room by room : living updated

If you have forgotten what it used to look like or are new to my page you can see it here.  The original post was with absolutely nothing changed to the room.  Just us moving in with our furniture and me taking some pretty terrible photos of the room.  

I have wanted to share the living room for so long.  I almost did this post a couple of weeks ago and then decided to wait until I gave Kyle's birthday present to him so it could be in here.  I have put a lot of time and resources into this room since we spend all of our awake time in it.  It probably has had the most done to it compared to the rest of the house... and I am pretty happy with it, despite a few things I would have done different now that it is mostly finished.

Large throw pillows from TJ Maxx or Marshalls.   I made the small one. 

Shortly after we moved in, Kyle's parents helped me paint the walls in this room.  I love the change that just a coat of paint makes for a room.  Not too much longer (after what seemed like forever) I found the rug on Joss&Main.  I knew I wanted yellow as my accent color but it took forever for someone to finally have a yellow rug at my price point.  

Finally replaced the moldy stacked trunks we were using as a side table.  This one is from Target.  

Elephant print from last year's Indie Craft Parade by Dapper Ink, here in Greenville.

Our damaged coffee table (Value City Furniture) converted to chalkboard top by me.

Special thanks to my girl Aly for helping with the arrangement (on the floor) and to my dad for hanging everything.

Myles' toy basket from TJ Maxx

Kyle's birthday present.  A print by the talented graphic designer Leslie Hill, from our former church small group in Louisville, part of a series called Fifty Two Verses.  I originally intended this for our bedroom but thought it would be better for us to have this truth out in the open where we would see it more often.

Disclaimer to all those who happen to believe that I am a domestic goddess with this immaculate living room:  It was immaculate for the duration of Myles' nap, for the snapping of above photos.  Within minutes, this happened, and it has since gone even further downhill.  Sure. Blame it on the baby.  I'm not... he just caused part of it.  I'm a slob.  I have clutter issues and cleaning happens when I go on anxiety induced cleaning sprees.  You should see the state of the dining room... its holding all of the clutter you can't see in this room.  Shuffle shuffle shuffle.  

So what would I do differently?  The rug would never have been bought if I had known it was the loop kind.  Our black cat Remi picks at it constantly.  It only looks nice right now because I cut off all of the places he had picked out.  I guess that is just the gamble you take when buying something like this online.  The solid yellow pillows also were a "Oh! Thats my color!  We need pretty pillows!" purchase.    They are terribly uncomfortable and Myles is systematically picking off the metal dots.  That is mostly all of my regrets... and costly ones.  

I originally planned to put curtains up but no longer think I will.  I think it would be too much trouble with too much furniture in front of them to really get to enjoy the look.  I have left a space open next to the Elephant for another similarly sized frame to go on that wall.  Unfortunately there was no special print for this year's Indie Craft Parade like I was planning to put there so we will see what ends up on that wall.  I am also hoping to pick out a few more smaller versions of the FiftyTwo verses for our hallway once Leslie has finished her project.  

So there we have it!  I hope to share a few more spaces in the coming weeks.  Man that was fun

room by room : laundry

It has been a really long time since I did a Room by Room post!  And this update is long overdue... we completed it before Myles was born!

When we moved in, we were glad to finally have an actual laundry room!  Our last two apartments only had laundry "closets".  Not only did this house have a laundry ROOM, but it is big.  Like almost the size of Myles' room, big.  Well, maybe not quite that big, but its about 8x11 I think!

Unfortunately I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of it...

Like... this is it.  The only picture from our first walkthrough.  The same beige paint in the entire house, a window to the carport, some crappy cabinets and an awkwardly placed water hookup.  The other side of the room was the same beige, blank walls.

Fast forward several months, and my dad's handiwork...

The outlet for the dryer was inside the cabinet... and dad decided to lower that water hookup.

And he installed some new cabinets that he had built.  And rebuilt the wall that they were attached to.  He also built a folding table for the blank wall that I still haven't shown.

A couple of months later, Kyle's parents painted the room for us during one of their visits... using a paint color my brother picked out for me.

The finished result being this:

I love how this room turned out.  So much less depressing.  Eventually we will have to get a new washer and drier but for now these which are older than us work just fine.  We have had a couple of floods in this room but that is the fault of the pipes, and not of our ancient machines.  Nothing $200 a call to the plumber couldn't fix.

Thanks to everyone that helped make this room a bit more cheery for me :).

If you are here from Medical Mondays, welcome!  Hope you stop by more often... I know I want to start blogging a bit more frequently now that I am getting used to this whole being a mom thing!

If you want to see some more of the house, here's the links:

kitchen
dining
living
spares
masters
nursery

I hope to get a few more room updates up this month, we have been busy!

room by room : a room for Myles

It has taken about 3 months or so to complete but I can finally say that this room is DONE.  I am just tickled with how it turned out.  Originally the plan was just "vintage kid stuff".  And then before our baby showers I realized that was a bit too vague and headed more towards a vintage air plane theme.  

Now normally when I design a room in my head... it completely does not turn out the way I wanted it to.  I'm usually really sad at the end because I had too many ideas and no way to mesh them cohesively.  Or I give up prematurely.  Or I never have an idea, but instead get caught up in the world of Pinterest and do a "project" at a time and then it just looks weird.

Not this time baby.

So the final result... minus the baby.

1. Watercolor painting based on Snoopy and the Red Baron (including the book itself below) by my Aunt Debbie.  So so so excited to have this for Myles!

2.  Cheap bookshelf from Target.  I lined the back panel with some fabric that I found on sale at a local store.  Filled with books, toys, and the bins have things like socks and pacifiers. 

3. Our son's name in photos.  Made by a friend of my aunt whom I used to dog-sit for back in Louisville.  She was also a huge help in organizing everything for me after the babyshowers :) (Thanks Stacy!)

4. Planet Wise wet bag for dirty cloth diapers.  Haven't found a good place for it yet.  The changing table is a little too low to hang it from.

close up of the painting

1.  Faux metal letters I made the past 2 days out of paper mache letters, black paint, and silver spray paint.  (seen on Pinterest somewhere)

2.  The family rocking chair.  My mom rocked us in it, her mom rocked her in it... I had to take it.  Kyle's mom and grandmother made the pillow cushion and a friend of my grandmother's crocheted the blanket.

3.  Antique children's magazines.  My dad built the wooden boxes, I put a burlap backing in them, and they are suspended by furniture tacks pushed into cardboard.  I didn't want to poke holes in them or ruin them with tape.

4.  Simple lamp from Target.  I like the look of the new with the antique furniture.

5.  Antique plant stand (I think) from my parent's garage.  

1.  Sort-of 3D metal airplanes from an old friend-Megan.  I had just realized I had almost no biplanes for my biplane themed room when these showed up in the mail!

2.  Antique chest from a local consignment shop.  My grandmother got it for us when she came to visit a while back.

3.  Basket woven from what looks like old Japanese newspaper.  Found at Hobby Lobby...to be used as a clothes hamper.

4.  The crib.  From BRU.  Chevron sheet from Target, bedskirt handmade by Kyle's mom and grandmother.  Small tag blankie with biplane and his name is also from Megan.

5.  Biplane/cloud mobile.  I made this a while back when I was resting in bed for a week after overdoing things.  Clouds are made from paper, hoop is part of an embroidery hoop, wrapped in twine, with various biplanes I got at the babyshowers.

The mobile, and Myles' friends are waiting for him!

1.  The changing table that I made out of an old hutch bottom.  The doors are hiding the diapers, and wipes are in the drawer.  Spent several days sanding, painting, and sealing that thing.

2.  Shelf was made out of reclaimed wood I found at the Habitat ReStore for $1.

3.  Various old toys/antiques from family and friends based on the original decorating plan.  They still fit in really well with everything else.

So what do you guys think?  Pretty cool huh?  I just realized that I totally never got a picture of the rug that the rocking chair is sitting on.  Maybe one day you will see it... It is cherry red and majorly shag.

I had a lot of fun getting this room together.  Everywhere I look there is something picked or made with love from a friend or family member.  And better yet... none of it is too "baby-ish" so the decor should last him as he grows until we have to move again... or can be converted to slightly more girlish if he ever has to share a room with a little sister :-p.  

How much did I do in the room? Kyle helped hang the shelf and the mobile.  My dad hung the frames and planes on the wall.  I painted the wall (Valspar Sea Salt) completely alone.  Same goes for the blue furniture.  And assembly of the crib and bookshelf.  It was such a fun project and I wouldn't do anything differently!

five on friday

Been busy this week getting some chores done around the house and running errands.  Kyle's parents are coming in this weekend to bring us some of the stuff from the baby showers and spend time with us before Myles makes his debut.   I had intended to be a little better about getting a little of my long project list done this week but every time I would go to start one, I would realize I would be missing a key component (I finished painting display frames but then realized my new staple gun didn't come with staples to attach the fabric backing...).  So other than unfinished projects... what else has been on my mind?

one

pumkin pie sauce.  Once I realized that it was pumpkin latte season... I started looking to be able to make my own.  Apparently this is probably my best option... unfortunately the only way for me to get it is to order online.  I have looked everywhere and the closest thing I can find is sugar free.  Gross.  I have attempted to make my own but just really not impressed.  At least World Market will sell it with free shipping...

two

night float.  Kyle only has one week left of Critical Care... its been an okay rotation... Not fantastic but not terrible.  Next up for the month of October... Night Float.  It sounds like he has a few different services that he looks in on/covers each night... will take the  night traumas that come in.  I'm not thrilled.  It sounds like it is a pretty demanding rotation time wise... home just enough time to get some sleep before he goes back in.  Looks like a lot more bathroom dates are in our future (=I sit in the bathroom while he gets ready for bed so that we can have a minute to talk).  Not my ideal way of spending our last month of non-parenthood.  At least the weekends seem like they might not be unbearable.

three

the nursery.  My wheels are always turning on how to finish it... I need to figure out shelving.  I think I'm chickening out... I just can't decide what will look the best in there.  I can't put anything on the walls (i.e. decorate at all) without getting the shelves figured out.  Do I just want one long shelf?  A few staggered short ones?  A few short ones on different walls?  Reclaimed wood, new and painted, or unique metal something from the consignment store?  Decorative brackets, industrial metal L-brackets or floating?  I need to get this figured out... 

four

bbq.  There is a BBQ cook off this weekend in the southern part of the county.  I would love to go... unfortunately the weather is not looking to participate.  We have had weeks of sunshine, and suddenly when my in-laws are coming to town, it is supposed to rain.  Fortunately...there is also a BBQ place that we drive past all the time that is ALWAYS packed.  So we might just have a very good back-up plan.  

five

plans.  I feel like I have been a hermit lately... and had just been wondering when the moms group might do another play date when one of them messaged me about one.  And man when it rains... it pours.  Shortly after making play date plans for today (we are taking the kids to the local ice rink for Snow Fest), I also received an email about the resident wives' monthly dinner being next monday (at Chuy's!!!!), and an invite to a Thirty-One party next Thursday while the residents have their monthly journal club meeting.  It is going to be a busy week of social activities but I am so thankful for this time to make friends while I can focus on those relationships... you know... before my life is consumed for a while with a newborn.

five on friday

IT'S FRIDAY!

So whats on my mind this week?

one.

progress.  I started this project a month ago when my brother was visiting us.  This was once an old oak cabinet... the bottom of my grandparent's old hutch.  It was our hutch for the past 4 years, and it just wasn't for me.  I wanted to get rid of it before the move but decided I could at least use the cabinet.  So I painted it blue, changed out the knobs, and will eventually put a changing pad on top as Myles' changing table.  Just need to fill up the bottom with some cloth diapers (not your grandma's version), lots of wipes, and find a cute wet bag (I like meadow tweets or silver scroll) to attach to the side and this baby will be ready to use... for the baby. 

two. 

image source

shelving.  Myles' room needs a shelf in it... to be able to display some fun antique toys, and for holding stuff I'm using at the moment.  I'm thinking something rustic like these.  Simple but with a little character.  Maybe done a little differently...but still just some reclaimed wood and a few metal brackets.

three.

this blog.  I'm hoping to make some changes in the coming weeks (as if I needed any more projects).  Just polish it a bit... We'll see how that idea goes.

four.

my cats.  They provide tons of entertainment through the day.  They just make me so happy.  Every morning Remi walks around crying... he wants attention but won't come to me for a while... I think he is looking for Kyle.  Zoe is quite the cuddler when I'm on the couch... either directly on me or sitting above my shoulder, ready to try to get what I'm eating out of my hand or just purring with her paw on my arm.  Remi loves to watch us get ready in the mornings.  This weekend while Kyle was off was awesome... Kyle was in our bathroom getting ready with Remi staring at him the whole time, as soon as Kyle finished up at the sink, Remi promptly came to the hall bathroom where I was putting on makeup and hopped up on the toilet to watch.  And then there is the wrestling... which was about to go down when I snapped that photo.  They are pros.  

five.

the belly.  I haven't posted a photo in a while... and I really don't think this one is doing it justice.  I think I subconsciously tighten my abs when the camera is pointing at me and it distorts the true size/shape... because it looks bigger than that.  Reminder: I'm 31 weeks.  I'm definitely glad for actual maternity jeans and shirts now.

coffee anyone?

Tiling the coffee bar.

This has been my favorite project so far.  This is what I was working with from the house tour about 6 weeks ago:

BORING

Sure painting the living room made a huge difference in our living space (sorry I still haven't put that change up).  But this one was so awesome to do.

Thank you dad for bringing your tools and helping me do this.  I feel pretty awesome after that one.  The difference it made in the kitchen is so neat.  It is the first thing I notice when I come in from the carport.  And it makes me smile.

Before we could worry about the tile, we had to prepare our space.  I removed the outlet covers, and then since we decided to install a light in the top of the space, we thought* we needed to drill holes in the nice piece of cherry dad cut for the new base of the space and the cabinet underneath so that we could bring the cord around and up behind the coffee pot to be plugged in.

*thought= we automatically assumed that the outlet we could see was the one we had to use.  Dr. Kyle, once home, reminded us that there was an outlet above the cabinet concealed by cabinet doors that was a shorter distance, would require no rewiring of the light, and would have saved our nice piece of cherry from getting drilled to death.  Check all of your spaces before drilling.

Now we could start dealing with the tile.

I found the glass tile back when Kyle's parents came to visit about a month ago, and had been dreaming up a way to incorporate stainless steel into the pattern.  I finally decided to do 2 rows of the brick pattern in the main part of the coffee bar but couldn't decide how to do the glass with it.

we chose horizontal.

Once that decision was made, we started cutting.

caution:  cutting glass tiles means there are little shards of glass flying... wear safety glasses and be careful with your fingers... a stray shard ended up under my finger where I was trying to put pressure to cut a piece and slightly stabbed my finger in the process.

Once some tile was cut I could start throwing on a thin layer of mastic to hold the tile to the surface.  Just throw it on and press the tile to it.  It wasn't too hard to wiggle the tiles to get them straight and evenly spaced after this.  

thick enough to hold the tile but thin enough not to squeeze through the spaces between the tile.

pressing and wiggling tiles.

Once all of the tiles were up, we let everything dry overnight.  Early the next morning I begged dad to get the grout mixed up for me.  Since dad already had it with him, and we agreed it would work with the tile, we used a dark grey grout.  I laid down a few layers of painters tape up against the tile to protect the rest of the space from the grouting process as best I could and then... once again... just a lot of throwing it on, pressing it in, wiping excess.  

Just wiped off the worst of it with the spatula thing I was using to put it on with.  Once the whole area was grouted, I took a large sponge and gently started wiping off more.  Mostly the goal was to get big amounts off of the surface of the tile.  Then wait... and repeat.  Let dry a good bit (I fixed and ate breakfast for everyone) and then used a clean wet sponge to get the last of the thin layer off of the tile.  

Few hours later, I used an old dry washcloth to polish it all up.  And this is the result once the cherry was turned over and the accent piece added to the top shelf (to eventually be painted white).

And all filled up for use!

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I'm going to try to finish a project or two over mine... we will see though... Kyle is off so I probably won't be too productive!

how I made my house smile

In case you missed yesterday's post, let me fill you in.  I painted my door blue.  And it was a lot of fun. So this is the post about how I went :

The red door was a piece of work.  The seller painted it in a hurry... and then closed it.  So along the edges I was dealing with this:

So I busted out the sander that my grandfather sent down here with my grandmother last week.  Some people recommended sanding the whole door  down if the paint is glossy at all, so I went ahead and lightly roughed up the existing paint all over the door.

While removing some of the old paint, I discovered that not only did they paint the door with the hardware on, but they also spray painted the hardware while attached to the door before painting the door red.  I took off all of the hardware before I painted.  I wanted a little cleaner look than what they had left me with.

So everything came off with a little wiggling and pushing and went into cardboard.

Before spray painting everything, I also sanded everything by hand then wiped the dust off.  It gives the paint a better (less slick) surface to grab onto. Something the last person didn't do to the handle... after only being painted a few months it was already scratching off.

I used Rust-Oleum for the hardware paint job which gave a great fine mist with an easier to deal with trigger style handle than the Krylon had.  I made several swipes with the spray on each object, waiting a few minutes between coats.  Thin coats and constant  movement helped eliminate pooling or dripping.

I painted the hardware in-between coats of paint.  I used "Sherry Petersik's method" of starting with the raised panel accents, the panel frames, and then going in the direction of the wood on the major parts of the door.  Like Sherry, I also used a 2in angled brush to do the whole thing.  You can also use a foam roller, but I love the control in the edges I have with the brush and am more comfortable using it for the whole thing than switching.  Less clean up too.

With how dark the door was, I did 2 good coats of the Valspar Duramax paint, letting it dry for about 2 hours between coats.  It could have been less time in-between but I chose to eat lunch and spray hardware and an owl :).

I think after I finished the layers (sorry I forgot to do a in-progress shot...) I waited about 2 more hours before I put the hardware on and another 2 hours before I closed the door.

I'm so happy with how this project turned out and glad I chose to paint the inside knobs as well.

One last look of my happy door :

my house is smiling

...and I am too.

It was a running joke while we were house hunting that (probably) 9 of the 11 houses we looked at had red doors.  So it is not strange that the house we picked had a red door.

Now don't get me wrong in the next little bit.  I am not a red door hater.  Some houses look great with them; some get the shade of red right.  But my house did not.  It was a weird orange tinted red and it was painted badly.  You could see all of the brush strokes going in all the wrong directions.

It had to go.  And of course it only took me thinking it, and John and Sherry at YoungHouseLove doing it at the same time, to push me over the edge.  You probably saw their "The Door Is The Smile Of The House" post not too long ago (thus the name of this post).  Of course their choice of color influenced mine as well, though I really did give green a chance.

One last look at the red door.

It took a couple days to finally decide on a paint color.  We had to narrow it down.

"holy paint samples batman" indeed (-Julia)

After a few hours of having them hanging there, it dawned on me that it is a bad idea to look at them all on top of the color I am trying to get rid of.  So I downsized some of the darker ones and put them on the trim next to the brick, since that is what they need to look good next to.

The list got even shorter once Kyle got home.  He took one look and said "blue".  I agreed.  I tried so hard to give green a chance, but I was just really in love with the blues.

The list got shorter and shorter over the next 24 hours as I realized some of them were just too "beachy" or greyish next to the ashy red brick.  I wanted something that would pop.  Something that would say "there are definitely new owners in this house".  I checked our street.  Yup... all white or red doors.

I wanted something brighter and Kyle wanted something darker, but I did put up both of our favorites in the final list.

Top to bottom:
Valspar "Smokey Blue", "Betsy Ross House Blue", "Aqua Dance", "trade secret", "ocean front".

I ended up making the final decision.  Basically 5 minutes before we left for church, I looked at them one last time, ruled out Smokey, Aqua, or Ocean because they were a little darker and dull than I really wanted, and threw out Trade because it was pretty ashy with the brick.  So we went to church, then stopped by Lowes and bought a quart of "Betsy Ross House Blue".  The hardware on the outside had been spray painted and needed a little better coating, so I picked up some more of that, and decided I would also spray the ugly brass inside the door the same Rubbed Oil Bronze.

The Duramax cost a little more than I had planned on ($18 vs $14... no biggie), but the Lowe's paint man highly recommended this thickest version of Valspar's paint+primer since I was painting on top of a red door.  It did NOT disappoint.  This stuff was fantastic.

So most of my Friday, some spray paint mishaps, 2 coats of paint, and half a greek pizza later, I had a smiling blue door.  And I am in love.

So for less than $30, I have a new door!  For my first completely solo project, I think this has turned out really well.  Finally I have accomplished a big (to me) DIY project... I can't wait for the next one!

Tomorrow I will give more details on how I changed my red door to blue.

Now... can someone tell me how to fix this little issue?  Those spindles don't move...