Our First Houseguests

Like the real adults we now are (I swear), we hosted our first houseguests last weekend. They agreed to honestly review our new Lubi Daybed, as well as our newly installed shades, which are unsettlingly see-through from inside. Thanks for sleeping in the closet/office, Robin and Derek!

Some pictures of the almost-there second bedroom, and our friends' verdict after the pics:







We had to remove the desk when we folded out the daybed, but that was pretty painless. According to Derek, the bed was very comfortable. Robin tactfully suggested we use a pad on top to soften it. I discovered that this isn't because they have different sleep numbers, but because Robin slept on the side that is normally the bottom, sturdier half of the daybed, and Derek slept on what is the softer top half. Poor Robin's portion was pretty brick-like, but I think an egg mattress could resolve this.

As for the shades -- apparently, despite being see-through, they do mostly keep out the sun, which rises on that side of the condo. We knew Adam from Window Wears wouldn't lead us astray. Next up -- I'll show you the bedroom. We found our blue!

Progress

We painted the living room! After all our angst about choosing the right grays, we ended up pretty happy with them. The colors aren't coming through in pictures as well as I hoped they would, but here is a before and after:

Hopeless indecision:



Two-toned success!:





The bedroom blues are a different story. We are so tired of bringing home horrible samples that we're just going in blind. Tonight we're buying a big tub of Benjamin Moore "Seafoam Blue," which we've never seen on our walls. You can judge our brilliance/idiocy when I post the bedroom before-and-afters.

We Have Terrible Taste

I was very excited about our paint samples, but it appears we have terrible taste.





These colors verge on hideous. I'm quasi- satisfied with the light gray for the living/dining room, but the dark grays for the accent wall are a bit cave-like for my taste. We're going to experiment with a lighter shade of gray with some brown in it instead.

And how did we go so piteously astray with these blues?





Why did they look so pretty in the mini paint jars? The guys at Strosniders Hardware Store are getting another visit from us tonight, if we can muster the enthusiasm.

Todays Obsession: Vintage Bar Cart

Okay, you caught me. Today's obsession is something I already own. But I was obsessed with it (and it's various $3,000 sisters on ebay) for months before I found one that I liked and could afford at Hunted House on 14th Street. Walking into Hunted House is like stumbling onto the set of Mad Men. The store is set up in staged rooms on the top floor of an old row house, and each of them is an ode to Mid Century Modern furniture, but at prices I've never seen before. I checked the price tag on the bar cart (gasp: $150), looked away, blinked, and checked again. It's oh-so Mrs. Robinson. And now it's mine.



I have visions of a daily 5 o'clock cocktail hour, which will only happen if Chris tugs the bar cart behind him on a 15 block walk downtown and mixes me a drink while I yell "leave me alone I'm on deadline!"

I still have to set it up with some vintage wine glasses, linens and gourmet-sounding bottles like "cognac."

The Living Room

I'm trying to finish up the house tour, so here's the living room (at Jen's request), which I've been avoiding posting. We've got some work to do on this room, including painting the walls, getting a real coffee table, replacing the old K-Mart cabinet that we're using as our "media center" and deciding if we want to keep the armchair.





I got some paint samples last night (six actually -- those things are expensive!), so the walls are about to get a light-gray makeover.

Today's Obsession: Modern Wallpaper

We seem to be in the midst of a wallpaper revolution. Vive la Reforme! From designyourwall.com:



Fit for an elegant Parisian apartment (but at a bargain price):



This one might make a cameo in our entry hall next month: