From Drab to Almost Fab

With all of this nice weather we have been getting, our focus has be turned to the outside of our home. 

I wanted a place we could sit and soak up a little summer sun-so we took these aderondack chairs and made a small sitting area.  All I purchased was the outdoor throw pillows and a can of green spray paint.  I love the festive flowers and fresh lavender next to the chairs!

We replaced the old lead paint peeling shutters with new ones.  I could not believe the difference black shutters instantly made on this house.  I guess the previous bland green looked so washed out and the black really contrasts the brick and complements the dark roof. 

Next on the list was removing the old rotting shutter door.  Once we had this bad boy off we focused some much needed attention on the original front door.  It had been painted so many times and was all bumby, so we started scraping, and scraping and pressure washing and there is still more scraping to be done!

My dad was a trouper-to begin with he was trying to be careful and not get any paint and water on him, but then he got into it and before we knew it, he was covered in paint and drenched from the water!  He really loves getting dirty with a good project on our house- can't you tell?!?

I pressure washed and painted the front steps, planted some of my favs in black planters, and added a huge front door mat with our initial.

We have this beautiful OLD oak in the front yard but unfortunatly it casts shadows on the front lawn and there are patches where grass does not grow well.  We decided to plant a few small shurbs and fill it in with pinestraw for a "natural area."

My mom got us this adorable birdhouse and it has found a home in the red maple out front.  The birds and I thank you mom! 

                                                                                   

Now if only school was out then I could enjoy our outdoor areas a little more! 

Spring is in the air

After I got my GREAT pub table, I became inspired and have been working on my kitchen
 like a crazy women

Notice the lack of a back spash- yeah, that is driving me crazy!  The hubs is really excited to tackle the tile, but he just does not have the time right now.  You see, it is baseball season and as a coach, he lives at the field!  So the backsplash will have to wait another month or so until the season comes to a close.

I am thinking white subway tiles-they are so classic and really never go out of style. 

The breakfast area has also come a loooong way from when we first purchased our home

and here is our new breakfast area as of today...there are still a few loose ends to tie up

I just love the calm green Mythic paint we used in the kitchen- it is really like a breathe of fresh air.  My mother had some extra of the textured green fabric and it is perfect for the old shutters.  The simply love the way the sun comes through them slightly really showing off their texture.  

I still need to finish up with the fabric in the shutters this weekend and I also plan on recovering the chairs with the same green fabric.

I purchased the frames because of their basic clean lines-every room needs a touch of black and here is mine.  I have been saving  an old calendar for years because I knew these flowers would look great in frames- I just never got around to using them.  I simply cut them out and layered them with a couple pieces or card stock.  I am so pleased with the way these turned out-not to mention the whole project cost me less than 25 dollars!

I purchased a yard of a happy little paisley print in shades of blue and green to add a little more color to the kitchen. 

It only took 1 yard at $8 to make three of thess cute little guys.

Added some decorative trim and we are all set. 

It is amazing how color can effect you.  I find myself wanting to go into the kirchen to look!  Something about the playfulness of the fabrics, the paint color and all my glasses and dishes on display...makes me happy!

L-O-V-E at first sight

So This past weekend I spent the day with my mother and a family friend-we hit up Target, World Market, Tuesday Mornings and a few other stops!  While we were out enjoying the nice weather, we ran across this new consinment shop in town called "New Leaf."  It is not a huge place, but they had some good finds and I fell in L-O-V-E  with this table. 

 It is an antique pub table with the twisted spiral legs.  For something built around the 1920's, this little guy is in GREAT shape. This is not some "rinky-dink" table at which you are afraid to sit- it is heavy hard ans sturdy!  The craftmenship on this beauty is AMAZING!  There are no nails in it-the table is all notched out for the pieces to fit together-it really is something you have to see in person to really get it. 

It can be used as a small square table, but with the two leaves in, it is the perfect length and width for the space in my kitchen!   Did- I mention how much I L-O-V-E  this guy!

I really like the fact that the four chairs have the same spiral as the table legs

I have plans for recovering these bad boys soon, but I will have to look through my scrap fabric to see what will work best.   Hummm...My wheels are turning. 

I will post pictures when I get the breakfast nook up and running!

The Joys of an Old House

When David and I moved in, we could not get our boxspring up the stairway and into our bedroom!  You should have seen David and his younger brother attempting this-I thought any minute they were going to charge the wall to make room.  His brother Jon was determined they could get it up there(and they came really close)!  After I convinced them to give it up, we improvised by using an older and smalled box spring.  Recently we noticed after a couple of months our backs hurt and our matress felt REALLY soft.  I had looked into it and knew we could always order a box spring split into two, or buy one that folds to fit up the stairs, and then lets back out...but I had an even  better idea.  I had the idea to cut our existing box spring and fold it-I figured if it messed it up, we would be in no worse shape and could always buy a new one.

We began by removing the staples and pulling back the box spring cover-just enough to get to the wood that needs to be cut.

Then my dad cut the wooden supports directly in the middle on either side of the box spring.

There was also a metal support in the middle that had to be removed with a hammer.

Now, we were ready to bend it and you really need two people to do this safely.  Once you get it started it actually folds pretty easily and can now be taken up the stairs!

 

Once it was in our bedroom, they unfolded it.  Then, they srewed in new wooden support pieces on either side and the middle as well.

It did not take that much time and the result was amazing.  I was almost late to my class the next morning because it was the best nights sleep I have had in a while.  If anyone has the same problem, I recomend giving it a try-I can give you a more detailed "play-by-play" if needed!

Stripes Stripes Everywhere

When we moved into our 1949 fixer upper-I didn't feel like removing old wallpaper that had been previously painted over(no telling what is was glued on with)!  Only problem is, the paper had these very noticable lines where it had been overlapped.  After months of looking at it-I decided to tackle it by PAINTIG STRIPES!

The overlapping seams, are perfectly spaced so it made it a little easier.  I began by putting blue painters tape down each side of the wallpaper seam,  making sure it was perfectly straight.  Nothing worse than croocked lines-talk about making your eyes cross!

The walls were painted in a flat finish(this helps to hide the imperfections of the wallpaper) and for a nice subtle effect, the stripe is painted a shade darker and semi-glossy.

Hung a few of my family pics in my favorite pottery barn frame.

 

 I love the sneak peak you get of the stripes from the living room!

SNOW

Sorry guys, I have been MIA- But I'm BAaaack!

Well a lot has happened.  I have been sick, then well, then sick again.  School has started back, we paid off my car and David hit a deer!  Oh yeah and we have had some crazy cold weather!  I have a few shots of our home with our first snow.  Please do not  mind the horrible paint on the homes exterior-that should be taken care of in the next couple of months.

I will post more home project pics later.

Until then, enjoy!

Lots-o-changes

The hubs and I are officially done with finals(insert cheers) and we have been working away on the house so that we can get moved in before Christmas!  With finals and all this work on the house, I think I am going crazy because this morning I woke up and there was a 30 year old man in my bed!  heheh!  Today is D's 30th birthday.  Everyone keeps asking him if he is going to have a break down- he views it a little differently and I LOVE IT.  he says think how great the next ten years will be.  We will graduate from college(finally), have children, new jobs, possibly move(again, I do not even want to think about that) and fix up another house.  Anyhoo...my man is 30 today and loving it.  Thought I would share!

Lots-o-changes are taking place in this little old cottage that we are super excited about!

The guest room is coming along nicely. Actaully, the hubs and I are tempted to just crash here until our room is all situated!

I grouped a couple of books on the bedside table. The blue book in the middle is entitled "How to Play Big League Baseball." This just cracks me up because the hubs played pro baseball for 9 years! If only we had found this book then..hehehe! Inside it is stamped"discard" in red! The sweet little teacup and saucer were the previous homeowners. She had an estate sale and we purchased a few little thing.

So the little pillow in the front is too pretty for pictures! It is hard to tell the fabric and all from this shot with my phone-but it has the original price tag of 175.00 on it and I got it for, wait for it- $19.00 I just love TJMaxx. Great source for pillows!

The guest bathroom is nearly complete-The shutter door was a chore to paint but love the way it turned out. I also spray painted the doorknobs for this room guys. I know I know-My husband says I will paint ANYTHING-but one side of the door was silver and the other gold. This is not a girl scout song people. I had a can of brown spay paint and if it turned out badly, oh well- I can just buy new ones! I am telling you it turned out so great-My husband will never doubt me again. It is tempting to want to glob it on there- but it turns out best with several light coats and be sure the screws get painted also.

KITCHEN:
The corian countertops went in and I am in L-O-V-E with these guys!

I picked out this Price Pfister great faucet!  I love its curved neck but there is not too much going on!  I am a pretty simple girl and do not like too much of a fuss!  I actually had it instaled without the soap pump- I mean lets be honest those are more difficult than they are helpful!

We went ahead and had a more cabinets built to install over the stove.  Once everything is painted a nice creamy white, these guys will all blend in together.  This is the future home of the built in microwave, but we are waiting on a new electrical outlet.

Hello new plumbing!  Yes, we updated the last of the plumbing and have been staring at its gaping holes for what seems like months now-those bad boys are being patched as we speak!  Yippee!

All the doors came off and everything got a good coat of primer!  What fun that was!  I swear I had paint in my hair for two days.

humm..what are your thoughts on open cabinets?  I like the way it opens up the room-just the cabinets on either side of sink/window?

FOYER:

So this is currently the foyer-this could change(hehe I am really bad about changing stuff around).  I have always loved this piece.  It is my grandmothers.  It is in necent shape, but the fabric where the speaker is, is picked up(thanks to a speacial little kitty-cat).  I would love to get in there and look around and see what can be done about this.  Considering it is no longer used as a speaker, I would put any type of fabric there. Any ideas on how this can be done...please send them my way!!