Dapper Home: Laurie's Handmade Gallery of a Home

When you've been making the rounds of the art and craft show circuit for as long as Laurie "The Glasskicker" Freivogel has, you're bound to amass quite a collection of art. Indeed, Laurie's home is chock full of the unique pieces of art and accessories that she has collected over the years. This little single family home is like a living gallery of unique independent art.

When asked how she would describe her style Laurie says, "Eclectic? Frenetic? Chaotic? I LOVE simple, clean lines, but I also love stuff, especially handmade, mid-century modern and art.  Maybe my decorating style is "There's ALWAYS room for more!"" This maximalist mentality works in this vintage two-story house.

Since Laurie and her husband, Andy, bought this Oak Park house sixteen years ago, they've gradually transformed it into a family home. They've transformed an attic space into a bedroom for their daughter, expanded the basement to allow more room for Laurie's business, Kiku Handmade, and, most recently, gutted and expanded the kitchen to create a family hangout space. But it is the basement project that has been the most life changing for Laurie and her family.

"My "studio" was the basement, and we had to walk through broken glass to get to the laundry room, plus my kiln was at my back (and, at times, is 1400 degrees). It was a horrible way to work. Also, about 1/3 of the kitchen had previously been an enclosed porch, built on concrete footings. One corner kept sinking and it was time to deal with it. So we knocked it down, dug out an 18' x 10' basement addition (my studio) and rebuilt the back of the kitchen on top, which included an additional 10' x 12' space for a sofa, fireplace and countertop. I got to use soapstone and found beautiful floor tiles and we can actually be together in the kitchen now. And the studio is where I can now go and close the door. Best of both worlds."

Laurie's love of color and creativity is apparent in every corner of the house. The walls are coated in bright hues and colorful art lines most horizontal surfaces. Even the basement floor is covered with a sparkly blue coating. It's also a home that expresses Laurie's love of vintage and handmade. The house has been decorated a little bit at a time, using sources like Craigslist, Ebay and estate sales. "I love rehabbing old furniture pieces," Laurie says, "so I tend to look for used pieces with good bones first. The best place for that for me has absolutely been Craigslist. Ebay is a close 2nd." Laurie spent a great deal of time hitting estate sales a few years back, collecting most of her dining room furniture in the process.

As a big supporter of independent artists and retailers, Laurie makes a point of buying from them. "I get all of my home accessories and art as either gifts, from my artist friends in the form of trades, at art fairs or at independently owned boutiques. I try to only buy US-designed and made, when possible (OK, Canada, you count) and stick to little local shops as often as I can. I usually shop on vacation, or when I'm dropping off my Kiku goods at one of my stores."


Check out more of Laurie's home in the slideshow above. And be sure to click over to Kiku Handmade to see Laurie's designs and support a local artist!

Images: Jason Loper

Home Inspiration: Framed Playing Cards as Gallery Wall

I find some of my best home design inspiration when I'm shopping. This past weekend, I spied this gallery wall in Jayson Home and knew right away that it was a look to steal!

When I shop, I spend half my time looking at the merchandise and the other half looking for styling inspiration. When I'm shopping for clothes, I take note of how pieces are paired and sometimes discover new ways to coordinate a look. And when I'm shopping for home items, I always look at the way stores are staged. The merchandisers who do the visuals in home stores always have the best ideas!

This gallery wall of vintage playing cards could be easily achieved at home. Whether using playing cards, book pages or a collection of matchbooks, simply affix them to a backdrop with photo corners (like these Canson Self-Adhesive Photo Corners from Amazon).You could use a thick card stock or some other thick, plain paper for the background. Pick up some cheap frames and you've got some instant art!

The key here is to use frames that are uniform in size and color. No matter what you're framing, when grouped together in matching frames, it'll look smashing!

Images: Jason Loper

Dapper DIY: Reusing a Commercial Art Frame

I'm not usually a fan of commercially produced art. There are far too many amazing artists, both professional and amateur, to waste your time and wall space on something that's spit out by a factory. When I was given this print of a Lichtenstein piece a couple of years ago, I smiled and said thanks but I knew it wasn't for me. Then, as I was trying to complete a gallery wall, I hung it up out of desperation. I needed one more big framed piece to complete the wall and, well, there it was. For the past year I have groaned every time I looked at the framed print. We have dozens of original works of art sitting in a little box waiting to be framed and here I am displaying a print of a famous piece. For shame!

In a burst of project completion one day, I finally decided to re-use the frame for one of the original pieces we have. Now, I know this is not way the right way to frame art. I have a few framer friends who may never speak to me again if they see this post. Framing art is an art in and of itself and I am in no way disparaging their talents. But, hey, I'm a dapper dude on a budget and the frame needs to be re-used so I just went for it.

The first step was disassembling the frame. Using a flat head screwdriver, I removed the two screws from two of the corner brackets.

With the two corner brackets removed I was able to remove one side of the frame. There was no need to remove all four corner brackets since I really only needed to remove on side of the frame to allow me to slip the art out of it.

Now that the one side of the frame had been removed, I needed to remove the clips that hold the art and glass in place in the frame. I used the flat head screwdriver to push one side of the clip down and out away from the frame.

And then I used my fingers to pull the clip completely out of the frame. There were three clips for each side of the frame - one on each end and one in the middle - for a total of twelve clips. One clip did fly out of the frame and came within an inch of my face so be warned!

With the clips removed I was able to slide the art out of the open side of the frame. I took this opportunity to clean the glass, inside and out.

When I pulled the art out of the frame, I discovered that it was one piece of foam core with the art printed directly on it. Since the foam core was perfectly sized for the frame I decided to re-use it as the backdrop for my original art.

I covered the foam core in kraft paper to use as my background. I place the foam on a roll of kraft paper and cut a piece that was a few inches larger. Then I wrapped the paper around the foam core and taped the paper to the back of it. Next, I tore a few more strips of kraft paper, wrapped them around the foam core and attached them to the back with tape. The art I'm framing is ripped from a sketch book so it has torn edges. I wanted to replicate this look with the torn edges of the kraft paper. (This also meant I could "float" the art in the frame instead of creating a mat.)

Since I'm working with an original piece of art, I don't want to use tape or any other adhesives to attach it to the background. Instead, I placed the art on the kraft paper covered foam core and positioned it where I wanted it. I knew that once I slid everything into the frame and reapplied the clips, the art would be sandwiched so tightly in the frame that it wouldn't move. It took a couple of attempts to slide the whole thing into the frame and get the artwork perfectly positioned. On my first attempt, I noticed that the art had budged a bit and was uneven in the frame. On the second attempt the art didn't move but it still wasn't quite level. I used an x-acto knife to straighten the art, slid the whole thing into the frame and was finally happy.

Once I was satisfied with how the art looked, I re-attached the top of the frame and inserted the clips. With the clips in, I stood the frame upright and gave it a little shake. Nope, that artwork was not going to budge.

Like I said, this is definitely not the perfect way to frame art. It is, however, a cheap way to re-use an old frame. I like how the kraft paper plays with the art - both the color and the way the torn edges of the paper mimic that of the art. Eventually I'll want to take this art to a framer and have it legitimately framed but for the time being I'm quite happy with how this turned out.

So what do you think? Will you keep start keeping an eye out for old frames to re-use?

Images: Jason Loper

David Hopkins Brings the Drama to a Vintage Lakeview Apartment Dapper Before & After

My friend David has an undeniable flare for drama when it comes to interiors. I've often walked into the apartments he has decorated and marveled at the bold design choices. Whether it's in one of his own apartments or those of his friends and clients, David can take a plain old space and turn it into a work of art. For his latest project, David invited me to snap photos of the apartment as it looked when he took possession. Then, just two weeks later, I went back to shoot the apartment after David gave it his dramatic designer touch.

As you can see in the before photos, the apartment was your basic vintage Chicago rental. White walls, hardwood floors and years and years of chipped paint and odd wiring snaking up the walls. As someone pointed out when I posted one of the before photos on Instagram, the apartment has good bones. Like any supermodel, it takes a little dressing up to make those good bones really beautiful.

The biggest change to the space came from a few cans of paint. In addition to changing the wall colors and painting the fireplace, David added a big, bold stripe that runs the length of the apartment. As you enter the front door, your eye is instantly drawn to the stripe. It's a very clever visual treat. Your immediate instinct is to look up at the stripe on the ceiling and then follow it as it trails through the apartment and down the wall. Oh the drama!

In addition to new paint, David covered up the "built-in" bookcase in the living room. I put built-in in quotes because it's not original to the space. At one time, long, long ago, there was a Murphy bed contraption in that space. At some point, the beds were pulled out of these apartment and these bookshelves were built in their place. By covering up the shelves, David was able to reclaim that wall.

Other than the new paint colors, David worked with existing furniture and accessories to outfit the apartment. He used a mix of new and vintage pieces to create two separate sitting areas. He also combined two old light fixtures to create a new light for the little den/dining room. All told, the makeover only cost a couple hundred bucks, most of which expense was for paint. The makeover is only about 75% complete - there's still a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom to get the magic touch.

Thanks for the peek into your process, David. I'm excited to come back and see how the rest of the apartment comes together.

More David Hopkins from around the web:

• Bert & David's LEGO Loving Style House Tour on Apartment Therapy
• Open House: Dave's Lakeview Luxury on Strange Closets
• Ensconced in His Closet on The New York Times
• David's Designer Dining Dungeon on Apartment Therapy
• Lakeview Man Lives in Closet to Support Lavish Party Habit on DNAinfo Chicago

Images: Jason Loper

Dapper Tip: Use a Curtain Rod to Organize & Store Scarves

Now that the temperature's dropping, it's time to switch out the off season clothes. While you're packing away your shorts and flip flops, you're pulling out your sweaters and scarves. If you're like me, you have more than a couple of scarves that you work into your fashion rotation. Now that you'll be needing access to them, wouldn't it be nice if they were neatly contained and ready to wear?

I used to keep my scarves in a little basket in the coat closet. They were well contained in the basket but they were a pain in the ass to access. It seems like the scarf I wanted was always on the bottom of the basket. To get to it, I'd have to pull out every other scarf and by the time I got the one I wanted I had a pile of tangled scarves on my lap. This year, I'm all set to have my scarves at arm's length, ready to provide comfort at a moment's notice. I ditched the basket and attached a curtain rod to the back of my bedroom door. And just like that, I have a place to organize my scarves.

I chose the back of the bedroom door because it's the easiest to access before I leave the house. You could really do this anywhere, though. If you have a coat closet near your front door, that would be an ideal place. And, of course, you don't have to install the curtain rod on the back of a door. You could also attach it directly to the wall, either in a closet or, for a more industrial look, in the entryway itself.

Images: Jason Loper

Dapper Before & After: Travis's Hutch Turned Media Console

When Travis came across this hutch in a consignment shop, he was able to look past the dated brown finish, brass hardware, chicken wire doors and big, bulky presence to see its hidden potential. With a little re-imagining, which involved removing a couple doors, giving it a fresh coat of a paint and adding lights, this ugly old hutch has become a stylish new media cabinet.

Isn't it amazing what you can do with paint? Of course, there's more than just a little paint going on here. In addition the painting the exterior of the hutch, Travis also added a warm gray color to the inside. By removing the two center doors, Travis was able to clear out space for a television. Travis replaced the glass in the other two doors and reattached them. Adding lighting to the upper half of the cabinet creates a great space for displaying keepsakes and keeps the piece looking bright despite its big, hulking presence.

Great job, Travis! Thanks for sharing your makeover with Captain Dapper.

If you like Travis's style, be sure to check out the tour of his Dapper Home: Travis's Collection of Personal Treasures.

Images: 1. Travis Braxton Paul, 2. Jason Loper

Black & Gold: 12 Lux Lights in 2 Classic Colors

Ever since I switched out that icky old ceiling fan for a black and gold pendant, I'm totally obsessed with the color combination. Combining gold and black looks rich and luxurious, no matter how much (or how little) you spend. Plus, a shade that's gold on the inside provides a warm and flattering light that's like real-life Photoshop.

While I installed the JC Penney light in my home (number 4 in this list) there are plenty of other black and gold lighting options out there. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Inner Shade Black and Gold Spotlight Table Lamp from Alexander and Pearl £125
2. Ness Candle Sconce from Crate & Barrel $49.95 each
3. HGTV HOME Gold Leaf Table Lamp with Black Shade from Bellacor $238
4. Hammered Dome Pendant Ceiling Light from J.C. Penney $70
5. Flos Miss K Table Lamp from Stardust Modern $325
6. Black Iron Bell Pendant Light from World Market $89.99
7. Remsem Lamp from DwellStudio $645
8. Black Can Mini Accent Light from Lamps Plus $10.99
9. Greenhouse Pendant from Pottery Barn $199
10. Ro Sham Beaux George Gold Lamp Black Shade from Zinc Door $458
11. Perforated Globe Pendant from West Elm $109.99
12. Drayton Desk Lamp from Interior Home Scapes $466.40

And, just so you now, while I was rounding up the lighting for this post I was humming Sam Sparro's Black and Gold the entire time.



Images: Credited above.

Dapper DIY: Removing a Ceiling Fan & Installing a New Light

See this big, ugly ceiling fan? It has been driving me crazy. As in, every time I enter the room that ceiling fan taunts me. It's as if it calls out to me. "Jaaassooon," it says, in a ghostly voice. "I am so big and ugly and yet you leave me hanging here. Mwah-ha-ha! I'm going to be here forever!" In fact, when I shot our house tour for Huffington Post, I had to creatively shoot around the damn thing.

Now, I don't hate all ceiling fans. I know that they can be very useful and, in some spaces, they can even be fairly unobtrusive. But not here. This ceiling fan is just too big for the space. Besides, we rarely use the fan itself and the light that it throws off is terrible. I've been thinking about replacing the fan with a new light fixture for ... oh, well, about a year now. After successfully installing the light in the living room, I finally felt ready to tackle this project. As it turns out, it was actually quite easy. I didn't shock myself once! Want to see how I did it? I thought you might so I risked falling off the ladder to take photos as I went along. Read on for the step by step process ...

Before I even stepped foot on the ladder, I shut off the power to this room. Since the fan was already hanging here, I turned it on and then cut the power so that I could be certain that I had turned off the correct circuit.

The first step in taking the fan down was removing the blades. When I climbed up the ladder and saw these little brackets on the top of the blades, I was pretty I'd be able to remove them fairly easily. I was right. I slipped a flat head screwdriver under one of the clips and the blade popped right off. As you can see in this photo, the tops of the blades were covered in a layer of dust. Yuck! No wonder I don't want this thing hanging around!

With the blades and light removed, the fan looks like some sort of alien spaceship. The fan was much lighter and easier to work with once the blades and light were off.

There were three screws at the base of the fan, where it attaches to the ceiling mount. I loosened all three screws and then found that I had to remove one screw completely in order to slip the ring from the housing.

Now that the fan was hanging free from the housing, I was able to disconnect the wiring. This was a quick and easy step. I merely unscrewed the little caps and pulled the fan's wiring from the wiring that's stashed in the ceiling. And then I got a nice little surprise. Now that the fan was no longer attached to the wiring, the whole thing slipped out of the housing. I wasn't able to snap a photo (I was, after all, holding a ceiling fan in one hand) but there was a little ball on at the top of the fan that slipped right out of that little U-shaped part of the housing. Once the fan assembly was removed, it was just a matter of removing the screws that attached the housing to the light box.

And there we go! The fan is down and I'm left with wiring ... and a big circle of unpainted ceiling. D'oh! I was hoping to complete this project in one fell swoop but I had to press pause long enough to paint this part of the ceiling. I let the paint dry a little before I installed the new light.

After removing a ceiling fan, installing the new light seemed really easy. As you can see in this photo, I got impatient and started installing the new fixture before my paint patch had dried. I was losing light quickly and I wanted to at least get the new light wired. Once it was wired I was able to turn the electricity back on and get a sense of how the light would look.

Since darkness fell before I was able to complete the project, I waited until this morning to finish installation of the new fixture. I'll save you the boring details, but I did have to have to trim the light's cord to be able to hang it at the height that will work for this room.

And here it is! The new light is up and I think it looks pretty damned good. As you can see, the area that I patched with paint doesn't really match. Womp womp! I've been thinking about repainting this room white and this may be just the reason to go ahead and do it. The only thing holding me back is the prospect of trying paint around the custom plumbing pipe shelving. Since that shelving in screwing into the ceiling and floor, it's not going anywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to MacGyver a way to paint behind the shelving. Until then, I'll try not to obsess about the splotch of paint around the light.

I like how the black exterior of the new light fixture coordinates with the plumbing pipe shelving and black radiator. The gold interior of the lamp brings a touch of warmth to the ceiling - and it also gives off a very flattering glow. The angle of this photo makes the light look bigger than it actually is. I'll try to get better shots of the room when I finish another little project I have going on - framing some photos for a gallery wall.

In case you're wondering about the light itself, it's the Hammered Dome Pendant Ceiling Light from J.C. Penney. I had such great success with the J.C. Penney wood frame light fixture for the living room that I circled back and picked this one up too. It was on clearance for $70 and I was able to score an additional 20% off. All told, the light cost $54.

Images: Jason Loper

Sitting Pretty in a Classic: 8 Updates on the Traditional Chesterfield

My tastes tend to be on the modern and clean lined side of things but lately I've been feeling more traditional. When it comes to sofas, it doesn't get any more traditional than the chesterfield. According to London Gallery, "it is believed that Lord Phillip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), commissioned the first leather chesterfield settee with its distinctive deep buttoned, quilted leather upholstery and low seat base." It looks like Lord Standhope was quite the furniture visionary!

As you can see from this roundup, Chesterfields may be traditional, but they're hardly boring. From bright sofas to more subdued, these eight Chesterfields are great updates on this classic shape.

Clockwise from top left:

• Chesterfield Grand Sofa from Pottery Barn Starting at $2,099
• Higgins Sofa from Decades Home Starting at $2,199
• Chester Tufted Upholstered Sofa from West Elm Starting at $1,099
• The Edwardian Chesterfield Sofa from Chesterfields of England Starting at £827
• Chester Leather Sofa from DwellStudio $5,400
• City Club Sofa from Horchow $3,959 
• Citrine Chesterfield Sofa from Anthropologie $6,998
• Chesterfield from The Comfortable Couch Company Starting at $1,200

MORE CHESTERFIELDS FROM AROUND THE WEB

• The Chesterfield Sofa at FarmHouse Urban
• The Essential Guide to the Chesterfield at One Kings Lane
• How to Find the Perfect Leather Sofa at Style by Emily Henderson
• Super Affordable: Chesterfield Sofas at Middle Class Modern

Images: Credited above

Outofstock's Bridge Shelves: Beautifully Bridging Form & Function

I love it when functional items get a beautiful treatment. Just because the main task of shelving is to hang out on the wall and hold up our stuff doesn't mean they have to be boring. That's where the Bridge Shelves by Outofstock enter the scene. As the name suggests, these shelves were inspired by suspension bridges.

To assemble the shelves, a horizontal bar is attached the wall. Then, bent steel rods are suspended from the horizontal bar and shelves are attached. There are three shelves and three sets of steel rods, allowing the user to customize the configuration.

The Bridge Shelves come from the design collective Outofstock and are available for purchase from the Danish company Bolia.

Image: Bolia via DeZeen

Captain Dapper Does Not Approve of the Exposed Bathroom Trend

In her article entitled The Fall of the Bathroom Wall on Slate last week, Kristin Hohenadel points out that open bathrooms are becoming increasingly common in hotels around the world. The Mister and I have logged quite a few travel miles over the past couple of years and I completely can back up Kristin's theory. We've stayed in more than one hotel where there has been very little privacy for your daily ablutions. And you know what? I hate it!

A few years ago The Mister and I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego and were very unpleasantly surprised to find that a curtain divided the bathroom from the bedroom. Yes, a curtain. Now, I love The Mister and, after more than a decade of marital bliss, we are quite comfortable with one another. But we're not THAT comfortable. Let's keep a little mystery, folks!

Besides the curtained commode at the Hard Rock, we've seen a few other open concept bathrooms in hotels. Most of these bathrooms have featured frosted glass doors or windows, which is a step up from the completely open bathroom trend.

I should clarify that I'm not opposed to some portions of the bathroom being exposed. I'm actually a big fan of bathtubs and showers that are separate from the rest of the bathroom. But, for Pete's sake, let's keep the toilet behind closed doors!

What do you think of this exposed bathroom trend? Let it all hang out or keep it behind closed doors?

Image: Jason Loper

Check Out Captain Dapper's House on Huffington Post Today!

Remember last week, when I posted a teaser shot of my apartment? Well, the post went live on Huffington Post this morning and I couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome. Thanks to HuffPo editor Michelle Manetti for working with me on the post.

I'll be putting together my own Dapper Home house tour here on the blog but until then check out the full post over on Huffington Post: Blogger Jason Loper Shows Off His Cool Bohemian Home.

Image: Screen capture from Huffington Post

Kurt Cobain's Childhood Home: Own the Birthplace of Grunge

Looking for a house in Aberdeen, Washington? Thinking about starting a museum dedicated to grunge music? Got an extra $500,000 to drop on a house valued at $60k? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be interested in buying Kurt Cobain's childhood home.

Full disclosure: I was a big Nirvana fan back in the day. Back in the early 90's, I bore a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain, something I accentuated with dyed hair and ratty thrift store clothes. Just take a look at this Throwback Thursday post for proof. I remember that on the day Kurt Cobain passed away, I said to my friends that he would become an idol. Like all the rock gods before him, I knew that Cobain's early passing would propel him to the realm of timeless celebrity, the kind who will be discovered and revered by each new generation. In death, Kurt Cobain succeeded in becoming the embodiment of teenage angst and disillusion.

Here we are, 20 years after the release of Nirvana's final album, and his meager childhood home is being offering for $400,000 more than its estimated worth. In the Seattle Times article about the listing, Cobain's sister, Kim, says she hopes the house will be developed into a museum. Hey, it worked for Graceland.  

For more details about the house, check out the full article at Seattle Times.

Image: Kim Cobain via Seattle Times

Dapper Home: A Sneak Peek at Captain Dapper HQ

I spent some time this morning photographing the apartment for a house tour that might run on another website. I've been meaning to shoot a full house tour of Captain Dapper HQ for awhile now. But every time I've pulled out the camera, I look through the viewfinder and see all the projects I want to finish first. Getting a request from an editor at big blog  forced me to stage the space the best I could and just shoot around the stuff I want to change.

I don't have any details on when the house tour will publish, or even confirmation that it will, so I hope I haven't jinxed it by mentioning it. Either way, I ended up with almost fifty shots of our little 900 square foot apartment so you can bet that I'll be rolling those photos out here on Captain Dapper as well. Until then, this little tease of my kitchen runway and peek into the living room (plus what you'll find in the Dapper Home archives) will have to hold you over.

Image: Jason Loper

7 Upholstered Beds & Headboards I Love Right Now

I love an upholstered bed - whether it's a full frame or just a headboard. There's something about the upholstery that seems so soft and inviting. If there's any room that should feel inviting, it's the bedroom.

A full upholstered bed frame has a softness that is a welcome addition to a room devoted to sleep. And when the headboard has a little wing back action, it's like falling into a giant oversized chair.

These are a few of my favorite upholstered beds right now. Maybe it's because it's fall and it kind of reminds me of a sweater, but my absolute favorite is West Elm's Matelasse Headboard. I spy a potential DIY!

1. Matelasse Slipcovered Headboard from West Elm $499 -$649
2. Gus Modern Carmichael Bed from AllModern $2,050
3. Hush Full Bed from Blu Dot $1,399
4. Ella Queen Bed from Room & Board $1,399
5. Parallel Queen Bed from DWR $3,000 - $4,150
6. Marlow Wingback Bed from World Market $649.99
7. Templeton Twin Bed from Jonathan Adler $2,995

Images: Linked above

Lovely Indeed Gives an Old Trunk New Style Dapper Before & After

If you've spent any time at a flea market or browsing thrift stores, I'm sure you've seen a beat up old trunk just like this one. The rustic look can work in some spaces but if your tastes run a little more modern, as they do for Chelsea at Lovely Indeed, then you'll want to see this update.

Chelsea had been hanging on to this trunk for a long time. After picking it up years ago, the trunk has been sitting in storage while Chelsea lived out of state. Now that she's back and ready to re-introduce the trunk to her home, she wanted to give it an upgrade. Although it's hard to tell, the trunk is three different materials: a fabric covered base, metal trim and wood trim. Chelsea decided to paint the fabric and metal but leave the trim in its natural state.

The mix of white, brass and wood is a wonderfully modern update on this old trunk. Painting the trunk white also makes it look smaller and lighter in the room. By adding a glass top, which Chelsea hads cut to size, the trunk feels finished and more like a piece of furniture than an old relic.

Check out all the details on this project over on Chelsea's blog - Lovely Indeed: DIY Vintage Trunk Restyle.

Images: Lovely Indeed

Jeff & Chris Create a Patchwork Home Together Dapper Home | Chicago, Illinois

When Jeff bought his Wrigleyville condo in 1999, he surely had no idea how it would look today. While the apartment has seen changes over the years, including opening up the kitchen and hosting occasional roommates, the condo got its biggest shake-up earlier this summer. When Jeff's boyfriend, Chris, moved in a couple of months ago, the couple set about blending their lives. This meant not only introducing all four of their combined dogs, it also meant blending both men's furniture and other household goods. Fortunately, Jeff and Chris share a similar aesthetic and, even though I was seeing their home only a few weeks after moving in together, everything seemed to flow. Even the dogs were (mostly) getting along.

The layout of the condo would be familiar to anyone who has lived in Chicago. The front of the unit consists of an open living/dining room. The kitchen was once hidden away but Jeff opened up a wall and removed a closet to make this great room even more open and spacious. While the large room feels light and bright, it has provided some challenges when it comes to decorating. "Over the years, I bought what I could." Jeff says. "Sometimes I loved it, and sometimes I regretted it. The living room was especially hard to figure out because it has such an odd shape. Originally this would have been two narrow rooms, and what is now the kitchen would have been a bedroom. I like the open concept just fine, but getting the furniture placed just so has always been a work in progress for me."

See more of the home after the jump...

Jennifer Rizzo Brings Her Dark & Dated Bathroom Into the Light Dapper Before & After

Perhaps it's because I want to rip out the bathroom at Captain Dapper HQ and start over or maybe it's just because I love a good before and after, but when I came across this bathroom project, I was inspired. So inspired, in fact, that I have to share it.

I've been following Jennifer Rizzo's blog for awhile now and have enjoyed following along with her before and after posts. She's recently been working on "the Oak House" project and this bathroom, along with another, were recent reveals from it. As you can see, the old bathroom was ... well, why quibble ... it was just downright ugly. Despite the big window, the bathroom feels dark, dated and crowded. Thank goodness there are folks like Jennifer who can turn such disasters into new delights.

Here you can see how the bathroom looked after everything had been stripped out. Oh how I want to this to my own bathroom! Unlike the great old tub in this bathroom, which Jennifer was able to have reglazed, I have a newer whirlpool tub in my bathroom. Can I just tell you how much I hate that damned tub?

And here's the much brighter bathroom post-makeover. So much better, right? From the subway tile and beadboard to the new toilet and vanity, every element of the bathroom comes together perfectly. What was dark and dreary now feels bright and fresh.

Check out this bathroom, along with the smaller half bath that Jennifer revived, on her blog: Jennifer Rizzo: The Oak house Bathrooms Before and After Reveals.

Images: Jennifer Rizzo