A Very Improper Bathroom Redo

      Did you do a gift registry when you got married? I did one. I clearly remember carefully selecting perfectly matching towel bars, hand towel rings, and toilet paper holders.

    I picked soap holders, and very proper little trashcans.

      The thought that one is not required to dress a house in perfectly matching items from an acceptable house wears store never even occurred to me!!

     I remember a great many silly opinions I had a new house keeper.

       I distinctly remember throwing a fit about all the white walls in my first house.

      I bet you can't guess what color every single blessed wall in this house is going to get painted?!

       I would have turned up my nose at much of the thrift store "this and that" that now I love to scatter about the house.

      To put a kitchen run in the bathroom would have been totally unacceptable.

        One must do what what is acceptable to do!

       The problem with acceptable ... it's just so bland.

     I would hate to know what I would have thought of this house, if I had seen it back then.

       It's funny time can change you isn't it?

      The lesson I'm learning in this house? Look at what it can be, not at what it is! That is how God looks at me, and I am ever so grateful.
   
Philippians 1:6   Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

Linking to:
Someday Crafts
Homemaker on a dime
Boogieboard Cottage
Project Inspire
Under the table and dreaming
Between Naps on the Porch
Tatertots and Jello
Funky Junk Interiors
Six Sisters Stuff
Show and Tell Saturday

Rug Drama - Painted Rug Tutorial

       Rugs are wonderful little things that really can add a nice statement to a room. Unfortunately  they usually have a hefty price tag attached that is quite less than wonderful. I've been scouting around for a rug for my front door, and found many...that is, many that were either too big, too small, too bland, too expensive, too the wrong color, too you get the point. I have the shopping patience of a small ant, so rather than opt to wait for the next 6 months to see if I found one I liked, I decided just to paint one. A painted rug is hardly a new concept, just google it and you'll see what I mean! I've used a a sharpie on a rug before, but this was a first for me to try to paint one.
     I picked a 3 x 5 cream colored rug for $13 from Walmart. It has a low pile and is quite heavy, which for a front door is a good thing! Nothing worse than a rug sliding all around and curling at the edges!

     I wanted something that would look like it was an actual rug design, not really something that looked crafty. I like decor that has a bit of drama, so I opted to put to go with a diamond pattern down the center. Rather than be all technical and actually measure anything, I grabbed a tin decoration I had lying around, and just traced three diamonds onto the rug with a grey marker.

      Because I don't trust my coloring in the lines skills, I taped off the edges before I filled them in with paint.

       I used a silver metallic paint from Martha Stewart's paint line. Unfortunately  the metallic shine didn't really come through once it was on the rug, but I still liked the color OK.

      Starting at the corners, I used a stencil I bought from Hobby Lobby to fill in the edges.

     Once it was finished, I felt it looked a little too flat. It needed something to give it just a bit of dimension.

      I decided to use a sponge and some cream colored paint to add a bit of depth to the diamonds.

      Using a very, very small amount of paint on the sponge, I patted it on randomly.

      It doesn't make a huge difference, but it's enough of one to keep it from just looking like blah grey diamonds.

      It's actually going to be turned length wise in front of the door, but I turned it this way so the light would hit it to take pictures. I haven't painted any walls yet, so my entry is still rather dark and tomb like...not the best for trying to take a clear picture of anything!

     I think this rug, paired with the chandelier and entry way furniture I have planned, will create just the right feel for a front door first impression. I have a thing for entries, I think they set the tone for the rest of the house.

       Now that I've bit the bullet and painted a rug for myself, the price would have to be pretty stinking amazing to get me to go rug shopping again!...that is, unless it's in the "plain Jane, less than $20" rug section! What do you think, are painted rugs too craftyish, or do you think they can look as good as the real deal?
    I hope the rest of your day is wonderful, thanks so much for stopping by!

Psalms 18:28   For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. 

Linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Homemaker on a dime
Boogieboard Cottage
Project Inspire
Under the table and dreaming
My Girlish Whims

Crate Wall Storage

     Well hello there! How was your weekend? Mine was productive. So productive in fact, that I actually finished something to show you! I know, stunning.

     The only room in this old house of ours that has ever been painted or updated is the downstairs guest bathroom. A very small bathroom I might add.  Somehow a shower, pedestal sink and toilet were all miraculously made to fit in this tiny little room. Needless to say, there is absolutely no space for any sort of storage for all the items that typically a guest might need to find in a bathroom. If there was one thing I learned in my last tiny little home, it would be the art of cramming a lot of stuff into a small space! Although this house is more than twice the size of that one, I'm finding my "small house" mentality is proving helpful with organizing this one. My method is simple, first look up. What can you do with the vertical space? Second, if the storage has got to be out in the open, make it function as decor as well as storage. So here we go, simple wall storage for my little guest bathroom.

      I picked up two of these crates at Home Depot for $8 each. (Confession: I actually already had about 6 vintage crates I've picked up at flea markets and such that I could have used...but I have a crate collecting obsession, and I couldn't bear the thought of putting the old cute ones in the bathroom. Lame. I know.)

       I stained them with a dark wood stain. I wasn't the least bit worried about it looking perfect, the uneven stain adds to the affect, I think.

      Next, I screwed on some brackets. I found mine at Lowes, I believe.

       I screwed them onto the wall where I wanted them, and that was it!

      I think they are elegantly rustic. Is that a style? Whatever, I like them, and they do the trick just nicely. You know, if you only had one and hung it high enough, you could stick a bar through the brackets for it to double as a towel rack too!

     I'm almost finished with this bathroom, one or two more tweaks to go. The rest of the rooms will go far more slowly I'm afraid, as there is much, much more work to be done in them! Really, just having one room looking pleasant and fresh gives me a boost of energy every time I pass the door. I know the rest of the house will get there with a little time...and the process of getting there is actually pretty fun!

      Enjoy your week!

Psalms 3:3   But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 

Linking To:
Just Something I Whipped Up
Homemaker on a Dime
Funky Junk Interiors
My Girlish Whims
Under the table and dreaming
Between Naps on the Porch

1959 Meets 2013

     Happy New Year! Yes, I'm late, I know. =) It seems this year has started off with me running to catch up with it, and I sincerely hope that's not an indication of how the rest of the year is going to go! I hope your holidays were all very relaxing and wonderful. Mine was, and now I am happy to be back in regular work mode. I thought I'd give you a rundown of how the house work is progressing. If you missed my earlier posts about it, the basics are we just bought a house built in the 50's that needs some major loving, a whole lot of paint, and a good bit of updating.
     Unfortunately, things have to get ugly before they get pretty with house renovating. Electrical work, AC work, pluming, gutting rooms, and that sort of thing all have got be done before any beatifying of the place happens. So here's whats gone on lately...
     This room here used to be a garage and was enclosed at some point after the house was built. It had lovely green and orange dusty (very, very dusty) carpet, ugly paneling on the walls, and an old heater on the wall.

     As lovely as all of the above were, we decided to gut the room entirely. That involved prying off the paneling.

     Unfortunately, I found a nice surprise that the former termite tenants had left for me. Thankfully I didn't find any live ones, and none of the damage seems to be on anything structural. Just as a side note, if you live in termite country, I'd HIGHLY recommend getting regular inspections and treatments! It will save you grief later, I promise!

       Next up was the carpet. This sucker had been glued down over some sort of tile stuff. I think it might have been a floor leveler of some kind, but who knows. At any rate, it took more scraping, hacking, and whacking to get that stuff up than I would have imagined! If you want a New Year's work out, go find a floor to scrape...your muscles will scream at you.

     It all paid off though, because now the room looks like this! I do believe this is about the only time I'd consider cinder block and cement to be beautiful! I have big plans for this room, it's going to be my future sewing studio! I get to be as creative as I want with the design of this room, and I plan to do some really fun stuff with it...but more on that later.

       While we were busy here, my trusty contractor was busy heading up the installation of our air conditioning system.

 
       Hurrah for heat! Of course, having all that put in caused even more mess....like dry wall dust EVERYWHERE, and large holes cut into my ceilings.

     Nothing that a few friendly dry wall guys couldn't fix though!

       They also patched up the rest of the top floor's ceilings too, since they were in pretty sad shape. That was totally fine with me, because now I could actually paint something! I completely and utterly enjoyed painting over those pink ceiling, I just have to say! This is a shot of the master bedroom ceiling in progress. It's paint color has just a tinge of mint green, but all the rest are just done in a nice clean white.

        One more bit of de-pink-ification (yes, that's a word!) took place on this rail that divides the living room and dining room.

      I spray painted it with Rustoleum's hammered black spray paint. Agghh, one less thing pink makes me so happy. You know, that parquet flooring is starting to grow on me a little...what do you think of it?? Paint it? Replace it? Leave it?

        Anyway, that about sums up how we rang in the new year. My great resolution is to make this mess livable, and move in already! =) This week should see the end of the major mess making operations, so then the really fun stuff of putting the beauty back into the house can start.
       I'm planing and pinning away on my Pinterest boards, so feel free to take a peak and see where this old house is headed! Have a wonderful week!

 Psalms 19:9   The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether