Collections: light switches

Since this house has gone through many owners, many tenants, and many decades, it has ended up with an eclectic mix of fixtures and materials. These are small details that don't come through in other posts, so this is a chance for me to show you the "collections" in this house.

Just like the outlets, there seem to be a lot of ways to install light switches.

(Ok, the naked one is my fault. I'm still working on a painted stencil in the dining room.)

That creepy dirty one with the chain is part of the back hall of shame. Expect a post on that sucker pretty soon.

The dark one is the stairway with that horrible texture I can't clean. Just think how many hands have searched for that switch over the years. Gross.

Yes, that one on the right is on a door frame.

Aren't they nice? I've been trying to figure out why some are close to door frames, some are pretty far away from the door frame, and one is smack in the middle of a door frame. And the two black switches I can't figure out at all.

Does your house have any quirks?

Interrogation room to cozy dining room

The downside of just starting out is that I had very little furniture. Thankfully my parents lent me the first kitchen table they ever used (and my grandparents before them), so I had someplace to eat and something to put in the dining room. The dining room had been hastily painted white some time ago, and it looked cold and sterile. Remember that light?

It was bad. Very interrogation-like.

So I stuck a basket on it (and haven't taken it off since). I'm working on a better solution. Tips on hanging paper lanterns here. 

We're looking at the freshly spackled, sanded, and primed wall. There were a lot of holes to fill in. Oh my goodness, I wish I had taken pictures. It was incredible.

Collections: wall textures

Since this house has gone through many owners, many tenants, and many decades, it has ended up with an eclectic mix of fixtures and materials. These are small details that don't come through in other posts, so this is a chance for me to show you the "collections" in this house.

For some reason the two front rooms in the house have smooth walls and smooth ceilings, but the rest of the house doesn't. I'm still coming to terms with the textures here--they're nearly impossible to clean after decades of renters and I don't have the time or energy to paint them yet. And, let's be honest, in a small guest room you don't want your guest scraping themselves on the wall just to get into bed.

This is the kitchen ceiling. I think they were going for a small-curd-cottage-cheese-with-sudden-spider-shapes look. Nailed it.

This is the stairway, second floor hall, and most of the second floor ceiling. I hate it. It doesn't come clean, it's big and chunky, and it's not consistent. Eh, it's still way better than the other side of the house.

This is the bathroom ceiling. It's a nice mix of light bumps with huge swaths of plaster chunks. I'm pretty sure this one involved alcohol.

The third bedroom has painted wood paneling, for some odd reason. In the summer it smells like camp.

And my favorite texture of all, the space between the sink and the shelves in the bathroom! It's a thing of beauty.

Framed chalkboards

In a late night Pinterest cruise I ran across chalkboard fabric and got really excited. Think of the possibilities! You could make table runners and label each plate, you could upholster a couch, you could have a chalkboard dress...

Ok, maybe a dress would be impractical. I had been wanting an attractive way to keep lists in my dining room (where I eat, pray, answer bills, and evaluate my life over food). I ran to a few thrift stores and found 3 frames that were roughly the same size. I've found that often it helps to look at frames from the back--it's easier to ignore whatever's going on in the prints and just focus on the shape and size. One of these days I'll post all of the ridiculous art prints I've taken out of thrift store frames.

This is the chalkboard fabric. I found it at Joann's in the utility section. It looks just like black vinyl, but you can draw on it.

Christmas lights

Sometime in November I found Christmas lights in a thrift store and (after checking to make sure they worked) bought 4 strings without any idea what I was going to do with them. One string went up in my office, and I've finally found a place for the others.

The upstairs hallway is narrow, poorly lit, and never gets bright enough to trigger the sensor on a little night light that lives up there. So I brightened it up with two strings and the same command strips I used to hang Handel's Messiah.

I just followed the wood trim, attaching the clips to the wall as I went. Some tips:

• Attach your clips and then let them set up before you start tugging at them
• Place the clip opening in a logical way--you don't want your lights falling straight down or pulling out of the clip
• Plan to place a clip at every curve, at least. Either put the clip right in the corner so the lights come all the way to the edge, or put two clips a little ways out from the corner on either side

When I posted a picture of my hallway on facebook a friend offered me a 7 foot Christmas tree to decorate. So now I have a tree! It's wrapped in the last string of lights, dotted with small gold ornaments, and topped with my thrift store star.

Hello, cozy.

Back hall of shame

There are a few rooms in this house that make me wonder if it's worth the effort to update them. The back hall of shame is one of those.

In theory it's a pantry and a little landing space for the outside door. I use it for neither.

I'm quite sure something used to live back there. Gross.

Collections: outlets

Since this house has gone through many owners, many tenants, and many decades, it has ended up with an eclectic mix of fixtures and materials. These are small details that don't come through in other posts, so this is a chance for me to show you the "collections" in this house.

These are all the outlets in the house. It's quite an adventure trying to figure out where things can be plugged in in each room.

My favorites are the very first one with the vintage circle design and the one that's screwed onto a broken chunk of wood. 

Does your house have a mix of outlets in the baseboard and above the baseboard? Do you have as many different plate covers?

Curtains for wide windows

I really love the windows in my living room. Ok, I don't love that they leak cold air and that one shattered into my couch and that there's a massive spider living between the panes of one, but I do like how they look. I've been curtain shopping for a while, and I finally settled on some. But my windows are too wide for just one panel, and too narrow for two.

These are the Zinna print curtains from World Market.

So I bought three panels, cut one in half, and hemmed the rough edges. I kind of like the way it frames the corner and breaks up all the white.

Collections: sconces

Since this house has gone through many owners, many tenants, and many decades, it has ended up with an eclectic mix of fixtures and materials. These are small details that don't come through in other posts, so this is a chance for me to show you the "collections" in this house.

These are all the sconces in the house. I actually really like that each room is different. It's a little bit of character that I wouldn't have the patience to put in a house I actually owned.

Yes, that's a bare bulb. Apparently the previous tenants made off with the globe. 

Aren't they kind of fun? 3 of them have the switch built into the lamp, 3 of them have switches on another part of the wall, and 3 of them have switches directly below them. It keeps me guessing when I'm not quite awake yet.

Would you mix up the lights in your house this much or do you prefer continuity?