Craigslist I love you....

In between looking for flooring and knocking off small DIY dining room projects - I've also been stalking Craigslist for the perfect dresser for our bedroom. We wanted something clean lined and not too feminine. You wouldn't believe all the junk I poured over looking for a decent dresser that wasn't crap-tastic circa 1983.



I was seriously thinking of breaking it off with Craigslist and letting our relationship fizzle out. Then two days before Christmas I come across the prefect dresser the detail I was looking for, and it looked well made + Mr. CHL house also loved it.

I quickly called the number provided fearing it might be too late to call it was 9:20 pm - No answer I leave my name and number. No response. The next morning I wait until 9:30 am and call again, no answer, I leave a message. Crap I think to myself they sold it. I start getting annoyed, thinking they should at least take the item off CL when it's sold; - it’s so rude to tease people.


About ten minutes later my work line rings, it’s the Craigslist seller!! I do a little happy dance in my chair. I tell him I really want the dresser, my husband can come pick it up right now (he had the day off) the seller doesn’t recognize my interest and tries to sell the dresser to me! lol - I play along.

CL Seller: It's a really nice dresser and sturdy, but its missing a handle

Me: Yeah it looks nice {thinking: I don't care about handles, this baby is getting new ones}

CL Seller: you can order the handle from the manufacturer company

Me: Um sounds great, do all the drawers work? {thinking: Who cares!! lol j/k}

CL Seller: Yeah it’s a solid piece

Me: What's your address my husband can be there in an hour {I'm already Goggled Map it, once I knew it was the CL Seller}

CL Seller: Did you want to see it first in person?

Me: Nah, your picture looks nice, I trust my husband {thinking: Sir, I need your address now!!}

CL Seller: Ok, here's my information

Me: Thanks! {thinking: You just made my day, and have to clue how awesome the dresser is/will be}

So Craigslist and I are back together again, I guess it was meant to be....Craigslist I love you. Here's the dresser, pics from CL Seller

Oh and how much did I pay for this fab dresser? Just $ 45.00 bucks! Yup a total steal, the drawers are super heavy and well made. Next up new hardware and a paint color possibilties - but that's a whole new post. Have you found any awesome Craigslist steals?

Floored: Options, Options

The next step in getting closer to our dining redo is replacing our cracked, fugly tile in the dining room and kitchen. Since we have original 1956 hardwood floors (yet to be re-finished) we want our new wood floors to compliment our excisting ones. I really like how dark flooring looks in a room, so we are thinking a dark walnut color will look nice. We are considering a few flooring options: Faux wood, Engineered Hardwood, and Bamboo - Real wood won't be an option - too pricey. BUT I ordered a sample to see how our original floors will look after they are refinshed.

Here are some flooring options we are considering:

From the left:

#1 Bamboo 'Congo'

#2 Real Wood 'Oak Mocha' 

 #3 Faux 'Wine Barrel Oak'  

#4 Faux  'Arktos'

Which ones do you like? I knocked on each sample! I know silly, but I wanted to see which one sounds more like 'real wood'

I prefer # 1 Bambo 'Congo' and of course # 2  Real Wood 'Oak Mocha' -- we plan on refinishing our wood floors with this color

{ better picture of my favorites side by side and a BETTER picture of our FUGLY tile, I think the grout is just stained that nasty dirt color! fun. }

We plan on ripping up on tile next month, new year new floors - can't wait! Have you ripped up tile before? Was it easy peasy? - please share.

We still have a little price comparing to do. I ordered the above samples from ifloors.com, they have a great selection and awesome per sq. price HOWEVER I'm not sure if I'm feeling there hefty shipping charges. Untill then I've been drooling over these dining rooms and the floors simular style to what we want our space to feel like: light and airy grouned by dark rich wood floors. I alse like these dining rooms here.

Isn't the space below amazing! The light fixture, the two buffets - kind of feels Art deco meets modern. I also love the simple black & photos on the wall - we recenlty diy artwork for our dining room.

I really like fabric chairs in dining rooms, it adds a bit for elegance and large mirror bounces so much light around the room - Love it

{ the picutres above are from BHG.com }

Celebrate

I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday, enjoy your time celebrating with your family! We are having a low key day at my house: opening presents (our son can't wait for Christmas morning), our family will be over, yummy brunch and movies. Can't wait.

Mmm.....mimosas will be served, if my mom dosn't forget to bring the orange juice!

I'll be back { in my best Arnold voice } next week with my favorite brunch recipe, a craiglist steal, another dining room update and more!

Merry Christmas

Tray Chic Giveaway: Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the AllModern.com giveaway for a chance to win the Oh So Chic Blumus East Tray.

Congratulations Brooke to who plans on using the Blumas East Tray to " Layer it with (colorfully pretty) fruit (like when the dominos fall) and have a special "holiday" dip in the middle (i.e. if they wanted to dip there apples or strawberries in)"

Brooke, I hope you enjoys this fabulous tray for many parties to come! Make sure you let us know how you like the tray! Please check your email, so I can get your present shipped out to your ASAP. Thanks again AllModern.com for sponsering Chic Little House's first giveaway.

The winner was selected via random.org

Holidays with Starbucks

I love Holidays with Starbucks, and all their yummy Holiday inspired drinks. Last year my favorite Starbucks drink during Christmas-time was the Eggnog Latte rich and creamy. Now I find that drink way to sweet, I think it’s because Mr. CHL and I have limited our Starbucks to one time per week. There was a time like many Americans I (we) had a serious addiction to Starbucks we'd be there 4x times a week sometimes even twice in one day!


Now my favorite drink this year for the Holiday season is Grande Pumpkin Spice Latte (skinny). The rest of the year I drink my all time favorite Tall Skinny Cinnamon dolce Latte. Yes I'm one of those people who have a long drink name. Mr. CHL likes to change up his drink a lot during the Holidays. Right now he loves the Peppermint Tuxedo - a few weeks back he was all about the Gingerbread Latte.

What's your favorite drink from Starbucks during the Holidays and your Go To drink the rest of the year?

Don't forget there's still time left to Enter the Tray Chic: Giveway from AllModern.com!!

Tray Chic: All Modern.Com Giveaway for YOU

*** This Giveaway is now Closed ***

AllModern.com wants to add a little glamour to your holiday parties and little something extra under your tree just for you. One lucky reader will receive an amazing Chic Serving Tray in this Giveaway.

The Blumus East Tray

The Blumus East Tray is the perfect for serving beverages to guests – warm cocoa, hot apple cider and wine. The Tray is timeless stainless steel and provides a clean crisp look.

 AllModerm.com is a great site for year round goodies for your home. I was blown away with their amazing selection of home décor, dining room furniture and dinnerware and much more! I dare you not to fall in love with an item form their site and put in your shopping and treat yourself or a loved one!

Here are some items I'd love for my home

Iittala Origo Bowl

Manhattan Side Chair

Kitchen Aid Tea Kettle

Here are Rules

Good Luck. I can't wait to hear how you'll use this chic tray in your home!






Prize: The Blumas East Tray


How to Enter: Post a comment my blog, and share what you plan on serving with this classic tray. Please include your name and email address with your comment. The winner will be selected using Random.org

Giveaway Starts:  Thursday 12/17/09
Giveaway Ends:   Monday 12/21/09 at 11:00 pm Pacific time


Number of Winners: One
Prize Ships in US & Canada (Open to all Us & Canadian Residents)

Dining Room Art

I love black and white photography artwork; I think its timeless and suits any wall perfectly. When I started planning our dining room makeover I knew I wanted any artwork in there not to be theme-y. I decided to create our own artwork. I went though all our pictures and see if any them would work when I came across three pictures from a weekend getaway with the husband (wine tour in the Santa Rosa, Ca Area) Here are the pictures.

I don't have any programs like Photoshop so I use a free service from Google called Picasa - its tool great to use for very basic photo edits & storing pictures. It’s the perfect tool for me until I upgrade/learn how to use Photoshop. Instead of just making the photo black and white, which is nice - but a little boring for these photos....I decided to add contrast and play for the lighting. The result three interesting photos, that reminds me of our getaway.

A little crop & black and white contrasting

Next I framed them in these great gallery style frames from Kohls - I own 5 of these frames now! Two frames are in the entryway on ledges and three are in the dining room. Love these frames, great style and value. Here's a better picture of our dining room update so far.

Dining Room: Update

A couple weeks back I made a idea board for our searoulsy lacking in style dining room. I complained that the dining room felt so tiny and univiting and it was a dumping ground for my purse, mail etc. So you can imagine how surpsied I was when I began to prime the walls and dining room grew. I was a little nervous to paint the walls Woodraw Wilson Putty by Vaslpur -- I didn't want my little dining room to shrink again.


Once I painted the room and the baseboards the prettyist color apeared. It's the perfect biege color with no crazy undertones (like green) Before I paint the walls I did a test coat with three sample paints from Valspur - not only are the sample paint sizes perfect they also save a bunch of paint misshaps.

Case in point - How yucky are some of those colors on my wall - The picture was taken in natrual bright sunlight. Color  # 1 is the color I choose, # 2 looked dirty green # 3 way took dark. The white under each paint is the baseboard color.

Here's a picture of a portion of our dining room after it was primed.

I think the dining room is begining to look more and more like my vision. Here's a sneek peek of a portion of the dining room that is done. It's the same coner of the dining room as above.

I think one of my favorite flowers are babys breath

An extra vase makes the buffet look prettier

Here's a better pciture of the buffet, I recently painted - yup the handle is fixed!

It's Ugly Up There

A couple of weeks ago I painted our dining room to get started on our re do plan; we finally got around to painting our ceiling last weekend. Mr. CHL is in charge of rolling and I'm in charge of the trim work. Our dining room ceiling was an ugly shade of buttery off white, not cute. I'm not a huge fan of painting an entire room (walls & ceilings) one color; we opted to paint our ceiling a crisp white. Our ceiling looked nice and fresh minus the lovely apartment light fixture the previous owners installed. I couldn't wait for Mr. CHL to take down our crummy light fixture, he took it down and we saw this.

It's not the first time we've come across 'interesting choices' the previous owners did to ‘upgrade’ our house. It looked like someone just punched their fist in the ceiling to make room for a light fixture. There are all these nifty little cracks and drywall popping though...nice.
 
Have you come across in fun finds while starting a new project?

Thanks Yellow Front Door

I just logged on to my blog and went straight to my blog Dashboard to see what all my favorite bloggers are up to - when I saw that I won The Yellow Front Door's All Modern.com $50 giveaway!!



Whoa, I'm so happy I never win anything - ever. Ok every now and then I win $2 from a lotto scratcher. Make sure you stop by Micah's blog she's got super style and her blog is really fun. She just completed a kitchen makeover that turned out so nice and is serving inspiration for our up coming kitchen redo next year.

I'm off to find something fab for either for our livingroom or diningroom - I'll keep you posted

Thanks Yellow Front Door & AllModern.com

Buffet Makeover

I've had this little buffet for several years, and for a most 2009 it sat in the garage. Until a month ago when I created a dining room mood board. The original color was light oak which suited me just fine years ago, but made the piece look dated and boring. I decided to paint the buffet a semi gloss Delicate White by Olympic (it's a little softer than bright white). The color should compliment our kitchen redo next year.


Here's the before....Ohh I love the wood knobs. Sometimes it’s the most fun to re-do furniture your own furniture or a family piece, it always reminds you of your former decor choices. Remember I bought this years ago from Target (gotta love Target).

I primed the buffet once (If I use the paint color/brand again I would use two coats of primer - the paint is really thin, but goes on very nice)


I applied three thin coats of paint to the buffet; I think two coats of primer would have saved some time painting. I used clear glossy coat water based poly on the top of the buffet only - so the surface is nice and hard


Here's the after complete with new hardware. I love the new pulls on the drawer - but not sure if I like the knobs. I’m still contemplating removing the wood panel and putting a glass in the doors to show off my cake stands and various service ware and make it look a little more contemporary. What do you think...leave the wood in the doors? Replace with glass?

The picture below was taking last night - We have no lighting in our due to our Dining Room Redo (more on that later) So, I used flash...which blurred the picture and makes it look way glossier than it is. I'll update with new pics as we get closer to our Dining Room after. The picture above is the true color and much more flattering. Do you like the after?

{ Oh yeah, my hubby put one of the knobs in with the wrong screw! That's why it looks funny! I'll fix it this weekend }

Just a little Holiday Cheer

I haven’t done much Christmas decorating yet this year, I think it’s mostly because I'm dreaming of a large Christmas tree for next year and maybe a Holiday Party at our house when its more 'finished'. We decided to be practical this year and keep our little four foot apartment tree. So the day after Christmas I'll be rushing towards the expensive trees hoping they are marked down 75%


Luckily our son wasn't upset about keeping the small tree this year, I think he's more excited about decorating the tree and what's under the tree. We really like the colors teal, silver and white so we kept the same color ornaments as last year and adding some new ones thanks Dollar Tree! You Rock! Here's the little bit of holiday cheer I've done so far sans the tree....


Just a few glass ornaments balls to add a little sparkle to a left over cylinder vase from our wedding

I also added a few ornaments balls to our recently made over our entryway

I hung a few sliver snowflakes from our front door window. Now that we painted our front door a glossy white we get so much light though our forsted glass. I love have the snow flakes look in the picture, makes it feel like wintertime.

Holiday Decorating { OUTSIDE }

This weekend Mr. CHL and I plan on decorating the outside our house, I have yet to decorate inside of our house for holidays except for the white feather wreath I made. Last weekend I started making a 'Branch Style' wreath I saw in a Martha Stewart magazine...well it was looking like a hot mess! I haven’t been able to find the inspiration wreath I saw in her magazine online to get back on track....so we'll see what happens.

For the outside of our house were thinking traditional decor, poinsettias and lights on a budget. Hopefully I can make pretty wreath. Here are a couple of inspiring photos of outside Holiday Décor.

                                                                          This grand

I heart the color of the front door! I love the idea of using three fairly simple wreaths and adding amazing ribbon and a to die for bow and the lantrens on the steps. Hmm...maybe this is what my front door needs.

We don't get snow where we live....but the calm lights greeting you at the doorway is pretty

What are you plans for decorating your outside?

{ photos are from www.marthastewart.com }

Color Me Happy

An unexpected knock at the door left me super happy! The fabric I ordered from Calico Corners to make pillow covers for our living room arrived tonight. The ordered was supposed to take ten days plus they offer free shipping so I thought the fabric wouldn’t arrive until later this month. I only ordered two yards of fabric per the fabric consultant, but it looks like I ordered 1/2 yard too much. Any ideas what to do with the left over fabric, if there's any? I'll tackle this project over the weekend.

It's a perfect yellow match to the pillows we already have

The print is called Keywest - I love the break in the yellow bars

Please, Come In

I thought about a few different ideas to update our BLAH entryway, I knew I wanted the space to be bright and airy. Since we have an open concept entryway and a short wall on the entryway. A console table or bench wouldn't work, but I still wanted to display photos in a pretty way.
While on a girls shopping trip a few weeks back, I came across these great ledges at Home Goods for $7.00 each. One problem wrong color, but some quick coats for white paint made them perfect. Last weekend I found THE PERFECT rug for the entryway - I like the design and the colors work oh so great.

Mr. CHL making my vision happen, he's even using our new Level

Let's take a look back; this is our entryway last weekend in all it's Glory. Note: The sarcasism.

Here's our updated entryway now

A better view of the entryway rug, the teal blue color matches our livingroom pillows perfectly. See our short little wall?

I like the idea of the vase on our entryway floor, but it's not practical in our house. Maybe when guests are over.

Our entryway now feels so bright and open. I'm so glad I painted the front door a glossy white. The doors old natural wood color sucked all the light out of the room. Our new white door also helps show the contrast in our wall color. We decided to frame a few pictures from our wedding to display on the shelves. I we decided to change our wedding photos black & white for a more cohesive look, but decided to leave the photos of my bouquet in color for a little contrast. I really like how all the frames go together and love the layered look of them.


I'm so happy our entryway changed from blah to chic.....I hope you like our updated entryway as much as we do.