A big Congrats to Entry # 8 Abby!
Abby, I hope you find this book a fun read :) Please email me chiclittlehouse@gmail.com and I will have the book mailed out to you ASAP :)
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Giveaway Book Winner!
Thanks everyone who entered the book giveaway for '101 Things I Hate About Your House'
Book Review & Giveaway!
{ This Giveaway is Now Closed }
I was recently asked to write a book review on one of my favorite topics home decor! The book is called '101 Things I Hate About Your House' the book is written by Interior Designer James Swan. He has been in the business over 20 years and a is a featured design partner with Ballard Designs.
My Review
I've had a blast reading this book, that's focused on helping the everyday homeowner (regardless or house size) to see their house with a critical eye or view how guests perceive their homes, which is very helpful. The book covers your entire home from the entry way to guestrooms. I love how James Swan breaks down the 'no nos' we all do in our homes in a humorous way.
Some decorating sins we've all been guilty of or currently guilty of:
# 51 Artless Walls
# 61 Bare Naked Windows { I'm currently guilty of this in our master bedroom! }
# 95 Piles of Shoes
The book is also filled with pretty illustrations, however I preferred the 'real' pictures over them. This is for sure a book you'll wanna read, its available on Amazon.com here
I love this quote from James Swan in the introduction:
The plan is simple; laugh a bit, learn a bit, most important, come to love your home as you've never loved it before. Now That's beautiful
I love that, its everyone goal to have a home that's both functional, beautiful and inviting every time we walk in our front door.
Giveaway Information
How To Enter: Leave a Comment on My Blog ( please include your name and email address in your message ) The winner will be selected via Random.org Giveaway is open to US residents only.
Giveaway Starts: Wednesday 4/13/11
Giveaway Ends: Monday 4/18/11
Number of Winners: One
Bonus Question: Which Design Sin Have You Committed?
CLH in Review
Wow another year has gone by so its time to do a little reflecting at Chic Little House. And look back at a few of our favorite completed projects and few that have yet to get done! Plus its a great way to let 'new readers' look at past projects!
We gave our seen better days wood front door a face lift with bright red cheery paint. Our red front door pops off our grey house and looks good with the white trim and black shutters.
Before
After
After
In 2010 three rooms in our house got new lighting: Dining room, Sons Bedroom and Master Bedroom. To this day every time I turn our bedroom light on, I fall in love all over again. Before we had a basic builder light in our room, we took the light down and replaced it with a pretty modern romantic chandelier drum shade.
Before
So looking forward to talking our Project for 2011 ( trust me its much longer then mentioned last week!! ) 1st up on our project list making Euro Pillows and a lumbar pillow for the Master Bedroom, I'll be sharing the project on Thursday.
We gave our seen better days wood front door a face lift with bright red cheery paint. Our red front door pops off our grey house and looks good with the white trim and black shutters.
Before
I love to find bargains whether it be on clearance, shopping thrift stores or stalking Craigslist. So I was really happy when I found an amazing dresser with dovetail drawers all wood for only $ 45 bucks!! I transformed a dark and date looking dresser for our bedroom with paint and new hardware!
Before
After ( I loved this makeover so much it deserved two pics!)
In April I found a blah tray via a thrift store for a few bucks and with the help of some paint and remnant fabric leftover from making pillows the tray was transformed. I love how the yellow tray pops in our living room.
Before
In 2010 three rooms in our house got new lighting: Dining room, Sons Bedroom and Master Bedroom. To this day every time I turn our bedroom light on, I fall in love all over again. Before we had a basic builder light in our room, we took the light down and replaced it with a pretty modern romantic chandelier drum shade.
Before
After
So looking forward to talking our Project for 2011 ( trust me its much longer then mentioned last week!! ) 1st up on our project list making Euro Pillows and a lumbar pillow for the Master Bedroom, I'll be sharing the project on Thursday.
Craigslist Made Easy
As you probably know by now I'm a huge fan of Craigslist, I bought our dresser on there, an old coffee table, our dining room table and even our wedding photographer!! Yep I'm a huge fan, living finding unique pieces for our home, and sometimes just go on there to look, lol. What I'm not a huge fan of, is looking though every single post { after narrowing down my search } to look at every single page, to find icky items and no gems. Well, I pretty sure my Craigslist dilemma is finally over. I was recently contacted by the founder of CraigsEasy, which helps people like you & me avoid wasting precious time { looking though countless pages to locate the gems faster } he thought I would enjoy using this FREE tool to make my searches easier. I should also note this is local company based in Palo Alto...which is cool so close to our hometown of Sacramento.
They offer a free tool called a booklet from their site, Craigseasy takes all the images from the listing and places them all in one page, so you able to see all the pictures upfront and then click on the listing your interested in purchases the item.
It was so easy to add to my computer, since its only a booklet { no need to download anything } for more information on getting a booklet for your pc click { here } I did a simple search using CE - aka Craigseasy, looking for a dresser for under $75.00 in less then a few minutes, I found two dresses. The first one is for $70 the second one is only $50!!
Nest I did a search for mid century under $75 bucks. I found this cute mid century modern side table for $ 55 bucks, over priced yes. Next I came across the super cute mid century modern desk, for $60 a little steep for me for such a simple desk, that I often see at Thrift stores for h much less
My final search was for coffee tables under $50 bucks, I came across two the have promise. The first one is $35 dollars and would amazing spray painted - white or black. The other coffee table I like was only $30.00 and was practically screaming out to be painted a crisp clean glossy white.
Do you use Craigseasy, to make your Craigslist searching easier? If not add the booklet and let me know what you think.
They offer a free tool called a booklet from their site, Craigseasy takes all the images from the listing and places them all in one page, so you able to see all the pictures upfront and then click on the listing your interested in purchases the item.
It was so easy to add to my computer, since its only a booklet { no need to download anything } for more information on getting a booklet for your pc click { here } I did a simple search using CE - aka Craigseasy, looking for a dresser for under $75.00 in less then a few minutes, I found two dresses. The first one is for $70 the second one is only $50!!
Isn't this an amazing dresser for only $50 bucks, look at the detail. This dresser would look amazing painted a pretty shade of blue or Kelly green.
Nest I did a search for mid century under $75 bucks. I found this cute mid century modern side table for $ 55 bucks, over priced yes. Next I came across the super cute mid century modern desk, for $60 a little steep for me for such a simple desk, that I often see at Thrift stores for h much less
My final search was for coffee tables under $50 bucks, I came across two the have promise. The first one is $35 dollars and would amazing spray painted - white or black. The other coffee table I like was only $30.00 and was practically screaming out to be painted a crisp clean glossy white.
For those of you out there that are new to shopping on CL - remember to look past the ugly and so the potentail your find has.
Do you use Craigseasy, to make your Craigslist searching easier? If not add the booklet and let me know what you think.
** I was not compensated for my review on CraigsEasy, just glad to spread the word and hope you find amazing pieces for your home.
Purdy Lil Paint Job
While out shopping with my mom one weekend, we stopped at a yard sale looking for deals. I lucked out and found a cute French bistro chair with a cane seat. Surprisingly the chair was solid and I thought it would make a good addition or living room. Just an extra chair for seating when we have a friends over. I was drawn in by the chairs lines the curve of the back of the chair and its pettiness. Perfect to tuck into a corner when not in use. The chair reminds me of the Vienna Side Chair. Sadly this is the best before picture I have on the chair.
I thought white white would be the perfect play it safe color for the chair, but secretly wanted to paint the chair a bold yellow { like the tray I updated for our living room }. I was all set to paint the chair white, but after I mentioned my true color choice to Mr. CLH he thought yellow would the the perfect color too. I got him thinking like me.
Now for Purdy part of my chair redo. I was contacted by the wonderful reps at Purdy Paintbrushes asking me to review one of their paintbrushes. I've been wanting to try at their paintbrushes for quite sometime! I've been planning upgrading my paint bushes when I began painting my kitchen. As you know a good paintbrush is a must when painting a piece of furniture to get a professional finish. Nothing worse than picking out 'brush hairs' from a piece your working on and getting obvious paint brush strokes.
Here's my paintbrush package I received in the mail; Purdy Prep & Paint. The paint brush is a 2.5 inches and the Painters tool is perfect for scraping paint, spreading putty, open and clean cracks and opening paint cans.
Because I decided to paint this chair such vibrant color, I used tinted primer. Lucky for my budget I had leftover tinted primer from painting our front door. After lightly sanding the chair and applying the primer with a sponge brush { for detailed painting & prep steps please click here } I began the painting process.
Purdy Paint Brush Review:
I'm not being paint for my review, just asked to review the product - that's it. I loved using this paintbrush! It's a good size and nice weight. All the paint stokes went on nice and smooth. Nada brush strokes. I applied two coats of paint and each coat went perfectly. I bought cheaper paint brushes in the past where I've picked out brush hairs from from wet paint. I'm happy to report, my hands stayed clean no paint brush hairs left in wet paint.
When I clean up my paint brushes I use soap and water and let the brush air dry, I also take forever for the brush to get clean. Cleaning this brush was a breeze, the brush looks brand new still after painting with yellow paint. I'm so excited to use this paint brush on future projects { kitchen cabinets here I come!! }
Here's where our new chair residing in our living room and a glimpse of our living room looks now. Did you notice this corner of our living room looks a little different?
Well we made some recent changes to our living room, on Wednesday I'll share more.
I thought white white would be the perfect play it safe color for the chair, but secretly wanted to paint the chair a bold yellow { like the tray I updated for our living room }. I was all set to paint the chair white, but after I mentioned my true color choice to Mr. CLH he thought yellow would the the perfect color too. I got him thinking like me.
Now for Purdy part of my chair redo. I was contacted by the wonderful reps at Purdy Paintbrushes asking me to review one of their paintbrushes. I've been wanting to try at their paintbrushes for quite sometime! I've been planning upgrading my paint bushes when I began painting my kitchen. As you know a good paintbrush is a must when painting a piece of furniture to get a professional finish. Nothing worse than picking out 'brush hairs' from a piece your working on and getting obvious paint brush strokes.
Here's my paintbrush package I received in the mail; Purdy Prep & Paint. The paint brush is a 2.5 inches and the Painters tool is perfect for scraping paint, spreading putty, open and clean cracks and opening paint cans.
This is one nice paint brush!
Because I decided to paint this chair such vibrant color, I used tinted primer. Lucky for my budget I had leftover tinted primer from painting our front door. After lightly sanding the chair and applying the primer with a sponge brush { for detailed painting & prep steps please click here } I began the painting process.
Purdy Paint Brush Review:
I'm not being paint for my review, just asked to review the product - that's it. I loved using this paintbrush! It's a good size and nice weight. All the paint stokes went on nice and smooth. Nada brush strokes. I applied two coats of paint and each coat went perfectly. I bought cheaper paint brushes in the past where I've picked out brush hairs from from wet paint. I'm happy to report, my hands stayed clean no paint brush hairs left in wet paint.
When I clean up my paint brushes I use soap and water and let the brush air dry, I also take forever for the brush to get clean. Cleaning this brush was a breeze, the brush looks brand new still after painting with yellow paint. I'm so excited to use this paint brush on future projects { kitchen cabinets here I come!! }
Here's where our new chair residing in our living room and a glimpse of our living room looks now. Did you notice this corner of our living room looks a little different?
Well we made some recent changes to our living room, on Wednesday I'll share more.
