My (almost) teenagers bedroom

Today I want to share with you my oldest daughter (aka Thing 1)'s bedroom.

When we moved into this house, she was in Gr.3 (8 yrs old) 

We bought this house as a 3 bedroom, but have since added a 4th (story for another post)

This bedroom and the master were both this chocolate brown color, and had just been freshly painted so I was in no rush to repaint, I just tried to work with the color it was. 

For the master it was great, the dark color was cozy, warm and wee bit romantic....

But for an 8 yr olds room it was dark and drab, so I added as much pops of color as possible with out making it look like a rainbow threw up......fail! lol

Just looking at those photos, makes me a little depressed.....so dark and dreary!

Last summer Thing 1 went away to summer camp for 9 days (and nights), so I got right to work on a surprise bedroom makeover

First I found the bedding (Bed, Bath

 & Beyond), then I matched curtains, and then the wall paint color, and then I painted her existing dresser white and added new handles, i picked up a new night table for $5 at a yard sale, and that got a few coats of white and 2 new handles,  the bed and headboard we had in the basement, so I just painted the headboard white. 

Lastly was decor, I ordered this Marilyn quote off ebay 

It suits Thing 1 perfectly!

I love how bright the room looks and feels now, and how much bigger!

Thing 1 was so excited to see her room.....but 20 minutes after she was home it looked like a bomb went off in there......teenagers!!

Fynn was there waiting for her to show her the  room!

Next post I will show you another bedroom in our house!

Dining room update

Since I posted about my dining room, I decided to refinish the china cabinet.

This is what it looked like before....

My mom gave me this when we moved into this house, it is filled with her first china set she bought when she was 17. 

Here is the finished result! 

The china set is white with gold leaves, in the glass on the doors, it has gold etching, it all goes so nice together.

And then I tripped over the dog, put my hands out to steady my fall and put my right arm through the glass on one of the doors, smashing the glass...I am lucky that I didn't need stitches, but now I am upset because of the ruined glass.... I can easily have another glass piece cut, but not so easily the gold on the glass....I am thinking I will replace booth piece with just plain glass....that's the simplest thing to do....my poor dog, She is a black lab mix and she likes to lay right by where ever I am....I am always tripping over her, but have never fallen before.....she feels so bad.

My little kitchen is finally pretty!

Today I am going to show you my kitchen.

Its a small galley style kitchen, but its 10 x's larger than the kitchen in our last house(which was military housing) I don't have tons of counter space, but its workable, and I definitely don't have enough cupboards, but it is enough space for the things I need, just don't get much extra for the stuff I want! lol 

When we moved in this was the color of the walls and counter top. Apparently the counter top, and cupboards are both original to the house and the counter top was orange, and the cupboards were yellow!!! The previous owners just freshly painted everything these colors. 

The first time I painted the kitchen I wanted a rustic orange......this is what I got....and the photos tone it down ALOT....it was almost neon!

You have to excuse the poor quality of the next few phots, these are the only ones I can find from when it was this color......

Notice Thing 1's very purple bedroom off the very orange kitchen......yikes!

These photos were taken during fall...the only time of year the orange looked (almost) good...lol 

The second time ( and most recent) that I painted the kitchen I went with a more softer, cooler tone. This color is Benjamin Moore's Rock port Gray. The photo graph makes it look a little green in a few places, but its not in real life.

 \

I still need to switch out the light fixtures...the one over the sink I am going with a hanging pendant light, and for the other one track lights.

I gave the cupboards a fresh coat of white paint, replaced all the old rusted, paint covered hinges with new shiny silver, soft closing ones. Replaced the knobs on the cupboard doors with handles, painted the back-splash (which is paint able wall paper, that was painted silver previously)white, and my sister painted the counter top (because she does a much better job than me on counter tops) 

The valance I made out of a painters drop cloth I bought at home depot...I got the idea from here.

 The space between the fridge and stove, I am planning on doing some open shelving, and displaying some white dishes, and pottery, as well as a pop of aqua

 The space above the window, I am going to either make a vintage looking wooden sign that says "Grocery" or "Groceries" or get some wooden letters from Micheals and painting them aqua.

 This photo is out of focus, but you get the idea...

I found this old window in our basement this past winter while moving stuff after we had an oil spill

I gave it a light coat of white paint, hung a wreath on it that I picked up at a yard sale a few summers prior, and there you have it! I like how it looks, and goes with the rest of the decor.

 I found this hutch on craigslist this past winter, for a great deal

 Notice Thing 1's now aqua colored bedroom......goes much better with the kitchen color than the last color scheme!

 I gave the hutch 2 coats of Beautitone's Everest in their cabinet and furniture paint

 I am seriously in love with how it turned out!

I love my little kitchen, it makes me so happy now, the whole makeover cost about $300. That's my kind of makeover!! 

Living room goes beachy glam!

Today I want to share with you the many faces of my living room. 

Like many, our living room is the hub of our home, its the space that we hang out as a family the most. 

We don't have a family room or rec room, so this living room is it.....I have given all 3 of our kids a tv/dvd player and a game console in each of their bedrooms, so when they do have friends over, they have a place to go to hang out and play video games ( which in our house just consists of the collection of Just Dance games) or watch a movie. 

Our living room is directly off the left to the front entry way, so its one of the first rooms guest see when entering our home, and for this reason, I like to keep it clutter free, and clean as possible. Because lets be honest, people always drop in unannounced when your house is a mess.....am I right?!?!! 

Anywho, this is what the living room looked like when the previous owners lived here 

This is what it looked like when we moved in........ like a bomb went off!

Ok, all jokes aside...

This is what it looked like after we got unpacked....a mismash of furniture, (the previous owners left us the couch set) 

I liked the color at the time, and it had been freshly painted so I kept the color for a year or more.

Take not of the ugly red brick on this fireplace also.....

Then when I was sick of the color ( and it was chipped and dinged up from kids and dogs and life) I painted this color....and take note of the fireplace mantel.....the ugly red brick is gone.....I painted it black!

I was happy with this for a couple years.....

But we really needed a new living room set, and I was changing all my colors in the house from warm country tones to cool beachy tones

After searching high and low ( or what I like to call Pinterest) I narrowed down a few Benjamin Moore colors and then chose "Revere Pewter" as a wall color and a beachy aqua and white as accent colors. 

The hardwood is original to the house (1950's ish)

We bought 2 new matching couches, and I painted the existing coffee and end tables, and fireplace mantel

Notice the electronics to the left of the mantel.....I had to find a better neater solution to that.....

I also painted the frames of these 3 photos.....My mother said, I am a mean woman with a can of paint! lol 

Close up of the wall sconces....

Little table I picked up at a yard sale a couple years ago....

The coffee and end tables were given to me by my parents, They bought them when I was 5 (i am 32 now) and my mom always had them in her living room in all their houses (My Dad is retired RCMP so they have had a few houses in his career) On the bottom side of the coffee table there is crayon scribbles that was done by either myself or one of my 4 younger sisters....I am so happy to have them in my home now, and love how beautifully they turned out white! 

This grainy photo I took with my iPhone this am when I started to plan out today's post

See the solution I came up with for the electronics....

It looks neater, and it gives me a chance to display more beachy stuff!! Still need to get another grey tote for the bottom block.

I plan on doing the same thing to the other side of the mantel, so it will give the illusion of built-ins. 

The paddle I bought at a yard sale a couple weeks ago for $5 and gave it a distressed coat of aqua.

I am really pleased with how my living room came together. 

Tomorrow I will show you my kitchen......