bohemian hellhole

Movie Monday: All good Things

 
via rooms ayaya

A recipe for creepy love, or how to design your dining room. Start out with the furniture, pick up a simple, classic mission style dining set. Amish Round Tables has some really beautifully made pieces. Sometimes you can find something similar at a thrift store or craigslist, if you are diligent in searching for one.

Gold rimmed dishes are a must; the set pictured reminds me of the china featured over at Small Shop Studios. Even if it's not what they used in the movie,  Bamboo Flatware would be perfect here! I am biased, since it's my personal favorite of all time. {Mine is from my parents wedding, but you can still get it from Target, or you can snag a silver set of Tiffany's Bamboo flatware from eBay or Replacements -if you have a spare bag of money}

via design your wall

There are many places to get fun vintage wallpaper, Etsy has a ton, as well as eBay. You can use it to line the drawers or back of a hutch, or actually wallpaper your walls.

via Fine Home Lamps

Pair a yellow floral pattern with a nice brass lamp to complete your look. {don't forget a horrible sweater!}

via allmoviephoto

In the bedroom, {rather than fighting for your life} add a gilt bamboo mirror over your dresser. Use the corners to hang your favorite necklaces and scarves.

via curious sofa

If you can't find one that is already gold, just paint it. There are usually all sorts of bamboo or rattan items at the thrift store that are fairly ugly at first glance. Try imagining those items as golden...you might find the perfect thing.

via French Gypsy's Etsy shop

The Queen Decor Etsy shop has all kinds and colors of vintage brocade curtains for sale. If you want to paint your walls a pale cream, try Farrow & Ball's Pointing.

I love a good warm cream and yellow color scheme, contrasted with wood and metal tones! I also love Kirsten Dunst. {Even though I totally liked Bring it On better!}

Watching White Collar, Alice

The William Morris Project, Week 4

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

Last week I knocked out quite a few items on my list for 2012. {13 to be exact} This is what I finished this week:

Replaced all the remaining switch plates and outlet covers

Removed the super gross shower door track that was caulked on to our tub. The doors have long been gone.

Replaced the ceiling fan in bedroom #2 with a the light from bedroom #1

Replaced the light in bedroom #1 with a new fancy light

Removed ALL of the wallpaper in the kitchen

Added a shelf above the refrigerator for my radio

Took down the Christmas lights {before January was over-the last possible time that is still reasonable}

Began downsizing the junk in my office corner, but I got overwhelmed and started crying halfway through, so it's not done yet. But hey, I started! Now at least I have more than a tiny corner of the desk available for my computer.

{In my defense, I couldn't keep up with last weeks pace because I was in Seattle all weekend.}

The kitchen here was lovingly wallpapered with a 'Tea' themed border. When I began scraping it off, I realized that the Tea paper was put on over some pretty great vintage rose and ivy wallpaper. 

If that had still been there, I might have left it alone, but there was no saving it. The rose wallpaper was so strongly glued on to the wall that it kept pulling the top layer of sheetrock off as I scraped, leaving behind big dents and chunky places. It took forever. My arms ached, I got sweaty, it was annoying. Eventually, with the aid of some wallpaper stripper, I got through all of it. After the walls were dry again, I skim coated everything with joint compound to even out the craters and scrapes. Once that was dry, I wet sanded it with a kitchen sponge because I hate the mess of drywall dust, especially in a room devoted to food preparation. Now that the skim coat is finished, if you squint, you can pretend the walls are all painted off white.

I love finding little pieces of history while doing projects, it's like getting to know the house. During the removal process, I found the word 'paper' scrawled in cursive along the wall, in two places. I kept hoping to uncover a secret panel harboring someone's money stash, but it didn't happen. {Thanks Nancy Drew}
The wall was also originally painted pink, a discovery that made me quite happy.


{Here's the little shelf I put up over the fridge. The cord is so long, that it just ended up in a big wad behind the radio when it was on the counter. Plus, it kept getting covered in mail, or hidden behind dishes. This way, it has it's own little house.}

Replacing the switch plates in the kitchen was an added bonus because someone had very carefully wallpapered those too. With Tea paper.

I am glad to be done with all of that dusty blue nonsense. What do you think of the lights? Keep them? Replace them? If so, with what? I'd love some ideas!

Listening to the 'College' Pandora station, Alice

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
Week 7

Ask Alice: How do I put up Wallpaper?

Dear Alice, It seems like wallpaper is becoming the new accent wall. I have never hung wallpaper before, how do I put it up? ~ Jessica
via Seidman Paperhanging

image from Rosie's Vintage Wallpaper via Lara Lewis

Dear Jessica,

The best tutorial I know of is the one Martha Stewart put together. She has great step by step instructions and lots of photos to help. I can't be that precise. When I wallpaper, I usually have a towel, a needle, wallpaper adhesive and a paintbrush. Since I often find my wallpaper secondhand, there are rarely instructions handy. It happens like this: when the time is not right, and there are lots of other things going on, I decide, hey! I have some wallpaper, why not put it up NOW? I grab my generic wallpaper adhesive, my paintbrush, needle and towel, and start hanging. I don't recommend it. Instead of pasting the paper, I paint the adhesive right on the wall, nice and thick. Then I {always starting at the top! If it insists on falling down, you can tack it into the wall with pushpins to hold it still while the adhesive sets} start hanging the paper, depending on the project the best rule is to begin in the middle of the wall and work outward. Leave a few inches of extra paper at the ceiling and floor trim, because it is aways a better idea to trim it after, rather than cut it 'to fit' and find you cut it too short. Then I wipe the whole thing down with my towel, {damp} and start working out the bubbles, from the center towards the edges. If there is a horrible bubble that won't budge, I poke it with my needle and work all the air out. Continue on with the rest of your wallpaper, making sure that the pattern lines up. You can paper over light switches {just cut a little hole for the switch}  and outlets and trim around them after you work out the bubbles.  Hooray! Wallpaper! {If you can, buy extra, because chances are you will have a few 'accidents', but that's ok! It will all turn out good in the end, but if it doesn't, I'll come help you.}

If all that sounds too messy and difficult, you can frame some wallpaper pieces and hang them on your wall. Katy Elliot explains it all here.

I documented a little wallpaper project a while ago here.

Folding clothes, Alice

Ask Alice: What am I doing wrong?	Ask Alice: How do I put up wallpaper?	Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a Lamp?
Ask Alice: What's your Secret?	Ask Alice: Open Shelves or Cabinets?	Ask Alice: Spray Paint or Brush?

Ask Alice: How should I clean wood floors?

Movie Monday: Moonrise Kingdom

via The Inquisitr

via filmdrunk

Look at the wallpaper! The picture frames! the stairs with their matching arched doors on either side and fancy landing windows! I could do without the couch though.

via I'll Think About It

As always, Wes Anderson movies are full to the brim with wonderful interiors, and usually some amazing vintage wallpaper {or at least it looks that way}.  The set design is by Kris Moran, who has worked on several Wes Anderson movies including The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou {among many, many other films directed by other people!}. It was also exciting to find out that the titles were done by Jessica Hische, a designer and illustrator that I am fond of. I guess we're all waiting for sometime in May to actually see the film, but in the meantime, gather your portable record player, fishing creel and head to the beach! {Since it is snowing here, I can at least pretend in my living room. You can do whatever your climate allows!}

Battling the cold and flu season, Alice