simple.beautiful.home

Sneak peek

2014-08-18T14:15:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more pics of the house. I think I'll do a room or two at a time...a slow reveal, if you will.

This is the living room. It was one of the things that drew us in right away...the windows, the coffered ceiling, the detailed fireplace and the big sliding glass window. It opens up to the kitchen and the dining room as well. It still needs some work to cozy it up (maybe roman shades or shutters or curtains even?!?) but we are getting there slowly but surely!

I also need to find a new rug for the space since the one that's there is actually for the dining room (or at least it was in our old house), but we need it more in this space so the kids can sit and play and be comfy. Trouble is, I'm so darn indecisive that I can't settle on the right one. With most purchases, I can buy it and bring it back if it doesn't work in the space but rugs are a little more difficult to transport, especially since there are a few that I want that are online only. And then it's the game of "should I wait and see if it goes on sale or just pull the trigger now?". Does anyone else do that? I feel like the item always goes on sale the day after I purchased it online. Ugh! So that's where we are at in the living room. Thinking of switching up the pillows too but they work for now.

More to come soon. Maybe the kitchen?? :) here's a little peek of the island so you can get a feel for the layout and proximity to the living room..

And here's a few shots of the munchkins because I can't resist!

Starting Over

2014-07-26T14:54:00.001-04:00

Just when we finished all of the big projects in our first house (there were still a lot of little ones left on the agenda) and were settling into our post-renovation-bliss phase, we decided to leave. To this day (almost 8 months since we moved), hubby still ~~complains~~ jokes about it to our friends. He would say, "we worked so hard to make everything perfect and are now letting someone else reap the benefits". He's not completely wrong, we did spent a lot of time and money on it, but at the end of the day it was a good investment and we walked away with all of those skills and the memories of having earned them. Plus, things are different in the new house. First of all, it is new. To us and to the world. There are no problems to fix (ahem..yet). We can actually choose to have a free weekend to sit and enjoy the kids or do a project for fun, rather than work on something in the house. And even though that is something that we both grew to love, that itch to renovate, we can do that over time here. Much to my husbands chagrin, I already have a to-do list for the new house:

Add a built-in hutch/storage/shelving unit in the dining room to complement the kitchen cabinets
Add built-in bookshelves to the office
Add built-in storage/lockers/cubbies to the mudroom area (currently being used as a playroom, so this will be a project for down the road)
Finish the basement (more on that in another post, since its a big project)
Add wainscoting to the kids bathroom upstairs
Add overhead lights in the kids' rooms
Get a new dining room table??
Add hooks/storage to the garage
Window treatments all around the house
Plant in the back/maybe veggie garden if I'm feeling ambitious
Turn guest room upstairs into fun hangout space for kids with some trundle beds or day beds for sleepovers
Install gallery of frames on stairway wall
Install a patio when basement is finished
Add storage and functionality to laundry room/maybe paint as well

That's all I have so far, but its certainly enough to keep us busy for a while!!

And all of these projects will make more sense once I show you more pictures of the house, or even a house tour if I can figure out how to do that. The kids have been sick this week so to say that they are needy at the moment is a severe understatement. Reagan is sitting in my lap while I'm typing with one hand. Hopefully next week will be better!!

New house, new beginnings..

2014-07-15T13:29:00.001-04:00

We moved into our new house in December. Just one town over, 7 miles away, but it feels like the other side of the world. New neighbors, new town, new way of life really. It's like starting over, but in a good way!! And this was all totally on a whim, by the way. We weren't even thinking about moving or selling the house that we put so much love and time and money into, we just stumbled onto a listing that we couldn't ignore. I am not exaggerating when i say that as soon as we walked in we knew it was home. I guess I shouldn't speak for my husband in that moment but as the saying goes, "happy wife, happy life!" So we put our house on the market two days later and it was sold two days after that. My head it still spinning. We are settled in now but I have days where I wonder if we did the right thing. We left some pretty wonderful neighbors, a newly renovated house, and the community that we loved for 4 years (although it felt like much longer), but then I remember all of the projects we still had left to do, and I start to forget all that. I love me a good project, as you probably figured by now, but the things we had left to do included a new roof, boiler, insulation, just to name a few. Nothing blog-worthy that's for sure!

So instead of all that, we did the most unexpected thing of all; we bought new construction.

I know. I know. What sort of projects could we possibly have here when it's brand new? Trust me, though, we haven't been bored. It's a blank slate. There are a million decorating possibilities, two new kids rooms to have fun with and a whole basement to refinish (not sure if I even showed you final shots of the old one). So although we won't be gutting and renovating this one like we did the last, we have a lot of work to do. It was sad leaving such a special place (I will always love and miss our first home) but the extra space is really nice and I'm looking forward to all the amazing projects we can come up with here!!!

Looking forward to sharing this journey with you!!

A hop, a skip and a whole year

2014-07-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

I can't believe its been a whole year since I've written. Actually longer. The demands of two kids was much more than I imagined and something had to give. Unfortunately, it was this. I can't tell you how much I have missed it though.

But I have still been decorating, renovating and even MOVING to a new house so we need a serious catch up session.....or several. Hopefully this is like one of those friendships that stop and start right where they left off, like no time has passed. I have a few wonderful friends like that. We may only see each other 2 times a year, but you'd never know it. Our conversations flow like we were just talking yesterday. If this is anything like one of those friendships, I think we can rekindle this. Fingers crossed.

I have some photo uploading and editing to do (7 months later and I still haven't taken a photo of the exterior of the house...oops), but I will share it all in the coming days.

Can't wait to stretch out my legs after such a long hibernation.

And then there were four....

2013-05-21T08:20:00.003-04:00

Hello world, I'm Reagan Grace....

Meet our newest addition; i.e., the reason I have been so sparse in my postings (and not for lack of projects going on around the house...which is sort of insane with a new baby around)!! Reagan was born on April 17th at 2:56, weighing in at 6 lbs, 1 oz and 19 inches long. Such a little peanut. So far everything has been better the second time around. I wouldn't say "easier" but at least more predictable, and as for the labor, it was less than half the time. Phew! And nursing has even been a little better. Again, I wouldn't say easier, just marginally less awful. But that is a whole other post. Bottom line is that she is amazing. Pace loves her.....so far....and we are settling into a new routine around these parts. I am finally finding time to sit down a think coherent thoughts, sort of, so posts will be coming fast a furious soon. I hope.

In addition to our new addition, we have created a nursery for her, finished the basement renovation, laid a new patio in the backyard, completely overhauled our upstairs bathroom, and lots of little projects here and there to contribute to these bigger ones. Can't wait to share and get back on the horse.

For now, here are some more shots of the peanut...

In like a lion, out like a lamb....

2013-03-06T14:39:00.001-05:00

I apologize for such a long hiatus, but it's been a busy few months! First of all, we finished the basement....FINALLY....and then we renovated our upstairs bathroom (with some contractor help this time), and lastly, we updated another room in our house in anticipation of a new arrival in April. :) Yea, I snuck that one in there. Sneaky, huh? Yea, that sort of explains the struggle to find time to post. I find that I am sleeping during Pace's naps and running around chasing him when he's awake, so there isn't a lot of time for independent thought....or project completion, really. The last few weekends have been very productive though, so I hope to post a lot more from now on. Well, at least until April 15th (give or take). :)

I haven't taken any recent photos of the basement, but i'll do that first thing tomorrow (when the light is good), and post them tomorrow or friday. As far as the bathroom goes, I don't want to give away too much, so I'll show you a before photo to get a feel for what we were working with/living with for the last three years. I suppose it could have been worse, but I was thrilled to see it go.

Ick!! I'm not sure which part was worse, the dirty, cracked, broken electric blue tile, or the flourescent vanity lights that took 3 minutes to turn on. Hmm...tough choice! So excited to show you the progress though. More to come! :)

And the other project we've been working on is a nursery for baby #2. There is still a lot left to do, but we are moving along pretty well lately. I think the nesting part of the program has commenced...I've been a little crazy lately! To say the least.

Can't wait to share all of those photos and more info on our new arrival.

Small change

2012-12-31T16:44:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy few months, but whenever I have a free minute (or 10) I try to complete some little project on my to-do list. Today I decided to tackle a quick frame fix. We were given this framed photo as a gift (in a Yankee swap actually). It's a friend of ours photography.

He's super talented and we love the photo but we didn't love the frame...especially not in the new basement bathroom. I am normally a fan of bronze but not in a gray/chrome/espresso filled space. So I decided to change it instead of replacing it. And I had just the thing to do it, a black sharpie. I know, profound right? But it worked....and it was free. Here's the before and after.

Certainly not my best transformation but it took about 10 minutes and it was free so I rank that pretty high on my list!

I have a lot more to share in the new year (including some projects that I've been holding out on and some news to share), but until then, wishing you all the best during this holiday season! Happy new year!

Bathroom Setbacks...and Progress

2012-11-13T08:55:00.002-05:00

It has been a little over a year since we started the renovation in our basement. Yes, you read that correctly.....A YEAR!! I actually choked up a little when I wrote that.

Doing some of the work yourself has its perks (total control, lower cost, learning experience), but it also comes with its problems. The largest of which is when you deal with an untrustworthy contractor. Case in point: We planned to tile the bathroom ourselves, shower included, but we hired a contractor to rough out the space with plumbing and electrical so that I could just take over and start my work. I have only ever tiled floors and backsplashes before, so I was a little new to the shower scene......which is precisely why I asked that the contractor get it all set for me to tile.

He did (or so I thought), and after a few months of work, mostly during nap times, I was finally at this point in the project:

It felt like the home stretch, all I had left was the soffit and shelf. I was feeling good, even proud of myself (which for a type A personality is not easy to do)......until an inspector came to check it out. He noticed that we were missing the proper water-resistant wall board in the shower as well as the proper sealant in each corner/crack. I cried. A lot. I'm glad we found out before I grouted and finished it all up, but it still stung. I am not a confrontational person...usually.....but let's just say the aforementioned contractor is not allowed anywhere near my house....EVER. He claims that he didn't know that I was doing the tiling (although he has helped us with projects before and knows that I tile, plus I specifically asked him for some tips on shower tiling). Bottom line: he is a liar and can't be trusted. I just wish I had known before I got this far.

Needless to say, we had to fix the problem. If we left it as is, we would have had water and mold problems down the road. Maybe not even so far down the road either. We didn't work this hard and this long to have it all compromised because of one bad shower. So, we ripped it all out. To the studs. I cried again. We attempted to take down each tile individually, but they were stuck on there pretty good, and it would have compromised the integrity of the already-sub-standard wall board behind them if we continued. We were told that we could just seal the cracks and corners and we might not have a problem, but it's just a risk we weren't willing to take. We wanted it done right. And although I was proud of my work, and could have re-tiled the whole thing myself, I wasn't mentally prepared to start the project again, nor did I want to wait another few months to find the time to do it. So we called someone in. Normally, the hardest part is admitting you have a problem, right? Well, for me, it's asking for help. But I did.

It cost about $1500 to finish it up. This included labor, roughing out the new space with the RIGHT type of water-resistant wall-board, sealing it all with Hydra-Ban (a special green-goopy sealant to keep out moisture as a secondary measure), and buying all new tiles (although we were able to save the mosaics). I'm not used to paying for labor, but just knowing that it was done right made me feel better writing a check to this contractor (whom we trust now and will be using for a to-be-discussed project in January).

So, the shower is done, as you can see, and everything is hooked up in the bathroom. Finally isn't even the word to describe it. I'm not sure what is. Just an audible "Aaaaah!" The refreshing one, not the scream one (although I've done that plenty of times during this process). Now I just have to work my magic and get the space decorated and feeling like home.

And because I'm a sucker for before and afters, here's a little peek at the transformation over the last year+.

These first few shots are what it looked like when we first started the project. Cold, dark and a little creepy!

Then we started putting up some walls and getting plumbing and electrical roughed in: The big hole in the ground below is to connect the shower, toilet and vanity to the pump. You can see the pump itself in the second two shots.

And here is the shower after it was "prepared" for me to tile. You can see that he used regular Durock Cement Board. This isn't the absolute worst thing you can use in a bathroom generally, but it's definitely not meant for a shower stall. I should have done my research first rather than relying on/trusting someone else to take the reins. He also poured a cement floor with a slight pitch toward the center (which was also not the right grade....which we found out later). Also, you can see some of the nails in the cement board. Those are supposed to be filled and the corners and edges sealed and caulked. You live and learn, I suppose.

And here are some shots after my handy-work. I used 1/8 spacers between my tiles, which I later learned is unnecessary and probably not the best idea either. If you are using subway tiles in the shower, they are designed to stack on top of each other and leave a small gap. The added space given by the 1/8 spacer just adds more room for moisture to potentially get trapped over the long term. Lesson 490 of this project: Best to stack!

And then the final product...after much time and pain and stress:

Done. And done.
I'll show you the rest of the bathroom next time, along with a sneak peek at the rest of the basement progress. YAY!

Pause....

2012-10-19T17:16:00.001-04:00

I hit the pause button for the last two months. It's not like I was keeping up a furious pace with the posts before August, but I seemed to have just stopped the presses since then, only I'm not exactly sure why. I have been keeping busy, doing DIY projects here and there, finishing up the basement remodel, and doing lots of fun things with Pace, I guess I just haven't been focused enough to write about it all. Or if I am, I can't seem to find the time to sit at the computer and get it down on paper....er, screen. I could list a million excuses why, but ultimately, I have just been busy. But that is hopefully about to change....well, not necessarily the busy part, but the fact that it gets in the way of my writing. Since Pace turned 1 (holy crap, I know!) I can leave him at the gym daycare for 2 hours, which means an hour of working out for me (on a good day) and an hour to focus my thoughts on a post (or at least get one started) without distraction. I have lots of fun, interesting, annoying, lessons-learned things to tell you, so I will be back. And hopefully you will still be here to listen/read. And I promise to get back to reading all of your fabulous blogs. I am in desperate need of some inspiration and its all of your blogs that usually perk me up. So, I guess I just wanted to say that I'm back and I can't wait to share some projects and stories with you.

Now it's time to hit "Resume".....

One Year Down...

2012-08-14T16:32:00.002-04:00

I have been thinking about what to write for a few days now. I had an entire year to prepare myself, but I still waited till the last minute. Typical. Pace turned one on Friday and I am still reeling from amazement at how fast it went by.....and how wonderful it was/is. A lot of people I know had a rough go of it for the first year of their child's life, but I have to say that it has been pretty great. I'm sure I will eat my words with our next kid though (is there such a thing as baby karma?). Don't get me wrong, there were days that I thought I would pull all of my hair out, days when I questioned whether I was a good enough mom, days when I could barely function because I was so incredibly tired. But those days were always trumped by this.....

This smile that lights up the room and makes everything better. He is the best thing that has ever happened to B and I. I feel so lucky to have been able to stay home this year and spend time with him, watch him grow and learn, and become the crazy, curious, fun, happy toddler that he is.

We had a small party with our family last weekend and it was wonderful to get everyone together to celebrate this little guy.

He didn't love the cake, but we tried. I actually smudged some on his face for effect. He didn't really like the feeling of it on his hands. Haha. Just looking at these pictures of hi, now though, it's hard to believe where we started last August. The transformation is crazy. He doesn't even look like the same baby.

From this...

To this...

It has been the best year of my life, Pace. Thank you for being you.....wonderful, nerve-wracking, curious, crazy, loving, snuggly, adventurous, smart, beautiful you. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Kitchen Organization

2012-07-16T15:16:00.000-04:00

My counter has always been a dumping station for anything and everything that we have in our hands when we walk in the door....keys, mail, bills, notepads, chargers, etc. It was getting out of hand and slowly driving me crazy, so I found this little guy at a yard sale recently....

It was only $2, so naturally I grabbed it and held on for dear life while glaring at everyone else browsing (even though they were no where near this table....or even interested in this particular item). You can never be too careful.

I brought him home and checked my shelves for some leftover spray paint. These two cans were it, so I put them to good use....after a quick sand to rough up the surface for better adhesion.

I'd say it took about 4 coats in all. I tried to do very light ones, so it might have been more than I usually do, I just didn't want to get any drip marks. I normally like to use heirloom white, since its a little warmer, but this will do for now. I have been on the lookout for it at the Home Depot near me, but they have been out of it for months now. Until then...here she is. Being all organizational.

It has really helped to organize stuff on my counter. I won't go as far as to say that it has eliminated all the clutter, but it definitely helps. And even B has started putting things in there when he gets home from work. SCORE!!

So for $2 I feel like a more sane housewife....for the time being. My next project for that space is to hide the phone cord that hangs down from the shelf. I bought this white plastic tube-like thing to do it, I just need to figure out how I'm going to stick it to the wall. I'm hoping I can find something that is removable. Maybe velcro, or that 3M stuff. I'll report back.

For now, I'll just enjoy my organized kitchen.

Hope you all had a great 4th! We were away for the week and are just now getting back on a normal schedule. The heat is CRAZY though. Our two window-unit AC's have been running around the clock. Can't wait to see our electric bill. EEK!

Stay cool.

Gallery #2

2012-06-28T18:43:00.000-04:00

Since I was on a roll with the gallery in the basement, I thought I would just continue the madness upstairs in our hallway. I bought frames for this project almost a year ago and just didn't get around to completing the project until now. For some reason I was intimidated by it all....where would I hang them, what would I put in them....etc.etc. Enough intimidation to make me put off action for 12 months. Crazy!! Plus, it is upstairs. No one but me and B really see that space, so that also factored into my hesitation. But....I was inspired by how easy it was to put up the frames in the basement, so I just up and printed a bunch of photos, laid out the newspaper cutouts on the wall (after measuring and moving them around 15 times) and hung them all up.

Here is what the hallway looked like when we moved in....

I have a lot of things to say about this photo, but my mother always told me that if you have nothing nice to say than don't say anything at all. So....moving on.

First, we ripped up the carpet and (phew) there was hardwood underneath. We refinished it and stained it darker (along with the rest of the floors in the house) a red mahogany color. We hired someone to do that work since it was the whole house and not one room. But we decided to refinish/stain the banisters and replace/paint the spindles ourselves. That was not an easy project, but I think it is totally worth it. It really brightens and cleans up the whole space.

Here it is after a little paint and stain.....and a new light fixture....

And also in the process of updating this area, we decided to paint the doors black. B was gung-ho (sp?) about this but I have to admit being a little skeptical. The whole plan for this house was to clean and brighten everything....and black felt like it would create the opposite effect. But, after a few weeks of listening to his rationale and obsessively googling for pictures of black doors on the internet, I decided to jump on board. And I have to admit (although I hate to) that I really love it. For more info about this process, check out my post here from 2010).

This is what the hallway has looked like since August of 2010. It is 100 times better than it was when we moved in, but it was still pretty bare....until now.

The only tricky part about this project was working around the thermostat. Otherwise, I just started out with a straight line in the center and worked up and down from there. I scattered the basement gallery a bit more randomly (more on that here), so I thought I would try something different upstairs. I bought all of these frames at Michaels on sale a year ago. I think I got this whole slew of frames for around $100 since there was a 50% off promotion plus a 20% off extra coupon (or something like that). That is less than $10 a frame, so it was a steal!! The rug was from IKEA a little while back. Not sure if they still have it, but I have three of them throughout the house. One in the hallway downstairs and another in the kitchen in front of the sink. They were $15 each and they have been AMAZING! I think they still have the same type of rugs available, just not the same colors. The biggest reason I love them is because they are machine washable and they come out looking brand new. Perfect for kids!!!

And I almost forgot to mention the horse painting. This is my favorite new addition to the hallway. B bought this for me for my first mother's day. I have been talking about a horse painting ever since I met him and he finally found one for me. It is so nice to look at it every morning when I wake up to head downstairs.......even if it is 5:00am.

So that's it for galleries this week. I am thinking about doing a little three frame thing in the downstairs hallway, but only if I can get another good deal on frames. There isn't anything on the wall at the moment, so it looks a little bare. Just not sure what to put in the frames yet so I am holding out on the project until then. Upstairs was easy, I just found a picture for every place we have traveled.....plus a picture of my belly when I was pregnant (of course). It is sort of a random assortment of photographs, but I thought it seemed relatively cohesive since they are all black and white.

The beauty of a project like this is that you can always remove and replace the photos down the road if you have a change of mood or decor. And knowing me, that will be sooner rather than later. Or, in keeping with the timeline of this project, maybe I will take another year to plan it out! Who knows??

Have you done any galleries in your home recently? I am obviously loving them lately since I have done two in a matter of a few days. If so, I would love to see what you are working on....

And before I leave you, let's do a quick before and after.

Before

After

Got Frames?

2012-06-26T17:06:00.004-04:00

During my a few naps (aka "free time") last week, I put together a little gallery for the basement wall. I haven't done much in the way of decorating the space thus far, so it I am excited to have something up on the wall to make it feel a little more finished down there.

Here is a peek at what it looked like before we started the whole basement project:

Not the best angle, but you can sort of get the idea. It is the left-most part of the photo, where the two patio chairs are....

And a few more progress shots along the way...

I already had 10 of the 16 frames (plus the letter "P") from other places in the house, so I just ran out to Michaels and picked up the other 6 for 70% off. They were on sale for 50% and then I had an extra 20% off coupon with me. SCORE! No real reason why I chose 16, it just ended up looking good once I laid it all out along the wall.

Most of the frames that I already had weren't white though, so I had to spray-paint them with some leftover primer and white semi-gloss paint that I had on the shelf (I think they were both Krylon).

Next, I placed all of the frames on the floor in front of the wall to see how they would look arranged. I probably changed them around 15 times before I got a winning layout....

Then I started to fill the frames with photos, posters, fabric remnants, pillow cases, etc. Random things, but that was sort of the look I was going for. Anything that fit a sort of nautical/navy/lime/turquoise theme. I even had a sand dollar and some burlap, so I laid out the burlap as a border and placed the shell in the center.

Map of Ireland

An extra letter "P" from Pace's room, the #13 boat was from the navy yard sailing club that we used to belong to when we lived in Charlestown, then there is a print we got in San Fransisco a few years ago and a postcard from where we got married in the bottom left. The top right is part of a piece of paper that I got at Paper Source for $0.25 a while back, the photo on the right is the view from our old condo in Charlestown and the bottom right is a wedding envelope invitation I kept.... here's a closer look...

I love the cool vintage stamps. Such a great idea....

The whale is a print on a piece of fabric. I bought this on vacation in St. John a few months ago and had planned to make a pillow out of it.....but it fit in this frame pretty well so I'll keep it in there for now. The card above that was from my brother and sister-in-law when they found out we were pregnant. I love the saying ("Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles")....so true. The fabric behind it is actually a sample that I got in the mail from Tonic Living when I was checking out different fabrics for Pace's nursery. Love that website! Go check it out if you haven't already. And then there is the sand dollar that I backed with some burlap. Closer look here....

And another post card (a little off-center and tilted....oops)....with burlap backing too...

Here is a close-up of the San Fran post card that I mentioned earlier too. I have only been there once in my life but I loved, loved, loved it. I wrote more about that trip here.

And finally, I cut out pieces of newspaper the size of each frame and marked where the slots were for hanging it before taping them up on the wall where I wanted them. This makes it easier (and less messy) when working on a project like this. Instead of putting 50 holes in the wall trying to get it just right, the prep work really makes it more clean in the end.

And here is the finished product...

Hmm....I think the "tiny miracles" card in the middle is a little tilted too, now that I see it in this photo. Oops!!! We also still need to create a little box to cover up the septic system electrical box (to the right of the photos), but that is for another day......

And just a quick little recap of the project, before and after style:

I'll work on some full basement shots as soon as I can clear out the power tools and make it look relatively presentable. Until then, I'd love to see some of your gallery walls.....

Oh, and any suggestions for what to put in the frame on the bottom left? There is just a stock photo in there now. I was thinking of one of these, but I'm not sure which one..

The top one is from our trip to Zanzibar two years ago, the middle is from Schoodic Point in Winter Harbor, ME and the bottom is from Santorini where we went three years ago. They are all special places for us, so it is hard to decide. I think the coloring in the top and bottom ones might work best, but I'd love your opinion.....

Linking up to these fun parties.....A to Z, Sew Much Ado, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and Lil' Luna

Yard Sale Table: Trash to Treasure

2012-06-21T14:15:00.002-04:00

I mentioned last week (here) that I found a table at a yard sale down the street. I had been looking for a pedestal-style table for the kitchen/mudroom area ever since we renovated the kitchen (more on that here, here and here). It certainly wasn't for lack of options that we were left table-less.....I just didn't want to pay $500 or more for it.

Here are some of the ones I have been eyeing over the last two years...

Ballard Designs - Augusta Dining Table ($499)

Pottery Barn - Sumner Pedestal Table ($1499)

West Elm - Arc Base Pedestal Table ($499)

I also saw a few here and there on craigslist, but they were always snatched up before I could get them....or they were more than I wanted to pay, which was $100.

So I put it on the backburner for a while and decided that it would happen when I least expected it. And it did. As I was driving to the grocery store the other day, I passed by a yard sale down the street and lo and behold, my table was waiting for me....and for only $75!!!

I apologize for the slew of before pictures. The table was disassembled when I bought it so in my ~~laziness~~ eagerness to get started, I didn't put it together for a good before shot. As you can see though, it was in pretty decent shape, just a few water marks and scratches. And since I was planning to paint it white to match the cabinets anyway, it wasn't a big deal that I had to sand down the minor defects. I used 100 grit sandpaper (which I had on hand) and went over the surface a few times to remove the poly coating and smooth it out. Then I rubbed it down with some tack cloth and started to paint!

I used Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Plus Primer for the first two coats. I already had this can (as you can see by the paint drips all over it) from a project in the basement, so I didn't need to run out and buy something special for this project. I have used it a few times in the past, and it works really well to seal in stains or wood knots.

I gave it another quick sand after the prime to make sure there were no bumps or bubbles and then applied one coat of Sherwin Williams Super Paint in Pure White. This is the paint that we used to redo the cabinets in the kitchen, so I wanted to be consistent.

And here she is....

The legs are definitely not as shapely or fancy as the PB or Ballard Designs tables, but I think it works for the space....and for a lot less money! It also came with two leaves, so I refinished those as well in case we have a party and need a buffet-type table. And since I had the sandpaper and primer and paint on hand already, the whole table transformation only cost $75.

Here is a look at the before and after:

I shoved a few chairs that I already had at the desk area in the kitchen underneath the table but they are a bit too tall. I am thinking about trying to cut them down a little so that I don't have to buy new ones, I'm just nervous that they won't be as sturdy if I do that. Has anyone had experience shaving chair legs? :)

I am also on the hunt for a pendant light to hang down (p.s., so glad we left the electrical up there when we added recessed lighting) over the table and some placemats or a cute runner). And even though the bench seat looks relatively put together in these photos, I just wrapped a piece of fabric around foam and stuck it there for the time being. There is some sewing to be done around here soon! Maybe that is my project for next week. I am trying to do one project a week (whether it be changing photos in frames or re-painting something), which feels like a reasonable goal to me. And usually if I set that goal, I am able to get way more done. It's when I expect to accomplish five projects in a week that I end up disappointing myself. Reasonable expectations......

Oh, and you might have noticed in the shots above that I changed the photo in the frame on the shelf. I took some 9-10 month shots of Pace the other day and this is my favorite.

And here are a few more since I can't resist....

Linking up to Lil' Luna and Sew Much Ado

Deck Chair Rehab

2012-06-15T10:35:00.000-04:00

Instead of focusing all my attention on tiling the shower in the basement, I decided to use a naptime this week to update our worn out adirondack chair. I bought this baby last year at a yard sale for $15. She was in pretty good shape then, but we left her out all winter (oops!), so she got a little beat up.

Here is what she looked like earlier this week....

Not too bad, but she needed a little love. A little Krylon love to be specific....

I lightly sanded the whole chair with some 100 grit sandpaper that I had on hand to get off any loose paint and rough up the surface a bit before priming. Then I wiped it all down with a tack cloth to make sure to remove all the debris. Then I applied 2 light and even coats of primer (I waited about 30 minutes between each coat) and then two light and even coats of Oxford Blue Krylon Paint (an hour between coats for this) and this is what I got....

The color is probably truest in the first close-up photo. It is a little lighter than a navy. I think I bought the spray paint at Walmart for $3 something a can and I had the spray primer leftover on my shelf from an old project. I love cheap transformations! I think this chair is going to last us a long time. Maybe even longer if we bring it in the garage next winter.

Still working on a few more little projects for the deck, which is why I didn't include a full shot of it.....more to come next week!!

Oh, and I found something else at a yard sale this past weekend......

It came with two leaves as well, but I think I'm just going to use it as a small round table in the kitchen/mudroom area and save the leaves for a party or something down the road. As you can see, I already have my paint out and ready to go.......hopefully I can finish it up today or tomorrow and show you some pictures. YAY!! Can't wait. I've been looking for a table for that space for about a year now......

More to come soon!

The Great Wall of China

2012-06-05T17:43:00.000-04:00

Tile is sort of like china, right? I'd certainly rather eat off it than lay it, but that is neither here nor there. And it may be getting a little too Fifty Shades for this family-friendly blog. I am so tired of tiling, I can't even tell you. I made some progress this weekend, but it still feels like it's the never-ending story. You probably feel that way too. Enough with the progress reports, Heather, let's see the finished product!! I know! I am sick of hearing myself talk about it too, so I feel your pain.

But we are getting there. And I'm happy with how it's turning out, so I guess that is saying something. I just keep chanting, "you are saving money, you are saving money" and that gets me through.....the first five minutes or so. After that, I just wallow in self-pity until I get a few more rows done so I can feel like I have accomplished something that day. I made a good dent in the wall on Sunday though, so the end is in sight. Here is where I left off last week.

And here is the progress I made the other day.

I was hesitant about the mosaic, but I think it breaks up the monotony of the subway tile a little bit. They came in sheets of 18x18, so I just cut them in half to make it a little less overwhelming. B loves it (it was his idea originally), but I am still on the fence. I like the tile on its own, I'm just not sure about it on the wall. I mean, it's a little too late to do much about it at this point, but that will never stop me from ~~complaining~~ forming an opinion about it. Just ask B....it's his favorite trait of mine. Probably the very reason he married me. :)

But it's coming along and I'm really happy with it overall. One whole wall is done and I just need to finish up a few more rows on the second wall. Almost halfway there!!! Only trouble is, I left the hardest part for last. Not the best strategy in home improvement.....or life, for that matter. There is a big hill near my house and I made the mistake of ending there the first time I went for a run.....huffing and puffing my way up it when I was already exhausted (which was about 7 minutes into the workout). The next day, I started on the hill and ended on a descent and though I probably didn't get the same workout, I made it all the way home without stopping.....and got faster and faster as time went on. I am not against challenging myself, but it made so much more sense to test my limits when my legs were fresh, rather than strain them when they were weak. I'm sure personal trainers are gasping at my advice, but it worked for me. And I really should have applied that theory to my tiling project. If I had started on the tough spot, I would be smooth sailing at this point. But I forgot about my running episode and just dove right in without a plan. Next time.....I'll do it right. That is, if there ever is a next time. I am all tiled out at this point. I need some time away from the tile saw. And I'm sure it is feeling the same way after I shook it in frustration at the end of the day on Sunday. Maybe a trial separation. We'll see how he feels in a few months....when we are thinking about re-doing the upstairs bathroom. Gasp! Dun dun dun.....

To be continued.......more progress updates (or maybe just a final show and tell) next week!

T(o)iling Away!

2012-05-31T10:02:00.000-04:00

Here is what I've been up to the last few weekends....

Slowly but surely, I am finishing up this bathroom. Any extra time that I've had over the last two weeks, I have dedicated to this shower. An hour here, two hours there. Luckily it is pretty easy to set up and take down this kind of project, since my tools consist of a bucket of thinset mortar and a trowel (and the tile saw every few rows or so), but I really need a solid 8-10 hours to really put a dent in it. It is relatively easy work once I got started.....but it is painstakingly tedious. The planning and measuring was really the hardest part. I think I mentioned in my last post about the bathroom (here), that the shower floor has a slow gradiant to allow for the water to flow to the drain. Because of that, and since I wanted the subway tiles to be perfectly level, I had to draw out a start line along the bottom edge to make sure that the first full set of tiles would line up perfectly all the way around the three sides of the shower wall. To rectify the small gap that was caused by this, I am going to use thin pieces of subway tile in the brick pattern underneath that first full row to fill in the space. You can see these strips have been cut and placed in the last photo above. Once it is all grouted and finished, you will not notice that at all.....hopefully!

I considered just starting the rows of subway tile right on top of the rock floor, but that would have made it difficult to match them up around the edges....and would have made the rows a little angled here and there as well. EEK! Not acceptable. I am a perfectionist (if you haven't already noticed), and it would have bothered me more to have two subway tiles not meet in a corner than to have a few thin pieces along the bottom. I am looking at those pieces as a sort of molding or trim anyway. That makes it seem a little more deliberate.....or at least I'm telling myself that. And in the end I think it will look nice when all of the sides match up. It will be more of a continuous look for your eye to follow.

The threshold was the next hardest part of this project, but only in terms of the cutting. We found an 10' x 5' piece of carrera marble at Lowe's and cut it down to size with our small tile saw. The blade could handle it, it was really just guiding the heavy piece through that took a lot of time.....and strength! But after a few minutes of sweating and praying that it wouldn't crack from the pressure, we had a custom-fit piece of marble to attach on. We cut it a little wider (or deeper, depending on how you are looking at it) to allow for a small lip on the outside edge. I thought it looked a little cleaner that way. In the shower, it meets up perfectly with a bullnose tile (to be shown in the next post).

So that's where we are in the whole basement renovation process. It is coming along, just not as fast as I would like. My parents are coming up this weekend to help out, so hopefully I can get a full day of tiling in and see how far that gets me. I'm getting nervous around the left-side of the shower where there is a little jut out in the wall, though. As you can see in the photos, I have been avoiding it so far. I'm thinking that I will use some bullnose tile to make the corner a little smoother, but we will see how it all looks. I will post about that next week!

Oh, and I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!!! We went up to Bar Harbor to visit my in-laws and it was peaceful. I know that's sort of a boring way of describing a trip, but they live pretty far off-the-beaten-path. Hm....that doesn't quite describe it. Let's just say, when you think you've driven to the edge of the earth, its another 40 more miles......yea, that far....so it was really quiet and relaxing once we finally got there. I actually had a pretty nasty head cold, so I slept on and off most of the time and read my book on the deck while everyone else took turns watching Pace. Even though I didn't feel great, it was nice to be off-duty for a little bit. And it's always fun to watch other people chase after him (since he's crawling and table-walking.....or rather, wobbling from one piece of furniture (or leg) to the next while trying to hold a toy in both hands...haha) and then look at me and say "I don't know how you do it". I realize that my job isn't as intellectually stimulating as it used to be, but it is 10x more draining and physically demanding than it ever was. To all of those people that asked me "what are you going to do with all your time" when I first decided to stay home, I am currently accepting babysitter applications. He's all yours! :)

He is truly at an amazing age though. He discovers something new every day and its wonderful to watch. I am definitely exhausted, but its worth it.....every minute!

Sticks and Stones....

2012-05-10T12:01:00.001-04:00

....were installed in our shower. Ok, maybe just stones, but that was the first saying that came to mind. So I went with it.

I have been procrastinating this project for who knows how long, and last weekend I finally decided to check it off my list. We went with a product called river rocks that are available at Home Depot. They come in 12 x 12 in. mesh-backed pieces and you just place them side-by-side to get a cohesive look.

Here is what they look like all laid out:

I placed them from the drain in the tub outward to get an idea of where I needed to cut. The best part about the mesh backing is that there is no need for a tile saw. I just used the scissors to make each piece fit perfectly. Once I had it all laid out, I transferred the whole layout from the tub to the bathroom floor so that I would remember which pieces fit where.

Then I just spread out the tile adhesive, OmniGrip (available at Home Depot), as evenly as possible across the whole floor. The contractor who installed the shower drain for us put a layer of concrete in the shower stall to level it out and make sure there was a bit of a gradient towards the drain. So my job was really to just keep the tile adhesive as even as possible to allow for that gradient to remain. And in doing so, the tiles came up evenly with the drain. If they were too far under, water would pool around rather than travel into the drain. And if they were too high (because of too much adhesive), then the water would have to travel up to get into the drain.....not likely. Surprisingly, it worked out and everything was even.

Here are some process shots:

My trusty sidekick (Dad) helped me lay them all out and figure out which pieces could fit where. It was almost like doing a puzzle. I had to individually place a few stones here and there around the perimeter, but for the most part, it was a quick process. Oh, and please excuse my outdated outfit. I still like to feel like a bride-to-be every once in a while. Haha. This poor sweatshirt has seen almost every home improvement project we've done. It's been through a lot!

So, after waiting 24 hours for the adhesive to dry, I grouted over the tiles. I went with DeLaurean Grey (like Back to the Future..awesome, I know). I used the same color on the backsplash, the half bath redo and the basement bathroom floor and loved it, so I figured I'd stick with what works. Plus, I had some leftover....and I hate to waste!

Here is the grout going in:

Yes, it is the next day and I'm wearing pretty much the same outfit. Different pants (and underwear, of course), but the same sweatshirt. It's almost like I'm superstitious about it....if I don't wear it, then it won't come out as good. Who knows. I'm just a little crazy after all of this renovation. My process for grouting was just to spread it evenly across all the tiles, making sure it filled in all the gaps between rocks. Then once it dried a bit, maybe 20-30 minutes, I would take a clean sponge and wipe off the excess from the stones. It took a few passes, but they came clean eventually and left me with this:

Sorry for the small pictures. My cameras are both charging, so I took this with my iphone and it didn't come out great. EEK! Better pictures to come when there is more progress. I had to buy a new blade for the tile saw since it had become dull after so much use. I plan to get started on putting up the subway tile this weekend. Yes, I know its mother's day, but I just want to finish it. This basement project has gone on long enough!!

But until then, I have a little sneak peek at an addition to the basement that arrived this week......

Can't wait to tell you more about it!

Before I go, I'll just do a quick before and after.

All Work and No Play

2012-04-18T15:27:00.000-04:00

So I've been having this internal (and occasionally external) debate lately on whether it is better/easier/more rewarding to do all the work on our house by ourselves or to hire someone and have the time we would have spent on the project to just play. For the last 2 years, it has been all work and no play. Literally. We love doing DIY projects, working side-by-side and learning things along the way, but I can't remember a weekend where we weren't doing that. We have spent so much time fixing it up that we haven't taken the time to enjoy it.

Before our son came along, it was easy to spend an entire weekend painting every room in the house or installing a new walkway, because we were doing it together. But now we want to spend the time together as a family. If we want to complete a project (like the basement, for instance), one of us has to watch him while the other does work....and vice versa. Not only do we miss out on that time with each other or as a family, but it also takes 10 times longer. I know it should probably just be twice as long (I tend to exaggerate for effect), but I feel like we motivated one another to get stuff done when we were side-by-side. Things just seemed to get done so much faster.

It's just not as much fun as it used to be either. Pace is #1 (of course) and I have found myself doing the unimaginable (well...at least unimaginable as of 2 years ago).....calling to get quotes for our upcoming projects (lawn care, trim painting, etc.). Now I'm not saying that we are going to give up on DIY completely, I think we are just going to tone it down a little. Whereas we used to jump at a new project possibility, we might stop and think about our options before doing that in the future. Just the big projects....I think.

Does anyone else feel this way about DIY?? I have to say I am a bit disappointed in myself for even thinking any of this, let alone writing it, but its the truth. I am just as surprised as you are. And maybe its just a temporary thing. B has been traveling a lot lately (and I mean a lot.....like the last 5 weeks!!!) and being home alone has really got me thinking about all of our outstanding projects. I really thought I could make a dent in them while he was away (ha!), but its so much harder than I thought to be productive with a crawling/teething/active/wonderful/curious/nosy 8-month old. Maybe I'll get the hang of it soon though.....right as he starts to learn how to walk.

Surprisingly I have actually managed to do some spring-cleaning/organizing throughout the house in the last few weeks, so I'm slowing whittling (sp?) away at our long to-do list for 2012 (which I'm not sure I even talked about yet).

Well, in case I didn't, here is a quick run-down:

Tile the basement bathroom shower
Install the vanity and light fixture in the bathroom
Caulk and fill nail holes in molding
Paint trim and doors in basement
Touch-up some molding and trim in the kitchen (it contracted in the winter and there are a few cracks here and there.....which probably are unnoticeable to anyone other than me)
Paint/touch-up railings on the deck (note to self: never let B paint anything)
Plant some shrubs and perennials around the base of the deck and the basement door
Add some life to the deck (rug, lanterns, potted plants, etc....hopefully very inexpensively!)
Replace trim on the house that is rotting/slit/broken.
Paint the trim on the house white (this might be a hire-able job since I'm nervous to have me or B or ANYONE I know up on a ladder 3 stories high painting the trim in the back of the house...EEEK!!!!)
Paint the garage doors black - I have wanted to do this since we moved in!
Decorate the basement with some DIY artwork projects (I saw this whale blueprint at an adorable store in St. John a few weeks ago and I can't get it out of my head. It was $600 and shipping would have been $500 on top of that, so there was no way we could ever buy it. Hopefully I can re-create it though!!)
DIY a curtain for the kitchen sink window.....it looks so bare. Maybe just a little tailored box-pleat one. Seems easy enough.
DIY a new bench seat cushion for the entryway - found someone on etsy that will do it for $175 but I think I can make it for a LOT cheaper!
Find a used project-height table and make it into a desk for the basement office. Could be regular desk height, but I like the higher ones for doing any hand-made things (calligraphy, drawing, sketching, etc.).
Refinish some side tables that I found on the side of the road (pictures to come soon).
Re-paint an adirondack chair for the deck......it needs a little love!!

Hmm...I could go on and on, but seeing/writing it all makes my heart rate soar, so I'll leave it at that for now. So as you can see from my list, I definitely don't want to give up the DIY in our lives, I just want to tone it down a little. Call in some reinforcements when necessary. Have any of you guys done that? Did you regret it? Wish you had soldiered on and finished it yourself? Was it worth the money to have the free time??? I doubt I'm the only that has felt this way, but for some reason, I feel like that right now. Any thoughts are more than welcome.

Until next time...

Rug Search

2012-04-05T16:53:00.000-04:00

We are getting close to the decorating phase of the basement remodel and I can almost taste it. I enjoy most other parts of the process just as well, but I think this is my favorite. It is definitely the most fun. No work, all play makes a happy wife and mom. I keep telling B that I'm really not that hard to please, but for some reason he doesn't believe me.

To give you a quick update on the progress, the floors are all down and the molding and doors are up but I still haven't started tiling the shower in the bathroom. That is pretty much the final piece of the contruction phase that is left. Until I get the time/courage to do that, though, I am investing any free moments into finding fun, affordable, kid-friendly decor. We already have a couch. It's a white/blue stripe sectional that we have barely used. I know what you are thinking, "didn't she just say "kid-friendly decor" and "white" all in the same breath. Yep, I did. But thankfully we were smart in our pre-baby days and bought the couch slipcovered and with scotchguard protection as well. And I say "we" in the loosest sense of the word. I'm honestly less worried about my son destroying than my husband. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that can relate.

At the moment, my current obsession is with rugs. I want to warm up the space a little (not heat-wise, just fabric-wise) and make it a little cozier down there. I have looked at a few online, but its so hard to tell how it feels if you aren't there to touch the fabric. I am leaning towards an indoor/outdoor rug so that we can just hose it off if it gets dirty, but I'm worried it won't be very soft. My next option is to do a berber material and keep it plain. I did that for the stairs, but I am just worried it will be too boring. The walls are a blue/gray, the couch is blue and white and then I would get some sort of blue solid patterned berber rug......hmm. It just seems too blah. Definitely practical, which is what I need....but I want it to be a little fun down there.

Any other suggestions for a durable, comfy, soft-ish, cool rug style for a basement?

Here are some that I've been looking at so far on Dash & Albert:

The first one is wool and the second two are indoor/outdoor. I used to like hooked wool rugs until I spent most of my days sitting or playing on them. They shed a lot and I hate having the fibers all over me and my son. We currently have one in our living room (from Home Goods) and although it has held up pretty well to constant wear and tear and its relatively comfy, I am just not sure I want to go down that road again with the basement. The last rug from the photos above is a rope pattern which I like. It's sort of boring since it's just one color, but the darker color is good for kids (or husbands) and the pattern gives is a little something. I know I said I didn't want berber because it was boring and this is pretty much the same, but I am a woman and I change my mind. All the time. Even in the same 5 minutes it has been since I typed about the berber.....ah well.

Long story short (sort of), I bought a groupon for a local Rug Store - The Rug Merchant in Rockland, MA, so I need to buy the rug from them. Groupons are great, but that means that I'm limited to the brands they carry. So far, I know that they definitely carry Dash and Albert, but I'm not sure who else. I will keep looking for inspiration photos and keep you posted.

Worst case scenario, I can always buy a rug for the guest bedroom/office in the basement or the second bedroom upstairs if I really can't find anything for the living area in the basement, but I would really just like to focus on one project at a time. My brain (and my pinterest searches) can only handle so much at once!!

And then there were floors...

2012-03-16T14:11:00.000-04:00

I know I used that line already (here) for Pace's arrival, but it seems to fit pretty well here too so I apologize for my unoriginality. :) I know that people talk about "pregnancy brain" but I'm pretty sure that I still have it (or rather DON'T have it) seven months later. Kind of like my body...haha.

Back to the floors though. Pergo floors to be exact. I have to tell you about the deal I got because I almost don't believe it myself. As usual, I went back and forth (literally from store to store and website to website) deciding on the laminate. One day I made a random trip to Lowe's to pick up an exterior light and I did a little drive by the flooring section when I came across a yellow tag on the bottom shelf. I'm not sure if you are all aware of the yellow tag, but it usually means an AMAZING deal. I initially assumed it was not what I was looking for (color-wise or style-wise) but to my surprise, it was pretty normal. It was called Classic Red Oak by Pergo and it was on sale for $1.19/sq. ft. from $2.99/sq. ft. CRAZY, right?? I would direct you up to the Lowe's website to show you what I mean, but the reason it was such a good deal is because they were on buy-back from Pergo. I guess they were changing out the color or the name of the color or something (which they do on occasion when something isn't selling as much) so Lowe's was getting rid of them for cheap. Real cheap. I couldn't pass up the deal, so I bought every single one on the shelf....in 4 different stores. I ended up having more than I needed, but I'm going to save a box or two in case we damage a piece later and they are no longer manufactured. So all in all, we spent $556 on 520 sq. ft. of laminate (or $618 - $62.88 with a 10% coupon I had). I thought that I just loved it for the price, but once we started installing it, I think that I like it regardless.....

And I liked it even more once the whole thing was complete!! (Please forgive the terrible, cluttered, messy photos....we haven't exactly cleaned up and put everything back in order yet, so these are just a sneak peek at the finished product)!

And for the bathroom floor, we chose the same tile as we used in our half bath renovation (more here). It was $4.00/sq. ft. which came out to $182 ($168 for 42 sq. ft. plus $14 for grout). I already had the tools and the thinset mortar from the kitchen backsplash project (here and here). I apologize for the terrible process picture. I meant to take more as we were working, but once we got started I got in a groove and didn't want to stop.....mostly for fear that I wouldn't start back up again. Oh, and yes, I am wearing a sweatshirt that says "The Future Mrs. Carroll". Haha. Hell yea I still rock my pre-wedding digs.....to paint and tile and do messy things. Sorry honey. It's kind of weird to wear them anywhere else at this point (3.5 years later) so instead of wasting a perfectly good hoodie, I decided to put it to good use.......

Oh, and I also threw in a look at the shower floor tile. It is only laid out at this point so I can see how many more 12x12 sheets I need. What do you think??

And just because I have to throw in a picture of the little bug.....

We are so close to finishing this project, I can taste it!! We even had time to install the doors and some trim so I will have more updates very soon!

Basement Renovation: Paint

2012-03-08T15:23:00.000-05:00

The paint is up (though not without a little drama) and the floors are ready to go down!! YAY! I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now. B and I share most DIY tasks 50/50 but painting is really my thing. He will sometimes help roll while I cut, but I am such a crazy perfectionist that I tend to do most of it on my own. So when I say drama, I just mean that I took the perfectionist thing to a whole new level this time!! Let's start back at the beginning.......

I spent an obsessively long time picking out the colors, as usual, and I felt so confident in my decision that I picked up 2 gallons of Sherwin Williams Duration Interior Satin Latex in North Star and started slapping it on the wall. Side note: The room in question is the big family room and hallway which is probably 400-500 sq ft total. After the first few strokes went up I felt a little unsure. I was going for a gray-blue (sort of like my kitchen) that was light and bright and would go with the berber carpet I had picked out for the stairs (Equinox brand in Platinum from the Rug Merchant in Rockland, MA.....LOVE THEM!). What went on my wall was a more green-y light baby blue. Not a bad color, just not what I was going for. I mistakenly chalked it up to the fact that it was the first coat and it hadn't dried yet, so I kept going.......ALL THE WAY AROUND THE ROOM! I love this specific Sherwin Williams paint (we used it on the kitchen walls), but its not cheap. I think each gallon is about $40. So more than anything, I kept painting because I didn't want to waste money....and also, obviously, I didn't want to admit that I was wrong. NEVER!! I have picked the wrong color before, but not for such a big space. I left the basement for the night and decided to sleep on it.

Here's some shots of the first color. You can almost see the apprehension on my face in the photo below.....either that or I'm giving B the "ahem" look for taking a picture of me looking like that! Haha

The next morning I woke up and still hated it. As much as I tried to convince myself that it would grow on me, I just couldn't stand it. I know it sounds crazy (and believe me, if you could have seen the look on B's face), but I knew that I wouldn't be happy unless I changed it. So I spent another few hours taping previously discarded swatches onto the wall to find the perfect color that I must have missed. Discouraged and cranky, I walked up the stairs to take a break from the madness and was standing in the kitchen doorway when I realized that I should just use the same color as the kitchen. Why hadn't I thought of that before? In fact, B mentioned it at some point during my crazed swatch-taping mania....I just didn't hear him...or want to listen. I guess my initial reaction was that it would be weird if my whole house was one color. But at the end of the day, I really love it, so why not? Right? I ran back out to Sherwin Williams with my Behr Burnished Metal swatch and had them color match it for me. It cost me another $80, and took me another 8ish hours to paint a second coat (which it probably needed anyway), but I am so happy with it now. Maybe I am a little crazy, but I plan to spend a lot of time down there, so it better make me happy.

And it does! You probably can't tell the difference between the first two pictures and these, but in the room it makes a big difference....at least it does to me. The final product has a little more gray in it that gives it the subtlety I was going for. Plus, it matches very well with our white/blue stripe sectional couch. Important now, but I wanted to make sure I would love the color even if we get different furniture down the road. (Oh, and you can take a little sneak peak at the vanity in the photo above....more about that later, but I am in love!!!)

Ok, long story short (ha...they never are), with the big room done and a new sense of confidence behind me, I went to town painting the bathroom and the office next. Those colors were a lot easier. I knew that I was going to use the rest of the ceramic tiles from the half bath renovation (more here), so I color-matched the grey from that for the walls of the bathroom. It is a color called Gray Area by Behr but I had them lighten it by half. Then I went with a pretty basic beige color for the office.....which is actually my new favorite beige....it's called Perfect Gray from Sherwin Williams, and it is just the perfect shade of grey-beige or greige. It doesn't have any green or yellow in it. It is beautiful! And it transitions really nice from the hallway because it is so subtle. Hopefully it will look nice when we put up the french (12-light) door on the room.

Another few hours of painting on those rooms and VOILA!!! I am a very happy camper!

Bathroom

Office

Now we can get started on the floors. I can't wait to tell you more about that. I just got an AMAZING deal on laminate at Lowe's. I actually picked it all up two weeks ago but we haven't been able to install it yet since we wanted to finish the painting (plus you need to leave it in the space to "breathe" for 48-72 hours before you install it). We are going to install it this weekend, along with the bathroom floor tile. Can't wait to share those projects with you!

PrimeTime!

2012-02-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

The walls are finally (and I can't tell you how much I mean that word) up and plastered so we were able to prime everything this past weekend. What normally feels like the most rewarding part of a renovation job felt very anti-climactic this time around. I am used to transforming an already worn-out/ugly/out-dated space, so I've never really worked with a fresh canvas before. Painting white over white just isn't that exciting. There was no reward at the end.....it looked the exact same (well, maybe a little cleaner), but it still took forever. And although I know how important this step is, I couldn't help but wish I could have skipped it!

So here is a look at the progress after the plastering was completed:

In that last photo you can see whats left of the yellow walls from our home's previous life. Thought I would be a little sad for it to go, but I can't tell you how empowering it felt to paint over it!! I have said it before, I love the color yellow, but the fact that it was on every wall, trim, tile and molding piece, I'm so very relieved to have it gone for good.

Check the basement out after a coat of prime (we used Gripper for the walls and BIN for any wood/trim):

Ahhhhh! So much better, right?

As frustrating as priming was, I guess there is a noticeable difference between the before and after photos. It definitely looks a little cleaner. So it was worth it in the end, but I have to say that at the time, I felt like giving up and calling it a day more than once. I had to keep reminding myself that it is totally crucial to have that layer of prime under the paint. I'm not sure of the exact chemical reaction, but it helps to provide a strong base for the paint to adhere to. I'm sure that one of those paint/primer in one mixtures would have been ok too, but since we were working with VERY new plaster, I thought it was best to take the extra step (as painstaking as it was...haha). Ok, enough complaining. I'm sure you also noticed in these photos that the floors look a little different than before. Over the last two weeks, we have also had the heating company (Viega) come in and install the radiant heating panels! YAY! They are not totally functioning just yet, but the guys should be coming back this week to hook them up to our boiler. Can't wait for warm and toasty toes!!

Next step for the basement is to paint. We want to get it all done before installing the floors to avoid any messy situations after the fact. I actually started on the back room yesterday and plan to finish up the second coat tomorrow. Can't wait to show you! I love the color. I have been looking for the perfect beige for a LOOOOOONG time and I think I finally found it.

Do you guys have a favorite paint color that you have used multiple times in your home? Or do you have a certain color scheme that flows from room to room? I am still not sure about the colors for the bathroom and family room so I am open to suggestions (we are leaning towards cool tones though...since that goes with some existing tile that we have for the bathroom and the couch that we already own for the living space). I would love to hear your thoughts!!

Nursery: Final Reveal

2012-01-17T17:21:00.000-05:00

It's been 5 months since Pace arrived and I JUST realized that I never showed you final photos of the nursery.....EEK! I was doing some cleaning and organizing in his room this afternoon (he is growing out of clothes so fast that I can barely keep up with retiring the old and bringing out the new), and realized that the last nursery posts (here, here and here) left out a few details.

So, without further ado, here is Pace's completed nursery:

No big changes or additions, just a few finishing touches to the walls and the bookcase. He received sa ton of wonderful books and learning toys from friends and family (which is amazing) as well as a few different personalized banks (pig, noah's ark, elephant and a british mail slot)....I guess people were trying to send him a not-so-subtle message.....SAVE, PACE, SAVE (and don't put it in that crazy market...haha)!! The bookcase is coming along really nicely. It's even a little crowded at the moment. I need to weed out some stuff that he can use now and put away a few things (books & toys for older kid, etc.). We use a large majority of the books though, so I might just need to stack them differently! Pace loves when we read to him. I had heard that babies love when you read to them even before they can understand what you are saying, but I was always skeptical. But, Pace has proven me wrong....he will sit in my lap and just stare at (or grab at) the book while I read it to him for quite a long time. We always do a book before bedtime, but I'm finding that he likes to sit down and relax with a book before his naps too. Hopefully he will grow up to be a book-lover like his parents! :)

But enough about that, moving on to the other additions to the room:

I made this little piece of artwork just a few days before Pace arrived. I had planned on blogging on it the day that my water broke....oops! I had pieces of yellow and white craft paper in the house from an older project and an IKEA Ribba Frame (8x10). It took me two tries and a lot of patience, but I finally got all the letters to fit in the frame. All I did was draw out an 8x10 border and measure out equal horizontal lines on the white paper. I had to sketch and re-sketch the letters a few times to makes sure they would fit in the space, but when it finally came together, it only took about 15 minutes to cut out the letters with an exacto-knife. I then traced the 8x10 shape onto the yellow paper and glued the individual letters on with rubber cement. All in all, it took me about an hour (since I also did a second one that finishes the little song, "you make me happy when skies are gray", but decided that I liked the one by itself. I still have the other one lying around in case I change my mind though (which isn't likely since I had to squeeze those letters a little more and I don't think it looks as neat as the other one). Only cost about $20 for the whole project because I had most of the supplies at home (and the frames were $9.99/ea).

We had these letters from Michaels since the second trimester, but since we were keeping the name a secret, we didn't put them up on the wall until after he arrived. We just eye-balled the spacing when we put them up. The "E" looks like its a little too high in this picture, but maybe its just the angle of the photo. Hm.....that's going to bug me!! Hahah!!

So, that's it folks. The final nursery reveal. I am really happy with it and it seems like Pace likes it as well (although all he really does in the room is sleep, so I'm not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing). I'm sure it will grow and evolve with his little personality over the years, but for now, I think its a great little space for him.

And just for a little perspective, here is a quick before and after:

Before

After

Before

After

And speaking of growing....he is just getting so big so fast. I can't take it!!!

These were taken a month ago, so he is even bigger now!! I have to take some 5 months shots, so I will update you with new pictures of him soon! :)

And I apologize for the lack of posts during the holiday season. People warned me that it is crazy when you have kids and everyone wants to see him. I didn't believe it, but I do now. It was a blast but I am a little glad that it's over and we can get back into a normal routine! YAY! Happy New Year everyone!!

Basement Renovation: Phase 2

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

I thought renovation was slow when we were the ones doing the work (especially since it took about 8 months to complete our kitchen), but I've come to the realization that it is slow no matter who is doing the heavy lifting. In fact, it's taking about twice as long as our contractor initially estimated. Between inspections and ordering materials, there is a new set-back every day. So....needless to say....we are not as far along as we would have hoped at the end of December.

Here is where we are at today:

The framing and insulation is all up (that purple stuff is actually 1.5 inch thick foam that is supposed to be just as/if not more effective than regular insulation). I wish I knew the name of it, but I only saw one of the packages a few weeks back and at this point in my life, my memory is pretty much non-existent! But I do remember that the r-value (which is the energy efficiency of the insulation) is about 13-14, which is what is required by code. The inspector didn't love the idea of it when he first came to check out the progress, but our contractor convinced him that it was the best thing since sliced bread, so he gave him the thumbs up to keep going. I guess the reason we went with this material was to maintain as much living space in the basement as possible. If we went with standard depth insulation, it would have taken away another few inches from each wall. I suppose it's not a lot of space when you are looking at numbers, but the contractor insisted that it would make a difference in the finished space. So we will just have to see how it all turns out......

We have also made a lot of progress on electrical and plumbing in the basement. The two photos above are just close-up shots of the pump that we needed to install for the bathroom. On the left, you can see the drainage ditch they had to carve out first. The bottom right leg will be where the sink goes, the bottom left leg is where the toilet will be and the top left is where the shower will drain to. The pump was then installed in the upper right corner of that first photo with the pipes connected to it. Once that was complete, they filled the ditch with some rocks and cement to make it all level again. You can sort of see the floor of the bathroom after the ditch was filled in the right-hand photo. And then the pump is that lovely round black thing with the white pipes coming from it. This type of waste system is supposed to drain all of the water from the sink, toilet and shower and then pump it up into the existing sewage waste pipe that we have running along the wall in the basement. You can see it snaking around the center of the wall in the picture to the left. We had to build a shelf-like wall in the back office to accommodate the pipe (which you can sort of see in the right photo). It's a little inconvenient, but definitely not the end of the world. We will find a way to incorporate it into our design scheme once the walls have all been put up.

And speaking of the walls, that is our next phase. Brian will be working on a few little projects here and there this weekend (building out a shelf in the bathroom to hide the waste pipe and venting the dryer), but the sheetrock guy is coming on Tuesday to get started. I can't wait to see how it shapes up. It's hard to visualize everything with just the framing, so hopefully we will get a good sense of the space once he is done with the sheetrock!

YAY!! Until our next update, hope you are all surviving the last few days of holiday chaos!! I am going to attempt to run out tomorrow for some last minute things......eeek!! Wish me luck!