Faye Dodges Zombies » Home Decor Ideas

Vintage Decor Inspiration

Faye — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:26:25 +0000

A couple of months ago Ben and I went to our local library’s book sale, which is the first Monday of every month. We found a lot of cool books but my favorite by far is my Better Homes and Garden’s Decorating Book 1968 Edition and it only cost .50!

I love the furniture, the wall hangings, the use of bright colors and pretty much the way people decorated their homes in the 60s and 70s in general.

So I decided to share some of my Decorating Book’s vintage loveliness.

This buffet looks really cool, despite the hardwood.

These lucite chairs make me swoon.

The pretty shower curtain and yellow cabinets in this bathroom make me happy.

I love the couch, the hanging lamp and the cute square side table.

I love this little sewing closet and especially the fold out table.

I love pretty much everything about this cute living room.

Why don't people use color like this anymore?

I hope everyone enjoyed these photos as much as I do.

Cheers!

The Wood Paneling Debate

Faye — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:51:17 +0000

Since moving into our 1940′s cottage style home, Ben and I have always disagreed about our living room’s wood paneling. We have that “real” wood paneling that I believe is knotty pine, that a previous owner thought was really fancy and had it installed in both the living room and one of our bedrooms. Ben loves it and thinks it is really fun and vintage. I hate it and how dark it makes our living room. I seriously want to paint over it and Ben hates that idea. Since it is our house and not just my house, I would like for us to make the decision together but we are stuck in a wood paneling debate for real.

I don’t quite get why guys love wood paneling so much and hate the idea of painting it. Every time we have someone new over to our house, 9 times out of 10 if that person is a guy he will say something like “man i love the wood paneling in here” or “wood paneling, Nice!” If that person happens to be a female, they will usually make a comment like “have you thought about painting the wood paneling?” To which my normal reply is “Everyday of my life.”

So in order to encourage Ben to at least think about painting our wood paneling, I have decided to share a couple photos.

Side Note: While searching through Google images for Wood Paneling, more than a couple of the listings were from a website called UglyHousePhotos.com which I feel proves my point.

Painted Wood Paneling via Houzz

Pretty Painted Wood Paneling via Apartment Therapy

Awesome Before and After via I Still Love You

Painted Wood Paneling from Monica Wants It

Wish me luck in convincing Ben that we should paint our wood paneling!

In case you are interested in painting your wood paneling, Young House Love has a great tutorial.

Also this post “Why Do Men Fear Painting Wood?” over on Hue is pretty funny.

Before & After: Ugly Chair Cushions Recovered

Faye — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:22:14 +0000

Until we get a new kitchen table and chairs, we have to make do with our current ones which were given to us by our former roommates. I am glad these ugly chair cushions can be re-covered quickly and easily. Notice the gross paint drops from who knows what.

All you need is a screwdriver, a staple gun, fabric and something to help you remove the staples, like a flat head screwdriver.

This is the fabric I chose. I bought it at a thrift store and at first I thought it was vintage but it is possible that it is vintage inspired. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

First unscrew the seat cushion from the base of the chair. My cushion only had 5 screws holding it to the base. Next simply pull out the existing staples and remove the current fabric.

Use the fabric you just took off as your pattern for cutting out your new fabric. Next stretch the fabric over the chair cushion and staple the fabric to the chair.

I folded the raw edge of my fabric under before stapling it, just to make it look neater. The truth is that nobody will be looking at the underside of your kitchen chairs and if they do its rude. Notice all of the holes from previous re-coverings.

Once you have finished stapling the fabric, re-screw the cushion to the base of the chair and you are done. You can re-cover 4 chairs in about an hour or so, depending on how long it takes you to remove the current staples.

Since re-covering these chairs, my kitchen feels way more cheerful.

Before & After: DIY Vintage Painting Headboard

Faye — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:52:17 +0000

Right after we first moved into our house, our yard flooded into our neighbor’s yard and garage. Ben went over to introduce himself, help clean up and apologize. He returned with this painting.

He said that she asked him if he liked it and mostly to be polite, he said yes. She went on to tell him that her daughter in law painted it and she hated it but had kept it up for years. We decided that we couldn’t get rid of it.

A year later I had an idea.

Ben and I went to Lowe’s and bought a 2 x 4 piece of wood, which he cut in half. Next we held the painting on the wall behind our guest bed to find out the proper height for the headboard. Ben marked the 2 x 4s and then drilled holes into them and used screws to attach them to the painting. This really is one of the easiest projects we have done recently and I am pretty happy with the results. I think Ben is pretty proud of himself too.

Easy No-Sew Drop Cloth Curtains

Faye — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:12:27 +0000

Recently I have been trying to find ways to make our living room look brighter and more inviting, which is a challenge with our wood paneling. The obvious answer would be to open the blinds and pull back the curtains but we live on a somewhat busy street and I enjoy my privacy. While looking at a home tour on either Design*Sponge or Apartment Therapy (sorry I can’t remember which one) I noticed that someone mentioned their curtain was actually a drop cloth. So I measured my windows and off to Lowe’s I went on a mission. I bought (2) 6′ x 9′ Canvas Drop Cloths and 2 sets of Allen + Roth Clip Rings.

That afternoon my friend Nikki and I installed my curtain rod about 6 inches higher than the window to make the window seem larger and the room seem bigger. Next we added the clip rings (7 per drop cloth) to evenly spaced folds in the drop cloth to create pleats. Once that was completed we hung the drop cloths on the curtain rod and we were done!

Curtain Pleats

I am so happy with the results. Our drop cloth curtains brighten our living room tremendously and they were so easy and inexpensive to make!

T.G. I. F.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

DIY Winter Wreath

Faye — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:56:06 +0000

This holiday season I decided to make fun DIY decorations for my house. I made this green and silver winter wreath using this tutorial from Design*Sponge. Mine doesn’t look a lot like their wreath, but I am happy with it. I love the way this wreath looks on my front door and it was not hard to make but be advised that it takes longer to make than one would imagine.

Pretty Shower Curtains

Faye — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:32:42 +0000

Ben and I need a new shower curtain since we moved our cute shower curtain into the guest bathroom. Any of these pretty shower curtains would be great, especially the first one. I am kind of in love with it actually.

Flamenco Shower Curtain from Anthropologie
Cityscape Shower Curtain from CB2
Falling Leaves Shower Curtain from Urban Outfitters
Madison Taupe Shower Curtain from Crate & Barrel

Home Inspiration: Shutters and Windows

Faye — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:46:44 +0000

I have so many fun ideas for new house projects. But when I get a chance to tell Ben about them, it seems like I spend more time trying to remember which blog, site or picture inspired me. In an attempt to organize my thoughts and inspiration I have decided to share my ideas with you by category.

Pretty Shutters and Windows I Adore:

I love everything about this little cottage, especially the shutters.

I love these brightly colored windows and the window boxes.

Ben likes Bermuda Shutters.

Pretty Blue Shutters from Apartment Therapy

I love how these windows open!

Blue Shutters that would match my front door. (Remember this photo from my post titled Cottage Garden Inspiration?)

I love the green!

Not your Maw Maw’s Crochet

Faye — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:37:18 +0000

Nathan Vincent’s crochet work is amazing and I think this lion should hang in my living room. Check out his portfolio.

Or maybe this deer.

Thank you Katie for sending me a link to his interview with Dwell.

Home Inspiration: Cottage Garden

Faye — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:15:08 +0000

Sometimes I have trouble conveying to my husband exactly how I want our yard to look. We are working on our landscaping and I have a vision but I talk really fast and a lot, so sometimes I overload him. In his defense I usually say something like, “Ben I want us to have almost too many flowers like a cottage garden.” And I often say to him, while he is driving, “See that yellow bush over there, that is exactly the one I want” or “look at those shutters, they are perfect.” Upon reflection I realized that these two methods are not the best since (a) Ben has no idea what I mean by “cottage garden” and (b) I might cause him to wreck since we are usually past whatever I am wanting him to see. In my experience, men tend to understand more clearly when shown pictures. Maybe this will help.

I like this cottage garden.

I really like window boxes.

Matching shutters and window boxes seem ideal.

I need Black Eyed Susans in my life.

Hydrangeas and Window Boxes

This next house is my favorite. I love the Daisy Cottage from Dear Daisy Cottage. Her blog makes me jealous a bit and her dog is really cute.

Oh and I want a white picket fence.

Let me just also say that I realize that a white picket fence is cliche but I don’t care. I have never lived in a house that was not rented and now I own a home and I want a white picket fence.