One Kid's Room: Two Looks

This weekend, I stumbled onto the blog called, And George, which is authored by Christy Ford.  The mother (Jan Roden) and daughter (Christy Ford) duo run a fantastic store called, And George, in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I need to make a point to visit.

In one of the posts, Christy talks about her children flip flopping rooms more times than her husband would like to count.  Ever since her home was published in Southern Living's November 2010 issue (see here), I have been a long time admirer of her children's rooms.  One of my favorites is seen here...

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So adorable.  The soothing pastels, florals and small prints - what's not to love?  Well, I guess at one point her son, Henry, moved into this room and Christy did a fantastic job decorating the space for a boy.

Christy Ford for And George

It looks as if the same paint color (Tranquility by BM) was kept which makes re-decorating so much easier.  I love how both rooms are filled with such personal style that they are magically kid friendly.  Neither room is over designed.  I love it.  And, can I just say how much my son would love those bunk beds?

Eclectic Living Room

This living room by Heather Roberts, H&H Home, caught my eye via pinterest.  I love it for lots of reasons as evidenced by my list above, but I love it mostly because it is feels effortless.  It has that collected feel without feeling too design-y. 

Do you know what I mean?

To see more of her home, go here.  

Office Re-Do

Remember when not to long ago I painted this stencil wall in my office? Well, I decided I wanted to paint over it. I'm the queen of doing things more than once. It's very strange. 

 It's not that I didn't like the stenciled wall paper. It was more the color of the room. It was a lot darker than all of the other rooms in our house. The stencil also had a TON of imperfections since I did the entire thing by hand. You couldn't see them unless you got close up - but I noticed them every time I walked in the room.

First I chose a new paint color. I set out to find a lighter color gray that would flow better with the entire house. Both of the below paint swatches are Martha Stewart. We went for the top one. Bedford Gray. I can't remember the name of the lighter color on bottom. 

After the room was painted. It was not easy painting over the stencil. Stung a little bit. Even though I had plans to replace it with something very similar. After searching the internet I ordered a stencil from Royal Studio Designs. I actually ordered one that was too small at first and had to send it back. So, if you are thinking about doing a full wall make sure to order a large stencil. Once I got the right one in the mail (they ship really quickly) I was able to get started. This is when I only thought I had a few hours of stenciling ahead of me....

A day and half later....

And compared to the hand stencil....it was a breeze. But really...it was hard. Like I wanted to quit on several occasions and just paint the wall gray again. The ceiling and edges were most definitely the hardest part. I never got the hang of it and honestly never want to. I have no more stencil plans in my future:)

My main goal was accomplished. It lighted the room up and now it flows much better with the rest of the house.

The professional stencil eliminated a lot of errors...making the finished product look much more seamless.

The change isn't that dramatic. Just a little bit lighter with a different pattern. Another suggestion I would give if you are thinking about venturing in to stenciling would be to choose a base paint color that is not that different from your stencil color. It took a lot of pressing with the paint roller to cover the white paint over the gray. So, what do you guys think about the change? Did you know that after I painted this room...I had painted every single room in our house in 2011 (including bathrooms). And then stenciled the same wall twice. Does that make me crazy?

My Dining Room (as it stands now)

First, a huge thank you for your sweet comments on yesterday's post.  I was flattered.  Many of you commented on the colors and I was lucky to have an interior designer help me choose the colors of my dining room walls and furniture.

Now, onto our dining room, I wasn't able to completely finish my dining room.   Don't get me wrong - I think our dining room has come a long way, but the finishing details are definitely lacking.

If you remember, this was the inspiration.  

The goal was to lighten up the room.  So, how did we accomplish that? 

- We painted over the current wallpaper.  

- Purchased a natural jute rug.

- Installed custom made roman shades.

- Painted dining room table and chairs.

- Painted sideboard. 

What did NOT get accomplished?

- Painting of chandelier, hanging my federal eagle mirror and accessorizing.  So, here is our 

Dining Room BEFORE:

Dining Room AFTER:

It definitely is brighter and softer.  The wall color provides a calming backdrop, the natural rug is perfect for everyday use, the roman shades (more below) provide that much needed dose of color and pattern and the painted table and chairs help break up all the gold tones in the room.  

Another picture of the painted sideboard with the unhung mirror.  You can see the chandelier I was suppose to paint and never got around to it.

The DwellStudio Gate Citrine fabric used for my roman shades.  Isn't it lovely?  Melissa from Windows by Melissa really did a fantastic job (yet again).  They're perfect for our dining room.

If you need window treatments, don't hesitate to contact her!  She is a pleasure to work with.  Well, that is our dining room - What do you think?

Stay tuned for tomorrow, because I will be hosting an amazing giveaway from Melissa!!  It's a doozy!  

Epic Fail.

I spent ALL last Saturday painting our guest bedroom. Well, painting only took a couple of hours but I also scrub cleaned it and put all the crap back in there. The paint color I went with I thought was a no brainer....Martha Stewart's Heath. I mean Martha created it?!?WRONG. And I am pissed at Martha because of it. You can't really tell in the pictures but it's green. Like grandma green. Not sure what happened. I had it color matched to Olympic paint. So, maybe that was the problem?It's back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, I'm not really digging these colors either...I'm leaning towards going with good ol' Dusty Trail by Olympic. The same thing I painted my living room. Read about that here.

What do you think...is it bad to have the majority of your house a similar color? I kind of like it. It makes things about a gazillion times easier to decorate. For now...I'm still mad at Martha.

Down the Dusty Trail...

Yep, Dusty Trail was the choice of color for our living room. I mentioned all the color choices here. And thanks to this (The Premium XL Tight Spot Paint Brush) it was so easy. So easy I have plans to paint our hallway asap. It completely eliminated the need for taping -- it makes painting SOOO much easier!! Go buy one. It's G-REAT! And it's only like 5 bucks. Back to the Dusty Trail....We love it. Such a great neutral without being to boring. It also doesn't have any pinkish undertones that you sometimes see when choosing to paint tan on the walls.Our paint before was Davenport Tan by Benjamin Moore. It was a great color BUT it was dark. We have inquired (I say inquired because I'm pretty sure we haven't bought one piece of furniture in our living room - thrifty mcthriftersons is what you can call us) a lot of darker older furniture. We have re-done most of it and usually keep it the darker stained color. We love that look BUT we didn't love how it blended in with our dark walls. So we are especially loving how the new color makes all of our dark furniture pop....I wish I had better photog skills because obviously mine are terrible. This picture best depicts the color....
We're on the neutral band wagon at our house. After much trail and error I've found it's much easier for me to decorate, buy furniture, etc with a neutral background to work with. Anybody else learned this the hard way too? By the hard way, I mean having to paint every room in your house 65498732 times. Sorry about that Tal....

Before and After: Painting Over Wallpaper

Thank you for your kind comments about our dining room saga.  Some of you asked if the color on the furniture complemented the color on the walls - it kind of doesn't.  The color palette in the room is cream/gray/citrine and now I have these stark white chairs and table.  It sticks out like a sore thumb.  Anyway, I'm trying to see if I can hijack a highschool student to help me repaint them!! 

Anyway, before we painted, our dining room had wallpaper.  Actually, it still does.  But now it just has paint over it! :)  The wallpaper was there before I moved in and it is just not me.  See below.

I find the stripes overbearing for our small dining room.  So, let me tell you 3 reasons why I chose to paint over the wallpaper instead of taking the wallpaper down.

1) Condition of walls.  The reason the wallpaper was hung in the first place was because the walls are not in great condition. I was concerned that after taking the wallpaper down I would probably have to skim coat and sand the walls to ensure an even and smooth surface.  This would be a pain.

2) Removing wallpaper is not always an easy task.  Sometimes the paper comes down in sheets and sometimes it doesn't.  And since I am pregnant and have no experience with this I decided not to go there.

3) Time and Money.  I wanted to get this done before the baby comes and since we're moving in the near future, I didn't want to waste too much time or money removing the wallpaper, sanding walls, etc. 

You get the picture.  So, how do you paint over wallpaper?  Well, here is a good tutorial that I followed, but I will give you a quick run down of how I went about it. 

1) Identify all the visible edges, as well as any loose/peeling wallpaper.  With a razor, carefully trim back any loose pieces.  See the seams below.

2) Next, put just a little joint compound (the mud used at joints in drywall) on any uneven spots - so this means all seams, edges, and places where loose wallpaper was removed.  This is the most important part, since you want the surface to be as smooth as possible before painting.

I had our painter do this and the key to having a seamless look is to ensure that the compound is "feathered" out properly (so the seam disappears).  If it is visible or bumpy, you'll need to sand it more.  Use 150 grit sandpaper or finer.

3) Once the compound is dry and sanded, you will need to prime over the wallpaper.  You need to use an oil based primer.  This is critical because the glue holding the wallpaper onto the wall is activated by water.  Putting latex (water based) paint on will just cause the wallpaper to fall off the wall, which is what we're trying to avoid.  Also, the primer is also the first step to hiding the wallpaper pattern, so it doesn't show through the top coat.  Oil based paint stinks ... so ventilate the area well.  

4) Now, you are ready to paint your walls.  The painter used two coats of latex paint (eggshell finish) and voila!

So that's it ... I love the new color (BM White Down).  It's just so much more airy and open.   

Dining Room Mood Board & Updates

Remember this post about my dining room?  I've been slowly making updates to it.  It's taking longer than usual mainly because at 32 weeks, I find myself exhausted most of the time.  The interior designer created a mood board for the space, I simplified it, but here is the jist of it.  

My Dining Room Mood Board

The walls have been painted which I think has been the biggest transformation.  We painted over wallpaper!!  I wouldn't recommend that for everyone, but there are a lot of reasons we decided to do that.  I plan on doing a separate post on that.  

Melissa, from Windows by Melissa, is making my roman shades.  I primed and my husband painted our sideboard and we got new hardware. 

We got a new rug and we painted our existing dining room table and chairs.  Since our DR table and chairs had a finish on it, I originally planned on using an oil based primer and a latex paint.  

But, I then learned about a product from Sherwin Williams called 'adhesion primer'.  It basically allows you to prime without sanding.  It bonds tightly to surfaces considered 'unpaintable' like, ceramics, PVC piping, furniture with existing stains, etc.  This would allow me to 'skip' the sanding and actually use a latex based primer instead of an oil based primer.  Latex is a lot easier to work with.  So, I bought it and tried it. 

The true test will be time, but I have to say it was a dream to use.  Now, here comes the major setback.  My husband (who didn't even want to re-do the dining room because we're moving soon) spent a half day (while I was at work) painting the table and chairs for me.  When we brought the furniture into the room, we noticed that color on the furniture was off and not the same as the walls.  (We're painting the furniture the same color as the walls).  We re-checked the paint can to confirm that it was the right color and number, but noticed that the formula used was different from the formula used on the walls.  I am so upset.  

We will go back to the paint store to complain, but you just can't get back all the time and labor that went into painting the table and chairs.  My poor husband.  So, right now, I have to figure out what to do, but I am so deflated.   So, stay tuned....this saga will be continued......

In other news, I want to thank Elizabeth from The Mustard Ceiling for featuring my hallway yesterday on her blog - see here. 

I was very flattered as she is a great designer and DIYer.  Her blog is full of amazing projects!!  Thanks, Elizabeth!

Before & After: Our Upstairs Hallway

It's been forever since I last reported on our upstairs hallway.   I finally completed it.  If you remember (don't worry if you don't because it has been forever), we painted horizontal stripes on the walls.  I loved them, but found it difficult to decorate such a small space with bold walls.  My goal was to brighten the room and I was dead set on having a mirror in the hallway.  We lived with one for a long time, but I wasn't thrilled with it.  I finally ditched the idea and went the graphic route.  I love how it turned out.

After:

After:

Before:

Before:

Even though this took a long time, I have to say I took my time sourcing/finding the items for this hallway.  

Rug: Ikea Erslev

Ceiling fixture: Lowes (This makes the space.  It took me forever to find a stylish flush mount for our v. low ceilings)

Table lamp: Ikea Marby

Tray: West Elm

Poster: Super Rural

Book: Reader's Digest $9 (for a set of 3)

Table: Garage Sale $20

Lamp Shade: Garage Sale $5

Flowers: Gladiolus $5

Artichoke: Garage Sale $2

So, what do you think?  A big improvement in my opinion.  

Nursery Inspiration

I have to admit that during my first two trimesters, I was a little scared to fully embrace this pregnancy (due to my previous complications).  But, now that I'm in my third trimester, I have baby on the brain. As it stands now, the baby will stay in our master bedroom for the first couple of months.  We plan to move at the end of this year (news forthcoming at some point) so I'm hesitant in investing time and money into any space at the moment.  However, in an ideal space, I would love to have a wallpapered ceiling (or some type of pattern on the ceiling) for this nursery.  

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Domino

Store in Nantucket

I think it adds the right amount of whimsy/fantasy to the room, don't you agree?

All Time Favorite

One of my all time favorite homes is Ashley Putman's, which was published in Lonny April/May 2010.  I recently stumbled on a new blog (at least to me) called, The Semi-Designed Life, where the blogger, Lauren, actually got to tour Ashely Putman's home this past Christmas.  See here.   It's so good....I just had to post.

Lonny

Ashley's courage to use a dark wallpaper in her bedroom is fantastic.  I always lean towards the lighter end of the spectrum when it comes to walls, but, I really like this look.  I also like the contrast of the dark walls with the feminine bedding.

Lauren's photo

It appears that Ashely switched the bedding for Christmas.  Love it and the monogrammed shams.

Lauren's photo

How adorable is the tartan pillow case?  

Lauren's photo

Another example of Ashley's fearless use of dark colors on the walls.  The infamous cobalt blue dining room we all love. 

Lauren's photo

Decorated for Christmas.  

Lauren's photo

A cool shot.  I love the eclectic mix of candlesticks. 

Lauren's photo

 I want to do this - the oversized brandy snifter filled with corks!

Lonny

Perfection.  I don't know where to begin?  Black side door (always wanted to do this in our kitchen).  Hardware.  Kitchen table.  Appliances.  Open shelving.  Brick flooring.  Love it all. 

Lauren's photo

I love open shelving, but I also would need cabinets and I like how Ashley's cabinets are off to the side.

Lonny

Clean lined console and a lovely vignette!

Lauren's photo

Ashley's staircase from Lauren's tour.  Looks like the 'For Like Ever' poster has a new home.  

Lauren's photo

A great combination - tartan, chalkboard paint and wellies!  

Lauren's photo

A house isn't complete without some lacquer!!  Again, more evidence of her courage!

Lonny

Lauren's photo

The Putman's family room.  Chic and kid-friendly.  Love it.  

Lauren's photo

And, this is the room where they place their Christmas tree.  How lovely.

Lauren's photo

And, yes a pool surrounded by grass, my favorite.  This is the view outside of the family room.  

Lonny

In the living room, Ashley opted for lighter walls.  I love how this room is casual and classic.  

Lauren's photo

During Lauren's tour, it appears Ashley has changed the sofa.  

Lonny

Perfection!

I know I went overboard with the images.  However, I hope you enjoyed the new pictures and a special thanks to Lauren from 'The Semi-Designed Life.'  If Ashley's house is in the tour this year, I might just have to fly down to Houston myself to see it in person!!  Happy Weekend!