My Current Obsession: Trays and Styling

Back when little man was still a baby, the forward-thinking mom in me took a look at our wooden coffee table with sharp corners and declared to the Mr. that we should replace it with something soft.  Seeing how babies who are learning to walk love to pull themselves up against furniture to walk around them, you can never be too cautious (especially with us being first time parents)!  For practical reasons, we decided to get an upholstered ottoman with ample storage inside for little man's toys (and our issues of unread magazines).  

Problem was, we needed a hard surface on which to place our TV snacks/ drinks.  That was what prompted us to make our first tray purchase, and the start of an obsession...

This was the large tray we got from Pottery Barn for our coffee table / ottoman in the family room.  We love keeping copies of the Restoration Hardware catalogue on the tray (we're always in awe and inspired by how they style the rooms).  Just in time to switch to the most recent copies we got in the mail!  

Ever since getting that first tray, we loved using trays to keep a large surface clutter free.  The tray is like a clutter boundary - keep your clutter in it, and makes the rest of the surface much neater...  or at least I try to keep it that way!

The tray in our office keeps our stationeries easily accessible, while keeping our workspace bright with that wooden lamp.  

Creating a tray vignette is a great way to add a little personality to a room.  Here in our home office, it makes working less dull with something pretty on the desk.

In addition to personalizing a space, trays also make cleaning much easier.  We have a long counter in our bathroom, and I found cleaning the counter much easier than my pre-tray days.  I just need to haul away the whole tray and give the counter an easy wipe-down.   No more moving individual canisters while I clean up.  

A sparkly mirror tray in the dressing room helps gather up bottles... 

... and free up some space for another mirror tray for some knick knacks - my ring holder, clock and oil diffuser.

Our tray obsession continued on our last trip and we brought home this faux shagreen tray from Z Gallerie.  We loved its color, and the stylish gold handles make it a perfect piece for entertaining.  It now sits nice and proud on our dining room console table.

I'm not sure why we've only been getting four-sided trays.  But we're now eyeing these beauties!

Sources:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Maybe one day, I'll ask the Mr. to attempt this DIY project also!  I love me a marble tray!

via Almost Makes Perfect

Now go on to get organized and beautify your space with trays!

Painted French Blue Console Table

As the Mr. was finishing up the dining room wainscoting and chair rail project, I started looking for the perfect size console table.  How did we determine what's the perfect size for our dining room?  

Our dining room is a shared large room with the living room, measuring 24-ft. in length.  We wanted THE piece to be at the short wall of the lengthy room, so that we can put a large mirror above it to reflect the light from the large patio doors. The dining table is 8-ft. in length.  We also wanted to ensure there would be enough room to walk behind a chair at each end of the table, let's say around 2.5-ft. or so including the back of the chair.  

Space between chair and console table.

Doing the math, that left us 24' (length of the room) - unextended dining table 8' - walk space 2.5-ft. x2 = 9-ft. to allot to the living room and a dining room console.  We don't usually leave the dining table extended, so we're fine with having the extended table eating a bit into the living room when need be.  However, I would want the living room to be at least 8-ft in length to fit in a decent sized settee.  That means, we need to find a piece that's only around 1-ft in depth.

All the math confirmed our suspicion - a chunky sideboard is out of the question, as most are at 20" or more in depth.  We loved this console table from Restoration Hardware - the zinc and cast iron would be a nice contrast to our rustic wooden dining table.  However, it comes in 20" deep, argh!  According to my math above, the ideal console table could only be around 12" deep.  The extra 8" would make or break a "just right" look.  

It proved to be a huge challenge to find such a shallow console, not to mention a style that we wanted.  Most consoles usually come in closer to 20" deep.  When we saw the style we liked, it was too deep.  When we saw the right depth, it was just...  BLEH...  You get the idea!

I usually don't look for antique/ used furniture, but I always loved checking out Châtelet Home's current inventory.  As I was casually browsing through their online photo inventory gallery, low and behold, I found the perfect piece!  I was so excited I called them right away to put a hold on the item! 

With it being a used item though, it doesn't come PERFECT.  I should've kept a before photo of the piece, it was in pastel granny's apple green with peachy pink highlights...  can it be more 80s than that?  Despite its Miami Vice colors, I couldn't pass on the gorgeous details, perfect size, and marble top!  It came at a lower price as is or a bit more than double the price for a finished piece.  Of course, I would go for the lower price option!  You know we (the Mr.) don't mind to put in some elbow grease to add our personal touch to it!

We chose a French blue that the Mr. painted over the entire piece.  I then finished it off by dry brushing some Martha Stewart champagne gold acrylic paint around the details.  The final step was to add a coat of Min Wax on it.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, as the little man would put it.  Saved us some bucks by doing it ourselves...  and to our liking!

We loved how the console table turned out.  Looking pass its original colors, it has great lines and is the perfect size for our dining room.  

Incorporating our personal touches was a nice way to inject some colors into our neutral-colored dining room.  The Mr. also pointed out how he liked the details on the console table reflecting the baluster design on the dining table.  

Now we have the perfect spot for everyday decor accessories and party essentials.

I hope we have inspired you to look at used furniture in a new light, especially when you're stuck at finding the PERFECT pieces for your home.  I was never a vintage person, until I realized what magic some TLC can do.  

Good luck on your search for the perfect piece for your home!

Restoration Hardware Inspired DIY Wainscoting & Chair Rail

Once upon a time, our combined living and dining room was little man's bachelor pad.  It came equipped with a (toy) kitchen, a parking pad for his (toy sit-on) car,  and a sports court on the left side.  

Not a very clear photo, but you get the idea of the expanse of little man's territory!

His "bachelor pad" took over that side of OUR house, and the Mr. decided to kick the tenant out before he marked further territory.   Truth was, little man grew out of those (toy) amenities and decided he would take over part of the basement as his floor hockey arena instead.  Great timing on his part, for daddy and mommy landlords to purchase our dining table and chairs.

We loved the rustic style of our baluster dining table, and the tufted dining chairs.  However, the bare walls seemed to be too plain in comparison.  We figured adding some wainscoting and a chair rail would create some needed balance on the walls. So I embarked on the search of inspirations for the Mr. to try his carpentry skills on.  

via http://classy-inthecity.com

via www.houzz.com

via www.mhouseinc.com

We decided to use thick wood trims to create the frames of each panel to add some depth. Trims that are too thin would just disappear in the large room.  We also used a tall chair rail to balance the thick wainscoting frames.  The space between each frame is around 3", which seemed to be the optimal distance - just wide enough to look un-crowded, and close enough for a cohesive look.

Close-up of frame trims and chair rail details.

After the Mr. marked out the dimensions of the frames with painter's tape, he was onto project "a frame a night".  He cut the wood trims to size of each panel, used carpenter glue to connect each corner and clamp down overnight.  The same routine went on each night until all frames were completed.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the making of the frames in progress =(

He first installed the chair rail around the room, levelling the rail as he nail-gunned into the studs. We installed the chair rail at the same height as the half wall for a continuous line, viewed from inside the room. 

The Mr. then began installing the frames starting at the short wall.  It was just easier to deal with the 3 frames across the wall and to learn from any mistakes from there.  On the short wall, we decided on a large middle section and two narrower frames on either side.  Our original plan was to install wall sconces on those two side panels, but of course, our design plan has changed from then!

Next was installing the upper and lower frames around the rest of the walls as marked. 

We like the unified look of using the same color on the walls, trims and baseboards, as in the inspiration photos above.  We think using the same colour throughout would make the walls a somewhat muted canvas, letting the furniture pieces speak for themselves as main focal points.

The chair rail and wainscoting warrant a dramatic color.  We narrowed down to 2 colors, as below:

On the left is Benjamin Moore's Inukshuk, on the right BenMoore's Silver Fox.  We chose to go with the lighter of the two.  It's a light taupe that's more cream in daylight but still dark enough for dramatic ambiance at night. 

1. Our dining/ living room is open to the rest of the floor, so the Mr. carefully taped around the edge of the adjacent wall (we only wanted the chosen color for the dining/ living room); 2. Kraft paper was laid and taped to protect the hardwood floor from paint drips, and made painting the baseboards a lot easier; 3. The Mr. removed all faceplates of electrical outlets, and... 4. marked them by corresponding numbers on the switches and outlets, so that reinstalling would be a breeze.

Here are some photos of the completed project. 

You can see how the Inukshuk color turns to a creamy taupe in sunlight...

... and in the photo below in darker light, the color turns to a darker taupe.  It gives the panel frames more definition.

I was so delighted that the Mr. completed our Restoration Hardware inspired dining room.  It's personal touches like these that transform a plain builder's room to one that reflects the homeowners' style.  

Now our dining table no longer feels lonely in a room of blank canvas.  The wall detailing enhances the look and feel of our dining room furniture.  

Have you recently been inspired by your furniture to make enhancements to your rooms?