When I realized that Rob and I needed a sideboard/credenza for our dining room to hold serving pieces and extra dishes, I began looking at all our options. I quickly realized that I didn’t really want a sideboard enough to part with hundreds of dollars. I wanted a stopgap sideboard that would suffice until I could afford the sideboard of my dreams.

Enter ugly dresser found from Craigslist:


This dresser had 4 things that made it the perfect temporary sideboard:
1. Cabinets with doors in addition to drawers. Drawers can be useful in a dining room (hello silverware storage), but for the most part they become unwieldy when filled with heavy dishes. The cabinets with doors are perfect for large heavy stacks of plates and other china. (The drawers are perfect for bulky large platters or those over-sized chip/dip trays that won’t fit anywhere else in your house.)
2. Interesting Hardware. The drawer pulls had some spunk.
3. Interesting Architecture. The cabinet doors had some intriguing ornament to them. Don’t get me wrong; it’s definitely UGLY — late 70′s/early 80′s plastic-glued-to-manufactured-wood furniture. However, when looking at the pictures of the dresser on Craigslist and later in person at the thrift store, I saw some potential.
4. Cheap price. I’m not going to euphemize this one; the dresser wasn’t affordable or cost-efficient. It was cheap. And at a fraction of the cost of my other options, I pulled the trigger.

Fast forward through the horrible difficulties of transporting over-sized, manufactured wood furniture (thanks Mom for letting me borrow your Envoy!), and I had to decide how to make this ugly dresser fit in our cute little home. I did some research online & decided on spray paint, but not just any old color. I chose silver spray paint with gold for the handles. We lugged the monstrosity outside, gave it a good cleaning, and 3 coats of spray paint later, Voilà!:

Gilding (silvering) makes it all look ok!

Although it has been some time since I’ve posted, I’d thought I’d feature a project that I really enjoy knitting for friends–bracelets! I recently made this bracelet for an amazing lady’s birthday present. Before sealing it up in the gift box, I took a few pictures for julepstyle. Each knitted bracelet I’ve made has been very different, but I’m pretty pleased with how this bracelet turned out.


I didn’t really take enough images to do a tutorial, but I can briefly explain how I made this bracelet. I start with 24 Gauge, Tarnish Resistant Copper Wire. To incorporate the beads into the bracelet, they need to all be on the wire before you begin knitting. Thread about 3-4′ of beads on the wire. (I am never really exact about this; I always err on the side of too many beads, because once you start knitting, you can’t add more.) Then start knitting!

For this bracelet, I cast on 7 stitches (has to be an odd number for me) to size 8 metal circular knitting needles; I think my normal bamboo needles might be damaged by the wire over time. The whole bracelet is done in garter stitch; each time you make a new knit stitch, just bring up a bead and use it in the stitch. Keep knitting until the bracelet’s the desired length. There is some give with the metal; you can stretch it or compress it if you need to after it’s finished. I haven’t been able to find copper clasps that I am happy with, so I just used a shiny silver clasp that blended with the bead colors. Just space the jump rings evenly over the ends of the bracelet, and it’s finished!

We went to Brookgreen Gardens Friday evening for their summer evening concert series. It was fun, and I drew my husband as he enjoyed the scene beside me.

ETA — Is it super-obvious that I hate drawing ears?

I’m taking this opportunity to try out some new technology. Yesterday, I finally relented and upgraded my 16gb white iPhone 3G to the 16gb white iPhone 4. On Sunday, we were at Walmart buying our food for the week and trying to stay out of the way of all the tourists. On a whim, I asked if we could check to see if the store had any of the white phones in, now that they were being offered for $147. And although Rob had called earlier in the week (to ask the same thing) with no luck, this time we hit the jackpot! Walmart had 2! white iPhones in stock.

On Saturday, Rob and I timed the speeds it took my 3G and his 4 to perform tasks. It took 40 seconds on my phone to open the camera, take a picture, and return to the home screen. That was unacceptable. Now my cute little phone is functional again! (And it matches its sister – my white iPad 2.)

This post is really just an experiment in blogging. I’m making the whole post from my new iPhone. The star of this post is a new indoor/outdoor rug that I bought for our master bathroom. I’ve seen this rug a few places online (here and here), but I found the best price for it at OutdoorRugsOnly.com.

Check out how it looks in our bathroom! We’re using it to replace a brown shag; I just wasn’t happy with how the shag stood up to the harsh bathroom environment. It’s a little crazy, but I think that Rob and I both like it. Even the cats are getting used to it. (Initially, they walked on the plastic material like they were walking on something very unpleasant–paws held high, nervously looking around, very careful steps.)

Our front door has a big decorative glass window in it. To give us the feeling of privacy in the evening, we hung a curtain on the door. At night, we go into “lockdown.” This process simply entails pulling the curtains on the front door and kitchen window that looks out onto our front porch.

In the fall, I hang a gray velvet curtain (matches our couch) from Anthropologie –the Viceroy Velvet Curtain. (One of my splurges with our house). I found a matching gray curtain at TJMaxx and used the iron-on hem tape to shorten it to fit our kitchen window. (There was no way I was going to buy another Viceroy Velvet and massacre it.)

Viceroy Velvet Curtain Closed

Viceroy Velvet Curtain Open

Gray Curtain in Kitchen Closed

Gray Curtain in Kitchen Opened

When Spring comes, I switch out these gray velvet curtains for something , lighter, friendlier, and more colorful. I found two curtains at Pier One on sale when we first moved in; I loved the colors and snatched them up. I hung the one in the kitchen from it’s bottom hem instead of using the loops (again using the iron-on hem tape to shorten the curtain to fit).

Curtain at Front Door Closed (Plus Cat)

Curtain at Front Door Opened (Plus Cat)

Curtain at Kitchen Closed

Curtain at Kitchen Open

Sorry for the poor quality of all the open curtain images; I couldn’t get my lighting settings right when I was taking pictures.

Spring has definitely sprung. This weekend, Rob and I began our spring update to our home and yard. The first item of business was replacing the Winter Yarn Wreath I made in January with an updated spring wreath! I made our new wreath with a straw wreath, yarn, bias tape, paper flowers, and colorful buttons.

1. The first step is to start with the straw wreath. Place the wreath in a bag and remove the plastic wrap. You have to do this in a bag because the wreath will make a huge mess as you remove the plastic. Straw will go everywhere!

Straw Wreath Wrapped in Plastic

Unwrapping the Wreath in a Bag

Pillowcase Strips

Wrapping the Wreath

Knot and Stick Pin

Yarn Wrapped Wreath

Start the Bias Tape on the Back

Fully Wrapped Wreath

Flowers and Buttons

Pinning to the Wreath

Finished Wreath Composition

The Stitch

Tie on the Flower/Button

And then you have your finished wreath!

Finished Wreath

I added a little bee that I made out of some pompoms and pipe cleaners before I hung the wreath on our door.

Bee Detail

Saturday morning, I had the luxury of driving around and doing some thrift store shopping in North Carolina. I hit my favorite thrift stores in Calabash, Sunset Beach, and Ocean Isle. (I found some cool items too, but that’s another story.) Heading north on Highway 179, I saw this very awesome sign right next to Big Nell’s Pit Stop; I have truly found my candidate in the next election.

There’s really nothing else to say.