Overwhelmed (but in a good way)

So the other day I was perusing my RSS feed when I came across this post on Cheap Chic Home, a blog I'd been following for awhile.  As a new blogger I thought I should check it out.  Little did I know what was about to occur.  Shortly after I made my comment, the blogger (Kim), graciously wrote back and checked out my blog.  We went back and forth for awhile and as a result of her suggestions (or maybe it was from looking at her blog) I took a chance and joined something called Linky Followers, a site that connects bloggers.

I can explain the experience like this:  imagine going to a party full of really cool and interesting strangers.  Now imagine that--as soon as you enter--everyone at the party stops what they're doing, welcomes you warmly and compliments your shoes.  :)  That's what joining Linky Followers has been like for me.

So to all the new people who have begun following 'A Casarella, thank you!  I am overwhelmed by your kindness and look forward to reading every one of your blogs.  If somehow I miss you (and I am terrified that I'm going to overlook someone), please forgive me (and don't hesitate to give me a little nudge ;).

Linky Followers

So I'm experimenting with this Linky-thingy.  (See the Linky Followers icon on the sidebar.)

Unless you have a blog it will probably be of no interest to you.

I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

Serious Girl Crush

Have you seen this video of Kristen Bell on The Ellen DeGeneres Show?

I had only watched Ellen once or twice before this and knew next to nothing about Bell.

Now I want to be her best friend and have sleepovers where we paint each other nails.

And if that were actually to happen, I would be at waay more than an eleven.

Hanging Around

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Consider this a public service announcement from me.

If you despise the act of picture hanging as much as I do, fear not!  I am here to recommend two products which have changed my world.  Okay, maybe not my whole world.  Just the little-bitty part that revolves around picture-hanging.  (I told you this wouldn't be a blog about changing the world!)

Seriously, though, picture hanging can be a real drag.

That's why I love these!  they're called "Monkey Hooks" and they're a freaking miracle.

I first found them in the impulse buy section at Marshall's.  You know what I'm talking about: the retail maze you snake through while you're waiting in line to pay.  As someone who hates to hang pictures I was intrigued so I threw them in my cart.  Good. Move. Elena.  No hammer, no nails, no drills and no drywall hangers.  All you do is twist the pointy end until it pokes through the wall.  Slide it in, flip it around and voila!  A perfectly serviceable hook!  And if you accidentally put it in the wrong place, all you have to do it pull it out.  What's left is a pinprick of a hole in the wall.  I currently have a 25+ lb mirror hanging from two of these babies.  I hung it there over a year ago with no problems whatsoever.  (So far... maybe I should knock on wood?)  

But let's say you don't even want a pinprick in the wall.  Maybe you're in a rental?  Well  I also love these guys:

There are links at the bottom of the page if you'd like to try either one of these products.

I use them for smaller, lighter pictures and they work like a charm.  I should really devote a whole post to my love of Command Products.  My kids love to tease me about it.  (Of course they don't complain when I hang their posters with the Command Poster Strips.  But more about that in another post.) 

I Interrupt This Tour of the Living Room for a Tour of the Balcony

I'm bored of the living room.

So today I'm going to digress and take you on a little tour of our most recent remodeling project: the master balcony.

(I can do that.)

(Because it's my blog.)

(And apparently I'm drunk with power.)

Where was I?  Oh yes, the balcony.   Last spring my husband and I decided to paint the exterior of the house.  One day, as we took a walk around trying to figure out colors, etc., we found ourselves standing on the master balcony.  As the name implies, this is/was a small wooden balcony accessible from our master bedroom.  It had probably been more than a year since we'd ventured out there which is is a shame considering that it has a beautiful canyon view.  Unfortunately, the balcony itself was narrow with an ugly metal banister and even uglier plastic lawn furniture.

Uglier yet was the giant mushroom we found growing out of a rotten floor-board.  My husband joked that he could probably put his foot through said board and, after convincing him that was a bad idea, we decided to rethink the whole painting-the-house thing.  Instead we discussed expanding the balcony.  It was a project I had envisioned when we bought the house, not so much because I wanted a bigger balcony but because I wanted the shade it would provide below.  The fungus-among-us was just the kick in the pants we needed tackle that project so painting went on the back burner and construction began.  Here is what the back of the house looked like before the demo.

At the time I had no idea I'd be doing a blog post so the pictures won't tell the whole story but you can see that the balcony was narrow and unattractive.  (Unfortunately, I didn't think to photograph the giant 'shroom growing out of the floor boards ;)

So as much as I love a good remodel, I'm not such a fan of demolition.  For that reason, our contractor (who is also a family friend) kindly did the demo while the family was on vacation.  When we came home, the old balcony was gone and the new one was framed out...

The next step was cementing over the wood.

Then the guys ran electricity for the can lights and the fan:

In the pictures below, the cement has been stuccoed over, the lights & fan are in, the tongue & groove ceiling is complete, and stone has been added at the base of the columns.  

In the next picture you see the final product.  A Trex handrail has been added above (no mushrooms will grow in those babies!) and outdoor blinds hang below:

And then the fun began: furnishing!  For the balcony itself, we went with this set from Target.  I wanted something that was almost bed-like (since it's an extension of the master bedroom).  I looked at many other sets (from Pottery Barn to Walmart and everywhere in between) and couldn't be more thrilled with what we bought.    The poufs were from The Company Store.  They were on sale when we bought them and match the Target cushions perfectly.  (#winning!)  The green umbrella also matched and was repurposed from down below (where we no longer needed temporary shade).  

Did you note my pineapple sconce above?  Love that thing!  Got the idea while staying at this hotel in Ft. Lauderdale.  After spying a similar sconce in their entry, I Googled "pineapple sconce" from my ipad in the room and bought one just like that.  (Because I'm sassy that way.)  

Furnishing the covered patio was equally fun.  I fell in love with this set and managed to buy it on sale as well.  I'm pleased to say that we've been able to enjoy it all winter including Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I can't wait to see what the summer will hold.

Now about that painting...

The Pouf that launched a Thousand Facebook Comments

Shortly before Christmas I posted the following status on Facebook:  Upon examining the flowered ottoman I purchased for the living room my husband exclaimed, "you're trying to make it look like no men live here, aren't you."  This naturally led to requests for pictures which I provided.  I had no idea the pouf would be such a polarizing topic.  It elicited comments ranging from: "It is amazing!!  Tell him to get over it," to, "that is about the girliest piece of furniture I've ever seen.  His estrogen level probably just rose astronomically."

In the end I decided to keep the pouf because I love it.  One of the things I loved the most about it was the price, $65 at Tuesday Morning.  The best part is that when I bought it, I had no idea that these were a trend or that others, like the one pictured below, were selling for $395.  Score!

The Highest Form of Flattery

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to be taking you for a spin around my living room.  This is a room which, when we first moved in, was completely unfurnished.  As in, we had no living room furniture. None.  Nada.  Zip.

We moved to San Diego from Chicago six years ago.  Our house in Chicago was a 100+ year-old Victorian.  It was a beautiful house but very different from the one here in California, which is kind of a cookie-cutter, suburban tract house.  Don't get me wrong, I love our current house and am enjoying making it my own, but in terms of character, the Chicago house had this one beat.  One thing the Chicago house didn't have, however, was a "family room."  Instead it had one living room which served as a family room, TV room, den, as well as a formal living room.  (Well, as "formal" as you can get with a baby and a preschooler in the mix.)  So when we moved to California, our well-loved living room furniture immediately went into the informal family room leaving the formal living room empty.  This meant I got to start from scratch which was both exciting and overwhelming.

I didn't really know where to begin.  I knew I didn't want it to be too matchy-matchy so I set out to find pieces that coordinated with each other but didn't need to be bought as a set.  One of the first pieces I fell in love with was Restoration Hardware's now defunct Estate Coffee Table, pictured here:

And here...

It was beautiful, and although it's kind of hard to see in the pictures, the top is actually a removable tray.  Although it's a lot more formal than the things I typically gravitate towards, I was in love.  The only problem?  It came from Restoration Hardware.  Which meant it cost roughly a bajillion dollars.  Believe me, if I had bajillions of dollars, I would not hesitate to get some Restoration Hardware up in here, but I don't, so I kept looking.

Imagine my surprise when one day, while browsing JC Penney online, I found this:

That is my coffee table, in my living room.  It is also an exact replica of the Restoration Hardware piece pictured above.  The difference? It cost about an eighth of the price.  It's also a bit smaller, but in the context of my living room, that's a good thing.  Of course it's from JC Penney, so the quality isn't quite what I imagine the RH table to be, but frankly, I don't care.  

Next up in the tour of my living room:  the pouf that launched a thousand Facebook comments.  Stay tuned!