s h e' s    a t   i t   a g a i n

{she, meaning well, me}

I just can't leave well enough alone. 

I have a bit of spring fever and really want to lighten up my living room.

It started with this. I said "Saint {my sweet husband}, if I ask you to help me move something it will be the last time you ever have to have to help me move a piece of furniture again."

To this he replied, " I really doubt that, but yes I will help you". But he sweetly helped me move my white three seater sofa down from our bedroom and the leather two seater up the stairs to a new home in front of our bay window.

The room is now the way it should have always been.

Room Before.

Room now.

Lighter and brighter. Oh and the green table from my family room is now blue. 

The round blue pedestal table {that was in this room} is now in the family room.

It seems so open and inviting now. Before you would walk into my home right in to the back of the leather sofa.

 This coming week is Spring Break, but hopefully I will sneak in some time to get some projects done.

On the list of things to do:

-finish my "hallway of mirrors" upstairs

-extra large subway sign for the kitchen

scroll down to see what this was linked up to!  

f l e a   m a r k e t   f i n d

{part one}

Hello friends, this is going to be quick, I am sick. I think it might be a sinus infection. I am not good at laying in bed, resting and getting better so this week will be hard.

I had some luck at the flea market Saturday with my friend Molly. This is a one time a year sale at a local university so we were looking forward to it.

It isn't a big sale so I think the key is to go early. We went around 11am, so not too early, and we still had some great finds.

I found this hanging iron candle holder for $15, that's right $15!!!!

{shoot, I didn't show in the picture that it is hanging from a long simple iron chain}

I don't know the story behind it, if it is antique or not. I do know that it is HEAVY.

If I become a pro-flea market gal I am going to get a cart, and maybe I will decorate it.
{I am joking, sort of}

I also found a antique milk jug but it needs a little work done to it before I show it to you.

Alright back to bed.
Thank goodness for my husband who came home an hour early from work to help me out.

f a v o r i t e   h o u s e   f r i d a y

It has been a while since I did a fhf. As I type this post my kitchen counters are being demo'd, so I am stuck in my office or the basement doing laundry. Darn.

Argh, the countertop fellow just called me mam. Am I old enough to be a mam? I guess I am. Darn again.

So what do I do for fun? Look up real estate listings and snoop at houses for sale.

You know you do this too.

I found this house for sale in Seattle. A very traditional home, not really a cottage, but I would definitely live there.

Oh hello there, come right in.

Wow, the glossy black door really stands out.

Wouldn't a boxwood wreath be great on this front door? And maybe paint the planters a cherry red?

A brick walkway in the backyard. Lovely.

Flawless.

Ok, now I want to paint my office grey and my desk red. The sea grass wall to wall carpet is an unconventional idea but it really works well here.

I love that there are no window treatments, it really lets the light shine and the nature outside be the artwork.

Hint of orange in the background, it makes me want to see more of the home.

f a b r i c   t e a s e

a n d 

a 

l a m p   s h a d e

{or maybe this should be called, for the love of blank and white}

I have had a change of heart on the fabric I chose for my kitchen. I really love the two Dwell Studio fabrics I had originally chosen but I measured how much fabric I really needed and it would have been over $200 and I am trying to keep the cost down.

So, I am going in a new direction for the fabric in my kitchen, and I took inspiration from my own home!

My stairway cafe style curtain is actually a shower curtain from Target.

I just love the bold contrast of the black and white, and the fabric is a heavy cotton.

It does not look like a shower curtain.

I also picked out a matching pattern {not a shower curtain} but I ordered it online and I will reveal that pattern in another post.

Also, today I had to go pick out a new kitchen sink faucet since the installers are doing my counter template tomorrow.

{yikes, I am nervous about this for some reason}

Anyway, at Lowes I found this cute patoot lamp shade. I have been looking for a lamp shade for this room.

 

n o   n e w   d e c o r a t i n g   p o s t   t o d a y

{maybe a fun picture though}

We have school conferences this week so I am taking a little break from my blog, but that doesn't mean I am not looking at other blogs! 

I have been hanging with the kids.

And doing some cleaning. I cleaned my upstairs bathroom for two hours the other day. See I can't do it all!~ While decorating and redecorating my home I neglected my bathroom and the refrigerator {but this might take more than two hours to clean}.

I love this topic on the Shabby Nest today. 

Redecorating.

I had this conversation with my sister the other day about myself. She told me I had OCD, in a sweet sisterly way. I changed it to OCRDD.

Obsessive Compulsive {Re} Decorating Disorder.

I will be driving down the street and day dream about how to re-arrange furniture.

Or, it will help me sleep at night if I lay down quietly and think about a room to reorganize-redecorate.

Maybe I am a bit looney, but I have been this way since I was at least 8 years old. 

Well, I am not alone and the Shabby Nest writes about this disorder {not really a disorder is it?} so eloquently today.

Thank you The Shabby Nest, read about it here.

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-where-i-explain-my-obsessive-need.html

Ok, back to cuddle time with the kids, and maybe some redecorating.

k i t c h e n

We did it! Friday we  picked out new countertops, back splash, sink and flooring for our kitchen.


Oh, I still need to figure out what faucet I want and hardware.

As you probably know we rented this house for a couple years before we purchased it. The layout is great, cabinets I can live with but the floors and counters are Terrible {with a capital T}.
With the purchase agreement we did get new stainless steel appliances which are great, I SO happy with them.

The kitchen had been pretty beaten up by previous tenants and I could never get anything clean, and well, it smells bad.

I have tried hard to make it livable for us, but I am embarrassed by this kitchen.

It doesn't look bad in the pictures but in person it is pretty bad.
Smelly and I can't get it clean.

When we decided that we were going to purchase the home, I was excited but, I didn't want to buy it unless we could fix the kitchen.

Here is what we picked out for the counters.

Quartz, Bianco River.

The Farm Chick is using it in here new home.

http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com/farmchicks/2011/03/countertops.html

I originally wanted marble but decided against it because it looks beautiful but because it is fragile, I think I would be constantly stressed out about it being stained.

Here is the flooring I chose. Simple charcoal colored tile, 18X18 in a matte finish.

I wanted something durable, dark {to ground the space, everything else is so light in the kitchen}.

I will bring some warmth in with wood accents.

{the dining table and bowls, ect.}

I am also choosing a white subway tile for the backsplash.

{shoot, I can't find the source of this, I had it in my "kitchen file"}

I need to change out the fabric since what I have now is cream toned and will clash against all of the white.

I am thinking this for the window treatments.

                                        Dwell Studio Bella Porte Brindle

And this for the sink skirt.

                                  Dwell Studio Vintage Blossom Jade

{Well, I am dork and the reason I chose this fabric is that it is the same color as my walls are currently painted and I don't feel like repainting.}

But both fabrics are currently out of stock on Fabric.com and I don't know if I have the patience to wait for it to come back in stock or pay full price at my local fabric store so I not sold on the fabric yet.

I am really hoping there aren't too many surprises along the way of this kitchen update.

My  biggest concerns when choosing my materials were:

Money

{I want it to add value but I am nervous about spending so much money}

and making the remodel timeless and fitting with the style of the home.

I am really hoping there aren't too many surprises along the way of this kitchen update.

f a r m h o u s e   d r e s s e r

{part two}

I should have never said in my last post I was done with this room. 

Boo on me.

Now I have learned I probably should live with a room arrangement for at least a day before I make a statement like that.

{and maybe wait for a sunny day to take pictures}

Truth is, I was trying to love the newly painted farmhouse dresser {remember BM Covington Blue} next to the coffee table painted the same color. 

As I went through my day yesterday I had to admit to myself I hated the two pieces next to each other.
 Yes, I am annoyed with myself because I am over decorating this room.

Again, boo on me.

I am also extremely irritated with myself because I recognize that I am blessed, and that the only problem I had to face yesterday was how to re-arrange my furniture to my liking.

Anyway...

 I did a very quick swap of the blue farmhouse dresser with the tiger oak dresser in my entry.

{yah, a sunny day}

Much better, things are in balance and the color and wood tones are now distributed evenly around the room.

 {I like that now when I walk into my home I can see the darling little feet on this dresser, this makes me smile}

Good news, I really can move from this room and on to finishing another room. My husband and I definitely made plans Friday to look at new floors, counters, backsplash and sink for the kitchen.
We will have to see what we can afford and what will have to wait on redoing.
{while the kids are in school, yah, it will be like a date with my husband}

Let's hope someone is having a sale, I have never had a new kitchen so I think I might be in for sticker shock.

Please scroll down to the bottom of post to see what this was linked to.

f a r m h o u s e    d r e s s e r

I finished my farmhouse dresser. I had this dresser as my kitchen island for several years but it really was a little too wide for that space. 

The curved feet on the dresser are fun, they match perfectly with my large farmhouse coffee table in my living room.

 The white school house desk that was originally in my living room where the newly painted dresser is, has been located to the basement playroom I am creating.

{this basement playroom is taking a long time, so be patient!}

{It must have been a sunny day when  took this picture!}

I painted the farmhouse dresser the same color as my coffee table.

{BM Covington Blue}

One coat of primer and two of the Covington Blue.

{it is a grey rainy day here in Western Washington, can you tell? I took all of the curtains down in this room to bring in more light, oh spring where are you?}

The one hiccup with this project was the purchase of drawer pulls. When I got to Cost Plus they were out of the pulls I liked online but I found some that I liked instead.

I got them home and didn't like them on my newly painted dresser. So I swapped the wood pulls on my tiger oak dresser with the new black fancy ones.

I love the mix of feminine and masculine.

Honestly, I am tired of decorating this room, I think I have it the way I want it now.

Now on to the bathroom and kitchen redos.

e m b r a c i n g    n a t u r a l   w o o d

{tree hugging in decorating}

I am a furniture painter, I always paint my furniture. Lately, I have been changing things up a bit. I think my decor was looking a bit one dimensional without some more natural elements.

{as was the purpose of my last post}

Sorry my pictures aren't great today, my camera is acting crazy and the lighting is bad.

I sold a table set last week and with a little of the money from the set I sold I bought this cute tiger oak dresser.

This piece is solid, beautiful, and a huge departure from my painted cottage style.

Looks great with my bamboo mirror.

Here is my new quarter sawn oak kitchen table.

Lovely and natural.

 The floors and counters on the other hand, in this kitchen, have me going crazy.

I think my husband and I are going to make a date this week to price the new tile floors and marble counters. Wish me luck!

I am also working on a cute farmhouse dresser make-over today.

{yes I am painting this one}

I am off to Costplus now to pick up these pulls.

I think I can get this project done today.