Wallpapered shelves? Check.

So thats one thing off the list. Sort of. Of course I can't find all the books I had in my last home's built-ins so its looking a bit overun by tchoktes and bare of books. Have no fear people, I do read. As soon as I find the rest of the things that belong on these shelves, they will be properly "merchandised".



I did happen to find my collection of antique cameras and some display photographs. I realize I haven't put a new photo in a frame in years. Time to add some more current photos to the collection, I suppose.



When I ordered the paper I had some sort of odd notion that the roll would be wide enough to cover the back in one sheet. Not quite sure why I thought that but when it arrived it was clear that was not the case. Since I didn't want to permanently affix the paper to the back of the shelf, getting visible seams to become invisible was going to be a big problem. So I decided to hang the pattern horizontally and see how it looked. I briefly considered matching the pattern up from shelf to shelf but Im glad I didn't bother...i like the movement the alternating direction gives.



But I have a whole new found respect for anyone who has the patience to hang a patterned wallpaper in an entire room. That would be an incredible amt of precision work that is way beyond my patience level.

Back to this project, I'm not sure if I want to also paper the back of the middle set of shelves. I do like how it looks on the left and leaving the middle blank might be a little odd. But I don't want to be overwelmed by the patern either. In any case, I need to figure out a layout of stuff for the shelves before I do anything else anyway since the seams are hidden by the shelves, the spacing needs to be final before I do anymore papering. What do you think?

Guest Post: Lindsay's Temporary Home Makeover

Say hey to Lindsay, newlywed, e-decorator and bloggess. Today she is kindly sharing how she decorated her home in simple ways that didn't require a huge investment of time or effort. Ideal for her short term needs or other temporary spaces like rentals, dorm rooms, etc.

Hi! I am Lindsay from A Design Story and I am so excited to be a guest on Brooklyn Limestone! Since Before and After posts seem to be the ticket, today I am going to show you just that! Well, this makeover isn’t going to be grandiose and luxurious quite like some of the major renovations showcased here sometimes.

First a little bit of info…

I got married last July 12^th… yes; it has almost been a year! It has been the best year of my life because I married the most amazing guy! Anyways, we had planned on moving right into my husband’s house, which is why we had painted the entire house, renovated the bathrooms, and made plans for other overhauls to the kitchen and other areas. Well, long story short my hubs is a realtor and owns this (and other homes) with his friend. Let’s just say a week before the wedding; we realized it would be better to get a place ‘all our own’. So, with the wedding so soon, we decided to look when we got back from our honeymoon for a place we could make “our first home”. We waited and looked and looked and looked… and found an adorable townhouse. We had decided the perk of a townhouse was there was still a pool (we didn’t have to take care of) and a lawn (we didn’t have to take care of)… basically maintenance free for our first couple of years in marriage… please and thank you… more time for us!

So… long story short…. We picked up the townhouse and decided we would only live here about two years (we still have another to go)! Since we decided that we didn’t want to be here but for so long, we weren’t going to go crazy with renovations (our place was built in 2006) and painting etc, that way the place would be easier to sell when we are ready to leave!

Our house was bare before we made it a home! Here is a sneak peak at a few of our rooms...

Living Room...

Kitchen...

Laundry Room...

Master Bedroom...

Guest Room...

I am a huge believer in the trans-formative power of color! Since we only did a few accent walls with paint, we brought in color with our furniture, fixtures and accessories! We did this all on a pretty small budget and are very pleased with how the rooms look!

Ok… so here is how we made “Our First Place” Home…

Living Room... (Now tiled)

Kitchen...

Laundry Room...

Master Bedroom...

Guest Room...

So, here are a few tips on adding color to your space if you are like us and want to keep your walls white so you can sell soon, or even if you rent!

- Area Rugs: An easy way to define a space within a room and add color is an area rug. One large dramatic and colorful area rug is much better than multiple smaller area rugs scattered throughout a room. If you are decorating the living room, for example, select one large area rug to anchor the center of the room and then place the furnishing around this area rug with the coffee table in the center.

- Artwork: Of course you can add color to walls without painting by using wall art which can certainly be purchased or made. Choose bold paint colors that reflect the theme of your room. If you are doing French Country style, you will want to choose golden yellows and lavenders to reflect the French Provence countryside. If you are in the mood for a little DIY Project~ you do not need to paint a picture, unless you want to and are artistic. Simply paint the entire canvas the color of your choice. Then hang 3 large canvases side by side on your biggest wall. This will give the illusion that the room has been painted that color.If you choose to purchase artwork, pick a piece that showcases intense colors but also works well with the existing pieces in your room.

- Curtains: Use colorful curtains at the windows to add color to a room without painting. It will look more dramatic if you use solid color curtains or draperies and not prints. Make all the draperies or curtains the same color and purchase the longest length available. Mount the curtains way above the top of the window, as far up as you can with still having the curtains reach the floor. The curtains should puddle about 4-6 inches on the floor.

-Pillows & Slipcovers: If you have a dark room, and you want to lighten it up for spring, add a few bright-colored throw pillows to accent your furniture. Buy a couch slipcover for every season, and change it out as desired. Try light, airy colors such as light blue, yellow, white, or green for the spring and summer months and deep, rich colors such as purple, gold, red or navy for autumn and winter. You can also try the same with duvet covers for your bedroom.

- Fresh Flowers: Group your favorite spring flowers, or scatter single stems, in bud vases around the room to infuse a little freshness and a dash of color into your space. Just remember to dispose of them when the color fades.

- Lighting: Add color with lighting? Sure! A simple solution would be to incorporate some colorful lamps and pendants. Also, Incandescent lighting can add more warmth, and accent lighting can highlight an area of the room adding some additional cheer.

- Accessories: Incorporate colored accessories within your room. It’s OK to be playful and fun when dispersing your accessories around the room. Also, bookshelves aren’t just for books, incorporate some freestanding bookshelves, and use them to display a colorful collection of pottery, figurines or glassware.

Again, in design, sometimes it can be the small things that make a house feel like a home! We like breezy, comfortable and relaxing spaces that also make our guests feel welcome! I have my fair share of designing high-end homes that have that "magazine ad" look to them, and although I love to be the interior designer on those projects, my home is my refuge and we "live" here. With all the design ideas I have bouncing around my head, when we do buy a single family home this year, I am going to run wild with them! So, stay tuned for that! In the meantime, I am still painting accents, arranging and re-arranging and as Kevin (the hubs) says, accessorizing the accessories!!

I really hope you enjoyed "our first little home makeover"… I hope you’ll come by and visit my blog for more interior design tricks and tips, to see our other rooms, or for your very own design package!

A big thanks goes out to Stefanie – love your blog and your home! Thanks for having me as a guest, it was really fun!

Flashback: Home Office

Thank you so much for your ideas on the box room! I have so many great ideas to choose from now. (Although please feel free to add more to the pile). I can't stop thinking of an oversized mural of a vintage sewing pattern that Linda suggested, brightly colored metal storage that Leah suggested or several of the other great ideas you've planted in my head now. Thanks! Im a bit stuck on what kind of print I should use for fabric. Anyone want to offer a suggestion?

I really don't want to repeat what I did in my office. I mentioned this in the comments but who really reads what I respond in there? And then I realized that some of you may have never even seen my office. Duh. So a great time for a flashback post, don't you think? (For those that have seen it before, feel free to skip over the rest of this.)

Last December, I finally got my office in presentable shape. Here was the post I wrote back then:

I've been a busy bee. Attempting to use my motivation to complete a project to my advantage, I actually have completed a project. Well, sort of. I would still like to replace the window shade; add something on the wall over my desk; load a few more books and things I use regularily into the credenza but Im just going to call this room done for now.

I wasn't intending on finishing off the room so fast but I just happened to stumble upon a $99 black and tan zebra rug at Target. It was the last one left and it called to me. So instead of accomplishing my gift finding objective at Target, I managed to find this instead. Once I had the rug, I felt compelled to get the rest of my act together and 'finish' the room.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a plan for those two empty frames in the room. I used the top one to display a wooden scissors I had picked up a few years ago. I always liked it but never had a good way to put it front and center. Voila. What do you think?

The bottom frame got a pegboard organizing station. Since I tend to spend almost as much time finding my supplies as working on a project, I thought it would be a good idea to have all my most oft used items on display. The pegboard got a coat of gold enamel paint, just like the scissors. I added some pegboard hooks and its ready to go. Im not sure what other supplies I need to have at the ready but Ill finger that out as I go along.

If you remember, the scissors was originally a bare wood with some tacky words on the blade. I painted it gold using my new favorite thing - this gold enamel paint. Its very thin and has a great lustre to it. I have a feeling you'll be seeing some other gold painted items in my future. :)


With Thanksgiving in mind, Ive been very lax in thanking the very talented Snappy Chic (aka Heather Spratt) for sending me one of her prints. It needs to get framed properly but I couldn't stand having it hidden in the envelope any longer so it got the honor of being the first thing on my inspiration board. Its a photo of a carosel in Paris. The color and composition is beautiful. If you are looking for some great prints for your home, check her out.

Below the it, I added this "Bonjour" sign I found in the Christmas decor aisle at Macys. Not sure what this has to do with Christmas but I still love it. Glass glitter makes me weak in the knees :)

Last but not least, I tackled the window. Using some birdy branch clipart as inspiration, I hand painted on the lower pane using some acrylic cream craft paint. Then I pulled out this rattan shade I had saved from years ago...it doesn't quite fit but it was 100% free so that was an offer too good to pass up. I'd like to switch it out for something else later but this is good enough for now.

So thats pretty much it when it comes to my office. As you can see, its quite a departure from the style of the rest of the house. Its a departure from my style in general actually. I generally tend to go for a much more muted and calm decor. I wanted this room to be more of a fun space. A place where I could be inspired and make a mess but also a room with personality. Im pretty happy with how it turned out but Im always up for suggestions for improvement.

For the record, here is what it looked like before:

Hope you enjoyed a little trip down memory lane. Have a great weekend!

Home Office Part 5: Done for Now

I've been a busy bee. Attempting to use my motivation to complete a project to my advantage, I actually have completed a project. Well, sort of. I would still like to replace the window shade; add something on the wall over my desk; load a few more books and things I use regularily into the credenza but Im just going to call this room done for now.



I wasn't intending on finishing off the room so fast but I just happened to stumble upon a $99 black and tan zebra rug at Target. It was the last one left and it called to me. So instead of accomplishing my gift finding objective at Target, I managed to find this instead. Once I had the rug, I felt compelled to get the rest of my act together and 'finish' the room.



As I mentioned in my last post, I had a plan for those two empty frames in the room. I used the top one to display a wooden scissors I had picked up a few years ago. I always liked it but never had a good way to put it front and center. Voila. What do you think?

The bottom frame got a pegboard organizing station. Since I tend to spend almost as much time finding my supplies as working on a project, I thought it would be a good idea to have all my most oft used items on display. The pegboard got a coat of gold enamel paint, just like the scissors. I added some pegboard hooks and its ready to go. Im not sure what other supplies I need to have at the ready but Ill finger that out as I go along.

If you remember, the scissors was originally a bare wood with some tacky words on the blade. I painted it gold using my new favorite thing - this gold enamel paint. Its very thin and has a great lustre to it. I have a feeling you'll be seeing some other gold painted items in my future. :)


With Thanksgiving in mind, Ive been very lax in thanking the very talented Snappy Chic (aka Heather Spratt) for sending me one of her prints. It needs to get framed properly but I couldn't stand having it hidden in the envelope any longer so it got the honor of being the first thing on my inspiration board. Its a photo of a carosel in Paris. The color and composition is beautiful. If you are looking for some great prints for your home, check her out.

Below the it, I added this "Bonjour" sign I found in the Christmas decor aisle at Macys. Not sure what this has to do with Christmas but I still love it. Glass glitter makes me weak in the knees :)


Last but not least, I tackled the window. Using some birdy branch clipart as inspiration, I hand painted on the lower pane using some acrylic cream craft paint. Then I pulled out this rattan shade I had saved from years ago...it doesn't quite fit but it was 100% free so that was an offer too good to pass up. I'd like to switch it out for something else later but this is good enough for now.

So thats pretty much it when it comes to my office. As you can see, its quite a departure from the style of the rest of the house. Its a departure from my style in general actually. I generally tend to go for a much more muted and calm decor. I wanted this room to be more of a fun space. A place where I could be inspired and make a mess but also a room with personality. Im pretty happy with how it turned out but Im always up for suggestions for improvement.

For the record, here is what it looked like before:

Wooden Baby Growth & Milestone Chart

Once Agatha was standing I wanted to start marking her height but I couldn't quite bring myself to mark up the walls nor did I really love any of the growth charts I've seen for sale.  The solution: a wood board and a sharpie.  An aged board would have been way better but I didn't have one of those handy.



Since I had lots of room, I included boxes to mark other interesting milestones and firsts for her.  The type of things that I might forget if I didn't write down and she might find interesting: countries + cities visited, halloween costumes, first words, schools, books read, etc.  I tried not to make them too baby centric so the board stays relevant for more than just the first few years.

I added a coat of Danish oil thinking it would darken up the wood but I don't love how it highlighted the grain. I probably should have just left it bare or stained it prior to writing on it but live and learn.