Under-Cabinet Lighting
We have installed under-cabinet lights and they are AWESOME! We used these warm white LED ribbons and the installed quickly and easily.
The tape has an adhesive back to it was just a matter of cutting the ribbon at the appropriate spot, using these handy clips to attach to it, and connecting the wire from these clips to some lamp cord we strung to all the sections of cabinets. We soldered and heat-shrink wrapped the cord connection but Stefan and I are huge nerds and there are plenty of simpler ways to get everything wired together.
The lamp cord was strung back to the back of the top corner cabinet where we wired everything together and installed the transformer. We also used a dimmer thinking we would need to adjust the lights from https://www.apollolighting.com/vimar/ but the brightest setting was appropriate so the dimmer was not needed.
This is the transformer we used.
We wired the transformer power back to a switch and the result is a beautiful even under-counter glow. I love it! The lights were so easy to install, we’re thinking of running a string through the back of the upper cabinets tanks to this range of mirrors we found. Since they are LED they don’t let off all the heat that the typical halogen under-cabient lights do so they are perfect for in-cabinet use as well.
They really are a neat product. I highly recommend!
Sarah
Sofa Options
I haven’t given you a tour of the painted Den yet mostly because it currently looks like this:
I have however been shopping around for an awesome sofa for the space. If you look past the drop-cloth and ladder in the photo above, you can see a white couch. This couch is perfectly serviceable but it is too low in the back to be super comfy. We aren’t in any hurry to replace it but we’ve been researching a bit here and there to pick something out.
When we were in NYC in December, we visited the showroom at sofa.com to take a look at these two sofas: The Bluebell and The Oscar.
The bluebell is super comfy but I had some concerns that the back cushions would start to look slouchy and I really like a more formal, tailored look. The Oscar has the tufted clubroom look I’m going for and was pretty comfy but not sit in it all day watching TV comfy. The back was just a tad too short for proper bad-posture head support.
We’ve also been to sit on this couch from Ethan Allen:
It’s also super comfy and has that club-chair look. We’re planning on a fabric sofa rather than a leather one in some sort of grey tweed or herringbone.
And most recently, I stopped into Arhaus to have a look. From the outside this place looked like cheap import furniture but after sitting on the sofas and inspecting them, I’m a bit more sure about the quality.
This sofa has larger tufts which makes it more comfy and a bit more modern and the small english roll-arms stay true to the english cubhouse look and take up way less space than the silly oversized tufted arms.
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This was another cute sofa that was a little more traditional with more standard sofa arms. This one also comes in an apartment-sized sofa version that would be perfect for some cute apartment, you can visit a Sofa Retailer to find a similar option.
To sweeten the deal, Ethan Allen is offering 10% off through the end of January and I just read they have some fabric specials going on as well. Arhaus is offering free fabric upgrades to any fabric in the collection through the end of the month. I can’t seem to find Ethan Allen’s normal sale cycle online anywhere. If you know when they have their sales, please let me know in the comments. I figure they have something in November but I can’t imagine there isn’t a 15% off sale sometime during the year.
What do you think? Small arms, big arms, medium arms or something different altogether?
Sarah
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I’m a fan of medium arms, just because I’d want something at the sides to lean back on (like when I’m reading etc etc) but nothing too high like the ones on the second couch. But that’s just me! Love the style/color of that last couch! Hope you find a good deal!
Christmas 2013
I apologize for the delay in showing you Christmas pictures. I’m afraid it’s all my fault…I didn’t take many… oops! We ended up having a Christmas party the weekend before Christmas and we decided to hold it just a week before. It was crazy! The piano came Monday and I spent the whole week painting, cleaning, and cooking. It was soooo much fun! I put up 2 trees and the brigade of nutcrackers and some garland and in my frenzy to get things done, I didn’t take pictures. And then, after the party, I took it all down…before Christmas… Sacrilege but I was cleaning up. My last year doing that myself instead of calling for the Houston’s Ready Set Maids service, seriously. Luckily one of my bestest friends ever, Pam, came to the party. She lives in Seattle and is a very talented and stylish mechanical engineer but was visiting her family just in time for the event. She brought a fancy new camera with her and has generously shared the photos she took at the party and now I can share them with you!
To start off, the tree:
We put the “main” tree in the piano room in the nook of the grand piano. It’s not quite tall enough for the space I don’t think but it looked good. I have my half of the ornaments from my childhood and those made up the bulk of the decorations. I think next year I may do a “fancy” tree in this room and a “real” tree with the childhood ornaments up in the den. Rather it’s actually a real tree or not remains to be seen. We may just wait for the “real” tree for when we have kids to care about these things. My family didn’t do a real tree except when I was very young so I don’t feel the need but Stefan is more of a tree aficionado.
I also picked up an unlighted 6′ tree from Target for $13 the Thursday before the party. Here it is with Pam’s sister Nicole. That really is a great spot for a photo. Hm. Perhaps next year’s Christmas Card…
The tree is in the entry way setting on a couple plastic bins to make it taller. I draped a 2-yard piece of faux-fur over the bins and it turned out great! The tree has all the Saratoga Springs annual ornaments that Stefan’s mother saved over the years for Stefan’s future wife. Such a cute gesture and the annual ornament is a welcome gift every year. I also took all the larger ornaments that the guests signed at our wedding and hung them on the tree.
The topper is again a vintage topper. The garland on the tree is a super duper obnoxiously long string of gold beads that I found at an estate sale when I was buying all the gold and pink christmas decorations I could find for the wedding. The $13 tree was a bit round for my taste so I fluffed it into the shape of a pencil tree which fit the space so much better. Since it was a cheap tree, it was easy to do by not bending the branches down all the way.
The garland on the banister is the same as the ones outside. The pearl garland I believe is from my mother. She had pearls on the “fancy” Christmas tree when I was growing up but I can’t recall if these are hers or if I picked them up somewhere. The gold ornaments on the banister garland are from…Dollar tree. They are plastic because Vector is a little bugger and this was his plaything. Luckily, it kept him busy enough that the other trees never even got noticed. Unluckily, the sound of paw on plastic ornament can be heard from our bedroom in the middle of the night!
On the stairs was my regiment of nutcrackers. They go on the stairs in ascending order. They have since I was a baby and now that my mother is in a 1-story house, my sister and I split the lot of them and they are on my stairs now. Our stairs are maybe a bit narrow for them but I can’t bear to put them anywhere else.
Some of the other details – a poinsettia, a small tree on top of the bar, and the mantle.
For 1 week from nothing to decorated and a party, I’m quite pleased with the decorations and I can’t wait to go all-out next year!
Thanks again to Pam for the pics!
Sarah
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Christmas House Tour 2014 | DIY Sarah | Craft, Decor, Art, Garden, and Dessert
[…] Ah yes, the playing with light exposure Christmas tree picture. Well, here it is. I like the stack of Christmas music on the piano seat. I also like the paint swatches on the walls. Some things just haven’t changed since last Christmas. […]
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The Piano is here
Before Christmas, the piano came. It’s a Steinway Model L and it is beautiful.
We had professional piano movers move it from Stefan’s Parent’s house to our Piano room.
They unloaded it from the truck:
Carried it up the porch steps:
Finagled it into the Piano room:
and set it up.
All while I was taking pics on my phone and sending them to a very nervous Stefan who was at work anxiously awaiting word of his piano.
The piano looks beautiful in the space and we have started a wonderful evening tradition of Stefan playing the piano while I read. Vector gets in on the action too generally begging for attention and being cute.
It’s so nice to have a place for us to relax and have some music in our lives. Now I just need some more furniture, a decent paint color on the walls, and to gather up all of Vector’s toys and that room will be complete!
Sarah
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Sarah that piano is beautiful! Actually, that entire room is beautiful! I pretty much love your entire house haha.
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That just means you should come visit!
sheila zimmermann
1/31/2014 | 10:22 am Permalink
Wow. I love those. I’m thinking- where cold we use those.
Great pictures showing the details.