midcentury madness

I am a sucker for anything mid-century design.  IKEA has some new furniture.  The Stockholm collection is pretty great.

Stockholm Sofa Table

Preben Dining Chair

I definitely have my eye on the dining chairs.

David and I made a run to a local thrift store to make our usual clothes & things donation.  They had almost all of the furniture out in the parking lot, so this chair caught my eye.  Then as we were inspecting it, and deciding if we really NEED it, and how much work it is going to be to refurbish it... an employee let us know that it was half price furniture day!!  So here it is... sitting in out house.  I LOVE the legs, and it is actually comfortable.  The seat depth is perfect.

Although there are a TON of furniture upholstering how-tos out there, I think I am going to ask a pro to handle this one.

A couple of weeks later, I stopped by this same thrift shop as I saw the furniture out in the parking lot again.  I drive past this place on my way to and from work so I decided just to stop for a minute and peek.  Found a pair of Gunlocke chairs!  They have official stamps and everything.

They have seen better days, but the bones are good.  David is going to take them to Gibsonville and take care of the wood refinishing.  I HOPE we can salvage the wood underneath the seat back.  If not, we will upholster again.  But I am really hoping for wood.  The bottom part will definitely be recovered.  I can't wait to go hunting for fun fabric for all of the chairs!

bathrooms

The downstairs bathroom is finished!  I actually finished it a little while ago... but now it is CLEAN and finished.  It went from celery green, to way-to-bright teal, to this neutral light brown (Wicker).  I made the triangle pattern on just the back wall.  Same Wicker color, but with a higher gloss finish than the base paint.  We will put artwork up on the back wall, too.  We just have to decide WHAT pieces to go in there.

i know, i know.  We need another light bulb in there. 

subtle. 

so fresh and so clean.

Speaking of bathrooms... Mary and Ben have completely gutted their master bath.  Wowsers.  Here is what it looked like when I visited them in the spring:

there is a hole.  in the floor. 

And here is what it looks like now (well, about 2 weeks ago when I got the picture text):

the tub!!  this cell phone pic does not do justice to the wall color

Major progress!!  Can't wait to see it when it is all the way done. I should mention that while this project is going, they managed to put in a back patio and do a whole heck of a lot of other housework... and that is in their spare time.


So back to my house.  The downstairs office/guest room as been painted!  We are on the hunt for a love seat for that room.  We seem to keep finding chairs we like... but more on those later.  I plan on sprucing up the paint in the upstairs bathroom and the craft room.  I hope to focus outside for the nice days that we have this fall.  I am trying to clean out the back yard to prepare for our grand idea for an outdoor office/work space.  I have a few small projects to make the front yard look nicer, too.
Onwards!!

the process

Here are some videos from the wood floor project...

I would line up the bamboo planks and David would put them in place & nail them down.  The loud noise at the end is the air compressor which powers the nail gun.  

We had to remove a layer of plywood from the kitchen so that the subfloor was all one level before putting down the underlayment and then wood flooring.  It was tough work.  David removed the sheets and I would pull out the staples.  Hundreds of staples. 

The door frames had to be adjusted so that the flooring would fit underneath.  It was difficult to find the right angle... so I got in the pantry.

Some of the this we are VERY glad that we had: work gloves + a mini crow bar.  Who would have thought one of the most useful tools in every step of this project was a teeny little crow bar.  This was also one of the least expensive items!  We got the work gloves as a Christmas present from my mom.  These were AWESOME in preventing splinters when handling all of the wood pieces. 

Thank goodness this is done.  The house looks bigger, and we could not be happier or more proud of our work.  HOUSE PARTY ON SUNDAY MAY 27!  Come check out all of our hard work!

Before (with carpet and ugly curtains)

During (pulling up staples)

During (starting on the wood)

Floor COMPLETE.  Just need to finish with the decor!

homestretch

Every day we get a little bit closer to finishing the living room & kitchen.  Although, I will probably never really be finished, especially as far as decorating goes.
I had a mostly day off a couple of Fridays ago, so I got some paint and did the whole kitchen by myself before David got home from work.  Bye, bye green.  HELLO Tropical Splash!

I figured I may as well get it done while the appliances were out of the way.  So far, I really like it.  We ordered a rug for the dining area that will hopefully pull everything together.
I was so excited to have the kitchen back together that I have been cooking up a storm.  I tried one new recipe and it came out great:  peanut butter & jelly muffins.

This week, we are putting down the baseboards, shoe moulding, and quarter round.  Then we can put all the furniture back in order.  I hope to have everything back to normal by this weekend.  I will also be making my own curtain rods for the living room windows.  I have not been able to find anything I like online or in any local store.  Check back for updates on that project, plus COMPLETED house project pics!

slow and steady

Now we are getting to some not-as-much-fun stuff. We pulled the appliances out last night... around 11pm. Today I prep/clean the kitchen and we'll rip out the rest of the tile and extra flooring. And more staples. We are getting to some tricky parts under the dishwasher, oven, and in the pantry. Looks like we will be dining out this week, but thankfully the fridge is still plugged in and we have use of toaster oven and microwave.

appliance invasion. but doesn't the floor look awesome??

I am trying to pick a new paint color for the kitchen... something in a cool tone, in the blue family. Any suggestions? We loved the bold green, but I think we are looking for something a bit softer this time.

bye bye green

I got some FLOR tile samples in the mail and we are trying to decide on colors and textures for a living room rug. We can then use the tool on FLOR's website to design the pattern and size of the rug.

These little squares are so cute... I am going to use these samples (each square is 6 1/2 inches) to make a doorway mat for just inside the back door.

little projects

I worked on a few small & easy projects recently. It was nice to have instant gratification projects while the floors are in progress. All of these were on the cheap too! All three together cost me less than $30.

1. dresser drawers

We got a new dresser from IKEA recently and we actually didn't mind the hardware that came with it. It kind of goes with our grey & white trend that is happening in the bedroom. I got an Anthropologie coupon for my birthday so I got some schmancy new hardware (just over $20)... but just for my half of the dresser. Now it is like a "his & hers" piece. I like that it looks like two different dressers in one.

2. peg legs

We have two IKEA chairs in the living room. I really like the chairs, but was never crazy about their peg legs. I am not a big fan of blond wood, so I had always planned on painting them at some point. Then I came across this post on Design*Sponge. So easy, and $0 since I found some silver spray paint in the shed. A quick little update to the chairs. They look so swank on the new wood floors.

3. succulents

I think I have a brown thumb. I am not a big fan of landscaping, and I've managed to kill all houseplants I have ever had... except for one! I have had this little cactus thing for almost 2 years now and he's still kickin'! So I got a few more tiny succulents (less than $3 each at Lowe's) and put them in various containers we already had. Aren't they cute?

More floor update pictures coming soon!

progress report

This is a big job, but we are making progress! We started ripping out the carpet only 1 week ago. We are pretty much just working in between work... which makes it slightly difficult since our work schedules don't overlap a lot. David works during the week when I have a lot of free time, and I work on the weekends when David has free time. Reid was a BIG help over a few evenings last week, which really helped us get the ball rolling. So we are working on little chunks here and there, and trying to reconfigure the furniture like a giant puzzle.

Here are some progress pictures...

carpet gone. taking out the padding and *ugh* all the staples. THANK YOU ADAM FOR HELPING

first few rows!

loving the color variations

got the TV back on in time for Mad Men

We still have a LOT more work ahead of us. I am dreading moving the appliances in the kitchen. It almost feels like we have a completely new house. We still have the hallway to do (and hall closet) after the kitchen is complete. THEN, replacing and painting base boards, THEN painting the kitchen, THEN finding some window hardware so I can finally get those new curtains up.

this is happening

OH BOY. The hardwood has arrived! We have to let it sit in the house for a few days to acclimate, and then we'll seriously get this ball rolling! I had to pull out a few pieces to make sure we got the right product. It looks so. good. I am thrilled.

We got a quote on having a professional install it... and it was very expensive. We are still going to go ahead with it ourselves (and hopefully some friends' help!). We will be buying some equipment for the process, and then looking to sell it after the project is complete. If you know anyone in the triangle NC area looking to add wood floors in the near future, let them know they can get some gently used tools & stuff from us.

the final countdown

Yesterday, we ordered all of the wood for the floors. Oh. My. Goodness. I am nervous and excited. The house is going to be a wreck for a while, and I am trying to mentally prepare for this. We had not moved much of anything back into the living room since the ceiling project, so the room is clear. Now we have to rip up the carpet and padding. Ew. I am not looking forward to this part. It is going to look SO good though. And I am ordering FLOR samples today. We are going to put a big rug in the main space to denote "living room" from the "kitchen and dining" area.

Who wants to help us??

stay tuned for project progress photos...

progress report

Projects #1 and #2 COMPLETE!!

It only took 5 men and 3.5 days to get this done. SO worth hiring people for this project. Was it expensive? Yes. I cannot even imagine how we could have done this on our own though. The pictures don't really do it justice. The kitchen ceiling seriously feels a whole foot higher. Even the 17 foot ceilings in the living room somehow feel more open and airy.

Aaahhhhh! So fresh and so clean. On to the next project... wood floors! We peeked under the carpet, and it doesn't look too bad. We will pick out our wood this weekend and let it acclimate in the house next week. We decided to go ahead with this next step while all of the furniture is out of the way. Here goes nothing!

Spring 2012 House Project Extravaganza!

1. Scrape the popcorn ceilings - in progress as of RIGHT NOW. We are hiring folks to do this for us as we cannot reach our 17 foot ceiling, and its popcorn. We are just doing the living room and kitchen... the main awake-time living areas. We will have to save up for a while in order to get more of the house done.

2. Paint the great room - again, hiring folks to do this. We do not have a ladder that big. Since the room is clear, and they are already here, the drywall/popcorn peeps will take care of this for us.

3. David's desk - we sold the big ol' metal desk that was in the office. He is MAKING a new one! More on that in another post...

4. Wood Floors - I have to say, I am most excited about this one. I hate our dingy, dust-collecting, old carpeted floors. We chose a bamboo wood flooring, and will put it down in the next few weeks as the living room and kitchen are already cleared out.

5. Kitchen Makeover - we LOVE our green kitchen, but after the ceiling project it will need touching up. We may change the color slightly, but it will still be something bright and fun. I can reach everything in the kitchen, so we will do that ourselves!

6. Guest Room Makeover - we cleared out this room in order to store things from the living room for the ceiling project. Once the living room and kitchen are put back together, this room will be a blank slate! We want to make it into an office/movie room. David's new desk will go in here, and we will try to find a smallish couch or love seat.

from the top of the stairs

The living room projects begin. I will try my best to take progress pictures, but I need to stay out of the way. I packed my snacks and have most things I need up in the bedroom and craft room. They assure me that I WILL be able to get in and out of the house after they tape off everything and bubble me in.

hex marks the spot

I finally found time to finish the bathroom wall project! Basically, I was just too lazy to bring the big ladder in from the shed.

I originally wanted to do wallpaper on this vanity wall... bridging the bedroom and bathroom together. Then, we chose a few different shades of grey paint to redo the bedroom, vanity, and bathroom areas. I still wanted some kind of visual interest on this wall, so I got the SAME color grey that we already had but in a glossy finish (rather than the flat or eggshell we already had). David made a cardboard stencil for me. I traced it with pencil, then hand-painted the hexagonal pattern with the glossy paint.

I think it came out great! I love it. It gives the vanity area depth and texture, without taking up any extra space.

Previous stages of bathroom redo: part 1 and part 2