0 My office is coming along

I'm not the kind of DIY home blogger that gets all crazy in the home and then posts a big reveal of what I've done. Oh no, that's not my style. {Kudos to you, if it's yours}

I hate surprises and secrets, so I would rather just show you the day-to-day and the in-progress photos, even if I plan to change things down the road. And because my home is forever in a state of change, and nothing is completed yet, all I can really show you is where it is at any given moment. 

So my office. It's our second guest room. It's also the cats' room. I know, they get their own room? Silly, but necessary, as I am past the point of keeping their litter boxes and food in my bedroom closet. It's pretty much the most multi-use room of the house. I love it.

I painted it a really pretty soft robins egg blue. The light that streams in through the West facing windows is always bright and cheerful. The small white vintage desk I found on Craigslist is the perfect size for the corner, and even though it was dangerously close to falling out of my open trunk on the way home and got banged up by my trunk lid closing on it repeatedly, it still makes me incredibly happy. 

I mentioned yesterday that I re-purposed all of my vendor table decorations in the office. It's true, that place looks like a Pinterest party exploded on it. I found a super cute scroll framed mirror and a white lace shade lamp from Target, hung up a shelf for my Best of Weddings plaques, haphazardly threw up some picture frames, and a magnetic dry erase calendar I thought would be useful. I think it turned out pretty nice.

That big space next to the desk is just begging for a big comfy and colorful chair. I am hunting for something that is just right, which is harder to achieve than I had imagined. I need to replace the folding chair with a fun desk chair, too. It seems like chairs are on my brain.

Those drawer knobs {similar here} are from Target! Yes, my desk is missing a drawer. That's how I bought it. I plan on putting a basket or something in there to fill the hole. Currently it's housing a few picture frames and other odds and ends. I'm really good at finding places to put my messy piles of junk. That's my way of cleaning, shuffling piles and hiding it ;)

So there you have it, my unfinished office. The other side of the room has cat food bowls and a cat bed. Not much to see, really.

Detail: My office is coming along

0 favorite new Etsy shop

While I was voraciously consuming paint color options on Pinterest the other day, I stumbled upon a gorgeous fine art photo print of a dandelion in the color scheme I am looking to splash all over the great room. 

I of course clicked through to the Etsy shop, and couldn't help clicking through the rest of her photos. In doing so, I fell in love. 

Lisa Russo Fine Art is amazing. I love all of the pastel processes she puts on her photos, and how soft, beachy, and inviting the pictures are. I guess I  really like that shabby chic, cottage feel the photos evoke. Didn't really realize that until now haha

Here are some of my favorites

I think at least a few of these will be purchased to put in the Ugly Duckling. Lisa offers photo prints, and wrapped canvases, which I am super excited about. 

Detail: favorite new Etsy shop

0 Project Ugly Duckling: I hate my paint

Well, I don't hate all of my paint. I really like my dining room and kitchen dark gray. I am just not loving the accent wall and the light gray I picked for practically everywhere else. Instead of warming up the space harmoniously, I have successfully separated it with very harsh, bold colors. Le sigh. Why is paint so hard to figure out? You like a color, it should look good. A paint chip, or even a sample on the wall, can be so misleading. I had thought I was on the right track...

Pretty colors, separately. Together? Not so much. Cold. Harsh. Not inviting.

The original was way worse, so at least the yellow is gone from the space.

I have decided I need to go in a different direction. I still love the idea of the accent wall being in the turquoise family, I just think I need to go waaaay lighter. Like using the color I had picked out for the master bedroom, Palladian blue. If I already have it on hand, I might as well use it,  right?

As for the rest of the walls? I am thinking a much warmer greige instead of a silver will be better. Like Revere Pewter, which is hard to pin down if it's gray or beige from photo to photo.

Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue and Revere Pewter

Iron Mountain, my dining/kitchen color

I think these colors will go well together and compliment the tan tile. Much better than my current picks. Also, funny enough, my new couch has accent pillows with beige and light blue dots on it, so maybe that is telling me something. Oh, like, those colors look good together? I have mentioned before that I am not a DIY or crafty person. I guess I just went with colors I liked the look of, rather than figured out how it would actually look together. 

So the first thing I will be doing once I get back to Texas later this month is repaint the great room. Now, does anyone know if Home Depot takes returns on unopened gallons of paint? I have 4 gallons of the French Silver that I don't know what to do with if I replace it with the Revere Pewter

Detail: Project Ugly Duckling: I hate my paint

0 Project Ugly Ducking: beadboard wallpaper

I'm back from Austin and ready to get you up to speed on some of my projects I attempted while I was out there.

First of all, I completely take back what I said in this post, about being able to cut and paste wallpaper onto a wall. I thought it would be easy peasy. I was wrong. And I don't admit that often.

It may not have been easy, and it definitely made me worried before the end that it would turn out horribly, but I have to say, I am completely impressed with the end results. 

Remember my ugly yellow dining room? Honestly, it's not that ugly, I just don't like yellow.

 I applied my beadboard wallpaper, with much swearing, unhappiness, and worry once it was up. It was not as easy as I had thought, or the Amazon reviews led me to believe. You see how unevenly I cut the bottom of those strips under the window? Yeah, there was a lot of stuff that happened like that that made me wonder if I was going to be ripping off the wallpaper very soon. I went forward with painting anyway. Two coats of ultra pure white semi-gloss acrylic paint later, and I was feeling much better about the whole project. The strips of dark gray wall that were showing before were suddenly hidden, and it looked much better.

The finished product with a chair rail above it. That chair rail was another issue all together. I bought two long pieces and brought them home with a plastic miter box and back saw I had picked up at Home Depot, but realized I couldn't cut them myself. I re-bought the chair rail at Lowe's, but had a lumber guy cut it down for me. The cuts weren't perfect, and didn't have them cut on angles so they would fit together, but I made it work. Just don't look too closely haha

Please excuse the ceiling edges that still need paint, I ran out. I'll finish that when I head back to Austin, permanently, in a few weeks. Also, I love my new couch.

Detail: Project Ugly Ducking: beadboard wallpaper

0 House Love Pinspiration

Warning: this blog will probably take on a home improvement feel as I get the my new place set up. Hopefully you don't mind me sharing all my painting, decorating, and DIY attempts that are bound to go wrong. This happy girl isn't a very DIY kinda person, and lacks the ability to finish those cool Pinterest inspired crafts I want to achieve. Speaking of Pinterest, I have a whole board dedicated to future decor, and it is inspiring me like crazy, thus the dark gray dining room I posted yesterday. Seriously, what would I do without Pinterest? I am so not creative when it comes to style and decor. I tend to get all matchy-matchy, and blah blah blah with decor. Not fun when you have a big beautiful house to decorate.

I've decided to call the decorating of my home Project Ugly Duckling, because it's all yellow, and ugly. Hopefully I can get it to look like a graceful, elegant, beautiful swan by the time it grows up..er, I finish.

Here are some of my favorites pins that are currently driving the redecorating of my home.

I am petitioning Billy to allow me to get a natural colored dining room table, as he is set on a dark color. And that chandelier, omg I need it.  Too bad Egyptian glass chandeliers are quite pricey. I may just have to get a knock-off, or find a way to put aqua covers on a different chandelier. Either way, I am getting something like that. I've already found an identical rug for only $100 at Garden Ridge, and know where to find a table very similar to this.

Because our kitchen, dining, and living rooms are all in the same space as a great room, I wanted to be able to have a color scheme that sort of played off each part, while individualizing the spaces. The living room will have a dark turquoise accent wall like this, and we just ordered a gray sectional to fill up the space. The rest of the walls will be Behr ultra in French Silver, a really light gray color that is a great neutral to run throughout the house. I can't wait to see it all together! 

We chose Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore and will be looking for big dark furniture for our bedroom. We won't be doing anything to our room or bath for quite some time, though. We prioritized our projects, and the master is last since it will generally only be seen by us. It's currently a non-aggravating cream and sage green right now, which is a relief from the yellow everywhere else. And wow, are houses expensive! Everything you change or do to them quickly rack up the $$.

{You have to check out Bower Power, where the bottom photo of the painted walls came from, and see the amazing, fun projects they get up to!}

Our guest bath is plain ugly. Or plain and ugly. Either way, it's not fun and needs some love. I am digging the idea of gray and purple together, I just don't know what I would prefer to have on the walls versus as accents. 

And that's about it for Pinspiration right now. I have to focus on a few projects at a time, or my brain might explode from choices, decisions, and start hemorrhaging from the quickly disappearing bank account. 

Detail: House Love Pinspiration

0 Moving stage 2 complete

Whoa Nelly, it's been daaaayyys.

Okay, let's catch up! 

First and foremost, Billy and I are homeowners!! 

We closed on our house October 11th. I am so very happy the whole loan process is over with. It was such a headache. I was cautioned that the buying process would be a hassle, but I think I may have underestimated it. 

Next, stage 2 of the move is complete! Mom and I drove a moving truck, with my two cats in a crate, 30 hours to Austin. I was so worried that the kitties would freak out and yowl the whole way, but with some calming collars and a pheromone spray, they were so good and barely made a peep. I do think they are a little traumatized, however they will get over it quickly now that they have their very own room in our new house.

Rolling down MY street, to MY house for the first time was surreal. I got so giddy, and immediately ran into my house to check that it was still as awesome as I remembered.

And then I killed a tiny baby scorpion in the dining room. No joke, it really happened. 

Welcome to Texas, y'all.

We unpacked the truck and ended up getting the kitchen unpacked, but I have pretty much left everything else for when I head back next week. I did manage to get the dining room painted, because I was dead set on getting rid of some of the awful yellow that covers the entire house. Why the previous owners were so yellow happy is beyond me. I'm not kidding, both guest rooms, the hallways, the living room, kitchen and dining room are all a very heavy mustard, or what I termed "Corona with a lime in it" yellow. Wanna see? Oh, twist my arm...Here are some cell shots I took as I ran around the house before unloading my stuff inside.

Kitchen and dining room from the living room

Living room {and soon to be turquoise accent wall} from the hallway

buttery yellow dining room, and scene of the scorpion murder

kitchen

living room and fireplace from kitchen {and the door to the master bedroom}

Don't think for a minute that I wouldn't share an in-process photo of the painted dining room! I have to buy a ladder to finish the edges, and probably do a lot of touch ups once I am back out there next week, but oh my goodness, what a difference a coat of paint makes! I want to put wainscoting or beadboard and a chair rail on the bottom half of the walls, but was intimidated by the prospect of having to cut the wood board to accommodate our low windows. Then I stumbled onto the genius idea of wainscoting wallpaper. Um, even I can cut paper and paste it to a wall. 

 I chose Behr ultra in Iron Mountain, and I love it. I had my heart set on a darker shade of gray called wet asphalt, but the test patch looked black at night, and my mom talked me out of turning my dining room into a dark cave.
Those two bottom photos are from Southern Hospitality Blog when Rhoda did her bathroom with beadboard wallpaper. I am completely inspired and cannot wait to attack this project.

Unfortunately, I am stuck in California this week, and won't be able to  get my hands on some paint and wallpaper until next week when I visit Billy for his birthday. My man is going to be 31! Aside from painting, I plan on grocery shopping and making a bunch of freezer meals to last him the 3 weeks until I move out there for good.

And man, I am ready to be completely moved and living with my hubby again. This back and forth business is for the birds.

So there you are, all caught up to where I am now. Come back tomorrow for my Pinterest inspiration for the rest of the house!

Detail: Moving stage 2 complete