Why don't you...

...watch a Paul Newman movie today and remember a legend.

Lampshade tutorial.

I have a lampshade that has been bugging me for months -- I wanted to recover it but couldn't find the perfect fabric. Tonight, at ten minutes to closing, my Bub and I ran into Hobby Lobby (my second trip today, yikes!) and I found the PERFECT fabric! And trim! In less than ten minutes! Yayeeeee!


So I took pictures as I recovered this time just to prove how easy it is! Before:

You really don't need much fabric, just depends on the size of the shade. I lay mine out and trace it (using chalk) -- giving extra room so the fabric wraps around:

Use a hot glue gun to secure the fabric. You can cut little slits every couple inches so the fabric wraps easily:

Taadaa!! But it still needed something...

Trim! I found the perfect match:

If you've seen my family room, you'll understand how perfect the swirlys (swirlies?) are! I loved it so much, I did the little shade in the kitchen:

I'm so excited! My cat, however, is thoroughly unimpressed:

That looks says, "You add this crap to my food bowl and I will pee on your drapes, lady."

Habitually Chic Redecorates: Making Progress

After - September 2008

Before - March 2008

It's been a whirlwind week of painting and redecorating at Casa Chic and serious progress has been achieved. I'm so happy with the wall color, Benjamin Moore Cedar Key (OC-16) and White Dove (OC-17) trim. It better reflects my style now and coincidentally my closet. I repainted the television cabinet in Midnight Dream (2129-10) which pops off the tan walls now. I like how the black television disappears in it so I am debating whether to put the doors back on. I may look for new knobs though.

I also moved my computer to the other side of the room in order to have space for a new bookcase (Ikea Billy $59.99. Gotta love it!). I own a million books and needed more organized storage space. I also now have room for magazines and storage boxes for my tear sheets and work projects. Of course, after I styled the whole thing two new books from Rizzoli arrived today! More about those later. I still have more to do including hanging all my artwork and priming and painting all the trim in the bedroom. But now I think I might take a nap! Decorating is exhausting!

Fall is here? It's 84 degrees outside!

Ohhhh I love, adore, can't get enough of fall. Love it love it LOVE. IT. Usually, I get so excited about this season that I have pulled the bins of decorations out by August 31...or the 15th? Who's keeping track?

This year, fall alludes us here in the Midwest. We've just had approximately TEN STRAIGHT DAYS of 82+ degree weather. Fall, notsomuch. I know, 82 is nothing for those of you down south, but 82 is torture to me...fall is the most glorious time of the year around here and there is nothing better than a 68 degree day, fireplace roaring, my (new Lampchop) slippers and a mug of apple cider, in my opinion. Eighty outside does not lend itself to anything but sweat and bugs. Ugh.

So the weather is breaking and I finally started working on the fall decor over the past couple days and have had a blast. And spent money. Dang it, why can't I just be happy with what I already have?? Why must I finance Hobby Lobby's existence?

So, here you go, I'll take more tomorrow with better light. Enjoy the candlelight and sip some cider. (Yippee, I'm practically giddy!)

I'm going to have dead head all these blooms, aren't I? And that's only one of two. The pumpkins are sad, give me time. Yes, those are fake flowers on the door, looking goooo--oood!! (Clark!):

These need some water, I know. But I have to remember to feed cats and a child everyday. Pumpkins for cheap at Hobby Lobby!:

I love that our home already has so many of the fall colors in it -- hence my love for this time of year. I love green, rust and brown:

I needed a stand for these candles -- spend literally three hours this morning searching for something in three different stores. (Not that I didn't find anything else!) It hit me on the way home -- scrap wood and paint. Exactly what I wanted:

These little frames will have FALL spelled out in them, just need to find the right letters:

I've realized lately that this new obsession of blogging is keeping me from my very reason for blogging -- decorating! :) I love the new inspirations and the ideas are flowing...I hope I inspire you too!

Changing table today, shelving unit tomorrow

This is a good one. It's space saving, looks great (love the stripes and dots) and can be repurposed when baby grows up.

Ariel shares, "Here's something not quite to purpose I did with the Gorm shelving system. We have very little space for a baby, and all the changing tables I saw seemed both huge and low on actual storage space. So I built this instead--the deeper Gorm shelf is just the right size for the standard foam changing pad. I used Vacker storage bins for drawers, and the Gorm apple crate for storage of bigger items - big packages of diapers and nursing pillows.

I also added wooden dowels from the hardware store to provide quilt storage on the tower, and so I could hang a laundry bag (Vacker, again) and a basket to hold diapers (Bygel kitchen organizer) off the end. To maximize space without sacrificing stability, I notched out the bottom shelf of the tower by removing a couple of boards so it fits around the diaper bin. (There is still enough shelf space behind the bin to hold an industrial-sized box of baby wipes and more). The most time-consuming part of the project was making padded bumpers to protect against sharp bolt edges and splinters, but even that wasn't especially difficult.

It's totally functional, stores a ton, and when the kid outgrows a changing table in a year or two, we will have a perfectly usable shelving unit instead of a useless bulky changing table to get rid of. I'm planning on putting a cabinet top on the lower surface and using it either as additional counter space and storage in the kitchen, or as a sewing table.

There are a few more pictures, of its first stages, here on Flickr."

What's your sign?

I couldn't post anything last night because my computer was being a bit temperamental which actually wasn't surprising since it was the first day of the current Mercury retrograde cycle. I think a lot of people now know that when Mercury is retrograde, it not only affects communications but computer and technical equipment. So I thought this might be good time to discuss astrology and the stars. I recently had the pleasure of having my personalized charts read my astrologist Aurora Tower.

When I mentioned that I was meeting with an astrologer, reaction was mixed. Some people confessed that they too see someone, like the person who has their chart done every year on their birthday by the same astrologer that Donna Karan sees and others looked at me like I had said I was consulting Dionne Warwick and Psychic Friends Network! On friend announced that only single people read their horoscopes but there is a huge difference between reading your horoscope in the newspaper and having your personalized chart read and there was no better person to consult than Aurora who is young and passionate about astrology. "My goal is really to get more people interested in and educated and excited about it, that it is something that should be fun and people should be less "mystified" by it" she said. She also grew up in Manhattan and now lives part of the year on St. John where she is creating an eco-luxury home that will hopefully be for rent soon! She also has a great blog!

It seems like a lot of creative people are more open to astrology as are people in the East. We had an interesting talk about how the Olympics opening ceremony were planned for an auspicious date and time and that many companies use astrology to conduct business dealings on the best possible days. All in all I loved the charts that Aurora prepared and explained to me. I always wondered why I didn't always feel like an Aries and now I know why! While she didn't give me the exact date I am going to meet my soul mate, she did give me good news about work and traveling and that's good enough for me! By the way, Aurora can be reached at brightstarlights@gmail.com.

Knock on this door if you need a computer desk

Jonas wanted a new look for his old Galant desk and found this high-gloss alternative. Looks way cool.

He says, "I didn't wanted to use my old (Galant) desk top so searched for an alternative. I found a high gloss cabinet door for the Pax cabinet system for 20€. As table legs I reused my old ones from the (Galant) table.

So I needed something to widen the table in depth I used two (Lack) racks. Installed them just above so there would be enough place to hide the cables and so on. I plan to put some lights under the racks but haven't found time yet."