What Ana Does

You know what I'm talking about ... those rugs you get and toss on the floor in your bathroom or office or living room. And, if you're like me, you don't get the under-pads so the rugs move constantly (or you DO get the pads and they don't work ... argh!). And then there was that one time we washed a bathroom rug and it fell apart and broke our washing machine and I'm pretty sure we had to replace it. The rug AND the washing machine. See, my loathing of these scatter rugs runs deep. This week I've been spending a bit more time in my kids' bathroom than usual (we had company) and the two scatter rugs in there -- that I found on sale at who-remembers-where? store -- are just a mess. And I'm pretty sure I haven't decently washed them in an embarrassingly long time (because of the unfortunate washing machine incident mentioned above). They don't match (charming!) and I'm pretty sure they are not made for bathrooms. Total fail. So guess wh...

A few months ago, the girls became roommates and Leah's room got turned into a crazy-messy play room. It's pretty much been that way ever since. But lately, the girls have talked about NOT sharing a room anymore. Alice might want to sleep in a little later on a school day. And I don't blame her. But we've always had a challenge with arranging the furniture in Leah's room ... the bed specifically. There's really only ONE way to do it and that's with the bed running down the middle of the room. I made a quick drawing of the layout ... And here's a photo of the bed and the niche from when we moved in and decorated back in 2012 ... While the bed looks good in the middle of the room, it takes up a lot of valuable floorspace. And Leah has requested an alternative location for the bed when she moves back in. Where oh WHERE can I put it? Related Links: The 2012 post of Leah's room complete An idea of how to get rid of that nook that did...

There's about 3,000 different ways to hang a gallery wall on Pinterest. The tips include using laser-levels and cutting cardboard/craft paper -- hanging those first to figure out positioning. Awk. Well, I am not in it for the precision. I like the casual feel of hand-arranged frames on a wall. If I attempted to measure and make it uniform (like I did on the record album wall), any irregularity would drive me nuts-o. Before: A Newly-White Wall So here's what I do: start on one side of the wall and hang the big frames first. I attempted to make them about the same distance apart, but I just eyeball it. I do use a level to make the frames straight -- I'm not that sloppy. Then I fill in with the smaller frames. The key is to use the same black frame/white matte combo. Then they look cohesive no matter how they are hung. After: A Wall of Growing Girls, With Room For More I ordered a bunch of newer photos to add to the wall in an 8x10 size. So I'll be f...

The Sad Entry Way ... Months Ago What are your thoughts on wallpaper? I'm thinking about my entryway again because I recently imposed a deadline of end of April to come up with my master plan -- and the ideas are starting to flow in. And when I think about the big "POW! Huge Impact!" statement I want to make the minute you walk into our house, you can't get bigger impact than a massively COOL wallpaper. And, as I'm shopping around, it's about the same cost as a bucket of paint. (Unless, I get some amazingly fab hand-drawn design (not likely) -- that stuff is crazy PRICEY!) I'll try to stick to the navy, green and/or yellow color scheme I've been working with. And I'm a fan of the geometric patterns or organic patterns. I'm also considering using the wallpaper in a section of the wall -- because, remember, this entryway has walls that are 2-stories high. So with some clever use of moldings to break up the massive area, I can pick and c...

I always like to read those "Other Uses" features in magazines. Real Simple does it so well. So here's my attempt at it. I've had this lamp forever. It's had a few different shades on it, the latest was beige, and since I'm banning beige from this house (it's all over the walls) it had to go. I bought a very YELLOW lampshade a few months ago, because that's my living room accent color. However, it's not meant to fit the lamp, so it sits crooked on the base. A Shade Askew I've been looking at it askance for months, formulating my fix. Is there a piece at the hardware store I can buy? Will leftover Play Dough do it? The solution I finally decided on ... TIN FOIL. Eureka! The Solution: Tin Foil In about five minutes, I shaped the tin foil around the base of the shade, where it meets the lamp and created a customized seat for it. The tin foil easily curled around the base and secured to the shade. The result: Hooray! A straight lamp...