Oh wait, that was just me?

Oh. OK. Well, I *still* love doing that. Rearranging furniture is the best. Because 1. It’s free. 2. You start to like stuff you thought you hated. 3.The room works in a totally different (hopefully better) way and 4. It’s free.

I get it from my mom I think. Though I didn’t grow up in the same house as her, when I finally did live with her (2005-2010) I think we rearranged the apartment at least once a year. You’d be surprised how many new ways we can find to rearrange a room. I do it instinctively when I enter a room. Any room. And yes, if I’ve been to your house, I’ve done it to your house in my head.

So nanny family? Yep, had been doing it to their living room (in my head) for a year. So my mom told them we’d do it -for free- when all the construction was done. So last Friday, we rolled up, and got to work. Here it is:

From the front door:

From the hallway/fron door looking at the front of the house:

From the front hallway looking at the corner, and Oh! Sadie the Dog:

And from the den/playroom looking at the couch:

My biggest issue with this space is an issue that bugs me in most spaces: how do you have a conversation in this space? If three adults are there, where do you sit? What is all the furniture doing on the walls? And what in the hell are those leather chairs doing by the window? WHO SITS THERE?

What is boils down to is this: how does the furniture “talk” to each other? Cause in this room? It was not at all. And the fireplace (with it’s brand new gas insert) was WAY across the room from any seating besides the little (not so comfy) flowered chair. And worst, when you walked in the room, the first thing you saw was that buffet. Full of stuff. It just did not feel welcoming.

We tried a couple of things, and this is what we finished with:

Are you ready?

BAM:

That’s the view from the den. It’s the best shot to see the full space. When you walk in, and look into the living room to the den it’s this:

I love the pictures above the fireplace:

So graphic and such a great display of their LOVE of pictures of their girls. The mantle isn’t crowded, and the pictures draw your eye into the room.

And the leather chairs are actually making sense in the room:

The pillow situation is a work in progress. But this was all they had. It’s better than nothing, trust me.

And that buffet-turned-entertainment center-storage?

SO much better! First off, you don’t even see it when you walk in the door now. Second: All the photos are grouped. Groups=more impact & less “messy”. Third: I had these two lamps which I no longer use and they *desperately* need lighting in this room. The shades are the same shape as a lamp they already had, and though they are brushed nickle where the other lamps are ORB (Oil Rubbed Bronze), it doesn’t bother me as much since the frames are mostly silver/nickle.

Here is another view:

Lets just get one more view:

UGH! YEAY! You can sit close to people! The fireplace plays with the whole room! It looks like adults live there and you can use the room for something other than TV watching! AND IT WAS ALL FREEEEEEEEEEE.

That’s my favorite.

My nanny family had a slight bathroom emergency over Christmas-which we discovered by water leaking through the ceiling into the dining room. It all got figured out but it lead to a HUGE bathroom remodel, and they hired my mom (Yep! My mom!) to design. The dining room needed some patching (obviously) which then necessitated repainting the walls.

My mom and I saw this as an opportunity to visit the idea of a new color in general. Because here it was:

OH SO RED.

I know, some people LOVE red. But…GAH. It is SUCH a hard color to do right.* And it just feels so freaking aggressive in most rooms. Plus this room was severely underlit, with TONS of wood,  so the room just felt dark, gloomy, angry, and totally disrupted the flow of the first floor. (Where the other rooms are yellow, sage green, and blue.) So after some subtle (and not so subtle) hints, then suggestions, options and talking, we all agreed on a new color scheme. Here are a couple of “before/during shots”:

You can see the colors we chose as samples on the wall above: green. A soft sage on top, and a slightly deeper olive on bottom. Since this was one of the final things of a long, and exhausting, and expensive bathroom remodel, I *severely* underbid them on the repainting. I really, *really* wanted this red gone. So here’s me! Painting in the corner!:

As you can see, no, I don’t tape. Tape is for suckers. Lemme tell you: the guy who did the red? He used tape. And red still got EVERYWHERE on the wood. And there was still tape in a couple of places! Cutting in seems scary. I understand. But a little bit of practice goes a LONG way, and you don’t waste time taping. In this room? I think it probably saved me three hours. Yes. Of taping.

And yes, that ladder is hiding what may or may not be my ass crack. When in Rome…

So, seven not-so-bad hours later (broken up in two blocks, and with the company of my friend Mere, and then Nanny Mom Sarah), it was done! And LOOK:

So bright and happy!

Doesn’t the wood pop out SO much more?

Here is a better shot of the two tones:

*Le sigh*. So much better.

*Pro Tip: Picking colors is HARD yo. Colors play differently in every room, on every wall, in every light. Because they have undertones. Red is rarely just RED it’s red, with an undertone of blue, or orange or brown. Tan is rarely TAN. It’s tan, with an undertone of green or pink. Your best bet: Look at different shades of the same color. On your wall. And if you have a hard time seeing undertones: SAMPLE POTS. They sell tiny pots of color at Home Depot now to help choose. It’s better to take your time picking a color than painting the whole room and then asking yourself “Why does this room look like baby poop?”  and having to do it over anyway.

Sometimes when you are burnt out from a million things, it’s something small like picking lilacs with a friend after a run that make you happy:

So here is to the little things.

SO PRETTY.

Anywho. There is lots of biking going on. #30daysofbiking is just the kickoff to the season. The summer is going to be rolling in soon, and then there will be even MORE riding. And when I roll out for the night, normal purses are not that great/easy to wear. I’ve been eyeing what I refer to as “belt bags” or “Hip bags” for awhile. Essentially, a classy fanny pack. THAT’S RIGHT.

But the ones I love are anywhere from $60 to $145! Come on!

So when I cleaned out my closet I found this:

It’s a little leather purse I have had for AGES. Maybe 10 years. And I always kept it cause I loved the color, but it was getting pretty beat up and dirty, and I don’t really carry around little purses anymore. But the thought from which all great things/heartache comes from: “I CAN DO THAT!” popped into my head, and I thought I could rig up a hip belt purse thing of my own.

But first? This thing was dirty. Beat up. So I busted out this:

As you can see, I can use it to clean and renew my leather goods. Like my saddle. (I don’t have a saddle.) I bought it last fall for some boots, and then used a different product, but kept this around.

Directions boil down to: Grab and rag/sponge, get it damp, rub the “soap” and then rub it into the leather. OK, might as well try it. I got elbow grease for DAYS. And as I did one half here is what I got:

Boom! The right half is done. Can you see the difference? It really did pick up the dirt!

So I kept going:

Not bad! You can also see in that picture how I cut off the strap. Didn’t need it. Cause I did this:

I had a skinny belt from Old Navy (aka it might have been $5) and slipped it through the loops. Now I can wear it like this:

Woot! It’s actually pretty rad, cause I can slide it all the way around the belt *really* easy. So when I ride, I can put it on my back, and at the bar I can slide it to the side to easily access my cards/phone/cash/lip gloss. And in a happy accident (OR FATE) the silver hardware on the purse matches the belt hardware exactly.

And THAT my friends, is how you make a free hip belt. It’s nothing new, it’s nothing super expensive, I don’t care if it gets wet or more beat up, but it’s still pretty darn cute. WIN.

SWEET BABY JESUS.

Just…the masses of stuff. Piles of clothes. Of shoes. Drawers full. Head Aching.

I mean, I know it’s not *that* bad. But it’s annoying. And I also knew there were masses of things that I didn’t wear anymore. Or maybe never had. So it was time for some spring cleaning.

Now, I’ve gotten pretty good at saying “Don’t need this. Don’t wear this. All done with this.” And getting rid of it. It also helps that I have a great group of ladies I am friends with, and we have a monthly gathering that clothing swaps have become a pretty regular part of. So with an unemotional eye, things started getting sorted. And four bags went to the gathering.

And I walked away with one. ONE. (Which I will donate.)

Then came the hanging and organizing.

On one trip to Ikea, in the “scratch and dent/reused/resale/awesome” section of the store, I found this:

It’s one of those hanger closet thing-ys. I needed folding space. My dresser is forever getting full, and I have no more floor space to offer up to the furniture gods. THIS was my solution. And BAM:

SO MUCH BETTER. Not 100% yet. I could use a couple more hangers behind the door (I really luff me some scarves), and make the top shelf double (since the closet has so much wasted space to the ceiling.) And the closet actually goes back to the left. I have my hamper and more hanging space and more hooks for “winter” scarves back there.

All in all, I think it took me two hours to clean it up, and now when I open my closet door, it doesn’t stress me out. Time Well Spent.

PRO TIP: If you want to *really* get your closet sorting on: grab your closest, most trusted friends, and try on everything in there. They can tell you if it is worth keeping, or flattering, or maybe how to wear a combination you have never thought of before. You will see your clothes in a whole new light! It’s like free shopping! (MAKE SURE you choose friends whose style you admire. Some people will be not fashion forward enough for you, some too fashion forward. Pick friends you want to emulate.)

Now…onto the front closet…full of tools/winter coats/scarves/cookbooks….how am I going to organize THAT one? Yeesh.

I’ve already gotten lots of compliments on it, and I love it more than I knew I would.  And I’ll have a post about a treasure I found while cleaning/organizing/manual laboring coming soon.

Until then, GO RIDE BIKES!

Love it.

I got this bike two years ago from my friend Abby:

Yep. That picture is awesome. I was riding by the lakes here, and a guy came up to me with red balloons and said “Can I take your picture? I don’t have anyone on a bike yet.” It was on a website called ihavearedballoon.com, but I can’t find it anymore. So I can’t give him credit, but I love that picture.

So that is my bike. An old green Schwinn Sportabout. This pic is good because you can see some things that I spent the last week changing: The black seat (kinda), the handlebar tape, the back tire is black in this picture: the result of a shard of glass in my white tire that couldn’t immediately be replaced.

And what started as “I need a new, way more comfortable seat. And maybe some toe clips.” Turned into a “MAKE THE BIKE WITH ALL THE PRETTY THINGS.” And seeing as how I have so many bike inclined friends, I knew I could have someone help me get my hands dirty and do all the work myself, thereby saving myself money AND teaching me awesome things I want to know anyway in the process.

Here is the bike in progress.

That’s my friend David who looks like a giant next to my bike. He’s 6’5″. I’m not actually tiny.

We had already taken off the old handle bar tape, and were starting on the new stuff. (The old stuff had NO padding, and was pretty slick when wet. Plus, you know, I made it match my new seat.)

And when all was said and done, we had: Put on new handlebar tape, put on a new seat, put on toe clips, put new brake pads on the front, changed the rear flat tire, taken off the front and rear reflectors, put on a new bike light, and mounted my bike lock. And then it looked like this:

So pretty!

The seat that started it all, a brand new Brooks Saddle that I got an AMAZING deal on:

And then the finished handle bars:

And the toe clips, with leather accents!:

I still have a couple of things to do: I ordered new alloy wheels that should arrive this week (because even though this bike is super pretty and rad, it’s also ALL STEEL and massively heavy. And the wheels are out of true. And it can’t be fixed.), new brake pads for the rear, and I need to attach my water bottle holder. But other than that, look at the awesome again:

LE sigh.

#30daysofbiking, Triathalon training, work commuting, social riding here I come.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

My friend Mere, who takes beauteous pictures and is in South America for three weeks, posted these words yesterday at seetheworldbeforetheworldends.tumblr.com and I love it.

You’ll meet Mere here on lahloshelter too, cause she takes pretty pictures when I make tasty foods, and we are going on a road trip all over the west in June, and hopefully making a trip to Iceland in October.

But until then, here’s to living a life you are proud of.

And actually, I usually hate shopping. Well, not “hate”. More like “It’s ok when you know what you need and have money and get it and then go home and read a book”.  But I can wander through a home goods store for fun and inspiration for a LONG time. So when I went to NYC with my mom last weekend, we did some of that.

We went to John Derian where I fell in love with this:

UGH it was so cute. And SO $280. But leather and symmetrical zippers and a cute lining and pocket in between the two sides and adorableness.  I walked away. It was hard, but I did it. And because besides loving all things leather, I also love all things chesterfield right now, I fell in love with this too:

It is a super long, low, Chesterfield bench/couch thing. I also love all things grey linen. So I had no choice really. Plus, I must point out that my sister-of-all-things-cool-and-hip brought back three rugs like this one from Morocco last fall. She kills me.

And then we went to ABC Home where I fell in love with all the things. Cause you walk in an it looks like a home goods fairy land:

But mostly, I fell in love with the pillows:

See that stack of washed linen stripped pillows? I WANT. That one on the bottom was so rad. And only $50. Kicking myself.

And of course, my love for all things broken-in-leather lead me to this:

Leather! Zippers! Stiching! Sigh.

Could have bought this sweet little key ring:

Weird. Leather and Bronze. Why would I like that?

If you’ve looked at my linklove page, you’ve seen me love on Brooklyn to West. No surprise then that this table with these CRAZY dovetails caught my eye:

And though this isn’t my style so much, the comfort/fun/cuddling aspect of this set up made me want to jump in:

Please note: When that girl in the black asked her friend “How do you get into this thing”, I responded with “Somersault. Duh. ”. I can be really helpful.

And under my “love of oversized things”, this puppy takes the cake:

W.H.O.A. I’m pretty sure this thing was about 16 feet long. In a huge space though, this thing (in brown. Black leather always seems so aggressive to me. Like the entire room is angry at being a room, so it has cloaked itself in black leather and is about to hunt down it’s persecutors. I may have an active imagination.) would work it. You’d also need some ridiculous pillow action happening. Since the depth is pretty out of control. Too bad I hate pillows. OH WAIT.

And though there were so many things to look at and so many things I wanted, the thing I loved most was this:

Not the dumpster. But this building. The slats on the siding were amazing. The window wells with the moss and the rocks was ridiculous. The uber tall wood door was awesome. LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.

So that was NY. Or parts of it. Along with lots of Broadway shows, lots of walking, lots of eating, and lots of screaming girls outside our hotel. (Not for me, oddly. For One Direction and Big Time Rush who were staying there. Although when I asked, I’m so out of touch from the teen world, I first heard “Big Time Russian”. Which, when you google it, isn’t actually a thing.)

So yeah, when you go to NYC, hit up ABC Home and Fishs Eddy. Which live kitty corner from each other in one of the happiest corners on earth.

Hello new rain boots! You sure are pretty!

I love walking in puddles. I love not being worried about how wet the ground is. And for two years, I have worn two different pairs of rain boots from Target. One pair a year…so…Target? I love you? But your rain boots are for SUCK. They are around $25 and the seams cracked open all the time. And guess what? In a rain boot, a cracked seam means it is NO LONGER WATER PROOF. And after last year’s happy yellow pair that I wanted to love forever cracked on the SECOND wear, I knew I couldn’t go back for pair #3 from them.

So where did I go? Amazing. I mean Amazon.  And did my favorite thing ever: “sort by average customer rating”. THE BEST INTERNET SHOPPING INVENTION EVER.   And BAM:

These bad boys popped up (4.5 stars and 131 customer reviews!) where people were all stoked on them, and then I found out that-get this-the company will RECYCLE  them for you! RAD.

They are this super sweet khaki stony grey taupe color, and super shiny, and for $10 bucks more than ones from Target, they are rocking my world right now.  Also, it should be noted: I have big calf syndrome. AKA My calves are too fat muscular for a lot of boots. The height on these is mid-calf, and just at the height where that isn’t a problem for me, but *just* barely. And as the reviewers said (those helpful little guys), they do run small. I’m usually an 8.5 and I got a 9, and they fit, but I could have done a 10. Then I could wear my fleece liners under them if it gets chilly. But all in all?  Super happy with this purchase. Highly recommend. And I’ll try to remember to post in a few months to see how they stand up.

Right now? They get 8/10 on the LUFF IT scale.

Now who’s up for some puddle jumping?