A Bright Front Door

Remember this post back in April when I asked for help choosing a front door color. Well I finally got around to it this weekend and I am loving it. We ended up going with a bright beachy teal and I am so glad we went bold.

Before, 1st coast, 2nd coat

After three coats of Sherwin Williams Resilience, it looks so bright and cheerful. Brian and I are loving it. 

The process was very easy:

-Clean/sand door (prime if you are painting over wood)

-Use angle brush to get into the cracks.

-4" foam roller for the rest

-3 hour dry time in between coats and let cure before closing

Here are some more before and after pictures. Check out the difference in the lawn too. 

photobombing golden

This next picture is with the screen door closed. A total front door buzz kill. I may have Brian just remove it so we can fully show off the door. 

I love how it stands out. The color looks so good against the brick and the worn wood shingles. 

We still have a few things to add to the front porch but I love the progress. 

Happy Monday!

Hanging A Gallery Wall

After living in our house for 3 months we have finally hung the first picture frames on the wall. I have always been a fan of gallery wall but I have always been terrible at hanging them. Normally I try and eyeball it and then end up putting double the holes in the wall. This time I actually measured and planned and it was much faster and looks much better. 

Supplies needed:

-Frames 

-Butcher paper

-Sharpie

-Hammer/Nails

-Measuring tape

We have a big blank wall above our love-seat that has been screaming for us to hang something. We first tried hanging a painting and it was too much color with the couches. Then we tried a large mirror but it was the same width as the couch and looked terrible. I decided to gather up any white frames we have and do a little gallery style hanging. I plan on adding a lot more frames as I collect more, but this will do for now. 

I laid out the butcher paper and arranged the frames in a way that I liked. I like when things are mismatched without being random. 

After measuring the widths I traced the frames with sharpie. 

I hung up the butcher paper so the frames were centered over the couch, not the wall.  

I used a thumbtack to mark where the frames would need to hang. Once everything looked good I put the nails into the marks right through the paper and then just tore the paper down around the nails. 

There we have it, a gallery wall! Like I said earlier I want to add more frames but I like the arrangement for now.  

Guest Room/Office Progress

We are feeling the pressure to get some things done around here. In 2 weeks my mom and baby Yoast are on their way and we need places for them to sleep. We haven't made up a nursery yet because the baby will sleep in our room. Since we don't know the gender we are waiting until the baby is here with us to do the nursery.

Our house is 4 bedrooms with an office. Occasionally on a snow day Brian will stay home so we need a small space for him to work. We decided that a guest room with a small work space would be perfect. I like a multi-functional room. 

The space for our office needs A LOT of work. It has wood paneling with peeling wallpaper in an awful color. The trim and door are also a shade of dark grey. The walls need to be replaced with drywall eventually but for now we are gonna put some paint on it and save our pennies for a complete overhaul. Here are some cringe worthy before and in progress photos.

At this point we started to remove some of the peeling wallpaper. It is impossible to remove entirely.

Once we removed as much of the peeling wallpaper as we could we got to work with our trusty primer. 

After some ceiling paint, trim paint, 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of paint we are looking like this. 

It looks better but still very rough. In the lighting the walls are giving off a pink/beige hue but the color is the light grey that we use all over. We didn't want to buy more paint for a room that we are going to tear the walls down anyway. 

You can see that painting over the wood panelling shows some flaws but it will work for now. 

Our temporary plans in here are adding curtains, a bed, bookshelves and a desk. I will post another update as soon as we get in looking somewhat like a guest room. 

Long term plans are as follows:

-Remove wood panelling and replace with drywall.

-Built in bookshelves and desk. 

-Large rug.

-Hooks for guests to hang up clothing and luggage stand. 

-Overhead lighting (none of the rooms in our house have overhead lighting).

That about sums it up. Now lets get some decor on these awesomely wood paneled walls. 

A Step Up

I had a burst of energy this week. After painting the hallway and FINALLY getting my house somewhat clean I decided to paint the stairs. When I have energy I have to take advantage of it because it doesn't come easily and I am a couple weeks away of having even less time and energy. 

Our house was built in 1970 and is very dated. We have been trying to figure out ways to update here and there and painting the stair risers is a perfect way for a quick and easy update. We have orangey wood floors that we would love to refinish in a walnut or darker stain. In the meantime we are gonna work with what we have.

Check out the difference... 

The process was really simple:

1. Clean. 

2. Tape (If you have unsteady hands like me).

3. Use a short handle angel brush.

4. Prime (I did 3 coats of Kilz latex primer).

5. Paint (I used 1-2 coats of off the shelf semi-gloss white).

6. Caulking and touch ups. 

7. Admire your work.

I still need to finish the caulking and touch ups but my pregnant body is tired from sitting on those stairs for so long. I have already moved on to admiring my work and loving it. 

I love small updates that make a huge difference.

For this space we still plan on doing a couple of things. We want to pull up the carpet that is covering the wood floor of the entry. It is  dirty and old. We also want to add a stair runner. In the winter we will be walking in with wet/snow boots so we would like the stairs to not be so slippery. We also want to build a better baby gate (like a door on hinges). Amelia has already figured out how to open the gate and with a new baby coming we need to make sure she doesn't open that gate up for a crawler to fall down. Eventually we plan on replacing the railing as well. I actually don't dislike the railing as much now that the stairs are painted but it is still not really our style.

For now we will call this space 20% finished. 

Happy Monday! 

Furniture!!

After 3 months of living in our house we finally got some furniture! I will tell you that being pregnant and not having a couch was not fun. I had a hard time committing and was holding our for the perfect thrifted find. Well that didn't happen. We checked every good thrift store weekend after weekend until we (mostly me) caved and went to a furniture store. We walked in to the first store and immediately found the perfect set. 

I actually had my mind on a light (preferably grey) couch. With the walls grey and the rug grey and probably everything else grey Brian convinced me that color was the way to go. 

Let's take a peak back to where we started with our little living room.

Sorry this picture is terrible. It was a super dark rainy day. 

Then I showed you this progress picture after we painted the walls and trim. 

Keep in mind we still have plenty to do but here we are today.

I have done ZERO decorating in here so there is still plenty to do. We just got some curtains from West Elm and those are gonna get hung up pronto (that afternoon sun is killer). We also plan on hanging that mirror ($10 yard sale find)above the love seat. I need to get on decorating above the fireplace. We haven't decided yet if we are gonna put a TV up there. Our TV currently resides in the sun room.

So this is where we are now. We have a ton of unfinished projects but not much to show just yet. At 37 weeks pregnant I just finished painting the hallway today and my back is going to need a good 24 hours rest. We are nowhere near completing our "before baby" checklist but everything we do cross off is exciting. Hopefully I will have more to show after this weekend.  

Happy Thursday!