Some old stuff for my old house.

I went antique/thrift/flea market shopping in Houston this weekend with the goal of finding something to fill this space.

I've never really known how to fill it...the TV hutch can't be centered because then the front door would hit it, so it has remained empty for almost three years.  Sometimes (as can be seen here in this picture from New Year's Eve) we hang sparkly numbers & streamers from the ceiling to fill the space.  

We actually liked those numbers & ribbons so much they stayed up till around Valentine's Day.  We seriously considered just hanging seasonal things around the numbers to celebrate year round.  But then decided that was borderline tacky (not that that's stopped me before!).  

OK so my good friend Ashley just moved to Montrose (fun area near downtown Houston) that's known for good food & fun antique/resale/flea market stores (among other things...they also hosted the Pride Parade this weekend).   In the less than 24 hours that I was there we were quite the foodies.  Tapas at Oporto, pizza at Papou Jerry's Gyro Truck, brunch at Tiny Boxwood's & lunch at Torchy's Taco.  Yum yum yum.  (BTW--my fav was probably Torchy's...shrimp taco & portobello mushroom taco...so good!)  And it's a good thing we walked up & down Westheimer!  We earned a smidgeon of what we ate!  :)  We started at the Guild Shop, which claims (and I might agree) that it's the best resale shop in Houston.  It is awesome.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but my sister did find some fun pieces of Fiestaware.  I was kind of looking for an old window frame or ladder to hang on the wall behind the TV.  I thought that'd be a good way to fill the oddly shaped space.  But after walking to the end of the street without much hope, I found these colored wood & metal frames.  We did some arranging & digging to find the best ones & in a few minutes I decided this was it!  I bought 6--all different colors & a few different shapes.  And after arranging a few different ways once I got home...

I love them!  They're pretty funky, but I love the colors & as I sit here watching One for the Money with Katherine Heigl (I don't recommend it...she's a bounty hunter from Jersey...it hasn't kept my attention...it's almost over & I still don't really know what's happened...but maybe that's because I have such cool artwork behind the TV!)....I am very happy with them! 

One of my last things I wanted to accomplish was to change out the locks on my front & back doors.  They're just really old.  I bought new locks, took the old one off, forced the new one in, only to realize it didn't really fit.  Silly old door.  So I forced it back out & put the old lock back in.   I'm calling a locksmith tomorrow.  Sometimes you need to know when you can't do something.  But here's what I do know...after all the Greek food I ate this weekend I am craving a goat cheese pizza!  HEB, here I come!  

This Old House

Oh, this old house!  It's been almost a year since I did any major updates, but the time has come!  While my roommate has been away I've been busy doing some major projects this month!  Here's a bit of what I've done!  

When I bought the house in August 2009, every room was a different color...two shades of blue, two shades of green, teal, yellow and pink!  Last spring & summer I painted the teal bedroom light gray (Urban Gray from Lowe's) and loved it!  Then I painted the blue living room the same color and loved it as well!  This summer my goals included painting my bedroom (which was pink!) and the hallway (one of the greens) the same color gray.  And to re-organize my room & closet in the process!  My room organization is still a WIP, so the photos on that will have to wait...but I did finish the hallway!  And hung a gallery of pictures!  

Looking from my bedroom down the hallway to the living room.  

The gallery up close. 

And from the other angle (in case you're trying to see if you made the wall!)  :)

One of my other projects was to get a bench to serve as seating at the dining room table.  I got 4 mix-matched chairs last fall (two stained different shades & two that I painted red & turquoise).  The bench is painted with the leftover red paint.  I love it! 

It's distressed on purpose...not dirty...though that's how it looks in this picture!

The whole mix-matched set!  Come to my house for dinner & you can sit here!

Still on the to-do list: Finish organizing my closet, organize my storage/craft room, organize my garage.  We'll see how much gets done before Erin gets home (June 30!).