Welcome To Our Home

Here is an update of the work we've been doing on our house since we moved in September.  It seems like we have worked around the clock for three months, and we are just now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  There's still a significant amount of work to do though.

Our living room posed a problem up front because it seems so big.  The ceiling is sloped and the floor plan is very open, which we both love, but they make the room feel bigger than it is.  So, our furniture needs to be large and heavy to match the scale of the room (can we say "expensive?").  This is my first time buying "real" furniture at "real furniture stores," and I'm having a difficult time coping with the sticker shock.  So we've slowly been investing in a few nice pieces and finding the rest mainly through Craigslist and yard sales.  

Greg helped me hang our new curtains last week (half off Pottery Barn on Black Friday!!!!!!!!!), and we agreed that it is finally starting to feel "homey."

Since our ceilings are sloped so high, I knew we would only be painting the living room one time (and never again!), so I had to get the color right.  The first thing we did when we moved in was paint the living room walls SW "Macadamia," and I'm in love with the color.  I love it so much that we ended up painting "Macadamia" in the the living room, kitchen, hallway, and guest bath (including the ceiling - not a fun project). 

Here is the only BEFORE pic of the fireplace that I could find.  As you can see it was dark brown and bronze.  (Excuse the junk piled on it.)

We painted it BM's "Raccoon Hollow" and "Stampede" as inspired/suggested by my friends Jennifer and Lori.  My in-laws got a new, wood mantle last year, so they gave us their old one, and my Dad cut it to fit the size of our brick mantle.  It just beefs it up some.

As for the master bath, I didn't paint it because I really liked the light blue color the sellers had painted already (if it wasn't raining, I would go out to the shop and tell you the color).

 The guest bath, however, needed help.   

  

Half of the fixtures were gold and half were silver.  In addition, it was way out-dated and blah. 

So I sanded, primed, and painted the cabinets black.   It is the first time I have used latex paint on something that actually matters.  But I trust SW employees, and the guy at the store here convinced me that latex paints today are just as durable as oil based.  He said the paint industry is slowly phasing out oil based paint all together.  It was nice using latex, but I'm a skeptic. . . only time will tell if it lasts.  

The framed mirror was my Mimi's.  It was gold, so I painted it to match the cabinets.  Yay for framed mirrors!

Other things we plan to do (or are wishing for in a perfect world):

• paint the exterior (major Spring project!!)
• new landscaping 
• clean the garage (yikes!)
• find cheap end tables for the living room
• hardwood floors in living room
• get a headboard and nightstands for master bedroom
• paint kitchen cabinets