What Ana Does

As is common in these lovely old apartments, our front entry is a long, wide, central hallway with doors into the kitchen, living room, dining room and water closet. It's the lovely main artery of the flat with tons of vintage molding. And when once we moved in, it looked like this: Center Hallway - With Light Bulb Hanging From a Wire! Charming! I was planning for this hallway, of course, so I made sure to pack the navy Flor tiles from our foyer (and I'm so grateful we did), as well as the white Ikea benches. They look almost custom to the space and both are super-useful. The little shelf is also handy to hold keys, socks, grocery sacks and whatever else ends up there. The Hallway Is So Big Rey Can Practice  So really, there was just a few things that I needed to do to complete the hallway so it was most practical: hang coat hooks, buy inexpensive light fixtures and accessorize with some art. We picked up some GREAT stainless steel lights from Ikea that were very i...

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...

Our master bathroom is begging for a remodel. But unless I win the lottery or dig up a few thousand dollars in my garden, it's not going to happen. The floors are ugly beige (beige!) tiles, the counters are ugly, we have enormous mirrors with the hollywood lights above them. And all the fixtures are builder-grade. Blah. But last week I took a good look at the mismatched bathmats on the floor and decided if I was going to put any money in this bathroom, that would be the biggest bang for my buck. I did some comparison shopping and decided the fewer rugs I could do, the better. The floor space is kinda large, so there's much ground to cover. And I wanted something low-pile and brightly-colored. Okay -- so after some browsing, I decided on Flor carpet tiles. Again. They're just so AWESOME! They have rubber on the bottom, so the squares don't slip. Configurable, so I could make some decisions on how to install. Great color choices. Made from recycled material. Mold re...

This weekend we got started on the entryway. Finally. We were having some people over and wanted to clean it up and start construction before the party. So Dave hit the Home Depot Saturday morning with my schematic and in 45 minutes, we had wood and nails. Before : Picking Up the Entry Rug and Cleaning Out the Furniture While he was away, I marked all the studs and picked up the current carpet tiles, which were supposed to be temporary when we put them down three years ago. The rails went up very easily and quickly, but with very loud hammering; we had to stop at bedtime. The vertical rails will be next (likely over Memorial Day weekend) and then painting them all a glossy white. After : Navy Carpet Tiles and the Start of the Boards on the Left The rug in the entryway is dark navy flor tiles, which will match the outside of the entry door (when it gets warm enough to paint outside). And this rug is longer than the last one, going past the piano. The rich color really...

About two weeks ago I decided I had had it with the traditional rug in our family room. The Carpet It's a quality piece of carpet, antique and 100% wool -- and we got it from the people we bought our house from in New Jersey, at a pretty deep discount. And the bonus; we didn't have to move it. It stayed with us for the last six years. Leah and Alice took their first steps on it, we wrestled on it and opened gifts on it every year. We added to the stains and spilled birthday cake into the fringe edges. The Boxes Arrive It served us well... but it's leading the family room in the wrong direction. Traditional? That's not us. I want vibrant, solid colors with a richer navy and more greens. I need to anchor the room, not jumble it up with more intricate pattern. I had known what my solution would be since we first saw the house. Flor makes carpet tiles that are colorful, fun to design and super easy to clean. Plus, you can move with them, add to them and re...

This is the first time since early childhood that I have a laundry room that isn't just part of the basement. So, we're excited to put this room to good use. It's also part mudroom, so what you're not seeing are all the hooks and shoes stashed neatly (for now) by the door. We spent some time this week cleaning it up and working on some organizing. Of course, painting the walls will be phase 2. I'm thinking a sunny blue to match the pretty curtains. And notice the Flor carpet tiles that we brought from the old house. These were in our basement and created a path to our washer/dyer. We arranged them into a checkerboard here. Love how easy they are to reuse. Laundry Room Gets Some Cleaning Up