Sneak Peek of the Nursery

We did a lot of DIY projects in here and I plan to share all of them and post pics of the finished nursery this week (just put cute new knobs on her dresser last night) but here is a teaser for now.  The bedding we chose didn’t come with art for the walls so Len created these in photoshop and we painted the mats and framed them (details to come in a later post).  

And a pic of the munchkin in the glider in her room:

More details and pictures of her nursery to come soon…

Read Full Post »

Before & After: Master Bedroom

This room (like almost every room in our home) was a blank slate with white walls, light carpet and big open space.  Here are the “before” pics:

  
Ever since coming across a room painted Adagio (by Benjamin Moore) on the internet last year, I knew I wanted one room in our home to be this color.  The blue gray color is so soothing and we decided it would be perfect for our master bedroom.

We also had crown moulding installed, moved our furniture in, picked up a new duvet, throw pillows and a new slipper chair.  Here is how it looks today:

Details of the duvet cover that we picked up from LNT on clearance (does the custom photo at the top of this site look familiar?):

Close up of the new slipper chair from Target:

We still want to replace the carpet, add wall decor and add some decor to the top of the dresser so I wil be updating with all of that soon.

Read Full Post »

Guest Room Makeover Has Begun

We’re hoping to finish this makeover in the next couple of days just in time for our guest who will be staying for the weekend.  We started on Saturday and have already finished painting the walls and putting up the wainscoting.  This is what the guest room looked like “before”:
  
 

It looked like this for a long time and we actually were mainly using it for storage until we finished other projects and could get around to fixing this room up.  We painted the room BM Sweet Pear:
 
   
 
   
 

 
We got the wainscoting from Home Depot and since we wanted 4′ and not the standard 3′ that they sell already cut, we decided to get the 8′ planks and cut them in half:
 

We started on the wainscoting over the weekend and finished up most of it tonight:
     

  
We just have to finish installing the chair rail, caulking and painting the wainscoting and then we can move on to decorating the room.

Read Full Post »

Dining In Style

We never had a dining room table before, since we always lived in small apartments with no dining rooms, so it took a while to find the right one.  Although we still don’t really have a separate dining room, we do have a really cute dining area that definitely called for a square table.  We found this counter-height table by Cindy Crawford at Rooms To Go (got it in antique black) and since they were having a sale we got two extra chairs for a total of 6 chairs:
  
      

  
It took a while for our dining room to even be ready for a new table!  Here is the before:
  

  

And here it is with some paint, new floors, new moulding and a light fixture:
  

  

Finally, here it is now:
  

 
  
We loved the overall design, the sturdiness of the table and how the detail on the legs kinda matched our new crown and base moulding:  
    

  
    
It has a butterfly leaf so when it’s closed it’s a rectangle and open is a square… we always keep it open:
      

   

We just love our little dining area now!

Read Full Post »

What Color Is Your Aura?

I was in the Benjamin Moore paint store on Friday getting paint for our guest room and picking up some samples for the foyer when I came across the Aura paint collection.  These Affinity colors are gorgeous and the sales person was saying how great the coverage is with one coat (which is great since our foyer is going to be VERY difficult to paint with the extremely high ceilings).  I’m just wondering if the higher price tag is worth it.
    
There are a few new colors that we’re now considering for the foyer:
    

            
    

     
Azores seems dark, but cut by 50% or even 75% would lighten it up.  We originally wanted a blue-green color but also want it to flow with the colors we already have in the rest of the house, which are mostly BM Historical Colors (Nantucket Gray, Shaker Beige, Lenox Tan, Yarmouth Blue). Choosing paint for the foyer has been the hardest choice yet.
  
I did pick up two gallons of BM Sweet Pear while there though for the guest room and we will be starting on that today. 
     
Have you used the Aura paint?  Let us know your experience and the color you used!

Read Full Post »

Before & After: Living Room

We still have more decorating to do in our living room but here is the before, during and after from closing day to now:

(before)   
       

  
(during)

     
    
 
(after)

   

   
What we did: 
-added crown moulding and new base moulding
-ripped up carpet (the day after closing!) and installed new flooring
-painted (BM Nantucket Gray)
-added a ceiling fan/light
-put up shelving, decor, etc.
     
Still need/want to:
-put up curtains on sliding glass doors
-add wall decor over couch
-get new couches
-add a coffee table (or end tables if we get new couches)
-replace tower next to TV stand with one that has doors/drawers

Read Full Post »

Guest Room Ideas

These are the “before” photos of our guest room:
   

 

 
                   

We don’t have “after” photos yet but we do have a few ideas for this room (which is now basically used for storage).  We will be having family visit in a few weeks so we figure we better get moving on the guest room makeover!  Last night we purchased a mattress from Sears (took advantage of their VIP sale – 50% off plus free shipping) and we are lucky enough to be inheriting the box spring and bed frame from a family member.

We’re going to paint the room Sweet Pear by BM (a pale yellow with green undertones) and add white beadboard to the bottom half of the room with a chair rail:

              

                   
         photo: apartmenttherapy.com               photo: milwaukeemarketplace.com
    

               
The bedding will either be a beachy blue stripe:
                         

    
                             beyondbedding.com
     
    
Or a yellow vintage print:    
                                                   

                  potterybarn.com

We already have the VIVAN curtains from Ikea and are thinking about a dark bamboo roman shade (from Target) also for the window: 
     

        
And since it’s a small room, the only other furniture we want to put in there is a nightstand (or two) with a lamp (or two):
       

   
     
What do you think?  Any other suggestions?

Read Full Post »

Before & After: Laundry Room

Does a fun, bright and cheery laundry room make doing laundry any easier?  No.  But that’s what husbands are for, right?   

This is my favorite makeover in the house (so far).  The below picture is what our laundry room looked like the day we closed (how nice, the previous owner left us some shelving and tons of holes!):

   

The previous owner took the washer and dryer when they foreclosed on the home (along with the kitchen appliances) so we bought new ones (Maytag) during a sale at Sears:

 
We wanted a bright color for the laundry room since most of the main areas in our home are pretty neutral so we went with Valspar’s Herb Cornucopia:

We try to recycle old decor and furniture so we decided to paint our oak colored IKEA shelving white and hang it over the washer and dryer:

    

After a few months we decided we wanted more storage for things we buy in bulk so we made our way over to Home Depot and found the perfect white cabinetry for above the shelving.  It’s really high, but I can reach it with a step stool and we only put stuff up there that we know we don’t use very often (bulk paper towels, extra laundry detergent, paint supplies, etc).  We love the way it turned out:
  

    

Since there were a lot of ugly wires and plugs showing on the wall between the washer/dryer and the shelving we came up with a solution to hide them, but still have easy access if we need to get to them.  We used a tension rod that we got from Target and mounted it just below the shelving and my Mom-in-law sewed a pocket along the top of a green striped fabric we bought so it could hang on the rod:
  

   

     

Do you have a bright and fun laundry room also?  We want to see it.

Read Full Post »

Foyer Color Help

This is our foyer:     

    
    

    

     

    

    

    

     

   

    

The carpet (that has been cleaned since this picture was taken), tile and banister are staying the way they are for now.  The ceilings are extremely tall and it gets a ton of natural light.  We’re thinking of going with a blue-green color but we don’t want anything too bright since the rest of our home is pretty neutral. 

Here’s a color palette I put together of the colors we have so far in our home:

Here are a few colors we are considering:

   

      Stratton Blue (BM)           Waterbury Green(BM)       Starry Woods (Valspar)

    

Comments?  Any blue-green colors you’ve used that you love?  Show us! 
We’d love to see how they look in your room (we’re open to any brand of paint).

Read Full Post »

Kitchen Renovation Part III: Prep

Prepping the kitchen for the new cabinetry included:

1. Demolishing and clearing out the old cabinets
 

2. Cutting tile to fit the new cabinets (can we say dust?!)
 

3. Painting
 

4. Moving electrical and cutting the wall where there were no cabinets and attaching wood to the beams for new cabinet installation

5. Cleaning

 

Ok new kitchen, we’re ready for you…

Read Full Post »