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Christmas Presents II

On January 6th II

Belated Christmas pictures

Hi there!

I guess it is a little bit late to post Christmas pictures... But Hey, Christmas is great, isn't it? So, why does not it last forever?

As you can see, our Christmas tree was dressed in gold, silver and white. Elegant and timeless colors that I usually love in Christmas.

For the tree, I like just simple warm white lights to add some sparkle, and let the ornaments set the colors of the whole tree.

The decorations we chose were: warm white lights; golden Christmas balls, in different shapes, finishes and models; different golden ornaments, such as presents, a drum and golden sacks; Christmas balls made of pearls; crystal balls with golden leaves on them; crystals; pearls garlands; and a golden ribbon.

As I have more pictures from Christmas, I have decided to make separate posts to share them, in order not to bore you with tons of images. I hope you enjoy them!







Happy Holidays, Merry (Belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

These are some digital postcards made by me with pictures I took at home to wish my friends and contacts a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012. So, I am taking the chance to wish you all, too, a Happy "rest" of the Holidays and a Happy New Year 2012! Hope this upcoming 2012 is even better than 2011 for you and wish also all your dreams come true. I hope you like the pictures!

See you in 2012!

Currently...

Hi all!

I have decided I am going to post something here on the blog more often. At least, I am going to try.

So, my current project is the one you can see here... So much fun, huh? I am stripping my bedroom door! Quite tedious stuff, but it is always worth it when you see the final result after painting the door: a perfect finish white door.

Hopefully, I will have finished stripping it tomorrow and I will put it back in its place to start stripping the living room door. I say 'hopefully' because I am going to do the monthly grocery shopping tomorrow morning; also, some window shopping at the mall will keep me busy until the afternoon, and that is when I will have the time to work.

Please, just ignore the ugly floor you can see on the second pic... It is actually the floor in the spare/storage room we keep to take these projects, hehe.

Happiness

This post at The Zhush reminded me about something I had to share:

The happiness I felt when I received my first issue ever of American Elle Decor Magazine, which I subscribed several months ago. Yay!

But, that same day I also received a fabulous book I had purchased at Amazon.com: Empire Splendor. Double yay! Double Happiness!

Well, about the first one... I must say I did not like the issue very much; it is not a surprise at all, since I don't usually like summer issues of interior design magazines. Anyway, Elle Decor is a great magazine and I am sure the October issue (Which is already out, I think) is definitely going to be better.

Talking about the book... It is amazing: I love the covers (even the interior ones are really beautiful), the pictures, the text... Everything is gorgeous. It shows the decor of French Palaces, manors, gardens, etc. during the era of the French Empire. A great journey through furniture, rooms, textiles and lighting in the Age of Napoleon. If you like Neoclassical interiors, I totally recommend it.

And something else... Hopefully, Spanish Interior Design magazines will be released by the end of this week... Cannot wait for them! El Mueble, Nuevo Estilo, AD... Which surprises will they bring this month?

Door painting

Finally! I can share one of the doors in my house TOTALLY finished... The bathroom one. I mean, I have finished more doors, but, this is the one I had taken some 'during' pictures. Still have some doors left though, but I am getting closer to have them all painted!

Actually, the doors were painted a cream/beige/sand/ivory/light yellow color... I do not know what to call that ugly color (for doors). In addition, they had been painted with a roller and in a glossy finish, and they had several coats of paint under that last one: white, black, blue, red, orange... (depending on the room); so, they looked pretty bad. I did not want to get something worse than I had, so I decided I would strip the paint to paint them the correct way.

Stripping the paint is the hardest step. It is not difficult at all, but sometimes it is really boring and it takes a lot of time. However, if you do this with patience and get to strip all the paint off perfectly, you will get a perfect final job: the door will look just like it had not been painted or even varnished.

After stripping the paint with two different scrapers and a scurer (for smaller areas and moldings), it is necessary to clean the door with paint thinner, in order to remove all the grease of the previous products. The next step is sanding the door and clean again with steel wool, so we can get a soft finish for the wood.

The last part is the fun one: priming, sanding; painting first coat, sanding; painting second coat and sanding, in case you need to apply a third coat. I just needed two coats of Valentine's Valenite in a satin finish to get to the result you see. I also used an enamel blender to make it look less 'glossy'. The color is an off white called "coco" (coconut).

I had planned not to paint the original door hinges; but, after cleaning them I realised that I would get a "cleaner", more even look if I painted them, too. And, I am happy with the result.

So, now I have a fewer number of doors left (four, exactly), since it takes a lot of work. I will try to have them finished for September - October, though! Oh, and just ignore the UGLY floor in the hallway, please; it is still waiting to be replaced/painted/covered (I am not sure yet, hehe).

What do you think? =) Thanks for visiting!

Magazine love

Do you ever feel that you buy more magazines than you actually can read?

I do, but I just cannot help it! When I go to a newsstand and I see a new issue of a magazine, I have to take a look at it!

Among my favorites (interior design - related):

El Mueble

Nuevo Estilo

Architectural Digest (Spanish Edition)

Habitania

Interiores

Besides, there are some others (¡Hola!, for example) that release a special issue decor-related that I try to buy every year.
Of course, I also love reading foreign magazines, being Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, Traditional Home and Veranda.

And I like to read other no decor-related magazines from time to time, too. Men's Health, GQ and Saber vivir are three of them.

When any of those magazines come with a supplement, I have -still- more material to watch and read! Books, etc.

What about you? Do you like to read/buy any magazine? Which one/ones?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lamp makeover

Hi!

I am going to show you something I did several weeks ago... I did not feel like sharing it until now though, hehe.

Remember how my entrance sideboard used to look? Well, I had been planning on buying a new table lamp/a new pair of lamps for that place. Nevertheless, I cannot (still) afford their price... Just yet. Lamps are something I like to "splurge" at, I love them and I think they can actually do a lot in a room.

So, I decided to give a new opportunity to the one I have at the moment via a new coat of paint.

This is how the lamp used to look before the makeover.

I remember I loved it when we purchased it. I really liked its classic and traditional look. It has turned a little bit old-fashioned since then, in my opinion. So, what about a new color for the lamp base and a new shade?

This is the golden bottom of the lamp base. The previous "gold color" looked more like copper-colored, and I was tired of it.

The top of the lamp base is also gold, and I chose a black satin-glossy finish paint for the main body. For the shade, I thought of a black cotton exterior and a gold satin/silky interior, which creates a warm atmosphere and light and a contemporary look.

And finally, this is the result! What do you think, do you like it? I hope so! I can really feel the change in the room. It is not a new lamp but it actually works there... At least for now, hehe.

Thanks for visiting!