I Can See Clearly Now...

that the grody busted windows have been removed! Buying windows/glass for your house is like buying tires for your car - an evil necessity that keeps you from getting the good stuff. I would have much rather spent the $$$ on something pretty and fun.

When we bought the house this big patio door was clouded over and the home owners opted to credit instead of replace - and it only took us 7 months to replace - shame shame!

Before:

(This is Gerry from Gerry's glass - he's the cheapest most reasonable in town!)

After:

Ahhh.....just makes you breathe easier, doesn't it?


In that time the kitchen window became worse, so it had to go to.

Before:

And as he replaced the right side glass in the garden window, he said - oh - look this other left pane in the garden window is bad too, only another $135?? Sure Gerry, what's another $135? An end table!?

After:

In 7-10 days when Gerry comes back I can say ahhh over this one too.

I have debated on this garden window. Once we paint the cabinets I wonder if the black trim will be too much against the creamy white. I could paint it white? My friend Gerry told me that a lot of people take them out because they let in too much cold in the winter. What do you think?

A cold 80's hole in the wall?

Or a nice light and airy herb garden is calling it's name?

Sara's Bedside Table Rule of Thumb

I've Been Featured! Judy at DIY by Design was so sweet to feature my guest room redo on her blog last week after I joined in her Swing Into Spring linky party. She even used the word stunning! Wow, talk about making me feel warm and fuzzy!

Judy's kitchen had me at hello and I knew I needed to see what this talented gal was doing in her house.

Check out her delicately beautiful daughter's room.

Thank you Judy!

I have been improving on my room, and I just learned something new from Sara last night on Sara's House. The rule of thumb with nightstand/lamp proportions to the bed is:

Your nightstand should be as tall as the mattress and your lamp should be about as tall as your headboard - wow! Who knew? Did you?

So what I bought for my new room, might be a little off...what do you think? Lamp too small here?

As you can see, I still haven't taken off the plastic wrap from the lampshade yet, so I can totally take it back (I think I say that about most things - which is why my MIL laughs as she picks up most things in the house to find the price tag that is still stuck to the bottom of things I've had for years).

I love the nightstand, so I might need to raise the headboard up a bit?

What do you think of the plate arrangement, it wasn't the arrangement I had on the floor, but when we put it on the wall I kind of ran out of room. Does it look off kilter, not enough plates, just need to move around a bit?

OK, now I am off to finish the Variety Show program - which I should have been working on for the last hour....

Pretty Plates and Platters

So I have been out looking for plates to fill the space above the headboard in my new guest room that is eagerly awaiting company...

I couldn't decide - simple classic white, or graphic black and white?
A random arrangement or something more streamlined and symmetrical?

I found a few inspiration pics:

With so much pattern on the bed and windows I think I might go with plain white, and I think I am definitely a symmetrical kind of gal.  What do you think?

Guest Room Step One!

Oh my word! Who knew it would take me two weeks to paint this room?! And all of it's trim! I did do it for a couple hours here and there, in the middle of Daisy Scout meetings, Girl Scout Cookie pick up and hand out, and Variety Show preparations - so it took a while. At least I had a good friend keeping me company and sharing advice:

We began with caulk, caulk and more caulk. Painting the wood trim reveals every nook and cranny that you never noticed with the naked wood.

Then the primer (BTW - the primer war was a draw - the Bulls Eye primer was about the same as the Sherwin Williams Adhesion primer, it still took two coats of primer and two coats of paint.
Here is one coat of primer:

Here are the same doors after two coats of primer and one coat of paint:

And the final product, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint:

I did end up choosing the color Amazing Gray by Sherwin Williams instead of Silver Fox - Benjamin Moore, it was a touch lighter, and I wanted to err on the airy side.

 

It is a nice taupey gray, I had some warnings about grays that tend to look purple - thanks for that! But this one turned out really nice in the room.
We also painted the ceiling the same color as the trim - Pure White - Sherwin Williams, it really brightened up the room.

Here is the room now!

I still need to add some things, I am thinking:

• some plates or small quatrefoil mirrors over the bed
• would love to have overhead lighting put in, it's begging for a chandelier!
• a new lamp, I'm thinking citrus, but I might have to whip out the spray paint to get it
• a new bed skirt, gray or black?
• my seamstress (aka MIL) said she could make an adjustment to the bedspread so it would fit better on the full size bed
• either a dresser or desk on the entry wall to the left. The hub says a desk doesn't make sense, but I thought it would give the opportunity for a chair we might not other wise have room for. Any opinions?

P.S. I didn't paint the inside of the windows for fear of painting them shut. When warmer weather gets here in 3 years or so, I will paint them... I can turn a blind I to them until then, right?







Linking to:

Houseography for House Tour: Guest Rooms
The DIY Showoff for DIY Project Parade
Under the Table and Dreaming for Sunday Showcase Party
Dittle Dattle for Amaze Me Monday

Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing for her Newbie Party
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphasis Monday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures
Domestically Speaking for Power of Paint Party
DIY by Design for Winter Blues Wednesday

Guest Room Sneak Peak...

Yesterday I started painting the downstairs guest room that I have been orchestrating for a while now. Here it is when we looked at the house, one of three office spaces in the house - the people that lived here must have worked way too much.

I posted my inspiration pics earlier here. The room has some really pretty crown - but it is that yuck orange wood that the whole house is trimmed in. The color of the wood is really an additional color in the room - only once the orange is painted over you can see what the wall color is.


In this small room I have 3 doors to paint, 2 windows (which partly will have to wait until spring), crown moulding and baseboards. I will do one maybe two coats of primer, then at least 1-2 coats of paint. While my MIL and FIL were here building and painting our built-ins they said they discovered a miracle primer that was outdoing my Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer 2 to 1. I hope she's right! I'm not that excited about it 1 coat in, but we shall see.

Then on to the walls, I solicited much advice and looked at many blogs to get a good suggestion for gray. My two finalists were SW Amazing Gray and BM Silver Fox:

     

Amazing Gray                                   Silver Fox

I thought I was going with Silver Fox, but when I took everything out of the room and started painting out the trim, it looked a little dark - so I will paint a bigger swatch tomorrow and see how I feel.

Here is my pillow sneak peek:

If I can get all the trimming done, maybe I can get some help with the walls this weekend. My roller seems to be more willing to help if he doesn't have to trim. Wish us luck!

I know I'm obsessing....

but I think I'm almost done here. Mostly because I don't think I could convince Ryan to move the piano more than one more time. It only took us about 20 minutes to move it about 10 feet - he did feign injury after the first lift, but I think he was just testing the waters to see how determined I was.

Here is where I started with Option 1. The piano in the front of the room by the window.

Then I got an "Anonymous" suggestion to flip flop the couch and the chairs - good idea to solve the heavy weight of all that furniture on one side of the room. Thank you Anonymous! Here is option 2.

I have been wanting to try another option still, recommended by Nancy (thank you Nancy!), where the piano is on the inside wall. That little wall is odd anyway - it's cut short by the stairs and it doesn't look quite right to put furniture in front of the stair spindles. I like it from the front door, but it looks a bit blocked coming from the dining room.

Ryan keeps angling my chairs, I am more of a straight lines are best kind of person, but I don't know.

Opinions and advice and welcome and appreciated! I WILL work this out. I must say that I have spent more time in that room this week staring at it than I have since we moved in!




Linking to:


Debbiedoos Bloogging and Blabbing Newbie Linky Party

Bookshelves?

I think I have found the best arrangement for the Living Room. I'm not over the moon about it, but it is the only one that makes sense. I did have a bit of an epiphany that might just balance out the room. What about two bookcases on either side of the doorway to the dining room? It might balance all the black abyss Big Bertha has to offer.

What do you think?

I thought that I need something with decorative cutout sides to keep it a little airier than solid black. And it would give a little more interest for the eye. I found the perfect bookcases at Costco, but I went today to get a second look and they were all gone. Then I found these online:


A mere $649 from Ballard Designs, I did think for a minute how I was going to talk Ryan into letting me spend $1300 on bookcases for a room we rarely sit in - but then I came to my senses.


A little better, $250 from CSN - but does it have enough finesse?




Hmmm - a bit more whimsical? $240 from CSN, and free shipping! I think I like the open back look.

Any opinions? No bookcases? Any favorites here?