Baby Gates and Baby Steps

Man, blogging is hard. I have to find my camera and then download pictures (and take pictures). Getting back in to the groove is proving more difficult than I though. Add in a 5 month old who has decided he no longer has to sleep through the night (seriously kid!) and you get one tired and distracted momma.

But, we did finish a project!

May I present our new baby gate. 

Isn't it pretty? I knew I saved the door we took down for a reason! I didn't bother to do much to it- just stripped, sanded and stained, letting all of the 112 years of imperfections show. I rather like the result. It is making me want to strip every wood surface in the house. 

In bad blogger form I have no progress pictures or befores but let me tell you, this door was disgusting. Covered in at least 5 layers of paint and stain, including the beautiful hardware. 

We used a new (for us) technique for stripping that is safe and easy (two important factors with a kid in the house). A heat gun! I have another door to strip so I will be sure to include all of the details when we get there, but it is the easiest way to strip paint. Like butter under a hot knife. 

Much better than those metal things and hopefully less likely to cause major accidents. Oliver isn't crawling yet but knowing how long it took to get around to this project I'm glad we are just done.

How did you approach baby-proofing? We are going for the one little step at a time. 

Cheers!

Nursery Walls: This or That

Decisions, decisions... 

Do you like it better with dark walls?

Or a dark ceiling?

The dark walls contrast nicely with the floors and give a good grounded feeling to the room but... the dark ceiling would look fantastic with the brass chandelier and gold stars I was originally envisioning.

Think this room with a dark ceiling instead.

Stair Upgrade

One of my goals before the baby comes was to get my stairs painted and carpeted. Happy to say, I did it!

And I even managed it before Christmas came.

It was a bit of a bear of a project, requiring quite a bit more carpet that I expected. In total I used four 2x8 foot runners to go the whole length of the stairs.

It was the turn at the bottom that really did me in. Lots of cutting and piecing together to make it work. So worth it in the end though. The stairs stay cleaner (though I have to vacuum them now instead of sweep) and the carpet muffles our steps which will be great once the baby is here. No errant steps waking the sleeping beast!

I used the classic, staple as you go method, which is holding up quite well. The key is using as many staples as you can to hold everything nice and tight.

One project down!

Cheers!

Sherwin Williams- Color Visualizer

Paint and I have not been friends this year. It isn't that the colors look bad, they just never seem to be exactly what I wanted. However, I will not be deterred! I have things to paint dammit! Lots of things. The stairs are my next victim.

Now that we have beautiful floors downstairs my stairs were really looking bad. And I mean BAD. 

When I painted them white I foolishly thought "but we don't wear shoes inside, they will stay clean." Obviously that was a lie. While we don't usually wear shoes inside, we do a lot of construction- which clearly leaves a lot of dirt. The scrubbing was getting old.

We finally found a runner that I liked (this one from Urban Outfitters) so the paint was all that was holding me back. Do I try to match the floor color? Do I go bold? Black? Gah! Technology to the rescue! 

If you've never used Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer tool it's a pretty simple thing. You upload a picture of the space and use the capture tools to select the bits you want colored. I started with this picture of the stairs with the runner placed on them.

Then, I used the tools to try out two colors: Caviar and Fiery Brown. I'll let you guess which was which. 

Obviously it is not something I'd hang on the wall, but it does give me a good idea on which paint color I like better. Fiery Brown reads more rustic and old world to me and Caviar is more modern. Caviar is my top choice but my mind isn't made up. 

Have you used the color visualizer? Or something like it? I feel like it would be great for big blank spaces but it would be a bit choppy around furniture and what not. I still plan on getting paint samples before biting the bullet. I just don't trust my computer screen that much.

Cheers! 

Building Built-Ins

The fireplace built-in project is finally catching speed. We've gone from this two months ago

To this

Sanding and paint is finished. I still need to calk the shelves and re-install the seats.

Look at all that storage! Out biggest hurdle at this point though is finding trim to match the fireplace mantel. So far I can't find it anywhere, so I'm pretty sure I'll have to end up tearing the original moulding out and replacing it all but I have yet to cross that bridge. A few more days of cure time and I can start loading those puppies up with books. Oh joy!

Who loves built in storage?? This girl!

Cheers!

A New Screen Door and Another Check

Ok, so this wasn't technically on the To Be Completed list but it needed to happen. When I fixed the screen door two years ago I didn't actually finish it (yeah, not a surprise really). I never put the trim back to secure the screen and eventually it came apart. So for a year I had a screen door with no screen. Not exactly serving its purpose. This time when I stapled on my screening I actually added the trim (you can see the thin trim on the back of the screen but not the front).

Now the screen will stay put!

I used the same paint left over from the front door (Ben Moore in Wales Green). Originally I wanted to paint it a bright citrus but Daniel nixed it. Oh well, this is fun and cheery too!

 I am also happy to report that my painted rug is holding up quite nicely.  I am thinking of repainting both porches but for now they got a good washing and we are calling it done.

Slowly ticking off the boxes. Now I want to paint the back door. What do you think? Super high gloss black? Deep dark blue? A rich mocha? All I know is I want it dark.

Cheers!

 

Paint Colors

Why is it so hard to choose a paint color? These are the ones I'm working with.

Left to right: SW Ice Cube, BM White Diamond, Behr Frostwork. Not that you can really tell the difference.

I want something bright since the bathroom is windowless but I worry it is too light. Once the drywall taping is done I'll be able to get a better feel for how things are coming together but for now I'm leaning toward Ice Cube. It reads blue, grey, lavender in real life which is a little outside of my normal box but not too far.

There has got to be an easier way to pick paint. Any tips?

Cheers!

Penned In

A few days back I shared my horrible shame list of unfinished projects. Well folks, I'm here today to tell you I've crossed one off of the list. And added four more. Let's focus on the successes though right?

I got my inspiration from this baby gate that Kim @ The Newly Woodwards made and tweaked it to what I had on hand.

TaDa!

It serves two purposes. One, it keeps Norman contained when we have the front door open (which is a necessity as it heats up) and two, keeps us from being bombarded by solicitors. Since Daniel works in the front room (it has the best view) he is unable to "pretend" he is not home when people came by. Now they don't even make it to the front porch.

Boy do my stairs need painting! Ignore that bit and check out the cutest guard dog in the world.

He means business! Unless you have tasty bits, then come on in.

There you have it, one task checked off of my ever growing list. Any bets on whether or not I finish another task before I find something new to add?

Cheers!

TBC- To Be Completed

I have a problem. I like to start projects and then not finish them. It has gotten so bad that I currently have 14+ projects that are half done. So, in an effort to make myself accountable here they are. I'm laying it all out there. Don't judge people.

Or the trim in the kitchen Complete! 7/19/2013

This sliding door project for the bedroom? Nope, not done. Complete! 7/18/13

Apparently I don't like painting around trim. COMPLETED! 3/27/13 

Ceilings aren't much fun to paint either. 

That hole in the ceiling has been there 2 years.  Complete! 7/10/13

We moved the chandelier. Never patched that hole either.  Complete! 7/10/13

That's supposed to be a light switch (in my defense, this is a Daniel Project) COMPLETE! 6/2/13

I started the built-ins. Got hung up on sanding. 

My new porch gate still needs paint. COMPLETED! 3/21/13 

We never finished fixing the crack in the kitchen ceiling. 

The hood still isn't vented (**cough, cough 8 months later cough**)

I never installed the trim around the cabinets in the kitchen. 

I never actually finished painting the kitchen cabinets. 

Our bedroom door doesn't actually close. We should get on that. Complete! 7/19/13

I have a new light for this room that is gathering dust. 

I need to add more rocks to my newly expanded patio. Complete! 7/17/13 

I never got around to installing that rain barrel I bought last year. COMPLETE! 5/29/13 

Daniel and I have made a pact to not start anything new until everything else is finished. Things are going to get pretty boring around here for a while. On the plus side This is all slated for after the bathroom is finished (since that is number one priority) so you still have a few pretties to see coming up! 

Someone tell me I'm not the only one with a house full of unfinished projects. I swear, there has to be a support group out there for this. One that comes with people willing to paint.

Cheers! 

DIY House Numbers

I pinned this post about lettering wood months ago with no purpose in mind. So it sat there. Waiting for some inspiration. Then I got it! We need numbers on our front door! Ta-Da!

Before our recent tree removal finding the house was a bit of a pain. You could never really tell what the address was with all of the trees obscuring the view from the street. Now that it is open, I wanted to change that.

Jamie's tutorial was super easy to follow. Just print out what you want to letter and tape it to whatever you want.

I used Algerian font type at 400pts. The tracing was actually the hardest part. My door was not soft, nor smooth so my pencil skipped all over the place. Don't worry though, it is mostly a guide line of sorts. The whole project probably took me 2-3 hours and two coats of black paint.

Not the smoothest but I still like the over all look of the hand lettering.

Here's the door, unadorned.

And adorned.

The only downside? If I want to change the door color I'll have to repaint my numbers. Here's to hoping I don't get tired of my door any time soon.

Anyone else try there hand at hand lettering? Michelle over at Decor and the Dog made a super neat sign/ resolution reminder which I love!

Cheers!

I Hate it, Paint it.

Daniel and I have a decorating rule that says I can try anything I want as long as I am willing to change it if he doesn't like it. Until now, I've won him over with every design idea I've had. Not so much this one.

When we painted the bedroom I decided it was time to paint the hall between the bedroom and Library as well. It's a silly hall that eventually will be gone (I want to pull the bathroom out in to the space and have a Jack and Jill bathroom between the Master and the Library. Here it is in all it's lavender glory.

Since we got rid of the door from the kitchen (see the patch?) it needed some updating. I figured, I'll paint it the same color as the bedroom but half the tint. I figured that would be a lighter version of the bedroom and would make a nice transition. Well, either the paint guy screwed up or I don't understand paint because what I got was not exactly what I was expecting.

It ended up a bit darker but I thought it was fabulous! Daniel's first thought? Apparently it made him feel like he was in a cave. **sigh** A deal's a deal, so we went out and bought another gallon of paint. Martha's Morning Mist. 

Score one for compromise! (sorry for the inconsistent photos, the hall is an odd angle to shoot)

Anyone else compromising lately? I still like the darker color better but I'd rather have something we both like that something I love and he hated.

Cheers!

Bedroom Progress

We started this weekend with all sorts of plans to finish up a few projects we have been working on around here but in grand Keller fashion we decided to go to Ikea instead and start a new project that wasn't even on our radar. I know, crazy. Of course, since we decided this Saturday night I'm still putting the finishing touches on things so I thought I'd show you something we did ages ago.

Remember when we were rushing to get things done for our house inspection way back? Well part of that was giving it a paint job. That's right, I've been sitting on a Before and After for months. Bear with me folks.

Here's the bedroom right after we cleaned everything out back in July.

You can see our finished corner that we bumped out in the kitchen processes giving us a nice square room instead of a silly L-shaped one.

 My mustard dresser really clashed with those lavender walls.

Obviously we needed to paint to make it look less half done so we tried something new. Since time was of the essence we decided we would just go to the store, pick paint, and then come home and paint. No swatches, no thinking, just go with our gut instinct.

Here's how it turned out.

We ended up going with Behr's Slate Green. Which is surprisingly not very green.

I also finally splurged and got a full length mirror. Can you believe I've gone a year and half without one? I've been so happy to be able to see my see my shoes and shirt at the same time (silly I know, but it is the little things)

I'm not sure if the light is staying. It actually doesn't clash as much as I thought it would but I am still on the fence (Daniel loves it so it may take an act of God to change it).

Daniel's side of the bed.

My side of the bed. As you can see I get the dog. I've got ideas for how to hide the dog bed though. I'll keep you updated if I ever get around to it.

 You can see we have the trim up but I need to put one more coat of paint on it. I also need to paint those doors.

There you have it, a long over due reveal. Has anyone else just picked random colors and gone with it? So far it is working out for us.