A Fresh Take

We were given this bookshelf a few years ago.  While it fit in our spare bedroom in our old house, it doesn't in our new house.  Ben has a thing with wood semi-matching or complimenting each other in the same room.  So, to take advantage of some additional storage, I decided to give it a fresh take with some paint.

 Some white paint and then painter's tape to mark off a design.

 And then some brown paint.

 Aaahh...love it.

 Oh, and some new hardware.  I love that 50% sale at the Lobby.   I wanted to stay true to the lines of the bookcase so went with a vintage glass look.

 Hmmmm. Do you see that? I had a little help from a 17 month old.  The girls are ONLY allowed to use washable crayons, paint, markers, etc, etc, etc. However, Mommy has her own stash of markers that are not so washable.  Good thing baby girl only decided to decorate this door that can easily be painted.....again.

The Dining Room

OMG.  I am in love with our dining room now.  Our little project has created an entire different look.  Unfortunately, I can not find any before pictures of this room from our walk through.  This room was one of the few that did not have wall paper, so besides being painted a purplish-mauve color and having a terrible light fixture...it wasn't that bad. 
At one point over the summer, since we had sat in the room once since being in our home for a year, I thought we would convert it into a reading/project room.  Create a spaice I could sew, paint, craft etc.  Ummmm, why I didn't realize that the having some of those things in such a public space (meaning no doors to shut) was a bad idea...I don't know.  The girls wanted to craft with my stuff too. Hmmm...back to dining room.  We had painted it a lighter gray to make the room brighter (when it was a reading/project room), but it wasn't really working as a dining room for me.  How can I make it light but still bring a little drama?  Have you seen the many batten board tutorials out there?  I have too.  Hee, hee, hee.
Ben groaned when I said my wheels had been turning again.  But when he saw how cheap and easy it was going to be, he was on board.  Now that we are done, I keep catching him in the dining room staring and smiling.

Here is a before the batten board project shot:

 During...

By the way, I really did the majority of this one.  Officially not scared of the nail gun, but still not a fan of the saw...any type.  So my cute little hubby stepped in to cut ALL the wood.  

He was also great at helping to level all the boards.

 AFTER...

 Don't you love that chocolate?

 But it is still so light with our new white Batten Board!

 Would you believe me if I said we did it for under $75?? I know, I can't believe it either.  BUT, we didn't buy any paint...this is all left over!

Crafty Christmas

After six years of setting up Christmas, Ben and I have accumulated quite a lot of decorations.  I certainly have my favorites and also try to mix it up every year. This year, I wanted to get a little crafty.  I have not done this previously and have had a couple things in mind the last couple of years.  So, I got the supplies out.

The Branch-Twig Tree
I have wanted to do this for a couple of years.  It was so easy, I am not sure why I didn't.  My dad gathered (or maybe cut down) a nice branch for me that I then spray painted a warm white.  You could leave it natural too.  I glittered some of it, then stuck it in a $2 pot (which I also spray painted, sanded and glittered).  Then I added some 50 cent and $1 ornaments.

I am trying to keep the dining room neutral with golds, silvers and whites.  I added a book theme (you'll see) so I put this potted tree on a couple of books borrowed from the spare bedroom.

The Pottery Barn Book Wreath
OH MAN.  I saw this in their catalog last year and have wanted to make it sooooo bad.  It wasn't for sale, it was just a prop in one of their bedrooms.  I found a great tutorial here.  It was so easy, I made two.  I love it so much, I may find somewhere to keep them all year.

 Supplies gathered, a pizza box, a 50 cent book from Goodwill and some liquid fuel...oh and a glue gun.

 A colorful treat always helps the creative juices flow.

Lastly, the Better Homes and Garden yarn ball wreath:
Seriously, I have never been a wreath girl before.  This will be the first time we have had one hanging inside our house.  We typically keep to the Christmas door wreath.  But, when I saw this wreath, I thought it looked easy, cheap and my Mom convinced me it would in fact go with "our decor."  I love it.  Stella even tried to help me make yarn balls.  It was cute, but I have no pictures as the battery died.

 You can't see in the picture, but some of the yarn balls were made with a silver, sparkly yarn (fun!).

THE Chalkboard

Sooooo....Esme has recently started coloring, drawing and chalking with Stella.  She also started fighting with Stella over the chalkboard in the kitchen (there may have been a push, bite and hair pull involved).  Poor Stella, the girl just wanted to draw a ghost and a pumpkin.  Esme just wanted to play with her sister and if that meant practically sitting in Stella's lap to draw with chalk...she was going to do it.
SO. Well. I fixed it.  With a giant chalkboard WALL.

This has really been so much fun.  The girls LOVE it.  There have been several times already where all four of us are drawing together on the wall.  I am so excited to draw a Christmas theme above the photos where baby girls cannot reach! Hee, hee.

The Kitchen

So the problem with before and after photos, is that the room has to be clean for the "after" pictures.  I should say, the the room is typically always this clean, our problem is clutter.  There is usually a paint brush and paint can next to the sink (because apparently that is my ultimate happiness), and usually mail clutter or a newspaper adorns the island and the kids' sippy cups are normally scattered around the counters or island.  However, I put every thing away for some pictures!  I am also left thinking, "that was really not that hard, I should put away clutter more often."
So here are some before shots taken during one of our walk throughs.

This picture is taken from the family room.  My brilliant Mom suggested we take this bar out to create more of an open space.  I love the idea of it, but the sink with in 10 ft of the kitchen sink was silly and being 10 months pregnant, I was on board for the idea of more space.  Ben was a little more cautious, advising us to wait.  Of course pregnant wife wins.  Ben will say now, it was one of the best decisions we made when changing the house.  

 We made a lot of changes to this desk area.  Having had a desk in an apartment, Ben and I already knew we would never sit down here or use it for a desk.  So, you will see later, but we added storage in the open space underneath and I tore out some of the wood divider in the mail sorter in order to fit some baskets.  Storage baskets make everything look neater. 

 Light fixtures. Yuck.  My Dad and Ben took down the big light box that housed fluorescent bulbs.  Then my Dad rewired and did the whole dry wall thing.  (thank you!!!)

 Notice the backsplash here.  Square cream tiles. Not terrible, but this was something Ben and I knew we could do without any help and inexpensively.

We tore out the sink and replaced it with a craigslist purchase (LOVE craig).  And I tore out the appliance garage there in the corner.  Ben was surprised when he came home to see that - but it made the counter space seem so much larger.  Also notice the decorative lattice across the top of the cabinets on the ledge.  That was a quick and easy tear out.  I love it when I can do something without asking for some "man strength" and this was one of them.
What you can't see from the pictures...the condition of the counter tops and the true color of the cabinets.  They really had an orange tint as well as needed some special attention.  If we didn't paint, we were going to need to sand and re-varnish them at the least.

 Better with the bar gone, right?

 Oh the chalkboard.  The girls and I love it.  This was a Mandy project.  Ben did help with the saw (not a fan of those). 

 Officially the art station.  Every drawer and bin has coloring books, paint, stickers, paper, markers, etc.  I found some fun knobs from Hobby Lobby (of course) to add color.  I LOVE this; probably my second favorite part of the kitchen. The baskets above is the mail center.  The open slot...the official camera space.  It is easy to grab and out of reach from the girls.

 Another view to show how open it is with out the bar.

 Ok, here is probably my favorite thing in the kitchen.  My $7 find at a garage sale down the street from us.  It just adds so much personality.

The backsplash.  Occasionally we wonder if we should have gone with a gray grout to make the subway tile stand out more, but we were worried about it looking too "busy."  I think we made a good decision.  It is classic.
Some things we still need to do is scrape and paint the ceiling (you can still see the ring where the box was).  And, eventually we would like to tear out the floor and replace it with wood.  BUT, who wants to do these things?  We have done both before and it is labor intensive, so we are in NO hurry at all.
Inspiration...watch commercials.  With infinite funds, Ben probably would have chosen a dark wood with glass tile and I may have still chosen white cabinetry.  BUT, we started noticing this white trend everywhere.  It is in IKEA, Pottery Barn, Martha Stewart for Home Depot and many others.  We figured we could create this classic look with a paintbrush. We LOVE it.  It feels fresh and clean.  That is hard to get when you have two little ones running around all the time.

*Martha Stewart

*Ikea