New Chair & Television

You know what the downside of being a stalker is? When something sells out on your wishlist, you panic.

Most of my purchases have been panic-related lately.

I'd been stalking the Albury chair at Overstock since April. I had no idea why I hadn't bought it yet, it wasn't outrageously expensive or anything. I think I just kept thinking, "oh, I'll get a coupon eventually," or something. It just wasn't a priority for whatever reason.

Until I went to check on it at Overstock and it was sold out. Now, typically I wouldn't be too worried, but the chair had also been out of stock at Target (the only two places I could find it, besides overpriced on eBay) for over 8 months. The only thing I could think was it had been discontinued and there would never be more. Nooooo! Not the perfect, sexy, sleek, modern white faux leather chair of my dreams!?! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!!!

I was a starving hunter in the woods of Google. I had to find the chair. I had to buy the chair.

Thankfully, it came back in stock at Target. Not only that, it was on sale with free shipping, so it ended up being the same price as Overstock. Sweet.

And it's perfect, right? (Yes, I had to make a very special pillow for it as well. That will be carved on my tombstone.).

Cassie lurves it too!

Poor Mike. He seriously got 10 emails in 5 minutes from me, detailing my frantic search for the chair, and my elation at finding it. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't pull the same stunt two weeks later with these oh-so-expensive-yet-perfect mirrors I've been stalking for our bedroom. I told him to blame Sarah Richardson, she was the one who put them in our inspiration room. He told me to stop looking at my wishlists.

Thankfully, there was one big purchase we made recently in which stalking paid off, big time:

After months of price-checking, we got an amazing deal on a 60" Sharp Aquos television. We got it at Costco, who doesn't have Black Friday deals, but just so happened to have this TV on sale... on Black Friday. Ha! Well, it was on sale all week, technically.

Anyways - it's so nice to have a large TV again. We put our old 50" projection on FreeCycle when we moved and had been getting by with the 32" that had previously been in our bedroom. We didn't realize how much we missed having a drive-in theater in our living room. We're big movie buffs, and Mike makes the yummiest kettle-cooked popcorn.

I also love how well it fills out the Besta media stand from Ikea - the whole room looks in proportion now. I'll have to post some updated shots of the living room overall soon - I've swapped out the coffee table as well. Now all we need is a new couch - which is still elusive.

Hey, Mr. Postman! Like Our New Box?

(Yes, I realize the humor in that post title. Secretly, I'm still fourteen.) Here's what our old mailbox looked like. It was...um...not our style? Ok, it was ugly. When we pulled up to the house for the first time, it was the first thing I saw. I said "Well, that has to go." Mike was busy eyeing the white plastic fence. He added, "That too."

Mike had a deep hatred for that white fence that I never understood. It was pointless - three posts on each side of the driveway at an angle. I'm sure it was meant to be decorative, but it was just silly. I figured sooner or later I'd take it out with my car as I tried to back out of the driveway (not my strongest skill). But sure enough, the day we moved in, Mike was out there - in the rain, tearing the darn thing out. He claimed "it was in the way of the UHaul" but he just looked a tad too joyful when ripping those white plastic posts out.

All but one.

He left one post in because we planned on eventually putting a new mailbox in and it would get us ahead of the game with digging a post hole. So for eight months, our neighbors were probably a bit confused.

Until that shiny new mailbox went in! Here's a breakdown of the project. Mike did this all himself, including the photos - I just watched from the front window while I sewed the dining room curtains.

So here's a close-up of the previous mailbox. Dig the covered bridge scene? Yeah, we didn't either. The bottom was even worse; as you can see from the photo below, it was a cemented-in milk can. (PS - in the photo above, you can also see how pretty the new blue door looks!)

Mike started by taking out the last, lone post.

See? Already halfway done. Mike dug down to the height he needed, then...

He inserted the new post, and held it in place with some bracing so that it would stay level during the cement pour. Both the post and mailbox are from Lowe's. The post is cedar, and Mike brushed on two coats of all-weather lacquer before dropping it in the hole. I'm hoping this will help prevent weathering.

Mike then mixed a bag of Quikrete (How funny is it that a guy is using it to put in a mailbox pole on the bag? Ha!).

He poured the Quikrete in the post hole and left the bracing in place while it set up, which was about two hours.

Next, Mike added some brushed nickel numbers, also from Lowe's. They wouldn't be my first choice, but they were the best/closest to what we were looking for without having to special order anything. Our house is at the end of a spur off a larger U-shaped neighborhood, and around the corner, all the houses have the numbers on the post, which I liked better than having the numbers on the box itself (which is what the other side of the U has). Plus, I figure now we can take those big ol' numbers over the garage off the house.

Next, Mike removed the old mailbox. I kind of wish I had gotten video of this process. I watched from a safe distance in the house. He basically tied the old mailbox to the trailer hitch on his truck and dragged it out of the ground. Well, it was a bit more complicated than that - it involved using some wood planks to convert horizontal force into vertical force and pull the cement can out of the ground. It was all very engineering-ish. Anyways, out it came. It's hiding behind our shed at the moment until we can figure out how to dispose of it.

So here is the new mailbox, in all of it's metallic glory. Pretty, right? Makes a huge difference to the front of the house. The box is called "ironsides" - it's real heavy duty, which is nice - means we probably won't have to replace it. I also like the front flap, it's magnetic, so it closes nicely.

Mike used the dirt he took out of the new post hole to fill the old hole left by the previous mailbox, but it wasn't enough, and after the first rain, it packed down even more. So sooner or later, we're going to have to level out the old hole a bit better. Eventually, we'll be tearing out the driveway and will put in a straight, paver driveway (right now the driveway is narrow at the bottom and curves up to the garage - it's tricky to back out of because you can't just go straight back). When we do that, we're going to do an offshoot of the pavers around the mailbox, which will also create a pad for the trash can. But that's a long way off!

Decal Fail (and Office Update)

Remember this post, where we solved the mystery of the Mystery Room? Well, phase one was to paint. Check. Phase two - hang up vinyl decals. Check. Er... well, at least for 24 hours.

The painting went pretty easily, except for the charcoal wall we were going to hang the decals on. After two coats, you could still see the roller lines. So Mike did a third coat with one of those mini foam rollers and Bingo! it looked perfect. We waited a week, then applied the decals to the wall.

Turns out, we should've waited two weeks. When we woke up the next morning, this is what we found:

We tried everything: reapplying, taping up pieces, closing the door and shutting off the heat, etc. But in the end, it was a no go. We were bummed - not only was it a total waste of money, but they had looked so cool at first. It was disappointing.

Oh well, moving on. Here's what the room looks like now, freshly painted and with spiffy new curtains:

Let's recall, this is what we started with:

So... yeah. Definitely an improvement. Mike also put some shelves in the closet. This particular closet is going to house larger items, so it only needed a couple of sturdy shelves:

The curtain fabric is Dotscape Charcoal from DwellStudio. I got an amazing deal on it at a discount fabric shop. And by amazing, I mean these curtains cost me $10.00. The retail price per yard of the fabric is $28.00 - not too shabby! I totally goofed on them though - I had bought the fabric so long ago, I thought I bought the exact amount I needed so I could just cut the length in half, sew it to some lining, pop in some grommets and call it a day. Turns out, I bought a yard extra, which I only realized when I went to hang the drapes and each panel was 18 inches too long. Sheesh, this room was just a fail week for us all around. I pinned them up with safety pins for now. Eventually, I'll take them back down and hem them. Or maybe not. (Probably not)

We're still working on furniture for the office. Right now, we're thinking about a different desk from the inspiration photo, and maybe a different rug. I'm actually thinking about taking the rug from the guest room and sticking it in here, because I want a bigger one for in there. We'll see. The room is acting as a hodge-podge for the moment as we set up some Ikea tables (we own like, 5 table tops and a bunch of legs and just set them up when we need project space - it's the handiest thing ever) and dumped a bunch of crap on them. Mike emptied out the hall closet so he can install an outlet and new shelving in there (we're going to hide the TV components in there and hang a TV on the wall in our master bedroom), and last weekend I decided to peel off all the wallpaper in the bathroom... which is another blog entry altogether.

Stay tuned, we're hoping to get some furniture by the end of January and make more sense of this room.

Partnership With Dandelion Calligraphy

I'm am SO excited to announce that I've recently partnered up with my friend Alyssa to provide calligraphy services for my brides. Alyssa has recently opened Dandelion Calligraphy and her work is very diverse. She has tons of styles to chose from, each one beautiful. If you have any interest in adding calligraphy services onto your Wicked Bride Stationery order, just let me know, and I'll put you in touch with her. Since Alyssa and I work together in our day jobs, it's a very convenient service for my brides. I can give Alyssa your envelopes, and pick them up from her when ready. This means everything - invitations and addressed envelopes - arrive in one package ready to mail!

Here are some examples of her unique style:

Something Old, Something New

Happy New Year everybody! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We've been flat-out crazy since Thanksgiving. Just so much to do, so little time to do it in. Christmas was a whirlwind - four families, four days, two states. And Mike wonders why I want to go on a cruise next year? Thankfully, New Year's Eve was low-key. My mum came over with some yummy pastries and Chambord. Her and Mike mixed it with champagne. I had only a sip - unfortunately, I can't have anything carbonated (I'm that lame) - but they looked delicious! There was a Monk marathon on cloo, so we kicked back and dozed a bit until it was time for the ball drop. Yeah, we're real party animals. I think we were in bed by 12:15. It was nice to relax though, especially with how busy I've been both at my day job, and with the stationery. Mike's slammed too - we're both averaging around 60 hours a week for work nowadays. Really. Need. A. Vacation. I'll be in Las Vegas with my day job in a couple of weeks - but since it's the hardest week of work I do all year, I won't exactly be lounging poolside.

Anyhoo - I'm going to have to backtrack a bit in the next few posts. We got some projects started (one finished) over the past couple of months, and it's time to share.

First up, my new camera came! I love it. Yes, it took me two weeks to figure out how to zoom out, so what? :) When we unpacked the camera, Mike unwrapped the strap with "oooh, this is nice." I made the stink-eye. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but it was very, I dunno... boring? Utilitarian? Now, you've followed the blog so far, so you know I tend to lean a bit more to the masculine/clean/simple in my design - but I couldn't help but want something a bit more fun for a camera strap. Then it hit me - I have a great strap already.

All through high school, I took photography classes. My dad gave me his old Praktica camera - it has this amazing German lens. I think it's around 40 years old now - maybe more? I also used it all through college until digital cameras were mass-marketed and became inexpensive. Now you can't even find film, never mind someone to develop it. I also think it might need some work - I'm pretty sure there is a hole in the shutter because the last roll of film I developed (yes, this was back in the day when I developed my own film and made my own prints) had a flare on every photo. Anyways, it's been sitting in storage for years.

So when the new camera came, I thought it would be neat to take off the camera strap from my dad's old camera and put it on the new Rebel. Funny enough, I'm fairly certain they still make straps like this. But mine is true vintage - even has the smell to prove it. The strap kinda stinks. It's like wearing a musty basement around your neck. I kind of love it.

Here's some pics I shot of the old camera, bag and strap with my new camera:

Do you guys have anything old you've repurposed? For me, every time I sling the camera over my shoulder, I think of my dad, which makes me smile. Some days, when life is bananas and one smile is all you get, it helps to make that smile count.

Wicked Bride on Style Me Pretty!

I might throw up. I'm not kidding, I'm that excited.  Remember when I teased yesterday that next week I would be featuring another real wedding? Well, Style Me Pretty beat me to it. My former bride (now newlywed!) Liz emailed me this morning with breaking news: her wedding just debuted on the Holy Grail of wedding sites! I created Liz's Playbill invitations, along with a bunch of goodies for her big day, including cupcake flags and dessert signs.

Here is some of my work featured on the site:

{ all photos by Behind the Lens photography, please do not use without permission }

To see the rest of Liz's beautiful day, click here! Thank you so much to Liz for sharing this with me, I'm beyond excited for you and Brendan!

Real Wedding: Courtney & Paul

Remember when this blog was actually about stationery? I'm bringing that back today, peeps. No house updates, no crying at Target, just a really beautiful Boston wedding!

You may remember Courtney's awesome Boston Skyline invites. This was the girl who started the trend, folks!

Courtney found me through our mutual wedding photographer, the mega-talented Lisa Rigby. If you are getting married, take a meeting with Lisa. And if, by chance, she has your date available, do not think, just hand her a check. She's amazing. Her work has appeared in countless publications and she's an absolute joy to work with.

Lisa shot some great detail photos of the pieces I created for Courtney & Paul's big day:

{ all images by Lisa Rigby Photography, please do not use without permission }

Thank you so much to Courtney, Paul and Lisa for sharing these images with me! To see more of Courtney's beautiful wedding - check out Lisa's blog.

Next week, I'm hoping to feature another great wedding where I got to make cupcake signs!