Knobs and ends

My Ikea Hemnes furniture came with plain and standard knobs. I don't hate them but I also was not crazy about them.

So, I picked up some crystal knobs on sale at Anthropologie and swapped them out. They are on the bigger side and I am still trying to see if I like them. 

I also got some colorful knobs from Anthropologie to add to the armoire in my entryway and I really like how it looks.

I set my Lulie Wallace prints on top and it seemed to give the space some life! (P.S. I am obsessed with her art. Loveeee it).

It is nice having a few rooms in the downstairs almost done so I can just work on styling and decorating as time permits.

There are still two rooms upstairs that need complete gut jobs... and the kitchen isn't looking too hot either. Hope to get a move on with those soon!

Dressed up walls

I finally made the trip to Ikea to get some curtains and curtain rods. (Side note: NEVER go to Ikea on a Saturday if you can avoid it. Seriously. Ugh.) Anyway, I purchased the Ritva curtains at 118" length. They were $34 per pair, very reasonable! I have nine foot ceilings and wanted to be able to hang my curtains high, so the 98" ones ($24) would be just a few inches too short. I will have to eventually hem these down a bit.  

 I am very happy with the curtains and I think they really bring your eye up. I did not install them yet on the bay window because my dad and I will have to finagle some special way to hang those rods. That will hopefully happen soon, though. 

I got these baskets at Ikea (here) and really like them! I also got the Rens fur rug. Not exactly sure what I will do with it yet but for now it's hanging out in the basket. 

 I am really liking how the dining room is coming together... but it seems a little too "50 shades of grey" for me at the moment. I need a little color in the room and I want to make it a little less formal.

I also got the curtains up in the living room. The furniture in this room sits really low so I am particularly happy to have the curtains to bring your eye up to the ceiling. I feel like my house just got a pretty dress :)

I also have plans for these curtains. I want to do some sort of trim like the ones here:

(source)

(source)

Bed time

Bed update! This is turning out to be the week of beds. My Jenny Lind is almost done and ready for me to pick it up (from my mom's house, where it is being raised and painted). 

I took a picture after the first coat of black paint. Please take note of my mom's Dexter laboratory plastic-walled painting booth. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but she runs a business refinishing furniture. Its rather convenient having her in the family :)

I also received a special huge delivery in the mail!

I ordered this headboard from Overstock to use in my bedroom. Don't worry, it only took me about 5 months to decide what kind of headboard I wanted for my bed...shape size color...so many choices. In the end, I just made last minute decision based on a great sale and the general shape/color that I had been thinking of.  I haven't quite been able to carry the headboard up the stairs (ughh). I hate admitting how weak I am but it is just super heavy and I'm somewhat pint sized. Hope to get it upstairs and set up soon!

Updates to come!

Raising Jenny

I've seen some really cool Jenny Lind bed's popping up (both antique, refinished, and new) and knew I had to have one for my guest bedroom. Of course, for antiques, its not like you can just go make them magically appear...  Definitely not. I could not find one Jenny Lind bed anywhere near me. I also found a really great one on Land of Nod (here), but I couldn't justify spending that much money on something I could eventually find for much cheaper. 

Aren't these beds so cute?

(source) 

(source)

Anyway, I searched local resale stores and Craigslist (cities near and far) for several months. FINALLY one morning I found one! The seller was in a city about 50 minutes from my house. I cancelled my night plans, and begged the seller to hold the bed for me. (I told her the bed would be going to a great loving home! I would take care of her (Jenny)! Overkill for sure but that is typical me). The seller was a nice lady herself and said this bed has been in her family forever.  Long story short, I got the bed.

 It's hard to tell from the picture of this headboard, but it sits pretty low (only 38" high). I am pretty sure that these beds were used (and are still often used) without box springs. I personally prefer HIGH beds.  This one without any changes would just be too low. My box spring/mattress combo would give me about 4 inches of headboard peeking out, which doesn't work for me! So in true form, I set out to make some changes to the bed. I drew this nifty diagram of what I wanted to do.

I also found a random headboard at the local Habitat Re-store that had side posts with the same dimensions so that could use those to extend the height of the headboard.

Then I realized that I have literally no tools or skills to complete such a project and no time to learn how. Luckily, I was able to find someone more skilled with wood and saws to help me out (I hired a handyman). The project is currently under way, and will hopefully be done soon! He spent three hours cutting the wood. He used an "S" shape cut instead of a straight across blunt cut, and the pieces are secured with wood glue and will be screwed together when that dries. 

I can't wait to post pictures of the finished product!

Waterlogue'd

I downloaded a new app on my iPad and just wanted to share how awesome this photo looks! :) The app is called Waterlogue, and it's $2.99 for Apple devices. It looks like a real watercolor! Can't wait to play around with the app a bit. I might get a print of this one and hang it in my office at work. 

Dining room transformation

The dining room renovation is nearly complete. It is not yet decorated, but that part may take awhile. The dining room took forever to get finished because not only was there water damage in the ceiling that needed fixing, but there was also a set back where we had to take down the ceiling to change the pipes to be up to code. 

BEFORE:

These two pictures are from when we first got the house; untouched color and everything.

DURING RENO:

It became clear that the ceiling would need major work. It was wavy, cracks, uneven--just bad. My dad took on the project himself (I helped here and there where I could). We also traded out the old knob and tube electric for modern electricity ;)

After we got the ceiling drywall up for the second time, it was time to mud the drywall and paint. With the holidays, this project took longer than expected (common theme?) and so this was the view to the dining room for awhile.

The place was sealed off and paper on the floor. I think the dining room had paper on the floor for... 5 months? It was a long and never ending project

AFTER:

Over the past two weeks, we finished painting the room and hung the chandelier. The room looks great. I spent some time cleaning the floors too.

Decorating has not really started yet in this room and I think it will be awhile, but it's nice to have somewhere to sit and eat!

Laundry room (before)

The title to this post is a little deceiving because there is no "after" yet. The laundry room is completely in the "before" stage. I know better than to jump into a million projects a once... but this laundry room can be spruced up quickly and for cheap in my very honest (and very OVER this room) opinion. So here is the tour of the lovely room. 

Entering the laundry/utility room, you see a cinder block wall, a bunch of old pipes, insulation, and dirt!

 I have all my stuff shoved to one side of the room because the other side literally has dirt on the ground.. Can't clean it till I can get those pipes out.

 I bought the washer and dryer myself off of Craigslist. They aren't perfect... a few scuffs and a couple quirks.. but I felt so proud buying them. It felt like my official crossing over to grown-up land. I can't say I like the look of the wood over the window, but my dad says it serves a purpose so I wouldn't want to mess with that!! ;)

 Pipes and dirt.

 This is the wall opposing the washing machine. It is probably my favorite part of the laundry room because it is a fresh slate. After the walls get a coat of fresh white paint I think the place will start looking a lot better. Maybe add art or a chalkboard paint design? Got the indoor-outdoor rug from Marshalls last weekend for $79. Its a 5x7, thought that was a pretty decent deal!

This is the utility side of the room. Besides covering the area up with sheets or curtains, I think I will have to just pretend that this part of the room doesn't exist?

Bathroom update

The bathroom is one of the most finished rooms in the house (although its not completely done...its use-able and you can get a good idea of where its going).

So let's take a look at the "before" pictures. Hole in the wall, old electric, vanity was okay but nothing special, small dirty toilet, and wood planks on the ground covering up layers of chipped up tile. 

There was a jet tub, but it was leaking through to the dining room below. All dirty. White square tiles.

Here is the bathroom now.  The bathroom was completely gutted and re-tiled. There is subway tile in the bathtub, carrara marble 12 x 12 marble on the floor, a new vanity and faucet, new lighting, new toilet, new mirror. The walls were painted edgecomb gray by Benjamin Moore. 

Its difficult to get a good picture in this room because there are no windows in the area, so forgive me for the overblown lighting shots. 

I got the shower curtain from West Elm. I am really liking it!

It's a small bathroom but it gets the job done! This is the only room so far that we've hired help for. The reno is going slow, so we decided to hire a local guy to do the tile, and he did a great job.

Entryway design board

I created a design board for what I am thinking I want my entryway to look like. 

If you have read any of my other posts, you may have noticed that I post a lot of design ideas but relatively few posts about the design actually implemented. Why, you may ask? Not really sure. I'm coming to find that getting the look that I want is really expensive. Even if I buy things that are deeply discounted!  Also, my house is still unfinished. There is crap.everywhere.seriously.everywhere. And dust! And bags from unpacking! Nothing is even close to being finished. Also, real life tends to get in the way.  

My goal for this weekend is to get some of these things if I can find them, to clean up and unpack more, and to take some pictures!