From the window, to the wall...

Do you ever start a small update and then it just grows and grows and grows into a big honking expensive update.  Well, that's exactly what happened with the living room.  It started with selling the old sofas and buying new ones.  We have wanted to update the carpet since we moved in so hey, why don't we do that now too?  For a second there I thought about just replacing old carpet with new carpet.  Then Murph got sick.  I mean projectile vomit sick (think Exorcist - only smaller and fluffier).  After that swift dose of reality, we decided to replace the carpet with some kind of wood or laminate flooring.  And while we're replacing the floors, we might as well paint the walls, right?  And that's how we ended up redoing the whole living room.

In for a penny, in for a pound!

I liked the teal, but I didn't think it would look good with the new dark grey sofas.  Dark sofa, dark-ish walls and dark-ish floors was going to be, well, too dark!  So out came the testers.

I LOVED not having to cover the carpet before starting to paint - I just pulled it up around the edges so I could get low into the baseboard.  The flooring guys were going to remove the crusty old carpet as part of the new floor installation.  We literally painted the walls on Saturday and the flooring guys arrived on Monday so it wasn't too long to deal with the chaos.

We heaped all of the big pieces of furniture into the middle of the room so we could get around the outside of the room easily.

And two coats later we have a much brighter room.  It's a light taupe/grey colour that really changes depending on the time of day.

Do you like the floor lamp smack bang in the middle of the room?  It's a new trend I'm starting.

Next up are the floors..........

Kate

xxx

Metallic madness!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you all had a great weekend. I wanted to stop by to show you how our mantel is looking these days.

After taking down all of the Christmas decorations, I decided a change was in order. This was how it was before.  A little pink and a little spring-y and a lot thrown together!

And here it is after messing about with it this weekend.  You might recognise the star burst mirror from around the blog world.  It's the Martha Stewart mirror from Home Depot.  It's a complete steal at only $35.  For that price it was only a matter of time before I bought one!

 This pic from Handmaid Tales shows the original colour it comes in..

I spray painted this little one Champagne mist by Rustoleum.  It's just leaning above the mantle for now (there is painting to come in the very near future), but we do plan to eventually mount it.

If you look closely in the mirror you can just about make out our new sofa.  We managed to lug the old ones into the garage and they're currently lurking on Craigslist waiting for a buyer.

More living room updates to follow!  Big plans I tell ya, big plans!

Kate

xxx

DIY Chalk Paint

I made something!  Ok, technically I didn't make it, but I did refinish it which is close enough.

After a bit of a dry spell craft/DIY wise, I decided to chose a nice easy project to kick off 2014.

I found this little cabinet at our local thrift store for $25.

It had a couple of scrapes but nothing major and the top glass panel is in perfect condition which is a major bonus.  It's made by Lane so is a good quality piece, is really sturdy and ridiculously heavy.  I thought it would make a perfect tv cabinet.  

I've seen chalk paint all over Pinterest and the blogosphere.  I Googled a couple of major brands, and making my own (while saving a few pennies) seemed to be the best way to go.  Plus the 'no prep required' really sweetened the deal - you know I love a shortcut!

I picked up a tester, a couple of mixing cups and a box of plaster of Paris all from Lowes.  I mixed:

1 Lowes paint tester (221 ml)
75ml plaster of Paris
75ml cool water

These measurements are all in milliliters because that is what's on both the tester and the measuring cups.  Much easier than having to Google conversions!

The mixture itself was like slightly watered down paint - but not to the point where it would run or drip more than usual.

I removed both doors and the hardware, then used a regular cheapo paintbrush to apply 2 coats - no sanding or priming needed.  It went on unbelievably easily with each coat dry to the touch in about an hour.  I'm not sure how well the mixture will last, but I had enough paint left to refill the tester jar so I'll let you know!

I left the cabinet overnight to dry completely, then applied a coat of Minwax finishing wax with a cloth to seal the piece.  Next up I spray painted the hinges and pulls using Rustoleum in Champagne Mist.

I picked Almost Charcoal for my color, but failed to take into account the fact that the plaster and water would lighten the color.  So it's not quite as dark as I wanted, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out.

I'll snap some more pics once we've heaved it upstairs.  We just need to drill a couple of holes in the back for the cable wires to run through and we'll be all set.

Kate

xxx

Headboard History

Happy Monday, and Happy Autumn!  Today I wanted to share the transformation of my $30 head board.  This is how it looked when I first brought it home from a local flea market.

After an allover coat of cream, this is how it has looked for the past year.

It seemed to be the perfect candidate for a chevron paint pattern given that the wood was already carved into that shape - so no measuring or taping needed, yippee!

I used the existing cream as one chevron colour, and picked a colour 2 shades darker than the wall for the second chevron.  I wanted to make sure the tone would work in the room, so using a colour on the same paint chip was the easy option.  It only took a couple of coats and it was evenly covered.

It's like a little hidden surprise when you lay the pillows down, and is a much more interesting than it being in one colour.

 

Kate

xxx

Guest Room Before and After

It's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinished!  Ok, so the ugly black ceiling fan is still up, but everything else is D.O.N.E!  About a week later than planned, our Guest Room makeover is complete.

Sit back, because this post is pretty photo heavy.

The bedding was from Ross, lamps from JC Penney, throw from TJ Maxx, nightstands from Target and crazy cat pillow from H&M.

I've had these 2 wall shelves sitting in a cupboard for months, so it was great to finally get them on the wall.

I mixed some vintage family items with thrift shop finds and a few new pieces.

The camera was my Grandads, the print was from the Christmas Tree Shop (for only $4!) and the little bowl was from a thrift shop.

You can just about see the newly painted headboard behind the pillows.  I left 2 of the panels in the cream, and painted the rest 2 shades darker than the wall colour.

I tried to add something to read and a place to put rings or coins or watches on each nightstand.

And of course no nightstand would be complete without a felt owl.

Can you believe my mum made this?  Love him!

Every time I see this pillow it makes me laugh.

And now for a good old before and after.



And after!

Kate

xxx

The Style Cure

Apartment Therapy has been running the Style Cure in August, and I'm all over it.

They send out daily emails throughout this month with tips and motivation to make over one room in your house (spoiler alert - I chose the guest room).  Up until now there has been a lot of listing and planning, but this weekend I began implementing my grand plans.  I'm still not entirely sure how everything will come together, but I'm keeping the faith.

Here's a look at the guest room from the MLS listing.

And here it is after we moved in.  All we really did was get a few key pieces of furniture and called it a day.  You'll notice the bed looks suspiciously low.  Well, that's because we don't actually have a mattress for that room (yet!).  It's not terrible, but it's hardly a show stopper either.

Sadly it didn't stay quite so tidy for long.  All of our unwanted furniture seemed to end up in there.  And the clothes for donating.  And the ironing board.  And the random artwork.  And it quickly became a hodgepodge mess.  Now you can see why it was an easy choice for the Style Cure.

This weekend it was time to paint.  I knew I wanted something light and fresh and decided on Pearl Ash by Olympic from Lowes.

Unfortunately, whoever last painted the room did a really shoddy job and the existing beige paint was all over the baseboards and ceiling.  I decided to go over the baseboards with white first, then I could cut in with the Pearl Ash and get a nice crisp line.  It took a little extra time, but was totally worth it.

I did 2 coats and it turned out great.

I'm just starting to collect some accessories.  So far I have 2 of these amazing lamps from JCPenney.  They were marked down to half price, and I had a $50 giftcard, so they only cost me about $20 for the pair.  Bargain!

Stay tuned to see how it all comes together!

Kate

xxx

Mini Makeover

This weekend I finally tackled a loooong overdue mini makeover.  By long, I mean I've had this sad little plant stand on the to do list for 2 years.  Yes, 2 YEARS!  I bought this on my very first trip out to Bama Flea Mall for a cheaper than cheap $5.

The minute I got home, I sanded it down ready to be painted.  And that's how it has stayed.  It even made the move from our last apartment to our first home - I refused to give up on my little project.

I'm trying hard to use up the paint and craft supplies I already have.  I hunted around in the garage and found a tester from when we were deciding on the living room wall colour.  It's just one shade lighter than the colour we finally settled on (Behr, Opal Silk).

I gave the plant stand a quick 2 coats.  I wanted to add a little detail, so used a gold paint pen to mark a single chevron.

I'm contemplating turning it into a little table - maybe with a frosted glass top?  Maybe!

Kate

xxx

Striped!

When we purchased our house the hallway was a gloomy green - it somehow sucked all the light out of what should have been a bright space.

I knew we would be painting it, and we quickly updated it from the dark green to a bright cream. I loved the crisp clean look it gave, but even I have to admit it looked a little plain Jane - even with the introduction of the cute Loch Ness Monster print (more on that HERE) and a little Welcome sign (more on that HERE).

The wall by the stairs, in particular, was crying out for something.  Anything!!

I came up with the idea of adding stripes along all of the walls, but with 5 doorways it would have been very start stop, so I decided on one wide stripe on the main wall. Now for the color - I must have bought about 50 different paint chips home. I wanted something neutral, but enough of a contrast that you would actually notice it. In the end I went for Dust Bunny (oh the irony!) by Valspar.

 

I masked out my line with painters tape. I read a great tip on Emily Clarks amazing blog for painting stripes: paint along the outside with an almost dry brush as this seals the edges and prevents bleeding under the tape.  (Please ignore the hideous smoke detector - it's on the list to be replaced!)

 

I couldn't wait to whip the tape off. Sure enough, the lines were nice and sharp.

 

I picked up 4 frames from our local dollar store and framed some of my own photos (side note: Walmart is having a half price sale on Poster Prints, less than $3 for an 11x14.  Run, don't walk!).

 

 

This pic was taken on a trip to Tampa.  Sadly this is as close as we got to that yacht!

 

 

The colour was just what I wanted, and I love any excuse to get my photos out of a box and onto the wall.

 

At only $3 for the tester of paint and $4 for the frames the whole project came in under $10. Perfect if you're a renter and don't want the hassle of repainting a whole wall when you move out, or if you want to inject a bit of color but don't want to commit to a whole wall.

 

Kate

xxx