Industrial Modern FUN

After a night full of working (mostly Steve) until 2am, we wrapped up the shelving unit! It looks 1000x better than I even imagined and I couldn't be any more thrilled with it. My incredible husband amazes me with his skills! He always works so hard to see my ideas and designs come to fruition. What a guy!

(Now, pardon the photos. I am a day or so away from being able to use my computer and Lightroom again, but for now I had to shoot in jpeg and do zero editing. So these are all straight out of the 'ol camera.)

Without further ado, here is our industrial/mid-century modern work of art. VOILA!

Don't mind the TV cords. Soon to be moved behind the TV.

Are you loving the gray wall as much as I am?? Again, we chose Sherwin Williams Grayish and it is perfect. Bright and light, with a touch of warmth, and it contrasts nicely with the white trim. It is a smidge off in color here, sorry, again, no editing. It is showing a bit greenish in the top two photos, but it is more warm and ZERO green in real life.

In terms of the styling, I am really enjoying how it is coming together. I am trying to blend loads of texture and keep everything earthy in color. Notice glass, metal, leather, lambskin, soft blankets, mirrors, paper, greenery, wicker, wire.

A bunch of the pieces I have found recently while antique shopping, some of them we've made or repurposed, and a couple of items we already had. I still have a fantastic Kodak camera from the '50s on the way from Ebay, as well as a really cool metal airplane. Other than that, this is it.

LOVE these '50s books I picked up last weekend for a buck or two a piece (Actually, the blue one is more recent, but looks super modern to me). Talk about great titles too!! "Fortune Is A Woman". Truer words were never spoken. ;) I painted that little wooden airplane that I snagged for $1.

Steve welded this nifty piece of artwork for me. Totally cool.

I am diggin' the mixture of soft/cushy with the wicker and metal and wood. Again, sticking with earth tones.

I picked up those wicker boxes at Michael's (last night actually) for 40% off plus 20% off with an entire purchase coupon. DEAL! They are perfect for holding all of our DVDs and our DVD player.

This awesome antique toy phone Steve and I discovered while on our day trip last month. The box is one I had that I painted with chalkboard paint.

These are all books I had. Camera for $5 last weekend. Spheres I made and featured HERE.

This cigar box I scored last weekend as well. Marked for $20 at the antique shop, I offered $10, she agreed. Woohoo! Perfect spot for the remotes and incredibly cool. 

All in all, a BIG success! It was surely a labor of love though. It took more time, more money, more stress, less sleep and a smidge of disagreeing (only natural right?) to get it done, but in the end, it is even better than I thought. 100% custom, totally unique, and crafted by hand by my amazing Stevie-Poo (sorry babe). 

Maybe I'll get more into the construction of it later (including more photos once we paint more than just that one wall), but for now, that's all folks! What's your favorite element/piece??

Oh, and a before and after, just for fun.

BEFORE

AFTER

Family Room Sneak Peek!

GAH!!! I'm so excited! Steve and I finally mustered up the energy to start back up on the family room shelving unit. We have been a smidge burned out lately and needed a minute to catch our breath. AHHHHH. So. Now that THAT is out of the way, onward!

Last night we set up the entire thing. Measured it, anchored it to the wall, put the unstained boards on it, hung the tv, and made sure we were happy. Ummmm. Happy? ECSTATIC! I didn't want to take it down!

Alas. We had to. Steve has to remove the two middle units in order to remove the boards to stain them. So it was just a sneak peek. But he managed to stain all the shelves last night and they are ready to go tonight. See? (iphone pics again, my computer is still on the fritz so I have no Lightroom)

Oh they look heavenly. Nice and dark cocoa-ish to pick up on the woodtones on the other side of the room in my desk and post office box. Coordinates so nicely with our coffee bean couches and contrasts perfectly with the white end tables and frames and the blue rug. I wanted them to look a bit distressed and aged, and Steve did such a great job. Love love love!

Here is what the piping looked like up, without the wood of course.

HUGE right??! I was surprised at how substantial they are! I mean, I knew it was going to be most of the wall, but it is hard to envision until you actually see them up. It is going to make SUCH a statement in the room and the entire first floor (this wall is visible throughout the floor). I don't even think you can tell that well from the photo, but they are lovely.

We are also planning on painting that wall tonight. Steve picked up the paint that I finally chose last night, and hopefully we'll whip that out this evening. We don't want to have to take the entire unit down again just to paint, so we'll do this one wall and then finish the rest soon.

Here is the color I picked.

Sherwin Williams Grayish. We color matched (like always) to Olympic Premium Latex paint since it is one of the only zero-voc paints with zero-voc colorant as well. Can't wait to see it up!! It is nice and light and bright and slightly warm to coordinate with all the warm brown tones we have in the room. Yet not beige-ish or too cool. I think it is going to be perfect with the industrial shelving. Hopefully tomorrow I can come back and show you! Maybe, maybe not. We'll see how much we get accomplished this evening.

Another really cool update for the room is in the artwork realm. I managed to snag four (fantastic!) nautical maps of Lake George NY on ebay this week. Graphic yellow. Gray. White. BIG. Annnnnnd $15 for all four. KILLER! I am going to frame them in the same frames that I used for the gallery wall and they will be grouped as a set on the wall where the old oak bookcase was. Here is a sneak peek.

PERFECT right??! I am in love. I had no idea they were going to be this lovely. What an absolute steal. Just when you think Ebay is lost and way overpriced. Wait until you see how incredible they are going to look all together.

I also have been wrangling some funky objects for the shelving lately. Today I painted a box I have been saving, with chalkboard paint. CB2 inspired! You'll see that soon. Lots going on here, and soon I'll have some more reveal photos to share. It is just so fun to see things coming together!

Industrial-Modern Progress.

After much hemming and hawing (is that the correct phrase?), we finally decided to go for the industrial-style wall shelving unit for the family room. I was ALLLL over the place about it!

Initially, we had decided on doing a full wall built in. Then I started thinking, it would be SO permanent and what if I changed my mind (which is not uncommon for me). So then we thought about using this great mid-century modern credenza that we have, for the TV, and flanking it with two free standing white bookcases. Ehhh, boring.

I had seen a fabulous metal piping shelving unit on HGTVs "High Low Project" and I kept going back to that concept. But then I would get all freaked out about it and move on. So then I started thinking we could do white floating shelves on either side of the credenza. Similar to this.

I still think that is a good idea, BUT, I just wasn't sold.

This space is visible from the large majority of the first floor. Our family room is open to the kitchen, which is open to a dining space, which is open to the playroom. So anything we do on this wall will make a big impact on the rest of the floor. I think we have gone pretty classic/traditional in the furnishings of the family room. I also think that with the white gallery wall, and white end tables, and eventually white kitchen, it just might be TOO much white.

Soooo here we are back at industrial. It will add a modern flair to the space and a bit of contrast with the white. It is pretty unique and I think it will be just the touch we need for the room.

Here is the wall we are referring to.

It is about 15 feet long, and the unit will be about 12 feet. So it will take up a good portion of the wall. The bookcase on the left will be leaving the room, by the way. Here is the sketch of what it will look like. The only thing that is different, is the 3rd shelf from the top, will be moved to be in the center of the space where the tv goes. That will eliminate the two big spaces on either of the side units.

Here is an inspiration photo. Like I said before, the first time I saw it was on the "High Low Project", but this one is another one I liked. Obviously, it is not piping, nor is it attached to the wall, but it is part of where we got our inspiration.

Ours will have dark stained, distressed wood planks as well. They will pick up the dark tones in our desk and post office box on the other side of the room.

Here is a shot of all the materials to make one of the four pieces (We'll get more into the building process later).

A close up of the really fabulous texture of the pipes.

Finally, here is Steve holding up one of the four parts to it.

The wood planks will rest directly on top of each of the metal pipe rails.

So that's where we are now! I am getting really excited to see how it turns out. When we went to the antique mall last month I picked up a bunch of unique, funky pieces to put up, so I can't wait to put it all together. We also have to paint the room still, so that will be coming up soon. We are in a rush to get things done inside before the weather gets nice and we start the work on our new deck. (Speaking of that, I'll be back at some point soon to show two of our decking options so you can help us decide which to go with.)

Oh, before I go, here is a little something Steve made for me. I have been eyeing the big metal letters from Anthropologie, and at $100 a pop, I knew I wouldn't be taking the plunge anytime soon. Steve bought a welder recently, and this was his first project.

That man sure knows what tickles my fancy! Haaaa. You can't see it in the photo real well, but I started adding silver nailhead trim to the bench, and I love how it picks up on that. Just love it. See what I mean when I say our house is evolving? I am constantly changing up that entry way!