#DWH2: ENTRY WAY

We have been in the house now for about a week over 3 months. The painting has begun.
We started off this movement by painting a guest room (now Tongta's room) before she arrived in early August. That is now spreading to other portions of the house. The first area to receive attention is the entry way.

The entry way feeds into the living room of the house where I spend a large portion of my time teaching music lessons. SO, this was important to get a start on. The entry way and the living room have dark, hardwood paneling. The paneling is in really good shape and is original to the 1960 house. Remember, mid century mod. I had hesitation about painting it because of the style of the house. So if anything is to be painted, it had to be done right...right? So the decision has been made to paint ONLY the paneling in the entry way and leave the paneling in the living room as is (for now).
Along with the entry way paneling, the front door, trim and entry way brick will also get a fresh coat of paint.

So...now...the pictures...

This avocado green color is down the hallway of the master wing and is also the wall color in the master bedroom.  It makes me nervous. Question: Can a paint color really do that to you? Answer: Yes.  The palate for paint colors at #dwh1(as well as our place in downtown Memphis, and our first house in Lawrence, Kansas) were shades of gray/grey. These colors do not make me "nervous". I enjoy them muchly.  So, above are variations of colors to not only replace the green, but also for the entry way, the trim, and the two master bathrooms. (There's wallpaper in there...more on that, laterish.)

There she is...the FRONT DOOR. 

The front door feeds towards a brick wall that is continuous from the outside portion of the gated entryway. The brick is sort of a khaki color and is untouched on the inside. No stains, paints, etc. 

 First step, brick and mortar primer.  Fortunately, this part of the job is white, so it gave us a little bit of a preview to what we had in store. Painting the brick was a fairly simple task. Though, coating it for the first time did take a while. The brick absorbed the primer quickly, as predicted.

After a few practice coats, we were on track and away we went.

 

 Before we painted the brick we started the process of painting the front door. 

Step 1: Primer.

 This made a big difference. Really brightened up the dark entry. At this point, I felt pretty good about the whole paint the front door black part of the weekend until....

We actually started painting it black.  GOOOOOD LORD this part was frightening. Yes, I know it is black paint and it takes a few coats but like I said above GOOOOOD LORD. This part was kind of a low point. We persevered and got a coat of black paint on the door before bed on Saturday night.

 

 The next morning I woke up to this. 

And...I felt better. Kind of.

After church we resumed our little project. 

Another coat of black paint for the front door and while it was drying we began the bulk of the brick work. Geoffrey started up high, I did the bricks down below.

 By the end of the day we were left with white brick (primed) and a mostly black front door.

 We felt good about this change. 

Definite freshness in the space.

 

The color we selected for the front door was in conjunction with the lead pains between the stained glass. Normally, I would have chosen a tad different shade of black (darker and more black) but this shade fit the bill for this project.  There are portions of the day that the door reads dark, dark navy blue and sometimes charcoal. Bottom line, it is a nice change and really highlights the stained glass. Should this blueness continue, I may pick up something darker. But it's okay for now. All exploratory.

 Before and After

Because of the success of the primed white brick we decided to continue on with the vision of an all white entry. The trim around the front door as well as the wood paneling and all 7 doors (yes 7) in the entry way will be painted white.  

So, just imagine...

Then we thought....while we're at it perhaps we should paint the brick in the living room.

So...The brick in the living room will also be primed and painted (eventually).

The absolute next portions of the house to be painted are the master bedroom and master bathrooms.

(Hopefully in the next 10 days or so.) I am so ready for this little change.

It will make me clap my hands and shriek for joy. That's right, just like a little child.

So, until then...TTFN!

cards and imagination....

Spring time is practically here.  I'm starting to think about some possible projects for the upcoming months to freshen up our house. We finally took the tree down after Valentine's Day.  It sort of multi-holidayed through my birthday and then into February.  We only put it up on December 21st (or there about) so hey, I was catching up.

Handsome was ready for it to come down as it was blocking his clear view in the sun room of his kingdom (AKA, the front yard).

Handsome also apparently has a problem with what's going on in our guest room.  Which, by the way has turned into an impossible storage space.  The guest room is getting used this weekend, I have t-minus 2 days to get it worked out! In the meantime, Handsome refuses to go in. He just stands in the hallway and looks in.

 The butler's pantry hasn't ever been a source of clutter (for the most part) but in this case it is also having some difficulties. I took this photo last night while sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of the room.  That's probably not going to work out in there....Sheesh.

On another...completely unrelated note....I have new calling cards.

I ordered them from Zazzle   and am so excited with how they turned out. 

The paper thickness is great, the printing is very clear. 

They had great design options and I was able to include components I required. 

The front has my name and city (duh, obviously) and 

the back has all of my social media outlets. 

Twitter, blog, IG, phone number, and email.

I've had business cards before for lessons and what not...but I found that I never really used them. Even after all these years.  The times I found I needed them were really to disburse my phone number or email.  SO this time, I just went for a calling card instead of a business card. The information I included on the music business card wasn't as fun quite frankly and truth be told.... the design wasn't either. I digress.  I really like this one and I think it will fit the needs of the task.

Before and After

Last spring (or maybe it was early summer) I was on the hunt for a winged back chair with claw feet. I had a high interest in claw feet, and naturally I didn't find said claw feet on a winged back chair, but ended up buying a love seat instead.  And this actually isn't a love seat, it's more like a chair and a half sort of a deal, so I feel like my search wasn't a total discard. (HA)

The original upholstery wasn't terrible. Let's be real....it could have been WAY worse.

It was something I could live with and felt like I could style up in my house with the other things I had around it.  

Well, I lived with it....Handsome lived with it...and then it was time for a new set of clothes for the lovely little love seat and it's fancy claw feet. I have to live with a piece for a while sometimes before I decide just exactly what kind of new clothes it should get...know what I mean?

//Before, shortly after purchase//

//After, January 2013//

//Would you look at those legs!?!//

//It's always fun to change around the pillows.

Sort of like changing the jewelry up on a really good outfit.//

This is not the actual "after" I was just so excited I had to share. 

The actual after will come when I paint the pretty legs of this beauty. 

The fabric I chose for this piece is a faux ostrich.  I've used this on 3 or 4 projects this fall in either white or black and I love using it for many reasons.  The first and most important is that I like it! The second is that it is basically indestructible. Between my black cat, the children that come in and out of my house each week, and the occasional party goer casualty, I needed something that could be wiped clean without any heartache. So on all accounts, mission accomplished! One thing that is difficult about using a faux anything is making sure that it doesn't look cheap.  I tested out several different options before committing to this particular one and again, I've been happy with it on all accounts.

Check back in later for the actual after with the pretty painted legs.
Aren't you curious what color they'll be?

Christmas Decorations

The Christmas season blew by so fast this year that I hardly remember it actually happened.  I put Christmas decorations up in time for a Christmas party at our house on December 21st. Naturally, that is way later than I've ever done so.  But none the less, it was on my mind as the holiday season started back in November this year.

The merriment of the season begins.

I started putting Christmas decorations up in early November and quickly realized that my white Christmas tree was sporting a rather shady shade of white.  With this in mind I decided that I needed to spray paint a few coats to revitalize my precious white tree. So out the door I went with my white tree to the back yard with my cans of white spray paint.  I did this on a rather busy Sunday morning so it actually got to sit outside for many hours.  This helped with the smell.  Something I didn't take into account before I started spraying.  Fortunately, the smell was mostly gone by the time I took it back inside.  Also...it rained.  For which I thought my tree was ruined.  Again...safe. 

While I was in the backyard spray painting my Christmas tree naturally somebody sent me a text to see what I was doing.  My answer..."Oh ya know, just out back spray painting my Christmas tree."

Meanwhile...back inside

I gathered some new velvet throw pillows for the sun room sofa to add to the holiday cheer. The other pillows I have been using are bright yellow linen and I decided to change the fabrication for the winter season.  The thing is I like these new pillows so much that they may just get to stay on the couch year around.

About a week later, the tree found some decorations and we were ready to celebrate the holiday season.  Since my husband works for the church it doesn't seem like the holiday season did when I was growing up.  It just seems like work now.  Isn't that sad? SO many joyous components of the season though I must say.

Around the house...

I will admit that I do still have some of my decorations still up.  My tree has turned into a Valentine's Day tree, which I can convince myself of for now. But in a few more weeks I will have to put it away. Until then, I have some new light to shed on the house for the new year.

I see stripes

Geoff and I acquired this china cabinet around Christmas time this past year.  I was absolutely thrilled to have it arrive in our dining room as it has been something I've desired for quite some time.  To be exact, since we got married and I had china to put in one.  And as they say, good things come to those who wait. This is an Ethan Allen circa mid 1990s. Great construction, very sturdy and the finish is pristine. The only problem is that the finish is pristine.  Yes you read that right.  Knowing my aesthetic, it is very difficult for me to leave something as it comes. I usually have to tweak it in some way and my vision for this involved a big bucket of paint.  Unfortunately, I'm just not going to do it. It is way to pretty regardless of my personal aesthetic.  So...what can be done as a temporary fix that won't hurt the piece.  

STEP 1.....EMPTY the china cabinet.
Naturally Handsome was no help what so ever.  (he was napping as per usual).
This was actually the hardest part of the job the actual project was a snap.

STEP 2...enter the actual project.
When I was at Seabrook (paint store) earlier in the afternoon I was perusing the wallpaper section. I love wallpaper, I'm just never able to commit/afford it. This however was my most lucky day. Not only was I able to commit, it was exactly what I was looking for AND it was on sale. Had been $40, purchase price, $7.99.  KA-BOOM!

As you know, I have a thing for black and white.  As displayed in the vast majority of my decorating, my clothing, and yes my cat. So this print should be no surprise to anyone who has laid eyes on me or my things before.

In less than 20 minutes I had the paper up the shelves back in and was ready to reload the china cabinet.  Reloading was actually fun because I wanted to change the position of some of the pieces AND they needed cleaning.  So, win/win.

It may not be forever, but it is for right now. I'm excited about the paper and the way it looks with the dishes. It matches my curtains and table/chairs and the bright yellow rug that is on the floor.
What's up next? Paint for the walls!!!

For now a little....

                  

Spring "cleaning"

Well...I'm not into cleaning.  But I am very interested in moving furniture around. So instead of cleaning...I'm participating in "spring moving 2012" (within my house).

When I buy furniture, if I can't put it in at least 2 spaces...I don't buy it.  What this means is a lot of my furniture matches, is within the same color palate and is also within the same size range.

Case in point...this buffet.  As of today, this 3 piece has been in 3 different parts in my house.
This spot (pictured below) is the 2nd place. Prior it was in our dining room.  The truth is, it's actually a little bit on the large side to sit in the hallway.  It works, but the center piece sticks out just a little further than is easy for a passer by.

What did do?  Here is the new set up. 

The moral of this story is that I figured out that I like having

 something in the hallway to set my purse and keys on.  

And the hallway is just long enough that I think it breaks up the long space.

Question: Where did the 3 piece buffet go? 

Answer: The Sun room

In order to move the buffet in...

I had to move some other things around to clear the way. 

The blue velvet sofa just moved to the other side of the room. 

The white chairs on the left are now on the right.

Pause for a break. Or as Handsome says...

"PAWS" for a break. 

I got the two side pieces in easily. 

The had a rest.

The center piece was a little bit more cumbersome.

Insert one of my hide rugs and away we go. 

There.  They're all in place.

Now it's time to play with my toys. 

As of today, things are in a bit of a standstill...

I was tired....and stopped for the evening.

I'm still playing. 

More on the "spring move 2012" later.