I am up to my eyeballs in beadboard wallpaper right now, as I continue getting ready for my cookie exchange last month.  working on my kids’ Jack & Jill bathroom, but I have another bathroom space to share with you in the meantime.  I knocked this bad boy out when I was in Tazmanian-Devil-Decorating-Mode, I know I’m not the only one who gets crazy insane highly motivated when a party is on the horizon.  Right?  I think there’s a 12-Step Program for people like us.  Err, me.  Anyway, since this bathroom is in the basement, and is the one people use when we entertain, I figured a quick spruce up was in order.  Plus, it’s a small space and would be a quick and dirty makeover.  And what’s not to like about that? So, to begin with, the bathroom was the same baby poo brown as much of my basement.   (FYI – this bathroom also doubles as my son’s bathroom, since his bedroom is in the basement.  Thus the maze of doors.  Door #1 – Powder Room.  Door #2 – Shower.  Door #3 – Vanity/Sink that connects to his bedroom.) I told you this makeover was quick and dirty, but did I also mention that […]

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The cleanest my house will ever be is about 15 minutes before I throw a party.  I don’t know if you’re like me, but I go into a bit of a tizzy before I entertain.  My family can usually see it coming, so they either hide, or get out of the house altogether.  I guess it’s that “party adrenaline” that kicks in, and I go into cleaning overdrive.  That’s what I did in getting ready for my cookie exchange this past weekend.  Lucky for me, it’s just in time to participate in Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Home Tour linky party.  🙂 Some of these photos you’ve seen before if you’ve read my blog before, but there are some new ones in here as well, since I took advantage of my cookie exchange cleaning frenzy and shot some new ones. We’ll start with the exterior and work our way through.  Thanks for stopping by! When you enter our home, the great room is the first thing you see, and the Christmas tree is the obvious focal point. And then there’s the fireplace mantel. I Christmastized the basement for the cookie exchange, and got creative with a lot of free greenery from the […]

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With the kitchen cabinets painted, the only unfinished (kitchen) project was to paint the walls and put away all of the additional kitchen crap that is still littering my hallways.   The added bonus is that there really isn’t a whole lot of wall space to paint in the kitchen. But, it’s just enough wall space to make a nice impact.  I took the color that I painted the little nook near the pantry (featured here) – Benjamin Moore’s Mountain Laurel.  I love this color, and it’s a great contrast to the freshly painted cabinets. As a refresher, here is the before: I love this rug in the hallway, but I’m going to have to get a new one to go with the new color palette. And finally, here is the Evolution of the Kitchen – beginning with a photo of the kitchen before we moved in (one year ago), to where we are today.  Have a wonderful weekend! Linking to: Emily A. Clark – Working with What you Have My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia – Tuesday Treasures Miss Mustard Seed – Furniture Feature Friday Just a Girl – Show and Share

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I’m linking up to the handmade home today, as Ashley posed a fun question about color in your home.  What is your latest obsession or inspiration when it comes to color?  I’m in the process of putting my personal stamp on our still-new-to-us home, so here we go…  I have fallen in love with different shades of blue lately, and that is what I have been incorporating in my home.  There is the family room which I painted in Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue: And how can you not be inspired by something even as simple as this? We have a goal/plan to paint our kitchen cabinets, and this is a glimpse at the color palette we are planning to use.  Since the space is so open, we want the rooms to flow together. I got a taste of some of the color we’re going to use in the kitchen, when I painted this nook in Benjamin Moore’s Mountain Laurel: A before/after view of the nook too in case you’re interested: In our master bedroom, it’s a soothing grayish-blue, called Mineral Deposit by Sherwin Williams, and I. love. it.  I swear, my blood pressure drops when I walk into this room. In […]

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I survived the half-marathon, and let’s just say it wasn’t my prettiest race, by any stretch.  But, I finished, and the whole goal was to get some of my running mojo back.  And, as an unexpected bonus, I beat my husband. 🙂 I recently posted about my family room painter’s remorse, and am happy to report that I am no longer remorseful!  The paint is staying, and I have been working on a second coat.  I have mentioned that we’re planning on redoing our kitchen cabinets, and painting them white.  Originally, I was going to hire this out, but now we’re considering doing it ourselves, starting with a small section of the kitchen.  The understanding is that if it’s a huge fail, we will hire it out.  A friend has a heavy duty paint sprayer, and I’ve been researching it, so we’re going to give it a try.  I want to do a glaze of some sort too, and we’re going to paint the island a different color.  This is kind of the grand plan at the moment.  We want to use the black on the island and the cream color on the perimeter cabinets.  These are the samples I’m using. As […]

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So, for awhile now, I’ve been talking about getting my family room painted, and even met with a designer who has helped me with colors in the past – Carla – to try and nail down color choices that will flow with our open floor plan.  We put together the beginnings of a color palette for the main floor anyway.  I had big paint swatches on the walls and everything.  With the help of Carla, I am stepping out of my comfort zone.   You all know that patience isn’t one of my virtues, right?  Well, suffice to say, I went a bit off the reservation.   It all started with the niche around my pantry.  We chose Benjamin Moore’s Mountain Laurel and I. love. it.  It’s so rich and striking – perfect for this area.  It will be going in my kitchen as well and I think it will look fabulous when we paint the cabinets.   I did an artwork change and hung the prints and frames I scored at Ikea.  I thought with such a deep color that I should try to lighten up the artwork a bit. I also painted my breakfast nook and used Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue  My original intent was to start small, and […]

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