Friends! A miracle has occurred.

The dining room has been painted! Due to some time off work, and a little thing called Doggy Day Care, I got ‘er done.

Don’t look at that floor. It’s dirty. But oh man, I’m so glad that turquoise is gone. Remember?

The new color is Distant Gray by Benjamin Moore, color matched to Valspar’s zero VOC paint. I love it. So here’s the thing. I don’t really like bold color on walls. It took me a while to figure this out, but it’s true. Light neutral walls are my jam. I prefer to bring in pops of color with pillows, rugs, curtains, and accessories. Those things are so much easier to change up when you’re in the mood for a new look too.

Now this is where I break your heart.

I don’t really have anything else to show you regarding the dining room makeover. My grandma’s table still needs to be sanded & re-stained, I need to make a trip to Ikea to buy frames for art, I need to hang the art, I need to figure out a mirror situation, blah blah blah.  I have been playing around with curtain options and furniture placement though, so here’s a sneak peak.

I can’t guarantee any of it is staying, but it’s fun to play around.  That mid century bench looks decent in this picture, but it is gross in person. It was covered in a layer of dirt when I unearthed it from my uncle’s basement, only about half of which I was able to scrub out. I’m investigating professional vinyl/leather paint. Have any of you used it? I’ve seen some pretty good results through the googler but I’ve also seen some instances of the paint cracking. Dilemmas!

So there you go, the very anticlimactic update on my dining room. Wah wah wah…

But wait!

Here’s something you should know about me and the Mike D. Sometimes, instead of eating in the dining room like civilized folks, we like to eat pizza while sitting on the sofa, in our pajamas, watching Dexter. Sometimes it’s burritos. Sometimes it’s tacos. But mainly it’s pizza.

Exposed!

But come on man, who doesn’t? I mean, we can’t always be expected to like sit on CHAIRS and eat off of PLATES at actual TABLES and shit.  I mean, what are we? ROYALS?

But as you may know, a puppy lives here now and she is balls out crazy. We tried to make sofa dining work with her, we wanted it so, but it was a disaster. There was jumping, and licking, and messes. I strongly disliked the messes. So what is one to do?

Enter… The dining nook! Located in the south wing of our home. Or as Mike D likes to call it “the other side of the living room”.

Oh pizza in front of the TV!  How I’ve missed you!

Do you know how hard it is to find an indoor bistro table that is not ugly, nor a million dollars? NO YOU DO NOT.

It is hard. #Whitepeopleproblems.

Thank god for West Elm. I mean, THANK GOD.

Check out my new hanging globe fixture. Also from West Elm. It’s perfect for a tiny little nook.

That old timey incandescent light bulb is from Anthropologie. We have it on a dimmer. Romance!

I took this as an opportunity to change up the art on the wall, and decided this was the perfect spot for my great great grandparents’ wedding photo and the creepy baby photo of my nana.

Oh, and speaking of that creepy baby photo, see how the gold frame is missing the ornate thingumbobs at the top and side?

Bummer, right? Well guess what, yo? My mom found the missing pieces in the old cedar chest where this photo was kept!

A few dabs of crazy glue later …

BOOM. Fancypants.

I decided to put the bar cart in the new nook, as opposed to the dining room (which was where I originally intended to put it), because I needed a tiny piece of furniture for this space and the bar cart totally fit the bill. I have other furniture planned for the dining room anyway, so this actually worked out swimmingly.

I found these adorable 60’s tumblers & shot glasses at the antique mall recently.

These particular views are pleasing.

There you have it. A casual dining nook made for slovenly pleasures.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on my progress with the real dining room. You know, the one where we eat the fancy shit, like chinese takeout.

And Ikea! This weekend! But then again Ikea on weekends is nutzo. So no. Yes. No.

I’m undecided.

Otherwise, I’m very pleased with Eleanor Rigby and her badass mohawk.
Xoxo.

I am pleased to inform you that my photographs are now sold at Naka in Ferndale!

Highfive!

I really love that store.  It is hands down, one of the best places in the Ferndale/Royal Oak area to find a super cool gift for pretty much anyone.  They have a very well curated selection of accessories for men, women, and babies, plus original art and decorative items for the home.  And male dudes of my blog, if you find yourself shopping for a girl, pretty much any piece of jewelry in that store will make her a smitten kitten.  Trust.

SIDEBAR.

After I typed hands down, I thought to myself “what does that phrase even mean?”.  I mean, I know what it means, but what is the origin of that expression, if you know what I mean?

So I took to the googler.

The internets declares:  The origin of this colloquialism seems to have it’s roots in mid 19th century horse racing.  When a horse jockey is nearing the finish line far ahead of the competition, “with victory certain”, he could drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, and still win the race.

And now you know that story.

UNRELATED.

I went thrifting on St. Patricks Day, hoping to find a 60‘s Mad Men style vintage bar cart for the dining room, and despite wearing my lucky green shoes, I didn’t find a single one. What’s your problem, LUCKY GREEN SHOES??!!!

Here are the few things I did manage to find.

Dancetime, Benny Goodman and Mozart records for ONE DOLLAR a piece.

Doesn’t the graphic art on that Mozart album rub you in all the right ways?

I found these two 4 by 6 framed prints for $2.50 each.

I wasn’t in love with the prints themselves, but I really liked the gold frames.  So I replaced one of them with my little Kill Taupe print.

Then hung it next to our loo, like so.

Let’s talk about this $10 horse clock.

My gal pal Bree spotted this horse at the flea market and was all “Oh my god! Oh my god!” and I was all “That is so ugly and awesome and you have to buy it right now!” and she was all “I don’t know, it’s so hideous” and I was all “BUY IT!” and she was all “NO!” and I was just not having it.

Then I bought the horse. BOOSH.

I told Bree that if she changes her mind, she can buy it back from me at a markup of 75%.  I mean, she did see it first.  And I am a good friend.

Unfortunately, that was all I found on my St Patty’s day thrifting adventure.  No bar cart for me.

For shame.

BUT.

Several days later, I was at the mall shopping for moccasins, as one does, and I found myself thinking long and hard about colored denim.  While conducting my fieldwork on the subject I made this exciting discovery:  If you are 5 feet and 2.87 inches in height, as I just so happen to be, GAP green skimmer legging jeans will fit your legs perfectly in length!  No hemming! No cuffing!  No raising of the fists and swearing at your height deficient DNA!  This is a pant miracle!

Lucky green pants!

FULL CIRCLE?

You know, we started with unlucky green shoes and ended with lucky green pants?

Question mark?

Moving on…

I spruced up my office/studio a wee bit.  I organized, decluttered, swapped out the desk chair, and hung a fuchsia bunting banner that I purchased at NEST, to take the room from this:

To this :

I also wrapped some old T-shirts and fabric scraps around embroidery hoops and hung them on each side of the chalkboard frame.

What do you think? Too much with the embroidery hoops?  Too cluttery?  The minimalist part of my brain says yes.  The eccentric old granny part of my brain says no.

Tell me how to feel about this.