CordeliaWren's Profile

The breakfast is awesome in general, but the hot chocolate is AMAZING. My husband and I have a passion for hot chocolate and get it everywhere we go. This one is now our favorite (previous best we'd had was in Granada, Spain). We bought the mix there as well and have just tried it. It's the best we've ever made at home (and we've made a lot, both from scratch and gourmet mixes). Definitely go to Angelina if you ever have the chance, and also bring home the mix! I'll fill my suitcase with it next time :)

We just did this in our kitchen! Grey base cabinets and white uppers, all glossy. We went with white appliances and it looks really nice. I think it breaks the room up well and we've gotten lots of compliments (though, of course everyone feel obligated to say the like it when they know you just did it!). Go for it!

I think Spacesha is on track. You could have a curtain go from the corner of the wall on the right in the photo (next to the door) and run it perpendicularly across to the stairs, have it make a right angle and run all along the stairs, that way you don't have the draft go up and it would look a little more finished when you came in the door. That would almost create a little mudroom which could be nice too. I like Spacesha idea of using a heavy fabric and having nice tie backs.

It's not ideal, but curtain solutions generally aren't!

If you want to run them in the L shape as I described, Ikea has a good ceiling mounted option (the Dignitet). I know you don't want to mess up the ceiling, but it would only need to be drilled in three spots (two end posts and one corner post), which would be easy to patch if you want to take it down in the future: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60075295/

We have always had a stack of chairs in one of our closets, but recently we renovated our kitchen, breaking through to our dining room. Now we have the Boulangerie table from Restoration Hardware running down the middle of the room. It goes from 8 to 10 feet and we'll have almost all of our chairs there all the time with maybe 2 spare in the closet. This will be a big improvement because the stacking chairs aren't as comfortable and now we will only occasionally need to use two, and my husband and I can take them.

I love that knit blanket! Anyone know where it's from? (I don't see it on the McGuire site)

I'd switch the bookcase with the dresser, that way the whole area next to the bed (where the dresser used to be) would be free and you could put a couple of chairs or a few poufs there. West Elm and Pottery Barn Teen both have nice pouf/floor cushion options, and you can try looking at T.J.Maxx or Home Goods if you have them in your area (they're hit or miss but a lot less expensive). As far as chairs go the butterfly style is great for teenagers; at least, 10 years ago by friends were always draped across mine!
For a less expensive butterfly chair try bedbathandbeyond: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=200160
For something nicer CB2 has leather ones and AT just did a post on them a few days ago!

Ugh, I'm so sick of seeing that Orgaincs are pesticide free! Lots of organic produce IS grown with pesticides and funicides; they just use organic ones! You can look at the research and see which you think is safer, but you should wash or rub everything. ---Good point LITENARATA about the copper fungicide

I've done this too! It's hard to say without seeing your house, but I started by un-decorating as much as possible. Removed the vases, pictures, throw blankets and other items that are unnecessary and bring the red/green pallet to your house. That should leave you with a few big items and the walls (if they're painted a color not neutral). Then paint! Go to a neutral you want to end up with, like gray. Choose a shade that looks ok with the items it will take you the longest to replace like sofas, chairs, etc. If gray is going to look bad in the mean time, just go to white as an intermediate wall color.

Then, you can start replacing what's left and adding the new accent pieces. I hope some of that helps and good luck!

What a great space to work with! What is your style? I'd go for a cool pattern in paint or wall paper on the non-closet wall, with interesting art, mirrors, hooks... maybe the wire wallmounted storage they have on CB2 or Restoration Hardware? Maybe the birch tree stencils I've seen on etsy or if you have more to spend, the wallpaper they mimic: http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-wallpaper/860077.jsp
Then try one of the shoe storage units from Ikea that mount to the wall. This would be great between the door and the closet. We did this in my entry and I've been pleasantly surprised by how many shoes they hold (even w/ my husband's size 13s!), how smoothly they open/close and how well they are lasting. Our cats jump on them to get up to and down from a high window, and they are very stable once wall-mounted.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/hallway/10456/

Drywall over it; it's really not hard with something so small.

If you want to keep it, the problem seems too be that it is too small. So, if you can go into the garage a little more you could make it a bar area, with space to hang wine glasses, or just a buffet space. I'd paint the inside a bright, fun color.