In The House: The Boy's Room.

When we were preparing to move we asked the child what color he wanted his new room to be, "YELLOW!!" he exclaimed, so we set forth with that as the plan. After some extensive online searching and one color swatch later we decided that yellow just wasn't going to work. It was too babyish for him and we just didn't love it. So here's what we did instead.

These are the before shots. The top is from when the house was listed and what it looked like when we first saw it. The minty green wasn't that objectionable but it was old and needed some freshening up, not to mention I immediately slapped up these test swatches so something had to be done.

We went with Mindful Gray. We both agreed that it was a nice cool neutral and I thought that the name was nice too. I had high aspirations of getting a mural wall done too but at this point I need to move on. There just isn't enough time in the day!

One of my favorite things about his room is the art collection. I know I talked of it before but we've added a few new things that I think are so perfect! Plus most of them are local artists, The alphabet by Oddball Press, Numbers by Little Monster Shop, Knitting Bear from Made in the 216 by Kiddo, Isaac & Oliver Go for a Ride (the man on the bike) by Grey Cardigan, The Oldest Olive Tree by Four Fish Ink.

The star pendant light is pretty fun but we've had issues with how it functions. This bulb doesn't send off the prisms that the previous one did but it works all the time. Fair trade off. And what little boys doesn't need a Cerberus toy?! Our guy acts like it's totally normal thanks to his Uncle.

And just in case you were wondering what was happening during this photo shoot... O created a pillow party with the pillows from our room. It was perfect as the runway for his brand new airplane and served a a softer cushion for his jumping practice. Hope you like and hope you have a very Happy Friday!

In the Details: The Master Bath.

It is very likely that one day soon, this post will serve at the before photos. Our charming little master bathroom is day by day providing us with new challenges. First the toilet, then the sink, and now the shower. We are hoping that we can fix this shower too but things are looking drippy right now so it's a toss up.

The room is nice and bright and we love all of the white tiling too. I'm just hoping that we aren't on our way to a total shower demo because we don't have another one right now and I truly don't like baths. 

We've rehung my favorite Rise and Shine poster and the little details throughout do make for a nice room. This shortened post is brought to you by my impatient child. Have a good day!

Not So Pretty in Pink: Before and After.

I have to start of by saying that this entire post is pretty trite in the wake of the Boston news. I am holding my friends and their friends in Boston in my thoughts, what I nightmare.

This is the last photo I will ever show you of the pink room, I promise. Look at this rosy cheeked little helper. He was eager to climb the ladder but it turns out that his painting skills are subpar so we sent him off to bed and powered through this room. Truthfully, we got the primer up and then had to stop for about four days before we had time and energy to power through.

So last Friday night we did it up real good. We put on our sweats, grabbed some brushes and painted this room!

We found the color through a home tour on Design Sponge and fell in love with it! Originally we wanted it for our bedroom but it was just too dark. I thought I had to let it go. Then JJ had the vision for the dining room and it's so awesome!

Here are some details of the room that I once disliked with the pink but now think look really great. The ornate fixtures clashed so much with the previous color that it was hard to take them seriously. But once the new shades were up they suddenly looked classic.

We are still in the process of decorating and clearing things out but it's looking better everyday. I attempted to get curtains for the big french doors that open to the street but wasn't in love with anything and was told not to force it. So instead, I picked up this cool gold vase as inspiration. I hope you like our new room. Happy Friday!!

Something New

There's something new around these parts and I'm pretty excited about it! I've had a redesign of all things Simple Hands and am happy to present it all just in time for Art in the Petit Parc this Friday!!

I have been lucky enough to make friends with one of the most talented graphic designers and illustrators in town. I happen to know a few very talented designers but for now we are just talking about the one. Brian Andrew Jasinski of Grey Cardigan...pause for applause. I met him through a mutual friend years ago and we have become great friends. The kind that sends that text message at 7:00am because we just had to share a very important thought.

When he launched Grey Cardigan, I was immediately one of his biggest fans right off the bat! We have three prints of our own and have given a few as gifts too! So when I started thinking of really getting a design in place, he stepped up and delivered something pretty great that captures the simple creativity and beauty of what I'm creating over here. Thanks so so much, my friend!

You can check out the Etsy Shop now too for handmade accessories for you and your little ones! I have a few more items up my sleeve to hopefully share later this week!

The Heart of the Home

I shared the story of the house as a whole. Today I want to talk about the kitchen. When we moved in it looked like this. 

The walls were taupe, accented with a not so lovely brick red wall and shelves (the very same paint that was used in the basement). The countertops were ugly and stained and the floors were thick with dirty linoleum. 

I fell in love with the idea of having an orange kitchen so we painted it immediately, like the day after we got the keys. A few years later we replaced the countertop with custom recycled wood reclaimed by A Piece of Cleveland and put in a new sink. We also refinished the wood floors and stained them a dark brown. They are amazing. 

It's been 6 years with an orange kitchen and it's time for a fresh coat of paint. We wanted to brighten it up and also make it feel bigger so we went with a white. 

I've been reluctant to change the color because I love it and I'm a creature of habit but my husband forced my hand last week. I came home to this...so now we are painting. It was harder than I thought it would be to pick out a neutral color. Especially since we were putting up the samples on the orange walls. Once the primer was up it was much easier. We kept the light blue shelves as they and rearranged some of the many things that clutter up a  kitchen.

It took about a week for us to get used to it but now I think it looks pretty good. Very white, but good. Enjoy your Monday!

Keep On The Sunny Side

Before & After: Our House

To start this post out I have to give you a little background. We bought our house six years ago in the fall. It was in decent shape, needed a fair amount of cosmetic updating but seemed to be in pretty decent shape. Famous last words, right?

On a very sunny February morning we woke up to what can only be described as disaster. I noticed that the paint by one window in our bedroom appeared to be bubbling so I touched it...water burst out and that was the beginning of a very, very stressful eight months of repair work. Walls were crumbling, ceilings were leaking, and water was making itself known in every room. All of this was due to a very badly "updated" roof. The previous owners claimed to have put on a new one but it just wasn't the truth. It was a shoddy job that cost us an incredible amount of money. Lesson learned. 

From top to bottom this house has been updated, painted, shingled, dry walled, stained, insulated, and repaired. The majority of the work was done by my brother-in-law. And we ourselves have done a major amount too. So here are a few shots of the work we've accomplished over the years. 

The basement was a big open red space.

My husband erected walls, built rooms, closets, and made a crafting counter for me. I picked out the colors and promised to help paint...then I got pregnant so I pretty much got out of working down there at all.

The bathroom was a wood paneled lodge. There were railings all over the place and carpet hiding broken tiles. We brightened it up with paint and some elbow grease. Now it's a light filled space that is cheery in the morning.

The textured kitchen ceiling was bulging and sagging. It had track lighting that was pretty ineffective so we decided that since we had to bust it out, we'd have my brother-in-law put in can lights.

Now it's perfect. We also tore up eight layers of linoleum tiles to find a pretty nice wooded floor. We had it refinished and replaced the countertops too!

The second bedroom, along with the majority of the rest of the house was painted a dull beige color. We figured we could live with it. But once the water damaged happened it had to be fixed.

We found lots and lots of soaking wet wallpaper underneath. 

Now it's the baby's room. It's a cute little space with lots of room for playing. This is our home and I love it but we are running out of things to do!

If you are interested in any of the framed artwork, it can be found here, here, and here.

Where the Heart Is

We are worker bees in this house. My husband, the planner and expert. Me, the spontaneous creative. Not to say he isn't creative, because he certainly is. We put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into our home over the last 6 years. Gallons of paint, sheets of drywall, shingles, cement, mulch, spackle, and love. And for the first time, it's starting to feel small. I knew this was not going to be our home forever but the thought of moving seems incredibly difficult but ultimately it's what will happen. It will be with a heavy heart that we put a for sale sign in our yard. Luckily we are in no rush at all, it's just something we are talking about and it's been fun to see the homes that are out there right now. 

Starting fresh with a brand new to-do list sounds amazingly fun to my husband. And a little bit to me too. That's as far as we've really come at this point. I've been scanning around looking for inspiration at Dwell and finding amazing homes. It's definitely something to aspire to. 

Later this week I'll share some before and afters of our place. Happy Monday!

Image Source: http://www.dwell.com/articles/l-is-for-longevity.html, http://www.dwell.com/slideshows/plays-the-thing.html?slide=3&c=y&paused=true, http://www.dwell.com/slideshows/singapore-fling.html, http://www.dwell.com/slideshows/spirit-of-the-south.html?slide=3&c=y&paused=true

The Washi Tape Experience, Part 2

I can't get enough of this so bare with me! We were given this clown stool from a  lovely neighbor. I did not love it, but the stool itself seems pretty useful so I set it aside until I had time to fix it up a bit.

Supplies
Old stool (or whatever you have)
Washi tape
Acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Ruler

I painted the top of the stool black and also the crossbars and let it dry overnight. I've been obsessed with chevron patterns lately so I thought this might be a great opportunity to make my own. I used a ruler and pencil to measure and mark my design to make it easier to lay out the tape. Then I just started taping. These projects are pretty straight-forward and rewarding. I will have to try hard not to put tape all over everything I own.

Have you used this before? I'd love to see your projects too!

The Washi Tape Experience

I'm not sure where I first saw/read about washi tape. I know it was online somewhere but once I started using Pinterest I came across so many inspiring projects that I knew I had to get some for myself.

What is washi tape? It is a decorative Japanese rice paper tape often used in paper-crafting and scrapbooking projects. It comes in thousands of patterns and colors on a regular roll and is very similar to masking tape but one thousand times cooler.

We were given lots of sweet hand-me-down gifts when our son was born that were not quite our style but I felt awful just giving them away. So when I started to see all of these great projects online I decided to pull them back out. So first up is this teddybear picture frame with my son's name that was found by a friend at a garage sale.

Supplies

Old frame

Sand paper

Acrylic paints

Paint brushes

Scissors or exacto knife

Ruler

Washi tape

The paint on this old frame was slightly raised so I decided to try and sand it down a bit to smooth out the teddybear. I painted it with a couple coats of white acrylic paint and let it dry overnight. Next I made a few quick sketches to map out a design. I marked the measurements with a ruler and pencil to help me lay out the tape.

I layered the two colors of tape on so it kind of looked like plaid. It's really easy to apply and you can reposition it if you need to. I tend to do a lot of eye-ball measuring so it's nice to know that if I'm off I can move it around if I need to.

Now we have a nice new frame to show off cute photos of the little one. I think I already know the next project!