dining room chairs

we finally did it. after 3 years of sitting in old school chairs around our dining room, we got another set of old school chairs! ok, this new old set is much more comfortable.

out with the old:


in with the new:


and, no, we got those chairs via dabney's magic - not design outta reach.

read more about it here.

elvis has a girlfriend

before we left for vermont, we helped our good friend galen do a little housecleaning, and in return, he was kind enough to gift us "abercrombie girl."

you might remember her.  she had a starring role in his AT house tour (our very first feature, in fact).



i gave her a little scrub down, and she cleaned up well.



AG seems absolutely smitten with elvis. however, he is clearly playing hard-to-get.  he can be a little shy.

don't you think they make a cute couple?

someone's in here!

it's rare when we have more than one houseguest at a time, but it does happen from time to time. and on those occasions, the guest bathroom gets its fair share of traffic. i've thought about using a visual cue on the doorknob - a tie, a tassel - something to show that the room is occupied.

after our visit to maine, i was completely inspired to pick up one of these cabin door locks that my father-in-law/sailor-in-law had installed in one of his bathrooms.



yes, it's brass, which is unlike everything else in our guest bathroom, but i still dig its old timey, nautical feel. plus, this thing is solid and won't pop off if someone pushes hard on the door.

wwmd

we had rug dilemma and we knew just the person who could help us figure it out.

MORGAN!

not only did she email us back in a timely manner, she decided to use our letter to start a new feature on her ever-inspiring and always-entertaining design blog.

before/after @ ann cave

we picked up this danish sectional at a church auction in the spring with every intention of reupholstering the cushions. we just couldn't live with this hideous polyester with its blue and pink (yes, blue AND pink) checked print.


dabney worked her magic and VOILA - new couch cushions.  the linen is so much more attractive and a whole lot less itchy.


this lane coffeetable was a $5 yard sale find.  it had clearly seen better days as evidenced by its dried-out condition and many stains/burns.


a little elbow grease, some murphy's oil soap, a dash of danish oil, a coat of howard feed-n-wax, and some strategically placed tabletop items, and the thing is much more pleasing to look at.

well, what do you know?

i guess those judges weren't as put off by our place as we had suspected. we got called the other day with the news that we are one of the three finalists for st. louis magazine's "living space of the year."

now, here's the part, we deplore... the campaign.

yes, the public decides the winner, and since we don't know that many people in the st. louis area, being new and all, we have to rely on shameless plugs.

if you've got a second, please vote for us here.

the bad news - we're currently in last place. the good news - whoever wins... we're gonna get an AT house tour out of 'em.

at least, we got a clean house out of it.

those judges came through on friday afternoon, as expected.

to tell you the truth, i am not so sure we were their cup of tea. let's just say that the extent of our recycling/reclaiming/adaptive reusing/craigslisting/ebaying ways might have been a surprise to them. i don't know if it was the jfk heads or our rusty old bar cart...



but we might have just put 'em over the edge.

there was a lot of nodding and pleasantries exchanged, but afterwards, dabney and i had the distinct feeling this wouldn't go our way.

at least, our house is clean.

finalists!

apparently, it may well be.  

st. louis magazine judges visit us on friday afternoon.

more soon...

AT in our kitchen, again

the week that was

two days of house touring, six house guests, a concert, and a baby shower - it was truly a memorable and fun week.

that house tour we mentioned? it wasn't the deluge of people we were warned might come, but we still had about 600+ guests do a walk through of our old store. people were generally nice and had tons of questions about our reno. we like to think that the old store stuck out among all the turn-of-the-century rowhouses and victorian mansions.



we love house guests and this week, we got to see both family and friends. it was a real treat to spend time together and show everyone our new city. from the botanical garden, to laumeier sculpture park, to the city museum, we covered some ground.











the house show was super fun. forty concert goers lined up outside our doors at 7:30 sharp to fill all of dabney's chairs and listen to the beautiful sounds of anders parker and will johnson. those guys turned out to be soooo nice. w.j. turns out to be from my hometown and was making my head spin with names i hadn't heard in decades. dabney and i enjoyed their company so much that we've extended an open invitation for a home-cooked meal whenever a tour brings them through town. we hope that will be soon.



finally, fifty of my sister and bro-in-law's friends joined us chez superette to herald the upcoming arrival of our niece (due in june). dabney baked (magnolia bakery-inspired) cupcakes, while i made deviled eggs to add to the plethora of goodies that my sister's best girlfriends provided.

last minute home improvements

this weekend is the annual grand south grand house tour, and chez superette is a featured stop.

we had no idea when we agreed to this months ago that it was that big of a deal, but we soon learned, if the weather cooperated (which it looks like it will at this point), we could easily expect up 1500 people to wander through our place.

whAAAAaaaaat?! 1500 people?!

consequently, the tour has kicked off a series of events in this house of ours that have long needed to happen - like hang art, do some painting, and yes, that front yard of ours.

we've been struggling with what to do with the big giant white wall behind our big giant tv. a friend suggested the following.



after a little photoshop magic and a quick trip to fedinko's, we have a really good temporary solution... one 6' x 7' pixelated photo of mr. declan mcmanus.  the best thing about this is that when someone walks through the door, the tv is no longer the first thing they notice.

this has been sitting on the floor since the day we moved in. now, no longer.



our workroom has been in a state for some time. this week, it got some long needed attention.





we even added some chalkboard paint in the nook. beautiful and functional.


and finally, we turned our attention to the master bedroom, where some cheap, innocent canvas drop cloths gave up their lives to become our curtains.



...and where we finally decided on a paint color, a neutral and serene greige.

chez superette = stl's newest concert venue

no, not an april fool's joke. we're having a concert here in a few weeks. it should be a lot of fun.

click on the image below for more info.

the possible ann-cave and other housey stuff

i've been trying to convince dabney that the one room in our house with no real designation and nothing in it would make a perfect "ann-cave" - a room in which i can listen to records (if i can locate my old turntable), watch golf (if i can find a cheap old set somewhere), read my monthly pile of magazines, knit, nap, and snore in peace.

i got one step closer to my dream yesterday by purchasing a two-piece danish couch set at a local auction.



the set adorned the basement lobby of an old church that is in the midst of relocating. the upholstery isn't pretty but the cushions are in great shape.  i am sure we'll add this to our long and ever-growing list of sewing projects.  now, this room desperately needs a rug and a coffee table.

speaking of house stuff, the grand south grand house tour folks have asked us to participate this year, and we have obliged.



an open house is probably just desserts considering we'll be asking many st. louisans to open up their homes to us and millions of apartment therapy readers. (our first official post goes up on monday, by the way.)

hey! that's our kitchen!

example #3

according to apartment therapy, we blend a traditional fireplace with modern art. who'd a thunk it?

yeah, you're talking to two of AT's newest bloggers...

that's US alright! we just learned today that we got the gig.

thanks to all who clicked over and took a look at our post and even more so to those who took the time to comment. you guys ROCK.

after a bit of training, it looks like we get started in mid-march. so stay tuned for our first post and behind-the-scenes tidbits.

AT HOUSE TOUR: ann & dabney's splendid blended storefont conversion

it's official: we're in the running!

diy console table

can i just say finding a good console table for a reasonable price is nearly impossible? or rather, they are never on craigslist.

after seeing this nifty article on making a rustic bench in this month's readymade magazine, we decided to try our hand at a console table using the same concept (just a little taller).

we found an old joist in a local salvage shop for cheap.



ordered a couple of hairpin legs from hairpinlegs.com (good name, huh?).



screwed in the legs.



voila, nearly instant table!  (picture below photobombed by you-know-who)



we're pretty happy with the result. it's modern and rustic, but most importantly, sturdy. i think a little lamp would look great on one end.

more AT house tour samples

not ours, but read 'em here and here.

coming soon: AT house tour

a couple of months ago, apartment therapy put out a call for new house tour contributors from various cities. dabney and i heeded that call and gave a tour of our own digs as a writing sample (a.k.a. "secret project"). honestly, we're hoping that the addition of AT credentials might just give us the perfect excuse to go snooping around st. louis's coolest places.

we learned the other day that we've managed to make it to the next round, which means sometime over the next few weeks, our sample will be up on the AT website for all the world to see (and possibly pick apart). so, dear readers, we ask that when our time is up - that you'll be one of our kind commenters.

there are other folks who are vying for spots. so far, just this one post has made it up on the site.
amy & stephane's minimalism meets hoardinghouse tour

more soon...