MIA

Posted in Before & After, Design Challenges, Design Projects, DIY, Mood Boards by Mallory

So where the hell have I been? I know, I know – life just got away from me. I’ve been refocusing on myself a bit – trying to get healthier, taking care of some actual health stuff too. Then a crazy girls weekend with my bests from college followed by getting sick for a full week just as I was cutting out caffeine and anything that tasted delicious….

Today’s gonna be a quick recap of updates around Chez Sledge. Last when I left you, we were working on our office. Since then we got our new chair from Wayfair:

And last weekend Jefe hung up some more art. Can you believe he took those photos of Fenway himself? The one of the stadium’s green seats with the single red seat is stunning.

The room is really coming together; I can’t wait until we can afford that armchair so I finally have my reading nook! I’m planning to relocate that white chair to the dining room, scoot the shelf unit over and make room in the corner on the left for it, right by the floor lamp and next to the window.

Next up is a quick update in the master bedroom. We finally managed to find a new nightstand for Jefe; it was made of solid wood with a reclaimed style to it. It was the first time we ordered anything from Joss & Main and I was thrilled with the outcome. Everything came pre-assembled and well packaged. From date of order until delivery was less than 2 weeks!

We’ve slowly been switching out the furniture in this room and with the addition of the new nightstand, it admittedly looks a little more mismatched than eclectic at the moment. That’s always the challenge once you move out of matching furniture sets to create a more curated look; it can look like quite the hodge podge of random items until you get close to the finish line. Here’s a little refresher (with a few updates) of what I’d eventually love the room to look like:

If you’re following along on Instagram, you’ll notice that we’ve made some serious progress in our backyard. But there’s a few more pieces to come so I’ll just leave you with this little before & after until I can give you the full recap.

BEFORE

AFTER

Lastly, I finally got around to tackling the lighting situation in our kitchen. After a quick trip to HomeGoods during my girls’ weekend, I snagged a cheap, neutral drum shade to cover up that horrendous fake-brass boob light.

BEFORE

AFTER

I still need to add a piece of fabric to it so you can’t see the ugly fixture it’s hiding underneath, but just by hanging the shade I can feel such a difference in the room.

Jefe and I also made a quick trip to Ikea last Saturday and managed to snag the Foto plug-in pendant and I can FINALLY see what I’m cutting while making dinner! I need to use some white cord cover so it blends in a little more, but I’m really happy with it.

I tried hanging it with the ceiling screws included, but it turns out our ancient drywall is a bit crumbly in the ceiling so 3M hooks to the rescue. I only wish I had tried them before I put giant holes in my ceiling but that’s what spackle is for, am I right?!

Here’s both lights in action:

All in all, we’ve been making some great progress around the place. I’m really please with how it’s turning out!

27Mar2015

Office Space

Posted in Design Challenges, Design Projects, DIY, Mood Boards, Redecorating by Mallory

I’ve been keeping a not so little secret. I teased it earlier this week but it’s time to confess: we revamped our office… in January. Jefe had been working from home a lot and apparently had been really discontent with the state of our office. So on MLK weekend, he sprung on me that he wanted to redo the office. I hadn’t even gotten to finish the plans I had for the office and we were already redoing it! Luckily what he wanted was in line with the overall plan I had for the space. But with all that said, we spent our holiday off work driving all the way to Torrance for a coveted desk we had to have…

As a little refresher, here’s what we were looking at last fall:

New Office Mood Board- Nov 2014

And thanks to Jefe’s impromptu redecorating request, here’s what we’re looking at:

We had already purchased the rug from Pottery Barn over Christmas thanks to their annual sale and that desk is the major purchase from our day of impromptu shopping. It required contacting no less than 5 local World Markets to find the one we really wanted (the floor model we saw was just too wobbly and beat up to consider taking it home). So we drove the 45 minutes to Torrance and got the only one left in the greater Los Angeles area.

During the redecorating discussions I also convinced Jefe to examine and remedy our currently too-short cord situation so that we can shift over the Expedit with the TV to accommodate an armchair by the window and floor lamp; his girlfriend needs a reading nook! While at World Market we spotted this chair and I’m pretty anxious to add it to the soon-to-be vacated corner.

Now, let’s talk desk chairs. The day we went shopping, after we had secured the desk, we made a quick stop at Target. Much to our surprise they had a gorgeous grey linen dining chair with nailhead trim for $85. DONE. I was stoked to find something so beautiful within our price range. I thought it was too good to be true.

Fast forward two months and our desk is going strong (minus a small nick that I’ll cover DIY solutions for in another post) but our desk chair, not so much. Apparently you get what you pay for:

Neither of us have any idea how or when that happened. Needless to say I insisted on returning it. Jefe was skeptical as it had been two months and he didn’t have his original receipt. But I insisted. One quick trip to Target later and we had our $85 back. Lesson: never doubt the Target return policy… but be weary of their furniture!

As the chair was DEFINITELY an impulse buy, we hadn’t checked the reviews, which turns out, are quite mixed. So I did a little digging and after some inspiration from Ellen’s Design Challenge, I decided to give Wayfair a try.

We really had liked the look of the nailhead chair but also knew it had to be sturdier than the Target version, have a slightly larger seat (as the one we returned was admittedly a little small) and have a chair seat height of 19″. That’s a LOT harder to find than you might think.

But after a full week of research, I landed on this beauty which we are currently awaiting delivery:

I can’t wait to finally see it in the space. My only hesitation is that it might be TOO close to the Oscar arm chair we want. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

For now, we’re still using one of our dining chairs at the desk until the new one arrives. Not ideal, but it will do for now.

So what do you think? I’m really loving the vibe the office is giving off. A traditional, masculine study with a few feminine touches.

18Mar2015

Heat Wave…

Posted in Design Challenges, Design Projects, DIY, Mood Boards, Redecorating by Mallory

For those that don’t know, LA was slammed with an unexpected heat wave this past weekend. It really feels like summer and has only accelerated my plans to redo our backyard.

Since we moved in last year we haven’t really had a chance to do much with the space but now that the weather has really turned towards summer, I’m raring to go.

Here’s where we currently stand:

Most of my plans consist of working with what we’ve got. I’d like to relocate the trash cans entirely out of the backyard, but that’s not really an option. So I’m going to scoot them over to the back wall where I feel they’ll be less of an eyesore. The wall they’re currently in front of only contributes to them sticking out like a sore thumb with that big empty orange wall above them. As of right now, we have some crawling vines along the targeted back wall and they’ve only been filling in with each week. I’m hoping in the coming months the vines will really liven up the space.

With the trash cans out of the way, I need to spruce up that giant blank wall. One of our neighbors added a few free trellis panels they got last year so I’m planning to lean the two of those against the wall. To anchor them and fill in the space with some visual variety, I’ll add one of the small potted trees in the middle and a bunch of existing potted plants along the base of each. It will provide a secure foundation for the panels and the plants are varying heights so it will really give that wall some newfound visual interest.

And a really rough mock-up I shared with my landlord to get the A-OK:

Now with our new rearranged space, we’ll pull out our furniture set and grill for cookouts. But we can’t just leave it at that, can we? As most of our cookouts happen later in the day, we’ll need some string lights to brighten up the otherwise dark space. As there aren’t any outlets, I’m on the hunt for some great solar options. I really want those beautiful cafe bulb-style lights, but I have yet to find any in great solar options.

And since we’ll be the new place to hang, I’ll obviously need some backyard-BBQ safe dish ware and beverage containers for all of our guests, am I right? And because I can’t get enough, I’ve decided to go with a blue theme which I think will contrast nicely with all the burnt orange painted stucco of the backyard walls.

solar lights | lantern | string lights | goblet | silverware holder

beverage dispenser | dish ware | beverage bucket | table runner

chair pad | furniture | grill

20Nov2014

Office Redesign

Posted in Design Challenges, Design Projects, DIY, Mood Boards by Mallory

Last week I gave you a little preview of our office and today I’d thought I’d share the full plan and a little DIY!

For starters, gaining this space when we moved was a huge stress reliever. Jefe works from home a fair amount so he needs a quiet space to take those 6am calls with his East Coast colleagues. Our last place, although it boasted an open floor plan, left a lot to be desired if you needed your own, private space. It made Jefe’s working from home and my keeping up with yoga near impossible because let’s be honest – I love him, but I’d rather he not stare when I’m going from downward dog into ANY other pose.

So – new room means new space to decorate. As the space will primarily be for him despite my push to make it a craft room, I decided to focus the design around the few items he’s already got that he wants displayed… and I’d prefer they’re not sitting in our living room. So thanks to shelves and shelves of bobbleheads and mini helmets, I’m aiming for an old world study with splashes of vintage sports paraphernalia.

The room is still a serious work in progress, but here’s where we stand:

And where I hope to be:

Last weekend we picked up a Kallax at Ikea to replace that sad and lonely bookshelf along the wall with our diplomas. It will give us space to finally set up our scanner, spread out our books (pulling a few from the full shelves in the living room) and accessorize a bit. Hoping to have that built before Jefe gets home from a work trip on Friday!

While flea marketing a few weeks ago, Jefe also mentioned he’d be open to a new desk so I’ve got my eye on a few contenders; I’d still like something large enough that we each can have our own area, so I’m thinking an old dining table. It will give a vintage feel while still providing a long, open workspace.

The rest of the mood board is fairly self-explanatory (and I’m getting a little wordy), so time for the promised DIY!

When we first moved and established this as the office, Jefe mentioned getting a dry erase board. But why buy a boring, sterile looking thing from Office Depot when I can whip one up in a flash? I saw this and knew it’d be a cinch….

source

Famous last words. I knew you could use dry erase markers on glass, so I immediately thought of just buying a huge frame with an edge we liked. Then I’d slip some paper or fabric behind the glass to give it some added character.

Flash forward to his birthday, I got the genius idea to paint behind the glass with Benjamin Moore’s new Fenway Collection. Nothing but Green Monster Green for my Jefe. Well, apparently they don’t sell a New England baseball team inspired paint collection west of the Mississippi. So after many phone calls to 20+ paint stores, I found one that called BMoore’s headquarters, got the color formula, and custom created it for me. For those that would love to avoid this hassle, here’s the color formula:

The rest was, in fact, fairly easy. I picked up some matte board that had a bit of texture to it and just slapped a few even coats of the paint on it. I could have painted directly on the back side of the glass, but wanted the option to be able to swap it out if Jefe ever got tired of the green.

Once dry, I slipped the matte board inside the frame and voila! Instant, custom dry erase board.

I considered painting “Fenway Park” in white like it is on the scoreboard of the ACTUAL Green Monster, but second guessed myself. Luckily, Jefe likes it better this way and we can always add it later if he changes his mind.

And for those still reading, I have some exciting news! Jefe has taken it upon himself to prep a blog post for you guys! Can’t wait to share it with you all in the coming weeks!

25Sep2014

Beauty Rest Bedroom

Posted in Design Challenges, Mood Boards by Mallory

So now that the kitchen is looking good (pending some artwork decisions), it’s time to move down the long hall to our master bedroom. Our big challenge right now is furniture – although we’re fairly content with the quantity of storage our current dressers provide, they leave quite a bit to be desired in the quality and aesthetics arenas. And now that I have my rich, wood-toned nightstand, we’re anxious to get the rest of our room up to snuff.

Here’s what it’s looking like these days (excuse all poor iPhone photos – its the first time I felt up to blogging in a while and i was motivated to get it DONE!):

The first piece we’re focusing on is a new nightstand with storage for Jefe. His side of the bed is currently rocking the matchy-matchy black Hemnes I purchased 7 years ago when I moved to LA.

Since I got so lucky finding my nightstand at the Rose Bowl, we’ve been focusing our search at the flea market. So far we’ve struck out twice there and once at the Long Beach Flea Market where we ventured for the first time last week. Frustrated, I started branching out to the usual suspects to see what new pieces retailers like Pottery Barn, West Elm and World Market had to offer.

Pottery Barn has this great Branford Bedside Table in Mahogany that would be perfect, but at $529 ON SALE, it’s not really in the budget.

The next option I found was from World Market – the Sara Double-Wide Nightstand in a beautiful shade of grey blue. With a price of $119 and by adding some more sophisticated hardware, I could totally make this work. Then I remembered it would be sitting in front of NAVY curtains, next to NAVY and white striped duvet, and I’m planning to lay down an INDIGO rug….. Just too much blue (I didn’t know there was such a thing!) But the minute they sell this table in a wood tone, it’s MINE.

Target had some interesting pieces including this more rustic accent table, but there was nothing I liked that was tall enough. I really hate the low-sitting bed trend.

For now, I’m just going to keep looking. We live 1 block from the Melrose Trading Post and have yet to venture over, so I think that’s where I’ll be headed this Sunday to continue the hunt.

The other pieces we’re looking to replace are our 2 existing Hemnes dressers and eventually our Hemnes bed frame. Out with the matching bedroom suit, hello perfectly-curated eclectic mix. We’re definitely looking to go vintage on the dressers so we can get something of real quality which is so much more important for those types of larger pieces. I’d love to just pick up an antique back in Pennsylvania next time I’m home, but the shipping alone would break any budget we set.

For the bed frame, I’ve had my eye on a variety of slightly curved, nailhead trimmed headboards and Crate & Barrel just released the bed of my dreams. I was lusting after the similarly styled Colette, but it wouldn’t allow for a box spring and sat too low. But the Curve Queen Bed in Napa Camel is absolute perfection. Now if I could just scrounge up enough change from the couch cushions to actually afford it….

To soften things up, I’m dying to lay down this indigo Empire Scroll Rug from Pottery Barn over our hardwood floor.

In terms of accessories, I’m still toying with that, but I think we’re going to stick with black and white photos for artwork. We already have two great pieces hung, but we really need something for over the bed. As we’re in earthquake country, there is very little Jefe will let me hang over our heads, but he has agreed to a lightweight canvas of some sort. I’d like to find an image one of us has taken and get it blown up and printed on canvas by Shutterfly. Hats off to Brooklyn Limestone for turning me on to the plethora of new home decor options they offer!

Now that I’ve racked up the costs for this “little” redo, I think we’ll stick with our current bedding, which I think will fit in quite nicely. Here’s a quick recap of the plan:

I can’t wait to get started! Now excuse me while I go rob a bank.

Sledgehammer With Style

Hollywood marketer by day, design blogger by night.

Category Archives: Mood Boards

MIA

Office Space

Heat Wave…

Office Redesign

Beauty Rest Bedroom

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