Joe & Cheryl

Carol’s Bridal Shower

April 5, 2011, 5:44 pm | By cheryl

This past weekend I had the honor of decorating for my former roommate’s bridal shower. I worked closely with her bridesmaids who asked me to create a theme involving books and coffee to represent the bride and groom. The bride is an avid reader who majored in poetry and worked in publishing. The groom, who roasts his own coffee beans, owns a coffee shop (the Coffee Foundry) in the West Village and has a passion for perfecting his brew. So it was so perfect to combine books and coffee into a shower theme, especially since books and coffee naturally pair together perfectly! What a great analogy for how well Carol and Wilson compliment one another =)

Back when I was planning my own wedding, I came across many book themed weddings on the blogs I read. Most used beautifully bound vintage books. But as much as I would have loved to use real vintage books, it can be quite expensive buying enough to decorate for an entire event. So we decided to wrap any hard cover books with decorative handmade paper (in the wedding colors) and brown paper. I’m kind of obsessed with brown paper btw. Its cheap and it feels beautifully earthy and natural. I love it so much that I used it for my own wedding invitations.

Take a look at the final result. Another thing that really added to the vintage feeling are the decorative lines drawn on the spines of the paper covers. I think we replicated the vintage library look pretty decently.

"C" for Carol. This was the main centerpiece at the food table.

Many of the snacks and desserts were provided by the Coffee Foundry

This was a second centerpiece we used on a coffee table where people sat

The books were paired with jars full of coffee beans, iluminated with tea lights.

Sharpie marker decorated each book spine

Renovations: End of Week 3

April 1, 2011, 11:51 am | By cheryl

Other posts in this series: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Days 4-5, Days 6-7, Days 8-9, Days 10-11, Days 12-13, Before&After

Remember when I said they told us they’d be done today? Well they are not. I’ve heard that these things tend to run later than schedule for unforeseen reasons, so I’m really glad we gave ourselves a one week buffer before our move-in date.

So not much happened the rest of this week. I’m not sure why, but they varnished a day late and its been drying since, so no other work could really be completed.

But even with the minor delay, I’m SOOO happy with how the floors look. They actually look a bit lighter with the varnish applied. In my head, I was imagining a color that was a bit more blackish, but I’m just as thrilled with the color we ended up with. I feel like it has had the most dramatic transforming effect on the apartment out of all our updates so far. And I love that its different from the standard yellow/blond color that most apartments have (nothing wrong with that color, its just more common).

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

Renovations: Days 12 and 13

March 29, 2011, 11:01 am | By cheryl

Other posts in this series: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Days 4-5, Days 6-7, Days 8-9, Days 10-11, Week 3, Before&After

Technically day 13 has not happened yet – its today, but they are not doing anything today so I’m going to write this post early because it’s just too exciting. This I morning woke up early (again) to stop by the apartment to check out the staining they did yesterday. Our contractor told us that we had to look at it so that if we wanted it darker, they could stain a second coat by TODAY. Apparently you cannot wait more than one day for the second coat or the first coat will set too much, and it won’t work? A second coat also costs more money. Luckily, I loved it just the way it is. I liked that it didn’t get too black and that you can see the wood grain really clearly, despite the dark color.

Tada! there is still no varnish, so the floors look pretty matte. But I LOVVEEE the color! I feel like it will look even more rich once the varnish is applied.

There was a discolored area on the floor in the dining area when we first bought the place. I wish I had a "before" picture, but its totally gone now.

It was also satisfying to see that patched up master closet portion of the floor looking like a normal floor. The color is not a perfect match, but its looks close enough, especially since you won’t really see it inside of the closet. You can see the “before” picture here and here.

Here's a look at the master closet floor that had to be patched up.

Luckily this patch of floor will spend most of its time hidden away inside the closet.

Things are really coming together and I’m getting more and more excited to live here. Another great thing is that I’ve taken the commute from the new place to my office twice this week, and it’s sooo much faster than where I live now. Yay!

Next up: Varnish, molding (base, crown, and picture frame), closet doors, and minor bathroom fixtures.

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Carol’s Bridal Shower

Renovations: End of Week 3

Renovations: Days 12 and 13

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