Inspirations

This isn't exactly inspiring, but I've been wanting to share it with you for a couple months.  Jeez Louise.

 

I am ashamed to say those photos were taken in my house, and still look like that today.  BUT I just had to share the fact that ALL the trim in the house was once PALE YELLOW and at another time it was also PASTEL BLUE.  And when we inherited it, I would say it was all pastel pink/mauve.  Cray-cray.  (that is soooo not something I ever say, truly)

 

 

But, I am now in the decorating phase of some rooms - FUN!  But of course, none of our furniture really fits anything well... and I'm decorating our living room/ kitchen/ dining room right now.  For the dining room, I'm going bold, glam, classy - basically all gold/neutral colors.  I think its going to rock. 

 

For the living room I'm going green - the color looks great with all the windows, in my opinion.  So, I was reading the latest issue of This Old House, and guess what?  They wrote, "There's something about being in nature that is inherently calming. "That's why green is an ideal color for a living room—it relaxes people," says Sara McLean, color expert for Dunn-Edwards Paints.".    YESS!! Score one for ME!!!

 

So, I'm using this photo for inspiration for my living room:

 

 

I'm kind of in love with this retro feel.  By no means am I replicating it to a T.  (those drapes are just too much for me.  And the wall color is too dark)  But I like the artwork, and some of the lamps.  Just feels relaxing, doesn't it?

 

Does this?

 

Yeah, I don't think so either.  I plan to paint the top of the fireplace brick a dark green, and replace that cheap white aluminum mantel with a real nice wood one.  Also, as you can see, we are trying out some curtains (sheers really) - and I'm not loving them.   So, I think I may make my own roman shade?!?!  My friend gave me the idea, its all over pinterest.  And I found some fabric from Calico Corners that isn't too expensive:

I also found inspiration from The Tile Shop.  They have really beautiful displays, many of them!  We will eventually be re-doing our master bathroom.  I am SOOO in love with this one for SO many reasons...

It is so classy, isn't it?  I'm pretty sure we'll be doing white subway tile on the walls too.  I love that brown border around the floor tile (and the hexagonal tile has a brown colored grout!).  It just looks classy, eh?  I'm definitely doing the oval mirror with sconces on the side.  I want our bathroom's 'style' to last for forever really.  I also love the tile baseboard in this bathroom.  But, can we say EXPENSIVE!  Yes.   But not that expensive when you DO IT YOURSELF!! :)

I also like this bathroom, but not as much:

 

 

I like the white vs. blue - good contrast.  Not crazy about the marble hexagonal floors though.

 

Let the inspirations continue!

 

Heather



Odds and Ends

We actually had a 'normal' weekend.  Sunday, we had a nice breakfast, went to church, did laundry, cleaned, etc.  We actually TOOK A NAP!  All 4 of us at the same time! :)  Tom says, 'So this is what you are supposed to do on Sundays?'.

However, Friday afternoon we did some small projects on the house. 

And I keep reminding myself, that at some point we will have all these types of things done right?

You know what this is?

 



 
Haha, yeah, its just a plastic cap.  Its been covering this hole above my kitchen sink for about 7.5 months now to be exact.

---------  let me give you the back story -------------

The pendant lights over our island are very unique.  About a year ago, I found them at a store in Columbus, OH called Karavan Treasures.  Everything in the store is made in Turkey.  While still under renovations, our neighbor Eileen --- who owns and lives in the 7,000 sq. ft. Craft mansion --- came over the night we installed them.  She HAD to compliment us! :)

 
So, I bought these island pendant lights and had to get something to match them.  And I finally had time in Cbus to go back to this store since they are so unique.  After milling over which one, I brought one home.  Made in Turkey so it has no wires, of course.  Thanks to my handy husband, he was able to fix it!
 
Unfortunately, he worked so quickly I didn't get a chance to take pics of that process - sorry!   

He took the fixture from having 2 lights to 4.  Here is that installed:

 

Here's the fixture:

And here's the final product:

Fresh out of light bulbs, so it only has 1 bulb in it.  And it doesn't match the island pendants perfectly, but I told Tom we don't have to be "matchy-matchy" and I think he is starting to trust me!

Happy productive Monday ya'll!!

Much love,

Heather

Saving the world -- one paint can at a time

Guess what this means?

Yes, another Friday night working.  Truth be told.   Its called sweat equity, RIGHT?!?!  Jeez.

Wait, what day is it?  Has it really taken me 5 days to actually write this blog?  Whoops... well I started this Wednesday and now its Friday... its taken an entire week now.  Yikes.

-----  back to the good stuff  -----

One of my friends on facebook recently asked everyone what to do with 50 of their leftover paint cans (my apologies if you are reading this -- its not at all personal!).  But the older I get, the less and less waste I want to make.  (for example - there is this piece of cut-up floor board that I am making Tom save for a shelf!  Do you know how cheap shelves are!?!?)

But my friend had 50 leftover paint cans!!   50.  Really??!?!  And so, while I do pretty much know exactly what color I'd like the walls in our guest bathroom - I also know I have maybe 10 leftover paint cans --- so, I can't just go buy a brand new one.  

Ps.  Can you see how many things are going on in this picture?  I mean, baby monitor AND ALL!

I originally mixed a Sand Beach from Sherwin-Williams with that light blue from above.  Was NOT working... it was tooooooooo brown.  I think brown is just a very strong color.  So I put that can away.  I am trying to paint the walls a similar blue as the tile border...

And its a lighter blue... a retro blue.  So - I started by mixing some colors...

And I found out that this really dark navy blue looks great when you have a little bit of it mixed with some lighter colored paint...

FYI - that Amazon paint is already leftover/recycled paint!!

And here is where all my mixing got me.

I kept mixing little bits of green or navy blue or light blue or white (ceiling paint actually) ---- to see which one I liked the best.  Turns out, I didn't have enough navy blue anyways to be that particular about it!  I probably wasted some time fine tuning the color... 

                                    

 

But I had fun  :)

So here is the final color blue:

Along with my handsome husband who was working late on a Friday night (again)... albeit we had a massive blow-out fight the next morning - we did get some good work done that night!

I did learn something.  There is a putty-knife-type tool Tom has, that has a curve or half-moon shape cut-out on the side.  I never knew what that was for.  Maybe you did.  But it is actually for scraping the paint out of the roller, like this:

         

And after this painting - AND painting of the bedroom this project is looking AWESOME.  I am typing this from Ohio right now.  Tom goes home on Sunday and we come home Wed.  Tom is going to work his tail off to finish the bedroom and bathroom -- our ceiling fan just got delivered and I ordered carpet the other day.  

I CAN SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!!!  

In TWO weeks they will install the carpet -- our goal is to have IT ALL done by then.  I can't contain my excitement, really.  I just deleted the word YAHOO because I see I typed it somewhere else too.  :)

I am going to pull an HGTV on you - and am going to wait share any pics UNTIL IT IS DONE.  YAHOO.  Thank the dear lord it is almost over!

In other, maybe more interesting news... my baby can already sit up by himself!!  Sort of...

Mary Alice had soccer all week:

It was pretty awesome actually.  Funny to see 3 year olds play and try to listen... (while sticking their hands in their pants and who knows what else...).

My last, more funny note --- The Sherwin-Williams store manager, Tom, knows me by first AND last name.  :)  He even has some of the colors I've ordered memorized.   Yup.

On that note, I should get some sleep.  How about you?

R & R,

Heather

You get what you pay for...

Tom grouted the tile floor on Sunday.

It looks awesome - doesn't it?!?!

Tom worked until 9pm last night, painting the ceiling of the bathroom and bedroom.  Funny story.  He bought the cheapest ceiling paint there is from the Beaver.  Guess what?  Its taken like 3 coats or more to cover the mudwork.  Jeez Louise.  

I was trying to count how many days in the last month Tom has painted something.  I bet its 15 or more.  He also recently painted the trim work in the hallway stair leading to the 4th bedroom.

I just wanted to share that pic of the flooring with you.  I'm in love with it.  Sometimes I question my design decisions - NOT this time.  

Also, wanted to complain about how much work this all is.  I think its a lot harder when you have babies at home who can't be around fumes, or help out or anything.  

I need a break.  But somehow I don't think we'll be taking a break :)  We do love this stuff...

Happy remodeling Tuesday.

Yours truly,

Heather

Late night at Noble.

What does this look like to you?

To me, it looks like a TON of work.

Now ----  Do you see what I see?

That's a late Friday night, working.  Two Friday nights in a row. (to be exact, that's Tom's derrière in the center)

Last Friday night I looked at the clock ----  8:30pm -----  I was putting together IKEA shelving and Tom was painting the 4th bedroom.  Both kids still awake.  I was thinking, "This is not the kinda of life I want to live".  Hmmm....  

I can't wait to take a break from remodeling, have I mentioned that lately?  10:12pm last night:

Rinsing out the mortar bucket.

BUT, guess what other projects we will be working on?  Whenever we get the chance to get done... 

Its hard to find 106" drapes, that don't cost an arm and a leg... so I bought some fabric.  Oh boy.  Sewers out there?  Advice needed.  :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shopvac is ringing as I type... sitting here...Tom is getting the room completely ready for paint - closest and all.  Of course, he still needs to hang trim work.  EVERYTHING is taking longer than anticipated. 

Last night, TOM LAID THE TILE IN THE BATHROOM.  WOW it looks awesome, in my opinion.  Of course, anyone reading that comes to visit - THIS IS YOUR BATHROOM.  Yes, we will make your bathroom nice and pretty before we make our own :)  No kids toys in tub.  Just your own hotel shampoos and soaps.  :)  (at least I make myself smile?)

Really.  He did a great job, eh?  Still need to put grout in.  Tile is physcially demanding work - but not particularly tough.  (Tom may say different).  Anyhow, if you have mortar, tile and something to cut tile with -- tile saw or nippers -- you can do it, really.  Tom just used tile nippers for this job.  We borrowed Mickey's tile saw for the shower wall.

Still in shock that the new tub paint makes the walls no longer look white.  What?!?!

On a cuter note...

From this morning.

Much love,

The Crawford Clan