Category — House of Many Hues

Prior to the start of the weekend, I promised myself that I would finalize the fabric for the sofa I’m about to get re-upholstered.  I finished all of my experiments and was satisfied with the results.  So I grab the credit card and placed the order!  Yay!  The fabric should be delivered in about a week since it was a special order.  The cost of the fabric was nearly $400.  But before you cringe at the price, I did order a high end commercial grade fabric.  There were MANY options available that were much cheaper, but my hope in using a commercial grade fabric is to never need to re-upholster this sofa again.  Time will tell.

Once I got the sofa fabric out of the way, I felt energized to work on my basement windows that have desperately needed some dressing up.  I know I have mentioned this a few times before and never seem to get anywhere with it.  I somehow found myself stuck with what to do with two of the four windows.   Many months ago, I bought two double rods and put them up on the windows that face south.  I was really lucky and came across some garage sale finds – linen curtains that were the right size for these rods and the right price – $1 each.   And that’s as far as I got.  Well, I’m happy to say that not only a decision was made but orders were placed.  The two east facing windows will be getting 2” faux wood blinds in white (you’ll be surprised where these are coming from), while the south facing windows will get the top rod (of the double rod) finished off with some velvety curtains.  Have I mentioned how much I heart velvet?

If you didn’t already lose all respect for me when I mentioned the Tori Spelling book I purchased, then I might be walking on a very thin line when I tell you that I bought the blinds from Wal-Mart.  After doing some research on 2” faux wood blinds, the reviews from the Wal-Mart ones rose to the top.  Over and over I read how people had purchased more expensive blinds from other sources and found these to be superior.  The blinds have a 4.7 star rating out of 5 with 200+ reviews (you can check it out here).  Pricing was also a plus at $39 each – an unbelievable price for windows that are rather large.  Then for the icing on the cake – shipping to my house for both blinds was only $2.99.  Did I win any of you back?

Sources:

Sofa fabric – Decorative Fabric Direct

2” Faux Blinds – Wal-Mart

Velvety Curtains  - Curtain Works

Images:  House of Many Hues (CurtainWorks Ad)

Hello peeps!  I hope that your week is coming to a wonderful close.  I know mine was rather busy but I did manage to have one day where I spent time on myself.  Not often does it happen that I set time aside with no husband, no kids – just me.  Part of my me day included a massage and what a treat it was.  Danielle, my assigned masseuse, worked on all the knots in my upper back and kept a Zen like atmosphere for me throughout the session.  Her soft words reminded me that it was time to relax and enjoy.  I also managed to hit up a used book sale at my local library and load up on books (even some audio ones), magazines, and CD’s.  Some titles included were Martinis, Food & Home Entertainment Cookbook One, Moving On, some House Beautiful mags, and more.  I’m ashamed to admit that I did also buy Tori Spelling’s latest book.  Stop, I can hear your disappointment and judgments.  I’m not trying to justify the purchase but for some reason when watching her tv show, Tori &Dean, I am continuously intrigued by her candid honesty and the dysfunctional life she leads – just like the rest of us.   Let’s just file this book under ‘Entertainment’, shall we?  Nevertheless, I discovered for the first time that my ‘me’ day was spent 100% guilt free.  This has NEVER happened since having kids.

OH my, do I love the table on the cover of this House Beautiful magazine above.  I think I’ll be curling up with this one tonight – an awesome find at the library for only .25 cents.

Images:  House of Many Hues

There has been a lot exciting things going on the last few weeks at the House of Many Hues home!  I’m not exactly sure where we left off so excuse me if my updates are a bit all over the place.

After much thought and many quotes, we have decided to hold off on getting a deck this year.  We could have changed up our design, reduced the overall size, switched to a cheaper material all to reduce the cost but my husband said something one evening that made a lot of sense.  “Let’s enjoy our patio this summer and not give up on what we want”.  And so, I’ve decided (for now) to let it go and save up the additional funds to try and build the deck we want next year.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that at one point many years ago I use to refinish wood furniture.  I have never really been able to completely let go of the satisfaction of watching a piece go from grungy to gorgeous and so I’m back in the game!  This has been on my mind for some time but due to transportation limitations (we do not have a pickup truck) I was never able to easily rescue these pieces.  While we didn’t buy a truck, we did purchase a trailer which works just as well and was a much cheaper solution.  I plan to post these beauties on the House of Many Hues Facebook page (here) which I finally got around to setting up!  In addition to furniture, I will be posting home related items for sale – some of which are from my home.  So if you have some time or are curious, stop on by!

(The pic above is my latest buy.  I am undecided on which lampshade to use but I’m leaning on the one in the picture).

I’m also working on the next House of Many Hues Newsletter (if you missed the last one, you can still check it out.  It’s located on the right side of the site).  To ensure that you don’t miss out, make sure to sign up with your email (top right side of the site).  I want to send thanks to everyone that sent supporting words regarding the Newsletter.  One suggestion that came up a few times was that it wasn’t long enough and that they wanted more material!  To be honest, I was a bit worried that the Newsletter was on the longish side so this makes me feel a little better.  Anyway, for now the format will stay the same.

Ok, that’s enough updates.  How are you doing?

Images:  House of Many Hues

Today is the day that the winner for the book giveaway is selected.  Thank you all for your emails, submissions, and kind words!  Using the random number generator, the number 6 was pulled.   Our winner for the [the nest] home design book is… (drum roll) … MaryBeth C!

Thank you for all your continued support!

The House of Many Hues will celebrate its 2nd birthday this month with another book giveaway!  This years birthday giveaway is a copy of [the nest] Home Design book.  If you don’t have this book in your collection, you are missing out!  It is chuck full of beautiful photos and offers a practical guide to the beginner decorator.



If you would like to enter the giveaway, the rules are as follows:

1.  Leave a comment here with your first name, the initial of your last name, and a couple words why you love House of Many Hues.

2.  Include a valid email address (don’t worry, only I will be able to see your email).

3.  One entry per person.

The winner will be announced in a new post on Friday, March 16, 2012.

Thank you for your continued support.

Good luck everyone!

I am feeling ever so sad so if you are not in the mood to be brought down, avoid reading this post.  You may remember me mentioning that my very good friend’s dad wasn’t doing so well.  A few years ago he had suffered a heart attack and then later found out he had a tumor on his lung.  After 3 years of battling and hoping and trying it all ended Sunday evening.  I want to tell my friend that it will get better, but my own experience doesn’t prove that – at least not yet.  For me, it seems that as time goes by I miss my dad more and more and carry him everywhere I go.  In my mind I keep a file of all that he has missed and wonder how big this file will grow over time.  Yes, people tell me that he is watching down on us, but that doesn’t seem to help me any.  And so right now I have no words for my friend.  Instead, I plan to hold his hand and let him know that I’m here for him.

Images: sisterspock

I don’t believe I’ve shared with you any finds in quite some time and they are starting to add up so I’ll share just a few as to not overwhelm you (or make me look like I need a shopping intervention)!

Forgive me if I’ve shared my chair before  – although, I don’t think I have.  I bought this sturdy chair last summer for my computer desk (I gave up on the Mod one) and just loved it.  I went to a sample sale a few weeks ago and bought fabric for $1 each.  I used one of the fabrics (normally priced at $155 per yard – that was on the tag) to reupholster my chair.  The fabric is a charcoal  tweed with some wool made by  Pollack.  Here is how it came out…

Next, I came across some little finds, but nevertheless just made me happy!  I’m trying to decide which photo to put in the frame (the one in the photo is stock).  But I did find a spot for it – right on my nightstand.

You may feel that my next find is a little more on the pricey side (comparing to the one’s above).  BUT, I could not walk away from this one (actually, I did and then ran back the next morning).  It’s as close to brand new as can be and when I found out that this velvety chair normally retails online for almost $400, the asking price seemed reasonable.

I’ve spent a few Saturday mornings sitting here with kids as I read a story book.  Oh, and get this, the seat cushion lifts up and has built in storage!

BTW, I’m working on my newsletter publication and plan to send it out in the next few weeks.  If  you’ve never received one and are interested, sign up with your email address (top right side of the site).  Have a great evening!

Images:  House of Many Hues

How will you be spending your Valentine’s Day?  Will it be with someone special?  Or is it just another day?  Would love to hear from you.

Images:  House of Many Hues