Amelia's Room and Kitchen Shelves

We are starting to brainstorm a little with Amelia's room. We have never really given Amelia a finished room because we moved so much. Now that we are in our house in Maine and feeling like we will be here for a while we want to give her a great little comfortable space. 

Amelia's room looks like a gender neutral nursery still. Now that she is approaching two it is time to move on and give her a big girl room. Here are some current "before" shots of her space:

We have done nothing except add blinds and whatever furniture we had. 

Current plans:
-White walls, mint ceiling, pops of pink and gold
-Twin size bed
-Picture ledge shelves for books
-White faux fur rug (maybe)
-Painting trim white
-Curtains
-Possible cubby shelves for toys
-Closet unit
-Etc, etc, etc...

We have plenty of ideas and now we just need to get to it. Amelia will stay in her crib for a while longer. She is not trying to climb out and is in no way ready for a bed yet. I imagine that we will slowly work on the bedroom and transition her out the crib when the new baby is 4-6 months old. We'll see :)

An little update we have are the shelves we put up in our kitchen. We have very limited cabinet space and A LOT of kitchen goods. One thing that is really difficult is the lack of pantry space. No pantry space in a kitchen drives me bananas. We would love to add more cabinets eventually but that is years away. In the meantime I found some open shelving at Ikea and love the little additions to the kitchen. 

 The floating shelves are more decorative and hold things that we use occasionally. I threw stuff up there and it cleared up so much space in my cabinets. I also realized that I still have a ton of things that I rarely use filling up space. Maybe it's time for a yard sale. 

How great is that little cement planter with succulents? We picked it up last week at a farmers market and I LOVE it. Next step is to make our own cement planters. I love mixing pretty and rugged. 

The other shelves that we put up are more of a working pantry. I usually like to keep things behind cabinet doors but this will definitely work in the meantime. It also gives me a reason to bust out all of my glass jars. Have I mentioned how much I love putting everything in glass jars? Drives Brian crazy but I feel pure joy :)

Coca-cola shout out. 

How do you guys battle small kitchens with no pantry? I will say the open shelves help me to stay organized and see what we have. The shelves also keep stuff off my kitchen counters which is another thing I am not a fan of. It is a temporary solution until we can redo our kitchen but it is a solution that I kinda dig. 

Happy Wednesday!

New Painting and Living Room

Remember when Brian and I stretched a canvas? Well I put some paint on that canvas and it currently resides in our unfurnished living room. A little disclaimer: I paint entirely for fun and for therapy. I like to be creative with colors but have zero training. I really just enjoy it. 

Originally my concept was a sort of underwater feeling and looking up toward the sun. When Brian saw it he felt that it was reminiscent of looking behind a wave. I really wanted to bring a lot of color into the room and have it on theme with beachy without being too literal. I think it turned out pretty good and brings a ton of color into the room. 

You can also get a good shot of our painted yet entirely unfurnished space that we are living with right now. This is basically our looking out the window waiting for dad to come home space. We are on the hunt for a couch, chairs, rug, window treatment but we are picky and trying to wait for the estate sales to start popping up. 

Below is a before shot of the living room for fun. I took all the before pictures on a super cloudy day so they are all super dark but it does look quite a bit better.  

Now we just need some actual furniture so we can put a pin in the living room. Oh and so I can have a comfortable place to sit besides camping chairs. We are real classy that way. 

Happy Wednesday!

Update: Kitchen and Paint Colors

Time to share some progress with you guys. I have been painting my little heart and have made good progress on two rooms and a lot of trim. Today I can give you a little update on the kitchen progress. 

First a little look back to where we started. 

The orange oak trim is EVERYWHERE in this house. 

There was also a strip of super old wallpaper in the dining area. 

This stuff was awful to get down. Brian's hands were actually sore the next day from all the scraping. 

 What we have done so far:
   -removed the wall paper (details here)
   -painted (most of) the trim
   -painted the ceiling
   -added our island (from the last house)
   -painted the walls

Here is our progress picture...

And a wider shot of the kitchen.

Yes we have a partially ripped off

 back splash and no I am not a fan of the island in this house

but I really need the counter space.  

Well you can clearly see we are a work in progress. We have a HUGE list of things to do for the first stage of our kitchen makeover. We are loving how things are looking so far with just a little paint

The paint color in the kitchen is Sea Salt in Harmony by Sherwin Williams. It took two coats to get a nice even color on the walls. The trim paint is just an off the shelf low VOC semi gloss. We use low or no VOC for all of our paint. I am the one that does 75% of the painting and since I am pregnant and home with a toddler and a dog it makes sense to use it. Painting the trim was a bit of a task because the low VOC primer can sometimes need a couple more coats to get good coverage. I ended up doing 3 coats of primer and two coats of semi gloss on the trim and did no sanding before and the coverage is good. 

For the first phase of kitchen beautification we are planning:

   -new light fixtures

   -paint both doors in the kitchen

   -remove the rest of the back splash and paint

   -painting the kitchen cabinets

   -painting or changing the counter tops

   -adding shelving (already on the way!!)

   -new floors?? maybe.

If feels like I have been painting for a weeks straight and we have a lot more to do but I think we can get phase one done by the July deadline.

I also wanted to share the color scheme we are leaning toward for the whole house. We want a beachy neutral cottage palette. I, of course, would paint the entire house white and grey but Brian needs some color so a nice beachy palette is a good compromise for us. Since we can see the ocean it fits the house perfectly :) We are mostly sticking to the colors below and maybe adding a little coral for some pop. 

Our last bit of news is regarding the front door color. We have picked our winner. Thanks everyone for your votes and input. We have decided to go with the second one down. It is a nice bold teal color and I am trying to step outside of my painting comfort zone and go for something bold. I originally was sure it would be the fourth one down but it looks very similar to the kitchen color. Can't wait to get started! 

Happy Monday!

Choosing A Color: The Front Door

I love the trend of painting the front door a fun color. Our home normally has a very subdued palette so we have decided that it would be fun to add a pop of color and personality to the front door. Inside we have a beachy coastal color scheme (basically greys with some blue and green hints) so I wanted to stick with that theme for the front door but make it a little more bold. Now I just need some help deciding. 

The door is immediately surrounded by brick and then has weathered wood shingles beyond that. 

The colors are all Sherwin Williams HGTV colors. The top color

is reading pink in this picture but it 

is more coral red. 

When I zoom out from the door you can get a better idea of all the colors and textures we are dealing with. You can also see a guest appearance from Amelia and Goose if you look close :) 

 We also plan on removing the storm door eventually so that big

 silver thing wont be in the way. 

Here is a close up of the colors. Brian and I both have favorites but I would love to hear some opinions from other people before we decide.  

Let me know what you think :)

Stretching A Canvas

Last year for Mother's Day Brian got me a big roll of canvas. Yes last year! We moved not long after and my poor roll of canvas has been sitting in storage. Finally we are getting settled and I was feeling inspired so it was time to put that canvas to good use. I asked Brian to make me a frame while I checked out tips on stretching canvas. Turns out it is really easy. 

Supply List:
-Un-primed roll of canvas
-Wood for frame (they have pre-measured frames at craft stores)
-Staple gun

Brian used 1x1 pieces of pine and made a basic frame. The frame measures around 40"x50". 

First I unrolled the canvas a placed the frame on top. I left about 6 inches of canvas all the way around the frame since I am a beginner. Next time I will leave less excess. 

I started with one of the long sides and folded the canvas up and put one staple in the center. I then did this to each side (long sides fist and then short sides) and pulled the canvas tight each time. 

Once I had a staple in each side I then went to each side (following the same pattern) and put two staples in. I would pull it snug using the frame each time. I did this until I got to the corner of each side. 

This picture is with the sides all stapled. You can see that the canvas is pulled tight underneath. The trick for me is only putting in a couple of staples each side and then following the same pattern as you move from side to side. I can see that if you  tried to do one side at a time you may end up with ripples. 

Once I got to the corner I folded the extra fabric so there is a 45* angle fold on one side and it is smooth on the other. I then put a couple staples in. 

Once all four corners are stapled you have a stretched canvas! You can see that I had a lot of extra fabric but it came out nice and tight with no ripples. Not bad for our first try. 

All trimmed up and ready for primer. 

The entire project took about 30 minutes. I am including the 10 minutes it took for Brian to build the frame. Brian also did the stapling while I did the pulling and stretching. It would have taken much longer if I did it alone but it is entirely possible. This pregnant girl is not above asking for some assistance these days. 

After we stretched the canvas I grabbed the Gesso to prime. This step actually took me longer than the stretching. The canvas soaks up the primer really fast and it took a while to get nice coverage. I ended up doing 2 coats of Gesso before I started the actual painting. 

I loved this project. I now have a custom size canvas for far cheaper than any store bought pre-stretched canvas. It really was as easy as it sounds and I would recommend trying it. Custom and cheap, you can't beat that. 

ps. I have since finished the painting and will hopefully post some pictures on here next week :) When I am feeling inspired, things get done!

Bookshelves

I have a confession to make. We are book hoarders. Can't throw them out or give them away. Even textbooks. We sold most of our textbooks back but we both kept some. We have moved boxes and boxes of books multiple times but the bookshelves didn't make it.

This weekend we were a little tired of tripping over boxes of books so Brian decided to build some basic bookshelves to house our books until we build a more permanent home. We are thinking built-ins with a desk. 

   

In his makeshift workshop.

He made a really simple (easy) bookshelf. The cut list for one unit is: 5 pieces cut at 36". We went with pine since we would be painting them.  

We love love the Kreg Jig. We use it for almost every building project. By we, I mean Brian but I am very supportive. With the Kreg Jig we have no exposed screws so no need for wood putty. Makes the painting process go much smoother.

We needed tall shelves for all the textbooks, but you can 

add more shelves depending on your need. 

We have the basic frame built it just needs a backing (for support and aesthetics), a paint job, and the books! We are planning on bead-board as the backing and most likely a nice clean white paint job. So far the project was $25 for the wood and it took Brian an hour to make 2 unfinished bookshelves. We did have the wood precut at Lowes to fit in the trunk. 

I look forward to showing the finished project!

Wallpaper, Paint, & Trim: Oh My!

We are making progress. We have moved everything in and we are sloooowly getting work done. I really love doing work on the house but I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Brian works full time outside of the house and I can't get a lot of the painting done during the day (thank you toddlers). The progress feels slow and only happens a couple hours at night and on the weekends. I truly love the process but I am ready to start getting some major work finished. 

In the meantime I can share what we have done so far. We are starting with boring monotonous work but it can make such a difference. First up: wallpaper removal. 

See that tiny amount of trim up there. It took FOREVER. On and off an entire day of scrubbing. Brian spent the entire day peeling and removing this. This is old school non strip-able wallpaper and it was a nightmare. The best method for us was:

   -Score the wallpaper.

   -Spray with a mixture of stripping solution and water.

   -Let it sit for 15 minutes.

   -Spray with warm/hot water again.

   -Peel with a plastic paint scraper (metal will scratch wall).

   -Use a sponge dipped in hot water and scrub. 

Quite the process! Poor Brian. 

Next up: ceiling painting! Our ceilings clearly have not been touched since the house was built in 1970 and they are stained, splotchy, and dingy. We decided for the main living areas we would go with a nice bright flat white. We may be more creative with the bedrooms but we want to bring as much light into these spaces as possible. We ended up using the Ace Hardware brand and because we have textured ceilings we ran out very fast. But as you can see in the picture above it makes quite the difference. 

Another thing we have been working on is the trim. We have barely started and I can't wait until the trim is done. We have orange oak floors, trim, and doors. Way too much for me. The floors are in good shape and maybe eventually we will refinish them. For now we are going to paint the trim and put down some rugs. 

Pretty soon we can start posting some real progress pictures. Right now the timeline is feeling really short and the list is looking really long. Here is to getting started though! 

Happy Weekend!