Before & After {exterior makeover}

Our house got a new paint job in May...so I thought I'd finally blog some before & afters!

It was a stressful process for me! Picking out colors for interior walls isn't that big of a deal for me. I like earth tones, and I tend to like darker, cozier colors. AND it's just a wall...if you don't like it, you can easily re-paint it. Well, that's NOT the case when painting a 2-story house! I was super nervous to finalize a color, and have my painter buy all the 5 gallon buckets of it! Yikes!

I knew I wanted either a dark gray, brown/gray/taupe, or messenger green

I used the Sherwin Williams ColorVisualizer to help pick a color. I found a few I liked on my paint deck, and then uploaded a picture of our house and tried them all to see what they looked like. Once I narrowed it down to Foothills (SW7514, if you're interested), I had my painter get me a sample jug of paint. BEST decision ever!!! We only used about 1/4 of the little jug, and were able to paint a really good size patch on the back of the house. (Justin had to tell me that I didn't need to paint the whole house!) Anyway, it was soooo helpful! I was able to look at the color during different times of day, and against my white trim, and knew immediately I loved it!

I knew I wanted black shutters, so this was to help me visualize the house color, white trip and black "shutters"

After that, we ordered the paint, and the painters went to work!! They power washed the whole house, covered/taped all the windows, doors and trim, painted everything, touched up trim in 2-1/2 days! Oh my, I was so excited!! It was totally worth it to pay someone else to do the job. With a 2-story house, we would have been painting for 3years to get it all done! They had a lift and sprayers, making it so quick!

Here's the BEFORE & AFTER of the front...

(the before was taken the first time we ever came to look at the house, before we made an offer)

In December 2011, we had to have all the white trim painted in order to get our home loan, so it was already nice and fresh when the siding was painted in May 2012. 

We also had our garage doors painted! This was another stressful decision for me! My little brother told me as he has before when it comes to painting "Leave it white! You paint everything...leave it alone, Martha"! Well, I think I proved him wrong again :) I like them much better painted! It was like getting brand new garage doors. They were in pretty good shape, but it just made them all fresh and new. We also had some plastic sunbeam inserts in the windows that I removed.

Some more of the process...

Finally, we had my black shutters installed! AND my vision was complete. 

That's all for now!! I really wanted to do a mustard gold door, but for now it's still red. I like it red too :)

Our last step will be to take down all the existing light fixtures and give them a fresh coat of black paint. They're not really our style, but for now a little fresh paint will make due.  

Then the front walk needs some major landscaping help! 

DIY-Powder Room makeover

Next up...the powder room!!!

The blue wallpaper, pedestal sink and bright gold accents were great, but....

We changed it up a little :)

 

Removing the wallpaper did bad things to the walls in this room. So we had to patch, sand and texture before painting. We replaced the pedestal sink with something the fit the space better, and gave us storage. Oil-rubbed bronze faucet, and a new mirror. We painted the outlet covers and floor vent with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, and replaced the towel holder, toilet paper holder and wall sconces with oil-rubbed bronze ones. (The old gold towel holder-we sprayed with the oil-rubbed bronze paint and used in our master bathroom)

Uck...these pictures bring back bad memories!!!

Barrett even liked to scrape the wallpaper off :)

After all the paper was off, we sanded, patched, sanded again...

then taped the floor off and sprayed on the texture.

After the spray texture --->

Wall color: Sherwin Williams Mannered Gold

GOODBYE wallpaper!

Goodbye wallpaper was said A LOT during the month of December! As soon as we moved in, we starting ripping it off...and ripping it off...and ripping it off! It was wall-to-wall in the kitchen, powder room and master bath. We got a little break in the master bath and Barrett's room where it was only border. BUT there was even border in our master closet! Who does that?!?! AND we still have Barrett's bathroom and the spare room to tackle. We kinda ran out of steam in the wallpaper removal department :) 

So, we've been here 3 months now (as of March 19th), and we are so close to done with all our remodel projects! Just a few more things to tackle!! I've been working on some Before & Afters. I am excited to get them all done and make a little "Before & After" photo book! 

So, here's the next installment of the new house transformation

{the breakfast nook}

Wallpaper and border gone! Sherwin Williams Baguette on the walls!

I've ordered prints for the frames, but they aren't in yet! AND the green blinds still need to be hidden. They are really nice Hunter Douglass blinds, but they are hunter green. SO, I'm planning to just add some faux roman shades or a cornice to hide them behind. Oh, how I love the natural light in this room!

Lovely floral balloon valance---GONE!

I also painted our old kitchen table black. My Mamo gave us this when we first got married, and we used it in the dining area at our old house. It used to look so big and cramped there! It was all white and the chairs were chipping. I love it black, but it was a LOT of work! Especially the chairs with all those spindles! Here are the pics of that....

{kitchen table & chairs}

 

 table runner is from Target if anyone is interested :)

 more coming soon....

next, the powder room!

Before & After {the mudroom}

We have almost been in the house for one month. That doesn't even seem possible!

AND we have had just a few days/nights "off" from home projects. We are having a blast, 

but we are ready for the day we can just enjoy...that is a long ways away!

One of the first projects to complete was the mudroom closet.

I saw this idea on Pinterest several months back, and loved it! 

I knew then if we got this house, the mudroom closet would be the perfect place to do this! 

Here is the BEFORE....

{I am bummed I didn't get a really good "before," with the bi-fold doors on, and the old linoleum floors}

We took off the bi-fold doors, which made a huge difference in opening up the small room. 

They were always getting in the way. The door to the kitchen (on left), the door to the garage (on right) and the bi-folds were constantly crashing into each other. 

We painted the inside of the closet with the same color as the kitchen (Baguette-Sherwin Williams).

Then added the bench with baskets and small storage tower (from Target!). 

I wanted this to be a clean space for a little extra storage.

I found the three plastic bins up top at Walmart in the clearance isle. 

The little pillow is Walmart too! Everything else we had.

Now, we always know where our keys are when we're ready to walk out the door!!

The long basket is a great spot to toss the mail when we get home. 

A little bowl of chapstick, hand sanitizer, etc. for before you head out.

My friend Danielle gave us the "McPherson" piece. I need to have it framed. 

Barrett knows that his hats and gloves are in the middle basket =)

We LOVE it!!