My Parent’s Bathroom and Kitchen Remodel

Today I would like to share the renovations my parents (Annie’s parents) have made to their “new” place.  I say “new” because it was actually my sister and her family’s house until fall of 2012 when they switched houses. My youngest sis and her family moved into my parent’s (they bought and did the entire legit change of course) country house in my hometown in Indiana and my parents and other sister moved a town over (where we went to middle and high school), began a new chapter in their lives and performed a makeover on the space. A big one.

They too went from country to town living and understand what Greg and I have experienced.   It truly is a change in itself not to mention undergoing renovations from the start. We’ve been doing the DIY house reno thing together though…although theirs was at a much faster pace than ours. It was nice being able to talk about the same things and mishaps/successes 600 miles apart.

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There were some mishaps, delays and the usual issues with a remodel (questioning the paint color and living in a hectic situation).  The cabinet dropped on on my mom’s big toe and I won’t share the picture but ouch and dad had some boo boos too.

Unfortunately, there aren’t really much in terms of before pics. I’ll try to explain what it used to look like though.

It’s an amazing transformation and they continue to work on the house, making vast improvements. A mudroom is in their future.

Great job, mom and dad! Mom would say mostly dad but she has great taste and always makes things look a million times better. It’s in our blood.  Us Emley gals (my maiden name) are down with the decorating/crafty gene.    Dad is like Greg (or rather Greg is like dad since he’s younger) and they are very handy and get beautiful results. You’ll see in these pictures…

By the way we have not seen the house in person so I’m explaining as best I can from memory and talking with my parents.  I still can’t get over how different and wonderful it looks.  Huge improvement!

So we begin in the bathroom…

It was small, people, and lacking storage and really a sense of style. It just kind of existed and did the basic functions.  No offense to my sister who tried to add a touch of something. She did have 2 great kids who started their lives in this house and did a fabulous job on their rooms and touches of her own on the rest of the house.

New storage cabinet (and the room was brown).

The wall was removed that had a second entry door from the laundry room which was open to the kitchen.  This new layout really opened up the space.

The bathroom and kitchen share a wall which is the one the toilet and cabinet are against.  This is when the new doorway and wall were built (the back and side of the cabinet).

See, shared wall for plumbing (the house is on a slab) between the bathroom and kitchen.  How adorable is my dad?  I’m going to mention they also got one of those new tankless water heaters and my dad is in heaven.  Hot water whenever you want and it doesn’t run out unlike their old place.  (Growing up, the 3 of us girls and my parents had tifts over the bathroom and I remember some of us had to wait til we had hot water again…often that was dad if I remember correctly.) We’re considering getting one.

New shower, sink, hardware, fixtures, beadboard, doors, paint and more.

Down the reno road…

Door hanging fun.

New flooring added.

The cabinets were re-used and placed in the laundry area.  Forgive me but I couldn’t find  a full picture of the finished room but you can see the big change and how beautiful it now is.

But that’s not all…they went to the kitchen next.  Which needed help.  A lot of help.  The layout was not decent and while it was rather large, it didn’t have much storage or flow.  My parents set out to fix all of this, living with all that randomness of temporary shelving and not having a stove for a bit.

And there was this thing.  Some divider that served no purpose whatsoever.  I know, let’s block the kitchen from the kitchen.  Random.  The refrigerator used to be on the right side and my sis had a pantry cabinet (had to have it with the lack of cabinet space) with the microwave in it.  Since it’s an eat-in kitchen, it was even harder to move around in and not really accommodating for an island with the old arrangement which would have helped with the lacking counterspace.

My magnet for my food blog!  Shameless plug? I think not.  Supportive parents.

Same space.  Wall shared with the living room.

Earlier in both renos (these are not in order).

The door to the garage was removed and a new one was made on the left.  Much better.

Great vacuum by the way.  We have one too.  Craigslist score for like $60 but only after we really liked my parent’s Dyson and kept an eye out.

Oh the joy of living through a reno!

Sneakity peek into the living room from the kitchen entry.

That is the door to the garage and new beadboard on the wall.  I know, right?  What a difference! (And new appliances.)

Forgot to show you the new door to the bathroom.  So, there are 2 entries to the bathroom.  The one in the hall that leads to the 3 bedrooms and this one in the kitchen.

Ready?

Waiting for the countertop.  Hickory cabinetry and that is a greenish yellow shade on the wall that mom questioned but I think goes well with the overall look.  Lovely.  And talk about storage and flow.  Mom loves it.

Before the new flooring went in.  And there is no sink on the right-it was just moved there temporarily.  That’s where the large window overlooking the backyard and dining set is.

Dressed for Christmas with the village and with countertops.

The dining set was a thrifty furniture store score cause that’s how our family rolls.  Boom!

I spy the new flooring boxes.

Then ta-da, flooring added.  Lucky, our family cat, and a box with a craft project atop it.  We’re crafty, DIY kind of people that love animals.  Lucky was a stray that my mom found on the road by our house.  He’s an ornery sweetheart.  I bet Sophie, our other family cat, was nearby.  Another rescue darling.

Now they have moved on to the mudroom (which they are creating), garage and I believe they worked on the attic entry in the garage.  The backyard will be addressed sometime as well (you can see the storage shed back there).  To be continued…

For more insight into their place, here’s the living room.  Cute, cozy and comfortable.  Can’t wait to visit and see what my sis has been up to at the “old” homestead.

 

 

My Tile Shop Experience and Some Other Tidbits

Man, the flu sucks. Maybe like me you forget just how much it can wipe you out. Unless you had it recently and then, I feel ya, friend. Maybe it felt worse because I just started to feel better from that over a week long bout of vertigo or whatever it was that made the world move, the stairs difficult to maneuver and me ex-haust-ed.

I started feeling the flu Christmas evening, was up doing things I won’t mention 6 times that night and achy like I’ve never been before. Fever, chills, aches of the “don’t even touch my skin” variety. Bad bippy. After an all day sleep session (except for caring for our two puppies) the following day and some of yesterday I am feeling about 85%. Food does not sound nor smell good still. I force myself to eat brothy noodles and guzzle water like it’s going out of style. It was not food poisoning (or a baby for those who keep telling me all these illnesses are that) like I thought. But I will not be eating any of the foods I had Christmas Day maybe ever. Eggnog is out. The one thing I wanted and made sure to have on another one of our “alone Christmases” where we stuck around Minnesota. Yep, had that beverage ready but 2 small glasses, on 2 separate days, too close to countdown to Hurlville that night, and it’s out of my vocab for life.

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News (I didn’t know whether to call it good or bad but just “news” seemed to fit): Greg leaves for Kent, Washington (near Seattle/Tacoma) New Years Day for a 4 day trip to his company’s new facility. The one acquired with that purchase of their competitor I told you about (#11 in this post). The one we hope to be transferred to in a year or so. Fingers crossed. He’s going to look at their process to streamline/improve/etc.. They asked him about a week ago so not much advance warning. I tried to go but with boarding the dogs, tickets and all the extra costs it made more sense for me to sit this one out. I’m going to live vicariously through him. Although he doesn’t think he’ll be heading towards Seattle and just driving around Kent to get familiar. Still would be a vacation for both of us even if work is involved.

I’ve got Dayquil/Nyquil brain again (but am not sleeping in the yard this time) so things are foggy with the timeline I’m about to tell you. Greg also worked last Saturday which had me completely ass-backward. We went to the Tile Shop a week ago. I think. There was a cookie and sandwich involved from Potbellys which made me happy-floaty and tends to make me forget things on that cloud anyway.

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See, I ordered sample tile then went ahead, on the same day, and ordered the accent backsplash tile for the shower. Same stuff. Didn’t mention that to you for fear of looking stupid. There are several other reasons to feel stupid but I should have let that one out. After not receiving an email or invoice about it but being charged I contacted them and was told that a rep had been trying to contact me. Contact me by phone and email. Methinks the person a fibber about the phonecall but I did find 2 emails in my junk folder even though I received the sample order invoice by email with the same account I have with them. Ah, technology.

I know other bloggers who recommended the Tile Shop (should note they also were given free tile for their projects) and I was convinced this was a good company and to go for it. I still think they are decent but whoever the rep was on the phone was a phony fibber face. Just sayin.’ And I’m not too keen on the person who told her she called either which gives them 2 strikes. Anyway, they said they didn’t have that tile any longer followed by some confusing way of saying they might in February but then mixed that with wanting to know if I wanted the person to keep looking for it because they may never get ahold of it. Let me get this straight…I ordered the sample and the actual tile within an hour of one another, got the sample and loved it….but you don’t have it…maybe ever again and I was already charged. Mosaic marble tile is not cheap and we were going to use it as an accent among the subway tile (which we ordered from Lowes) to keep the cost down but still make it look classy. You bet I used the 10% off code from Young House Love.

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The very day I asked that they keep looking we went to Ikea to get this sink. The Talleviken. Home Depot and the Tile Shop were right there. Did a lookabout, saw that they still had the Lansdale marble version I had ordered but it was not on the shelf. I also noticed I wasn’t as fond of the Lansdale in person but huh because I got the Lansdale sample and loved it. Oh no, they di’int. But yes, my sample was not the one I ordered. Clearly. I canceled it the next day. But because maybe this was all some “most everything could go wrong scenario that’s abnormal for the company” I found the hexagon marble floor tile I and pretty much everyone remodeling their baths these days adore and decided to go for it when the time came. It’s beautiful. Thought I’d order it from them with that 10% off code and free shipping…until I found it cheaper elsewhere with great ratings and I am crazy about the sample I already received so I’m going that route. It’s on its way.

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I wasn’t adoring the subway tile in person that I found online at Home Depot but I did find this great schoolhouse light for the hall there (and our baseboard and casing) for maybe $30. Swear I had a picture of the old light but I am vomit-prone these days and won’t do that to myself or you. It’s an oil-rubbed bronze finish for now but will probably change with a little spray action. I like the finish more than I thought and am tempted to leave it but it will be surrounded by brushed/satin nickel hardware in that hall. Thinking of getting another one-the biggest version-for the kitchen.

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My friend Mindy in California made these awesome earrings for me! Love them and so sweet of her. She also made soap (yeah, she’s completely meant to be my friend) and gave me lotion of the “this makes me smell amazing” variety. And huge thanks to our family for the gifts and thoughts since we were again absent over the holidays.

We worked on a few other things but haven’t finished the details. I’ll just wait to share. But leave you with a picture of my cute husband working diligently on those details for his sicky wife.

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Pillows, Desks, Tables and Tile

Cozy fire, laughing with family, eating a delicious Christmas dinner. Not happening here. Just the 4 of us (2 dogs included) this year, working on the house and FINALLY finishing the dresser that’s been on the work table for months. Greg is just as busy at work as he was 3 months ago with the promotion if not busier which did not allow us (again) a trip home. A 600 mile journey that once took us like 18 hours to drive between a snow storm and then ice storm. A good, calm winter makes this trip about 11 hours. But anywhosal…

The drawers need a touch up on this nearly finished piece, add the hardware and then we get the usual fun of bringing it up our narrow basement stairs and storing it somewhere in our small house. A place the dogs won’t get to which is the second bedroom. They’ve acquired a taste for veneer. Not me so much. Just never took to it. I’ve caught them both chewing on our pieces-yet-to-be-salvaged on the 3 season porch.

That’s been part of the problem on finishing this one. There’s just no space since we made that table a few weeks ago.

We made another desk/table last weekend, and as I mentioned here, we brought the desk up I used in the office. All 3 pieces are up for grabs so it’s not a problem we need to find a solution to at this time. The right people need to come along. Just take ’em right on out of here. Someone is coming tonight to see our selection.

Besides tables, I have been making pillows. And dropping my sewing machine down the stairs. Twice. And having a lightheaded feeling along with being absolutely exhausted even after 8 hours of sleep. The room kind of moves by like clouds do and I feel like I can’t focus on anything. I am not pregnant. Repeat. Not pregnant. Went through that whole thing with friends and family on facebook. Sigh. Vertigo maybe which is weird because my sis-in-law just had a case of it. Poles shifting or something. Back to the pillows.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when we lived downtown this very town we still live in but now as homeowners, was a shop, Digs, that had fabric and housewares. An amazing and beautiful place. That moved to Minneapolis like many of the shops in our town do. (We now know as people who salvage and refinish furniture for money making…seriously just typed monkey making…how difficult it can be to thrive when you aren’t located where a good sized population exists or travels and with that population, a really supportive community who “digs” your stuff enough to also financially support you. Ha!) Dangerous to me. It was one door down from our apartment. Only an alley separated us. That’s where I picked this fabric up on clearance.

Back then I wasn’t creating much of anything and didn’t take full advantage of the place. Although I wanted to screen print t-shirts with my designs…or open a cake/wine bar and/or food truck for the gourmande in me…we couldn’t afford the rental space which is the same story today but I still want to run a food truck and small space for our furniture.

I am not sure what the fabric is called but it spoke to me. I saved it next to my collection of hardware until I could think of a good use. Not just good but something pretty darn sweet. For the longest time I thought it would turn into a headboard, like a hanging textile and not upholstered on some foamy headboard. Like in a room with more understated things, more modern and against a blank white space.

Pillows are not what I had in mind. But I love pillows and was inspired when I got a load of the pillows Morgan (from a blog I admire and adore, the Brick House) made for her new shop Camp. I love it all. You know I’ve been talking about designing pendants/lighting and I recently went batshit crazy over what she did. I want it all. So simple, glorious and exactly what I’ve been searching for for this 1952 home of ours. Send me 5 of it all then send me 5 more each month kind of love. Ever have that feeling about something?

So now these 3 pillows exist from that sweet sweet remnant of fabric. And thank you, Morgan,for helping me see the pillow light (and your actual lights).

The walls look gray today...

Oh, and our tv is mounted to the wall now. Victory!

Our vent covers are painted Paper White by Benjamin Moore (the shade I picked for our trim whenever that time comes which in my mind is soon). Cleaning the old oil-based paint off was a real bitch. One took 2 hours. But I got them stripped, primed and with 2 coats of paint. Besides our cool tray-like ceiling, these covers are unique features that sold me on the house.

Heavy duty hinges

We put the hinges up for the recent project we’ve tackled around here (hush hush until it’s finished). Think “stairway to nowhere” project.

Greg and I have had it with the bathroom so its reno has been pushed closer. We ordered a marble subway tile sample from the Tile Shop and received the Pottery Barn medicine cabinet I talked about a few weeks ago).

We’re going to gather the materials to renovate the upstairs bath and get crackin’. Literally. The old tile has to come down and we have to fix the leak that showed its ugly head before Thanksgiving. It looks more and more like we’ll be making our own vanity cabinet. We need something not as deep as the one we have and found a sink we hope to use about 16 1/2″ deep. Sounds small but the bathroom is tight and we’re doing a mini-makeover instead of our original plan for a custom glass shower among the list of expensive items.

What are you working on? Probably Christmas, Annie, probably Christmas.

The adorable ornaments my parents sent the other day.

So, merry Christmas from our family of 2 humans, a sheepdog and a corgi to you fine people.

To You and Yours

We wish you a happy holiday in this 100th post. I’m sure we’ll all be keeping our loved ones nearer and dearer to our hearts this year due to recent tragedies. Our thoughts are with those suffering and we hope they continue the courage to carry on, cope and wish that they find solace someday.

Our Recent Days in Photos

 

Here’s what we’ve been up to…

 our necks in snow.  Fine, so not quite that much.  It fell Friday and kept on coming Saturday.

We were at Ikea when it began and quickly turned into this below on our I-35 route home.

Which meant plenty of this

and this.  Vivi’s first encounter with snow and it’s a hit.  Henry is also our big bundle in love with snow.

Then came some of this inside.

Where we have some holiday decorations scattered about.  Greg and I made the ornaments on the left for my first “adult” Christmas-the one after I graduated from college and was in the real world.  The couple and house ornament are from my parents, commemorating our marriage and first house.  The star and love ornament have been with me also since my first “adult” Christmas.  Since it will be just Greg and I again this Christmas (with the pups) I wanted to be surrounded with memories…especially since I forgot we donated our tree and do not have one this year.  Whoops.

These are up too.  My mom made these stockings.  Mine is very old and Greg’s was made when he became my husband.

Unfortunately, these paint samples are back up on the wall.  It includes 10 new ones…still nothing that is my ideal shade of gray.  10 because after those 7 from Benjamin Moore I decided to go for 3 more.  (Total of 24 I believe.)  I’m going to get one more that seems promising then I might call it quits.  We’re trying to be on our way out of the house in a year and the shade on the wall is pretty even though it’s not what is in my mind.

We’re selling our desk.  Brought the heavy beast upstairs where I get to stare at the snow and decorations while working (and stay much warmer than in the basement).  We’ve put a number of things on the market we no longer need in the hopes they find good homes and to help pay off some debts.  Still trying to reach our goal in that department.

This gal started to get her makeover this past weekend.  We were trying to see how far we could get in a short amount of time.  Did pretty well until we had to factor in putty drying time which is where we’re at with the dresser now.  Days later with a few more coats needed still to even out the curvy fronts.

Been doing some small projects like this glossy white and gold frame and

this “sunburst” mirror with brass spray paint (the free plate I mentioned before) and I glued a mirror to it.  Wish I’d gone with a convex one.  The chalkboard is not my doing but it could easily have been.  Take some chalkboard paint and apply it to a faux decorative plate (or a real one).  Voila!

This is what the chilly temps did to the area where I sprayed the gold paint.  Neat.  Although we’re having difficulties finding a time, temp and weather where we can spray the lacquer on the drawer fronts in the garage to finish up

this guy.  He’s looking very different these days.  His body is in the old studio office while his drawers await lacquer elsewhere.

Which reminds me of this.  Our two darling puppies spend time in our 3 season which, as some of you know, is part of our storage area and after months without attention to a single piece, this happened today.  Lieutenant Dan (remember that’s the name of this dresser without legs) is not pleased nor am I.

But we’re coming to my favorite part of the day where we all 3 wait to see dad (Greg) come home while the sun sets.  (Here in Minnesota with the time change that’d be around 4:30PM.)

Happy holidays!

Free Is Affordable, We Built a Table and Made Some Lighting

I spent some time yesterday researching, yet again, the best gray paint that will soothe my sore eyes. Earlier this week I told you about the gray gray walls being actually a blue shade somehow. Hmmpph. Not the stuff that dreams are made of for this girl woman.

Instead of going to the store to face the employees again, I ordered 8 samples from the Benjamin Moore website (free shipping on orders $75 and under until the end of the month I believe). I can let them come to me and give myself time to cool it on the walls. (I also spent time yesterday putting the samples back up that we got to begin with and not a one is going to work. Just to be sure.)

On to other issues. For over a month, I’ve been trying to find the perfect dining table on craigslist-something more Danish, modern, contemporary, narrow and not too large, or something unique. I considered (never found one) a long, vintage farmhouse table to go with my eclectic idea since I have 2 metal-based tulip chairs and that free Tolix chair Greg got me…which I think I only mentioned on our facebook page last week. Oops, yeah, free Tolix chair for me. I’d been looking for an affordable one of those too-free is affordable. The company his company purchased had one at their facility and they were just giving away the old furniture. (Greg said nothing else was worth it.)

Anyway, really I was just looking on craigslist to see what tables were available. You might think the reason ridiculous. Lighting change. In order to get an idea of what I’m doing style-wise, the old table had to go. Since I can’t get rid of the horrible carpet, I needed something to better show the direction and lighting combined with table did it for me. (Our beige carpet is my nemesis.)

I didn’t think the tulip table was cutting it. Have I ever told you about that? Don’t think I did. Well, we bought it from a young woman in Minneapolis. I asked her in an email if it was the Ikea version, the real deal or another reproduction. She said no on Ikea and that it was from a store down the street from her apartment that her boyfriend picked up. I know the area and thought DWR which we love. So, my notion was that it must have been a quality piece once quite a bit of money. Sure there was a little damage. I asked in person if it was the Ikea version because, at that time I didn’t stop and see what that one looked like as I would today to be sure, and again she said no. We went to Ikea shortly after that day and what do you know, the damn table is Ikea.

Now I don’t have a problem with the company (as you will see later in this post) but I was in the market for a more collectible version (again, nothing is wrong with that table!). But I was pissed, for $10 more we could have purchased the Ikea one new. I wanted to go back and demand my money but we didn’t. That was a while ago when we hadn’t started salvaging and refinishing furniture. We chalk it up to lesson learned and sometimes craigslisters suck.

So, new table because I want new lighting in the dining room. New lighting that I decided to make. I’ve been dabbling in design for lighting since we moved in the house but I have no experience and not a really decent base of knowledge. Trial and error, the inability to find the parts and supplies I want to use and a general confidence problem has prevented me from sharing. No zippy zappies yet. I feel like I’m getting some of it right but I’ll put it this way, we have a lot of light parts sitting around and I’m not sure the majority will be used.

Follow this-found a pendant light used in a budget room makeover on a blog I came across (sorry I can’t remember which one right now), asked where she got it, was told West Elm but it’s no longer there. Started searching for it on ebay and craigslist to no avail (when I get my mind stuck on something I drive myself crazy trying to attain it…and we usually end up making it, keeping the idea on the backburner or convince ourselves it’s not worth it…which is rare), meanwhile I found another West Elm pendant light no longer sold and began looking for it too.

One of the inspiration pieces

I liked the idea of combining some of the parts from both lights to make my ideal pendant. Then, like kismet, Emily Henderson (one of my favorite designer/stylists) did a post on a $.99 hula hoop pendant light and all 3 of these lights began to become one in my mind.

Photo by Emily Henderson

I had a good idea what I wanted to do. 1) Make it myself 2) Use something a slightly better quality than hula hoops (although that’s freaking genius) which is where 14″ wood embroidery hoops came into play. We made the outer fixture but then I found a mini West Elm pendant on ebay and thought the globe would be perfect inside…and a week later, it was. I also plan to do similar lights in different finishes cause this gal likes options.

We made this using embroidery hoops.

BUT, get this, being a mini version, requires a tiny candelabra bulb that not only doesn’t give off much light (should have considered that) but is not meant to go upside down. What? That’s how it was sold but it says right on there don’t hang it upside down, the bulb that is. So you get a pendant light that can’t have a bulb in it without changing out the socket and by then this lamp would be ruined so why not just make your own. I was really not happy to realize this this past weekend after all that work. It doesn’t look right with the cord and socket conversion kits we bought to just have an empty bulb, even though I bought and already have cool Edison bulbs and dig the stark bulb lighting thing going on today.

Part of my bulb collection
Our pendant

Needless to say that is not going in the dining room but in the second bedroom with my new idea. Because this will be used and this new idea also uses items I purchased for another project that didn’t come to be due to similar issues. No wasting things in this house.

The original, early thoughts about lighting stemmed from the sparse fixture in our bedroom. We took off the hideous outer portion and left the 3 bulb portion. Every night I looked at the thing with disgust and kept imagining what I could do to it.

A few weeks ago, I was getting some holiday decorations out when I grabbed my large hurricane candle I bought years and years ago on clearance at Target for like $8. This thing has traveled from Indiana to Minnesota, from apartment to apartment to finally this house. The decorative portion slides off the candle and amazingly has these 2 metal pieces that allow for it to be attached to something else. Something else like the 3 bulb fixture and the size and scale just worked like it was always that way.

I spray painted the 3 bulb fixture with this amazing Rust-oleum Metallic Brass spray. Love the stuff. Then together and up the entire thing went and the design will go with the pulls I intend to put on the closet doors once we get those up. I will get some brass up in here after all. Boom!

What we created

A much better view

Because I got the idea stuck in my mind to change up the dining room and because I do have a temporary pendant in mind (to be shown later) and because I couldn’t find what I wanted and because these days I’m obsessed with making my own pieces, this table came to be.

We made this when I couldn't find a table I liked.

Found the top on craigslist (the guy’s wife changed her mind about their island being this solid walnut and they sold it for less than half what was paid to the custom Minneapolis butcher block company that made it) and we bought these legs at Ikea. See, I do love me some Ikea. It’s ideal as a desk and works for our small dining room. Now that we have created it, I think we’re going to put it on the market…to help the holiday spending and billz (yes, with a z). I’m going to design a slightly different table for our dining room. Probably something a tad wider than the 27″ this one is at. I do love it though.

When we can make our own table legs and tops in our dream workshop, we’ll have more of our own stamp on pieces. The future!

Gray gray

Oy vey.

First off, the weekend was a success in terms of wrapping up projects like painting the living and dining rooms. We started working on some pendant lights I’ve been trying to design for 3 rooms and we got back to that credenza/dresser that will be a different design from what we’ve done in the past and a bunch of small things were knocked off the old “to do” list.

That huge dresser we bought a year or so ago was bought by a nice couple with a large truck. The living room is put back together after a week under the plastic for safekeeping during painting and repairs. While I enjoyed the coziness of hanging out in the bedroom, we missed the living room.

This big guy is gone.

It all means we can move on. Or so I thought.

The dining/living rooms were painted Passive Gray from Sherwin Williams (that second color I picked after a change of mind and a reputable blogger’s opinion). Well, after a third coat, wait for it…we think it’s blue. Like not even a blue gray but a light blue. We put the last coat on yesterday. After working downstairs most of the day with a few breaks and trips upstairs, we kept declaring it blue. Late afternoon, dusk, while watching the Walking Dead that night, and again at 5AM before Greg went to work. Every time we said umm, it looks blue. And I wanted that ideal gray gray, not too warm or cool. After 14 samples, this wall sample seemed to fit everything I was looking for. So, why the blue?

Not neutral. You go blue and decor-related things are effected. Blue is my favorite color but not welcome in the largest, most open space we have. Was the sample different? I was told by a friend that their samples are not the real deal, maybe that was it. The tint info matched.

The first coat had me swooning, was perfectly light gray gray. I am second-guessing that opinion now because maybe my judgment was clouded by the fact that we had creamy beige carpet with creamy beige walls and warm, almost orange-hued trim and doors everywhere. The first coat helped cool things down and create a balance. And I didn’t know this color existed until a reputable blogger did a post about the undertones of gray and this one fell in her true gray category. Not the blue gray category.

Then, and here’s where another issue lies, we had problems with paint bubbles. All of the reasons why paint bubbles can happen were not factors in our situation so we were pretty darn baffled last week. One wall in particular had major issues-you could tear entire sheets of paint off- we had to start all over again with mud. When I said I was spackling last week it was to fix the bubbles. The only solution for us with those pesky bubbles, because mere sanding didn’t work, was to go around and scrape them open then sand, spackle, paint the spots, sand some more, some needed more spackling, then another coat of paint and a final coat with a foam roller for the texture. That was 10 hours of my last week, 3 afternoons getting the bubbles off the walls.

This entire process took for-ever. The good thing is that all the repairs are finished on those walls and if we do decide to change the color it wouldn’t take much. But I am not fond of wasting money. The hardest part. This took 3 gallons and could have been done in 2 if we didn’t have the bubble issue.

As you might recall, I am a Benjamin Moore fan but decided against it when I was introduced to this Sherwin Williams color (and remember we’ve had problems getting the tint matched elsewhere so we didn’t want to go that route). We also got the Sherwin Williams paint on sale…but I kept it to myself that the “sale price” was equivalent to the everyday price of my favorite Benjamin Moore gallon. That should have been a clue. The regular price of the Emerald Sherwin Williams paint is around $70. $70! I did not know this. When I got to the store, the salesperson said if I wanted matte it was either that or one even more expensive variety. Had it not been a sale event, I would’ve walked away.

Furniture painting is completely different than painting walls but my review of the Emerald Sherwin Williams paint after this experience is meh. I found it no better than Benjamin Moore (any variety) and based on price, don’t understand the high cost attached. I think I’ll stick to Benjamin Moore.

When I look at the walls all I think is blue and my heart sinks. But early morning turned into a cloudy, rainy day and it’s looking gray now. Barely. Hmm. I’ve started considering Benjamin Moore colors I had passed over because my idea needs to change to darker and a little warmer gray to avoid a too cool, blue tone. I decided I’m going to live with it and see what I think in a week even though I grabbed my large box of samples and just might slap some back up this week. Worse is that I will probably have to go back and get a bunch of samples yet again. Or do I go back to my original idea of Benjamin Moore’s Eternity? Hmmm.

Our furniture doesn’t help either. The only things I intend to keep in the living room is the brass side table and the brass floor lamp. The couch really doesn’t go with the plans for the space so it will go someday and the walls make what used to be a beautiful fabric (Room & Board pewter) look uggo. I expected them not to go together but I didn’t expect them to hate each other.

Oy vey. Furniture refinishing is so much easier than house refinishing.