Major Kitchen Update!

It has always been a dream of mine to paint our golden oak cabinets.  I thought Joe would NEVER let me do this.  He surprised me with a birthday gift of "you can get quotes."  Weeellllll.... quotes were a "tad" higher than we anticipated but he still let me do it (happy b-day, happy anniversary, merry christmas and maybe happy b-day again!).  We also painted the living room and touched up a lot of the existing white trim.  It was looking pretty beat up in the high traffic areas.... like the whole kitchen. 

On to the pictures!  They were all taken with my phone with not great lighting but, you get the idea.

Before:

After:

The fantastic Glennon over at Momastery posted THIS while all the painting was being done.  If you have a minute, read it.  Pretty much goes against exactly what I did but, I included Kam in the "improved" shot for that reason :)

The living room before:

and after:

A progress shot... it was a BIG project.  Took 2 weeks!  I timed it while my parents were traveling and needed me to stay at the farm with their old "farm dog" (aka an indoor dog that spends some time outside).  He barks at EVERYTHING he hears when in the city so it doesn't work to bring him to our house.

The cabinet color is SW Divine White.  It matched well with our exiting backsplash (which I love even more with white cabinets).  The wall color is both rooms is Restoration Hardware Silver Sage.  It is this beautiful blend of blue/grey/green that changes with different light and looks good with just about everything.  I used this in the guestroom which is now Brody's nursery

Brody's Nursery

I am a little delayed in getting pictures of the nursery posted.  It was 90% complete for weeks but a few things needed some final touches.  When the little guy decided to arrive 2 weeks before his due date, things got put on hold.

I didn't enjoy taking apart my favorite room in the house.  The guest room was re-done last year and I loved the result.  Luckily, the wall color is extremely neutral so I didn't paint.  The colors for the room are dark teal, navy (although it looks black in these photos), and gold.  I got the curtains at target.  They needed to be shortened and the leftover fabric was enough to make the crib skirt and cover for the rocking chair seat.  Thank goodness for a sew-savvy mom! 

 I created a painting for Kamden's nursery so I felt I should do the same for the second child :)

 

 I found this dresser on craigslist.  With a little paint it turned into something fun for the room.

This dresser was in the original guest room.  I just changed the handles be a dark gold color.  

Details -

Crib - borrowed from my sister
Dresser/changing table - craigslist, painted SW Very Teal with gold spray painted legs
Rocking Chair - family piece
Curtains, poof, gold pillow, lamp on changing table - Target
Wall picture frames - Target but painted navy 
End Table - Previously owned but painted to match room
Mirror - Home Depot
Navy Crib Skirt & Changing Pad Cover - Amazon

I just did an estimate of all the costs and I think it was less than $350.  Including the price of the dresser used as a changing table.  Not bad!

House Paint

Picking out paint colors for an entire house is pretty daunting.  It costs a lot to paint a house and you have to live with it for about 10+ years.  Our house is 16 years old and was really needing a new paint job.  Considering we also replaced the A/C and furnace this year, Joe said we are DONE with dumping money into this house (for now).  

Before (picture from the listing 5 years ago):

 After:

 

 Rear Before:

Rear After (with the added toddler toys!):

I am very happy with the color.  The main body is SW Anonymous, trim is Shoji White, and the door is Beeswax (yellow!).    My second choice color for the body was Gauntlet Grey.  My neighbor across the street painted her house this color just a few weeks before me.... close call :)

Dining Room

A few dining room changes.  I have been wanting to recover the chairs with some fun fabric for years.  I FINALLY got around to it this week.  Nothing was wrong with the fabric but I wanted something a little more bold and trendy.  It doesn't cost much and is fairly simple to do .. yet it completely changes the look of the chair and the room.

I bought a couple of sconces to complete the wall.  I think it looks pretty great with new frame.

If you want to get really nostalgic - this is the realtor's photo from before we bought the house!

We bought the house FIVE YEARS ago next week!!!!

Frame Updated

When my Grandmother passed away we spent days going through all of her things.  Some items were highly coveted, others were sent to charity.  No one in my family wanted this amazing painting.  I thought they were crazy!  This original oil painting was bought a long time ago (maybe 50 years?) at the Plaza Art Fair.  It is huge - the canvas alone is 4'x2'.  It hung above the sofa at my Grandparents home for as long as I can remember.  Unfortunately, they smoked in the house for years... the mat had yellowed and the frame was dated.  

I finally got around to updating it.   I love the result!

Before:

 After:

Deck Improvements

We desperately needed to have our deck refinished.  It hadn't been done in the 4 years we have lived here.  We are trying to breath a little life back into the deck until we make some big decisions about our house.  It needs to last at least another 5 years, which requires a little more frequent maintenance.  

In addition to staining the deck, we had the handyman take out the hot tub and deck over the space, rebuild the stairs, beef up the railings, and add gates to the top of the stairs.  The gates are quite possibly one of my favorite home improvements. Ever.  Such a small thing but it contains my child to an area of outdoor play that isn't a gigantic dog toilet bowl!  On nice afternoons I just open the back door and let K go in and out as he pleases.  This is priceless right now!

I don't have finished pictures but you get the idea.

Adios broken hot tub!

 

 

 

 Look at that beautiful gate!

Sidenote: Pinterest isn't just a time killer.  It actually inspires me to do things.  Like clean my entry grout for the first time in 4 years.  Yep.  That is gross.

So Excited!

This home project isn't complete but I couldn't resist posted the progress pictures.

Before:

 After:

That is right people... all the navy is GONE!!!!

I will post more details later.  When it is done.... weeks from now.  I had no idea how long it takes to install shower doors (or how much they flipping cost!).

Mother's Day Gift

My Mother's Day gift arrived today!  A new couch!!!!

Our old couch was fine but we have basically disliked it from the moment it arrived in our home 4 years ago.  We had been shopping for furniture for way too long and settled on that couch.  It was extremely delayed in arriving so the furniture store gave us a loaner for a few months.  We loved that couch and then were disappointed with the one we actually picked out.  

Here is a picture (already moved into the dining room).  It was too narrow, not comforitable, the back coushines always flattened out.  And really... what color is it?  Brown? Red? Purple? Fugly?

Another picture (please... don't let the cute kids distract from the blah couch)

This time around... we took a lot of time and searching for the perfect couch.  We ended up finding it at I.O. Metro (they have an insane number of sofa options and configurations... love it).  It is called a "cuddler" because the corner has this super deep section that is great for curling up.  It was a good alternative to a sectional that wouldn't really work in our room.  The color is granite which is a very neutral taupe.  It is obviously much lighter than our last couch but there is quite a bit of fleck in it that will hopefully hide little grubby hand marks.  

The fun has just begun because now I get to accessorize and finish the room! 

The old couch is going into the playroom/bedroom upstairs so it isn't a total loss :)

End Table Make-Over

I found this fun end table on craigslist for $10.  It needed a little love but I like the way it turned out.  In an ideal world, I would have stripped it and re-stained.  I have never done that and wasn't ready to spend the time to learn.  I am planning on using navy and white accents in the living room once the new sofa arrives so this is a start.

Before:

After:

 

Succulent Love

Succulents are very popular right now.  My mom has been loving them for years.  Thank goodness she knows more than me and planted these great pots for my front stoop.  I will repost at the end of the summer to see if they look better or worse :)

A little more navy gone!

A little more blue has left the building.  I have posted before ( and before ... and before) about the large amount of navy blue in the house.  We replaced most of the carpet in the house a few years ago.  We didn't do the basement because we don't really use the space and didn't know what the future would be.  Now that we have a kid that is ready to play, we wanted new (unstained) carpet in the basement.  I really like what we ended up with.  It is a Shaw Carpet and the color is Misty Glen (a taupeish, greyish color).  

Before:

After:

 Close-up... these two pictures definitely show the difference in lighting & flash.  In person, it looks something in the middle of the beige above and grey below... a perfect greige :)

The Nursery

FIVE DAYS! Until the due date, that is!

Below are some pictures of the (mostly) finished nursery. I am still waiting on one little storage cube project to be finished. I can't stress enough how much it rocks to have a Mom that is handy with a sewing machine!

As you can see, there is no "theme" and I prefer not to have things too "matchy-matchy". Lets all be honest here... this nursery is more for me than the baby. Although black, white, and red are the first colors a baby can see... ya... uh ... that is why I went with these colors :)

Here are the details because I know everyone wants to copy this exact nursery :)

Crib: Baby Mod - Olivia Crib purchased at (gasp) Walmart... this was hard for me... you can call me a snot but I don't shop here.

Glider: Dutailier - Purchased at babies r us as a floor model. Major discount!

Dresser/Changing Table: Already owned & store no longer in business.

Bookshelf: Ikea Expedit

Bookshelf Storage Cubes (not shown): Target's itso Fabric Storage Bin

End Table: Ikea's Lack Side Table

Curtains: Ikea (similar to these but plain white)

Added Curtain Fabric: Media Black/White Fabric from Warehouse Fabrics

Crib Skirt: Fabric from Hobby Lobby

Crib Sheet & Changing Pad Cover: Fabric purchased from a local quilting store and sewn by my Mom (aka Grandma). I have an additional red crib sheet that was purchased. It was NOT any cheaper to sew these on our own because you need to buy higher quality fabric since they get washed so often. We only did this for the color!

F-A-M-I-L-Y Photo Project: Photos taken by yours truly and printed at costco. They are hung on Ikea's Deka and Dignitet products

"K" Art: This was my favorite project and it was super cheap. I bought a blank canvas at Hobby Lobby and then used the magic of painter's tape to create. My friend Ashley at Decorating Obsessed gets credit for the original inspiration!

Mobile: Wimmer-Ferguson Infant Stim-Mobile from Amazon

Overgrown Landscape

When we moved in 3 years ago there was some incredibly overgrown and old shrubs in our front beds. The project has been ongoing since then and is still not really complete. One of my biggest annoyances with landscaping is when people don't think about the full growth potential for the plant. Between our house and sidewalk we have a 18" space for plants. That is pretty darn narrow. The plants that were there when we moved in are designed to get anywhere from 6-10' wide! Needless to say, it was a maintenance nightmare. They took over the sidewalk and actually damaged the side of our house! I almost forgot to take pictures but here is a progress shot of the removal (completed a few years ago).

Before:

Progress (today):

Obviously, these plants have a ways to grow but it will eventually look great. The Sky Pencil Hollies (3 in the middle) will eventually be about 6' tall and less than 2' wide. The ornamental grasses on either side of that will also be about 6' tall and just as narrow but for some reason they didn't do well and are struggling to grow back in this year. I planted Little Henry Sweetspire under the windows (and oh look! there are lights!) and they will stay less than 3' tall. Obviously, the Clematis and Daylilies will stay narrow enough as well.

Hopefully, in a few years I can post new pictures of a completed front landscape. We had some loss and setbacks this year due to some mud(d)jacking but I think it is coming together nicely.

Nursery Sneak Peak

I have been busy working on putting together the nursery. I have to give a lot of credit to my mom. Having a mother that can sew is PRICELESS! We made the crib skirt and crib sheet together. Yes, I will also be buying crib sheets but I wanted at least one in the color I love.

Joe took down the white and brass ceiling fan and installed this light. He hates it, I love it! It was cheap and looks cute in the room.

This is a fun photo project that I am working on. It isn't done yet... we are obviously missing a picture but I can't wait to finish this.

The Kitchen Before & Afters

Before:

After:

(other angle) Before:

After:

Backsplash Before:

Backsplash After:

Appliance Before:

Appliance After:

The amazing deal we got on these appliances and the sink are worthy of a post within itself. I must say... I have impressive bargain skills :)

We are very excited with how everything turned out!

Now... on to the NURSERY!