Delaks's Profile

Mandoos: 3M command strips are surprisingly strong and removable, the lightweight vinyl option held on with the strips might work well as a temporary solution?

OK, so we know you don't want to keep it... but as the renter of a pink and teal art deco bathroom (mainly pink - including the toilet, sink and tub) I am living proof you can make it work. Here's what I would do with your couple of hundred dollars:

- Repaint all the white trim and walls so that it is clean and crisp
- Regrout/use grout pen everywhere, again so that it is all looking clean and crisp
- Replace ugly vanity with something simple, white and bright (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09906060/)
- Add a high quality, crisp white extra long shower curtain (perhaps with a black trim - http://www.potterybarn.com/products/morgan-banded-shower-curtain )
- Replace the medicine cabinet with a plain, clean mirror (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20166706/) or cabinet (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10230227/)
- Replace any fixtures you can (towel rails/rings, faucet, handles etc) with a simple, matching set
- It's hard to see the floors in this, but that is one area you could easily recover with a sheet of white vinyl or stick-on tiles to lighten things up (again, white with a thin black border would look great)
- Fluffy white towels, hand towels and bath mats
- If you can change out that little shelf, swap it to simple glass
- Large black and white photographs with a wide white mat and black frame (just one in the toilet, anything more than that I think would make it feel more cramped than it already is)
- All white or metallic accessories
- A little plant!

Good luck, may the force be with you.

I was so thrilled when I saw this collaboration happen - I adore Emily Henderson, and I was excited to see what she would come up with for a blogger with creative, interesting taste and what I *thought* would be a 'normal' decorating budget. Props to both these ladies for their uber creativity and what a beautiful space Emily has put together, but looking at the pricing of things... man its kind of a downer its so unaffordable.

Ah, bummer. Thanks for the quick reply anyway! Good luck in the competition :)

I'm in the market for a printer right now (and also just new to the USA from Australia!) so I very much appreciate this shopping experience review - looks like Staples is the way to go. In the future a little more detail would be great, eg which store has lasers/colour lasers, what sort of peripherals are available (cables, toner or ink). Cheers, keep up the good work!

What a lovely room! I want to plonk myself down on that chair with a gin in one hand and a good book in the other. Where is that fabulous bar cart from?

Wondering out loud here - I'm not certain, but it might possible to have the tiles resurfaced/reglazed, like you would do to an old bathtub. Then at the very least you would have white tiles instead of beige, and would only have to paint the black ones to acheive the checkerboard effect. The resurfacing guys might even be able to do the checkerboard for you - spray white first, dry, mask off white tiles, spray black. Worth a phonecall to find out!

As a fellow "unmovable giant black TV" owner with a media set up suspiciously similar to yours, I COMPLETELY understand your situation.

The thing is in our instance (and most probably yours looking at your setup) is that the placement of the components is actually very important for sound quality - the distance between speakers, the distance from the speakers to where you sit etc, hence why its important to stay where it is. Its pointless having all that equipment if it doesnt sound right!

I also have exactly those inspiration pictures in my file, and while they look beautiful what they don't account for is large speakers either side of the TV. My approach has been to try and contain the TV in its own area and keep that area very simple, clean and completely free of clutter. I also have the dark expedit shelf in the opposite corner of the room to balance out the dark TV area.

We have a low, long media console, which has open shelves in the middle and small cabinets each side. The shelves hold the centre speaker and the amp, the left cabinet holds all the DVDs, and the right cabinet holds the media centre PC (I noticed yours in on the floor).

On top of the cabinet is the TV, very lowline cable box and dvd player (both tucked in either side underneath the TV), a neat stack of books to hide the DVD player and a nice low vase to hide the cable box without blocking the TV. Nothing on the wall above the TV, minimal items around the TV, and as much space around it as you can fit so that it doesnt feel so huge and ominous.

While replacing the TV might not be in your budget, having a good looking TV does make a big difference - we have the Sony Bravia with glass surround and silver frame, it goes a long way towards making the large TV feel 'lighter' if that makes sense?

Good luck with it!! :)

Hello, thanks for featuring our house tour again Gregory!

ravenovertheway - he's an australian bulldog, similar to the english ones but bred so that they dont have all the problems english bullies do. They're also a little bit bigger (taller) than the english ones.

bcthree/sally305 - I totally agree!!

Thanks again :)
- Danielle

Our bedroom is an attic so we too have no closet - and in fact zero headroom and no flat walls to even put one! So I feel your pain.

We do have a tiny narrow closet tucked in behind a door in our small study downstairs where we keep our special/hanging items (delicate dresses, suits, husbands business shirts). If you only have one or two things that really need to be hanging, you could hang them on the back of the door or even hang a pretty dress on the wall as decoration.

But clothes storage doesnt necessarily have to be a closet or a rack. For the rest of our clothes, we have the Malm drawers upstairs in the bedroom, see pic here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delaks/3229254411/in/set-72157604221225910/
These are quite subtle and blend in really nicely with the room, plus they weren't expensive at all and we could use them elseware in the house if we move later on.

Our out of season items are folded into storage tubs and stored away in the small cupboards under the eaves you can see to the left (you could also store yours under the bed). Purses, scarves and other accessories are in the decorative boxes in the corner.