help me finish our room!

So we got our new Room and Board sofa today and I'm so excited!

Now it's time for some redecorating and the first step is to find a rug and accent chair to spice it all up...

I am absolutely in love with this "Sweet As Honey" rug from Anthropologie, but I am NOT in love with the eight hundred dollar price tag for a 5x8 ($1,700 if we were to go with an 8x10)... so I am in search of some alternate rug + chair combos that can give me some fun color/texture at a better price tag.

Leave me your comments and give me your thoughts on which combo is your favorite!

Option 1: Neutral Chair with Colorful Rug

I love this chair from Room and Board, but at a $999 price tag it's a little more money than I am interested in spending. I would, however, be up for a few Saturday morning trips to the Room and Board Outlet to get a better deal. SO I'm not ruling it out yet... The gray color offers contrast to the neutral Pumice color of the couch and would allow us to use some fun color on the floor. For example... this amazing yellow rug from Anthropologie. Still a bit high priced at $500 for a 5x7.

Let's mark this pair as the high-end of the possibilities.

Here are some other gray chair options:

• Clara Chair - Crate and Barrel - $899

• Sweep Chair - West Elm - $550

• Steel Accent Chair - Overstock.com - $199

Here are some other "fun rug" options:

• Andalusia Rug - West Elm - $229 (5x8)

• United Weavers Countours Collection "Dazzle" Rug - RugsUSA.com - $200 (5x7)

Option 2: Neutral Rug with Bold Chair

I love this Skyline "Esprit Oasis" chair and the $225 price tag is very reasonable. I'm not familiar with this company and may be a bit concerned with quality, but going with a less expensive chair could provide more opportunity for updates in the future. Clearly this print would overpower any of the rugs above and become WAY too hectic, so I've paired it with this "Channel Rug" from West Elm, $299 (5x8).

Here are some other chair options:

• Skyline Chair in New England's Lace Butterscotch - JustAccentChairs.com - $439

• Chloe Chair - Crate and Barrel - $899

mini bathroom remodel

Josh went out of town this last week and I took to our bathroom like a banshee... I first intended only to paint the vanity, but as I started ripping things up the scope of the project grew considerably.

Here is the before:

Don't you love the gold faucet and the hokey oak vanity? It's a bit dated to say the least... so I made my way to Home Depot and picked a new vanity color "Stealth Jet" that I would call a black with a great deal of depth; it almost has deep espresso undertones. Once I had the paint, it was all about prep work. The vanity needed to be cleaned with a degreaser, sanded, and "unhinged". The work took a few hours at least, but I got to use my new orbital sander, which saved a bunch of time!

Here's a shot in progress... yes you will also note I pulled the plumbing out, whoops! Penelope knows I've gotten myself in to some trouble.

And not just the plumbing... turns out there were some surprises for me waiting behind the old light bar fixture... who needs a junction box anyway?? It is only code... gotta love the random wires hanging out of my wall! Turns out I needed to put on my electrical hat as well.

One last hiccup before I get to the fun stuff... the picture below shows a hole in the wall the vanity light bar was hiding. I now understand why the previous owners failed to install the junction box... it turns out that center section of the hole is a stud that just happens to be on center with the rest of the vanity. A stud that is the entire depth of the wall cavity and prevents a light fixture to be mounted on center with the vanity fixture... I did end up cutting in a new box for safety, but then had to get creative with the new light fixture to install it on center. I had initially wanted a design that had a small mounting plate, but ended up having to go with a design with a longer mounting plate so that I could jerry-rig the new fixture on center with the vanity. Toggle bolts are now my best friend...

Once I cleared these hurdles, it was all execution and detail work. I picked up some new hardware for the vanity from Anthropologie (below) that really helps pick up on the 1940's character of our house (now I just need to convince my husband to let me replace the nasty gold door knobs throughout the house with crystal!).

And here are the after pics! It took me 3 solid days to complete, but I'm pretty happy with the update. What do you think??

things i love

I've been doing some online browsing this evening... here are a few things that caught my eye!