Faking it.

In a couple of past posts, I've unofficially introduced you to my newest baby - the most covet-able house plant of the moment, at least in blog world - the infamous fiddle leaf fig.  When I found her I did a little happy dance :) [in our small area it seems people haven't exactly caught on to the fact that this plant is VERY IMPORTANT and AMAZING, so you can't find them anywhere.  Hence the happy dance when I found her, tucked among a sea of palms and rubber plants.]

She fits right in :) 

SO.  Of course after finding such a gem, I of course took every measure to ensure her health, as they're sometimes known to be a bit ... finicky.  I picked out a good spot [the spot I originally wanted for her would likely ensure her death, turns out.  So I sucked it up and put her where she'd like living.] where she can get all of the bright, diffused light she likes.  I cleaned off her leaves so she can absorb said light.  I didn't transplant her from her original pot, as tips in some fig articles I read.  I even named her, so she feels loved, and maybe, in turn, would decide to have more of a will to live.  

She is now known as Miss Figgy.

One more thing I did for Miss Figgy to make her feel more at home was let her spread out a bit.  When I bought her I just got a cheap plastic-lined basket to put her pot in, to make it less ugly.  But it wasn't a great fit.  It was a few inches too tall, so the last few rows of leaves were kind of jammed together.  I didn't want to give Miss Figgy ANY reason to throw a fit and die, so I set about remedying that quickly.

Luckily, my mom had an old planter that was the perfect size, and brass, with which I am currently deeply in a love affair. One problem - it's the really cheap brass-plated tin kind.  But it was FREE.  Why not give it a shot? 

I had an idea on how to make it better, from some past home updates at our old house. And all I needed was my favorite refinishing tool:

I set up shop in the spot I usually use for small refinishing projects - in perfect view of the TV.  Because why not?
If you have some cheap, shiny brass stuff that you want classed up [you see that shit aalllll over Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores for pennies], set up shop in front of your TV and follow these steps:
1. Lay out on an old towel to catch all of the dust.  If the object you're classing up is crazy dirty, you can wipe it down, but this had a normal amount of dust on it, so I didn't even bother cleaning it off first.  Any shortcut that's available, I'll take.

2. Gentry scrub off the shiny bits with the steel wool.  Look at it in the light so you can see where you're going and how much you're actually taking off.  Work in a circular motion for best results.  And if you have tiny nooks and crannies, just spread out the steel wool so it's more pliable, and shove it into the nooks.

 2a. Be careful to not scrub off TOO much.  I had a spot that started to look a bit shiny again.  And it turns out I had just scrubbed off *all* of the brass plating in a spot.  The shiny spot underneath is silver.  Oops.  So that part gets turned away from the dining room.

3.  Wipe off the excess dust with a *very slightly* damp rag and THAT'S IT.

I put a cheap plastic plate in the bottom [so excess water won't ruin my beautiful new floors], dropped Miss Figgy in her new digs, et voila!

Looks quite nice, eh?

And just because this blog stands for truth, I took an updated photo too.  The pic above was taken in November, and now - two months later - she still looks happy! 

Don't be afraid of the cheap, ugly brass planters out there!  It's crazy easy to fake it.  All it takes is 10 minutes in front of the TV!

I am a hoarder of things.

One of my absolute favorite activities - ever - is meandering around an antique mall, up and down all of the aisles [I'm very methodical about it, and if you ever go with me, don't even think about rushing me], looking through shelves and boxes of all of the random things stacked up and packed into all of the booths.  Paraphernalia of every decade mashed all together at once, ready for me to pick through and search for hidden gems.  I mostly am attracted to vintage pottery [I love Haeger pots, especially in their mustard gold color], wood sculptures, animal-shaped brass objects, and milk glass.  And pretty much everything else that exists.
As that is my favorite activity, I've come to accumulate a lot of things.  And since the Haus has these amazing built in shelves, I have a place to put them all!   [well, most of them, anyway] 
When we unpacked until May 2014, the shelves looked like this:

[apparently every time a post had these shelves in it, my Dad got all twitchy.  He prefers order.]

So I set about making some sort of sense of my collection.  In order to do that, I took everything off of the shelves to take proper stock of what I was dealing with.  After that, it's fairly easy to arrange things in order to not make your dad twitchy.  

Step 1: Categorize all of your things.  You can kind of see my groups here: milk glass [on the rug], wood objects [on the left sofa], mustard Haeger pots [also on the left sofa], aqua & teal things [on the rug on the left], metallic objects [on the hearth], miscellaneous-colored things [on the right sofa], and books [still on the shelves]

Step 2: arrange the books in small stacks on the shelves, in a way where they balance each other.  Not all on the same side, not all on the same shelf [I don't have enough for that anyway, haha :)], and alternating some vertical and some on their sides, to make more surface for putting of aforementioned things.  It doesn't have to be hard and fast - you can always move things when more stuff gets added in case things aren't working.

Step 3: Pepper the largest objects around, to balance the weight of the books.  Or, in the case of a few objects, to hold the books up as a bookend.

Step 4: Add in all of your favorite objects, so it's almost like they're first in line at a GA concert.  They get the best spots.  In my case, it's the mustard Haeger pots, and the best wood objects.  Those are all warm colors, so adding those first together worked well; all of the warm objects are spread around for even distribution.

Step 5:  Add in some counterpoints.  Everything I had just added was warm, so I put in my cooler colored things for balance.

Step 6: Keep adding and balancing!  I sprinkled around all of my metallic things, and started with the milk glass.  Heights are varied so nothing gets too heavy or hidden.

And after most was added [some things that didn't end up working are now in the cabinets] it looked like this!

And because gifs are fun:

And because I have a job that makes me insanely busy all summer, and thus unable to blog anything not for clients, this 'final' photo was taken on May 22, 2014:

And because I'm never finished buying pretty things, this photo was taken on January 14, 2015:

I've switched out some things!  And I got a new, super awesome walnut slab coffee table [thanks to my Mom, who both kindly puts up with me and my slowness at antique malls, and buys me pretty things when she's feeling generous].  That prompted a rug rearrangement, and things are feeling more cozy in there.  Other new stuff that I recently procured:

Very cool fifties Haeger pot on the left [gifted to me by a great and thoughtful client], and someone I've named Billy. Billy is only 5" long and has sharp teeth. 

More brass!  Especially my lobster.  That lobster is my lobster :) [yay for Friends being on Netflix!]

And this amazing parrot, who is about 12" tall [from another recent antique shop excursion]

A cute Frankoma pot, next to my tiny guy having a blast in the snow.

______________

The shelves are definitely still CRAZY full, but I love all of my things.  At least now it's somewhat balanced, and a little less 'crammed onto the shelf'

And for a blast from the past, here's the room almost exactly 1 year ago:

And now. 

The Year to Come

Hello 2015! You are going to be .... full. But I'm ready to go and ready to tackle the upcoming projects!
Now that wedding season is winding down, time is freeing up to [finally] pay attention to the Haus blog.  In the next few months there will be posts on new projects I plan on completing, and posts on little DIY tips that I've already completed and documented.  All I have to do is put the pics on here to show you all :)
FIRST LIST: The projects.
The Kitchen will be my main focus.  We did a few big things right before we moved in to spruce it up, and make everything cleaner and safer [more on that later].  It's been sitting, status quo, the rest of the year, and now I'm ready to do the things that will finish it up [or at least finish it until I'm ready to change things, as I'm apt to do.]
On the list are:

1. Paint the ceiling white.  I love the wood ceiling look, but this ceiling has been whitewashed at some point and doesn't have a clean look - it's more shabby chic.  And definitely not 'us.'  So it's either strip it all and refinish, or paint it.  So I'm gonna paint it!  That room is always the brightest in the house, but once we finish that project it'll be soooooo bright and gorgeous - I can. not. wait.
2. Unify the lighting situation.  From what I've deduced while poking around, the three silver cylinder fixtures are original, and worked well with the kitchen's original layout.  The lady who owned the house before we bought it [which, incidentally, we're the house's third owner since 1968!] expanded the kitchen layout a bit, and when she lengthened the counter on the wall, she added in another light that *sort of* went with the house.  And it's kind of bugged me since we bought it.  I have a few ideas of what to do, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!  I probably won't listen, but if you have an idea, share it in the comments!
3. NEW HARDWARE.  Once the gorgeous quartz counters went in, they made the current hardware look that much more terrible.  I already have the new hardware - bought that last year.  And it's really pretty!  I just have to get over the crippling fear of doing it wrong.  So.  I will work on that.
4. Shine up the cabinets.  The original cabinets are strikingly beautiful in person - they're walnut and have gorgeous graining.  But, over the years, and in a kitchen where things can get spilled on, and water sprayed, they've faded a bit.  My mom and I oiled them really well when I moved in, but they need some more doing.  So when I take off the old hardware and fill the holes [of course I didn't pick hardware that fits the spots that are actually there - hence the crippling fear of effing up] I'll pay them some much-needed attention.
5.  [Finally] Reupholster the chairs.  Not really a 'project' I'll be working on, but it does involve phone calls to actual people, which I really hate.  So if I can get those accomplished, I'll be on my way to having the chairs freshened up!  After waffling on 4 different options, I think we've settled on classic black vinyl.  Indestructible, and if I ever change my mind on color schemes, it'll still work.

Once all of those kitchen things are finished I'll do a full write up on all of the decisions, processes, and befores and afters.  That will be a biiiig post [or a couple of medium posts...]

Also up on the project list, but not necessarily ready for a broken-down list, are:
-Refinishing a very cool wood slab coffee table
-Cleaning, organizing & decorating the laundry room
-Making a larger gallery wall in the living room, with more photos and art that have been sadly neglected and put away all year
-Turning a superfluous coat closet off the kitchen into a pantry [!!!]
-Doing *something* with my master bathroom on the cheap.  It needs a full gut job, but that kind of money should be spent elsewhere at this time, so I'm going to spruce it up with some paint and creativity.  Somehow.  Right now it looks like this: [except messier]

[ That should actually be kind of fun, and I really like seeing what I can do with almost no budget ;) ]

NOW!  Done with the Projects list.  If I add another to the list I may end up overwhelmed and just skip doing anything at all.  Next up is the list of already finished updates that have been documented!  I have all the photos, and all I have to do is write up a post to share them all with you!
If you follow me on instagram, you've already seen sneak peeks of some changes, like:
1. We bit the bullet and seriously upgraded the floor sitch:

 

2. I adopted a new little pet, and her name is Miss Figgy:

3. I also did a quick, almost free DIY planter upgrade that brass lovers everywhere will thank me for [seriously - it's pretty cool.  Maybe that post will be up next!]
4. I added curtains!  Not a huge update or anything, but I was excited ;)
5. I rearranged all of the vintage crap I hoard into something presentable and less crazy on the big built-in shelves flanking our fireplace. I'll share my process of how to make sense of a mess of vintage crap.
6. I rebuilt the exterior sill on the windows.  A confusing sentence, I know, but when I get the post up I'll explain it all.  That may have to wait until closer to spring, because I still haven't taken the 'after' pics after the house was painted.  So when it's not bitterly cold I'll go clean up the sills, sweep off the leaves, and shoot some pics.  It's one of the things on the house that I'm most proud of :)

So!  That's a good list for now.  Expect lots of fun-ness here soon!