Monday, January 31, 2011

New Home: The Befores & The Durings



There has been some major progress at the house. This past weekend brought an end to all the big projects. And here was a great delivery:
Our new high efficiency washer and dryer.
And the best part? This little tag stating that the total annual operating price of our dryer will be $14!
Now on to the befores/durings.

This was our basement a few weeks ago. There used to be grungy carpet and a built in bar cabinet at the end of the room. There was also an old refrigerator and a huge out-dated TV.
Now we have new carpeting and a new insulated and drywalled nook.
This is the new carpeted staircase leading down to the basement.
We picked out a great patterned Martha Stewart carpet at Home Depot. The grayish-beige will be a great base for any color scheme we decide to go with in the room.
And this little nook will be the future site of a built in desk/workspace for office and sewing projects.
Moving all the way up to the top floor is our master bedroom before picture.
Now we have newly painted walls and a new bed frame and best of all...new mattress!
These are the new sheets I found at HomeGoods that match the color green in our new West Elm duvet cover. (more on that later)
The new wall color is soft and subtle but really leaves a clean-looking room.
The color is a soft gray with a tint of green.
The dining room got a new ceiling light.
Very modern and very pretty!
This is a before picture of one of the living room walls with a great built in shelf.
Now the walls have a new coat of paint and the built in shelves have been painted white. We also removed the bottom shelf to give us some room for tall knick-knacks or a small lamp.
These were the original wall sconces. They were very dated and had an art deco feel to them. (Also noticed the original floors. They have now been re-sanded and stained a darker color).
In their place are these fabulous antique-finished sconces.
I think they have a great Pottery Barn feel to them.

They go great with our new Pottery Barn sleeper sofa.
On to the nursery. Here's the before:
And here's the during:
A new wall color of a silvery-blue and a new Ikea dresser. This will also be the changing table.
My mom bought us our crib: a Pottery Barn crib she found on Craigslist. It matches the rest of the furniture perfectly!
She also made the roman shades.
Another Ikea find- a shelving unit with some baskets for toys and books.
My mom found a great lamp on clearance at HomeGoods and of course...baby's first stuffed animal :)
And finally an Ikea ceiling light replaces an old ceiling fan.
As you can see, things are coming along. Just 2 more weeks and we will be officially moved in!! So stayed tuned for the AFTERS!!




Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Designing the Nursery


We have started painting the baby's room and purchasing some furniture items.

Here are some of the items we have purchased so far:
Again, we are using Behr's Silver Setting for the wall color. It looks more gray here on the computer screen but on the walls it's more of a blue silver color.
As for a nursery theme, we're kind of going for a vintage truck theme. I have been looking through Etsy's wall decals and came across these great choices:

This one can be personalized with the baby's name and a variety of color choices.
This one is great too and on a bigger scale.
And lastly, I have this photo of my husband in the truck he used to own. I plan on blowing this up and putting it in a great ornate frame.
So this is the nursery design so far. Stay tuned for more progress pictures.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Let's Talk About Paint


We're currently in the midst of a painting marathon. We are having our floors re-finished this Monday so we're trying to get all the rooms painted before then.

Here are some of the colors we have picked out:

This is Glidden's Muslin White. We are using this on all the ceilings, molding and trim.
The living room and dining room will both be painted in Glidden's Natural Wicker.
Along the same line but a bit more golden is the kitchen's color of Behr's Raffia Cream.
I wanted something bright and bold for the main bathroom so I picked Behr's Winter Lake. I think this will really pop against the white wainscoting and silver fixtures.

The master bedroom will be Behr's Ocean Pearl. We have a new West Elm duvet in a soft green so I think it will look very serene with this paint color.
And finally, we have Behr's Silver Setting for the baby's room. This matches the grey/blue in the fabric choice for the curtains.
The colors for the guest bedroom and basement have yet to be determined but I'm thinking about having a rich chocolate brown accent wall for the guest room.

We're slowing trucking along. I think we're planning on having my baby shower at our new house so I have a March deadline to have everything done and moved in by then. I need a deadline, though, to keep me motivated :)