Whats Ur Home Story

Same Look 4 Less – Chandelier Knock Offs

February 27, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 4 Comments

Lately I've been combing the lighting aisles at every store looking for inspiration for the DIY chandelier in my laundry room. I have a gazillion ideas popping up in my head but none of them seem to match the vibe I want in the room. Anyways, there I was looking for unusual things to turn into pendants when some of the lights hanging overhead caught my eye. They looked like very good knock offs of expensive versions you would find at designer stores at a fraction of the cost! See for yourself; A. West Elm -$149 B. World Market - $70 Granted the World Market version is not white but I can assure you that the picture does not do any justice to this beautiful light. I have 2 of these in the smaller size in my kitchen and LOVE them. See how I converted these table lamp attachments into … [Read more...]

Reader Showcase – DIY Tufted Headboard

February 26, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 2 Comments

A big shout out to all of you who chimed in on the chair survey. Man, do we have a divided house or what? Will give it a few more days so that the rest of the readers can catch up but the majority is leaning towards navy. A close second, "keep it as it is", which took me by surprise! A lot of you also commented, actually literally everyone one who commented here, on Facebook, and Instagram suggested white. I know, that would have been my first instinct too but after 3 furniture makeovers in white (chair, dresser, breakfast table) I'm ready for a change. Plus with the cream shag rug in the family room I'm not sure how adding more white will look in that space. I think I might end up getting quite a few sample bottles! Now onto Mala's DIY Tufted Headboard. Isn't she quite a … [Read more...]

Cane Chairs Dilemma

February 25, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 9 Comments

Mary Jo's cloth store, fish scale fabric

You know all about how I found these fabulous cane chairs on Craigslist back in the day. Oops just pulled up the date on that post and oh my gosh was that almost a year ago? Goes to prove how lazy or rather fickle minded I am when it comes to deciding on what to do with a particular project. Anyways, I've finally decided to get my act together and start this project, thanks to my trip the Mary Jo fabric store in Charlotte last Fall. The apple green fish scale fabric is what is gonna be on the chairs. I know, pretty bold for my standards but I wanted to push myself with this makeover. My anti risk tendencies are so high that every time I end up making safe choices. It is time I break out of that and let my creativity run amok. The floral Suzani is for the accent pillows in the … [Read more...]

Winter Felt Tree

February 24, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 5 Comments

Before we get into the post I would like to take a moment to thank each and everyone of you who voted for WUHS at the Apartment Therapy Homies. Though we fell short of the 80 more votes needed to make the top 5 cut off, it has been worth every bit.I'm totally humbled by your support, love you all! Again THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! That said, 3 of my favorite bloggers have made the cut so if you are still in the mood to vote please hop on over to support my friends; Kelly from View Along The Way, Julia from Cuckoo for Design, and Mandi from Vintage Revivals. After almost a week of near perfect weather it looks like we are heading back into the arms of Ol' man winter. :( How about you? I've had enough of winter already! Just as I was about to pull down my winter decor last night … [Read more...]

Air Plant Terrarium Ideas

February 21, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 6 Comments

Since I'm on an air plant high lately I thought why not show you some fun terrariums I saw at our local Wegmans. They were all very simple, anyone one could do kind of ideas, and that too with easily available props. Unlike the usual terrarium (of which I'm a huge fan of as seen here, here, and here) these are super low maintenance. No watering required for the set up or the air plant. You do take care of the air plant a little differently than a regular plant but more on that in this post. If you wish to have your own slice of rock garden on your office desk all you need are a clear vase, dried moss, and rocks! Just a heads up, these are all IPhone pictures taken at odd angles. The arrangements were kept on low shelves and the only way I could get a picture without the reflection of … [Read more...]

A Big Favor and More Facebook Talk

February 20, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 7 Comments

If you haven't already heard me screaming from the roof tops on Facebook about WUHS being nominated for the Apartment Therapy Homies then here's the newsflash! No really, I didn't realize that the last day to vote is TOMORROW until late last night! So blogger obligation demands that I announce it over here too in case you missed the news on FB. What's the Homies? Each year Apartment Therapy puts out a list of categories asking readers to nominate their favorite blogs. That's how I ended up in their Best Home Projects & DIY and Home Design & Inspiration lists, thanks to you gals n guys. What do you have to do? Head on over to the below links, I think they require you to register but trust me it is easy (no confirmation emails or anything) and click the +1 next to Whats Ur … [Read more...]

Seashell Candle Holder

February 19, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 19 Comments

Last month I teased you with this Instagram picture of the clam shells left over from lunch. Now they are eye candy in our home. A bag of clams to fill our tummies doubling as home decor, isn't that neat? We are big on seafood so it pretty normal to have Clams or Mussels for lunch or dinner but the funny thing is I have never thought of saving the shells till now! Strange how you are always on the look out for new ideas once you let your creative side loose. Before we get into the details here is a short long list of what you should not do. To clean do not soak the shells in soapy water. Luke warm water is best, maybe a quick rinse with soap to get rid of the smell but a long soak is a no -no as that dries them out. Do not store the clean shells in an grocery bag. Do the … [Read more...]

To Do List 2014

February 18, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 6 Comments

How was your weekend? I'd planned on tying up the loose ends on a lot of projects that I've started but our social lives took over! 3 days later, nope nothing got done. :( I mean, off late I've been dragging my feet when it comes to finishing up that one last project in a room otherwise ready for the big reveal! Enough of that, it's time I held myself up to my list................... Source: witandwhistle.com via Kadie on Pinterest The last time we did something like this was in September. Got to admit that in all the holiday frenzy I haven't worked on much in terms of room makeovers. The breakfast nook -In exactly the same spot as we left, 90% done. You can read all about the room revel here. The bright light though is that after pondering over the light fixture for … [Read more...]

Turn Any Photo into Watercolor with Waterlogue

February 14, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 13 Comments

Painted in Waterlogue, Waterlogue app, Turn Any Photo into Watercolor

Happy V day everyone! I've got some eye candy for you today. The buzz word in the blogging world lately has been the Iphone/ Ipad/Ipod Touch app, Waterlogue. As any loyal reader would do I checked it out and was hooked. The reason; it indeed creates beautiful pieces of art that you can print and use as proper art in your home. And no, you do not need pro level photos to create these masterpieces just about any photo would do. The only catch is as any watercolor artist would attest some scenes lend themselves to be "watercolored" better than others. My current favorite is this close up shot of one of my bouquets from this post. I badly want to make this into an Iphone case! Just for fun the original. At a price of $2.99 the possibilities for creating custom art that you can use … [Read more...]

Turn a Vintage Lard Can into a Side Table

February 13, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 13 Comments

As I was sitting down to write this post after a long evening trying to figure out why Google Adsense sent me a violation warning email (blogger troubles) it occurred to me that I haven't really given this Lard can side table project its due. It got lost in all the frenzy of my totally DIY'd guest bedroom reveal last year. So here's what you do if you ever come across a Vintage Lard Can. Swoop down and grab it before anyone else has a chance to set eyes on it. I found my beauty at The Old Lucketts Store Spring Market of 2012 for $15. Check the can thoroughly for rust. Given the fat content in Lard you'd be lucky if you found one without much rust. Mine was pretty rusty. With the help of some sand paper and Krylon permanent protective sealer I was able to get my yellow dude (since … [Read more...]

Get Updates from Your Favorite Pages on Facebook

February 12, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 8 Comments

I had no plans of writing anything about this topic until I saw the responses to one of my recent Facebook status updates. I know this is a pretty heated topic among bloggers but since most of you are not I thought maybe it was worth a mention here. The post in question; First off thank you for responding and letting me know that you saw the update. Can you see the number of people who saw the post? 625 out of the 1,800 plus folks who liked the page i.e 35%. And now check out the same number for my usual posts. 69 and 163 which is 4% and 9% respectively. This just goes to prove that Facebook uses the engagement on posts to decide if they want to show it to the folks who have already liked the page. Kind of pointless if you ask me. When you like the page you assume that you will … [Read more...]