Urban Grace Interiors {the blog}
:: everyday life as a designer
Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! Glad he survived his TBI (traumatic brain injury) earlier this year, because I honestly don't know what I'd do without him. He's my biggest fan and loves me unconditionally. I could go on for hours about how wonderful he is. This is what he wore to 6th grade graduation, he was quite the trend setter. His mom made him wear socks, but of course he peeled them off the second he left the house. Love you Chance!!
Alison of My Little Happy Place invited me to show her blogger readers a room in my house. I didn't know what room to choose so I asked Paisley to pick. Seeing as how this is the room that we have to close the doors to at night because Paisley would sleep on the sofa every single night if she were allowed, I figured it would classify as her favorite.
You've seen the room before when I posted about my matchbooks, but maybe you want to see more? You can check it out (with others bloggers homes) on Alison's blog here.
I like to keep it real. Alison wanted "real life, imperfect rooms"… well this is definitely one of those. The room is a strange shape (long and skinny) and serves many purposes. I call it the "den", but it's really a "laundry room"-slash-"home-office"-slash-"guest room"-slash-"craft room". All-in-all it has good light and it makes me happy. My little happy place.
It's right off the entry to our house…
And quite a hodge-podge of furniture… mostly things I can't part with that just happen to land here…
And there are the everyday things everyone needs… like a printer, wireless router, and Scotch tape…
And under the skirted table… the craft supplies and extension cords you might store in a closet, but I don't have a closet for such, so I store them here…
The view looking towards the sofa…
And looking back the other way…
You might notice the Brimfield bassinet, well check out this Clarence House dog fabric Annmarie found at a sale… how could I resist a fabric with black & white dogs?
Behind closed doors… Powell Laundry Central. The little flat screen tv is on an articulating arm… which makes for awesome tv viewing on the sofa… when Chance and I can't agree on what to watch in the living room one of us end up in this room.
My lucite table came from Goodwill for $20. It's HEAVY and I love it.
And just to keep it really real… I stash crap projects in corners, like under the table. I bought the tartan bag a couple of years ago and haven't found a home for it (yet). The camera bag holds my mom's old camera. The turquoise lamp is waiting for me to re-wire it.
Hate to assume that you all care about the details, but history tells me to anticipate questions like these:
What color are the walls? Sherwin Williams "Hardware" SW6172. If you have been to my office, this is the same color as the exterior of my office. It's a dark gray/brown.
What's the paisley fabric on the skirted table? I have no idea… there was no name on the selvedge – I bought it as a remnant at Old Time Pottery.
Who makes the sofa? Rowe, and I think it is the Monaco. I broke 2 of my usual rules here… not only is it a sectional, but it's also a sleeper (gasp)… both of which I'm not usually a fan, but it was a bargain… a major bargain. Bought it at a local furniture store clearance center (now closed).
What fabric is on the sofa? No idea.
Is Paisley for sale? No, she isn't… but if you can find a dog like her (she and her sister are both Terrihuahuas, which is a mix of a Jack Russell Terrier and a Chihuahua (we don't use the m-u-t-t word in our house), but I think she's got a little hound-dog in her too, she sings a lot and has really soft floppy years) – find a dog like her and I promise you'll be in love! We found her in the paper, you can see the article here – her name was Princess – which was not suitable. And we got Penelope on Petfinder.com!
The chest from Round Top? Yes, and I still haven't refinished it! The lucite cabinet pulls sitting on top of it are from another chest in my house.
Who makes your washer and dryer? Frigidaire, from Lowes. On sale because they were black. I wouldn't have picked black, but they were on sale. I like "on sale". But dryer lint + black dryer = OCD
Do you like your washer and dryer? Yes, still liking them VERY MUCH. I was leery of the whole front-loading… but would do at all over again in a heart beat. I wrote a post about them here when I first bought them.
The mustard-yellow table story? Bought it and the chairs for a project, but then my husband accidentally spilled air conditioning coil cleaner on it and ruined one corner… pulled the paint off (hiding under the lamp) so I kept it. It's great for folding clothes!
The matchbooks? Kane County Flea Market (Chicago), Boy Scout project dated 1939. Framed them myself with Target frames and mats from Hobby Lobby.
Is this your office? No, this is not my office… this is my office.
Do you wish you had a rug in here? This is one of the rooms in my house that I keep buying rugs for, but then always return them. The shape of the room is not great for a rug… so I'm satisfied with the bare wood floors.
What are you floors? White Oak
Light fixture? West Elm 4 years ago
Your drapery and roman shade fabric? Black-Out Lined Barbara Barry for Kravet… pattern "Signature", color "Platinum"
Your drapery hardware? Galvanized pipe (for electrical and plumbing use… from Home Depot)
The scientific growth of corn chart? Round Top, TX
Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll add them to this list! Happy Memorial Day weekend my friends!!!
Alison, thanks for including me and my little happyplace in your round-up!
This morning I had a doctor's appointment… everything went well. Doctor wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic to (hopefully) kill this never-ending sinus infection. So, post-appointment I drop the prescription off at Publix and decided to kill the 20 minutes devouring a Cinnamon Crunch bagel at Panera.
With my husband in tow we head to Panera. Let me preface this story by telling you that we've been having gale force winds this week.
Got out of the car at Panera, headed towards the front door… when all of the sudden out of nowhere, a massive gust of wind took the bottom of my cute little black fluttery skirt all the way up around my neck.
Panic.
I fumbled around for what seemed like 20 minutes trying to grab the edges of the skirt… couldn't find them… they were flapping in the wind so fast I could not get my hands on them. So, plan B I dropped my purse, hoping it would grab my skirt on its way down and help me out.
My purse falls in the open position and everything within it went everywhere.
I screamed.
I still had my skirt up around my neck.
I likely screamed again.
I finally got a hold of my waistband and yanked it down.
Yes. Not only did my skirt come up in the wind.
But then I managed to pull it off in an effort to solve the problem.
Brilliant!
Chance was walking ahead of me (I'm sure because he was racing to get the door for his pregnant wife), when he finally turned around there I stood in the parking lot with my purse on the ground, all of its contents all over the place and me standing there with my skirt half way between my waist and my knees.
He said "what are you doing!?"
I was mortified. I did a 360 to see if anyone was watching. Then laughing, blushing, and sort of wanting to cry I walked into Panera.
I dang sure needed that Cinnamon Crunch bagel now more than ever.
A man was peeking out of his booth… laughing hysterically. Hey gave me a wink and mouthed "oops!" my way. I guess "oops" is better than a thumbs up? I'm not sure.
No one else would look my way.
I was wearing the panties that last time Chance saw me in asked: "Does Mimi know you stole her underpants?" Mimi is my grandmother.
