My latest project combines my fondness for fonts, color and vintage signage.  I've been spending lots of time on Etsy and Ebay lately accumulating these treasures.


The first time I put them up, I ended up with some empty spots, which delayed the reveal a couple weeks.  Then once I had the additional letters, I did some rearranging to balance the colors and font styles.


Before our dining room walls were nothing exciting, and I had a wrought iron etagere in the far corner.


I've been pondering several wall art projects for a while now.  What I almost put on the walls were black and white vacation photos framed in matching black frames with white mats, like I saw in the condo we stayed at in Vancouver last summer.



(Clearly those last three photos were taken before I learned about white balance!  Boy does it make a difference!)

I don't even remember what it was that changed my mind from the framed photos to the vintage letters, but I'm glad I decided on something a little unusual.  I can always tone things down and do something more conservative later, but I'm enjoying the zaniness of vintage letter R's all over my dining room walls now!



I believe The Mr. and The Teen think I'm nuts.  They haven't exactly been shouting their approval.  But that's pretty hard to come by, so I try to do what makes me happy!

What was your latest project that was a bit on the zany side?

Hollie

I was flipping through the new Ballard Designs catalog today and was caught off guard by how chic and how cheap some of their indoor/outdoor rugs are!  This chevron beauty is the first one that I came across.  Only $229 for the 7'10" x 10'10" size.  For those of you who are big into chevron, this is a steal!

Chevron Stripe Indoor/Outdoor Rug

I'm loving the aqua colorway of this next rug, but all are great.  Only $249 for the 7'10" x 9'10" size.

Geneve Indoor Outdoor Rug

The Farrah rug has a pattern I don't know that I've seen before.  I like it!  The biggest is comes is 5' x 8' for $149.

Farrah Indoor/Outdoor Rug

If I had seen Ballard's Saybrook rug before I bought this one for our living room, the Saybrook might be lying across my living room floor right now.  I looked and looked for a rug with both black and aqua, at a reasonable price.  This is only $319 for 8' x 11'2".  I'm happy with my rug decision (just arrived today -- photos coming soon), so I'm glad I didn't see this one first, but I think it's a great look.

Saybrook Indoor/Outdoor Rug

We all know that ikat is as big as chevron these days, but this is an ikat pattern I haven't seen everywhere already.  Gray and turquoise are a great combo, too.  This one's a little pricier at $699 for a 8'3" x 11'6" size.  Still not a bad deal.

Suzanne Kasler Ikat Indoor/Outdoor Rug

Animal prints are not really my bag, but for those who are fans (Kimberly and Sabrina), here's one for you!  At $249 for an 8' x 10' rug, why not have some fun if leopard is your thing?

Leopard Belgique Indoor/Outdoor Rug

Each of these rugs come in several sizes, and most in several colors as well.  And no, Ballard is not paying me to talk about them.  I've been doing so much online shopping lately for large rugs for our living room, that I thought I should share the wealth with you!

Which one is your favorite?

I alluded here to a new project I have going on.  It's not finished just yet ... as I have a few holes I'm filling in.  But here's a sneak peek:


Hollie

You know those rooms that you tinker with and tinker with, trying to get the decor just right, but it just doesn't seem to be going where you want it to?  For me, it's the living room.

I've bought new side chairs, new pillows (here, here, and others I didn't even share with you), and new art.  I switched out the glass-front cabinet for a mid-century modern chest and we re-hung our TV to create more breathing room between the TV and the mantle (combined post here).  And I've switched around accessories over and over again.  But the room doesn't feel complete.


One of my issues is that the sofa is so visually heavy in the room -- out of balance.  I would have preferred a linen upholstery sofa, but because of our pukey cats, we went with leather.  At the time, an interior designer I consulted recommended black, and I didn't realize there were options other than black and brown.  If I had it to do over again and wanted to stick with leather, I might have chosen something more like this.  As it is, we put quite an investment into this sofa, so I'm stuck with it for a while.

I've been crushing on the IKEA Stockholm Rand Rug for some time, but it's been out of stock forever.  They had estimated it would be back in stock in April, but now they're telling me late June at the earliest.  I was frustrated with the wait, but I was willing to hold off because it seemed like the perfect style, size and price.  But then I wondered about the cleanability.  What reminded me of this?  Oh, the two puke spots one of my dear kitties left on our current rug yesterday.  Good times.

Our current rug is indoor-outdoor, so it's easy to clean.  Of course it helps that it's a dark beige -- pretty much the same color as the cat puke.  (Am I grossing you out yet?)  Then I started wondering not only would the IKEA rug be easy to clean, but if not, would it camouflage stains well?  I got worried that the white portions might show dirt or stains easily.  So I started looking again at rugs that have more of a pattern.

And although I've found so many awesome rugs in lots of fun colors, I want to stick with black and white.  Why, you ask?  Well, I think it will help ground the black sectional in the living room, and tie it in with the all-white kitchen, which is open to the living room.

The other tricky thing is finding the right style and cleanability at the right size/price combo.  I need something at least 8' x 11', and that can get pricey!  Here's what I settled on:


It's the Dash & Albert Indoor/Outdoor Diamond Rug in Black/Ivory.   It comes in several colors (including turquoise, which was tempting!), and can be purchased at quite a few online retailers.  Every retailer seemed to charge the exact same price, so I went to my handy-dandy friend RetailMeNot and found a 10% off coupon code for Layla Grace, where they also have free shipping.  Sweet!

Of course, I had to run this purchase by The Mr.  But since I've been working -- longer than expected -- I figured this was a good opportunity to buy a "want" rather than a "need."  He's never excited to spend money on something when what we have seems perfectly fine, so I got his standard quiet response which means, "I think this is totally unnecessary but I know you won't shut up about it until you do it, so since you're earning money these days, I'll give in."  I like that answer!

I'll be sure to show you how the new rug looks in the space once it arrives in the next week or two!

Those of you "not from around here" wouldn't know that one of the two major bridges linking Southern Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, was closed for several months.  It was a real pain-in-the-watoozie, but one good thing came out of it for me.  I came across a new store that I might not have found otherwise.

And just in time for Derby, I want to tell you about it!  (That's the Kentucky Derby horse race, y'all!  And, no, I don't actually have a southern accent.  I'm a Yankee.)


It's Dress & Dwell, a new boutique in a historic building in New Albany, Indiana.  Super-cute and super-nice proprietor Amanda Gibson mixes her backgrounds in fashion merchandising and interior design to create something more chic than anything New Albany has ever seen!  Thank goodness we Southern Indiana gals finally have options for cute clothes and  accessories, gifts, home decor and furnishings.  The fashions are young and modern, and everything else has a vintage industrial touch.

First, let's check out the fashion and accessories:

Designer jeans and printed tops

Flirty dresses

Lots of color

Kate Middleton pants, anyone?

Young and fun

Just a sampling of the adorable earring collection

How cute are the dressing rooms?  Aqua ghost chairs, colorful doors, ornate mirrors, and bubble chandeliers above.  Inside, a sentiment any woman can appreciate:


Now for the home decor and gifts:

Had to hold myself back from buying all of the notebooks with various sweet sayings on the covers

Owls perched atop an industrial shelving unit

Pillows and cozy seating

I like the way Amanda styled this vignette

In my last post, I let you hear the horrendous sound that came from our yard this week.  The first time we heard it, it awoke us from a deep sleep.  The second time we were just getting ready to turn the lights out but decided there was no point trying to sleep until things had quieted down.

At first, it seemed like a woman screaming in pain.  Then we realized it was an animal, and thought maybe it was getting eaten by a larger animal.  But the noise kept going and going.  Then we thought maybe the animal had gotten hurt and was in pain.  I grabbed a flashlight and went out on the deck in my PJs to check things out.  I heard animals scatter in the woods.  The noise went further away for a moment, but then it came back.

We have a lot of deer that run through our yard, so I figured it was the deer.  We also have foxes, too, and other woodland creatures like raccoons, possums, chipmunks, squirrels and more.  I could tell it was an animal of substantial size because of the scattering sounds I heard when I shined the light out into the woods, plus the sound itself was quite loud.  Eventually I went back inside, and it stopped not too much later.

When we heard the sound again a couple nights later just before we were planning to go to sleep, I decided to record it on my phone so I could share it with you, with friends and family on Facebook, and with people at work, so that hopefully somebody could tell us what it is.  (That was the recording I shared last time.)  The other nice thing about hearing it a second time (other than the annoyance of not being able to go to sleep until it stopped) is that I was certain the animal was not in pain, because surely it would not have happened two times within three days.

I also did an online search for deer sounds, but none of them fit the bill.  I did get a hint from a family member that it could be a fox, so I did a search for fox sounds and found a !


They either make the noise when they're trying to locate other foxes, especially in mating season, which is late winter and early spring.  Or it has something to do with territories and submission.  I was getting a little confused in my fox sounds research, but I think it's the former.

So glad the mystery is solved, and I'm hoping my little fox friend respects our sleep patterns and keeps his nighttime noises to himself!

Hollie

Imagine you're in a nice, deep slumber and you were rudely awakened by this sound:


Here's a hint:  It came from my yard, which is wooded.  I live near Louisville, Kentucky, which is in the Midwest U.S.

Tune in tomorrow and I'll reveal the source, which took me some time (and help) to figure out.

Today was one of those Saturdays that make me happy.  I didn't have to leave the house, and I ate delicious food.  For breakfast, we made some cinnamon puffs, and for dinner we had homemade tinga (pork tostadas).  For dessert, The Teen made funnel cakes.  Yep, funnel cakes.  Tasty!  Someday I'll share the first two recipes.  For the funnel cakes, you just have to go buy the mix at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Yep, BBB.  Who knew?

The other thing I did today was take photos of a fun project I did a while back that I hadn't yet shared here.  The Mr. is fond of numbers and fond of vintage or antique things that have a history.  I put those two likes together for some wall art that suits his fancy.

In a past life, these vintage numbers hung outside a gas station to indicate the price of gas.  Fun!



 

As you can see, they're hanging in our front entry, which separates the  living room from the kitchen.  I probably bought the numbers a year ago (from Etsy), but it took me forever to decide where to put them.  As I've shared before, when I don't know exactly what to do with something, I hold off until I do.  I don't like putting holes in the wall until I'm sure.

The numbers are significant to us, but I'll leave the details a mystery.  (No, it's not The Mr.'s age on top and my age on bottom.  Or vice versa.)

Anybody else out there have some vintage gas station numbers in her or his house?  I'm curious!

Hollie 

I've got a new project in the works.  I'm not going to tell you all about it just yet ... but it has something to do with these!




Let's just say I've been spending a lot of time on Etsy and Ebay!  Did you know you can get vintage items on Etsy in addition to handmade items?  Yes ... I love it!

Hollie

P.S. If you're interested in something similar, the letters came from these three Etsy shops:  Raleigh Modern, Old Green Canoe and Circa 810.

One year ago today I wrote my very first blog post.  I had no idea where it would take me or if I'd still be doing it a year later.  The reason I started blogging was to give myself some motivation to get some projects done.  As my blog title alludes, I'm a master procrastinator.  I can find something, anything to do to put off what I'm supposed to do.  As I've mentioned before, I have lists and lists of things to do, but I have a hard time getting myself to do them because there's always something else I can find to do instead.


I was hoping that you, my cohorts out in the interwebs, would give me a reason to get something accomplished.  I imagined that you'd be out there waiting for what I said or did next.  And I couldn't bear to disappoint you!


Now that may have been a bit dramatic, as there are plenty of other blogs where you can get lost for hours, days, weeks, even months discovering all kinds of awesome things.  And then Pinterest came along, and don't even get me started.  Talk about a time suck! 


I'm humbled that you take the time to come here and read my ramblings and check out my projects.  Most of you seem to be lurkers rather than commenters.  There are only a few people I hear from on a regular basis.  But that's okay ... I'm glad you lurkers are here too, and hopefully if a particular post resonates with you, you'll drop me a line at that time to share your thoughts.


When I went back to work five and a half months ago, I knew my blog would suffer.  Certainly I'm not able to do as many projects or spend as much time writing.  Unfortunately what has taken the bigger hit is the time I used to spend following other favorite blogs and discovering new ones.  My list of unread posts in Google Reader is in the thousands.  I'm know many of you are in the same boat, because as much as we want to get lost in the world of blogs, most of us have other priorities that have to take precedence.  Like working, or kids, or cooking, or cleaning ... or Pinterest.  :)


Although I'm not as active as I used to be, I'm still very passionate about continuing this little blog of mine, and I hope you'll stick around with me to see what happens in the next year!


If you want to know more about what I've been up to in the past year, check out my Projects page and the other pages you can access just under my blog header.

Hollie