Enter at your own risk

Did you ever walk into a house and think, how welcoming, how inviting, how indicative of how the rest of the house must be because it's so fabulous . . . .

Well, you wouldn't think that about my house a couple months ago.  We enter the house through our front door (no mud room) and with 3 kids, coats, backpacks, sports equipment, etc., it often looked like you were walking into the Goodwill.  We are not the tidiest of folks, but I REALLY like my foyer to look lovely - smoke and mirrors baby!

So, a while back I decided to add a variety of decorative coat hooks to an open wall in the foyer.  Here's how it looked after I applied the hooks:

Super cute, right?  Each of the hooks was picked with care to represent the new owner of said hook or something important to us.  It was a great idea (I say so myself), however in practice, here's how it actually looked each day.

And the view from the front door was this:

As you can see, my masterpiece of the hook collection was covered by books and bags and CRAP constantly.  So, I decided a revamp was in order.  I developed a new solution for the bags and coats and what-nots (we have buttloads of whatnots) to be tucked in the main hallway of my 1960's ranch, just off the foyer.  

First, I stained some boards I had cut at Home Depot.  I bougth a 8ft piece of lumber, and had HD cut it in half.  Then I came home and stained a dark cherry/walnut color: 

I wanted them to look a bit rustic, so wasn't very precise.  I then sanded boards down a bit with steel wool and applied the hooks.  This was actually pretty easy as the screws bit into the wood nicely, vs. the foyer where I had to use anchors for all of the hooks (fixing all those nail holes was awesome). 

Here's how they look up in the hallway, ahhhh, much better!

Now they are out of view, but still very accessible! 

Here's how it looks with just our "summer" stuff, of course in the winter it's filled to the gills but there is plenty of room for each person to have 2 hooks! 

This pic gives you some perspective on how it looks from the foyer, out of sight but still neat.

Now for a pic of how the foyer looks AFTER:

Better, right?  Here's a pic of the door that leads to the hallway with the new hook rack, just off to the left:

Love the bright aqua sideboard and mirror wall - great upcycled pieces anyone can do!

And here's a better pic of the wall of holes that I filled to add a nice little entry spot.

So more coming this week on some nasty old floor lamps I purchased at a thrift store, see BEFORE:

TAGS: foyer, entry way, bench, coat hook, coat rack, messy entry way, messy foyer

Celebrate Good Times!

Earlier this month my brother married the most wonderful man - yep, I said it, man.  I'm super lucky that my brother (who is BEYOND smart, creative, hard-working and wonderful) married someone equally so.  I feel so blessed he has a partner with whom to travel life.  PS - these two are the GREATEST uncles of all time.


Here's a pic of the happy couple: 

My bro on the left, wonderful new hubby on the right

Anywho, my mom and I threw a rehearsal dinner get together for them. The wedding was held in Chicago where he lives.  We rented a large 6 bedroom house/mansion (to-may-toe/to-mah-toe).  It was a great place to stay and a wonderful venue for the get together.  In our family, we very rarely have things catered or hold parties at hotels or restaurants.  I think the very best way to show someone you want them to be your guest is to invite them to your home and serve them food and drinks you've made yourself.  Just me . . . . so when we figured out we wanted to throw this party, finding a house/venue all in one was AWESOME.

I went with a black and white and yellow theme.  First of all, black and white always make a statement, and I already had some pops of yellow to bring along.  Here are a few pix!

Sorry this pic is crappy, but it's the only one of the bar.

Fru-fru tooth picks from Hobby Lobby

These food signs were super easy add a custom touch

This is a Tipsy Arnold Palmer
(Tea, Lemonade, Vodka, Mint)

TAGS: black and white party, black and white and yellow party, rehearsal dinner, gay wedding rehearsal dinner, black chevron fabric, candy sticks

The Novogratz are Coming the Novogratz are Coming!

Ok, so I'm a HGTV junkie, I've seen about every episode of every show, and have watched it since it came on the scene.  Most of us who read blogs like this would say the same, and it was the only "fix" for our addiction before blogs came on the scene.  So, picking my favorite show would have been tough, that is until last year when Home By Novogratz came on the scene.  Cortney and Bob Novogratz are a super hip and cool couple who live in NYC with their SEVEN kids and have one of my favorite design styles: Vintage with Modern.  Their sense of style is truly unique, eclectic, and they always pack some WOW factor into their designs.  They love original art, re-purposing vintage finds, and create rooms that have amazing interest and personality.

They actually just did a promotion with CB2 where you could enter to win a room design by the fashionable couple.  Alas, my phone is still not ringing to say I've won said prize -I'd give my first born!  Sorry Mary Alice.  Speaking of Mary Alice, she adores this show too and we wait in anticipation for new episodes.

So, check out some photos of their work and Season 2 which starts on HGTV on August 4!

This rug available @ CB2 - it was their design.

Gold is the new black

Hi I'm Tricia at Mash-Up chic, and I'm a gold-spray-paint-a-holic.  I'm finding my new go-to "fix" these days to be gold spray paint.  It gives just about anything that pop of sparkle and finishing touch.  My 3 year old looks like of odd spray painted, but it will wash off eventually.  Also, just like every room needs just a touch of black, layering gold with silver has become a very popular new color combination.  Having both colors together adds depth and dimension.

The latest project is one of my Craigslist school stacking chairs that I previously referenced in THIS POST.  This time I decided to make something a bit more glam.  I think it would make a great desk chair, foyer chair, use as a bedside table or any place that a splash of pizzazz is needed.

As a reminder, BEFORE the chair looked like this:

After some glam-in-a-can:

So, what do you think?  Not sure the pictures do it justice, but it's really a fun chair!  It will be for sale at the Flea Off Market in September.

TAGS: vintage school chair, spray paint, gold paint, repurpose

Well DUH!

I decided to use some lettering to up-cycle (my new fave word for turning old junk into super cool crap) some vintage school chairs and make them one of a kind.  I stenciled the word "sit" on them.  My husband's synopsis of this idea was "duh, what else are you supposed to do in them?"  As usual he thinks 95% of my ideas are stupid, but typically his disdain means I have a great idea on my hands.

I bought these chairs months ago (6 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days says the hubby).  I loved the vintage feeling, and the practicality of stacking chairs.  I found them on Craigslist and bought 11 chairs for about $20.  The seller tells me they were used in a classroom in Fort Knox, KY at the army base there.  I set up the deal about 10 miles north of Fort Knox at a gas station parking lot.  I don't make this crap up.

Based on the wear, I think they are from the 60's-70's.  Been pondering what to do with these gems.  Several have found a home in my daughter's craft area, but they could easily be used as dining chairs or a chair for a desk.  I'm excited about about all the possibilities - lots of fun paint treatments planned!  So, here is my first go.  I'm a big fan of using words on furniture or on walls.  So here's what I came up with:

BEFORE

   

AFTER

   

I used a stencil made from letters from a stencil letter pack I bought at Home Depot. I just taped the letters together to keep them straight:
   

   

Then I sprayed a very light coat on one of them which turned out like this:

   

I sprayed the other one more heavily and then sanded it out when still a smidge wet:

  

I can't decide which one I like better, but if I had to pick, I like the roughed up one, just because I can imagine it being worn down over time (from all the booty action) and getting naturally worn like that.
What do you think? 

If you just fell in love you can buy these at the Flea Off Market in NuLu (Louisville) in September!  Or make me an offer I can't refuse now!  I can't wait to unveil the rest of my chairs.  The possibilities are endless!

TAGS: vintage school chair, SIT, repurpose

Way to go E-V-O-O!

Pets are great - they add to your family, they don't judge you, they provide unconditional love, they scratch up your leather sofas  . . . . .   So, my cat Buddy, and another Cat George before him, decided that when they were young kittens, jumping on and off my leather sofa was a big time.  Unfortunately they left their mark behind.  Evidence below:

Hideous, right?  After a while I started not to notice, but one day I realized how awful it looked and went online and typed in "cover up cat scratches on leather furniture."  Well, there was a world of options out there, but one that I had in my good old pantry was Olive Oil.  Found several sites that indicated rubbing olive oil on the surface of minor scratches would do the trick.  So I decided, what the heck, it's worth a try, and if it doesn't work I can wipe it off with some baguette slices and have a nice snack with my wine.

Results = FABULOUS!

BEFORE    

AFTER                                          


BEFORE

                                             












AFTER

I am THRILLED with the outcome.  I used a soft cloth to rub the olive oil into the leather in circles.  I think the key is really rubbing it in.  I followed up with a paper towel and buffed it off a bit.  I was a bit worried about oil residue on the leather, but the paper towel buffing revealed there was no oil left on surface of leather.  A few weeks later it still looks awesome.  There are a few deeper marks that are still somewhat visible, but it looks tons better than it did.  The oil also brought back the rich tone of the leather a bit.

TAGS: scratch repair, leather furniture, cat scratch, leather sofa, leather chair, repair