Hinges say WHAAAAA??

A funny thing happens when your an interior designer.
You're constantly in other people's homes, changing things, so I have found that our home has become more of a place of quietude. I only buy things that I really love. I only put holes in the walls when I love where the picture is going...(there was a time, when I went through a phase where I was changing picture positions often, resulting in a "swiss cheese" look on the wall, which the hubs pointed out with disgust) but since then, I've been very good at only putting things where I absolutely love them.

With that being said, 6+ years ago, we purchased our home. When we first walked in the first thing I noticed was the brushed nickel hardware on all the doors. Downstairs. When we walked up the stairs, it was a different story. Everything, everywhere was polished brass. EEK!

I made a vow (very similar to the one I made to the hubs...only a little different) that I would make the switch. I would change all the door hardware to brushed nickel. EVERYWHERE.

Well, over the years, I got busy doing other people's homes. Making other people's homes perfect for them. All the while, coming home and seeing my polished brass hardware. I made a change. I bought a brushed nickel privacy lock for the master bedroom. And then a few weeks later, got one for the master bathroom.

Then I stopped.

Why?

Oh a little thing called working...and then being pregnant, and then, duh(!) the baby...so guess what I just finished doing today. FINALLY, after almost 7 years. GUESS?!?! I put the last screw in place on all the new door hardware.

Can I get a WHAT-WHAT?!?! (what-what!!!)

Amen to that sister.

And, to get my free shipping, I ended up replacing all three of our toilet seats as well! (Might be a sad day in some people's lives when new toilet seats arrive on their front porch. For me? I was bouncing around like a school girl on crack!) Thankfully our son is of the age where he likes to help, with everything, so while I installed the new toilet seat yesterday, he helped mama by holding it in place. My lil' helper!

Ok, so you might be wondering..."Erin, what does any of this have to do with the title of your post?" Here's how it all connects.

When the builder put in the polished brass hardware, he also put in polished brass hinges. So, for all the downstairs doors, with the brushed nickel hardware, having the polished brass hinges made me a little pukey (yes, I just made pukey a word.) And so I started the hunt for satin nickel (or brushed, depending upon your site of choice) hinges. I came up with a seller on Amazon...40 hinges, for like $25! Say WHA? So I get all ready to place my order, and guess what? The SHIPPING is $23. I'm sorry...say HU?

So I cancelled the order and started again.

This time with my friends over at Build.com. Well, as cost effective as they could get 'em...it was still going to be a hunk of change for new hinges. Lame.

So today, on a whim, after having lunch with grandma, lil' man and I headed into the bright orange box. (Where, several times now, cashiers have stopped me to say, "he's in here a lot...does he have a kiddo apron?" or something to the like...) ANYWAY, guess what? They not only have satin nickel hinges on sale, but they are on sale for ONE. DOLLAR.

SAY WHAAAAAAA????

I start rumaging through the box like a caged animal looking for my hinges, and come up with one. One satin nickel hinge. Of course there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 polished brass hinges. But really...who wants those? Not this caged animal. So I hunt down an orange apron, asking how do we acquire more of these coveted hinges...only to find out that the closest store, about 35 miles from where I live, has "about 20". "But I need 27" "well then you're 7 short, hu." Thank you captain obvious.

He encouraged me to go to the service desk, I'm sure he was sensing my willingness to throw down, and ask them for more assistance. Turns out I get the most AMAZING customer service girl, EVER, Liz, who called not one, not two, but THREE stores...(even got snippy with the one store, "well if you're too busy to help me, may I speak to your manager? Oh, he's busy too? Well then how about your STORE manager. Thank you"...haha, it was EPIC watching her!)

And now, its all settled. My 27 hinges are waiting for me at the orange store that's only 15 miles from my house, and I'm planning that tomorrow at this time, they will all have a nice, new home on the doors in our home :)

And that, is why I say "Hinges say WHAAAAAAAA????"

Bra-gger

Back in August I was asked by a client of mine if I could decorate a bra for a charity auction. Before I even know what the charity was for- I said, "YES!!!" The relief I felt when I found out how great of a cause it was for was so amazing, I tell you!! 

Turns out, the auction was to raise money for women's health in our county. Women who don't have the means to get annual health screenings, through this program, are given free PAP tests and mamograms. I felt so excited to be part of something so awesome. 

After the excitement of decorating a bra wore off, I realized, I had to actually FIND one. (Coming up with the idea was like, instantaneous for me!) Every time I'd walk into Target or Walmart, I'd browse through the "intimates" section. At first, I was in SHOCK at some of the patterns available. I mean, zebra, really? Or how about red lips? I covered up my son's eyes a few times...he doesn't need to see things like that (for a few years anyway...)

One afternoon we walked into Target for "just yogurt" (which, being Target, ended up being a $50 shopping trip...) but we found THE bra! It was like the angels started singing, leading me towards the pink and purple snake skin bra. (Now, under normal circumstances, I'd RUN as fast as I could from a bra in this pattern/color, but for this event, it was PERFECT!!!)

I anticipated explaining to the cashier that it was for charity, not for me; but she didn't ask. I mean, she kept a GREAT pokerface the whole time. On the conveyer belt was, yogurt, greeting cards, baby cookies, random other stuff and the bra. Yeah, she didn't flinch. I was beyond impressed. 

Ok, ok. Enough about all that...so I finally get my mosaic tiles and I realize, I can't start hot glueing this hanging on a hanger. Its too heavy. So I start looking around the kitchen for something that would keep its arched shape...when I saw it, the KitchenAid mixer!! WAHOO! It was perfect!

Whip up some mashed potatoes for dinner AND hold up your charity bra- duel purpose I tell ya!!

 I started attaching the 5/8"x5/8" mosaic tiles to the straps. Since they weren't on a mesh backing, but a paper backing, I had to soak the straps with a wet paper towel, and then peal the backing off. One tile at a time. A little tedious? Oh yes. Worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!

 When I was completed, the bra weighed in around five pounds. I added the mosaic tiles to both straps, got different mosaics, which were on a mesh backing, and hung them from the under wire, got long peacock feathers and glued them to the inside of the cups, and then a peacock "center piece" for the middle.

Here's one thing I didn't think about: driving it to the drop off point. It looked like this in the car:

As I'm driving, I get to a stop light and my son and I are singing...when I look over at the car next to me. Its a guy driving a truck. He looks at me, looks at the seat next to me. Sees the bra. Looks back at me and kinda half winks, half smiles. I wanted to DIE!! I can only imagine what he thinks I do in my spare time...(while I'm not raising my son, running my business, taking care of my husband, running my household, teaching and working on projects- I have time to wear a peacock, mosaic encrusted bra. Yeah.)

I haven't heard back from the auction, so I don't know if I won 'Breast in Show' or not...but if I won or not, I'm just so happy and thankful to have been part of something so wonderful for so many people...and if nothing else, it make me smile when my mom walked in to my kitchen (while the bra was on the mixer) and she looked at the mosaics, looked a the bra, looked at me and said, "Oh dear."

I cannot tell you how many times growing up, I'd be working on a project and I'd hear her say, "oh dear"...haha

Good times!

Count me in!

Yesterday afternoon I was talking to a new client, firing up our next meeting and what exactly she'd like me to help her work on. As our discussion was winding down, she asked me, "would you like to decorate a brassier for auction?" (I can honestly say, that was a first for me. Its not everyday that your asked to decorate a bra, especially for auction!) Giddy with excitement, I almost shouted "YES! Count me in!!"

Now, its not just decorate a bra and lets hang it on a wall. Its for a really good purpose, helping to raise money for women in our county who, for whatever reason, cannot afford mammograms and pap tests. This auction funds those tests for women.

Did I say YES before I knew that it was for a really great cause- heck ya I did...I mean, how much fun is this going to be?!?!

I hung up the phone and was antsy the entire meeting I was at because I wanted to start designing my bra!! When I was done in the meeting I ran (well, drove- but you get the point) over to MDG Flooring and started making some selections...now, what I actually picked out is going to be a surprise, but what I will tell you is that my theme is "Walk on the Wild Side"...hehe



Here are some photos of inspiration I found:

 

  

And when I came across this one, I just couldn't resist- my hubby is such a video game fan, it made me giggle...

 

Insert foot

Remember a few weeks ago, my post about The Help? Well...if you don't, then scroll down a little and read it, then come back up here.

Ok, WOW- you're a super quick reader! You didn't scroll down, did ya? Nah...its cool, I understand people have things to do; you want to just get to the good stuff, right? Like, just stop talking Erin and just tell the story! Hehe, okay, okay...

I'm talking to my remodeler today and the topic of 'insert foot' comes up. Like, "have you ever needed to insert your foot into your mouth around a client"...and, thankfully I didn't have a time this happened (or at least, if it did happen, I've blocked it from my memory, which makes me thankful- but in this case, I didn't have a funny story to tell!) however, he did. (He's always good for an awesome story!)

"...so my old business partner and I are in a new clients house, walking around meeting with the wife. Now, keep in mind, my old partner was never very good in interpersonal communications. He sucks at talking to people he doesn't know. So we're standing there with the wife, when the husband comes in holding a bag, which he (my old partner) thought was Chinese food. He says, "Oh, hey there, what, did you bring us some Chinese food for lunch? Man, that was really nice of you!" The husband looks down at the bag and says, "This is our dog. He died and I had to pick up his ashes. He was cremated." Insert foot."

He said that it was the most awkward 15 minutes after the Chinese food incident, and needless to say, they didn't get the job.

There's a bunch more where that came from...just wait!

Back to school

When I received a call last year to apply for a teaching position at the community college several things happened very quickly in my head (in no particular order):
- Oh cool, I can teach people about what I love to do
- Wait, if I'm teaching the class, then who has to grade things? Oh.
- Do I really know that much about interiors that I could actually teach someone else?
- What if I forget to wear pants? (Obviously that was just a dream...)
- What should the students call me? Professor? Instructor? Maybe just Erin?

My first semester teaching went awesome. I had three students (yes, only THREE, how awesome is that?!) and it was a perfect way to get my feet wet in teaching, without being overwhelmed with twenty students.

As it turned out, I was (am) an awesome teacher! (All my students told me so, so its not like I'm patting myself on the back here...its a fact; and no I didn't pay them to say nice things about me!) I didn't realize how much I actually knew about interior design, until I was with a bunch of people who didn't know anything about interior design. (And boy did I feel smart!)

Next week the Fall semester starts and I'm so excited! I'll be teaching two classes and everyone who I tell, all say the same thing, "I wanna be in your class!" hehe

I'm totally geeking-out here, but one of my favorite things about teaching is all the ORGANIZING I get to do. All the prep work, all the labels and tabs and new pen smell...ahhhh, its wonderful!

Puppy love

Erinteriors has recently joined forces with MDG Flooring America (my local flooring showroom) to offer our clients both of our services!

Here's how it works:
You walk into MDG, buy a $75 gift card (which is applied towards your flooring purchase!) and then you receive one hour of my professional help, for free!! (Not like Lucy van Pelt offers professional help...The Designer is IN!)

Now's the time, if your looking at getting new flooring, but don't know what to pick- or need guidance, walk right in and let us help you!!

MDG + Erinteriors, making your home more beautiful, one square foot at a time!

Ok- now that I'm back from my commercial break, you might be wondering about why the title of this post is puppy love and where the connection lies...well, lemme tell you:

Tonight I met with a client, who purchased the $75 MDG gift card, so I went out to her house to help make the selections and guess who met me at the door?

A HUGE Golden Retriever named Harley.

Now, most Golden's are, well, golden, in color. Not Harley. He was like a (large) scoop of vanilla ice cream. He was beautiful! Big black eyes, perfect round black nose- my heart just melted too when I saw a huge portrait of him on the wall.

See, this is where having the career that I do really blends the best of both worlds for me. I get to help improve the living space of clients, while meeting with their wonderful animals.

Another reason to celebrate meeting Harley today? It was his seventh birthday!

Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes clients animals just get. In. The. Way. One dog, for example kept trying to bite at us (and the samples I was holding) until finally, he did bite my co-worker. Needless to say, we ran (not walked) out of that house...

Holy moly!

Erinteriors.com is officially up and live!!
Hooray!!!

Go check it out. No really. Stop reading this and click here to see the portfolio I've put together over the years.

I'm so thankful to work(-ed) with amazingly talented designers, architects, craftsmen, suppliers and carpenters. My ideas aren't worth their salt if I don't have great people standing along side me to make it happen!