darling octopus and r•home magazine – may issue

My article in this months R•Home magazine is all about closet doors. I re-did these door in my basement and they might be the most elegant doors to hide a hot water heater!

We are just finishing a bathroom remodel which included a bonus closet in our master bedroom. (I use the word “master” loosely – it’s the largest bedroom in our house but come on, it didn’t even have a closet!) Anyway, at the end of the remodel, and over budget of course, we don’t really have $400 dollars, or more, for cool closet doors. So my plan is to buy the cheapest doors around and fancy them up!

I bought these hollow core doors for less than $60 for four panels at Lowes. They are hideous, I know! But they are totally flat. A blank surface for my creativity. I am thinking about wallpaper with molding around the edges. I will make sure to post a photo when I am done. Here are the doors that are inspiring me:

from S. R. Gambrel

From House Beautiful

From cococozy.com

From Houzz

From Martha Stewart Living

darling octopus and r•home magazine – march issue

Pick up this months R•Home magazine and you will see one of my chair re-do’s step by step. I give you all of my secrets!

Everything looks so pretty in the magazine but it’s not all so glamorous behind the scenes. The photographer had a special assistant at this photo shoot – frankie!

That’s right, not only did he have to worry about lighting and composition, he also had to work around this snorting, snaggle tooth pug who thought he should be in every picture. Or we should at least stop everything and rub his belly!

The other two guys around my house who are always trying to get in on the action are Jasper and Emerson. Here they are posing with the chair before her big makeover:

One more thing that I wanted to tell you is that this chair is not alone! I have three more just like her and a dining table that are all going to get the same treatment and become a set. If you are going to paint your furniture the pieces don’t need to match perfectly. The table I have is not originally part of the set with the chairs but once it is all painted the same I doubt you will be able to tell.

darling octopus & r•home magazine

Go out and get the January issue of R•Home magazine! There you can read my article about shopping for vintage furniture and home decor in RVA. There are lots of useful hints and a resource list of some of my favorite shopping spots.

I thought it might be fun to elaborate on some of my ideas in the magazine. I found this armoire at the Salvation Army on Midlothian Turnpike but you know you see one of these at every thrift store and yard sale you go to. Flat screen TV’s are making them an obsolete piece of furniture but you could always re-purpose them.

Turn it into a cute home office and just close the doors when you’re done working.

photo from funkyjunksisters.blogspot.com

Or check out this adorable kids art center!

image from thedesignfile.net

I thought this dresser was almost perfect. I love the shape and the color I would just add some new hardware to make it look a little more modern.

My favorite source for cool drawer pulls is Anthropologie. I regularly shop their clearance section – there you will find pulls for as little as $3 each! Below are two picks that I think would look awesome!

photo from anthropologie

photo from anthropologie

I am the queen of the chair re-do. I know I have re-done more chairs than any other piece of furniture. It is hard for me to pass up a chair with good bones because it is usually pretty easy to give it a new look.

Here are some of my past chair projects that might inspire you.

Victorian Chair

Kid Friendly Laminated Cotton Chair

Curvy Chair

Next issue, I will be showing you how to re-do a chair, step by step, with very detailed directions! Yeah R•Home – Yeah DIY!

PS – You can read my first R•Home article, all about shopping for vintage furniture, online now!