Around the House: Guest/Kid Bathroom

Finally, posting a little bit about making our house our home.

First up, the guest/kid bathroom upstairs.  A few weeks ago I was finally able to put some paint on the walls (BM: Gray Owl), and I think it freshens the room right up.

Before:

Progress:

The previous owners were nice and update some of the hardware in the bathroom, so one less thing we have to do/purchase.  Most of the fixtures in the house are the original builder grade stuff - not my 

favorite!  I did buy a new shower curtain (Target) and put some artwork up (my grandmother painted the canvases/plate from anthropologie/small painting from etsy).  What's left to do:

Soon: Paint the cabinets

Someday: Replace the light fixture and faucets

House Projects

One reason I haven't been blogging much, is the fact I've been working on personalizing our new home.  We moved the beginning of June 2012 and have been slowing making updates.  My updates have had to be small and cheap because we don't really have much of a budget for updating/renovating.  I'm ok with little to no budget, because we have been blessed with a house that hopefully we will be in for a long long time.  Also, it has made me get crafty and creative using what we already have.  For example, I recently painted the inside of our front door black.  We had black paint and I've been spotting on pinterest people painting their interior doors black or dark gray, I liked it, so I tried it.  I'm pleased with the out come and it cost me nothing, but a little time.  Here's a little peek...

I think it adds a little character to an otherwise builder grade house.  It still amazes me how a little paint can transform something.  I hope to share some more of the rooms I've painted since moving in, so stay tuned.

Before & After: The Kitchen

So, I thought I would show you some pictures of the progression of our kitchen.  I would say the kitchen is the room in our house that we have done the most work.

What it looked like when we moved in...Yikes!

We started painting everything the day we got the keys to the house!  

What it looked like most of the time...

Then we finally added granite countertops (to say I hated the white tiles with brown grout is an understatement), new hardware, and a bookcase at the end of the peninsula. (The first picture shows the newly built bookcase.  We decided to add it since we were updating the countertops.  That's why the countertops don't extend over the bookcase in the above picture.)

And now...

Before & After: The Laundry Room

Here are some before and afters of the recent laundry room update we did.  Our laundry room was pretty gross!  The previous owners kept their cat in this room, so there was this layer of yuck that I could never get rid of. So, after 5+ years of living with a gross laundry room, we finally made some updates.  The hubs tiled the floor {it was his first tile project} and he did a fantastic job!  I don't have a before of the floor, but it was the shag carpet you see in the hallway.  I painted and we added new shelving from Ikea.  I don't mind doing laundry in there now!

Yes, I have it jammed pack full of stuff!

The Nursery {Finally}

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the pretty much completed nursery.  I say pretty much, because there are a few more items I want to hang on the walls and I know I will constantly change things around.  This was definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house to decorate.  Not only because it's my son's room, but kids rooms are just fun to design.  I also loved that I was able to incorporate items from my childhood.  Like the nursery rhyme needlepoints above the crib, my mom made them when she was pregnant  with me.  When I was little I received a music box for my birthday and I was also able to add some of those too.  You'll see a Noah's Ark and a Peter Rabbit music boxes in a picture below.  My mom made the crib skirt (instructions from here) and pillow, my husband built the cornice boards and I upholstered them.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Some Sources:

Crib: DaVinci Parker Crib (purchased through Amazon.com)
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Santa Monica Blue
Dresser: Ikea HEMNES 3 drawer chest
Dresser Knobs: World Market Bubble Glass Knobs in Blue
Bookshelf: Ikea EXPEDIT shelving unit
Fabric: Here
Prints:  Here & Here

Let me know if you have questions about anything else you see.

It's been crazy...

It's been awhile. We've had a fun, happy, thankful, angry, stressed couple of weeks.


First, some good news, we signed a contract on your current house! Second, we found a new house and are under contract! We close on both houses in a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to designing the interiors of the new house and working on some projects! Most of the rooms I have a blank canvas to work with, but a few major paint job rooms...



Don't you love the Steelers room and the awesome 80s furniture!

Then, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend celebrating dear Amy & Ray's Wedding! The bride was beautiful!

I also got to hang out with old and new friends. Below are two new sweet fun friends and fellow bloggers!

Me & Catherine

Sarah & Me

And to the not so fun times.

It took the buyers a week and half to return their 'wish list' items from the house inspection. To our horror we discovered that we have snakes in our attic! Needless to say we did not sleep well that night. We were very upset that the inspection, buyer's agent or the buyers didn't bother to tell us about the snakes as soon as they were found. Of course the snakes were not there a week and a half after they were spotted during the inspection when the pest control guy came to check things out. We did find out that snakes are actually very common in attics, they are natures pest control. Most of the time they are in the attic because that's where the food source is, mice and rats! Good new is, the pest control guy said it didn't look like they were living in the attic b/c he didn't find any skins and no signs of mice. He said they were probably just cooling off on a hot day. He fixed the area where he thought they entered from. I am not including the picture of the snakes, but email me if you would like to see them (lizzie61105{at}gmail.com).

The other fun time was the morning after we found out about the snakes. My husband left bright an early that morning for Chicago. I came downstairs to start calling the pest control companies. I walked into the living room to find water leaking from the ceiling, we had a giant leak! It was all a little overwhelming, I just stood there and cried for a minute. Thankfully everything has been taken care of. Hopefully the house will hold up for a few more weeks!

Hoping this week goes a little smoother!

NC State 'F.R.O.G'

So, my husband and I love our house, but have talked about doing some major things to it if we decide to stay in it for a long while. When we bought the house one of the biggest compromises was no garage, it had been high on our 'what we want' list. We've been throwing around the idea of adding a garage addition to the house,we have the perfect lot to add on, but don't want to do it if we're only go to stay in the house a couple more years. If we decide to stay in the house and do the addition, were going to do it right and also add a F.R.O.G (finished room over garage). I even want to add bathroom to the FROG. One day my husband and I were talking about the FROG and he cutely asked if it could be a NC State room...that's our alma mater. I told him that it could be the NC State room, but that it would be done very tastefully, so that everyone could enjoy the room and we wouldn't scare the guest who might stay in the room. I'm always looking for ideas for our red and white NC State room and recently ran across these images...

{Images from here and here}

Organization Project

Can you guess what I'm going to make with the above items? Well, I'm going to use the items above to create a catch all for mail, cell phones, sunglasses, bags, shoes, etc. I love our house, but we don't have a entry way large enough to designate a place for the everyday items like car keys. Right now everything gets dumped on our kitchen table or kitchen counter tops, and I'm about to go crazy! I was reading through one of Martha Stewart's little good things catalogues and she had some storage solutions for everyday items. One item gave me the idea to create a portable entry way table to catch everything as we come into the house. It will be located in a not so typical place, but I'll be able to hide it when company comes. Stay tuned for the end results!

{Items found at Lowe's, Anthropologie, Ikea, & PotteryBarn}