Found in the Wall!

One of the cool things about living in an old house is the constant possibility that you might find something left behind—intentionally or not—by a previous occupant. Open up a wall and you might see century-old bank bonds or a pile of cash or gold bricks or a diamond ring or…ya know. We’ve seen the news stories. Some asshole goes a-renovatin’ and finds some shit worth more than the house itself.
Well, I’ve done a fair amount of renovating, and my house is a hidden-treasure-failure. I found a couple of plastic combs behind the wall in the downstairs bathroom. A matchbook in the attic. A business card for a hat shop in the entryway ceiling. Several mummified mice. Until recently, I think probably the coolest thing I found was half of a shutter hinge below the solarium. BFD.

You know how on the first floor of my house, there’s this amazing panel detail below all of the windows? The incredible moldings were one of the big reasons I fell so in love with my house. So beautiful! It makes me feel bad about putting furniture and stuff in any of my rooms because I always feel like nothing I own is prettier than the house itself and therefore I should just leave it empty.

Reader Redesign: Baby Love

When Robyn sent over some photos of her charming nursery (full of adorable details) we had to share the love. Here’s her letter:
We had our first baby on 9/9/09 and I wanted to share his nursery with you. It started off as our guest room but shower water leaked through the bathroom wall onto the berber carpet so when I was many, many months pregnant my husband ripped it out and we laid tiles from Home Depot that we bought for about $75. We painted one wall Shark Fin blue, put up some old shelves I had for years (from West Elm), used some curtains we had stored away (from Pier 1), moved in a recliner from the living room, and added a rug that used to be in my office. The dresser was a 1950s piece found on Craigslist for $35 (we bolted the changing pad to the back and slipped it into the closet enclave). The book shelf is from Target and the dragonfly magnetic wall art is from umbra.com. The crib is Di Vinci (a gift from the grandmother), the egg lamp is J. Schatz (a gift from friends), and the bedding is Dwell (scored on ebay for 40% off). All told we spent around $700 on the floor, paint, mattress, bedding, the fan (about 50 bucks on sale at Restoration Hardware), the side table (40 bucks on clearance at Hobby Lobby), the paper star mobile, our NYC and BKLYN posters, and the Craigslist dresser. Take care and congratulations on your own little one on the way!! -Robyn
Here’s the nursery before the big baby-friendly makeover:

And here’s the nursery after Robyn worked her maternal magic:

Isn’t that a sweet and happy place to raise a bambino? Everything from the dragonflies on the wall to the origami mobile has us feeling all warm and fuzzy. Thanks so much for sending the photos our way Robyn! And what about you guys- do you have a favorite part? Is it the art? That great vintage Criagslist dresser? Do tell.
Note: While Robyn’s crib sports a bumper in the photo she actually removed it once her son started sleeping in the crib due to the associated SIDS risk. There are definitely a lot of highly personal decisions that are made on the crazy adventure that is parenthood and we love that every family can make choices that work best for them. source

New Fall Decoration Video Tutorial

Easy and beautiful ways to make Autumn decorations for you room. Fallen leaves ring dishes, gold natural ornaments, decorative tray, Autumn candle decoration and sparkling Fall leaves wall art – must try :)