Living Room Progressing...SLOWLY

When we saw our house for the first time it was empty.  It had been a foreclosure and someone bought it and flipped it and then we bought it.  Sweet deal, right?  The fact that it was empty made it seem super spacious.  Fast forward to moving day when we put our living room furniture, piano, and ginormous TV in the room.  Amazing how quickly it shrunk.  We have since moved the ginormous TV upstairs and have bought a smaller one to go in the nook over the fire place.  So now we are left with mismatched furniture and a large piano (well, a Christmas tree too).  The room is such an odd shape and I like for rooms to be open and have a smooth flow of traffic so it made finding furniture for this room even more difficult.  We also had to think ahead (since there is a baby on the way) about all the stuff adorable items that come with a baby. 

Before:

We painted the room to make it feel a little more cozy.  The color we chose is made by Behr and is called "Perfect Taupe".  It's a great greige color (greige= gray + beige).  The color of the sectional is called "earth" and is a harvesty color so we wanted to try and even out the tone in the room.  If that makes any sense at all.

We found this sectional as Ashley furniture.  It was under budget but still a little more than what we were wanting to pay for furniture.  We luckily got a Groupon though to help out with the cost.  We've learned the key to bargain shopping for big tickets items is CASH MONEY.  We hope to get an antique chair to refinish to go across the room but for now we are going to hold off on that until we see how much space the little man's stuff actually needs.

Funny story...the before pics have the Christmas decor in them because that is when we bought our new furniture.  Little did we know it wouldn't be February until it arrived.  Good ol' Ashley Furniture lost the other half of our sectional.  Now I've heard of loosing a lucky penny or an earring but a sofa?  Come on now.  That's just crazy talk!  We waited another 2 weeks for it to be deliverd.  Delivery day arrived and I couldn't have been more excited, until they took the plastic off and I noticed the fabric was DAMAGED in one corner.  Totally wouldn't have been a big deal if we purchased off of Craigslist but this was BRAND NEW!  I "REFUSED" the furniture and then we had to wait another 3 WEEKS to get it. 

Where'd we get the rug?  Well I'm glad you asked...it's from BJ's, yeah like the warehouse store...crazy right?!  So soft and cozy.

P.S. The piano...it can be yours for free...we'll help you move it out but after that it's all on you baby!

Media tower was a Salvation Army find.  Big rod in the corner...that's the curtain rod we gotta hang.

The massive nail head trim was a major selling point for me!

The To Do List:

- curtain rods

- paint

- curtains (to make or to buy...that is the question)

- large rug

- wall art
- possible antique chair
- sell pillows and buy/make new ones
-remember....FREE PIANO!

Hanging Ribba Frames...Disaster or Deleight?

I knew I wanted to keep most of the design for the nursery pretty simple.  I didn't want it to be totally themed out but we did want a strong influence of Kenya in the room.  Kenya holds a very special place in Hubs and my hearts since we went on a short term mission trip there over a year ago.  While we were in Kenya we were able to go on a real life African Safari.  I never thought I'd be able to check that one off the bucket list!  Hubs got some AMAZING pictures of the animals and we decided to use some of those in simple IKEA Ribba frames in the room.

We printed the pictures out at Wolf Camera and found free online coupon codes so we ended up not paying a dime!  The Ribba Frames set us back about $40 ($9.99 a piece).  $42 if you want to add in the cinnamon rolls we ate while we were there...

I was putting the photos we printed into the frames and looked at how I was supposed to do assembly for hanging them.  That's when I discovered why a big, matted frame was sold for $9.99.  There were wires and clips and a feeling of getting the things in a straight level line would be impossible.  WRONG-O!  Thanks to blogs, mainly thanks to Kelly at View Along the Way.  She has a jammin' tutorial on how to hang these bad boys. 

You can check it out here.

So once we figured out how to make sure all the frames were hung at the same level we wanted an easy way to space them.  We looked around the room and low and behold we found a tag from a pair of baby shorts that was just right.  Ghetto or Genius?  I'm going to go with genius!  My job was to hold the tag up there while Hubs leveled and made the mark for the hole.

It really did not take very long at all to hang them.  The most time was spent assembling the frames and making sure the photo was in the frame straight.

We have a few more things left to do before the nursery will be completely done.  One of which is hanging a ceiling fan with lights because right now the lighting in this room is awful (can ya tell by the pics...I think so!)

Thanks again Kelly!

Guest Bedroom Update

I finally found the perfect quilt for our guest bedroom!  It was in our budget too!  What would we do without Marshals? 

I was also lucky enough to find some nice but inexpensive curtains on our latest IKEA run.  The great part is they provide Stitch Witchery for you to make them the exact length you want them- the bad part is that mean you actually have to pull out the iron.  Thus, the picture is only of the fabric....

Buy them here

TO DO:

- find gray quilt

- paint nightstand white
  finish assembling nightstand

-find lamp

- hang picture frames

- paint walls pale yellow

- move current master bedroom dresser into this room

- make/find yellow accent pillow for bed

- find/make curtains

Nursery Progress

Over the weekend we officially started on the nursery.  When I say we I really mean my husband.  I had nothing to do with it.  He painted the entire room all by himself!  I tried to help but he told me to just rest.  Isn't he the best?! 

We (and this time I do mean we) picked out this paint color from Benjamin Moore.  Even though I love how smooth Benjamin Moore paint goes on we decided to go the less expensive route and have Home Depot color match it.

 

The color is from their Historical Collection and it is called Alexandria Beige. 

Once again he used the beloved Frog Tape.  Best thing since sliced bread. I totally thought I took a before picture but I sure can't find it on my computer anywhere!

The color in this photo makes it look quite a bit darker than what it really is.  I should probably change the settings on my camera, oh well such is life.

Operation assemble the crib is next!

Small Update

When we moved into our house one of the first rooms to be furnished was the dining room.  We already had the table (Craigslist, the wine tower (Bed, Bath, & Beyond clearance), and curtains (Ross), what more did we need?  We also added the china cabinet but the room was still missing something.  A rug!

Enter: Garden Ridge.  We found this rug for a steal there.  Of course it did come with a little bit of labor.  By labor I mean me sitting on a pallette while Hubs man handled all the rugs until we found the "perfect" one, which just so happened to be the very last one buried under about 25ish others.

Since adding the rug to the room we have decided the walls need to be painted.  We want to keep it neutral so we're not locked into a certain color scheme so we're thinking just a darker beige of some sort.

Powder Room Makeover

I think it's quite comical that the first rooms to get completed in our new house is the bathrooms.  I guess I do my best thinking there. 

For the powder room the hubs and I decided to go with a deep red.  We decided on Benjamin Moore's "currant red".

I did not use a primer, just did 2 coats of this paint.  I also used Frog Tape for the first time and LOVED it!  I was so sick and tired of the crappy blue painters tape.  There is nothing I hate more than having to go back and do touch ups because the tape failed to do it's job. 

Here is a shot of it before:

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a tiny powder room? Can we say difficult?

Here are some pictures of the bathroom completed (for now).  We are thinking of getting a small black shelf to go over the throne but this will do for now.

You can't really tell from this picture but the dark red paint really makes the ceilings look super tall and the crown molding just pop!

Learn a bit more about this mirror re-do.  The towel ring was actually a garage sale find for $2!

 
The Christmas decorations will be replaced with something else in January of course.  The tissue box cover was actually an unfinished wood one from Hobby Lobby that I primed and spray painted black.  On my wish list is a mirrored tissue box cover but they are EXPENSIVE and I haven't quite figured out how to make my own yet.  This will do for now.

Here's a view from the inside of the bathroom just to show you the painted doors
And nice and red just in time for Christmas!

Here's the to do list:

- paint bathroom red

- paint accent accesories black

- buy new soap dispenser

- buy new hand towels
-maybe- shelf for over potty

Master Bath Update

Finally, we have been making some progress on our master bathroom.  Remember the last update? 

About a month ago I found this great chandelier at my local Goodwill.  It was only $10!!!  The wires were just hanging out of the top not marked and just cut looking.  I made sure I could return it if it didn't work and went ahead and bought it.  I had a feeling my husband would be a little less than thrilled about the new project he was now assigned. 

When I bought the light it never registered to me that where we would be hanging it was wired for a can light and not a hanging light.  Whoops.  More work for the hubs.  Luckily, they make can light converters so we bought one of those and then also needed a to cover the hole and wires. 



Apparently he had to rig it quite a bit to make it work.  I don't know what I would do without him! 

Here it is in all it's shining glory!

Costs:

Chandelier- $10

Can light converter kit- $45

light plate thingy-$6

Total:$61

Still To Do:

- hang a chandelier over the tub

- frame in the mirror

- make curtains

- hang curtains

- hang 2 shelves, 1 on each side of the sinks to get stuff off of the counters (drives me bonkers!)
- get new hand towels
- replace white candles by tub with brown candles


Linking up to:

Master Bath During...

Here it is in all of it's gray glory.  We tried to skimp out and do just 1 coat but that didn't work out so well. 

I've never had a stand up shower before and I have never liked the way they look so here is my solution to the problem.

 

Mrs. DeVore and I found this fabric at The Depot over the weekend when we were supposed to be selling our stuff at the yard sale there.  I am going to make 2 curtain panels out of it for the window.  I guess I have to learn how to sew...

We still have a little bit to do in here.
 I would like to:

- hang a chandelier over the tub

- frame in the mirror

- make curtains

- hang curtains

- hang 2 shelves, 1 on each side of the sinks to get stuff off of the counters
- get new hand towels

- get the extra crap outta the tub!

Master Bath Before

Luckily when we bought our house it had just been "flipped".  It was as move in ready as it gets.  All the walls were painted a neutral beige.  This is great, but I need some color in my life! 

Since our bedroom is now painted the pale blue gray I wanted a bathroom color that would flow with the bedroom color.  I found a gallon of "oops" paint at Home Depot for 5 buckaroos!  It is a dark stormy gray.

Here are the before pics of the bathroom:

Bleh.  BOOOORRRRINNNGGGG

By Monday I should have the "during" pictures up.

Rambling Ideas for the Guest Bathroom

Lately I've been trying to work on the guest bathroom.  My goal is to have it almost finished by mid June.  Let's see if you'll hold me to it. 

For the paint color on the walls I want to be bold.  Yes, bold, not like myself at all (just kidding).  My confidence has taken a hit though and I am a bit skeptical about picking out a color after what happened in the master bedroom.  I am leaning towards a light coral color for all of the walls.

                                                          Okay, so probably not the first one, that is just ORANGE!  Maybe not the second one either....see, I'm already doubting myself!  Please comment what color you are thinking!!!  EEK!

I am going to make the shower curtain.  This is my inspiration from Urban Outfitters.

L-O-V-E.

I will be hanging this mirror over the sink.  I found it at a yard sale for $8 and spray painted it a gloss white.  Love how the flowers make it a little more girly.

Final reveal to come soon on the mirror...still working on it.  This is what happens when you are "re-purposing on a budget".

The little blue elephant will still live in there.

I have also taken a silk planted orchid I already had and re-painted it to match the room.  I think every room needs a plant of some sort to help give it some life.

I am also planning on spray painting a picture frame with a cute phrase on it.  Maybe something like this.  Thanks to Three Men & a Lady for the wonderful idea!



New hardware stuff: