Project SMID: Couldn’t wait

Well, it’s not done yet but, I couldn’t wait. I had to show you.

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I’ve been staring at the ceiling of my new indoor/outdoor kitchen for months…knowing exactly what I wanted to do up there but not able to start on the lighting project until recently.

My niche is harmonizing vintage, modern, industrial interiors while allowing for glamour, rock-n-roll, seriousness and a little play to co-exist.

This room has unstained cement floors and an exposed ceiling. I wanted the ceiling exposed to give the illusion of more height in the room. There are tall glass doors on three of four walls making the room feel light and airy. On the fourth wall, I chose salvaged large wooden doors with intricate rounded molding and grooves.

The lighting needed to be the perfect balance of soft, edgey, functional and fun. I wired each of the bulbs myself, cutting the wires at different lengths. It’s not too hard to do. Although, you must make sure the exposed wires are tucked in tight and not loose or feathering. It will explode on you. Yep…you guessed it and my hand still hurts.

Ok! So, I called my friend Tom, the electrician and family friend, to help me hook each of the pendants I put together up to the conduit. Then, I took back over and had a little fun.

We had dinner down there the other night. We all sat there staring at the lighting happily. I said to my kids, “I know. It’s good isn’t it?” They said, “Yeah…,” softly with their jaws dropping. You know you’ve done good, when your kids stop in their tracks to admire it, and it’s not a plane or ice cream.

-SMID

Before the lights went up

Before the lights went up

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So tough…

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Get those wires tucked in there good!

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I put together 12 total.

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Going up…

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Done! Playful and beautiful.

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The ones that look like they have a slight purple tint to them, actually do. I love it.

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Juxtapose

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This is one of my favorite things to do; add a little rock-n-roll to something that is supposed to be very glamorous. It’s my nearly edible pink milk glass cake stand, with a hand blown dome that I found vintage shopping out in the country. I didn’t have the measurements for my cake stand with me at the time. Lucky for me it fit perfectly.

The guy inside, whom we call “Bone,” was a gift from my children around halloween time. I put him inside the dome. I loved it so much, we never packed him away with the rest of the halloween decorations. He often sits in there with muffins and cupcakes. We even decorate him for Christmas. He’s just too great to put away.

-SMID

Smid ♡’s details: Orange shoe crates

I went in for a strep test about a week ago when both of my kids were diagnosed with strep and I walked out with pneumonia. How does that happen?

Apparently, it’s hard to kick pneumonia, if you don’t really rest. Stewart’s making me lie around all day. Normally, that’s not a bad thing except for three things:
1. I’m being told to do it.
2. That’s all I’ve been doing for the last 7 days.
3. I’ve got to do stuff…serious stuff for this launch party.

Anyway, the weekend before I found out I was sick with walking pneumonia, I was busy channeling my inner design sponge…my deep, deep, inner design sponge.

After designing the kids closet, I still had plans to add some finishing details. These plans were in my original drawing but didn’t get done all at once; 1. a cool vintage light, 2. curtains to give some sense of separation from the room, and 3. shoe crates on industrial wheels for both sides of the closet.

I learned about the shoe crate idea recently, in the Design Sponge book. I think it’s a great idea to help keep the messy shoes (i.e. flip flops, slippers, crocs – ew!) off the floor and the shelves more organized.

I picked up two crates for $5 each at the Rose Bowl Flea Market a few weekends ago. You do not need to pay a lot for these. Little boutiques or antique stores will mark these things up to as much as 60 bucks ($60) but, if your patient or psychotic like me, you can find them super cheap.

I love it because one of them was a crate that housed ammunition at some point, making it a bit tougher looking and definitely is perfect for my little guy’s side of the closet.

I have a color palette in mind for my kid’s room, where these crates will live. I wanted to continue to focus on pulling everything together. I just felt I needed a splash of fire burnt orange or deep orange in the room. They only sold one color orange spray paint at my local hardware stores – bright orange. I bought it anyway and just decided to go easy on the application.

I sprayed lightly and massaged the paint into the crate with a rough cloth. I think it turned out nice. I’m diggin’ it, actually. Now my kids can roll these in and out to grab shoes and it keeps them off the floor! I scored. I now have the deep orange color in the room. Another (although small) step for Project SMID. What do you think?

Still in bed!

-SMID

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feeling so tough…lol

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