updates to come soon!

It's been quite awhile since I posted on here. I will be putting up a full blog with pictures soon. My roommate recently moved out and took her furniture and accessories with her which left me with some updating to do in the house. My friends have asked me what it's like having the place to myself and I say "it's like having a new house all over again." For now, the living room is the main thing that has changed but in the next several months there will also be big changes in my room and the guest bedroom. Pictures soon!

whirlwind leaps and bounds!

So, I had gotten a bit dormant in my home renovations due to business, illness and just plain lack of motivation. But then, my roommate decided she wanted to have a birthday party which was good b/c it gave me a deadline! Here are some before and afters:

After searching EVERYWHERE (seriously!) I finally bit the bullet and drove down to Atlanta to go to IKEA and finally found some fabric for my curtains. The top part was supposed to be the turquoise from the kitchen walls, but we haven't been able to find that either. Mom put the white on for the time being. But they look pretty darn good! Still left to do: recover the sofa somehow, find some throw pillows, get a few more things on the walls including really cool vinyl wall decals that are on their way from etsy.com!

Here's a close-up of the knick-knacks on the chest. The photo is by my good friend, Tyler Malone ( http://www.rtylermalone.com ). The flowers are a bouquet I caught at a friend's wedding (ha!) and the cameras are vintage that someone at work left in a box marked "free to a good home." I took them up on the offer.

It's so nice having a space to work on my computer, play my records and write music. The desk is also from the IKEA trip... I love it! The posters on the wall are from Hatch Show Print, here in Nashville as well as Grand Palace silk screening in Murfreesboro. I'm also waiting on an etsy.com wall decal for this room.

I'm really happy with how my bedroom turned out. I finally got a night stand a little while ago from Target.com and the little globe lamp is another fabulous IKEA find.

Stay tuned, more to come!

updates...

we've gotten a lot more painting done. there's just a little left and still a LOT of putting things away to do and lots of finishing touches. but here are pictures on some more of the progress:

my bedroom was the same plain beige as every other room in the house so, we fixed that:

my bedding is grey with white orchids and deep red sheets. since we chose grey for the living room/dining room and bathroom, we kept with the theme. we used a color that is a shade or two lighter than the bedding and since my mother loves to experiment with paint, we added a red stripe to tie in the red of the sheets.

the bonus room had to be painted as well

mom saw this on HGTV, so we tried it. there are three shades of the same grey in the house. we used all three for the bonus room.

i also finally got my shower curtain!!

and after too many drill holes and several attempts to get the screws in the holes on the shelf... we finally got my shelf up in the kitchen!

kitchen pt 1

The kitchen needed a little updating, and we've made a lot of progress. The beige paint didn't fit with our black/white/grey/color theme, so it had to go. Since the rest of the house is in shades of grey, we decided to go with a color. Also, the appliances were pretty old. The dishwasher was black and the fridge and range were a gross off-white. I decided to go with all white. I thought it best complemented the cabinets and the bright color we chose. Here are the before and afters:

We decided instead of painting the backsplash, we would use textured wallpaper. Mom put the paper up tonight. Once it dries, we'll paint it grey and then give it a silver glaze. This will give it the look of tin tiles. Stay tuned for more pictures of the progress...

painting, painting, painting

The bathroom repairs/updates are done! Now, I just have to buy a shower curtain and some accessories. Here are pictures of the installed fixtures, etc:

We started painting the rest of the house last night. There's so much painting to be done! Here's a picture so you can see the old beige color versus the new gray.

The living room

The dining room

Finding the perfect color for the kitchen has been a bit of a trick. The color on the right is the first sample color we got. It was not the right color. The color on the left is the color we are going with.

This is my bedroom. It's a grey one shade lighter than the living room/dining room and two shades lighter than the bathroom. Once the gray is dry, we are adding a deep red stripe around the room.

stay tuned... more to come...

bathroom!!

Much progress has been made in The Starter House since Monday morning. Here are some before and afters:

Remember the stained bathtub?

Now, it's a pristine white!

And the splatter green tile?

White, too!

We painted the walls tonight before Bill installs the vanity, toilet, mirror and light fixture tomorrow. Mom and Dad were both there to help.

I think the finished product looks pretty darn classy, if I do say so myself.

Now, I mentioned the vanity. We had this lovely little Shaker vanity all picked out for the space. It fits with the color scheme, I love the style and it was 6 inches less deep than the existing vanity which was going to save me some room in the small bathroom. Isn't it so cute?

well, unfortunately, we came across a little surprise:

there's no flooring under the vanity!!! which means we had to find a vanity that was the exact same dimensions as the existing vanity. Luckily, we found one:

I like this one just as well, it's in the same price range and will cover the gaping hole in the floor.

We also picked a mirror that will hang over (and cover up) the medicine cabinet.

...and a new light!

More pictures to come!!!

I'M A HOMEOWNER!!!

So, I just closed on my first house and I'm SO thrilled! It's a 1954 Ranch in great condition, but its in need of some updating. My mom and I are taking on these updates as a project together and we decided to keep a blog to keep everyone updated on our progress. The first project is the bathroom. Here are the before pictures:

The floor tile is definitely the best part of this bathroom. I've never seen tile like it and it's in absolutely impeccable condition. The color theme for the house is black, white and grey with each room having a different accent color. For the bathroom, green is the accent.

We're told that the wall tile is original to the house. It's also in amazing condition. However, I'm not really crazy about the green splatter paint look. So, we're having the tile painted with a special paint by our good friend, Bill.

Bill is also going to remove the door on the medicine cabinet and we're buying a mirror that will hang over the cabinet and cover it up. It's installed into the tile, so removing it altogether was out of the question. We're also replacing the light fixture.

Bill is also refinishing the tub to get rid of all the nasty stains in it. We are also replacing the vanity and the toilet. More tomorrow! With more pictures!