New Year, New Paint

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

My goal for this year is to update a couple rooms while I can. Sometime after Romans second birthday (October) I want to start thinking of baby #2 so that gives me at least a good 8 months to complete some major projects before I can't paint or do heavy lifting. Michael and I are both very hands on type of people. Right now, he is halfway complete with finishing our basement into a family room / gym. For being an IT guy, he is rather awesome. He built us a powder room down there last summer complete with doing all his own electrical and plumbing and the year before that he built our deck. If we can avoid hiring a contractor we do. Michael and I bought our house when it was pretty much brand new, 4.5 years ago. All the walls were primered off white by the builder and needed some love. We were like kids in a candy store choosing paint colors, and went a little nuts. Literally, I think we were nuts. Lavendar dining room? Lime green living room? Dark red bedroom? Woof. It's time to update a few of the rooms making them a bit more, um adult shall we say? 





Last week, I painted our dining room. I still need to buy a few frames and wait for our pictures to come in before it's ready to share. In the mean time, I am ready to tackle the green in our living room. 

Here are a few before pictures of the space. Our house was a spec home, so we didn't get to choose to cabinets or flooring (two things I look forward to updating when we can afford it.) Also, please ignore the mess. As anyone with a toddler can appreciate, I straighten up and by the time I turn around, it's like a tornado went through. I liked the green for a good year before I started hating it. Keep in mind, there was no Pinterest or instagram 5 years ago for design inspiration. 




Here are some of our plans for an updated space....


I am so inspired by bright white walls.... If you are on instagram, some of my favorite instagrammers with amazing spaces are @madebylon, @natspencer, @devonrachel and @bluebirdkisses. I never appreciated white walls and all their potential in the past but with 5 gallons of white paint purchased I am so looking forward to the clean slate. 

Our cabinets are only 4.5 years old.... It seems wasteful to rip them out just yet even if they are just builder grade wood. It's also expensive to put in a new kitchen. My plan is to paint them white also to buy us a few more years. Along with painting the cabinets I would like to hang some sort of backsplash (either of glass tiles or subway tile) and butcher block countertops. I am still researching these, but ikea has very affordable ones here which could work as a temporary fix.

We would also like to build a mantle for our fireplace. Michael and I are having a tough time agreeing on what it should look like though. He is leaning towards a more traditional design while I am thinking more modern/craftsman (if that's a real thing.) In a perfect world, it would end up like THIS or THIS

Other things on the to-do list include:

- Hang window trim
- Find new prints. I actually am dying over a piece called Banana Mania by Daniel Seung Lee but can't find where to purchase it. Any suggestions??
- New tv (this is the tricky one. Michael will not replace that box unless it breaks. Roman, get on that for mommy!)
- New storage systems. I am loving the ikea Besta pictured above but they are sold out until the first week of February.
- Wood flooring. This has been on our short list to replace the flooring on the first floor with wood for a while now. But this year the basement, front landscaping and a Bahamas vacation won out. Hopefully next year... 
- Replace dinette chandelier which is way too large for the space.
- Reupholster suede chairs which have attracted every bit of toddler food hands. 

I definitely have my work cut out for me these next few weeks but I'm looking forward to a little update. 






2 comments:

  1. My fiance and I are in the process of redoing our room! We've started painting, well, priming, and I got a new bed set. I'm fixing up a cabinet/tv stand, and I'm working on getting more decor. I can't wait to see how things turn out! xx

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    Replies
    1. Thanks darianne! Its so much work right?! Oi!!

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