Mud Room Wall Reveal

I have been working on this mud room wall FOREVER, it seems.
So here is where we started. Plain wall. (ok, I forgot to take the REAL before, but you get the picture)

I put the ledger board up, a 2x6.

It stayed like that for far too long.  But then I got the mirrors and rest of trim installed, all using leftover trim that the previous homeowners left us.

It took forever because what I really needed that I didin't have.. BEADBOARD.  So once I got a day to borrow the van and my mom to babysit my babies, we were in business.

I got the hooks at IKEA. (5) for $10. Love them.

The seat is only 7" deep. (That's a sample of the IKEA flooring) It's enough for half a butt to sit on and take your shoes off but definitely not a "sit and relax seat".

But my favorite part is the seat is actually the old window sill from the same laundry room. (What Hubbys hand is resting on). You can read about that renovation HERE. I just loved the aged look. I had to scrap layers and layers of paint off and cut it to size but I love the outcome.  The mix of old and new.

And it matches the flooring we are going to install.

IKEA. Tundra, Antique Effect.
And there you have it.

I absolutely love it. It feels like it's always been there.  Can't wait to get rid of that ugly tile... oh well, another day.

Dining Light Revamp

You may remember my post about CSN.  I was so excited when I found this light for $ 27.92  (Marked down from $ 262.90)

Brass and all... I had to snag it up.  You can always fix the color, but the seeded glass and shape were perfect. 

Bright brass.

So I took it all apart and took it outside to give it a good coat of matte black with my FAVORITE BBQ paint, it's not glossy, I love it.

Note: I should have used primer. If I bumped the metal to metal is chipped in some spots so I had to be super careful. It wasn't a huge deal to me though because it's not like it's going to be touched a lot.

Reassemble

And there you have it.

So much better than the old fan, the lights didn't give off any light at all.

It defines the dining space so much better.
And here's the WAY before, so much has changed.  It's slowly coming together.

I love it.
Another note:  If you try to do a small project, that should take about 1-2 hours, times it by the number of short people at your feet that call you "mommy" and that is how long the project will really take. (2 hours x 3 children = 6 hours)

And A SNEAK PEAK of the laundry room wall that is soooo close to being done.  I have a small piece of beadboard to cut but it won't stop raining, erg!!  So, pics to come!

Carter

This Carter. He is 4.5 years old. My first born. My independant know it all. He likes to take pictures....

OF HIMSELF.

And I let him, haha.

Children are so much fun, and leave you such nice surprises in your SD card. LOL

Chalkboard Creation from Goodwill frame

I got this frame from Goodwill for about $5.  It holds a 14x18, very odd. 

It was wood

And very dingy but I loved the profiles

So some black paint, sandpaper, a coat of poly...

Then a custom cut 14x18 painted with chalkboard paint...

My oldest doing his coloring.  I want the chalkboard to say something like
"Rhyne Diner"   "CowTown Cafe"  I don't know.  I can't decide, so for now it sits plain.

But I definitely need some chalkboard pens.

Maybe I'll just keep it blank so I can always change it.

 

CSN Discovery

There are so many things I need for this house.  I can't stop thinking about redoing the backyard, it's going to be so awesome.  I got a quote from a concrete guy to pour a 1,000 sq ft slab and broom finish would be about $4,000 total.  Is that a good deal?  I have no idea, but I know I can't do it myself. Definitely not a DIY project for me.  But oh how I dream about how cool it will be to hang out out there.

I found these great barstools at a CSN shop, http://www.allbarstools.com/

I can just see myself sitting back with my ice mocha watching my kids play.   And for $98.99 and FREE Shipping, you can't really beat it.

Online shopping gets me every time.  I always get caught up putting everything my little heart wants into my basket.  Like we NEED a chandelier over our bed, isn't this one pretty?

Then I decide I need this fireplace for our living room

Paint the wood  white? Sand up the corners a bit. So cute, yes?
Then I found Beadboard wall paper.

This I MUST HAVE, and apparently everyone else thinks so too. So of course I click "Email me when available" But you can paint it and everything.
Eh, I hate having to have priorities. Can't I just have everything? 

I have OPD

I have OPD, it's pretty obvious and pretty bad.  Couldn't hide it if I tried.  OPD.  Obsessive Project Disorder.

1. We are still working on our front porch, but it's been raining, DUH. It's October in Seattle.  But it looks like we are going to have a few days of sun, so we may get it sudo finished this weeked.

THE BEFORE.... Makes me shutter to look it.

THE NOW. We just need to make the stair stringers, and put down the stair decking.  The railings can wait, LOL. But the fence is gone and I got the grass planted.

2. The dining booth still needs another couple coats of paint, and 2 coats of poly. 

3. My master bedroom "closet" still looks like this

4. Soooooo then why are am thinking about the living room, moving the boys upstairs, moving the door of the "office" and putting Lue in there? 

Just want to decorate a girls room?  Build a mini-kitchen? The office would be so much more functional without the huge bed in there.

Eh, Priorities. Finish deck!

The Booth Reveal

I went with Hamilton Blue.  But my big secret is I just had Home Depot match the Benjamin Moore color. They said they do it all the time for  BM colors and I didn't have to drive 1.5 hours to go get it; Redneck picked it up on his way home from golf.

So here we are before and gold. 

Benjamin Moore Hamilton Blue, so glad I went dark.  By the way, I strongly considered using oil base.  It's so much stronger and I think would hold up to a lot of wear.  But oil doesn't have as much elasticity as latex so I'm afraid with the flex and flux of the vinyl when people sat down, the oil would crack.   So once it's all said and done, there will be 2 coats primer, 3 coats paint, and 2-3 coats of matte water - base polyurethane. 

And the AFTER. I am so happy with the result.  Even the faux wood tabletop doesn't look too bad.

BEFORE and AFTER
 Linking up to:

Ehhh, WRONG

I really want these seats to be a shade of blue, I think it says "Country" best. But I had this "teal" from our last house. Just a year and a half ago, I would have painted everything this color, Laurel Mist. I LOVED it.  I loved it soo much.  Now, NOT so much.

So after the kids went to sleep, I threw a coat on.  Too green... better than gold but still too green. 

If I stay with a light color, I'll be going with Martha Stewarts "Robins Egg".  What do you think?

But I'm torn.  I think I may need to go darker, to ground it.

I love Hamiliton Blue by BM, but I don't want to drive an hour an a half to the closest BM.

So, then theres' Winters Lake by Behr but I much prefer the Hamilton Blue.

What do you think?