Luxe Look of Velvet

Yesterday I was doing one of my favorite things, looking for fabric online. When I came across velvet, not the 80's tacky crushed velvet. luxe velvet in a variety of colors. I pictured two tailored Euro size pillows on our bed for our bedroom re do. A few weeks back I bought some Euro pillows on the cheap at Ikea, but didn't really care for the sham covers. I'm thinking for making some tailored shams for the Euro pillows or pillow covers with zippers. I've sew pillow covers with zippers so hopefully it will come out. I'm going to post a pillow cover how to really soon, some of the pictures I took didn't turn out so great. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a good how too anyways.


I really like the Doux Cotton Velvet Smoke fabric, it should be a nice contrast to the light shades of grey in our bedroom. The fabric is only $ 16.98 per yard, depending on my Euro pillow measurements I should be able to make two pillow covers for next to nothing.

Most likely the front of the pillow will be Velvet and the back a white linen, like the ones below from Pottery Barn for a more tailored look.

I found some amazing velvet inspiration thanks to Decorpad. Loving the look of large orange velvet pillows on the sofa. It looks like the chairs are also upholstered in velvet.

I adore this living space, the velvet couch and hot pink velvet pillows make a bold statement.

I love the soft pink velvet lumbar pillow in the muted bedroom, it adds the perfect touch of glam.

Would you consider velvet pillows? Or are you still picturing 80's tacky?

Still Nesting

Remember the new bird neighbor that moved into on hanging planter? Well she's still nesting, we haven't seen her move in weeks. Last night on our way out, we saw a half eaten worm in our beak! I'm guessing her husband stopping by and gave her dinner?

Can you see the worm?

I love when the sunlight hits our newly painted front door, it makes our house look so cheery.

I also noticed she's sitting much higher in in nest, her egg must be much larger. We planned doing some backyard work last night, but Mother Nature had other plans. It rained all day yesterday until 6.30 then the sun came out. Hopefully tonight we'll get some yard work done.

Master Bedroom Update

I know its been months since I've mentioned my master bedroom redo. I'm still working on it and will start taking in progress shots soon (like this week, crossing fingers). I have a few projects to complete over the next few weeks, that will really (hopefully) transform our bedroom into a private but tiny getaway.

Here's a before picture of our bedroom, this isn't a true before picture. We actually painted the room late last summer, and I didn't any pictures that I can find. Regardless you'll easily be able to tell my room is DRAB! { don't judge me - lol }

Our one and only bedroom window, we have some couple of shady trees outside our window. We plan on trimming a few branches back to let more light in.

Gratuitous dog shot.

Our TV stand, lol - Actually were are suing a coffee table for the moment!

I do have a couple of things to share, one a pretty curvy mirror I found at Goodwill for $10.00. I love its lines and know paint will make the detail in the frame pop. It's also incredibly heavy.

Our new curvy lamps that rest upon our new nightstands

Here's a reminder or my plans for our master bedroom { part one & part two } , and the layout options we are considering. Do you have any projects you working on that are taking months to complete, like me?

EDIT: I forgot to link our Craigslist dresser we got for a steal for our bedroom!

Tag ~ I'm It!

I was just tagged by the always sweet Meg over at House Notes, who's tagged me to play a game for blog tag. By the way, its Meg and her husbands first anniversary, so she's doing a wedding week on her blog! Make sure you read of oh so sweet engagement story she just wrote about.

Game Blog Tag

The rules of the game: show off your first blog post and then jump to your sixth blog post. Which for me is a scary, you'll get to re-visit a few out of focus pictures!

My first blog post is about introducing Chic Little house - but eek I didn't post any pictures. So we are skipping ahead to day one, how our house looked when we first moved in a few days after January 1, 2009.

Here's my house in January 2009. I know its looks like a sad little rancher with way too much peach peeling paint and a lopsided brick flower bed and a lawn full of weeds. But we saw all the potential.

Here's our home now. For a complete rundown of all the work we've completed to the outside of our house visit our House Tour

My sixth post is full of blurry shots of Mr. CLH and I cleaning and painting our once drab living room. Our poor original 1956 wood floors before we cleaned the heck out of them.

We used a bunch of thick painting paper to keep our floors safe from dripping primer and paint splatter. It's funny looking back we painted the messy way. Now we paint so much cleaner.

My husband priming the ugly greenish walls in our living room.

Of course our living room has come along way sine moving in, we have painted all our baseboards, updated our entry way, painted our living room added art etc. In fact a few weeks ago, I repaint our living room. Wanna see more living room pictures? Please Click here

 

Now it's my turn to tag ten people, Tag your it!

{ trying to tag ones, who haven't been tagged }

Anything Pretty
It's Great to be Home
Little House on the Corner
Thrifty Little Blog
BluLabelBungelow
Home to Three Duncan Boys
My Best Friend Craig
Get It Girl Style

PS: I have so many projects to share this week, we tackled a bunch over the weekend

Lemon Drop Tray

I was shopping at Goodwill last weekend, when I came across a beat up tray marked down to 2.99 it was 5.99. I had been on the lookout for a great simple tray. I knew it  look great in our living room and would have many uses; from holding, flowers and candles t keeping my books looking cute stacked on our wicker storage basket.

Here's my tray before, it was dirty, banged up and had nicked paint. However, I could see all its potential.

My tray now. I wanted the tray to pop where ever it was in our living room, so I painted the tray a bright cheery yellow.  

Here's what I did.

First I cleaned the wood tray with a mild hand soap and a damp rag. I let the tray dry and then cleaned the glass with window cleaner (the glass was glued to the wood, so I didn't try and remove it) Next I removed the picture matte.

Then I lightly sanded the tray and primed it with Zisser Primer using a sponge brush. I used a sponge brush to apply the primer because they are cheap and can be tossed, less cleanup! I allowed the primer to dry for two hours and then lightly sanded the tray and then applied a second coat of primer.

First coat of primer applied

Next applied my first coat of yellow paint to the tray and allowed the tray to dry for 24 hours before applying the next coat. I applied three coats of paint allowing each coat to dry 24 hours before apply the next coat.

Pop of yellow

I wanted my tray to be super glossy so I applied two coats of poly to the tray, allowing 24 hours between each coat and light sanded between the coats. The tray now is super glossy.

Do you recognize the fabric inside the tray? I used left over fabric from the lumbar pillows I made for our chairs in our living room. I thought it would be the perfect addition under the glass. I ironed the fabric then cut the fabric to the size of the glass and attached double side tape to the board that goes under the tray. I didn't want to use adhesive spray, just in case I come across other fabric in the future and easy way to change the look of the tray.

It was a simple diy project that's made a cute addition to our living room and the price can't be beat!

Cost Breakdown

Tray $ 2.99
Sample Paint Valspar $ 2.99
Key West Fabric - n/a had on hand
Poly - n/a had on hand
Primer - n/a had on hand

Total Cost $ 5.98

Remember, next time your in a thrift store or see a tray on clearance, think of what you could transform in into for your house. What do you think of my little lemon drop tray, isn't it a cute addition to our living room? Do you use trays in your home?

Getting My Knit On

Remember when I said I wanted to learn how to knit and make pillow covers for the winter months, and blankets and scarfs. Over the weekend my sister and I stopped in Micheal's looking for supplies for me. I came across one book that came with all the go to knitting supplies and I picked up some pretty light putty yarn that complimented our living room (for a throw?) Well the book sucked, it had crappy hand draw pictures with no color and no left handed tips (since I'm a lefty). I quickly returned it and came across a small pamphlet book called 'Knitting Made Easy' and picked up two sets of knitting needles on clearance for $0.99 each! I mentioned to one of my friends that I really wanted to knit, and guess what she used to knit! She's going to teach my the basis and how to read patterns. Jamie Lee from Starting Out Savvy, suggested I check out You Tube for how to Knit Videos, I've checked out some amazing videos already.

I love this color yarns its a soft putty color, even though the photo appears more off white then what it really is.

After I came across this photo in one of my favorite shelter magazines, I kicked my learning how to knit into high gear. My living room needs a knitted pouf! I've seen a similar knitted pouf from CB2 which I love but its the wrong color. I started searching for knitted pouf instructions and came a across one! I'm so making this. I've even spied some amazing yarn that will be perfect for a pouf.

The diy version looks the same as the store bought version above

Hopefully next knitting updated I'll be finishing up my throw and getting reading to knit my pouf. I'm in love with the pouf, could you see a knitted pouf in one of your rooms in your home?

Posh Red { Our Front Door Updated }

Last month I shared with you our plans to pretty up our front porch including painting our front door. Last month we also stopped in Lowes and looked at some red paint chips trying to decide what would look best on our house. We had four contenders to choose from. After looking at the paint chips attached to our home, we agreed Posh Red was the color that would look prefect. It was also to cool to know that most of the comments we received agreed Posh Red was the perfect color.

Saturday morning we stopped in Lowes got the mixed in semi gloss and also got a quart of tinted primer. Using a tinted primer is a must when using bright colors { reds, yellows, deep blues } because your the paint color will be a more true color and you'll have less coats of paint to apply. It was so scary applying the first coat of paint, because the paint looked like fuchsia finger nail polish, not the look we wanted!

Mr. CLH and I had a awkward conversation about the first coat of paint, that went on looking crazy.

Husband: I'm scared, I hate the color

Wife: It's going to look nice

H: It looks like fingernail polish, and you picked the color

W: We both agreed on the color, do you trust me? (thinking, it does look like fingernail polish, that girl better have mixed the color right!)

H: This will be the biggest, I trust you ever

W: You'll like, trust me. Let's get back to painting

Here's how our front door looked before we painted. Our 'old' front door blended in with our house.

The lower portion of our front door receives alot of sun and was badly sun damaged. In fact the majority of the varnish was completed gone from the bottom door. In addition to the sun damage, there was scribbles on our door.

Since we like the style of the front door, and update with perfect. I'm am so Glad we went with a bright and cheery color for our front door it makes a huge impact when your walking up to our house now or just driving by. Here's our front door now.

I love how our red front door pops out from our gray house, its a great compliment. Our entryway feels much more inviting .

Here's what we did, to get to our after.

Prep

1. I cleaned the door with mild soap and water and let dry, making sure to get all the dust and dirt off the front door for a smooth paint application

2. Next I lightly sanded the door making sure to remove the top layer of varnish that was left, then I wiped away all the dust. Then tape off the glass portion of the window and taped the door knobs.

Prime & Caulk

1. As I mentioned before we used a tinted water based primer. I primed the door panes first which makes the painting go super fast using a sponge brush. Then I applied the remainder of the primer using a mini sponge roller. The primer dried within 30 mins

2. Since the bottom portion of the door was badly sun damaged we filled in the minor cracks with paintable caulk. The caulk hid all the door flaws. We used fast drying caulk which dried in 45 mins, so after the caulk was dried we lightly sanded the door again.

3. We applied a second coat of primer in the steps mention above.

Painting

1. We painting the front door using a paint brush for the door panes and a mini sponge roller for the rest of the door. I applied three thin coats of paint, allowing each coat to dry 6 hours. Red is one of those colors, were the more coats the pretty and more true the color becomes.It was a nice and hot weekend, which help speed of the drying time. We started painting the front door on Saturday morning and finished on Sunday afternoon.

Fuchsia fingernail polish, yikes!

Still looks funky. I had to remind my self and my husband many time, the paint will dry pretty

2. Stand back and be proud of your work, you just upped the curb appeal!

Budget Breakdown:

1 Quart Valspar Posh Red $ 12.48
1 Quart Valspar Tintable Primer $ 8.47
Sponge Roller - hand on hand
Brush - Hand on Hand

$ 20.95 for our door update, but we had a gift card for $ 25.00 to Lowes so it was a FREE update! Next up I'll be adding more color to our front porch (flowers, potted plants and more)

How do you like our Posh Red, front door update, is it a bright addition our house? Are you planning a door makeover soon? What colors are you considering?

House Roots

Every since we brought our 1956 rancher in Northern California, I've wanted to learn more about its history and who built our little home. I wanted to find a the actual floor plan our house and the floor plan advertisement used to sell our home. I really want to get a copy of them because I would love to frame them and put them in our living room, a nod to our homes roots. To see the original architectural advertisement of our house's floor plan would be so amazing, I love the 1950's builders ads.

So for the past week I've been all over the Internet hoping I could find who built our home. Since home was built in a 1950's & 1960's subdivision and our home is on a few different blocks I thought it might make my search easier. 

I came across this amazing website Antique Home that's full of floor plans & ads of vintage homes from the 1900's to the Mid Century! They have floor plans from the Sears & Roebuck kit homes to 1920's bungalows. I encourage all of you with older homes {1900's though the 1970's } to stop by there website you just might come across your house plans. Here's what the site says about Modern 1956 Ranch Homes

'As a result of practical one story planning, the typical ranch house the ultimate in efficacy and livability. It features long and low rambling lines, a generous use of grass for an abundance of sunlight, plus eye appeal that is perfect for town our country'

1956 House Ad

{ source }

I wasn't able to locate our floor plan, but found some cute ones that remind me of a few house styles I've seen in my neighborhood. Most of the houses in my neighborhood have a mixture of brick, shingles and wood siding. I love the charm of the houses below, and would love to find a similar ad of our house. Can't you see why!

{ source }

{ source }

Next a narrowed my search to CA Ranch home builders in the 1950's, I came across Cliff May Homes. I learned that Cliff May was the pioneer of the California Ranch home.By the late 1950's 8 out of every 10 tract homes built in the US were Cliff May Homes.

I'm still not sure the built our home. I contacted the County Planning office and have left messages with the Record Department and sent a few emails. I'm not sure If I'll get a quick response with the all the budget cuts. So this weekend after I paint our front door, I plan on stopping at the library and see what information I can find out about our home.

Are you curious like me to find out who built your older home? Any suggestions on how I can find out who built our home or a website for older home floor plans? Hopefully I'll have a part two soon, wish me luck.