A little face-lift

So, I thought it had been a long time before…oops again.  After our fun summertime adventures, visits from family and friends, and adjusting back to work, I am now in my full-on nesting mode.

A little part of our nest that was bothering me was our master bedroom. Look, bland.

Blah bedroom...builder beige

So, an update was calling my name.

I have been wanting to try a board and batten treatment since I read about it on “It’s the Little Things that Make a House a Home.” My husband just needed a little convincing and a little time to get used to the idea. It only took two years.

We got the paint, we second-guessed our paint choice, we decided to go with it anyway…

We taped up the battens initially to check the spacing

And then Mark got a new toy. And then it broke, so he exchanged it. Then that one broke, so I went to Sears. Then we finally secured the battens with a handy nail gun.

One final coat of paint, and the room was back to normal. The paint color definitely changes between the day and night time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, all I have left to do is pick out fabric for curtains, duvet, etc. A couple pictures went back up, but it is so painful to put holes back in wall after endlessly patching. I got over it, though!

This is now the happiest room in our house, and I’m pretty happy about it myself!

* Note the little addition of the bassinet!

It’s been a long time.

Oops! I guess I lost my mind. Through the last half of the school year, grad school, and such, I had to let some things slide. The blog was one of those things. Sorry!

I don’t know about you, but I love the change of seasons. Since we’ve missed a few seasons together, let’s skip to summer. Although the weather doesn’t agree with this reality yet, since school is over, I think it’s official.

This was the living room before, and I love me some paisley…

However, this window treatment, chocolate brown couches, and a similar rug left the room feeling a little like Fall.  After watching an episode of Sarah’s House, which I will write about soon, I was inspired to lighten things up. This required a little trip to JoAnn Fabrics. Happily, I took my coupons and found decorative fabrics at…60% off!

I found some summer-y fabrics and made  a new valance.

Then I found my favorite color green and decided to recover the chair and make some pillows. Oh happy family room!

At least Pemberley seems to like it

How do you “summerize” your home?

A literary masterpiece and the first signs of Christmas

This weekend I worked on a project I was super-excited about, but Mark was less than convinced.

I was inspired by Lindsay’s wreath as soon as I saw it. She was so wonderful; she even uploaded a video to help out with the process! Check it out here: http://www.livingwithlindsay.com/2009/11/librarians-please-avert-your-eyes.html

So, I started with Mark’s donations to the project – care of Jack Higgins and Robert Ludlum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With my new glue gun, which burned all of my fingers, I added the bottom ring to the wreath form

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, after a couple hours and many burns later, I finally completed it. Luckily I had a fun shopping trip with Kelly to re-energize my creative juices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and hung up in the kitchen! Although, I’m not quite sure it’s going to stay there…It really does look awesome in person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After my sewing machine broke, I had to turn to hand stitching my second project. Hello, Pottery Barn inspired burlap pillow. En francaise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, yes, those are Christmas CDs to the left of the pillow. I’m only preparing. I will, however, be breaking them out in full force this weekend. While we put up the Christmas decor.

Movin’ on up!

To the kitchen. Oh yeah, you know you’re singing the song.

Well, the buffet has moved in. It looked like this Saturday morning, and I planned on hemming the curtains.

Then we thought, okay, this is a work in progress. It will get better.

But I have a difficult time waiting with decorating challenges. So, we quickly started problem solving.

Problem #1: the gaping hole beside the buffet. Solution? For the time being, we moved something. We’re still trying to decide if it works.

It added some height, and filled the hole, but I’m still not sold on the fake tree. Those curtains were REALLY bothering me, though, so I took out my handy sewing machine. Thank you, Mom, for the hand-me-down and thank you Mom and Nannie for the lessons

Hemming wasn’t going to do it, though. They didn’t have the feel that I wanted – quaint cottage and a little French.

Do you think this helped?

I like the added black in the trim, and the height the valance adds. I’m still working on the artwork (kind of) for the left side, and the table and chairs will be painted in a few weeks. I’m waiting for Thanksgiving break. That is, when I’m not shopping at 5 AM.

Well, these are the latest developments here at our little cottage! Do you have any suggestions to replace the tree? I’m open and not sold on the tree idea anyway.

Just for fun, here’s a picture of my fun winter coat. Thanks to the 50% off sale, I was able to step out of my black coat box.

I’m practicing to take Vanna’s job someday. Only I’ll be showing home decorating for participants’ guesses. Do you think that would bring in the ratings?

Getting a handle on it

I was planning on finishing it tonight.

That was two days ago.

Before the Handle Debacle of 2009.

I don’t think I’ll ever try to use handles on anything again. Honestly, how difficult can it be?  Drill two holes and screw in the handles, right?  Not.so.much.  You see, my handle loving friends, that would be if I was dealing with normal handles-ones that wanted to be part of the beautiful black buffet. These handles, however, turned in toward the center making it impossible to measure!

I tried measuring, I made a template, I drilled two holes. Didn’t work.

I remeasured, made a new template, moved it over slightly and drilled another hole. Didn’t work.

I prayed over the handle, the measuring tape, and my drill and tried the entire process again.

I’m not saying that the Lord cannot work through power tools, He absolutely can. Through His goodness, I was blessed with a newfound freedom after the third try – Karrie, you don’t need handles.

So, knobs it is, at least until my dad comes to figure out handles when I eventually tire of the knobs.

I’m also adding silver card holders under the knobs just for fun. Who are we kidding – and organization, because I heart organization.

Although one drawer is going through putty and painting repair after the handle massacre, I’ve added a sneak peak.

Primed - still kinda cute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, just for fun, this is my dog. She’s wishing for  her beloved hedgehog, one of four, but she “buried” all of them. In my pillows.

Good night and hedgehog dreams

Progressing.

Here’s how we started in the kitchen, you also get to see my handsome husband and brother-in-law in the process…lucky you.

See the curtains in the background? Pretty blue, tan, and silver stripes hanging from a silver rod. It worked, but I got bored.

So, last night they were transformed while my husband was at the Duck game.

Yep, burlap. I saw the idea on another blog, and I love the texture. Now we need to get some more going on in this room. I now have the okay to paint the table, chairs, and hutch, which currently looks like this.

It will, however, be momentarily cleaned and primed for paint.

Which leads me to my processing…I.can’t.decide.

Black? Which, this is what I totally want to do at our next house – stripes and wainscoting = love

Courtesy of Karla @ It's the Little Things...

or white?

I’m really leaning toward the black now on the buffet, but I really wanted white chairs. I am going to cover the seats in black and white toile, and I hope to get my mother’s or mother-in-law’s antique table which I would switch out for this one. But that could take a while, and I’m stumped. Do I paint it all black except for the top of the table for the farmhouse look? Do I paint everything black except the table, which gets antiqued white legs and regular top – also farmhouse?

Help!

At least Pemberley was a help last night, guarding our new addition to our furniture family

 

I’m off to prime! Any ideas?

- Karrie

Table…decisions, decisions.

I think I’ve finally convinced my husband to let me paint our table, chairs, and the new hutch I found on Craigslist.

Which reminds me, Craigslist is a funny thing. Before this whole Craigslist craziness, I didn’t really have a second thought of buying something from a total stranger. I thought, what a nice site, but now I’m reconsidering – is it worth it, is it safe? How sad. I don’t know about you, but I love old movies about times when doors weren’t locked and playing outside all day in the neighborhood without a second thought of safety. Although we need to be safe and cautious, we can’t be crippled by fear. So, we got the buffet, and they even delivered it to our house. Lovely people.

Now…to paint…black or white, with some distressing of course.

creamy white (almost):

or black:

 

From Just A Girl's blog

I’ll be painting the table and chairs as well, which is your standard, boring dependable maple colored dining set. It’s the only last bit of furniture my husband bought in his bachelor days. We just need to improve it! Anyway, I’ll be painting these, covering the seats in black and white toile, and rejoicing in the fact that I finally have toile in my house

 

So…the color…suggestions?