Before/Progress of New Hallway

It's been a whirlwind 4 weeks, but I'm glad to get back to blogging. I've been swamped with sickness, daughter broke her arm, clients, neck issues, a death in the family  and other stuff that has been overwhelming!

Lets get back to it.

This Hallway has been a thorn in my side. I have done NOTHING to it in 5 years. FIVE. It's a( one of the) room in my house that kinda eats away at me in the back of my head. It had this really ugly builder grade tan paint that looked like old throw up. I had an cabinet ( on the left, it's hard to see ) as you walked through the doorway, and it was just fug and unused.

I wanted it to be treated like a room. It's a fairly busy hallway, I might as well enjoy it, right? A hall should be treated like a room. I had originally planned for a mighty photo gallery. But like always, as I let it marinate in my brain, I just couldnt pull the trigger. Its a good sized wall, it'd take a LOT of frames to look right, and I already have a photo gallery going up the stairs, nearby.

So I moved on.

I created a design board all around this wonderful Safavieh Table that I've used in a couple of my client's homes. I wanted it for my own. I had a Overstock coupon burning a hold in my inbox, and I sold an old piece of furniture so I paid very little for it. ( just over $100 ) I didnt really have a budget for this "room" so it had to be well under $200. It's just skinny enough not to be a clunky piece of furniture that's in the way. I already had the nautical rope mirror, the mirrored tray and lantern.

Here was my very simple, clean concept:

And here we are today: ( not quite finished )

Nice before eh? As if I needed to write "before" on the bottom of the pic.

Still some small details to be added! You cant quite see the difference in paint in the second photo, but once I'm completely done it'll be more detailed. It's a nice blue gray.

Bringing in that rug ( another Safavieh ) really made a difference.  The table is great, and actually makes the room feel bigger than it is. By the time I post my after I'll have another flower up. My lovely snowball tree really put out for me this year, unfortunately they dont last too long.

The light fixture has been annoying to find, I'm choosing to be stubborn and I do not want to spend more than $75. I'll likely turn to Ebay at this point and buy something used.

That's all for now folks!

Hydrangea Not Budding? Here's my solution!

I'm a hydrangea hoarder. There, I said it. So when I bought a hydrangea from craigslist 2 years ago and it wasnt blooming, I was a sad panda. I fertilized it with fish fertilizer, I dug it up and moved it, Made sure it was facing East, I pruned it properly, Sang some Peter Cetera to her...NOTHING. Not a single bud.

So last week, I took some used coffee grounds and scattered it at the roots, I did quite a bit ( probably 4 cups worth )

And I kid you not, a week later, the entire plant was bursting with buds.

I nearly cried. Nearly.

I've always known that you can change the color of your hydrangeas ( most of the time ) by changing the PH of your soil ( I threw ash on mine last year and they went from purple to mauvey pink mix mid summer ) and knew that coffee grounds were good for them after they bloom, but never thought to do it before.

Coffee Table Knockoff // Bed Bath and Beyond vs ZGallerie

My sister bought this ZGallerie table, years ago, and it was such a great purchase. I love this table. Even with a BBB coupon, ZGallerie still beats their price.