dark trim verse white trim

Over the weekend, we knocked the den off our painting list. The walls were cream so only one coat of Benjamin Moore Normandy was required. This made the project a relatively easy one as I cut in around the trim, base and ceiling and Jeff did the rolling. I also downloaded and listened to the entirety of David Sedaris' Holiday on Ice which made the time pass much more quickly. I am really excited that we were able to get this room done as I was able to unpack the last few boxes. This means that the house is now box free for Christmas decorating!

With the den complete that brings our painted room tally to three. The house hasn't been painted in who knows how long so all this painting is really just round 1. This generally means we are just tackling the walls and not the trim. A lot of the trim will need to be sanded and stripped and in some cases replaced so round 2 is probably going to be an even bigger project in certain rooms than round 1. This is definitely the case for the den. In round 2, we will have to strip a pair of french doors and potentially two windows before giving all the trim and casings a fresh coat of paint. We also will need to paint the fireplace and figure out what to do with a shoddy built-in (pictures to come I promise!). The big question at this point will be dark trim or white trim. Since I first began thinking about this room, I have envisioned it as this super cozy sort of a jewel box of a room complete with dark trim. At work, we have done several rooms that are top to bottom one color and I just love the monochromatic look. And while the look is rather on trend what I like about it is that reminds me of a traditional English parlor (not sure if this is justified but its what I think of). 

Since presenting this plan to friends and family, I have gotten a good amount of push back with such comments as "I love the contrast between the white and blue" or "trim is so impossible to paint let alone when its dark" or "it will be so difficult to repaint back to white". These are completely valid thoughts and concerns which is why I am taking them under advisement....But there is just something about rooms like those pictured below that I just can't get out of my head.....

home of Aerin Lauder via Mark D. Sikes

room in Oval Room Blue via That Kind of Woman

via A Thoughtful Place

home by Lindsey Coral Harper via House Beautiful

antique craigslist finds

Since buying our house, my Craigslist shopping has been really aggressive. It has also changed, in that, I not only search for furniture but more unique finds like sinks, tubs, doors and random other building materials and finishes. We aren't quite ready to act on any of these finds but I like to look and see what is generally available. And of course I would buy if a deal was too perfect to pass up!

You have to have imagination when sourcing antique items such as these. You also need to understand what goes into refinishing/rehabbing them for our own space. These are some current listing that I think have loads of potential.

This claw foot tub complete with brass tub filler is pretty incredible. It needs refinishing but doesn't look too terrible. If it was located closer to us I would definitely go look at it and consider it for our future master bathroom project. This is how I imagine it looking....

via Domaine

I love this sink and antique faucet and am considering buying it for our mud room.

It appears to be in great condition and not too big of size. I haven't yet done a floor plan of the space so I can't in good conscious purchase it now but I am going to keep an eye on it and potentially email the seller just to see if they would go down in price....How awesome would it look in a set up something like this... 

via River Smith Kitchens

Another item I plan on sourcing antique is new/old doors for upstairs. The doors downstairs are for the most part original but upstairs they were replaced with new, hollow core ones. This set looks really nice. 

It might even look nice to keep them in their natural wood finish since they are in such good shape. Like this look...

home of Anile Prakash via Design Sponge

Have a great weekend everyone!

a flush mount light for the office

On Monday, we had electricians come and do a laundry list of items. In the basement, they set up our dryer and removed old, unused wiring. On the first floor, they installed a dimmer in the dining room and a timer on the front exterior light. On the second floor, they put in two boxes for sconces (remember this post), installed a pancake box for a fixture in the office, replaced outlets in the project room and hung our ceiling fan. Lastly, they wired a motion sensitive light on the garage. We still have a "phase 2" of electrical work that we would like to have done but getting this list tackled got us pretty far on our electrical wish list (we also have a plumbing wish lit, yard wish list etc. very adult and pretty boring I know). 

I bought this fan and while Jeff doesn't love it - no light and a bit too modern for his tastes - I really like it.

Roto Ceiling Fan by Minka Aire via Y Lighting

Not having wires hanging out of the ceiling definitely makes our bedroom feel more finished.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on the sconces for the hallway but am pretty sure I am going to go with the Bryant. That being said, we opted not to have them hard wire a switch so the electricians will have to come back and put in a twist switch on each sconce so that project is now on a slightly longer timeline.

I also need to find a fixture for the office. It needs to be a flush mount or semi flush mount due to the low ceiling height and I just want something simple and inexpensive. I am hoping that in the next two years or so we can convert the office to a master bathroom so I don't want to spend a lot of money or time on selecting this fixture. Of course that being said I just spend the last two hours combing the internet looking for something that will work. These are my top contenders. 

Negron Light by Home Depot

This fixture is from Home Depot and is super cheap at just $49.42! I like that its brass and is a lantern. My two main concerns are that the brass finish will look too shiny in person and that it might be too small.

Parisian Architectural Poste Flushmount via Restoration Hardware

I like the simplicity of this globe by Restoration Hardware. I also like that I have a $100 gift card to RH so it would only be roughly $10 out of pocket. However, I am not sure I like any of the finishes as it doesn't come in brass...

Otis 6" by Schoolhouse Electric

With this fixture from Schoolhouse Electric, you choose the base and shade separately so I could get the brass base and then have my pick of different shaped shades. The problem with this fixture is that it is creeping towards $200 which is more than I wanted to spend. 

Bell Flush Mount Lamp via CB2

This CB2 light might be the current leader. Its cheap at only $59.95, has brass accents and is modern and simple. The main issue I could potentially foresee is that it will cast less light because of the solid shade. I am not sure if this will be a problem as we will put some sort of task lamp on the desk. But Jeff will also probably be in the room predominately at night so will have to think about that a bit. Any readers have any lights that might work for us?