New Room Makeover Teaser Post...

Last night I got a little "bored"... so I pulled out the other sample can of paint that we decided not to use for our living room. I got it on the wall of another room that I've anxiously been waiting to get my hands on, and was so excited to see it was the perfect colour. Now that the room is completely painted, I have a few more things I want to do before I can reveal it, but I'm so excited. Especially because this is the first room in the house that only I will have a hand in. I almost have blisters on my hands after painting all afternoon... and there is a ton more to do, but in the end it will be MY room! I can't wait to share it with all of you!


All I can say is that it is going to consist of a lot of paint... B even bought me a paint sprayer today which will make my life a little A LOT easier. I'd include a picture here, but my hands are far too sore to even think about pulling out the camera. That being said, I'll leave you hanging a little longer - hopefully I'll have an update post before the week is over (God, I'm ambitious!)


Hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)

Five Second Kitchen Refresh!

The other night as B was putting some finishing touches on our newly painted living room, I was in the kitchen cleaning up when my eyes once again fell on these sad ugly details on our kitchen backsplash.

The kitchen is seriously outdated, and part of me feels like these stupid accents are a huge part of that. So, as I was cleaning the other day, for the first time in the 6 months we've lived here, I realized there were NO grout lines around these snazzy little works of art. That was when I realized this could only mean one thing - they are not TILES... they must be something stuck on top of the tile. On closer inspection, I was pleased to discover they were stickers! What made me even more excited - they were super easy to peel off!!

Okay, I'll be honest... I look at this picture and I'm beyond embarrassed that I didn't realize they were stickers... LOOK AT THEM - they don't even line up! Especially that one on the left!  I guess they were so ugly that most of the time I just tried to pretend that they weren't there.


Anyway - since I was so excited that I could finally rid my kitchen of them forever, I went to town...

EW! Look at that vent... actually, on second thought - DON'T! It's gross and I can't wait until we redo the kitchen.... which of course won't be for another few years...

After they were off, a little wipe down and "voila!" - no more ugly stickers.

I must admit - the kitchen still has a long way to go, but I can't even begin to express how happy I am that these little babies are finally gone. I only wish I had realized sooner that they were stickers... I would've removed them the day we moved in!

Mini Living Room Makeover

So, for those of you who read last week, you might remember that I posted a little entry of out 2010 home to-do list. Well, in the spirit of crossing off as much as possible B and I got busy two nights ago, on lucky number 13 from our overly ambitious list.

Okay - to be honest, the whole process began Saturday. After spending a really lazy morning (read: until about 3:30pm) laying around on the couch, we peeled ourselves away from the TV and pulled out the two sample cans of grey paint we had picked up from Lowes during our previous weekend shopping expedition. We put a small amount of each paint on each wall in the room, so that we could see them in different light. After seeing the two colours up, it was no contest, and Valspar's "Rocky Bluffs" won as our choice colour. 

After living with our splotchy walls for a couple of days - B came home Monday night with a full can of paint and we got to work covering those sterile, and not so homey, white walls. Of course, no reveal would be complete without a little before action...

This first picture is of our living room the day we got the keys. B and the dog are inspecting things.

Probably some of the better befores you'll get of the room, from when we actually had furniture in it (I took these obviously before Christmas). And now - our lovely new living room.

Yes - the wreath is still up. For now it fills a blank space that seriously needs something... and personally I like it for the winter months, as it looks icy and wintry, and adds a little sparkle.

Of course, this is not the final product. We have a lot of big plans for this room - a full makeover to be exact. But for now, this will do and I think the colour really warms it up and makes it feel more like home. What do you think?

Fancy Friday Love...

Another Friday... another day to share some of my favorite finds over the course of the past week...

Thanks to Nichole over at SparrowsNest - I've discovered LyricsAndQuotes, a lovely little Etsy shop that produces wonderful pieces like the one you see above. Not that I need anything more to hang on the walls of our tiny home right now - but wouldn't it be sweet in a bedroom? God - I'm such a sucker for wall art.....

We spent last weekend doing some shopping for our continuous basement renos - mainly the basement bathroom. After finding our vanity, we began the search for the perfect faucet. I came across this gorgeous faucet from Restoration Hardware (Chrome Lugarno 8" Bathroom Faucet). It's perfect.... minus the $429 price tag. I don't think we need a faucet that costs slightly less than our sink and vanity.

A "Fancy Friday Love" post would not be complete without a little something, something from the fabulous Kate Spade! What's not too love about this beauty bag? I love the white and navy together, perfect for work or a casual weekend. But with a price tag of $395, I'll just continue to dream about the Hanover Billie...

I discovered the Etsy shop of crankbunny quite a while ago - but only discovered this specific card this past week! All of the cards in the shop are gorgeous, a little bit more than average pricewise ($8.00 + shipping) - but they are all handmade pop-up cards. In my mind it's justified! This card in particular caught my attention as I am in the midst of planning a baby shower for one of my dearest friends. I think I might just have to get one of these to go along with her baby shower gift.

Not a ton of love this week - it's been a crazy one! But I'll be back again next Friday, with more of my lovely finds. Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Project Floor Plans

I should start off by saying, B is the most wonderful and patient man I have ever met. The things that he is willing to do for me, blow my mind sometimes - especially when it comes to our home renos. I'm so particular about everything and he really listens and discusses with me, which I completely appreciate. So, as we finish up our shopping for our renos (so we can include them as part of the HRTC), we need to really think about floor plans and measurements.

Well, I guess that today B wasn't doing much at work and wanted to be productive on our home projects. This resulted in me receiving an email that contained the following three floor plans, a la Microsoft Paint. 

This is the first one I received and it made me smile. "How will we fit the wall sconces by the mirror?... and what is that black dot behind the toilet??". Clearly, Paint is nobody's weapon of choice when it comes to designing a layout - but this one just made me smile.

His paint floorplan skills obviously increased with a second attempt. This one I liked... especially his drawing of his drum set in the top right hand corner... and of course the inclusion of the Domed Hockey Table (which I love of course....)

The last one was a wonderful floor plan (with door options and landscaping!) of our brand new front entrance that we plan to build come spring! Probably one of the projects I look forward to the most. Not only will it keep the house warmer in the cold months, I know it will drastically improve our curb appeal!

None of these are by any means the final floor plan of any of our upcoming projects. But I thought they would be fun to share, and give my readers some context regarding the layout of the basement (our current undertaking). I already know what I would change to these floor plans - but those will be part of later discussions.

So what do you think of B's paint floor plan skills?

2010 Home To-Do List

As we've recently taken a break from working on the basement, so as not to burn ourselves and our bank account out, I haven't had much inspiration for posts. Until yesterday morning! I read a post from the wonderful Mrs. Limestone over at Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone and was immediately inspired to write this post. I know that January is nearing it's end, but I thought it would be useful to put together a little list of things I would like to accomplish around our home in 2010! So here goes;

1) Finish Basement Laundry Room/Craft area
       - Install baseboard
       - Build storage/cabinetry in laundry area
       - Install laundry room countertop & sink
       - Complete DIY door project
       - Figure out window treatment
       - Build work area/storage for me
2) Refinish an old chair for my Work Space
3) Make an inspiration Board for Work Space
4) Start AND Finish Basement Bathroom
5) Start AND Finish Basement Living area
6) Refinish Living Room Coffee & Side Table
7) Finish Nightstand for Master Bedroom
8) Frost Glass on Top Floor Bathroom Door
9) Hang curtain and frost glass on Master Bedroom Door
10) Make Roman Shade for Top Floor Bathroom
11) Build new Front Entrance
12) Make small fixes to back deck
13) Paint Living Room
14) Paint Garage Doors
15) Install new railing from top floor down to basement

Just looking at this list makes me want to get started RIGHT NOW! I know some projects are more specific than others, but these are really the things I want to do. Things will grow and change, and I'll probably revisit this little list in six months to see where we are (and prepare for our "See How Far We've Come" party that we plan to throw exactly one year from the day we got our keys!)

I know the list is pretty long, but this will be our first full year in our house, and B and I are pretty ambitious. With that being said, I think I might have to follow this up with an entry showcasing what we completed during 2009. Could be interesting considering we only lived in the house for about 4.5 months!

Making Room

When we moved in, the staircase from the main floor to our second half floor looked like this...

(Yes, this is the best before picture I have....) Anyway, when I came home from work yesterday, it looked a little more like this...

No more wall closing in the staircase! This is what B spent his afternoon working on yesterday. We've had plans to do this since we moved in, along with putting hardwood and a new railing that will run from the top floor all the way down to the basement. We just had to do this a little sooner than we originally anticipated so that we can get the new washer and dryer into the basement.

I know it looks a little unsafe, but B was explaining to me that there is a piece of wood running the length of the stairs that is tied in at the bottom of the stairs and also at the top, which is tied in up to our second floor. There is also a piece at the back of the top step that is tied into the side wall. So for now they are safe, but I would definitely like to put some sort of post up once we start renovating the whole room. We have lots of plans for this little room to make it look bigger... but I'll have to share those another day!