The Design Itch

Well I'm back on the horse with decorating my house. There's just one or two small problems:

One) I kinda want to change the color scheme down stairs. And upstairs. And in my bedroom. And guest room. And bathroom. And anywhere else I forgot. Two) I've been somewhat planning to purchase the rest of our furniture, decor and what not with my new found extra income. Income that currently does not exist. Ergo, I gots no money to redecorate my house.  

So instead I shall obsessively plan what I want to do when we get money. 

Firstly, the changes. Currently I have a very light scheme downstairs. Light blue-green walls, light flax couch, light beige and gray curtains, white, dark blue, and green accents accents. There is some black in there but it is only because it is furniture I haven't replaced yet. 

What I want, is something a little more bold, fresh, and edgy. Something that pushes my out of my comfort zone and makes me say "yes! I love this!". I see decor like this all the time. (Thank you pinterest.) But, for whatever reason, when I planned the room I went a different direction. Basically, I like the room but I don't love the room. To me, the space is nice, and pretty but kinda borders on a shabby chic vibe and I don't want that. Its a little too girly for me. 

Basically, what I'd like to add is a LOT more black and white. 

Here's what I have in mind:

The Living Area

The current state of things. 

(Sorry the pics are poorly colored. I took them in the evening. But you get the jist) 

 

CHANGE THE RUG!!!!

I have honestly never really liked the rug. I settled on it out of desperation one day after finding out the rug that I had spent months searching for was permanently out of stock. 

Change out the throw pillows. 

Black and white please. 

Couch table. 

The floor space behind the couch is quite large and can easily accommodate something. 

Runner

Again, empty floor space. 

Entertainment center

Currently we are using an Ikea book shelf. It's the wrong design style, and too short for our 60 inch telly. 

Coffee table

Throw in the trash. ASAP. Seriously though. I have wanted a new one since I said "I Do"

Realistically it will end up in the loft where I will try to repaint. Another room in desperate need of a redesign and furniture. 

Art. 

Less pastel, more B&W.

Curtains?

I hate to get rid of them. I JUST got them about 3 months ago. What if I changed the bottom band to black?

And if I'm feeling really randy...

A New couch. 

I know. I know. I blathered on and on and on about getting a new couch. How could I possibly want a new one already? Well, see the thing is, I'd actually like something a little bigger, a little darker, and a little more squishy? Kinda like exactly what I had in mind to get for the LR in the first place. A dark gray, velvet, 2 piece couch set. Our couch now is good. And I can certainly live with it. But I'd love to stick it up in the loft where currently an old gross futon resides.   

Repaint the baseboards and ceilings. 

Our house came with every surface a light beige color. Walls. baseboards. Doors. Ceilings. White, would pop out the colors so much better than the beige that is there now. But, its a ton of work. And probably not a ton of payoff. 

Here is a mock up of what I have in mind. 

So that's the plan. Or wish. Opinions? Thoughts? 

We'll talk more. 

Love ya 

Oh! Hello there!

Oh Hi! 

Remember me? 

No? 

Don't blame you. 

So, I wont take up a thousand pages by trying to catch you up on the last forever ago. For those of you who read my blog, aka mom, you know I've been busy. Actually, busy is an understatement. I've been immersed  engrossed, my life was taken over completely by nursing school. Fourth semester kicked. my. butt! It was by far the worst semester ever. So between that, and then studying for NCLEX I've been... unavailable to say the least.   

Long story short, I AM A NURSE!!!! A real bonafide, licensed registered nurse. 

ARE YOU SERIOUS???? I CAN SAVE LIVES PEOPLE! 

Anyway, now I'm job hunting. Fun. (insert heavy sarcasm) 

Thank you everyone for your support and positivity throughout this entire process. It was appreciated more than you know. I love you!

I found them sleeping like this. The pic is bad cause it was super dark but I was afraid if I turned the light on they would move.

 My best friend and I on graduation day.

 Britt and I

Happy Heathered Hutch

I promised you I'd post pictures once I finished the hutch and so I am here to make good. 

First, lets revisit the before. 

Its hard to see cause I took these pics in my garage at night but its a dingy white with pink painted on the spindles and hardware.  

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I took a few leaps of faith with this one. First, I bought the paint without sampling it first. Scary! It was almost a mistake cause in my bad lighting I thought it was way too white but then in the daylight (the next day) it was the perfect shade. 

Second I distressed it with a glaze. I'd never done this before but after reading a few tutorials and watching a youtube video or two it seemed fairly easy. In theory it is very easy. You basically wipe on the paint and then wipe off what you don't want. Unless you're a perfectionist like me who had the HARDEST time with messing up my perfect-brush-line-free paint job I had just worked so hard to achieve. What should have probably taken a little over an hour took more like four. It kind went like this paint glaze on, wipe parts off, stare at it a while, decide it was too much, wipe off more, stare at it more, realize I wiped off too much, add more, stare, wipe, stare, add, stare, just start the whole process all over again. But its done and I will say over analyzer aside, I am really happy with the results. 

The third problem I ran into were the handles. I loved their pretty antique look but I could not get the original paint of them for anything. I researched how to do it to death! I soaked them in my crock pot for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT, I added soap, I added laundry detergent, I scrubbed with a nylon brush, a metal stripping brush, and steel wool. I soaked them in chemical stripper, strong stripper, this stuff melted my "stripper safe" gloves in seconds and left me with a lovely chemical burn. But. That. Paint. Did. Not. Budge. So finally I gave up and painted them with my brass paint. They look...ok. They would have been infinitely better if I had been able to regain their natural antique brass shine. They would have fit the look of the hutch so much better. Instead they are little gold glowing beacons of light. I'm going to try going over them with the same glaze I distressed the hutch with to try and tone it down some. I'll let you know how it goes. 

"Resistance is futile!" ~ handles. 

Table isn't done yet. I do have a goal to get all of the sanding done by the end of this week. Its a tall tall order my friend. Tall. But at least I can try. And then if I do maybe, someday you'll actually get to see it. So here it is all done in all its glory! 

 

Oh ya, look what I got! 

Its just a lovely as you'd imagine it to be. I love it! 

Merry March!

Ok so, I'm over apologizing for not posting more regularly. I'm busy. Everyone knows it. Lets move on to the update shall we? 

What have I been up to, other than studying, since we last talked. Lots actually! I think I shall move from furthest to most recent. Actually, strike that. We'll discuss in whatever order I remember. Ok? Oh and just so you know this is going to mostly consist of house updates because lets face it, that's pretty much the only other thing I have going on in my life right now :)

This is probably gonna be long so if you need a snack or something grab it now.

Well, in case you didn't already know, we painted our ENTIRE downstairs, the most beautiful shade of light warm blue with just a hint of mint. For the first few days after we painted, every single time we walked in the room one of us would say, "I can't believe how good it looks!" Its that good. (ignore the ugly black and white thing. Its on its way out the door)


We painted our MB. A soothing dark concrete gray. Johnnypoo was unsure of this color at first but since he loves me so much he let me go for it. Once it was done he was just as in love with it as I am. When you live in a place like Arizona that nothing but hot and brown everywhere you look a cool gray bedroom is just the ticket. And the curtains that I (finally) made look fabulous in there.

Another addition to the bedroom is a gorgeous antique dresser that was gifted to us by a dear friend-relative. (don't ask its complicated) She needed quite a bit of love though but I knew she would be B-E-A-UTIFUL when I was done with her. So I stripped her down and dressed her up in a pretty clean shade of high gloss warm white. I wanted to strip the handles but I got impatient so I painted them with one of my favorite's Rustoleum's Brass.

I have joined the masses and "hacked" two Ikea Rast's for our nightstands. I love their simple lines and perfect height. Plus its some nice added storage which you can never have too much of. They both got several coats of the same white I used on the dresser and some fancy brass Martha knobs to dress them up a bit. The knobs set us back almost as much as the nightstands but they really added the finishing touch we were looking for so we took the plunge. (I'll try to take a better picture another time.)

Did you know they are building a temple right down the street from our house. Cool huh!  

WE FINALLY BOUGHT NEW COUCHES!!!!!!!!
I mean really. If you have spoken with me in the last year and a half at all there is a good chance that at some point I have brought up the loathe I felt over the couches we had. So you must know this is by far the most exciting thing to happen in our house this year. We ended up getting something that was not even close to what I was originally looking for. I had set out to find a set of gray velvet couch and love-seat but what we ended up with were these! And I LOVE THEM!!!!

After quite a little roller-coaster I ended up scoring an awesome antique dining room table. I'll get into the whole story another day but just know it was emotional. The table is just perfect. Or will be when I get done with it. Originally I had set out to find a rectangle farmhouse table but after a little thought decided a round would look much better in the little spot we have. This one is great cause its an extension and came with not one but two leaves so this puppy gets big! But you know the best part? At the bottom of the pedestal it has brass claw feet. Did you read that? BRASS. CLAW. FEET. The second I saw those little jewels on the bottom of that table I knew it had to be mine. We don't have chairs yet but I didn't really want matching chairs anyway so I look forward to the adventure of finding some I like.

 I got this great basket from Goodwill to put our throws in. Jax decided he liked it for himself better. 

 Sweet boy. So tired from  playing outside all day

 Sundae approves of the new couches. 

 I made ribs for the first time. They were good but we both decided Famous Dave's is better. Guess I'll have to try again. ;)

I scored a great antique little girls book case off Craigslist that I plan to use as a hutch. I have a wee niche-corner-thingy that can't fit a "normal" sized hutch but desperately needed something so I had to get a little creative. My fingers are literally covered in paint as I type cause I just got done putting on the second coat but it is lookin good!

(before) 

Did you know that you can take old paint off your hardware by soaking it overnight in a crockpot? So easy right? 

Look how great these turned out! 

I made a great friend at school whom I have become instantly close with due to the abnormally huge amount of things we have in common. Her fiance is in construction and guess what he did for us? Installed a cat door!!!! Yay! No more staying up until 430am to let Jax inside! The cats are kind of unsure of it and still paw at the door for about 11 minutes before decided the door wont decapitate them if they go through but they are using it and we are all happier!

Lastly an IDIOT named Smoody (yes that's his real name) hit my car. I'm fine. I walked away unscathed since I'm virtually invincible but our cheapo little commuter turned out to be worth the same amount as the repairs so they totaled it. So now instead of the surprise vacation that my husband was planning to take me on during my spring break this week we get to stay home and go car shopping instead. YAY! Right? right? No not really. Don't ask where the trip was to. I don't know. Hubs wont tell me cause he says he wants to try again soon but I'm heartbroken cause I love me a good surprise and would have just loved this. Plus I  really really needed a getaway. But I'm trying to do that whole glass is half full thing so I am grateful I wasn't injured and I'm grateful that we have the money to buy another car. And we've already re booked the getaway so I'll tell you about it when we go.

Ok Love ya guys. I'll post pics of the hutch and the table when I get finished with them!

ps. My cell phone was also broken in the accident which sadly, contained a lot of my before pictures so you'll have to use your imagination on some things.