One Room Challenge Week Five

So, I thought I had zero updates for week five. 1. Because my real life job as a school counselor has been crazy busy/stressful lately and 2. Because, we had such a fun-filled weekend. I'm a gushing new first-time aunt (and Josh is a first time uncle), here's the sweet little princess we welcomed into our family. 

Isn't she the cutest? I can't get enough. 

Anyway, here's a little synopsis of what we accomplished this week. 

1. OUR WALLPAPER CAME IN!!! #happydance - although, it isn't exactly the color I wanted, we are going with it. 
2. Capped off all the edges of the wainscoting and finished up the shoe molding. 
3. Patched the ceiling 
4. Painted the ceiling (well, there may be another coat going up this afternoon)
5. Hung the chandelier! There is LIGHT y'all. 
6. Bought windowsill supplies/started to install it. 
7. Ordered lots of pillows

Since most of that hard work is quite boring through photographs - I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into the furniture that is going into the space. I don't think I've done that yet? Forewarning, I didn't clean up to make these pictures look pretty. This is real life, y'all. Living through a renovation. 

1st up - here's my gorgeous armoire/bookshelf piece. Right now it's serving its purpose of storing dog food and Christmas stockings. Oh, and a crystal drink dispenser. 

Next up, there's this little piece. I made him over here with chalk paint. What I'm thinking for him - some type of bar cart look. I'm stealing him from the living room because next up we are tackling this room and we want to do a wall of built-ins instead.

Here's my bar cart inspiration. 

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Here's the leg of the bench I have in mind. He will be home to all these pillows I have ordered and some that I already own. Right now, this bench is underneath tons of decorations in our storage room middle bedroom.  Dirty rug alert!

This chandelier has been hanging in this house probably since it was built (in the 40s) and something just spoke to me to keep it. It's not the most glamorous light in the world, but I just love keeping some of the character of the house's previous life. Anyone else sentimental?

Meanwhile, there was a whole lotta patch work to be done. Couldn't wait to get my hands/paintbrush on that medallion. Josh textured the ceiling after he patched it and sanded it. Anyone notice the ceiling is baby blue? Woof

And, that's where we left off. The ceiling is now painted but I couldn't get a good picture (not that I take good pictures - exhibit A right above this) because I finished it last night and it was just so darn dark. 

Still on the to-do list:

1. Maybe another coat of paint on the ceiling - strong emphasis on the word maybe
2. Prime the walls for the wallpaper 
3. Install the wallpaper - first time! 
4. Finish the windowsill
5. Make the roman shades (yep, I still didn't do that)
6. Install the roman shades 
7. Move everything in and decorate! 

Cross your fingers that we get through the wallpapering without too many glitches and we have it all accessorized, fabulous, and finished by next week! Eek!! Did I mention I have a jam-packed weekend full of activities that don't involve this house?! Pray for me!

Weekend Surprises

What an unexpected weekend! While we had every intention of working on our house a little bit, Mother Nature threw us a curveball. A very cute little curveball. We are now first time aunt and uncle to a sweet little baby girl.

Isn't she adorable? That one of her and Josh just melts my heart. She was two weeks early and we were so excited to meet her. We even went back yesterday :)

Let's see what else we did. We went Friday night to the Jason Aldean, Jake Owen, and Thomas Rhett concert for the cure. At the end of the concert, Jason Aldean presented a check for $575,000. Pretty cool. It was so much fun! 

Last but not least, we had to come home and do a little something. And by a little something, I mean we barely did anything. Remember I was talking about that cracked looking ceiling? Well it's not actually cracked, it's just that whoever installed it - didn't do a very good job. See those big lines?

I don't know if you can really tell in this next photo, but if you look closely you can maybe see some areas where it looks heavier/bulging. 

Sadly my grass cloth did not come in yet. I will be calling today to find out where the package is! It's been over a week and I'm getting very antsy. Other than that, Josh did some repairs on the ceiling yesterday so I will be painting it in the next few days. Aside from that, I will start making the Roman shades and crossing my fingers that my wallpaper comes in; while Josh installs a new window sill. Crunch time!

One Room Challenge Week 4

Week 4! See week one, two, and three. And of course all the other One Room Challenge participants here.

So when we bought this house, we knew that we would have to update almost everything - Installing central air and heating, wiring, gut the kitchen and baths (and we've already completed one of those here), among many many other things. Can't beat a good location right? Luckily, our house is structurally sound. So while we were busy with the wainscoting this past week, my hubby had another job on his hands. This weekend he re-wired the dining room. New electrical going to the chandelier (which is not up yet) and three new outlets for all my lamping needs! He's kind of a pro at the wiring thing by now - he's done our hallway, all three bedrooms downstairs, both of our bathrooms downstairs, and outdoor lights - and he loves.every.single.minute. of electrical work.

And I took this picture of him - doesn't he look like the wicked witch of the west from Wizard of Oz?! Hehe :)

And because I'm holding out on you, here's our new electrical fun!

Ok funny stuff over. Let's all take a moment to enjoy this wainscoting. 

Let's look more up close at a few different walls.

See the rotted windowsill? Ga-ross.

Naturally I wanted to rip up all that floor covering so I could get a really good view, but I snapped back to reality. I used Benjamin Moore paint in White Dove. After I did 2 pretty thick coats of primer. So wainscoting is pretty much complete. There's still a piece to install over the top, but we're waiting to do that until the wallpaper is installed. Wallpaper where are you?! Seriously UPS man, bring it to me now! 

My other update for this week is that I have the fabric for my roman shades purchased! I'm holding off on making them until my grass cloth wallpaper comes in so I can make sure it's all matching and on the right track. Do you love it as much as me?!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I painted the crown molding! AND I made art work. Wow. It went a little like this. More on that later :) Think gold!

So, what's on our agenda if we don't get the wallpaper in before the weekend? Here's a little glimpse of what I have up my sleeve:

• Patching the horrific job that was done on the ceiling 
• Painting the ceiling 
• Installing the chandelier 
• Hopefully replacing the windowsill (remember it's rotted out from having that AC unit?)
• Finding some fun pillows for a bench that is going in the space

Luckily I already have all the furniture and rug. I could always use more accessories though :)

What a fun, productive week we've had. Hope everyone is having an awesome day! 

Monday Excitement

I know I promised a picture of my fabric finds on Friday. But, those fabric finds were non-existent. However, I did find one fabric on Saturday that I can share with you today! Roman shades anyone?

What do we think? It's so hard to find fabric that goes with gray grass cloth - I will hold out on making the shades until the grass cloth comes in so I can make sure it all matches. 

Also, this wainscoting is almost donezo. The only thing Josh has left to do is do all the little end-cap pieces at the doorways.  I actually really enjoyed this wainscoting project. Maybe that means wallpapering will be dreadful?

You know what else I love? A deadline. Talk about motivation.  Here's the photo sneak peek I posted on instagram this morning.

Can't wait to share more details about this wainscoting and more on Thursday!

One Room Challenge Week 3

One room challenge week 3! Eeek! Check out where we started here and last week here. If you follow me normally, you know I love a good photo story. So that's just what I have today. This past week was all about wainscoting, and more wainscoting, and frequent trips to get more supplies for wainscoting. 

Something I learned this week: wainscoting is expensive. 

On our first trip to the store, I really didn't know what we needed, but Josh fully understood. I knew what I wanted it to ultimately look like, but he has the engineer mind. :) Naturally I'm standing to the side taking pictures and playing on instagram while he thinks. 

You see, we don't have dry wall up so we had to buy these sheets of wood for the backing.

Did I mention we have to take all this home in a jeep? Hence, the three trips. He cracks me up. 

A view from my seat!

Josh did a sample wall that I shared on Monday (minus the inner frames that will frame out the boxes). 

My little mathematician put together this spreadsheet to calculate the distances between all the stiles. 

And a couple "in progress" pictures. 

And we have to replace that window frame because there used to be a window unit - rotten wood is not a good or healthy look. Add it to the laundry list! 

Here's a glimpse of where we are now! Josh added the trim to the top of the wainscoting and some baseboards. One more wall to go + adding all the "picture frames" in the boxes and we'll be ready for paint!! What do you think?! #cananyonetellimexcited #papershades

I'm loving where this is heading!

This afternoon my mom and I are off to shop for fabric! I'll share our findings tomorrow :) Oh, and Josh says that we will have the wainscoting done by the end of the weekend - then its all aboard the painting train! AND the gray grasscloth has been ORDERED! 

Dare I say it

Let's talk about Christmas stockings!!! Well, I know. It's entirely too early to be thinking about holidays unless it's Halloween. Is Halloween a holiday? And I don't even really like holidays. #ScroogeAlert  There I said it. I would much rather be on a Caribbean island. I love the idea of holidays, but something just never seems right. Maybe its the lack of cold weather? I don't know. But something I always love is a monogram.

I wanted to buy some monogrammed stockings last year, but I just couldn't commit. Luckily, one of my friends mentioned a novel idea and I haven't been able to zap it from my memory. Stockings hanging from my beloved stairs!!! Thanks Amanda :) Since we don't have a fireplace in this house, I was kinda stuck. But, this is the perfect alternative.

Here's what I'm picturing...

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Once I have the real thing up - obviously closer to Christmas - I will post a picture. Anyone already in the Christmas spirit?

Wainscoting Bliss

So, I'm not going to show you the whole room.

1. Because it isn't finished yet. Not even close. 
2. Because I want to share that on Thursday along with all the other One Room Challengers. 

But, let me just say... I LOVE where this wainscoting is headed. Josh completely understands how I want each wall to look and he's done a great job so far in making it happen. He did a "sample wall" to show me what it would look like completed and I got very giddy. I'll share the sample wall with you today... The only thing that's missing is paint! 

We had such a great weekend of productivity. My to-do list for this week is to go buy paint for the wainscoting, fabric shop!, and maybe even put together my art work for the dining room. I have a busy week ahead.

Before all that, let's look at my highlight from last weekend. Remember I said I had a special visitor? So glad you came to visit S!

Have a great Monday!!

One Room Challenge Demolition

I shared this on Monday, but if you are just linking in - here is my update on my inspiration board for the dining room. And, here is my week one post.

Let me tell you, this one room challenge has given us such a boost of energy. For instance, on Monday night - we were tired from work, and then we thought "nope, we have to get up and do this work!" And we are so glad we did.

The first thing we did was clear out the room. I took a few different before shots to show you the different angles of the room.

If you're standing in the kitchen, here's your view. 

If you're standing in the living room, here's your view. 

And, if you're standing in the hallway, here's your view. 

See why this room is so important?! It's the hub of the house. It's the ultimate pass-through room. My goal is to make it the "stop and look" room versus the hurry-up and run before the faux marble wallpaper gets you room. Seriously, the pink walls start to close in on you. 

Enough rambling. After we cleared the room, Josh started to lay down some ram board to protect our wood floors that look ultra-dusty in these pictures. He only got about two strips laid out before he ran out. We plan to go to the store today after work to get some more! 

Next order of business was to bust through the wallpaper and remove a door. These are iPhone shots because my camera was dead and the wallpaper wasn't waiting for anyone. And it was getting dark. 

So every single doorway had an actual door on it. We prefer the idea of just having open doorways. I know lots of people would probably open walls up, but we really do like the compartmentalization. I know, no one says that anymore. What can I say? That's something I love about old houses. 

Now you see it... 

Now you don't... 

Better already, right? Time to peel off the wallpaper. #teamwork

After about two hours of that, this is where we are right now. Ahhh! It gives me the heeby-jeebies with excitement! 

 

Our plan for the rest of the week/weekend is to start on our wainscoting! Josh has been researching how he wants to do it and I think we've settled on a plan. We will be off to the store to get all the supplies soon. What do you think of our progress? Here's a little before and after from day 1 to where we are now. It's a different angle, but this is the only before I have of the floors before they were refinished. And look at that chandelier, it looks so different from then to now!

Before... 

Progress/after...

So far: 

• Refinished floors
• Removed window unit/installed central AC
• Removed walllpaper

Next up: wainscoting! Thanks for following along :) If you want to see what everyone else is up to, head on over to Calling It Home. to check on the progress!