Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

House Progress...

After working all weekend painting at the new house, I've come down with some kind of flu or virus. Who knows what this junk is, but Sunday it started with a sore throat like maybe just allergies, and by yesterday morning I could barely swallow. I'm better today, but have laryngitis. bummer. I'll survive.

We did get a lot accomplished over the weekend; our younger kiddo came over to help and between the three of us we finished painting the living areas of the lower level. (2 bedrooms, bath, hall, family room, and small kitchen/bar area)... yay! I don't know why I didn't get any finished photos, it was late and I'm sure the lighting wouldn't have been the best. But we can cross that huge job off the list!



Here's the World Market Gray Vintage Chandelier I tweaked a couple of weeks ago. It was just installed, so I need to straighten the arms a little, but it helps get this area moving in the direction I'm headed. If you look closely next to the window, you can see the first coat of the Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe paint. It's a warm browny gray, and I think we'll be using it throughout the house. I had a lot of angst over choosing the color, but after two coats, and getting rid of the original color, it's turning out really pretty.




This is an area I didn't show you in the earlier house pics. It's the kitchen eating area, and I knew we were going to change things up in here with a little demolition. Some of you will probably think I've lost my mind, but this is a nice size area, 11x14, and it was completely taken up with cabinets and a counter the previous owner had installed as a homework station for her three kids.



If I were to leave the cabinets and counter, I wouldn't have room for my white kitchen china cabinet or much of anything else. So our guys removed them and are in the process of filling holes and moving electrical outlets. The cabinets are being re-installed in the laundry room, so I'll still have access for kitchen items that I don't use often.



(Kitchen China Cabinet and Farm Table from the old house)


I think the space will even out nicely when the furniture gets in.




Here's Hubby scrunched into the tv niche in the basement. It's a little larger than the one upstairs. We thought painting it the same color as the walls would help make it look better. We'll see...these tv niche things are making me nuts!


I finally decided on area rugs and they came last week. (yes, I just went with the black) They are gorgeous, and have a little trendy take on a traditional oriental rug. (Hint...there's some major pattern going on) Here's a peek. Can't wait to get the painting done to roll these babies out.


More on the rugs later...
time for a throat lozenge and a nap.

joining in on these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

Thursday, August 28, 2014

We have the keys...

...to the new house.
 yay!

Now the work starts. 

Amazing how once you get the keys, the rooms become smaller, you see all the spots on the carpet, and the woodwork and trim change color. (Plus, because the yard wasn't watered we now have a sad dead maple tree to take out and replace...insert mad and unhappy face) We're glad we don't have a deadline on moving in as there are several things that need to be done ahead of time. That's one of the things about a move that make it so stressful; trying to move all your own stuff in before things can be cleaned. We always try to leave a house in better condition than when we moved in. I don't want the new owners of my old home badmouthing me because I didn't clean out the fridge, wipe down the cupboards, or sweep the floors. (just a few of the yucky things to clean up)




Immediately after signing papers, we started slapping sample paint on the walls, I didn't think any of my first three samples would work because they were too light. Then I went back to the store and bought 2 more samples...too dark. Then I tried mixing samples...still too dark. So the way it looks now the Smokey Taupe from Benjamin Moore will probably be the winner. I had a wide range of grays and the grays with a hint of blue just didn't work at all. The woodwork has a touch of "sand" color, so the Smokey Taupe works, giving contrast but not too much. It also doesn't play up the color of the woodwork, which I wish were more of a true white or off white.


This will be a working weekend for painting. I'll be doing the cutting in, and Hubbs will be rolling. He's not fond of the painting process, but we're going to try to get a little done in the bedrooms/soon to be offices since our handy guy can't start till next week. I'm itching to see the change in the spaces with paint. I have an area rug on order that I'm not sure about...lot's of gray in it, so I want the paint up before it's delivered so I can make a decision.



I'm in love with this rug from Haverty's, but I don't know if it will match all my "stuff". (the leopard print pillows are a must-stay) We'll see... they also have one in brown which may work better.



Here are pics of the new sofa and loveseat at the lease house this Spring.










Gosh, looking at these pics, maybe I just need to stick with the black. The rug I'm using now is too small, and I wanted a lighter look at the new house because of the lighter hardwoods. But here's another Haverty's option...




Now, I'm really confused...

Ok that's it for now, just keeping you posted on all the fun!
Have a great Labor Day Weekend.
I'll be checking in with the progress...

joining in at these parties:

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours
Home Sweet Home at the Charm of Home


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

French Farmhouse Kitchen Chandelier Paint Project

OK, that's a mouthful. 

With only nine days until we get the keys to the house, I'm trying to get a couple of projects out of the way ahead of time. We've been making a list and it just keeps getting longer and longer. No matter how much you try to be frugal, moving just always ends up costing you more than you want to fork over. I'm trying to reuse our big Country French Chandelier from the previous Dining Room, but I wanted something new for the kitchen.

I'm showing the "afters", first...



All the rooms flow together, and while the lighting won't be "matchy matchy", I've sort of felt like the kitchen lighting needs to "blend in" and not stand out too much. I thought about a lantern, but I've opted to use a lantern in the entry, so I wanted to do something French Farmhouse-y and light for the kitchen.



I've been scouring the Internet since we put the contract on the house, and I found a great little chandy at a great price from World Market. It was just the right size, distressed wood and metal, and a pretty gray/white finish. We even checked it out while we were at one of the St. Louis stores a few weeks ago. perfect. but they didn't have it in stock.







So I ordered it as soon as we got home. It came in a few days, but the only problem was that it was painted a much darker sort of greenish gray than what I'd seen online or at the store. hmmmm?.... I had read the reviews before I ordered, so I wasn't totally surprised.



Hard to see, it's still a pretty chandy, just not what I needed, which was a grayish white. And it had a black cord which needed some camouflaging.


So, first thing was a coat of ASCP in Coco.


Then a coat of French Linen...
with a coat of Pure White on top.
then I mixed a combination of Pure White with a little Coco
 to tone it down a little.




So now it's more what I had in mind. Just took a little experimenting to get there. I will put on a light clear spray finish once I've had the chance to see it at the new house. Glad I didn't give up when I saw the out-of-the-box color finish.



love these acanthus leaves.




I probably should be packing some stuff, but I packed so much stuff for months and months, I'm totally burnt out. I've just decided I'm throwing the majority of things in laundry baskets and carting them over in the back of our suv. the lazy man's way of moving... But it's only a couple of miles away, so I think I'll take my chances. te he. 

Joining in at these great parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours
Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's
Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo
Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Sunday's at Home with Thoughts from Alice
Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

xoxo,

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Paint on the Brain

OK, I'm just going to come right out with it...I'm not a fan of the interior wall color in the new house. I'm just going to admit...up front...that I don't love those flesh colored walls. About 10 years ago that was one of the "it" wall colors, and I had it all over my other house. It took me 10 years to get it changed out and I don't want to go back. Please don't think I'm ungrateful...I'm super grateful for this wonderful house, but I'm still in love with all things "Greige".




(yes, I know the stairway downstairs looks like a big honkin' thing in the middle of the room. Well, it kinda is, but with furniture in the rooms, I know it will be balanced out.)






If you look closely you can see a pillow on the floor next to the front door. It's one of the pillows that came with my new linen-y Chesterfield Sofa, and honestly it looks "not so great" with this wall color. Hubbs and I had been making lists of all the things that we needed to take care of next month before we moved in and I was a little apprehensive to broach the subject. It's not like I can just say "Hey, let's paint the living room", since all the areas are open to each other. It's more like "Hey, let's paint the whole dang huge upstairs, we have nothing else to do or spend money on." I knew that if we didn't plan to do it now, it just wouldn't get done. He had a "moment", and then he said, "OK, what do you want to do?" I heaved a sigh of relief and ran for my Benjamin Moore paint color fan decks.





I just naturally head to Benjamin Moore for paint, as we've used it for most of our walls in our other houses. I've never had a problem with it, and they always have a huge selection of colors...down to the teensiest variations of Greige. I know what I'm up against since a couple of years ago when we painted the master bedroom and bath. At that point I wanted something darker and cozier. Now I want something lighter that's a combination of warm gray and beige. I gravitate toward "warmer" colors in decorating, and I find that a color that has elements of both can go a long way toward matching most anything.  

These are photos of my old master bedroom with Stone Hearth at 125%. They look pretty washed out. Sorry, these aren't professional, just my attempt to photograph a dark room.







I tried about 6 colors of paint on the wall behind the bed. Greige can be tricky because you can run into undertones...pink, blues, greens, browns, even purple. I had one paint picked out that looked wonderful during the daytime, but became purple at night...no thanks. I know you've probably read this on many blogs, but the way to be sure of the undertones is to be mindful of the darkest color on your paint swatch/card. That darkest color will be your base color and undertone. I just hadn't considered this easy method. Glad I know now, it will save a lot of time, money, and a bunch of frustration.








I know paint changes once it goes up on a wall, and there are so many reasons; size of the room, amount of light, other colors, such as rugs and furniture that may reflect off of it, time of day etc., but for now I'm looking at these colors and hoping one of them will work. Love how they're such a wonderful combination of both warm grays and tans. We have high ceilings and wide open spaces, so I think it can handle a slightly deeper hue of color. Plus I think this color will make the white woodwork and mouldings really stand out.

Revere Pewter: 


This is a good example of a Greige paired with "warm" furnishings.




and this photo shows it with lighter colored hardwoods.



Stone Hearth






(looks darker here)




I couldn't find room photos, but they are close, maybe just a little lighter.

Apparition



Shale



You can find all this info, sources, and more about Greige






Grays and Greige are the trend in wall colors now, but not one that I think will be going away soon. Any neutral that works well with all shades of woods and fabrics is definitely a mainstay in home decorating. I'm having fun making plans. Can't wait to get my hands on this place!

Joining in at these great parties:
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Show and Share at Coastal Charm
WOW at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,
P.S. I finally was able to see "Fixer Upper" on HGTV, gosh so addictive.
LOVE their style!
P.P.S. Benjamin Moore did not sponsor this post, just love their paint.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Pink Flowered Dishes

Hi Everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! Can you guess what we did? If you guessed painting walls, ceilings, and closets then you're right!!! We're getting there, but wow, are we bone tired. Oh, I forgot about pruning dead shrubs and rose bushes...and going to Lowe's three times and Wal-Mart three times. No matter how hard you try, you just can't think of all the "stuff" you'll need for a marathon working weekend. And also finding the paint you had mixed that looked perfect on the paint card is actually waaaay too light so you go back once again.




OK enough whining, something pretty to look at... A couple of weeks ago we did the attic clean out and I found two boxes of this oh so sweet Homer Laughlin Virginia Rose China. It had been my maternal great grandmother's. Most of it was well used, so some is chipped, but other pieces like a few of the plates were pristine. I found a few old "rose" postcards to add in for a little vignette in the sitting room.


There were two varieties of cups,
 this one on the bottom looks like a little newer version.



I was looking through some of my books last week, and realized the roses on the cover of this edition of The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady had the same pretty trailing roses.



Here's another pattern of Homer Laughlin hiding behind the first plate. It has a little green band on the edging. My Peonies are blooming out front and they are fabulous! covered with ants... but fabulous! Click Here if you'd like to see last year's post on my Peonies and pink dishes.




Dog roses?
Sort of like a shrub rose bush to me.
(I see they're native to Europe)



I found this little metal wheelbarrow a few months ago, and it was just waiting for something fun to haul around. And of course, every little wheelbarrow needs some gardening tools!












When I finished playing with the dishes, 
I nestled them all in my white basket tray on the bottom shelf of the baker's rack.



When I started packing dishes back in February I had to decide what to keep or try to sell. I just couldn't part with any of my old china pieces, so they were all packed away. Now finding these, I'm so glad I didn't let them go and now I want to locate all my other "pink rose" china. (boohoo, they're in a storage unit until a house move...) Can't wait to put them all together for some fun vintage place settings.




One of my vintage embroidered tea towels...







Hard to believe it's this close to Summer. Often, Memorial Day is cool and rainy here, but we had hot and rainy instead. Our Realtor is ready to get the house listed since we have the pool. I was tempted to just jump in this last weekend, but resisted. Painting with wet clothes didn't sound like a lot of fun.

I miss you guys...I'm hanging in there just counting the days until I can see my new doctors. In the meantime I'm trying to not overdo it and rest alot in between house duty. Sending each of you a big hug!
joining in at
Savvy Southern Style
From My Front Porch to Yours

xoxo,

New Posts in Your In-Box