The Walls That Talk

The craft room is done! And the best part is that I only spent $6.99 on it!  But to be fair...I just happened to have everything else on hand. Here is what I started with. The walls were so so dirty. Yellowed paint and lots of scuff marks. Definitely needed a fresh coat of paint.  I used the same gray paint that I used for the girl's room (Valspar's Grayish). I had almost a full gallon left from when we painted their room...which I was certain would be plenty.  I ended up with 1 Tablespoon of paint left over... The only thing I bought for the room was a curtain rod. I had the curtains, craft table, cubicle shelf and everything else already. The cubicle shelf and craft table were both from IKEA, as were the spice racks on the wall. But, you can also find them on Amazon  here . They come unfinished and you can paint them or stain them however you'd like. In our old house, I used those to hold the girls' books. I thought they'd work perfectly to display all of

Our kitchen is finally done! We've been in the house just under six months and most of the renovations were done within the first three weeks. But, like almost anything in life...the last 5% of the project took the most time. In this case that was the tile back splash and painting the trim. When we moved in, all the original trim in the house had been painted white...except for in the kitchen. I'm so grateful that this was the only room with trim that needed to be painted...because it just about did me in. But...18 or so coats later (at least that's how it feels to me); it's done! We chose grey cabinets and a light granite counter top. The walls were originally sky blue, so we painted those a neutral color as well. Originally this area  was kind of set up like a desk with cabinets above. We kept the same footprint but brought the counter top up to a normal height. The glass doors on the cabinets truly complete the butler's pantry look (in my opinion). W

One of my favorite rooms in our house is our living room (I think Great Room is the official Realtor term though...) I love the vaulted ceilings, the beams, the tall windows and general size of the room. We had a set of neutral couches that were in storage from the apartment days but the room was so big that we needed to purchase some more seating. I found the gray velvet chairs on Wayfair for $109 each, which I thought was a pretty good deal. They are VERY soft. Rugs were something I've never had to buy before and in my opinion...they are a bit pricey. After weeks of hunting and finally telling myself that I wasn't going to find one under $100...I spied this one. It was literally in a BALL, shoved underneath a shelf at Ross. It was dusty and wrinkled. And $11.99. So that was super exciting. And it matches the neutral furniture perfectly! The walls were painted great colors already so I didn't need to do anything there. The fireplace was originally brass and I fou

The house we moved into has a HUGE room over the garage...like 1500 square feet huge. The thing is massive. Obviously space is a good thing...but the downside is what do you do with all the space!? With such a giant open room, it's difficult to divide it up...and no one needs 1500 square feet to watch TV. We've sectioned part of it off with the TV and couch, and part of it with the pool table. There's also a section with the kid's toys, but there was still a LOT of empty space. While shopping at Lidl this week I found this peal and stick chalkboard decal. It was only $4.99 and it fit our space perfectly. I gave the kid's table and chair set a fresh coat of paint and moved them out of the garage and next to the chalkboard decal. I also picked up some oversized clothespins to hang their artwork on and some cute buckets to store their chalk and markers. So...while we still have a great deal of dead space to tackle, at least this little section of the wall has

I have this thing where I can't post about a room until it's DONE. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen all that quickly which is why it's been a while since my last post. I'll try to work on it...but don't hold your breath. That being said, I'm soooo excited with how the girl's room turned out. Most of the rooms in the house we bought had fresh paint (and in colors I would have chosen!) but a few of the bedrooms did not. This room was one of those rooms. The walls were a yellowed, off-white and it definitely needed a fresh coat of paint. Here is a picture of the room the day we began moving stuff in. My awesome mom helped me paint the room a soft gray and the trim got a fresh coat of bright white as well. I found this dresser at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $40! I love the unique look of it so I took it home. I painted it with Valspar's furniture paint which I hadn't used before. I was really impressed with the quality of paint an

Phew! Moving is exhausting! We've owned our home for one week and it's safe to say things are chaotic. It wouldn't be so hard if we both didn't have to work, get the kids to school, remember to practice Lilly's violin, do homework, lesson plans, write papers and eat. We're also getting all new plumbing throughout the house this week...and the new kitchen is going in next week.  All that to say, our house is far from feeling complete.  I was able to complete one room though today after our wonderful friends helped us move in.  This was definitely the "low-hanging-fruit" room. All the furniture was stuff we already had and the previous owners did a great job with their paint color selection. One of my favorite things about this house is the attention to details throughout. Each room off of our foyer has french doors, as you can see in this room and I love them! I also love the wainscoting, and the tall windows.  One room down...a lot mor