Master Bedroom

While I'm on a roll, since I've been MIA, I thought I'd post a project we've been working on while the outside has been worked on for us: the master bedroom.

This was my grandfathers room. He had a HUGE bed which made the space feel super small, plus there was furniture in every nook and cranny. What we DIDNT know (and what he didn't know either when he sold it to me) was that because that furniture sat there for so many decades, there was mold growing behind the furniture. Some bleach/water mix fixed that, and it hasn't come back.

We used mostly left over pink from my old bedrooms to decorate the room, and I even painted a hot pink wall. However, it grew stale after a year, and Drew bought me a nice new comforter from Dwell Studio at Target, so I dreamed up ;) a new design plan for the room over the next year.

This is a funky color because in some sunlight it's super light, and others it's a bright blue, and then the camera catches it completely different than my eye at the same time. It's a lot like the outside color! It's Martha Stewart's Vintage Map by Valspar at Lowe's. I loved it so much, we're doing it in the kitchen. We put down new baseboards (we're still working on the wood shoes, that's not easy to measure and cut, and we've wasted a lot of wood in the process!) and I sewed those curtains out of some awesome, $4/yard linen. I wanted to bring in some texture, and that was it! I'm making a matching pillow next, so I'll have to post an after, after. I'm also recycling the stumps from the trees we cut down as bedside tables, and am on the hunt for the perfect bedside lamp. I'm thinking along the lines of this. I wanted it to feel like I was in nature in there. I painted little bird houses to put up on the walls once we figure out the permanent furniture arrangement, and I even got some white picket fences to put somewhere. I just need to get a feel for the room more.

I'm also bringing in this painting (against Drews best wishes. For some reason, he hates that painting), which was featured in "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched." That's me in the middle :) My grandfather had it in the dining room my entire life, and it was the one thing I begged him to leave behind, because I would cherish it forever. Aside from my target Pony Head, this is my most favorite decoration. And to be honest, I don't even like ponies. But for decor? It's my favorite thing to use.

I'm Blue Da Boo Dee Da Boo Die...

So we've been working on the house for a while now. We took about $10,000 from our savings to go all out on the exterior of the house. Here's the progress as of today:

This was after the new roof went on. I'll put up a better picture of the REAL before later with the finished product. It's a 1951 rancher, that was my grandparents. However, they grew old and didn't maintain it as well, and I bought it when it was literally being held up with duct tape. I mean our PLUMBING to the BATHROOM SINK was duct taped. The yard was covered in ivy, which is their style. We hated it. We're putting down grass, but that paint color was faded and so blah.

The shutters are coming in, as are the gutters and a new front door, but this is what it looks like currently. The contractor had a power washer guy come in and spray the house clean, which it needed. But OH MY GOODNESS look at that brick porch! My mom saw this and almost fell over at how it cleaned up. I hated that stoop, so I was ready to cover it in something nicer. Now I love it. The painters killed almost all my plants by means of suffocation and stomping on, so landscaping will come next year. Bigger and better! The windows are awesomeeee and the vinyl wrap is so dollhouse. It even makes that cheap awning look cute. I was going for a retro shade of blue, but I can't seem to capture the true shade in any picture. I. Love. This. House!

The side of the house. We're special because we're the only house in the neighb that has a window up there. It's really an attic, and we have a room up there. More specifically, my craft room. My grandfather made the room many decades ago, and there's even a checkerboard painted onto the floor that my mom and uncle used to play on. But that window was just awful. And the patchwork around it in the siding was worse.

Now look at that window!! It's not only a legitimate window, it's got a casing and they even covered up the awful patch job. I can't tell you how happy I am with these window people, really!

The back of the house. Absolutely dreadful. This picture explains exactly why my home owners insurance company dropped me after a house call they do on every 5 properties they insure "by random." The reasons? The chipping wood wrap around the windows, that tree in the back and the trees to the right are whats causing that moss to grow on the roof. Oh, and there's a little door to the crawl space under the house that you can't see here because it was covered in moss too. I was so upset they thought the house looked that bad, until I looked at proof on my screen. It really was worse in person, I just wouldn't admit it to myself.

There ain't any denying me, this house is completely insurable now! The trees are gone, the roof is new with fancy new plywood and leak proof stuff. No more repainting the wood since it's wrapped in vinyl and Drew made that fancy new door to the crawl space. The backyard is so much brighter... now all we need is grass! Also, my dad was upset everytime he tripped up those little people stairs, so he's offering to replace those for us, and we're going to have them slope out a different way as well.

It's really coming along. Now we need landscaping, complete with a white picket fence, and it will truly be a dream house. Who else can say that about their first place?

In Living Color

I would like to introduce you to one of the most recent transformations in our home: the living room. I'm not posting what it looked like when I actually bought the house yet. I'll save that for when I actually finish the all important accessorizing. But this bad boy was how it looked when we moved in and decorated. The sofa and loveseat combination was bought new by my parents in 1998, along with that coffee table and two matching end tables. It was the most comfortable sofa ever, because it was nice and worn in. However, it was really ugly. And didn't recline. We spent 2 years with that set before we decided to move on to something to better fit our taste and needs.

I wanted a darker finish coffee table and end tables, in a more stylish design. He wanted reclining furniture. I like color! He likes neutrals. I also wanted more stylish accessories. He didn't care. He just wanted that red wall and black trim gone. I was growing tired of it myself. So this is what I interpreted from both of our wants and needs. I'm working on the pillows next, and we got new table decor, but overall it's a great mesh of our visions. It's a totally neutral pallette, that will have bold jeweltone accessories. And that all glorious pony head from Target that he expressed a total disinterest in is now the best feature of the whole room :)

Happy Cow Appreciation Day!

I missed it last year, but I was determined to throw together something awesome with my newly acquired sewing skills :) I made a master plan late one afternoon at work, and went home and made it happen. I got a lot of laughs, a lot of stares, and I got a free meal. What more could you ask for?

I bought a ton, and I mean a TON of felt. I wanted extra in case I screwed up, because I had no idea what I was really going to do, I just knew what I wanted it to look like in the end. Somehow, it came together nicely, and I really didn't screw anything up. Drew wanted the free meal too, so I had free rein over how he looked too :) I'm actually more proud of his than my tunic because I had practice by then, and he looked so cute in his little tail. My udder was tough, but it was a big hit. I also sewed my ears onto a headband. BFF told me it looked like it came like that. It was a proud moment. Also, I made last minute hooves, which I totally forgot to make, so luckily I had clear shoes so nothing competed with them except my bare feet.

I'm also proud of my hair too. I've had toddler bangs and long, straight blonde hair my entire life. After many years I finally got back to my natural hair color, and this morning I decided to make a mock fray bang cut and I framed my face a little bit. I've gotten enough compliments to convince me taking the edgy risk paid off.

BFF and I. She sharpied her shirt :P That's Drew's miata beside me. We noticed a HUGE scratch up his hood right before we took these pictures. This last one we were talking and she just happened to catch our mouths closed, but he was still looking around. Hey, at least my hair looks awesome :P I'm glad he's a good sport. I love when we dress up, and even more when we dress alike.