DIY - Seeing Design

Published April 7, 2010 by Anne Collins Howard

Apt. Makeover: My Living Room

Pretty without the pretense, our goal was to make our living room the most inviting space in the house. It’s the first room guests see when they walk through the door so it had to look polished but, once first impressions are out of the way, the idea is to get comfy.

Living Room Before
Maroon damask and gold accents set the tone for a formal and “mature” space. And I wanted nothing to do with that. The architecture of the room with its cove molding, 19th-century fireplace, and plaster ceiling medallion already said that. What it needed was some soft, contemporary touches to counter it.

Living Room After
These 1940s French chairs are the sassiest and most sophisticated thing I’ve ever purchased. Asymmetrical and curvaceous, I love that they command attention but I wasn’t going to let them take over the room. To balance the space, I paired them with their polar opposite design: the nitty-gritty bricklayer’s table. The steel box formation and reclaimed-wood top bring a touch of boy to the semi-girly decor.

Window Frames
Since this is technically a railroad apartment, I liked the idea of adding more windows in the center of the space. These 12-glass compartments provide no extra light but the subtle reference and the photo storage is unbeatable. (See how we turned old windows into picture frames here.)

Media Center
For optimal television viewing, the most logical place to put the TV would be over the fireplace—but I couldn’t bear to do it. I didn’t want a black hole of a plasma and the back of a sofa to be the first thing you saw when you walked in the room. To remedy this, we placed the TV on the same wall as the front door so guests could take in the full space before arriving at the inevitable electronics–and my fabulous Matisse cabinet. The delicate leaf-cutouts lighten the large piece of furniture and its compartments are perfect for favorite tchotchkes. The prints, above, are the latest addition to the house and were a year in the making, so I’ll save that explanation for a later post.

Stress-Free Chic
Though the frilly chairs may fool you, this is one tough living room design. The chocolate brown upholstery on the Grayson sofa, the indoor-outdoor Le Poeme rug, and a distressed coffee tabletop can all handle a party without a scuff.

Going Forward
Still in need of window treatments, mantel art, and a bookshelf, this living room–and apartment–is a work in progress. From the projects that make the house run a little smoother to the accessories that make us smile, decorating has become a lifestyle that we won’t be done with anytime soon.

Projects

decorating DIY living room our house

Published February 15, 2010 by Anne Collins Howard

A Sense of Place

Without decorating our apartment with Statue of Liberty figurines and Sopranos posters, we wanted to give our Hoboken apartment a sense of place. To do this, there is no man better than Frank Sinatra. Ol’ Blue Eyes was born in Hoboken on December 12, 1915 and the town has been touting him ever since.

Contributing to the Sinatra craze wasn’t necessarily our planned homage but the previous owner of these records convinced us it was the thing to do.

We stopped at this stranger’s garage sale in upstate New York, got chatting, and when we told him we were from Hoboken, he insisted we take his album collection. Though I wasn’t particularly interested in the records (our player is broken and we have Sinatra on CD), his enthusiasm got me thinking about the covers. In simple silver frames, they would make a kitschy-cool collection for our kitchen.

We picked the range of Frank to display: Hollywood Starlet, Rat Pack, and the Chairman of the Board.

I took out the records, cut off the back sleeves, and put them in square Ikea frames with wide matting.

With three Sinatra’s greeting me every time I walk walk into my kitchen, I’ve found my sense of place.

Projects

art DIY wall decor

Published February 2, 2010 by Anne Collins Howard

Building A Birch Log Table

I often overestimate my handiness. And one of my most overzealous projects to date began when Mike and I spotted a fabulous Brent Comber side table in the Conran Shop. Looking at this $2,000 bundle of logs, nailed together in a circle, I turned to Mike and said, We could do that, right? This was about a year ago, so I don’t think he ever said yes to that question, but he explored the possibility with me anyway.

In the NYC flower market, birch logs and sticks are generally sold in small two foot-long bundles but to get the thickness we wanted and an even height, wed have to go the next size up: ten foot-plus. We bought eight branch-less trees, strapped them to the roof of the Volvo and headed to Home Depot. There we purchased the longest nails and screws available with hopes they’d turn kindling into a table.

The average side table is about 23″ tall so we cut each log up to get as many two foot pieces as possible (leaving an inch for error). With the straightest, least pockmarked stumps, we made a vertical circular bundle, tied it together with string, placed it over a paper grocery bag, drew a line around it to use as guide and took this picture as a reminder of the dream scenario.

We decided the best way to start building was from the center out. We took two logs and drilled them together two inches from the top and again two inches from the bottom using our largest screws (there is nothing subtle about the hole these 8 beasts leave or their half-inch metal head but in the center of the table, only stability matters). Trying to make sure we had a nice balance of thick and thin pieces and as little space between the circles as possible, we kept adding logs to the initial set, until we had over twenty making a circle. Once we were ready for the outer ring, we switched to nails. Their tiny heads and darker color hid in the wood infinitely better than the screws–especially when we hammered into the knottiest parts of the birch and tapped them deeper with a nail finisher.

The final touch was to saw the top down until all logs were level and pray the whole thing didn’t fall apart.

About twelve hours of labor, thirteen stripped screws, and $85 in materials, we had ourselves a birch log side table. Unlike Mr. Comber’s, ours is far from perfectly round—but its our favorite piece in the house.

Projects

DIY tables

Published December 30, 2009 by Anne Collins Howard

The 2010 Decorating To-Do List

It’s been a productive year at the Collins/Howard household (we built a kitchen island, bought a sofa, hung bookshelves, installed a chandelier, and constructed a birch-log table, to name a few projects). Though, as anyone who owns a home knows, your work is never done–but that’s the good news. Mike and I always have a blast doing these projects, and we have no shortage of them lined up in 2010.

To-do List

(Above) Living Room Art: We bought these 19th-century fern prints almost a year ago, and they desperately need to be matted, framed, hung, and enjoyed! Once that happens, I have reserved a home for them to the left of our living room fireplace.

bedroom-decor-bookshelf

Living Room Storage: I’ve been eyeing this shaped storage unit from Brocade Home since it came out in 2007. (Think I should pull the trigger already?) This unit–or a yet-to-be-discovered vintage hutch–would flank the other side of my living room fireplace and be the hub for Mike’s incredible antique camera collection, our books, and a few other favorite accessories.

Bedroom Fireplace: Much to our handyman’s chagrin, we ripped this once-cherry-colored mantel off the wall, cut out its ornately carved archway, and painted it an oil-based white. We love it, but it has been pathetically leaning against the wall since the fireplace excavation. The next step is to lay bricks along the foundation, seamlessly secure it to the wall, and somehow get this bowing piece of wood to lie flush. Genius will strike, I’m sure.

KitchenDecor-bar

The Kitchen Bar: Our 1950s tin-top table works nicely as a bar, but the surface is getting a bit cramped. Now I’m on the hunt for a wall rack/shelf that we can use to hang wineglasses from below and store cookbooks and kitchen tchotchkes on top. If any one sees something fabulous like this, please let me know!

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Guest Room Window: I love this oversize red magnolia wallpaper so much that I considered having it printed as a fabric for a Roman shade. However, since I need only a few yards, this started to sound like a rough proposition, plus the existing shade is in fine condition. The new plan? Build a wooden valance and wallpaper it. If all goes well, the small dose of pattern should balance the room and finish the window.

Bedroom-decor-Ski-Shelves.

Office Shelves: In the new year we have to get Mike’s office in order, and once we do, the antique ski shelves are going up!

The list goes on and on–art for the mantel, a rug for the guest room, refinishing the kitchen cabinets–but it’s all a process, and we hope to be tweaking, improving, and enjoying this home for a long time to come.

Projects

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Tag: <span>DIY</span>

Apt. Makeover: My Living Room

A Sense of Place

Building A Birch Log Table

The 2010 Decorating To-Do List

To-do List