The Easiest Color Choice EVER!!!

I haven't posted in a while because the craft room AKA Mother Earth and I have been having a bit of an argument lately. For some crazy reason I thought that I would just pick a color with out testing it first and paint all the walls in that color. I know, I know one should never ever do that.

Yes Dennis has even been telling me that I should have bought some testers and this is coming from the same person who ask how much money I spent on the testers for the Great Room. (I will admit that I may have purchased up to 10 testers for that room but that includes cabinet colors and wall colors.) Thank goodness Sherwin Williams had a sale going on during Thanksgiving of bring in 5 can goods and get a tester free. I filled their box up:)

Why did I think I could do this well the dining room home run gave me the brilliant idea that I could. I bought one tester and fell in love with the color. Maybe it is because I love the color gray, but I just think it is an amazing color. Ha Ha its name is Amazing Gray by Sherwin Williams. I loved it the second I put it on the wall. I believe that it will more than likely show up again in more of our rooms.

Now back to the craft room.........which will remain this color for awhile because I am sick of cutting in. Hope ya'll had a great weekend. The temperatures here were in the mid 60's and it was wonderful.

Thanks Nester for having this wonderful link for so many great colors

Green Arches Just Don't Say Home.......

I thought that I would do this post in the spring when our yard was in bloom, but since I am not 100% sure what is going to look like I figured what the heck let me show the change to our curb appeal so far. Now I like hunter green as much as the next person, but I have to tell you that this is not a typical color on our street. Most house are brick with gray, black, and white accents. Many have gorgeous wooden doors, but at last my house had to be different. Hunter green is also probably not the color that I would have chosen to paint my stucco, front door, or shutters either.

When we pulled up to our house the green arches were a little over the top, but I at least knew that stucco could be painted and would be painted very quickly once we moved in. (I should have known that was a prelude to what we would find in the house.)

I snapped these pictures the day I left for work and the painter told me that when I arrived home that I would have no more green arches. Please excuse the Christmas wreath on the front door. You have to remember we bought our house in early November and since we weren't able to decorate the inside due to the painting we put lights and decorations up out front the day after Thanksgiving. Our new neighbors children were quick to point this out to their parent, so we were told.

The painter called after painting the arches and asked if we wanted him to paint the front door a different color now I kind of wish that we had, but I have plans. We were living on a budget so we couldn't go completely wild. We are paying cash for all of are renovations so if we can't pay cash we don't do it.

Our next step is to paint the shutter ourselves....this will be fun. I am thinking black of course. We put up black shutters at our last house and I loved them. For the front door I think I want a new one something similar to this. I found it on this website. I have read some favorable reviews, but really know nothing about this company and haven't done much research so best thing to do if your interested is to ask their former customers. I have always found that happy customers are willing to sing praises and unhappy are willing to spill the beans.

Well on to more dreaming about more changes we can do.....Dennis was saying something about the counter tops in the kitchen. Is he just teasing me...........

The Incident

I love reading blogs where it seems like everything goes completely according to how they planned it. Well this is my life and I have learned that nothing ever goes according to plan and there are bumps along the road. So I am going to be honest and share one of our major bumps in the road.

The mirrors in our house are out to get us that is the only explanation that I have for the issues that we have had removing them. I mean first we had huge mirrors come crashing down as I described here. Then we had the mirror residue ruin our kitchen counter tops.

Okay so first the counter tops aren't ruined they just aren't as nice as they were when we moved in and it is all because of the mirrored backsplash. (The fact is I would prefer granite, but that is a different story.) The backsplash came down fairly easily, but left behind glue spots just like on the dining room walls.

My dad let us have some pretty gnarly adhesive remover. This stuff worked like magic. Dennis would rub it on the tile then scrape the large pieces off and then use a stiff bristle brush to remove the rest of the adhesive.........

Well we forgot to cover the countertops and a few of the large chunks landed on the top and "ate" the countertop. Literally it took the protective coast off and now we have rough spots. O' well so the counter top isn't perfect but I have learned how to strategically hide the spots. I have the spoon rest over one, a frame over another and the salt and pepper shakers over another. That only leaves one noticeable spot and I can deal with that. By the way the tile isn't perfect either but it is much much better than the mirrors.

So yes we may DIY things ourselves but hey we make mistakes just like everyone. Things aren't always going to go according to plan and you have to learn to live with it. Roll with the punches.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Great Room Make Over...Part 1

First and foremost let me first apologize for the sorry state of the after pictures. I have a new camera, that is actually a very good camera. Well the user..me...decided to tweak it. Not a good plan. I am trying to figure out how to get it back to the factory settings so I can not touch it from there. The 20 page get started booklet was not very useful. Right now it ranks right up there with the evil cable company. I should have better ones shortly.

Well we are back in the land of the living. I must admit that I wasn't the one that was sick, but Dennis was probably sicker than he has ever been in the almost eight years we have been together. I learned one thing about him being sick, boy he sure can whine about it.......

I thought it was about time to show everyone where we were at in our great room redo. As you can see by the before pictures if the full length mirrors on the foyer wall didn't make us run screaming out of the house when we came for a viewing than the color overload might have. I had to have a bit of an imagination to see the possibilities and Dennis did twist my arm a little to see past the colors and my dislike of the cabinets to see the houses true potential. Plus come spring wait till you see our yard. (By far the best part of our house when we moved in.)

There were six different colors in the room. Now granted our great room combines the family room, kitchen, and breakfast area, but still that is a little much since many of the colors were not complimentary. In fact as the cable guy put it we looked like we lived in an ice cream parlor. Hmm....I am not real sure that was a compliment.

Our cabinets were pickled oak and the counter tops are a solid surface. I wanted all of the cabinets painted but haven't quite decided yet if the countertops need to be changed. I am leaning on changing them because of the "incident." I will have to explain the incident in a different post because it is a bit detailed. Lets just say it didn't involve me and a blow torch, but it was very toxic.

Let me get back on track.....we had to buy a new refrigerator since there wasn't one with this house and our old one conveyed with the sell of our old house. Yes I know it doesn't match but there is a plan to get all new appliances. We also bought all new pulls for the kitchen, family room, and dining room. Plus new paint everywhere including the cabinets. We also purchased new sofas. Hip, Hip, Hooray. Our old sofa is now in the Florida Room/Dog Room. Those sofas sure have held up. I purchased them when I moved out on my own at 19.

I am going to admit our painter painted the cabinets and the crown molding. Our crown molding was not the same color as the rest of the molding in the house. Our painter happened to find out the hard way that all of the moldings were initially painted with oil base paint but then painted over with latex so we will have to redo the rest of the molding eventually. Fortunately he didn't charge us extra for his extra work of sanding and repainting the crown molding.

We did a few things ourselves. We painted the walls with the help of my mother-in-law. We removed the mirror back splash from behind the counters. I also deep cleaned all of the grout. A little vinegar, baking soda and brute force drastically changed the color.

I am sure you noticed this was Part 1. We have a few more projects to finish before I will consider it finished.

1. A new dishwasher - Stainless (Ours is new but I would never recommend this dishwasher to anyone.)
   


2. A new range and hood - Stainless
   


3. A new coffee and end table.
   


4. We need some extra seating.
   


5. Redo the kitchen stools that old owners left.
   


6. Purchase a bigger table.
   


7. Decorate - Art on the walls and curtains. (I need to decide to keep the blinds or not.)
   
   
   
   
   

I could go on and on and on about the future but I will save that for later. Back to trying to paint over Mother Earth. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

I Hope To Be Back Shortly!

The flu bug has hit our house. I was right in the middle of painting over Mother Earth, who I might add is revolting when the bug struck.

I hope to be back with our family room makeover along with some crafts after the weekend. Toasting you with some Thera Flu.

I Miss That Kitchen!!

First and foremost WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!!! Yes that is the way that I go. Our house is divided though and Dennis is an Alabama fan. O' well I will be saying Roll Tide this weekend in honor of my babysister's first track meet of the season on the University of Alabama's team.

Now that we have been in our house for two months I am realizing that though I love my new house there are things about our old house that I truly miss.

Number #1 on the list is the kitchen. It wasn't because it was huge, and it wasn't completely opened to the rest of the house, but it was everything that I liked. Everything in it was exactly what I wanted and had picked out.

I have a few before and after picture that I can share but unfortunately most of the pictures were on a computer that was stolen. Hence one of the reasons we sold our house. (That they broke in during the middle of the day with one of my dogs there gave me an extremely uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake.)

I pretty much decided that the kitchen needed to be redone long before Dennis and I actually were married. I think you can see why it was just not cutting it at all. To top it off you can't see inside the sink but it was just gross.

I started off the whole project painting the counter tops, which I describe here. That was all I was going to do at least that's what I told Dennis. Little did he know. Instead we almost did a complete overhaul, everything except the floors.

I liked the results of the painted counter tops but since I scorched it in a couple of places (I probably shouldn't be trusted around blow torches) I decided to look at other options. I priced laminate, but found a great deal on a granite slab. I know some say granite is overdone, but I still love it.

We were very lucky and did the whole kitchen for under $2,000. That includes granite, a new fridge, new oven range, new hood, all new hardware, new sink, new lighting, and a new faucet. My in-law's bought us the fridge. I found the pulls at Lowe's but found them much, much cheaper on line. I did buy all the hinges at Lowe's though. The range was such a pain you can't imagine. Since the oven was considered a "drop-in" there aren't that many options available. Plus with the bar behind it the range could only be a certain dimension. Well at least I scored a deal. I bought the range at Lowe's but still looked for it elsewhere. Once I found it somewhere else, I went to Lowe's showed them the print out and they refunded me the difference I paid plus 10%. I ended up getting about $400 off the original price.

Working for a construction company sometimes has its perks. The granite sink was free from one of my plumbers. He it had it left over from a customer who changed their mind. Plus the lighting through out the house and the faucet were all at cost through suppliers that we know.

I painted all of the cabinets but it took me a little longer than it should have. Lets just say our friends got real use to us having open cabinetry. I got rather bored with the process and the cabinets sat unfinished for months. I finally finished the whole kitchen and I couldn't have been happier with the results. Then less then a year later we sold our house and moved away. The kitchen is for sure one of the things I miss the most.

Dear old kitchen I miss your sunshiny feeling, but I know your new owners love you.

This is how the new owners found the kitchen when they moved in.

Partying at Thrifty Decor Chick

Dining Room & Foyer - Before and After

• Okay so most of the dining room and foyer pictures that were taken before are not that good. Why do you ask? Well it is rather hard to take pictures of rooms that have huge mirrors. Every angle that I would shoot from would flash back at me or I would be glaringing (is that a word) in the picture. So most of the pictures are from when the mirrors were removed, the little round spots are the glue that ruined the drywall.
  
  When you entered into our front door door the whole wall on your left was full of floor to ceiling mirrors. On your right as you peered into the dining room that whole wall was mirrors from the chair rail to the ceiling. The former owner had used the dining room as the work out room.
  
  

Well to say the least I was not huge fan of the mirror, but Dennis must have been even less of a fan because we had been in the house for a little more than a week when he jumped off the couch on a Sunday afternoon and started prying the mirrors loose. Yes, I know you are supposed to tape the mirrors up but sometimes my voice of reason isn't always heard.
















Well the huge floor to ceiling mirrors popped off pretty much without a problem, but the dining room mirrors were a horror show waiting to happen. I knew there were going to be problems when both of the mirrors popped free at the same time and Dennis wanted me to hold one of them up. Let me just tell you the mirror was stinking heavy and I had visions of the other one crashing on my head and then into a million pieces. I was wearing shorts so I was being a little girly and didn't want to cut my legs all up.


When I freaked out, which never happens, I was told to get out. I then shut the pocket door and heard the most horrific crash that has taken place in my house. Luckily Dennis was fine, but I did shed a few tears.....I have no idea what was wrong with me that day.

Well when the mirrors came down we of course were not luckily enough to just be able to paint over the spots. Of course not it never works out that way for us, so we hired a drywall re finisher since our walls are very heavily textured. We could have done this ourselves but we were under a serious time constraint because Dennis' family was coming to town for Christmas.

Thankfully everything was finished and ready for furniture and the Christmas Tree in the nick of time. I put the decorations up in under a week, had furniture delivered and my wonderful husband put together the chairs from Target. My dad even helped out and picked the table up from Pier 1 a little more than a week before Christmas. To say the least I didn't think it was going to happen, but our dining room was in almost tip-top shape in time for the rest of our families to see it at Christmas.















Here is a rundown of everything that we did to the dining room after cleaning up all of the trillion mirror shards.

• Patched the Drywall
• Painted every surface except the two built in cabinets and the ceilings
• Changed the foyer light from a pendant light to a lamp shade
• Bought all new dining room furniture
• Bought rugs for both the dining room and foyer
  

Things to still do

• Rip of the shiny tile in foyer


• I am not the biggest fan of the laminate floor in our dining room and I would love to eventually have hard wood.


• Exchange the ceiling fan in the dining room for a nice chandelier.

• Buy drapes.
  
  
  

And for those of you that like details

• Paint - Sherwin Williams - Amazing Grey


• Table - Pier One - $399.00


• Chairs - Target - On clearance $74.99 for two. Yippee and look even better in person

• Dining Room Rug - Home Depot - $76.50 - On sale


• Foyer Rug - Lowe's - $54.00


• Foyer Shade - Lowe's - $21.00


• Foyer Mirror - Antique from Egypt


• Dining Room Buffet - Craigslist - $135.0 0 - (Willett)
  
  

  

I am so happy to actually have a dining room table. I just wish that the dining room was a bit larger, but just smile that I can fit eight family/friends at our table. Yes it may be a squeeze, but I still love it and wouldn't have any other way

Hope ya'll enjoyed:)



Partying at Thrifty Decor Chick

2011 Goals

Of course I have major goals for 2011 since we just moved into our house two months ago yesterday.

Goal #1. Paint over Mother Earth and The Dragon. Seriously Mother Earth and The Dragon are haunting my dreams. Of course we inherited these. I would never have a room called lemon zest. Plus you will have to wait for the unveiling of the dragon. Believe me it is worth the wait.

Goal #2. To Blog more often. I have so many before and afters already that I just need to get up. Our friends and family keep saying that can't believe what we have done in two months.

Goal #3. I use to think I was computer savvy until this whole blog world entered my life now I want to have one of those blogs everyone checks out. Instead of drooling over all of those blogs that I love maybe I need to read up on how to create a wonderful blog. I also would like to take better pictures. Hence I need a better camera.

Goal #4. I need to work on the bathrooms in our house. We have a bathroom that has six colors and the another one that literally glows in the dark. Help it is our master bath and we don't have a door between our bedroom and bathroom. (Note to self next time while looking for houses make sure that is a priority. I didn't find that out there wasn't a door until the day after we moved in and I went to take a shower.)

Goal #5. Shiny tile in the foyer is never a good thing, it needs to be gone.

Goal #6. I want to finish my craft room and actually do crafts. What a novel idea.

Goal #7. Is one that I will do no matter what...I will go to at least two of my baby sister's track meets. She is a sophomore at the University of Alabama and it is the only time I whole heartily root for Alabama. Other than that I am an Auburn fan, please please win the national championship.

Goal #8. To have actual patio furniture. We have a great patio, but no furniture. I am so looking forward to the warm summer nights outside with the my husband, friends and dogs. Maybe even an big crawfish boil sometime in March (my mouth is watering already).

I am sure that I will have more goals that will come to mind but I don't won't to overwhelm myself. I think that posting more than once a week may put me over the edge.

I also have remember that this is what we started with in our family room and now it looks totally different and that will be what my next post is all about. So I know that I can do anything given time and patience. Yep two things that I lack.