ahhhhh the headboard....

it's done! the headboard of LIFE (as I lovingly call it, is done!)
I am making it sound like it was some huge thing to make...it wasn't! but it sounds more interesting, non? (that's french, not a typo).
You got a quick lookie here,
and I know that you thought, "hmmmm, what's she going to do with that?"...
Voila :

 and here was more or less the process...(minus a few steps because I forgot to stop and snap a photo...I swear I am getting better at this documenting-each-step-of-way thing, but it is taking me longer than I thought to get used to doing it)



I started with a gorgeous frame...I am pretty sure there had been a mirror in it originally, as there was some left over silicone on the inside edge...Let me just take a moment here to tell you this...because I'll bet some of you are thinking "I really really REALLY want to make a cool headboard like Nadine, but I don't have the time or patience or budget to go looking for a fabulously ornate frame to use!" (I'm like a psychic right?)

Listen up, you do not NEED an ornate frame to make an amazing headboard!

Here are some ideas; use a simple rectangular frame, paint it in a high gloss fabulous color (like black or white or red or tiffany box turquoise-ish robins egg) and choose some great fabric...upholster the inside, as I did and presto, just as beautiful! Hate high gloss? no probs, choose matte, REALLY matte! it's stunning.
And, I see it like this, if the frame is plain-ish, go a little more over the top with the fabric colors/pattern or paint...if the frame is a statement piece in itself, you can go a little simpler in the paint or fabric because the shape is making a statement already...it's sort of like fashion, if you are going to wear statement shoes, you might opt for a simple black dress...if you are going for the statement dress, you might opt for a simpler shoe...you might also just freaking GO FOR IT...in which case I say AMEN, heck, we only live once right?...just make sure to take photos and share please! (Share...don't Scare!)
Another idea is to use a plainer frame and instead of painting it, why not upholster it too?! you can use a different fabric or the same fabric that you will use in the puffy headboard part...(I say use a different fabric...but what do I know?)...again, take photos and please share!
I chose to use the same paint color as my walls, A: because I love it, B: because I had leftover wall paint, C: because I have no budget.
I chose a fabric from...wait now...IKEA!!!!!! you are thinking, "oh NO you dint!!!!"
...yes I did!!!! Listen, I am going to tell you something here, for $6.00 how the heck can I possibly go wrong????...I actually blew the budget a little and bought 3 different fabrics before deciding to use the black and white. I chose a stripe first, because that was really what my original idea was. I even had a magazine photo, which I can't FOR THE LIFE of me find that I had seen and saved from years ago...oh well...something else will turn out stripey...I found it a little juvenile looking.

then I saw this little number and took pause...I wasn't nuts about the white background, however, I liked the drawing feel to it and the hints of pink and just the overall look of it...of course, when I got it home and held it up, (although I still really like it), I started getting all Feng Shui-ey about it and thought, "birdbrain, living in a bird house, up in a tree, tweet tweet, not much to say..." I don't know, I could free associate on this fabric till the cows come home, but I realized, NOPE...don't want birds watching my back, that's kind of for the birds...

and that is how I chose the black and white floral-ish/geyser-ish Wooshy type design...

As a last little Ikea fabric shopping point, may I also just say that many of the fabrics at Ikea have very large scale patterns...this might suck when making a skirt...but it ROCKS when making a headboard! I actually did not even go with the pattern, I chose a piece off the roll that was even in between the repeat and did not center it either...just adds something extra and super cool...dont you think?

From the collage photo above, you can see that this whole process only took a few steps...(minus the trips out to get all the supplies and schlepping La perfect baby with me to do all the schlepping...).

Once the frame has a few coats of paint on it, I place a large piece of gatorboard underneath it and traced the frame shape on it in chalk.

What's gatorboard? It's like plastic currogated cardboard

Why gatorboard? I did NOT want to start with heavy wood and saws and blah blah blah...so I decided to go with something light weight, easy to transport, relatively sturdy and most of all cuttable with a box cutter or xacto type blade.

Could you use hard cardboard? YES

Could you use wood or MDF? of course!

Was I being a little lazy? NO! I was being practical...leave me alone and stop judging...jeeeeeeze.

When the shape of the frame was traced onto the gatorboard I cut it out with my xacto to fit into the back of the frame. I will state the obvious here, when you put the board behind the frame you do NOT want it to fall out the front, you (really) want it to stay in the back, as though you have framed the board...

Ok, I then played around for a few hours with the best possible way to use the foam padding I bought. Let me just say, not the cheapest stuff around! I did not go to town and get the super thick stuff, I did not even go to the little town and get the kind of thick stuff...I went to like, the suburbs and bought 2 packages of the thin stuff...(remember my non budget)...turns out, it's great!

What also worked best for my piece was to cut the foam to fit through the FRONT of the frame...when I cut it bigger to really stuff it in and make it super pouffy, it just didn't look right...so again, I cut to to fit the front of the frame perfectly and then figured out where I wanted my fabric/pattern to line up.

When all this was done, I flipped it over (front of the frame facing down on the table), followed by the fabric (pattern facing down on the table), followed by the 2 layers of my thin-ish foam padding, followed by the piece of gatorboard cut to fit into the back. I now had a headboard sandwich...all there was left to do was staple gun the gatorboard onto the backside (lip) of the frame. I shot in a few staples and then really made sure that the fabric was not puckering or doing funky stuff on the front side by flipping in over a few times and checking. I also pulled the fabric to make sure it was smooth before stapling. It worked!

There is a bit of POUF to the board, but not too too much and the fabric is nice and smooth.

I also decided to hang the headboard about 8 inches higher than the mattress top to give it a little more grandeur...(needless to say, I used some good picture mounting slide-in heavy duty brackets to attach the headboard to the wall...hello?????...I mean c'mon right?!...couldn't resist some headboard joke! ;-P)

ET VOILA!

the headboard of LIFE!

my total costs? about $45

for good measure...la petite kid!

comments? would LOVE you to post them right HERE!

Feng Shui-ing my bathroom (Part 1)

So as you likely know, if you have been reading about this whole feng shui-ing process...seems my bathroom is where my career area is located...career down the toilet? well, a little...silver lining? Water is the element for this area and let's face it, there is no shortage of water in my bathroom!
My idea, after creating and totally loving our Cave de Snooze was to continue with the cave-ish, cozy, den-like feel of that area, since the bathroom is right there!
You know, just as an aside here, it's funny, I have never, in all my years of apartments, houses, places I have lived, North America, Europe, city, burbs (UGH YES, don't get me started) have I  EVER painted walls in a dark color...I have always gone for the airy, white, clean look of white! (NOT BEIGE, I did say WHITE! or close to it) but I am loving loving LOVING the charcoal gray of the bedroom alcove...you might want to give it a try...I am not trying to push you or influence you, but it's only paint right?...you might be pleasantly surprised!...which leads me right on back to the bathroom...

I had this high drama idea of very very high gloss navy blue...wouldn't it look great? the dark wood doors, the charcoal gray walls the navy blue curtains leading into the...TA DUH....high gloss drama bathroom...
Well, unfortunately the only drama was my kid, insisting on hanging out in the small bathroom with me, while I painted and basically placed herself in between my legs the whole time! (that includes when I was standing on the toilet seat to reach high places or on the edge of the bathtub)...yes, therein lay the drama!...the navy paint? not so much.
Let me also take you back one step...Home Depot.
My local Home Depot has this "fabulous" and I mean "FABULOUS" paint department guy...I call him "Cage aux Folles"(and up until this moment, only to myself) (need I say more? oh really?, ok, if you insist).
He's hilarious and flamboyant, skinny and fierce, black and wonderfully gay and a breath of fresh air in the very orange and big box Home Depot...I love that he's there, that he is oh so comfortable about being himself in a very power toolish kind of place...I love it!
Plus, no matter what I need there, I know that I will get a little wink/comment or maybe a finger snap as I give him my "hey you fierce guy, I get and appreciate you look".
So there I was with my deep dark navy paint color swatch and as I handed it to him he gave me one of those "oh jesUS, what is she up to NOW" looks...I grinned and simply and confidently announced
HIGH GLOSS!
He raised an eyebrow, gave me a little grin and then said, (a little under his breath)..."oh LOOK, I can see myself in my walls!!!!" then he snickered, ok...Cage Aux Folles, 1 point for you...damn, I hadn't thought about seeing my reflection in my walls, in the bathroom, OY...I was deeply ensconced in the whole drama thing, not the reflection thing.
Whatever.
I explained in my sarcastic and smart ass-ish way (which he APPRECIATES!) that this was pure and utter glamour, it was high drama, something HE should understand, and it is going to look fabulous...I told him that I was going to take some photos and that I could guarantee he would be running home to do the same thing in his bathroom. OK..."well, here's your can of drama darling" he muttered as he handed me the can of paint in his fabulous way...
I got home, cleared out the bathroom and got to work.
Hey, have you ever painted with high gloss?, Woah, kind of a drag (so to speak)...very liquidy!
That combined with putting navy over white?...Meh, not so enjoyable.
One and a half coats later, Tess knocking over the paint TWICE...Tess wanting desperately to be IN BETWEEN my legs the entire time (what's that about?)...I wasn't loving it...I REALLY wasn't loving it..the color I mean!

 (you should know that these photos make the navy look MUCH better than it actually looked!)

And you know what? All I could think of was La Cage! He would ridicule me! Sheeee-it!!!
I slept on it, I looked at it in the evening, in the morning, mid morning...I decided it wasn't horrible, but basically, the state of the walls was not smooth enough or good enough to really pull off high gloss...of course it was after the fact that my very BFF (who also happens to be an interior designer extraordinaire) messaged me that high gloss can look cheap if the walls are not absolutely perfect...great, a little late Kir!
Back to the ridicule of La Cage Aux Folles...
Then I had this genius idea...I still had leftover charcoal gray paint, how about if I went right over the navy with it? I flip flopped a little about painting the bathroom the same color as the bedroom, even though they ARE connected, but I wondered to myself whether it might look like I was just too lazy to pick another color or make another trip to the Depot, you know?
Screw it, I went for it...I kept thinking, "En suite" yeah, which really means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but whatever, "En suite" was my twisted rationale for painting it the same color.
I started, and yes, it looked lovely! (thank god!)
Unfortunately, I quickly ran out of paint...FUCK!
I mustered up my courage and went back to the paint department of my local Depot, after all, I could deal with Cage right? I am a grown woman, his ribbing is fine, he's hilarious actually...I can do this...
IT WAS HIS DAY OFF!!!!! 1 point for ME!

(and let me just say, he will NEVER know about this whole high gloss flop!)

stay tuned for the charcoal En Suite!

before and after...the sleep cave...aka "La Cave de Snooze"

Coincidentally, before my whole Feng Shui overhaul began...I was really spending an unhealthy amount of time thinking about wall painting...Jenna Lyon's home (yes, her fabulousness, of J Crew-ness) , featured in every fabulous magazine imagineable was etched in my brain and frankly, driving me a little curazy! (specifically her bedroom, since mine was driving me nuts)
Here's a peek at my inspiration: (via http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/ )

Interestingly, I learned on http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/ that in fact her bedroom is NOT this gorgeous deep charcoal gray, but rather, this:

Black chalkboard paint...now, I happen to LOVE black chalkboard paint, but I prefer the charcoal gray version! (plus, if you use matte finish paint, guess what?  you can chalk it up all you want!)
Now, getting back to my place...as you likely know by now, it's a loft (just about 1000 sq feet), it has brick walls on both the east and west walls, windows on the north wall and the only actual wall walls are in the alcove/(slash)bedroom and leads to the small wall that is the front side of the open kitchen.
The alcove, is not anything other than a bedroom...it is the bedroom, and up until now, other than brick walls, the few walls we have were white...I kept feeling like I needed more color here, more warmth, honestly? (and this hopefully won't come back to bite me in the ass but), a little more interior drama!
Here is the before:

let's face it, do we EVER really make an effort in our BEFORE photos...nope!
(laundry basket, baby on bed, stool as bedside table...oy!)

and now...(drum roll please...) here is the AFTER!

...but you didn't think I was going to stop there did you?

heck no...

(notice that my lovely friends chalked a "happy birthday"

message onto my newly painted charcoal walls above the pillows...)

now it's becoming a true Cave de Snooze!

ok, so I didn't just paint...because once I had painted, I thought, hmmm how to go even further????

I had been thinking about separating La Cave de Snooze from the rest of the loft somehow and it all came to me, at once, in a moment of dramatic navy blue Ikea curtained brilliance (if I must say so myself)...

Ta Da! the curtains of LIFE! (as I lovingly refer to them) I am loving them!

(and you can imagine that napping is great for Tess in this plush, dark and cozy Cave de Snooze!)

I also switched out the old circa. 1993 big puffy pillow/santa fe-ish style covers for some simple gray velvet ones (yep, it's all about the velvet this week!) (perhaps my many years in the theatre?...hmmm will delve deeper when I have a minute...)

Anyhoo, gotta say, Snoozing in La Cave has been bliss...(and yes, maybe one day the crib won't be part of La Cave's decor, but for now, sorry Elle Decor, it's my reality!

So, what do you think?

Je L O V E it!