Weekend Update: Sconces, Grills and Curtains – Oh My!
August 13th, 2007 by ariana
The weekend started with a Friday night whirlwind shopping expedition with stops at Ikea, West Elm and Crate & Barrel. At Ikea I got both the white AND natural color curtain for the dining room (what, you actually expected me to be decisive?) and red ones for the office. The red ones are going back though, the shade isn’t quite right to match the rug and the chair.
The white curtains were the winners in the dining room:
Do those tab tops look hideous? I could cut them off and hang them by white rings..
In this picture you can see how it ties in with the living room curtains. I also really need something to put in the middle of the dining room table.. any suggestions?
Speaking of which, I finally got around to raising the curtain rod behind the couch to the same height as the other curtains in the room – which I think looks much better. (And yes, I did it myself!) You’ll notice we also swapped out the brocade curtain for the white one. The decision to do that was made easier by the fact that the brocade curtains weren’t long enough for the new height of the hardware. (there’s another window on the other side of the room to the left that is the mirror of this one and it has no couch in front of it to hide the length!)
Of course no day would be complete without me purchasing NEW pillows to try with the couch so you’ll notice the new ivory and iceberg aqua Hayward pillows I picked up from Crate & Barrel:
I really like the ivory cushions because they have piping that is almost a baby blue color that ties in with the aqua cushions nicely. But overall I think they are too white and I probably should return them and keep hunting for a natural linen colored one.. what do you think?
Finally something other than the living or dining room…
We also hung the sconces in the upstairs hall on either side of the master bedroom:
Sconces from Urban Outfitters in Upstairs Hall
I wish urban still had these, they looked so cute on our porch on either side of the front door – but ultimately I liked them upstairs better.
And lastly, and perhaps most importantly we finally finally got a grill for our deck!
I say most importantly because:
a) the summer is almost over
b) we want to have a BBQ housewarming party which is rather difficult sans BBQ
c) our microhood is not yet vented making cooking meats indoors rather impossible
By the time we got around to shopping for grills in earnest, the pickings were slim. We didn’t want to spend more than $400 but also didn’t want the really flimsy stainless steel ones from Home Depot and Lowes because every review I’ve read says they rust – sometimes in just one season. We also wanted stainless steel grates rather than porcelain which can chip off. The only grill we found in our price range that fit the above requirements was Costco’s NexGrill. We definitely sacrificed form for function because this grill that they call “the champagne edition” is really just puke brownish:
Our New Costco Grill in all of its Champagne Colored Glory!
Costco grills come pre-assembled which is great, but makes transporting it much more difficult. Getting it up on the deck was quite a challenge (my back still hasn’t recovered) But back pain and ugly color were all forgotten as soon as we sat down to enjoy our first home-grilled meal of corn on the cob, grass fed organic beef burgers and asparagus. Yum! ;)
You included the pic with the dog just to make me jealous, huh? We’ve had Vet trauma this week but the upside was that I got to play with lots of stranger’s dogs in the waiting room.
The white looks so good! For the table maybe a big, tall glass vase filled with seashells, or sand and a candle, or with lemons when you don’t have fresh flowers in there. I love a big tall vase filled with seashells or a few in the bottom with a tall candle in the center. But I don’t know how you feel about seashells. About the curtain tabs, I don’t think they look hedious, but I think tab curtains look really casual and your chandelier is dressier. I think cutting off the tabs and going with rings would go better with the look you have so far, but if you do rings there, I think you should do them in the other room too.
You did it!!!
It all looks so fabulous. So put together with so much love. GREAT job.
The tab tops do not really bother me. Live with it for a week or so, then if they still bother you cut them off and use rings!
For the table, I second Leigh’s suggestion of a large glass vase with shells. If you do not live near a beach you can get some at Michael’s or other craft store. Also Pottery Barn has all their shell stuff on clearance now.
You can change out the contents of the vase with the seasons!
Fall = branches, gourd vegetables, mini pumpkins, oranges with cloves, other fallish neutral natural material
Winter = ornaments, apples, cranberries, pine cones
Spring = nicer plastic easter eggs (color coordinated of course) lemons,
Summer = shells
As for the BBQ. It looks fine. It is out side and will take abuse all weather abuse. You might find the puke brown is okay after all. Because, it will be easier to keep clean, no fingerprints or other marks, like stainless.
Now take this week off. Enjoy some romantic candle lit BBQ dinners and each other!
PS Love the pillows on the sofa! Very fresh.
Perhaps a darker ivory would be softer.
I’m tab top adverse, but these look fine. That said, fold down the tabs and put them back up to see what that looks like. If you like it better…bye bye tabs.
Regarding putting stuff on the table…what about just a stiff white tablecloth and a glass bowl with river rocks? I’m so trying to get out of having “stuff”. LOL
I love the look..very clean and fresh..and cool.
I’ve just discovered your blog and loved reading it. Your make-overs are simply gorgeous and I ADORE that blue in your dining room. Looks like Atmosphere from R.Hardware? And your china cabinet is perfect!
Iloveupstate, I actually thought of you when taking that pic when I realized sammy would be in the picture! I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty’s health problems but was relieved to read Tal is feeling better!
Leigh & Heartzartz, a tall vase is a great idea..maybe I can find one that’s pretty enough to stand on its own with or without seasonal “stuff” in it!
Sarawhite, welcome! The blue color is actually “arctic gray”. It was supposed to be a lot darker and more gray but it’s grown on me :)
I think I will try the rings and see how they look. I agree that the tabs definitely are at odds with the more formal looking chandelier..
You did a great job hanging the curtain rod—it looks perfect! If you try rings on the curtains, you can just fold the tabs back at first to see if you like that look better (before you cut them off)—but the tabs don’t bother me.
You know, I really really love the gold in the chandelier against the crisp grey and the white trim. So I’m wondering if the “tempo pillow” from C&B in Antique Gold would look pretty with the icy blue pillows, instead of the ivory? The velvet might be a little heavier fabric than you were looking for, but fall isn’t that far off…
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/.....038;f=1617
Your home is really coming together—I love the china cabinet too!
No tabs! They’re too casual for the room (chandelier, crown molding, dark furniture). I think the living room curtains could do without the tabs as well (your couch seems a bit formal – is it velvet?).
It’s looking really nice though!
You named your dog after my fiance? That’s so sweet! LOL
I like the ivory pillows, the lightness ties into the curtains and breezy theme you’re going for. I also usually hate tab curtains but these don’t bother me. I think you’d find you like the rings better, they also help the curtains move easier when you are shutting/opening them. The Artic Gray in your dining room, does it appear more gray in person, it looks like a nice gray/blue in your photos. I like the color but am hesitant about gray, the swatch looks really gray. Also can you tell us what color the living room is? I really like it. For your centerpiece, be careful of tall centerpieces, they will drive you crazy during a dinner party and most likely will be moved. I recommend a shorter vase/bowl/vessel that you can see over when you are seated. I like the idea of filling it with lemons or granny smith apples. I adore your blog BTW.
It’s all looking so great. As for the table maybe a 3 large glass vase and you can fill them seasonally (shells, pinecones, flowers). The curtain tabs don’t look bad, but I think the rings would go better with your style. Just do them in the other room too.
If you have a sewing machine, another thing you can do with the tab tops is fold them down in the back (towards the window) and sew them across a little bit lower than the width of your rod. Then thread them back up (still through the loops only) and you can see what they would look like without rings. You can always pick the thread out if you don’t like it.
Simply stunning! Your home looks beautiful. I love the dining room. The walls are such a wonderful color. I am not sold on the tab tops. I love the white curtains but think the tab tops are too casual, especially in the dining room. I just did away with tab tops in a few of my rooms and cannot believe the difference. I really like your home and the ideas you have. Thnak you for sharing the process with us.
Ok, the general consensus is the tab tops have to go! Lsaspacey’s idea is a great one – I can hand sew them to the curtain if I can only find my sewing kit (no machine unfortuantely)
Iloveupstate – so funny, and ironic about the names given your husbands feelings about dogs :)
Nicole, thanks for weighing in! Yes, I hadn’t really thought about the dining room being formal, but I guess it kinda is. The couch isn’t really velvet I don’t think.. its ‘velvetee’ though. But its kind of too frumpy to look formal in my opinion. Or too square anyway!
Jane, I love those tempo pillows! I do think that the velvet is a little too close to the couch texture though – I was trying to introduce a new texture..not so successfully so far :)
Lori – can’t comment on your site so have to do it here.. your house tour is SO stunning!!!! You MUST do color consultation, you are so talented. Now as for your questions, the arctic gray appears in person the same pretty much as the pictures : 20x more colorful than the swatch! My experience with any gray color so far has been that whatever its base color is comes through when in a whole room but not on the swatch.. But I will say that my dining room gets a ton of natural light. Maybe in a darker room it would be a more neutral gray color. The living room color is Glidden “parchment”. I couldn’t find a benjamin moore gold color that was light enough for that room without being too sunny and they couldn’t match the glidden color well enough for my tastes so I just ended up using Glidden in that room!
DawnMarie, Thank you for the comment and welcome!
I spy a cute dog.
Love the white (told you so… hee hee) I might be leaning towards doing away with the tabs if you can.
Everything looks awesome!
Your dining room looks great! I really like the color you picked. I personally like untraditional items for my dining room table. From the color and style of your dining room the first thing the popped into mind was an antique garden statue…maybe something that has chipped paint on it. (hopefully white) I’ve found them pretty inexpensive at flea markets and they make great table toppers and they always receive compliments. You can put candles around it and maybe a piece of cut burlap…something simple and inexpensive! :)
can you tell me what color paint that is in the dining room? I love it!