amazing before and after: card catalog

On Pinterest (ps if you want an invite I still have a couple) yesterday, I found the best before and after. Ever.  Just look at what Adrianne and Jeremy over at Dream Book Design blog did!  They found this old card catalog at a library that was closing and completely revamped it.  It now lives in their dining room as a buffet.  Here's what it looked like when they got it:

They took apart the different sections, keeping track of where each drawer went), and lined them up horizontally instead of vertically.  

They bought a base for the card catalog at home depot.  And painted everything, including all 72 (SEVENTY-TWO!!!) drawers white.  I get a headache just thinking about it.  BUT, I'm sure the headache was worth it when the final product came out like this:

Isn't it so beautiful?  It totally fulfills all of my organizational neuroses. I mean, there is literally a drawer for everything.  Or, at least, one for seventy-two different things.  What a unique piece of furniture! 

a few updated pics

Posting pictures of the house on Facebook and here, I realized that some things have changed even in the last two weeks.  For example, the dining room table looked so empty in the pictures I posted, because I have since set it with dishes, etc.  The Bay Room, or Blue Room, has gotten window treatments, which really rounds it out. So, while the changes are very minor, I, at least, feel that they make a big difference.

I was a little nervous about choosing placemats...but I actually really like these simple green ones.  They pick up colors in the re-upholstered chairs and tie in with the birds on the curtains, while still being neutral enough that they don't distract you from everything else. 

Another view.   Doesn't the table look more full now? I like it better this way.  Also, looking at this picture makes me realize just how detail-oriented real interior designers have to be.  I mean, the plates aren't all lined up correctly (look at the one in the bottom-left corner) and the placemat in the bottom-right corner is wrinkled.  Not to mention all of the wrinkles in the table runner, which I hadn't even noticed until now.  Obviously, it's fine for this picture, but I can't imagine all of the things you'd have to think of when taking a professional picture.  I guess you'd get used to it, huh?  You'd have to, otherwise you'd probably be out of a job pretty quickly.

Sorry, couldn't resist throwing this vase in here.  I still love it so much! I bought the dried lavender at a new store downtown.  It smells so phenomenal that I even saved the dried stems I cut off when putting it in vases.  I put those on my desk though, so guests would only see the pretty stuff.  Also, Dinah, that amazing friend who sent me the Barefoot Contessa cookbook??  She has the same fish vase! Except hers is milk glass!  Wow.  Just re-read what I wrote. Does the fact that I get so excited about this mean that I need to get a life? Hm.  Things to think about.

Anyway, off to the Bay Room:

Here's more of the lavender! The vase doesn't actually sit on this bedside table normally, but I thought the red, blue and purple colors were so pretty together that I couldn't resist moving it for the picture. (Clue number two that I need a life? Probably.)

I originally bought the curtains in the Bay Room for the dining room.  But they were so perfect in here, and I really wanted the whimsy of the bird ones for the dining room, so I splurged and got both.  Also, I know the TV maybe isn't so beautiful, but I feel like we need to have them in each room.  And, that picture above the TV? It was given to me by yet another of my college friends, Lauren.  It says, "We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces." And I love it.  Lauren always has a way of vocalizing the things that other people just can't quite put a finger on.  I guess in this case she's talking through the art, but still.  I really wanted it to be somewhere where I could see it more often, but it fit so perfectly there, that I guess I have to be nice and share. I think Lauren would be proud of me for sharing.  It's made by Brian Andreas of Story People.

A new vignette of the vanity.  I've added drinking glasses (I love the polka dots! Ha, I almost said polka-spot, because that's what the Beekman Boys llama is named....whoaaaa need a life #3) and a bar of soap and "soap dish" aka a plate, because I have no money left to buy a legit soap dish.  I like the plate though.

I really felt that we didn't have a good picture of the shower in this room.  I love those shower curtains, but they don't photograph so well.  They're way more colorful/dyamic in real life.  I like this picture better than previous ones, because of the painting, which goes so well in the bathroom.  I tried to put it almost everywhere else in the house and then brought it to this bathroom and realized I had been wasting my time.  Why force it somewhere else when it clearly has a home right here? 

This seaglass has been there all along, but I didn't really have a picture of it before.  While this picture still may not be the best, you can see all of that seaglass, dutifully collected by my brother and me when we were little.  Yay for long sunny days at the beach! 

A little glimpse of both the bedroom and the bathroom.  You get an idea of the curtains. And for some reason, I really like the clean towels being folded up on top of that cabinet--my mom's good idea.  (That cabinet, by the way, serves as a closet because there's no other place to hang your clothes in this room.  Gotta love old houses and their lack of closet space.) 

A couple more pictures to showcase the curtains. They're a really light almost linen fabric with some vertical stripes.  I think the chair looks so much better now.  I guess it looks less lonely with the curtains there, if you can say that about a chair. 

Another picture that proves I couldn't be an interior designer. I don't like how you can see the air conditioner (yet it's another essential for the B & B, given that we don't have central air...).  Also, the cords under the TV! Ugh.  Dan has figured out some ingenious way to tie them all up under the table, so they're no longer visible.  Finally, I don't like how the curtains are laying on the floor here.  I promptly went upstairs and fixed them after looking at this pic on the computer.  

Well that's it for updates for now.  I hope you guys like the differences too! 

P.S.  Happy First Day of July! 

Florence's Room and Bathroom: Before and After

Here are the pics!

BEFORE:

Uh-oh.  We never took a before picture of the bedroom.   Although it didn't really look bad.  It was always my favorite room in the house and I actually inherited this bedroom set when my grandmother died, because I liked it so much when I was little.  I thought it was a bedroom set fit for a princess. Seriously.  Don't you wish you'd been my friend when I was 8?

Here's the only before pic I can find.  It was actually taken a few years ago and for this picture the room had been set up nicely for a real estate photo shoot.  You do get a sneak peak into the old bathroom and can check out that wall to wall carpeting, which you'll notice is now gone.  Anyway, not bad, right?  I actually really like the wallpaper; I think it's very bed and breakfast-y.

AFTER:

I love that trap door! I think we should put something really exciting behind it, so guests can find it when they're snooping!  Or what if something popped out at you? Haha, that would be hilarious.  For me, anyway.

Don't you think princesses would want to sit at this vanity and try on their tiaras?  I certainly did.  Is that too creepy to write?  Hmm... 

If you look closely, there's even a little crown on that bowl.  Maybe I should move it to the vanity.

My grandmother was obsessed with Reader's Digest, hence the books.  At least, I think she was obsessed.  We never talked about it and I don't actually remember seeing her read one, but they were always all over the house.  And I mean, who buys Reader's Digest hardcover if they aren't obessesed, right?

Here's a good glimpse of what lay beneath the carpet.  It's the original wide, pine floorboards!  Aren't they pretty?  They're in different shades of stain (underneath that throw rug is not as pretty), but I think that's actually kind of neat.  Also, do you see those bricks? Those are/were a hearth.  Apparently all of the rooms had fireplaces back in the day, but they have been covered up in the bedrooms.  Such a shame.  If we were living here longer/had more money and time, I would totally try to unearth them.

The window in the picture above looks out onto this:

Downtown! That's how close we are...really, really close.

I know this picture looks crooked, but it is hanging on the wall straight.  I'm just a bad photographer.  Anyway, for some reason, I love this painting. 

Also, I love these shade pulls.  We bought new shades for all of the bedroom windows and I asked the saleswoman if she knew where I could buy new shade pulls.  She actually said that they don't make them anymore and that people come into the store all the time asking her for some.  I'll be holding on to them.  

Okay, and the bathroom BEFORE:

byebye fake tile and wallpaper, hello...AFTER:

We painted the walls a bright blue and installed new wainscoting.  The fake tiles were showing their years of ware and tare and water splashing.  The wainscoting is made for bathrooms, so splashes wont hurt it.  We also painted the clawfoot tub a glossy black.  I think that's my favorite part of the room.

Isn't this old sink cool? I like the drain.

Cat painting replaced with black and white trees.  Don't worry, I hung the cat painting in my bedroom.

I love the old key. 

Those towels in the background are embroidered with the letter G. 

And this final one is across the upstairs hallway into the other room. 

That's it.  What do you think?

before and after: the dining room

I'm still trying to figure out how to decorate the table, side board, and mantle, but these after pics give a pretty good idea of the transformation in here.  The room started out all white, with just a wallpaper border near the ceiling (phew!).  Although all of the fancy trim took a lot of time to sand and paint, it was definitely worth it.  This room came out way better than I could have imagined.  Also, that brown color that I was so upset about a week or so ago? I love it now.

BEFORE:

Okay, so it was a mess here...but still.  Oh and there were some pretty horrendous curtains.

There's that wallpaper!

See? Blank slate...

AFTER (disclaimer: the room looks a bit darker in the pictures than it does in real life):

Also, a huuuuge thanks to Jessie for finding the amazing curtains for me!