Blog

Though this blog has not been updated in a few years, the posts with historic restoration project information is still regularly visited so I've continued to keep it available. I hope to post additional how-to and preservation projects in the future.

2013 Holiday Dining Room - juniper topiary red lantern centerpiece - LauraAnneStone.com

2013 Holiday Dining Room Decor and Centerpiece

By Laura | December 28, 2013

Tomorrow the family I referenced in the hallway painting post will be here. I already have my mantle all worked out so the only other place I really wanted to spruce up was the dining room. You can see the stripes are gone and the creamy color I used on top of my 3 layers of…

2013 Winter Holiday Mantle - LauraAnneStone.com

Winter Holiday 2013 Mantle

By Laura | December 24, 2013

Round two for the new mantle! This time I de-cluttered it some. I switched out the two black candlesticks for a huge wooden one and made use of the gorgeous pine cones from the previous house. I also made a boxwood wreath and topiary ball from the hedges and used vintage Mason and Atlas jars filled with…

Paint it… then paint it again just in case

By Laura | December 18, 2013

This is a little late, but in early November I volunteered my house for invasion when I invited my extended family over for Christmas. Nothing makes you think “Gotta get the house in order!” like knowing you’re about to have a few dozen visitors. Anyway, when we moved in we decided the painting priority would…

Marie Therese Chandelier

By Laura | December 2, 2013

So I cleaned that adorable glass chandelier in the breakfast room. It looked dusty… but it was actually FILTHY. Like sticky, nasty, can’t-tell-if-that’s-dead-bugs-or-old-kidney-beans kinda dirty. See the difference? So gross! (Though I honestly had no idea until I got on the ladder to change a bulb.)   Taking it apart also let me see how it…

Window Wieners!

By Laura | November 21, 2013

Yes. That’s right. I’ve invented something and I’m naming it Window Wieners. I got a new sewing machine for my birthday and I’m putting it to good use. Our windows are very drafty thanks largely to an attempt to seal them shut a very long time ago. They were partially closed, nailed (partially open) to…

2013 Fall Mantle - LauraAnneStone.com

Fall 2013 Mantle

By Laura | November 15, 2013

This is my first mantle decor! This is very exciting because the last house didn’t have a mantle so I finally have one to decorate. Unfortunately, due to the lack of unpacked decorative items, it’s sort of a mash-up of whatever I could find. Vintage books, grapevine pumpkins, sticks with dried orange berries, jute spears,…

Ugh, stripes.

By Laura | October 20, 2013

In the day-of-closing post, I posted a photo of the dining area. It has stripes. They have become the bane of my existence. There was a little prep work to do before I got started painting. Normal stuff: taking down the previous owner’s curtains, filling nail holes, discovering why we got a free mirror… It…

Trust him, he’s an engineer.

By Laura | October 8, 2013

When we moved our three Uhaul-fuls of big stuff to the new house we opted to wait on moving the washer and dryer down to the basement. After thirty minutes of psyching himself up, Jeremiah got the wheels of the dolly just barely over the first step and suddenly declared “Nope. Never mind. I don’t…

We bought a house!

By Laura | September 14, 2013

That’s right, we bought a house! Those who know me know I’ve been pining for one for a long, long time. We knew we wanted an older home, and though we thought we would end up in a Craftsman-style bungalow, we landed something even better! I’ve never lived in anything with stairs (unless you count…

(Re)Painted Kitchen

By Laura | August 28, 2013

We moved into this house and the kitchen had been recently remodeled. Unfortunately the color of the cabinets made everything feel small and the lack of trim at the top made the space look stumpy. I didn’t initially mind the color or the lack of trim but as the years went on I decided I…

You CAN fix ugly!

By Laura | August 13, 2013

The other day I posted about the Burlap Swag Drum Shade, where I mentioned a wood chandelier. I decided someone might light to see that before and after so here it is. A while ago I decided I needed  this pendant from West Elm. Unfortunately I didn’t want to fork over the money when I knew…

Burlap Swag Drum Shade

By Laura | August 11, 2013

A few weeks (months, maybe… it’s been a busy summer) I replaced the awkward light fixture in our dining area. The fixture itself was mounted off center and it provided three down lights that glared terribly (see it up there, all glaring and being off center). Technically I replaced it twice, the first attempt was…