I noticed something serendipitous while the paint was going up on the walls in the pantry yesterday. Do you see it there, too?

That’s our (50% lightened) Gray Owl paint on the wall space between each shelf, but it almost has a “paint strip” effect because of the different light and shadows in there, doesn’t it? So fun!

Ooh- and speaking of paint strips, some readers were wondering why we lightened our Gray Owl paint by 50% and “didn’t just go with the next lighter color on the paint strip?“.

Well, according to the folks at our local Benjamin Moore, each color on a paint strip is exactly that: each a different color. Every paint strip is made up of colors that coordinate…not one that has been gradually lightened from the bottom to the top of the strip. They’re all mixed up using different formulas. For instance, we used the color Simply White on all of our doors, shelves and trim. Here’s the paint strip it’s featured on:

Again, according to the folks at our local Benjamin Moore, if you lightened the color Camouflage by 25%, 50% or 75%- you would not end up with the colors, Old Prarie, Moonlight White, and Simply White. They’re all made up by mixing different amounts of different colors together.

We chose to lighten our Gray Owl by 50% because Gray Owl was the exact shade of gray we wanted to use (undertones-wise)…we just wanted it a little brighter. Except for in the pantry. We’re crazy about the (serendipitous) variations in there!

Hope that helps and happy weekend!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

She asked if we could “pretty please show a now photo”.

Well, it’s far from finished but, Sarah, this one’s for you!

I just snapped it about 30 minutes ago, so it is truly a “now” photo.

The ceiling went from Sherwood Tan to (flat) Simply White (Benjamin Moore), and the walls are going from Algonquin Trail to (eggshell) Gray Owl (lightened by 50%). The trim and doors went from Manchester Tan to (semi-gloss) Simply White, as well.

Today, the fireplace mantel will go from Manchester Tan to Simply White, and the last two coats of (50%) Gray Owl will go up on the walls.

We look forward to personalizing our living room, little by little, over the next several years. Light fixtures and (too small/worn out) furniture & rugs are expensive to replace, and we want to really explore our options when it comes to building out a more functional/cottage-y fireplace wall. (I’m imagining floor-to-ceiling stone and white-painted built-ins!) But again, that stuff isn’t cheap to create.

It’ll be a fun space to pull together over time though, and I look forward to sharing more photos of how it’ll look in the meantime as soon as everything is dry and pushed back into place!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

Right now, the island doesn’t reflect our personalities at all, so we’re going to have fun giving it a farmhouse/cottage-style makeover over the next couple of months.

The new bar top will stick out a little further than the existing one because the corbels are about 4 inches deeper.

I’m excited about that little addition in surface space because we plan to use the bar as extra seating when we have more people over than will fit at our dinner table.

We also plan to replace the existing countertop with something a little more laid back, and then we’ll pick out a cheerful new paint color for the base of the island. We had been thinking that we’d paint the corbels the same color as the island, but now that they’ve been stripped, we’re sort of diggin’ the idea of just sealing them with wax.

What do you think?

PS- The winner of the Handmade Walls e-book is:

Congrats, Mari! I’ll be in touch shortly!

___________________________________________________________

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

I knew those two were creative…

…but man it was cool to see how they break down the methods to their magnificence, step-by-step style!

Their e-book walked me through the creation of 22 different projects. Each of them varied slightly in cost-to-make and level of difficulty, and each of them had it’s own nifty name. One of my favorites is the Stanley. Here’s a sneak peek…

And here’s a sneak peek at some of the other goodies included in their book:

When I was finished reading it, I texted Ashley to see if I could purchase another copy to give away here today. She said yes (yay!), so if you’d like to enter for a chance to win, just leave a comment on this blog post (email subscribers will need to visit TheLetteredCottage.net to enter), and I’ll randomly select a winner at 10pm (CST) on Sunday night. (May 12, 2013)

Good luck and happy weekend!

PS- Alabama peeps: Ashley and Jamin are having a yard sale on May 18th!

___________________________________________________________

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

It sat there for soooo long. I started to wonder if it was going to lay an egg- ha! Max and Kit-Cat were very intrigued by it, too…

It must have been there for almost an hour by the time it flew away.

We were all very tired after the “excitement”.

Well…maybe not all of us…

PS- Alabama peeps: I’m hoping to be well enough to attend Shaunna’s Vintage Market later this week/weekend:

Will you be there? Sounds like it’s going to be awesome!

___________________________________________________________

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

Scoring with a utility knife, and a couple of hammers did the trick, lickety split!

We had planned to go back over to Keith’s this past Thursday to build out the new fireplace, but Kevin had gotten really sick by then, so I met Matt (from Perfectly Imperfect) over there (while Keith was at the fire station) this past Saturday…

…and here’s what we came up with: (Caution: low-lighting, cell phone pics ahead!)

(Thanks again for your help, Matt! You rock!)

We were at Keith’s for 6 hours total, and we were really just kind of winging things as we went along. We ended up using 2×4′s to frame out the boxes on the left and right, and then we clad them (and the little piece of wall directly above the firebox) with cement board. According to the guys at the fire station, cement board should always be used around a working fireplace when you’re butting it right up against the fire box like we did. After that, we created another “box” out of 2×4′s to act as a mantle beam. We used a nail gun to attach the thin, barn wood planks to it, and voila!

I’m thinking about using a (gray-colored) concrete skim coat product (SkimStone) on top of the tile on the floor, but I haven’t had a chance to research it thoroughly yet. After that, we’ll attach the AirStone to the cement board, and then we’ll start working on the bookcases on either side of the fireplace.

But for now, I’m jumpin’ back in bed. I woke up sick and without a voice yesterday, so obviously my body is telling me to take a couple days off!

PS- The winner of the Red Letter Words giveaway is…

Congrats, Becky! Be on the lookout from an email from Dee soon! (And we used to make May Day baskets with our mom, too!)

“The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”  ~Jules Reynard

Kevin and I photographed some Thanksgiving-themed place card ideas for HGTV.com this week, and even though I had just started pulling things together in that last pic, I just had to snap a pic when I came around the corner and saw Kit-Cat curled up in the bun basket. I texted the pic to my BFF/neighbor and she jokingly replied, “Remind me not to eat the bread next time we come over for dinner!”

Happy weekend to you and your cuddle-uppers!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

To kick off this magnificent month, our friend Dee from Red Letter Words is going to give one lucky Lettered Cottage commenter a pre-made, gallery-wrapped canvas of their choice! I’ve always loved the one Nester used in her living room…

#sigh #dreamy #NesterI’llBeRightOverToTakeANapOnYourCouch

The winner of this week’s giveaway can choose any 12×12, 11×14 or 8×20 gallery wrap canvas. Here are some photos of those sizes so you can get any idea of what they look like…

11×14:

12×12:

8×20:

There are lots and lots of colors and designs to choose from, and you can find them all listed by category here: Red Letter Words.

For a chance to win a canvas, just leave me a comment below about one of your favorite things about the month of May. (Email subscribers will need to click over to TheLetteredCottage.net to leave a comment.) The giveaway will run from today (Wednesday, May 1st) ’til Friday (May 3rd) at 10:00pm CST. I’ll randomly select and announce a winner on Monday, May 6th.

Good luck and thanks for visiting today!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

(Sources clockwise from top left: unknown, PSDAB.com, Trulia.com, unknown, House Beautiful, unknown.)

Man are there some creative, kids-at-heart out there in the design world!

We’re going to stick to something a little more simple over at my bestie’s house, but our cutie “client” is excited about his “new” room just the same…

Here are a few photos of some of the things his mama has gathered up for his room so far: Nautical flags…

Life preserver and anchor pillows:

Catalina bed from Pottery Barn Kids:

…and the Madras quilt and shams, also from Pottery Barn Kids:

And in case someone out there is looking for similar-style inspiration, here are some decor inspiration pics I came across while searching for stuff online:

Distressed wood state sign:

Reclaimed wood fish wall hanging:

Sailboat garland:

Personalized life preserver:

Lake sign:

Vintage oars:

Pool rules sign:

Vintage wood buoy, red:

Vintage wood buoy, blue:

Zig-zag patterened starfish pillow:

Seashell bucket:

Map pillow:

Reclaimed wood whale wall hanging:

Vintage minnow bucket:

(Maybe for an easy-to-grow houseplant to add a pop of fresh greenery to the room?)

Vintage fishing basket:

Boys wall hooks:

Wood nautical flag:

Nautical rope mirror:

And last but not least, check out this Nantucket-themed reclaimed wood whale wall hanging:

I’m excited to report that one just like it will be hanging over my little buddy’s big boy bed very soon!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!

And remember that black wire basket we used in my Mom’s guest bedroom makeover a while back?

Well, my Mom gave me the basket at one point or another (we’re both chronic switcher-uppers, ha!), and there’s this little chunk of wall behind the half bathroom door here in our new house, so I thought I’d pair the two of them up to create some kind of cottage-style, DIY magazine/towel holder.

I grabbed some Catalina Mist-colored spray paint and some jute-looking trim (Jo-Ann’s Fabrics) from the closet behind my desk…

…and pulled everything out onto the front porch to see if I could make something out of stuff I already had on hand.

The metal basket was actually coated in some kind of rubber-y substance, so it took about four coats of Catalina Mist to completely cover it, but once it was totally dry, I just threaded the trim through the slots on the back side of the basket, and then hammered a couple of upholstery tacks through it (on the back side of the ladder rung) to hold it in place.

I used some Tacky Glue (that dries clear) on the end of each piece of trim to keep it from unraveling.

We’re going to secure the ladder to the wall this weekend, and then we’re looking forward to shooting and blogging about the whole finished room as soon as we’ve got the mirror and accessories in place. We’ve really enjoyed dreaming up ideas for this itty-bitty space, and I look forward to sharing the end results with you very soon!

For pics between posts, join us over on Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram!