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Floor D.E.M.O

Finally! After four years we are tearing up the main level.  We have done this level in stages, so we have paint and molding done, now we can add the finishing touches and put in the floor.  I am excited because the kitchen is next. The cabinets are being built, and I can see the end.

  Here is the before the demo picture. The floors were wood, but too light and they didn't run through the whole level.  I wanted the same dark wood we used for the upstairs on the whole main level, so we had to tear up the old floor.

We were lucky. None of the wood was glued down so it came out pretty easily.  I think the whole floor took us about three to four hours to take it out.
 I love having my kids help.  I constantly tell them that these skills they are learning are skills they can take with them and always have to fall back on.  I also tell my boy how eligible this makes him with the ladies.  Who wouldn't want a man who knows how to build. :)

This is what he thought of that comment. Ha Ha

The floor is out, and already it looks better.  We have a lot of wood to lay down, but I think it is going to be awesome! Pin It

DIY wreath

We just finished our upstairs hallway and I have been having fun decorating and adding some accessories. I bought this hook originally to hold pictures, but I decided to put it in the hall and hang a wreath on it.  I wanted something simple and without a lot of color. I looked all over for a wreath I liked, but I couldn't find one. School is out and I have some extra time, so I decided to make one instead.

I found these fun burlap flowers at JoAnns and I was excited. I am not fond of silk flowers, so these were just right for me.

I got a grapevine wreath and cut the flowers to the length I wanted using wire cutters.

I used some florist wire to connect the flowers to the wreath. I did not use hot glue so if I change my mind down the road and want to switch it out, I can.

I added just a few flowers and leaves just on one side and it was done. Seriously easy, inexpensive and a quick afternoon project.

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Mud Room

We are making progress on our main level.  This past weekend we worked hard getting the new mud room ready for paint and tile.  This room is right off the garage and use to be the laundry/computer desk/mudroom.  We have moved our laundry room upstairs, the desk will be in the kitchen, and now I am going to have a for real mud room with cabinet lockers to store all the shoes, backpacks, coats..... Lets just say I am excited for this room!

We painted this room the same notre dame gray that I used throughout the main living space of the house.

I used the same vintage black and white tile that I tiled the rest of our bathrooms with. I found these two school house lights and knew they needed to be part of this room.  We decided that we needed a sink in the room to have a place to wash hands and paint brushes...anything kind of messy that I don't want to wash in my kitchen sink.  I love it! We are just waiting on the cabinets to come, then this mud room will be finished.

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Molding...tons of molding!

There has been a lot of work going on in our home the past few weeks.  Lots and lots of painting! I love adding wainscoting to a room, but it is a lot of work.  Cutting, sanding, caulking, priming, and painting two coats of white. But it is worth it! Here is a peek of how some of the rooms are coming along.
Here is the family room the day we moved in.  I am so so so over brown!

We took out the harth and added some molding around the fireplace.

We spray painted the brass grills on the fireplace and painted the whole wall white.

This is our dining room the day we moved in. I was so excited to have a dining room, but not one that looked like this!

We added some wainscoting to the bottom.

I painted the bottom half white, then it was ready for some color!

I went for red. I have always wanted a red dining room. I got rid of the antler chandelier, and hung a pretty crystal one instead.

Here is my living room the day we moved in.  Surprise, brown and boring!

We added some wood.

Painted it white....

and added some color! It gave the room a ton of character.

The last spot we added some wainscoting to was the upstairs stair landing.

We already re-finished the stair railings, and just by adding some molding, and a fun new light fixture, I have a totally fun, modern and updated space.
We still have a ton of work to do, but it is so fun watching everything come together and finally become something we love. Pin It

Accent walls

We have still been working on finishing the main floor wainscoting this past week. We have the fireplace wall done...not painted, but framed out, and I love it!

It started out a plain wall with just backer board nailed to it.  We then measured, measured again, and measured again until we came up with the right dimensions for the molding. We ripped four inch MDF boards, measured again, and cut them to fit.

Once the boards were ripped and cut we started assembling.  It went pretty quickly at that point.

We decided to trim around the fireplace with two inch boards.  I want the wall to have a clean look to it, so I decided to not have any stone or tile around the fireplace.

This is how it looks today.  I love the results.  We are going to caulk it, add crown and base moldings, then paint the whole thing white. I am going to add a wood mantle to it once the painting is done.
I think this added just the right amount of character to this room.

I love feature walls, they quickly become my favorite thing in a room.  I have been using a lot of molding, and light colors in this house, but I have painted a lot of feature walls in my other homes using bold pops of color.

This was a wall in my other home. We didn't use molding on that wall, but I used paint colors. I measured out the squares, taped them off, then picked my color pattern I wanted to use.  It was fast, affordable, and fun.  I just used those sample paints you can get at Lowes for three dollars each and went to work.  I love the molding, but there are a lot of other alternatives to do if you want to add a little personality to a room just by using paint.

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Over Christmas we demo'd some walls to make an opening for new columns for our staircase.  Well, after finishing the wood upstairs, painting the stairway, and painting the upstairs and entry, we finally are making progress on the columns.

We drew up some plans, and went to work covering the two by fours with MDF and backerboard.  Both products paint up nicely.

We measured how big we want the recessed panel to be, and ripped some MDF strips on the table saw. We brought them in, put them together, and then nailed them when we were happy with how the seams looked.

We decided to build out the bottom with wainscoting and leave the top plain.  I liked the way it still kept the entry open, but adds a lot of character and detail.  I need to fill the holes in with spackle, we need to caulk, then I can paint them a lovely shade of white.

We are also busy putting the backer board up for the rest of the wainscoting on the main level.  It is a lot of work, but it is also  fun watching it come together. Pin It

My fun clock project

About twelve years ago my hubby built me a clock for Christmas. I love this clock, and have been looking for the perfect place to put it in our home.  After we got the wood done in the upstairs hall, we decided the natural spot for the clock would be in the hall.  I was so excited, the only problem was the paint color.

The color that I had painted it matched the rooms in our old home, not this one.  I am keeping the hallway pretty neutral, just black and white photos, even the chair in the landing is black and white. I knew I wanted a pop of color.  You can see the clock from the downstairs entry so I needed it to also match the colors I am painting in my downstairs rooms.  I decided on my favorite butter yellow color.  I had a can outside in my paint cabinet, so I could paint the clock for free!  I took the door off, all the hinges, and the clock face out of the front.  I painted the mat around the clock face a dark gray color to match the yellow and walls better. By the way...painting picture mat is super easy and totally works!

It turned out great, it was an easy project to do, and with just a little more accessorizing it will be ready to go! Pin It

Wood

We have finished installing the wood upstairs. It looks amazing, and I am excited! Everywhere except the bedrooms has wood floor and it opens up the space making it feel warm and spacious. I chose a engineered acacia wood floor. I love the dark floors and light walls.

It has been a lot of work...especially for my husband...but I am loving the results! Pin It

How I re finished my stair railings

We've been busy around here lately. After we got the downstairs wall demo'd we started working on the stair railings. I knew the look I wanted, and knew it would take a lot of work. The original railings were a light oak and white. We are putting a dark acacia wood on the floor, so I wanted the top of my railings to match.  We decided that instead of just painting the whole railing, we would try stripping off the varnish and stain and try re staining the wood. We used a citris stripper we found at Home Depot.

We painted it on the wood top, waited the recommended time, and scraped the finish right off. It took a lot of elbow grease, but it worked great.

Here is a picture of the stripped wood. Between the citristrip and a lot of sanding, everything came off and the wood was ready to stain. I only stripped the hand rail. We decided to paint the rest white.

Here's how it looks after we got the darker stain on it. I used a minwax stain and finished it with a rub on semi gloss polyurethane. That was the easiest part of the project. Next I got to work painting everything else.

I just painted everything else with my ultra pure white wall trim I use on all the trim in my house. I did do a first coat of zinsser primer just to guarantee the paint stayed on and did not chip. All in all with the primer, the railings got three coats of paint.

It was a lot of work, but so worth it.  I love how just by staining and painting, the railings got such a great update. Pin It