bohemian hellhole

Ask Alice: Advice on floor and door trim?

via Bijou Lovely

Dear Alice,

We recently bought a house with natural finished wood floors. The baseboards are stained wood, painted over in white but really need to be either refinished to match the floor or repainted white. My walls are currently white but are likely to either be painted a color or covered with wallpaper. So the question is which finish is better for the baseboards? Match the floors (natural stain) and then there's freedom with the wall color/paper? If I painted the walls pink for example, the floors are natural, should the baseboards be white? natural? the same color as the wall? What if it's a multi colored wall paper? What about trim around doors and windows? Is there a simple answer?

~ Christine

P.S. here is a photo of the living room, before we moved in.

Dear Christine, You just asked me like eight questions. Since it looks like most of your trim is painted already, I would forgo stripping and refinishing the trim, since it is really more trouble than it's worth, unless the trim is so unique that you couldn't just replace it. At some point in the future, if painted trim is really bugging you, then go room by room, replacing the painted trim with new trim that is stained or finished to match the floor. I think this will give you more time and energy to actually put up wallpaper and paint, without getting bogged down in the swamps of sadness {also known as trim work}. via Manhattan Nest {also look at the wood vs. white trim here at Manhattan Nest!}
via Chris loves Julia

Pick out a paint color that you think you can live with for quite a while, or something that will go with most anything. Many people know this color to be white, but it can also be cream, grey, green, whatever you want, as long as it is muted enough to be a neutral. 
via Making it Lovely

If you want more ideas on specific color selection based on wall colors or wallpaper, send me an email! I would love to go paint shopping for you!

Waiting for the coffee to be ready, Alice

The William Morris Project, Week 21

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week twenty-one of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

You may remember the giant mirror that used to reside in our yellow bathroom. I removed it several weeks ago, and then set it in the default dumping grounds of our house, next to the garage door in the kitchen. This is where all hopeless items hang out until they get shipped off to their doom. The mirror was here for way too long, and anytime someone would bump it, or even touch it, I would freak out internally, certain that it would shatter and send us all to the ER. I can tend to be a bit like Aunt Josephine in The Wide Window.Well, on Monday I decided I'd had enough stress, and enacted a plan that is widely backed up on forums all around as a well respected way to dispose of mirrors: I broke it. This particular mirror was fairly unpleasant, it was losing the backing and molding and had chips in it. I had done my due diligence posting it for free on craigslist, to no avail. You can't really take them anywhere to donate when they are already sharp and ugly, nor can I recycle it here. I was thinking about trying to find another recycling method as I was carrying the thing out to the driveway, feeling guilty, when a large chunk of it fell off onto the garage floor. I decided to carry on. Even if I have to deal with battery from militant recyclers world wide, it was my wrists on the line, and I chose not transporting it around town. {sorry!}

I laid it out on a large plastic drop cloth that was left over from working on the basement wall, already destined for the trash. {This is not a very waste free post. yikes.}

I covered the top of it with part of the drop cloth and went at it with the largest hammer-type object around- a croquet mallet. There is nothing quite as satisfying as a William Morris project that includes nothing but breaking things.

As promised, the mirror broke into many many small pieces, leaving behind only a few tiny bits to sweep up.



Goodbye large, unsightly mirror.

I like to think of my neighbors wondering what was wrong with me as I was hammering a pile of plastic with lawn sport equipment...

Researching getting rid of mildew smells in washing machines, Alice

See the other weeks of The William Morris Project Here!

Smile & Wave

all images via Rachel Denbow's Decomyplace page

Rachel Denbow is an artist and generally crazily creative person who lives in the midwest. I got lost today reading through her blog, and getting inspired to make things, and do things. Mostly I am really motivated to breathe some new life into an old army cot that I have been hanging onto for years, after reading her post on kids cots!

Thanks for having such a fun house Rachel!

Going out for smoothies, Alice

Poppy Tree Frames {and a $100 giftcard!}

I recently came across Poppy Tree Frames and immediately was taken with their unusual and fun look. I am always on the lookout for framing options, and thought these ones would be really fun for so many applications! Many of their gallery photos show kids photography displayed in the frames, and also really large sizes, which I instantly thought would look great with a mirror inside rather than an image. I was happy to correspond with the owner of Poppy Tree Frames, and he is going to give one of you a $100 gift card towards anything they carry! The frames come in 18 different styles, 42 color options, and 49 print options. The prints are especially wonderful. If you want a chance to win the $100 gift card, simply visit their facebook page and 'like' them. Then, post a comment below letting me know that you did! If you want additional entries, you can find them on twitter and  retweet one of their tweets, or repin one of their pins on Pinterest.

The winner will be announced on Friday, June 1.

Have fun!

Making toast, Alice

Charlotte's Place

I love the vibe of this place, it is so relaxed ~ full of art and flowers. via Charlotte's Decomyplace page.

Finally making some coffee, Alice

The William Morris Project, Week 20

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week twenty of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

One of the things we were fortunate enough to find in a house was space to have a family room, tv room, rec room, whatever you want to call it. Our house has a daylight basement, which I have never had as an adult, since I always tend towards houses built before such a thing existed. My basements have been dark,  cavernous affairs, stuffed with odds and ends that may come in handy someday, along with a treacherous path to the laundry area. In the last house, I finally managed to create a laundry room, that also served as extra pantry space, which was wonderful.

This basement is a different beast altogether, with more wall space than I have ever had to deal with, an oddly placed fireplace, giant sliding doors, and tiny jail cell windows. The floor is cement, half of which is covered with funny linoleum tile, and the other half is just bare cement. In the office, we just put in the super cheap industrial carpet from home depot, as a place holder until we have saved enough to have proper carpet installed by professionals. After an area rug was placed on top of it, the carpeting really didn't stand out that badly as being $.68 a square foot.

The photo above was taken a couple weeks after the office was finished, but before the piano was moved down. After the piano arrived, along with our free couch, it seemed like about one hundred other items sprung up around them like an undergrowth of squalor. I honestly didn't remember it being this full of stuff when I went down to 'clean up' the other day. We had some people coming to stay for a night or two, and I thought it would be nice to have a place other than our living room for them to sleep, and of course, I started working on it about 6 hours before they were due to arrive.
This room was full of things I didn't want to deal with: odd books, guitars, old office supplies, boxes, recycling, clothes...not to mention the giant mirror on the wall or the semi gothic wall-abra candle thing.
Here are a few more before shots just to give you a good idea of what everything looked like.

I started by just wandering around, shuffling boxes and furniture, sorting things into different piles, taking breaks, and generally accomplishing nothing.
Once I moved the bookcase to the other end of the room, and decided on where the piano should finally reside, things started to move along a little more quickly. I packed up as much of the 'to sort later' sort of stuff and put it in the storage room. This included old paperwork, wires and power supplies, curriculum from courses my husband is done with for now, and empty suitcases.
The wall-abra actually came with castanets hanging on it. I really have no idea what the previous owners did down here, but I am determined to remove all the remnants of whatever it was.
This little area was going to be more bookcases, to match the office, but I decided last minute {also because I was out of wood} to designate it for guitar storage, if only for the time being.
Progress was slow for me on this one, little step after little step. At one point, my husband offered to go buy another piece of temporary carpet to cover up the bare cement. I accepted. It would at least soften the unfinished look of that half of the room, pretty much as cheaply as possible.
I'll admit, there were a few moments when I contemplated just leaving the creepy mirror up, mostly due to laziness, but in the end, it had to go. I am so glad it's gone! Say goodbye to the gothic castanet holder too!


The half ton piano is creeping it's way over into the corner, where it will be happy ~ I hope.
There. No mirror, no junk, just the piano and the fireplace. Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with all those walls. {paint, yes, but I still haven't picked a color} In the meantime, I will just enjoy the non-squalor of the space.
Here is the other half of the room, with industrial carpet and one bookcase. Our neighbor just happened to be having a garage sale the very same day, and we bought a new bookcase for bedroom #3, freeing up the other white bookcase that matched the one down here already. Furniture dominoes.
Having both the bookcases out made it possible to unpack about 15 boxes of books that I haven't seen in about 10 months. {also, I actually didn't loan out Bohemian Modern, sorry. It was packed away. I also found a few other books I was sure I had lost, AND my hard drive that held all of my everything from last summer and prior. What a relief!}

We also got out our awesomely tiny game tv, because everyone needs the option to play old nintendo games, right? If you are wondering about the really weird wooden crane carving, it is actually a cabinet that hides our water shut off valve. I have a love-hate kind of thing going on with it, and at this point in the day I was way too tired to care about it, so it stays for now.

Here are the guitars in their new cubby. The whole place is in serious need of art and paint and general 'life' but, I think....its an improvement.


Heading out to breakfast, Alice

See the other weeks of The William Morris Project Here!

It's good to know that Wayne White and I have similar taste in art.

You might remember our horse painting from the William Morris Project, Week 12.
{I also used to have this on my desk, way back in the day...}
via The Fox is Black
Wayne White has taken this same piece of artwork and made it....different. I might have chosen a {completely} different typographical message, but as most of the world would agree, I am not Wayne White, nor do I possess his rather unorthodox genius for 'beauty'. Still on my list of things to watch: Beauty is Embarrassing.

In the meantime, I am pleased on some level that my horses were special to someone else too.

Wishing for a soda, Alice

How to: Make a handbag {out of scraps}

After I recovered my wooden rocking chair's spring cushion, I had a few little scraps of upholstery fabric left over that I couldn't bear to throw out. I had recently made a quick bag out of some similar weight fabric {and neglected to document it} so I decided to make another, and over document it for you, just in case you too might have a few odds and ends of pretty material just lying around waiting to become a bag. I didn't really take measurements, or use any kind of pattern, but I will give you approximates as I go and hope that photos will suffice.
The two largest pieces that I had were about 24"x20", and 24"x"8". I folded the larger one in half, so that it was about 20"x"12", and trimmed off the selvage.

Next, I rounded the two corners along the folded side of the fabric. {the fold will become the bottom of your bag}
I used the corner I cut off the first side as a template for the second side.
I then laid the whole thing out on a scrap of cotton {sheeting or quilting fabric would work} and cut a copy of the top. This cotton piece will become your bag's liner.
The smaller scrap was cut a little shorter, I just eyeballed about how long I would want the strap of my bag to be, and went with what looked reasonable. It's around 18"x8".
I cut a liner piece for it out of the same cotton as the bag's liner.

Today, the sewing machine of choice is The Commander, because my other sewing machine is still on the fritz. The commander never lets me down, but he only sews a straight stitch, so some projects just won't work on him.
Folding the bag in half so that the right sides are together, I sewed a seam with 1/2 inch seam allowance around the open sides.
I did the same for the liner. I turned the bag right sides out, but left the liner right sides in.
Next, I sewed the two long sides of the handle pieces, and turned it right sides out.

Just for fun, I top-stitched down each side of the handle, for structure and to keep it from 'traveling' as I attached it to the bag.
To attach the handle, I put the liner inside the bag, and folded down the top edge of the bag about an inch, centering the handle over the side seams of the bag. Pin as you go, or the whole thing will make you cry.I folded down the outside bag fabric first, and pinned the handle to it, then folded the liner fabric over and matched it up to the outside fabric, re-pinning as I went so that all three parts were pinned together.

Starting about an inch away from the handles, I started slowly sewing the handle on to the bag sides. I had to manually crank the wheel of my machine over the big seams so that the needle wouldn't break, but I made it through. You will be left with a handle across the top of the bag, but the sides will still have loose, unfinished seams hanging open. This is where your zipper goes.

I used an 18 inch zipper. Start on one side of your bag, where the liner is not yet attached to the bag, and pin the zipper in between both fabrics just like you did the handle. Fold over an inch or so, and make a zipper sandwich. Make sure the teeth of the zipper show, or else it won't function when you're done.

Sew along the zipper, close to the edge so you are sure to sew the zipper fabric inside the sandwich of fabrics, but not too close to the teeth. The zipper itself still needs some room to travel up and down. Repeat the process on the opposite side of the bag. My directions are probably not the best, so if you need more informative instructions, watch this video, or one like it. {I kind of skip some steps by making a zipper sandwich...you can do it any way you want, really} You can also opt to have the bag be zipper free, and just hem the two open sides after the handle is attached.
I added a little strip of leather to the zipper, you could use ribbon, or something else fun...

That's it. You can modify or tweak the pattern all you want, leave the corners square, whatever. Have fun!

Taking a nap, Alice

Ask Alice: Which Metal Finish?

Dear Alice, Our house currently has all kinds of metal finishes, brass, satin nickel, polished chrome etc. I tend to like the brass and chrome best. How do I choose? Does everything need to match? I worry that the polished chrome will look more mid-century and modern than I would like, the brass would match the 60s vibe better but without seeming to try too hard. I hate satin anything so forget that one. But for example within the bathroom if there are three metal finishes, how do you decide? Does it all need to be matchy matchy through the house? Can each room have it's own vibe?

Thanks, Angela

via Dwelement

Dear Angela, I had the same problem when we moved into this house! There was such a mish mash of metals everywhere that I had a hard time knowing where to start. It seemed so much easier in our 1920s cottage, because everything could be antiqued brass, and look fine. I feel like once you get into the later years, 50s, 60s, 70s, there are less options, because not only are the finishes themselves era specific, the style of the hardware gets pretty distinctive as well. {Keep this in mind...if something is simply the finish you want, it still may not be the right era for the house, and vice versa. Go with your gut!}

via Schlage

Luckily for my situation, almost all the doors and knobs were original, so I used that as a base for my decisions. {unfortunately, the knobs themselves were two-tone!} I chose polished chrome for the kitchen and bath hardware, and some of the lighting bases. The rest of the lights I just treated as individual accessories to the room, and if they looked alright to me, I didn't get crazy about the metals on them. For the entry doors, which we had to replace all the hardware on, I went with an oil rubbed bronze, because of the porch light and house number choices I had already made. All in all, I think I may have just made my own mess of finishes, but since I chose them all, it seemed intentional and ok.

via Crown City Hardware

If you like the brass option, just go with it, although I would caution against anything other than chrome {polished nickel} in bathrooms and kitchens, but that is just a personal conviction. {um, both of the kitchen photos I posted have NOT chrome in them, so I guess you should just do what you want!} I think it is perfectly reasonable to have each room develop it's own feel and look, as long as you are happy with how it looks, I really think it will all pull together well. I actually think that if you purposely mix and match, and choose things that make sense with your personal style, the rooms will feel much more custom and less 'off the shelf'.

via Modern Country Style {you really need to see the before and after on this kitchen ~ Amazing, even if modern country style isn't your thing..}

For doorknobs and switch plates, I tried to keep everything consistent, just so that I wouldn't get confused later on about what room had what finish, etc, but the cabinet pulls, lights, that sort of thing are all fairly room specific here.

Hoping my rambling answer helps even a little, Alice

The William Morris Project, Week 19

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week nineteen of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

Say hello to my sewing notions. {who came up with that term anyway?} A good friend gave me this funny rolling box/ottoman/organizer/thing a while ago, and I have been using it because, well, it's here, and it was free. What happens inside is less than organized, I end up just throwing everything that is un-categorized into the middle and squishing it shut. If I want to find something, I have to empty the whole thing out, usually un-squishing the insides, only to have to fit everything back in again after it has magically grown twice as big. This is not an item on my list, but neither was purging fabric. I still think it counts as progress in my quest towards William Morris-ness.

As is standard practice in this sort of project, step one was simply to empty the offending cupboard, drawer, closet, room, or in this case, rolling sewing box thing. It took a while, I kept pulling more out, and there was still stuff in the bottom. Old yarn, ziplock bags full of beads that I have had probably since jr. high, hat patterns, shirt patterns, crochet hooks, notebooks.....and of course the mandatory button jar.

After I emptied the whole thing, I had to make a decision. Keep or toss? Since I had recently organized the fabric, I decided to just condense the notions into a small tub, patterns and notebooks in another, and so on. Scissors, needles and pins could hang out together with the seam rippers and extra bobbins.

There were a number of thread spools and ribbon type items that must date back to the 50's, because they are basically made of powder now. If you even touch them, they break. I think those ones can go directly into the trash. There are good things about estate sales, and fairly useless things. Old thread is one of the useless things. All the ribbons and bits of trim that measure under a foot can join them, and I think that is being rather indulgent to my fabric hoarding side. I should really toss the whole bag, because I never use any of it.

Done.

I feel better now.

The small projects in here will just fold in with the rest of the fabric. Maybe they need an expiration date, or a 'discard after' date.  I'll give myself 3 months to get them done, or into the trash they go. I am not worried about running out of projects to leave unfinished, there seems to be an endless supply of them around here.

After all the sorting and condensing and tossing, I have a small yet usable collection of threads and fasteners that will most likely last me years. If I happen to run out? Why, I'll just run up the road to Fabric Depot. It will be difficult, but I think I can handle it.

What happened to the rolling box? I sent it on to a better life via the Goodwill donation center. Hopefully some extra hip twenty something Portlander with thick framed glasses and a penchant for needle work will pick it up.

Feeding my rye sourdough starter, Alice

See the other weeks of The William Morris Project Here!