg was at work the first day. He moved the armoire for me before he left. I did the rest. I was quite proud! I washed the walls, taped, and moved all the furniture. I think it was well into the afternoon before I opened the paint!

There are a lot of doors in the room, so it too quite a bit of tape!

One of the features I'm most excited about with the new color (aside from the color of course) is that I painted the sloped part of the walls. Greg did not agree with this choice. He sees the slope as the ceiling. But, I see it as the wall. I think it makes the room look taller. And with the darker color against the white ceiling, we would have some really weird shapes created if the slopes had been left white. 

I finished the first coat of paint that day, but was out of energy, light, and time do do the second coat. Thankfully, Greg was around to help with that the next day.

Now, the next project in here (well, aside from a dressing table waiting to be painted, and a never ending search for a larger dresser) is window treatments. I can't stand these roller shades for very much longer. So boring! I also need to peel off the foam that was sealing around the air conditioner, and paint the blocking white to match the trim. It's there for the air conditioner as well, and we found in our last house it was just easier to leave it here, and paint it, than to reinstall it every year.



I've got some samples for wood blinds to look over. I'm thinking of a darker wood to complement the furniture. I really like the flexibility of blinds, but the cats are notorious for bending the slats of vinyl or metal blinds when they try to sit in the window which is why I am looking into wood. Well, that, and they just look better. Then, I would like to accent the sides with a drape. It probably won't close, because I want it long, and Greg won't want it to overlap the radiator. I'm thinking an deep orange would look quite nice with those other orange accents we have going on.

Good-bye FishBowl

This weekend, the long awaited window treatment for the living room went up. Take a look here to see how close we came to the intended idea. I think we did pretty well. It was a true team effort. Greg had to drill eleven hole in the ceiling, and screw in the brackets which hold the track to the ceiling. If you ever need an opinion on which toggle bolts work best, he can tell you. My mom helped me mark the length of all the vertical panels, which I trimmed. Greg added the top and bottom rails to each panel. Jeff stopped by last night and got to stand with his arms above his head for a considerable amount of time while Greg fastened 11 set screws to secure the tracks to the brackets in the ceiling. My mom and I clipped the drapery clips on and hemmed the purple drapes to the right length. And finally, we get to it back and enjoy it all. 

This shows how flexible the system is. Here, the center of the window is open, while light is filtered thought the panels at the sides. 

It’s hard to see the pattern in the center panels in the photos, so here’s a peak at what it looks like from outside. 

And here’s an evening shot taken by my mom of the two of us enjoying our transformed living room. We have one major project left in here, which is to create the new storage to the right of the fireplace which ill have some display, as well as house the components for the television. I think we might take next weekend off though. Whew!

Comments from previous blog:

CHRISTINE

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Monday, February 21, 2011 - 09:19 PM

Good-bye Fishbowl

This weekend, the long awaited window treatment for the living room went up. Take a look here to see how close we came to the intended idea. I think we did pretty well. It was a true team effort. Greg had to drill eleven hole in the ceiling, and screw in the brackets which hold the track to the ceiling. If you ever need an opinion on which toggle bolts work best, he can tell you. My mom helped me mark the length of all the vertical panels, which I trimmed. Greg added the top and bottom rails to each panel. Jeff stopped by last night and got to stand with his arms above his head for a considerable amount of time while Greg fastened 11 set screws to secure the tracks to the brackets in the ceiling. My mom and I clipped the drapery clips on and hemmed the purple drapes to the right length. And finally, we get to it back and enjoy it all. 

This shows how flexible the system is. Here, the center of the window is open, while light is filtered thought the panels at the sides. 

It’s hard to see the pattern in the center panels in the photos, so here’s a peak at what it looks like from outside. 

And here’s an evening shot taken by my mom of the two of us enjoying our transformed living room. We have one major project left in here, which is to create the new storage to the right of the fireplace which will have some display, as well as house the components for the television. I think we might take next weekend off though. Whew!

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

CHRISTINE

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Monday, February 21, 2011 - 09:19 PM

What to do with a giant window?

Ever since we moved into this house five months ago, I have been struggling with what to do with our amazing (and amazingly large) living room window. It’s a beautiful feature, that until last weekend, we had covered with temporary paper blinds for privacy. Last weekend, we took them down to add some shrink wrap to help with the drafts. Now we live in a fish bowl, and I refuse to put up more paper. 

Why is this window such a challenge, you ask? Above, you can see what it looks like now. It’s over 10 feet wide. And it’s divided into 6 equal sections, as opposed to a more typical set up with 3 double hung windows in a row, it’s not as easy to hang three sets of blinds or shades here, because the mullions that divide each section vertically AND horizontally are on the same plane. This means that any type of tradition blinds have to be mounted to pass in front of the trim, instead of fitting between the two verticals. Do you follow? Therefore, our front runner solution at the moment, is the first picture, with the series of vertical panels that fit into a triple track. They can slide next to or in front of each other to create different layered effects. 

Other considerations are natural woven shades with a top-down option. Unless we went with one extremely long shade (so long, the dimension requires a special phone call to customer service) I think we need the accent drape at each division. It’s actually a beautiful look...one I like a lot. But, it’s more traditional solution, and disguises the fact that the window is so unique to begin with. I could just as easily be those three double hung windows I mentioned before. 

I’ve looked at different types of natural materials as well. And, I’m experimenting with the paint and drape colors of course. 

Lastly, I looked at traditional blinds. See what I mean about covering the gaps between them with a drape? So, I continue to ponder, although I’m leaning toward the first image. I would love to hear what you all have to say!

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

ALICIA DOOLEY

I like the first one, too. Would you lose too much light, though? I love light. Are there any sheers these days that don't look too dated? That with the panels in the middle would give you privacy and light. But, looks-wise, I love the first. And now I want you to come to my house and redesign everything!

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 09:42 AM

MICHELLE BENNETT

I like the first and last looks.  The gaps in the last look add an interesting element.  I don't think you should cover them.

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 09:51 AM

DOUG

Could you differentiate the horizontal vs. vertical mullions with color? and/or emphasize/de-emphasize them?  Looking at the last picture if you painted the horizontal mullions the same color as the wide wood blinds they'd not exactly disappear but be less noticeable with the blinds open. I'm not really understanding what you're saying in the first picture but I'd be concerned if you can't totally open the blinds you'll lose a lot of light when you want it.

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 10:01 AM

JEN

I think the reason I like the first option is that although the panels are sheer, the are flat vertical panels, as opposed to sheer drapes, which, Alicia, I agree, feel dated these days. The flatness feels more modern to me. The idea with this system is to always let the light in, and control the level of privacy by either opening or closing the panels. When they are totally open, the would still overlap the sides of the window by a few inches, but hopefully the fact that they are transluscent would minimize any potential light loss. Not to mention, we could probably to this with about $200 vs the more traditional shades for around $1000!

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 10:22 AM

VP

All fantastic looks, but I think the vertical panels are really you. I do like top down option, too, but perhaps in a few years, you will need a change (knowing you) and could reserve that option. Those sheer panels are really pretty. Are they complicated to install or to open and close?

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 03:35 PM

CHRISTINE

This probably won't surprise you... but I'm all over that first option! I love it! And, I'm a big fan of having as much natural light in the house as possible...

Monday, January 17, 2011 - 10:03 PM

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First Official Dinner Guests

Doug and Lis came over for dinner tonight. We enjoyed the patio while Greg grilled. They had offered to bring subs and help with some unpacking last weekend, but we were far too busy and exhausted to take them up on it. It was nice to do a little entertaining, even if the house isn’t yet “just so.” It’s been an incredibly exhausting and busy week and a half since we moved in. I wish I had more photos to share, but I truly have been spending every spare minute studying or unpacking. Instead, a quick verbal summary. Moved in, met energy guy, went to study class for two and a half days, studied some more, Greg fixed the dryer which had a snapped belt from a few days before the move, worked from home while oil guy came to look at boiler because we only had hot water when the heat was on (by the way, it was over 90 degrees outside that week!), did laundry because hot water was fixed, found out the washer was leaking, heard an annoying beep from one of 10 new smoke/carbon monoxide detectors (a split level requires a lot), studied some more, shopped for additional kitchen cabinets, Greg installed two kitty doors, put up temporary post-it note window treatments, studied some more, finally unpacked my jeans so I can wash the one pair I’ve been wearing for a week, sat down to catch up on the blog. I do intend to have a lot more stories and photos to share, but the truth is, until October 2nd, studying is really going to be kicking my butt, so you will all just have to wait patiently, and consider anything before then to be a bonus!

OK, one quick bonus for now, because it will be a continuing story. The troublesome washer and drier don’t even fit width wise into the laundry room just yet. We were aware that this was an issue when we bought the house. And we can operate this way for awhile while Greg (and Doug) strategize the best way to steal some space from the plumbing chase!

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

VP

Okay, I'll consider this as a wonderful  bonus and thank you for it. Did you say you were on a crazy train? You are doing an amazing job just keeping up with life's requirements. Keep up the good work. I'm proud of you for holding it together. I am glad you are preserving this process in your blog. It is hard  to believe...You deserve to do some CELEBRATING on October 3. I wish I could help you more. Love you!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Saturday, September 11, 2010 - 12:14 PM