It's Great To Be Home

Makeover: Our Covered Patio

June 24, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 19 Comments

I have been meaning to tell you guys about our covered patio forever!! You see, we gave it a little makeover this past winter and spring and now it’s all ready for some summer lounging!

The list of changes we made is actually pretty long.

The first phase took place while we were still flipping the last house – we lured some of the trades over to our house to work their magic, staining and scoring our worse-for-wear concrete patio, patching the sagging sheetrock in the ceiling and painting it a bright white to match the bow window and doors (it was a dingy gray before), and installing 3 recessed lights for some nighttime ambiance.

Then it was my turn to brighten things up a bit with a new color scheme and some fun new pillows – the striped ones are sewn out of fabric I bought in a market during my trip to France last summer!

The last time you saw our patio it looked like this . . .

. . . and before that it looked like this . . .

. . . but because of the changes we made now it looks like this!

I liked the old patio but this version is much more “us” – it feels cheerful and fun, and I hope it feels welcoming.

Wanna come hang out? :)

Sneak Peek: The Smurf House

August 12, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 14 Comments

Today I wanted to give you guys a glimpse inside a house that I toured and fell in love with over the weekend. Take a gander at this charming little house dubbed the “Smurf House” (I’m sure you can guess where it got its name).

In addition to being cute, this house is also famous – it won the 2007 Renovation of the Year Award for its conservation district.

I love this porch directly off the master bedroom – it feels so Southern, don’t you think? And the pale blue siding accented with periwinkle is just awesome – I wish fun colors like that would look as perfect on every house! Although the exterior is picture-perfect, to be honest I wasn’t really expecting to be wowed by the inside of the home.

But I was wrong!

Just inside the front door you are greeted with this unexpected open floorplan – as well as some decor that had me totally swooning.

What I love most about this open living space are the bold choices and unexpected combinations made by the homeowner – the pops of orange in an otherwise muted color palette, a mirrored side table, luxurious silk curtains and statement lighting all work together flawlessly.

I like that the homeowner chose to add modern chandeliers to both the living room and breakfast area – they are in a straight line across the ceiling so instead of competing with one another they simply serve to define the two spaces in an otherwise open floorplan.

I like the kitchen a great deal, but I’m not bowled over in comparison to the rest of the home. I think it’s the cabinetry that isn’t doing it for me – maybe something in a richer wood tone would have felt a bit more historic and flowed a little better with the furnishings throughout the home. Or maybe it’s just me!

This little dining room is just past the kitchen, and is in its own little world. I actually really like that – I feel as though the focus would be solely on you and your guests, without the distractions of television or anything going on in the rest of the house. And it overlooks a great backyard, as an added bonus. I love the combination of the sleek West Elm circle chairs with the more luxurious upholstered chairs – and they all work well together with their lovely curves.

Just off the main living space is a small half bath (under the stairs), and then the master suite. And not to hype it up too much, but this is probably the best master suite I’ve ever seen in person – it’s awesome!

You walk directly into the master bedroom, which is serene yet bold at the same time with deep chocolate browns and pale blue paired with faux fur and two statement lamps. The rich curtains act as a focal point behind the bed in place of a headboard, and the door to the right of the bed leads out onto that gorgeous patio you saw above.

On the left-hand side of the master suite is this spa-like bath. The luxurious and spacious feeling is enhanced by the sliding panels (from Ikea!) which allows the two spaces to either become one or remain totally separate.

This bathroom has all the basics you would hope for in a master bath – double sinks, soaker tub, walk-in shower, and storage. But beyond that, it has all the little details that you can only dream of – a crystal chandelier, floating vanity, the shower has frameless glass panels, and the soaker tub overlooks a beautiful side yard.

My only complaint has to do with the vanity – have you noticed it yet? The mirror is about 10 feet away on the opposite side of the soaker tub! I’m guessing that the homeowner typically uses a small mirror on a stand that remains on the ledge behind the vanity.

On the opposite side of the master bedroom is this totally drool-worthy closet. I don’t know any woman (or man, for that matter) that wouldn’t give her right arm for a closet like this. Tons of built-in storage, windows, a chandelier, and an island? I’m sold!

If you head back to the front door and head upstairs, you are greeted by this lovely capiz chandelier:

At the top of the stairs and on the left is this sunny and funky guest room – I would never have been so bold as to paint the walls orange, but now I’m feeling completely inspired.

I love the combination of orange, white and chocolate – the shock value of the orange is tempered beautifully by the chocolate and white, and keeps what could be a very loud color from screaming at you. Instead, it just feels rich and eclectic.

This bedroom adjoins a hidden study through the sogi screen:

My favorite part about this study is the antique desk that has been painted a stark white – while some would shudder at painting such a piece (sometimes I feel that way, too), you can’t deny that it both looks fabulous and acts as a neutral yet interesting piece in this space.

The homeowner has clearly learned the lesson of pairing bold colors with only one or two other shades – in this case, the mustard yellow is calmed by white and black for a totally chic look.

At the top of the stairs, between the two bedrooms, is this bath remodeled with a walk-in shower and oodles of glass tile – we all know I’m a sucker for glass tile!!

The last room in this surprising home is the third bedroom, which is glamorous and refined with a bit of an edge. The element of painted woodwork is repeated with the antique bed, and the mirrored side table and chandelier add a touch of sparkle to the space. As the homeowner demonstrated in the master bedroom, the combination of chocolate brown and blue (in this case a steel blue) is instantly luxurious.

The sophisticated flair of this room is accentuated with a pair of vintage Barbie illustrations.

And although I didn’t get any pictures of it, this property also had a full guest quarters in the backyard – how cool is that? Curious about the stats of this house? Check out the detail sheet below:

So what do you guys think of this house? Are you as bowled over as I am, or do you think it’s a little over the top? While I love it, I’m wondering how I would feel living in a home like this 24/7 – I mean, how would it go with my sweatpants and tank top?

Some images courtesy of GoliadAve.

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful

August 3, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 22 Comments

How is your outdoor space looking these days? When we first moved into our house, the back patio was a sea of Astroturf and prison bars:

And even after we took down the bars, scraped up the Astroturf, and demolished the little brick wall, the covered patio was cute but could use a little jazzing up, don’t you think?

(As you can see, this pic was taken before we laid new sod in the backyard.)

I love the wicker furniture and the outdoor rug does a great job of anchoring the seating area, but it’s just not too exciting. Or, I guess I should say, it wasn’t too exciting! Take a look at that baby now!

Mmmm, I love it!! And the best part is that this total transformation was super easy – I’m talking 15 minutes.

All I did was add a pair of curtain panels from Ikea, as well as two Ikea throw pillows. Not too shabby for under 70 bucks, right?

It was super easy to hang the curtain panels – no curtain rods or fancy supplies needed! In fact, all you need are a few nails, a hammer and a ladder. Here’s how I did it:

1. Fold’em. My curtain panels were super long and super wide – and they were lined on the back (pretty fancy for Ikea, right?). Since they were longer than I needed, I simply folded down the top of the panel about 4 inches. Then, because I wanted my panels to look pretty from both the patio and the backyard, I just folded them in half length-wise. That way the pattern is visible from all sides! I didn’t worry about the panels becoming too skinny – I simply wanted them to frame the patio to give a little visual interest, so they didn’t need to be super wide or even functional. Just pretty and fun.

2. Pleat and nail. Now comes the fun part! Our patio is covered, and there’s a little soffit that hangs down right at the edge of the patio (you can kind of see it in that first picture with the curtains). I decided to hang the curtains from that soffit, so once I was up there on my ladder I just started nailing! I began on the inner edge of the curtain – closest to the brick – and nailed right through the fabric (and all the folds) with a pretty long nail. Then, since I wanted my curtains to be rather narrow, I folded the fabric back over itself and put in another nail about 1.5 inches from the first nail – this created a little pleat in the curtain that resulted in a pretty fold. I kept pleating and nailing until the whole curtain was secure, and that was it!! Super easy!

As for choosing the fabric, I saw these curtains at Ikea and just went for them. I knew they would work perfectly with the greens and browns in the patio furniture and the outdoor rug, and the pattern is summery and fun but could also work in the winter. But we’ll see, maybe I’ll switch it up for winter!

And for those of you that are interested, Ikea also sells a track system that would be perfect for installing functional outdoor curtains – I bought it myself to add some mosquito netting, but it turned out that our patio is pretty mosquito-free!

I’ve been really pleased with how the patio turned out – it really feels like an extension of our home and is a fabulous place for morning coffee, entertaining friends, or just kicking back and listening to the birds.

What do you guys think? Have you created an outdoor room at your house?

P.S. I’d like to give a big shout out too all the lovely readers that swung by the open house at the flip yesterday – Lucinda, Kristina, Desiree, and Jen, thanks so much and it was awesome to meet you!!

This post is shared with DIY Day on A Soft Place to Land.