Coffee Theory of Creating a Tablescape

This past weekend has been a tease of spring, and my little guy just couldn't wait to take out his scooter for a ride in the still-slushy park trails.  You know it's been an exceptionally long winter when even the little ones are sick and tired of the once-precious white stuff they used to make snow angels and build forts.  Just this morning, I drove through a blizzard (but no worries, it'll be a high of 9C this afternoon, what gives??)  Who knows how much longer it'll take to see some greens for real?  With all the decor stores stocking up for spring home fashion and accessories, they're just too enticing for us green hungry crowd to pass up!

I was referring to myself, in particular.  And so I took home the treasures from my "mini" shopping spree to set the table for an upcoming event.  I shopped around the house and found 2 mismatched off-white pots in similar size.  I figured I would go for a more casual vibe.  I also had a tablerunner spanning the length of the table, on which I placed the centrepieces.  My pieces were mostly same size in width, and so I placed them symmetrically along the table. Remember, odd numbers work best for display! 

Notice the height of the pieces, and this is my first coffee theory.  Think of coffee sizes - large, medium, small.  When layering pieces for any vignette, keep in mind major groupings should be in odd numbers, and varying in height.  This allows your eyes to have a resting spot at each height without missing an object, instead of scanning across items of the same height.  

The Mr. had been eyeing over at my dining tablescape occasionally, and as expected, made some "suggestions".  While I was standing around, trying to picture his vision, he got into action. After some thundering climbs up the stairs, he came back with a floral arrangement that I made for the nook of our staircase.  I made it specifically for that tall nook, with tall twigs holding up branches of (faux) orchids.  Taking matter into his own hands, he moved around the pieces on the table.  "Honey, you need some drama and colours!"  I think he channelled some Karl Lagerfeld as he said that.

My Mr. always surprises me with his brilliant ideas.  I hate to admit it, but he's right.  And this leads to my second coffee theory.  For dramatic effect, think of the drama queen on Starbucks' logo (aka the Siren, twin-tailed mermaid).  You've got a grande main piece for drama, 2 tall pieces, and a grouping of short pieces for balance.  Odd numbers are still in effect, since the eyes would catch the grande and the tall pieces.  With a grande main piece, the 2 tall pieces should have a lighter feel to them to create proper balance.  The bird cages were just perfect - they've got the height, yet are see-through for that airy feel.  

Sure enough, the Mr. always thinks of ways to one-up my initial designs...  but that's how we get better by feeding on one another's brilliant ideas!  So, what do you think?  Do you prefer a casual coffee or the drama queen?  Casual tablescape?  or pile on the drama?

Our DIY Dressing Room Hacked IKEA PAX Wardrobe

*** cLICK HERE FOR THE FINAL REVEAL OF OUR NEW DRESSING ROOM***

We were very fortunate to have been able to move to our current house.  We love the openness of the ground floor's layout and the bedrooms are practical in size.  The dressing room came about when we were at the builder's office examining our floor plan, and a light bulb went on in the Mr.'s head.  "Can we add a door on this wall?", he asked the builder's rep, pointing at the wall between the master ensuite and an adjacent bedroom.  What was pictured in the air bubble above his head was to delete the planned walk-in closet in our master bedroom, and instead make the bedroom behind the ensuite into our dressing room.  This way, we will have a nice sitting area in our bedroom and practically the back half of the upper floor to ourselves!   

Everything went according to our plan, and it was a dream-come-true for both of us!  (Yes, for the Mr. also, just look at his shirt collection!)  It was the first room we tackled after moving in, because we really didn't want to be living out of Rubbermaid bins for who-knows-how-long.   

The Mr. hacked the IKEA PAX Wardrobe system and added trims and mouldings to make the closet frames look as if they were custom built.  Our ceiling on the second floor is 8' high, so we bought the 236cm high frames.  We had several different plans of the frames' layout, but ultimately chose this one.  We each have 2 wide hanging frames and a slim frame in the middle with drawers.  But of course, I also took up the third wall's hanging space...  and some shelves. 

Being his "particular" self, the Mr. had already amassed a collection of IKEA wooden hangers for his dress shirts.  I, on the other hand, was still using all different coloured hangers, plastic/ wooden/ drycleaner metal hangers...  you name it, I got it.  

All different hangers I have collected over the years.

Our un-glamourous side...  ok, it was mostly my stuff while I was purging.  All those bags of purged items drove the Mr. crazy...  they sat there for...  um, a long time.  Well, I just needed time to COMPLETE the purging, that's all.

I eventually got some white velvet hangers on a flash sale site at an awesome price!  They're the best for women's clothes, which usually have thin and slippery material.  Just that small investment made the dressing room more coherent and less chaotic.   

Ahhhh...  this looks so much better, and the Mr. felt relieved. 

I don't know if the Mr. noticed, but I purposely hung my lighter-coloured clothing at the frame that faces the dressing room's entrance.  I think it helps make the room lighter than if I were to hang dark-coloured clothes there.   

So there you have it, our somewhat glamourous dressing room...  though it's really still a work in progress.  We still need to: 

• get 2 seats, one each for the Mr. and myself, or a small bench in front of the island - got a bench instead

• hack 2 IKEA dressers, put them back-to-back to form an "island" in the middle of the room. 

• finish off the drawer fronts - to make them look custom 

• design window treatment 

• maybe get some wall art 

• maybe get some plants at the window 

• maybe paint the frames and moldings a taupe colour 

The blue bench was our most recent addition to the dressing room.  It's great to be able to sit while putting on socks, and not hopping around while at it.  (I'll try not to use it as my next dumping spot.)

Would you convert an extra bedroom to a dressing room?

DIY Kitchen Island Makeover

We have always loved our huge kitchen island, which gives us ample prep space for meals.  At over 10-feet long, it's also the dumping spot for lunch bags, mail, and other uncategorized items.  It's great for buffet style get-togethers, where guests hover around to talk and eat.  However, it just looked like a hunk of cabinets, that acted as some sort of border between our family room and kitchen.  The island just looked too OUT THERE to be so plain.

As mentioned in my overly-excited post of our completed DIY kitchen island makeover, I wasn't too confident about this project.  But the Mr. seemed very serious about the project, and being the good wife, I should share his enthusiasm (right?!).  Well, as you know, the rest was history... and was I ever glad to let him perform this cosmetic surgery on our island!  So here it is, as promised, the elbow grease details of the project!

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The Mr.'s plan was to build out each end of the island like columns, just to the overhang of the countertop.  We both agreed that a wider built-out would look more proportional to the island.  He decided the easiest way would be to build a 4-sided column.  He got the MDF boards cut to the height of the island, and attached the sides with carpenter glue and nail gun.  Once the columns were dried of the glue, he attached them to the back of the island using nail gun.

We were going for the wainscotting look, and decided that a 2.5" border around the frames would appear more proportional as we stepped away from the island to look at it as a whole. He attached MDF boards and framed around the perimeters, which would be the upper and lower borders of the wainscotting frame.  To cover up the seam between the back of the cabinet and the column, he used the white trim that would become part of the inset frame.  

He then added small frame trims around the "inner frame" to complete that wainscoting look (excuse the mess on the countertop - our dumping spot).

With such a long island, a higher baseboard would give it a more ornate look, so we chose a 7" high baseboard for that. 

Yup, that's our Miss. Nosy, running around restlessly with all the going-ons at the island!

Completed look of island with baseboard - my first TA-DA moment

We included an upper trim in our design to complete the custom look.  The Mr. had to account for an electrical outlet on the side of the island.  He removed the electrical outlet and used a jigsaw to cut out the opening in the MDF border.  

With all the fun in cutting and nailing done, here comes the dirty part...  filling in the nail holes with wood filler and also caulking the seams of the moldings.  Sand and repeat with filling as necessary...  I was the "supervisor" to this part, and of course I got to be as picky as I could be.  I lost count how many times I asked the Mr. to "sand and repeat"…  but he was all game, since he's as much a perfectionist as I am! 

And again, Miss. Nosy over on the right checking on the progress of her lover-boy's project.

Here's another fun part, and the next most stressful part other than getting the moldings done right - PAINT MATCHING.  If the paint didn't match the rest of our existing cabinets, it would make the whole island look like an eyesore.  Our cabinet colour is a creamy off-white, and even a little off would be VERY obvious.  Thank goodness, our local home improvement store was able to match the paint colour of a cabinet door, which Mr. removed to get it matched  (I told you he would do anything to get it perfect). 

Paint matched!  (Lighting in picture created the tone difference)

Here we go again - paint, sand, and repeat as necessary...  and again, I searched and felt for imperfections around the built-out, just to have it re-sanded and re-painted.  The Mr. spent so much time on making-over this island, I didn't want a little imperfection to dent the look.  I was glad he had been patient through all this, and making it right the first time! 

Island turned out great!

So after lots of ups-and-downs (and that's literal, as his "workshop" is in the basement... carrying up his pieces of wood from the basement to the kitchen, build/ re-cut), I'm so proud of the Mr.'s masterpiece!  We hope you have enjoyed this lengthy tutorial.  The wordy parts don't do much justice to all the blood and sweat that went into the island's making.  

As I stand admiring his new masterpiece, glass of wine in hand, I would tell him how it completes the look of our kitchen.  It looks like it's always been there!  And with him looking so proud of himself, having proven his new-found capabilities, I'm sure he agrees that all his hard work was all worth it! 

We're shopping for some counter stools to make our breakfast bar more functional.  Found these at Target, but it's hard to collect all 3!  It would be nice to have a place to sit, as the Mr. and I chitchat, with one of us is working in the kitchen...  planning for our next home project...  maybe over a glass of wine. 

P.S.:  I guess the Mr. would have a can of Stella...  sorry for the unintentional product placement, but I didn't realize he enjoyed so many cans of Stella until I edited the pictures!