Next up: Manolo's

Posting a picture of my closet feels a little like exposing my dirty laundry. Literally. That's my laundry basket over there in the right corner. But I'm so darn proud of this project that I'm doing it anyway. After pitched battles with every closet in my ownership over the past decade, I finally took two hours -- really, that's all it took! -- and bought some sets of cheap stackable shelves and an over-the-door towel rack for my scarves. I am officially the undisputed victor in the Closet Wars.



Also, I highly recommend those little wooden hangers. They were $4 for an 8-pack at Home Depot and I now feel like I live at the Four Seasons.

Blue

At last, our blue wall. We taped, primed, mixed and painted, so we'd better like it now. Also because it's the very first thing we see in the morning (besides eachother with bedhead). It came out a tiny bit brighter than I was imagining, but since we didn't even test it, I'm going to consider it a qualified success.



I'm now eyeing the capiz mirror for this wall and a similar pendant lamp from West Elm for over the bed.





We're going for that urban-beach feel. What, you've never heard of it? Okay, we might be making it up. But I totally think it's going to work.

Today's Obsession: Indoor Fountain with Lamp

I don't know if I would really put this in my home, but the idea of it makes me feel peaceful inside. I'm reminded of the lovely lobby of a hotel spa I went to once in Bangkok. I wish the massage rooms had been as nice -- they were just regular hotel rooms, and, no joke, instead of using an old stereo to play the sounds of the rainforest or bad new age music, the therapist turned on the t.v. and flipped the channel to CNN, which was covering bombing in Iraq. She seemed genuinely confused and a little offended when I asked her to turn it off mid-massage, after 20 minutes of stifling inappropriate giggles.

Back to the fountain. This nice little slice of watery spa bliss is from Eurway, my new favorite budget modern home site. My brother introduced me to it last week, and it has already supplied me with a new office chair and two bar stools. Almost everything on this site is exquisite, and the prices are unbelievable, so I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.



What do you think? Soothing and spa-like, or cheesy bacteria trap?

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."