August 31, 2013

Living.

Some inspiration for our living room once the painting is wrapped up and I can switch focus to the truly fun, yet stressful, part – decorating! And I thought picking out paint colors was hard…..I’ve been pinning away these past few months and I’ve noticed that I’ve been gravitating towards 1) black and white, 2) funky pillows and 3) graphic posters. I actually already own the Seattle Neighborhoods poster (how much fun is that!?) and I suspect it’ll become the main inspiration for our new living space.

Our previous living room was mostly blues and greens so this is going to be a big step in the other direction. Definitely more urban and hip and less matchy matchy. I do worry that this ‘style’ doesn’t fully match up with the color scheme going on in the office and craft rooms, which are blue and lavender….am I being redonk? Maybe I’ll just have to funk up the accessories in those rooms OR subtly bring a few of those colors into the living room. Oh the decisions!!!

How do you decorate? Room by room or try and envision the entire house all at once?

August 29, 2013

To do.

To do

Just thought I would fill you guys in with Phase One of the house re-doing/modeling/creating plan. This phase is the easier and ‘cheaper’ of the two and mostly requires paint and sweat labor (thanks family!) After the excitement of purchasing a new home wears off and you begin to feel like you are freakin’ hemorrhaging money, I do find that there are small projects you can complete that make your house start to feel like a home. Refinishing the hardwood floors also came under this phase since it just made sense to complete before moving in (and it was a lovely gift from the ‘rents.)

LABS (Leslie/Adam/Brown/Sugiura) South Beacon Hizzle

Phase One:

Refinish hardwood floors – DONE!
Remove UGLY wallpaper in office and craft room – DONE!
Paint entry, living room, master bedroom, guest room, office and craft room – DONE!
Give the front door a face lift (new color, house numbers, light, etc.)
Trim back landscape for the fall – prep garden space for spring

Phase Two:

Remodel full and half bathes
Remove kitchen wallpaper and paint
Update appliances (add a dishwasher!)
Remodel kitchen cabinets (OK so basically a kitchen gut job…..)
New flooring for hallway and kitchen
Hide washer and dryer

Obviously, Phase Two will include so more in-depth/hardcore/$$$/work that will have to be tackled down the road in 2-3 years, though only weeks into living here I’m already ready to run out and buy a dishwasher 🙂 Washing by hand SUCKS. I suspect Phase One will be completed by this coming fall no doubt. Then we can take the winter to hunker down before deciding which project needs to be top of the list for Phase Two.

How do you handle home improvement? Do you just rip off the band aid and do it all at once or spread it out over a few years?

August 27, 2013

I like this place.

Currently

August 24, 2013

A lil progress.

Finally. Progress. It seems like it takes 10 times longer than I plan out to finish a freakin’ project around here….sheesh. Tackled both the BF’s office (in blue) and my future craft room (in purple). Old wallpaper had to be removed (thanks sis!), walls had to be washed (thanks me!) and paint had to be applied (thanks BF!). It was a long process and I considered cutting corners many times, but in the end, it was worth it. Here are some tips that I took away from this project.

Wallpaper removal: I tried the steamer at first and it worked, but took WAY too long for each section and seemed to only take off the top layer. Perhaps using my clothes steamer wasn’t the best idea….bit the bullet and eventually bought the gel and the scoring tool.

Wall prep: As annoying as washing is, it’s a must in my book. TSP is my go to (I know, I know…chemicals…ew.) but it does the J-O-B. These walls were funky and I knew that washing would be the only way to get that residual glue off.

Buy the oversized sponge (and a back up!) near the rest of the wallpaper supplies at your local home improvement store and use a plastic scraper in the places where the glue is really caked on – it’ll save your shoulder from all of that scrubbing! I also took the time to carefully spackle and sand, which I must admit, I really enjoy! I like the DAP Dry Spackle that looks like yummy pink frosting and dries white so you know when you can sand away.

Painting: Both of these rooms are 8×10 feet so didn’t feel too bad splurging on some Ben Moore paint. One coat was ALMOST enough, but I had plenty leftover for touch ups. The colors really feel deep and vibrant and not washed out. I think I’m becoming a paint snob.

This weekend, the entry, living room and hallway will be painted some sort of grey color and I hope to get around to emptying out the rest of the boxes in the kitchen. Oh and hanging blinds in the guest bedroom and hanging drapes in the living room and prepping the garden…..the list goes on and on……

August 23, 2013

Patrol.

Stella

This is Stella’s new favorite spot in the house – squirrel patrolin’ in the backyard. We’ve had her here for about a week now and I think she’s finally starting to settle in. I was worried that she wasn’t going to adjust and get comfortable – we’ve been in boxes for the past month – in the condo one minute…at my mom’s the next….and now here. I could tell she was getting worried and nervous – she even stopped eating for a few days. I even started to wonder if she was going to get sick again.

The planes scared her (I think they sound like thunder) and there wasn’t ample rug space to itch her face but she’s found plenty of squirrels in the yard and she’s enjoyed our evening walks around the neighborhood. Last night, she finally ate her dinner and surprised me this morning when she scarfed down her breakfast. She’s also made herself comfortable in our bed again, which she hasn’t done in AGES. I’m glad to know she’s feeling better but would appreciate some additional leg space at night 🙂

My plan for the next few weeks is to keep her at home (sorry Mom & Dad) so that she knows this is her forever home and that we aren’t leaving anytime soon. Lots of love and attention will be on the agenda along with plenty of walks! Man, it’s tough being her.