Bathing Beauty

Well not yet - but we have met with a contractor and have plans to give our downstairs full (but tiny) bathroom a face lift...

Current bathroom pics -

Ugh - yucky floor, 1970s toilet, and that gorgeous orange caulk

My personal pet peeve - these faux legs the previous owners added to the sink

The 1950s black and white tile and tub

Due to the way homes were built in the 50s - to tear out the tile (attached to the sheet rock) and gut the bathroom would be a huge undertaking and boohoo bucks...so we have decided to keep the retro feel but add a few modern touches while staying within our budget...

The Plan:
1) Tile the floor (we are leaning towards white marble - it's a small space so we can splurge a little)

White Grecian Marble

2) New Toilet

The Kohler Wellworth - sure to be more efficient that the current groovy 70s model

3) Pedestal Sink (needs to be under 18" - yes this bathroom is tiny)

St Thomas Junior Pedestal Sink

Delta Faucet - Lahara Chrome

4) New Lighting and Mirror - still looking but thinking Black finishes to complement the black and white retro wall/bathtub tiling

These are the fundamental changes that Briguy has agreed to - of course I'm going to want to schnaze up the space with wallpaper, paint, window treatments, bathmats, etc

Details/Inspiration Images to come...

The Lighter Brighter Family Room

We did it!  Home Sweet Hanna survived its first DIY paint job!

We feel a true sense of pride when sitting in the family room - the once 70s wood paneled (knots included) room is now brighter and lighter - and overall just feels more Hanna like!  We seriously underestimated this project - what started as a weekend quickie turned into a 9 day paint-athon....complete with accent bookshelves (as mentioned here) - before and after pics are below....

Masters were on - so the TV stayed in the room till the last possible moment...

Yes...this is my painting outfit...complete with William Sonoma green ribbon as a belt!

The first paintstroke...no turning back now!

Primed and ready for PAINT

The finished product.....new and improved Home Sweet Hanna

 Although there were moments when Brian and I both would have loved to call it quits - we had a great time hanging out, listening to music (mostly GirlTalk and a "Long Skirt, Short Jacket" Pandora station we love), drinking beers, and chatting....time flies when you're having fun...I mean painting....

Finials for the Frugal Minded

Before moving into Home Sweet Hanna - I'm not sure I knew what a finial was....but with my new interest in window treatments I have quickly come to see how expensive drapery rod hardware can be...

We started our search at Restoration Hardware and fell in love with these cast iron beauties...love the rusty color and industrial finish...

 They come with a few finial options but we really liked the "Ball" - see below

$99 (on-sale now for $75) - here

We also looked at Pottery Barn....

$89 - check them out here

PB had a few Cast Iron options....again we liked the "ball" option but the rod was very skinny and did not seem substantial enough for our triple window...

With my luck on our living room drapery hardware I browsed the selection on "the O" and found this set that is nearly identical to the Restoration Hardware guys listed above...

$38.49 - here

These hollow balls are not as heavy as the solid Restoration Hardware finials - but they look very similar and are actually easier to hang without worrying about the extra weight causing our our new drapes to come crashing down.

Will report back soon with pictures of the installed drapes and the painted (FINALLY!) wood paneled family room....it's looking super cozy in there!

"Classical foundation with a layer of playful punctuation"

Yesterday Trad Home hit the virtual newsstand compliments of Lonny and Traditional Home - I must say I loved the video featuring Jonathan Adler and Charlotte Moss.  What a fun pair!  The duo gave their point of view of traditional design.  My favorite line was from Jonathan Adler talking about how traditional design is not stuffy - but "a classical foundation with a layer of playful punctuation."  This statement sums up my approach to Home Sweet Hanna - check out the full video here.  And a few favorites of my favorite  Charlotte Moss designs below...

In Living Color

To lighten up the space and make it feel more modern, The Hanna House is going to paint our retro 1970s wood-paneled family room. We want to paint the room a neutral tone but would love to incorporate a punch of color....perhaps painting the back of our built-in bookshelves a contrasting hue would do the trick....

Fun Apple Green - from Peacock Feathers

A cool ink blue - from Young House Love (love their blog - and they live here in Richmond!)

Subtle and soothing pale blue - House Beautiful

Light and breezy blue-sh/grey - Little Green Notebook (love the mirror placement)

Dark Blue - Southern Living...note the "style secret"

Thinking a deep plum or a navy similar to the Young House Love picture above - thoughts?  Will keep you posted on our progress!

Pop of Color (take 2)....Pop Pop

In February I posted about adding a pop of color in our guest room with original art.  See below for the image I plan on using for inspiration -

Recently I came across a similar piece from the Lilly Pulitzer Furniture Showcase (see below) collection available from HFI this summer.  Love that Palm Beach Princess style -as mentioned here...

sorry for the grainy pic - this is the only one I could find

Looks like a similar effect to the Highgloss image  - large canvas with colorful stripes.  I am in no way an artist, but this seems like a DIY project waiting to happen, especially with help from my super artistic sister-in-law Laura.

One of the accents that is subtle but caught my eye in this image were the white plates on either side of the painting.  It reminds me of an article from last March's Dwell called "Search and Display" about a collectors passion for random plates.....she displays her beautiful plates in a kitchen mosaic...see below -

I love this idea and what a fun collection.  My favorite is the beautiful blue peacock and that cute lime green fish.  Both of these ideas (or a combination of both) are low costs and add a punch of color to otherwise bland white walls.

George The Eskimo

Come on without

Come on within

You'll not see nothing like the mighty George

Lyrics (modified) by Bob Dylan capture the latest addition to Home Sweet Hanna - The Dogloo.

We looked around for the best price on a dog house and ended up ordering a Petmate model from The O (say it with a Maryland Accent - haha).... you know I'm a fan of that $2.95 or cheaper shipping especially for cumbersome or heavy items like the rugs we ordered or in this case...a 32 lb doghouse....

Our doggie igloo arrived yesterday and the jolly new owner helped me with assembly....well sort of....George took it upon himself to steal the screws and take a little lap around the yard....gotta love that irresistible guilty face in the assembly timeline pictures below...

It's here!

Screw Thief!

Catch Me If You Can

Guilty George...good thing those puppy dog eyes get you out of anything!

Back to the snap and screw assembly...

Time to explore my new hangout

Success!

Pillow Fight

Upon moving into the Hanna House we put our wedding gift credits to use and furnished our living room with the Crate and Barrel Azure Sofa (read more about it here).  Then Santa Came Early and we spruced up the room with vibrant deep coral with multi layered green striped curtains.  Now we're ready to add the frosting....Pillows!

I knew I wanted something unique and custom made - I started at the fabric store and then made my way online to Esty (man I need to learn to sew!).....here are a few that caught my eye...

Love Imperial Trellis (and Kelly Wearstler's style - check out her new blog) but think this color may be too light for our bran colored sofas...

Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis - here.

I drooled over those Chiang Mai Dragon pillows - love the vibrant color and that featured feisty dragon (letter head of my favorite blogger) - but got sticker shock with the price tag...

Chiang Mai Dragon - here

Love the colors and the interesting use of Ikat applied to the floral - a close contender...

Ikat Floral - here

If we were using cool blue/purple tones I would definitely invest in these geometric patterned navy pillows and add a partner pillow in an  interesting stripe or complimentary print...

Navy Geometric - here

This poppy print fabric is so cheerful and I am a sucker for large prints, but I was nervous about the pinks clashing with my curtains (and the room looking too feminine)...

Poppy Print - here

So....we finally settled on these Robert Allen fabric beauties from Turquoise Tumbleweed's shop (I share her affinity for bright colors and large patterns!)....

My pair of pillows promptly arrived this week neatly wrapped (including a nice thank you note from the seller) with a few swatches of other fabrics I requested...can't wait to see how they look - waiting on our Overstock down pillow inserts to arrive for the big unveiling!