Liveable Living Room

We have a living room, you know. With so much going on in the office, the hallways, the kids' rooms, etc, don't think that we've forgotten about the living room. It has been and is currently under construction, but i thought i'd share a quick update on where we started with that room and how far it's come.

These pics were taken at our final walk-through:

Look at the curtain rods the former owners had up there. Heavy, dark, homemade, and right above the window. I knew they were homemade because they were...pretty effed up. Some were missing ends, some were hung at slightly different heights, and mind you, NONE of them were the same length. None. We have five windows that are the same size in this room, and none of these had rods of equal lengths. ("There are 15 people in this house and you're the only one who has to make trouble!") So when we threw all our shit in the house, one of the first things i did was rip them out, throw them like a gladiator into Arizona because have you been to that state??, then patch the holes.

The yellow coffee table? That had to be changed because wine (couch) with mustard (table) does not a happy tummy make. I made that magic happen with spraypaint and time, which is also how i do my makeup.

I don't know. Maybe it's personal preference because we've gotten compliments on the color scheme, but being surrounded by peanut butter and chocolate walls is not my idea of a good time no matter what i'm drinking. There are ten windows in this half of the floor alone and having such dark colors on the walls really did this place a disservice. So i changed the color to Behr's Wheat Bread. It's one shade darker than Chocolate Froth (in the hallway) on the same color card, and i thought it was important to have colors that blended well together in such connected spaces. (Don't talk to me about the dining room. I lost that one when i married.)

Don't mind the mantle and off-putting xmas decorations. These pics were taken during the fall & winter decor switchout. And did you notice that the entertainment center was downsized? Post coming soon.

Ugh, that fan looks dirty. We need a new fixture.

Wheat Bread. How unappetizing. Why don't they name colors awesome things? I'm gonna do that right now. From now on, Behr's Wheat Bread will now be called Timberwolf's Taint. It's a lovely, warm shade a gray with hints of field mouse. ...Still more appetizing than wheat bread.

I can't wait to redo this kitchen! Why oak?? Having orange flooring isn't enough that they felt the need to make me store my dishes in it, too? Here's the rundown:

After i rip out the 4" waste of space and money that is the granite "backsplash," i'll TILE that sucker (which is why you're still seeing the chocolate color behind there...why paint it if we're just going to cover it up?). The tile, you ask? EXTREME CLOSE-UP!

Yes. It's blue. Don't doubt me. This will work.

Also, people thought i was crazy when i broke branches off a dead tree in my backyard and spraypainted them. I threw 'em up on my cabinets and decked them out with ornaments. HAPPY CHRISTMASTIMES.

Here's our "mudroom" since we always use the back door (shut up):

IKEA's Raskog cart in turquoise stores our shoes and bags.

Above the cart is Winston, our dear deer friend. Not a Christmas decoration, just a poor lost soul i found on sale for $12 at TJMaxx so we could hang our keys on his head.

As for DVD storage/side table, remember this guy??

Well, his undercarriage was busted in the first move. I blamed Chris, Chris blamed a fat squirrel. Something tells me we'll never get to the bottom of this, so i bought a basket to put our DVD's in and threw it in the bottom of the cart. Still functional!

So, not bad progress, right?

New paint did a lot to this place and we're doing what we can to make it appealing to and functional for us. It's not where we want it quite yet, but as my favorite nine-year old neighbor said, "This place is really coming along."

They're back! (A Tutorial)

Remember the picture shelves from the old house? I loved them so much that i brought 'em back! Only this time, i used door moulding from an actual door that we bought since we had to replace the door to the walk-up in the basement because of some water damage.

So, free shelves. I measured where i wanted them, which happened to be the side of the stairwell. It was the only space that made sense out of all the walls in this window-filled house (not complaining). So they couldn't be even like they were in the last house, and i had to make a lightswitch work for me, but i think i did an OK job planning this out. After Chris made the cuts and screwed them into the wall for me, i taped them off so i could begin work on them.

Since this moulding was removed from a door instead of just buying it on the shelves, it's a little bit bent and bowed and had a noticeable gap when screwed flat against the wall:

Nothing that some caulk can't fix. Am i right, ladies? Notice that when i taped, i made sure it was about 1/8" up the wall so that there would be room for the caulking to blend the shelf to the wall.

 Enter paintable caulk!

 The first step in caulking is to do a line, using enough to fill the space.

Then, immediately go back over it with your finger and help it to fill any of the seams and to make it look nice and smooth. This needs to be done in small increments so that the caulk doesn't dry out. I completed one shelf at a time since it didn't take me long as the areas are fairly small.

 This is what it looks like when it's all smoothed out:

 And this is what it looks like when you remove the tape (again, when the caulk is still wet):

 When i was done, the shelves went from looking like this:

 To looking like this:

After it dried, i taped them off again and painted them with Valspar's ultra white semi-gloss, just like the rest of the trim in the house, and was able to get away with two coats (gasp!). This is what they look like now...loaded up with pictures of my kids because what the hell else did you expect?

Now i'm able to overcrowd them just like i did before. On to the next project!

Kid Room Updates

The last time we checked in on the kids' rooms, the windows had sort of a...situation.

I'm not proud of it, though living in permadark has its advantagezzzzz. <-- See that? I did that on purpose. But it was also like nails on a chalkboard to have blankets nailed to the wall and really kind of depressing to never have sunlight in their rooms. So we fixed it! With real live curtains!

But not just any curtains...

HOMEMADE curtains! I drank copious amounts of booze and sat in front of my sewing machine until i passed out. It was just like my 8th birthday all over again.

And we got the fabric at none other than Ikea and i loved that they had nice, modern prints at cheap prices. My daughter chose hers ($0.99/yard! Awesome deal!) and i chose my son's ($7/yard) because he's luckily too young to care. The expensive part came from JoAnn, where i bought blackout liner (because i'm not giving up on sleep), which was normally $7/yard, but i got it for $3.50/yard with a coupon. The sucky part of all of this is that i needed 12 yards (6 yards of each fabric per room). So, it adds up. But i think i won in the end, because 108" lined blackout panels are expensive, especially in a design that i liked if i could find one. This way, i spent relatively less for prints i love.

Moving on, i cut each panel then double-hemmed it on all sides, making sure to crease the top for a curtain rod.

One i had everything hemmed, i cut the blackout liner, which fit snuggly right underneath the side hems, and sewed it all in. Then, they were hung to the ceiling...

The greatest thing about curtains is that you can open them. Write that down.

Lets take a look again at how far we've come with these rooms. My son's room first since he's never first at anything...

Ok, so not much has changed between the last two pics, except that in the last one the curtains are open and we're letting the day in. And yes, there is a pink rocking horse. I get a lot of comments about that, but he loves it, and i can assure you that the pink one works just as well as any other color.

And yes, we're still in nursery mode because i can't bring myself to take that step. I'm gearing up to sell his rocking chair and put a big tub of toys in its place. This means that, one day, i'll have to accept the fact that he'll keep getting older despite my efforts to keep him this way. One day, he'll replace the cute little designs in his room for posters of ....who do boys have posters of these days? Liam Neesons? Moving on...

Daughter's room:

Don't forget that i gave my three-year-old daughter creative control over this room and i kind of love that it looks like a rainbow threw up in here. And what a difference that some daylight makes...

See? No light...

With light...

And the blackout works well...

As for over her bed, i asked her what she wanted and she said "butterflies." I should have known that, because "butterflies" is the answer to almost any question i ask. What do you want for breakfast? "Butterflies." Who's souls do you eat every time you throw a tantrum? "Butterflies."  

I'd originally though i'd paint something on a canvas like i did for my son, but then i thought i'd just get literal with it and cut a bunch of butterflies out of a stiff interfacing (which i already had on hand). Instead of having them all white, i ironed some fabric from my stash onto a small handful of them.

So there you have it. No need to call CPS since i'm no longer making my kids sleep in caves. They have curtains now like real people, which unfortunately i don't even have in my room yet. Priorities, i guess.

Now for the total$:

Boy's room: $21 blackout liner, $42 fabric = $63 for two 108" blackout curtain panels.

Girl's room: $21 blackout liner, $6 (total!) fabric = $27 for two 108" blackout curtain panels.