Master Blaster

I may be the only one to get the Stevie Wonder title...

Our master bedroom was the first room we tackled in the home reno, and I am pleased to say it is all but done.

We still have a few things to do in here. Down the line I want to install a tin ceiling, and once that is in we will install crown molding. We also will be painting the trim in the near future, and installing closet doors, but after that this room is done!

I did slide our dresser down in front of the door that we will frame in to actually lay our room out the way it's supposed to be.

 By sliding the dresser down this allowed us to create a functional reading nook that I LOVE!

Chair- vintage find, Table- Homegoods, Ottoman- Target,
Pillow- Homegoods Tray- Target, Blanket- Target

 This is my favorite little spot to cozy up to with a cup of coffee...

To be honest, my absolute favorite little vignette in the entire house has to be on my nightstand. I love each and everything on it.

Lamp- TJ Maxx,, Topiary- Homegoods, Ampersand- Barnes and Noble

I love our bedroom. It is the calm in the midst of the proverbial storm. When my house is chaos (which it is most of the time) I can close the door, take a deep breath, and know that eventually we'll break on through to the other side. (I seem to be on a roll with the music references today)

Medallion- Homegoods Headboard- DIY 

All in all, this room is full of things that make my heart happy. It's a place where Patrick and I can escape. It's a place our son's toys aren't allowed. It's a place that is uniquely ours, and at the end of the day that is what design is all about.

Until next time, find a cozy little spot and snuggle up with a good cup of coffee... That's what life's all about!

XOXO,

Victoria

Build me up buttercup

When we bought this house the kitchen wasn't exactly oozing charm and character. 

The cabinets for one were dark and boring...

Oak. Basic. Builder grade.

I'm a firm believer that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and the heart of our home was not a place that was making me happy.

Since a full kitchen overhaul was not in the cards due to those pesky budget constraints, I decided to make the best of what we had.

The cabinets are getting a bit of a facelift in the form of paint, new hardware, and moulding.

We started the renovation by taking the doors off, and taking all the hardware off.

Then we decided to build up the cabinets a bit, so we added crown moulding.

Sorry for my messy kitchen... We live here, and I wasn't about to clean mid reno.

Anyways, if you were looking for a tutorial on how to install crown molding then you have found the wrong blog. If that's what you're looking for there is this thing called "YouTube" and you can search for things like "crown molding inside corner" and "crown molding outside corner."

After I cut and installed the crown molding I decided to add a bit more moulding on the side panels of the cabinets

To do this I simply cut 45 degree meters on all sides of the four pieces of moulding to frame out the end panel, and nailed them on with finishing nails. After all of the molding pieces were installed it was time to fill in all the crevices, gaps in the joints, and nail holes with paintable caulk... Which was the best time ever! (Slight sarcasm)  

You might be wondering why I didn't sand everything down in preparation for painting. Well my friends behold...

I decided to go with Annie Sloan chalk paint because I'm lazy. If you've never used or heard of chalk paint it is amazing for so many reasons. The coverage is amazing, and the paint adheres to EVERYTHING! You don't have to strip and sand, because the paint will stick. Period. And rather than finish with a poly,  I am finishing with a soft wax, which I love for a multitude of reasons. If the finish ever  gets dings in it I don't have to strip it and re poly, I can literally just fill the dings with wax and buff it out. Perfect for my crazy life!

Stay tuned for the finished product... It is SOOO good!

Until next time!

XOXO,

Victoria

Let there be light!

Hey ya'll!

Fall is officially upon us, and I for one am beyond ready! I'm not a huge fan of summer. I wasn't blessed being one of those girls who "glisten" when the temperatures spike. My makeup starts running. My hairspray isn't holding. I'm standing in front of my freezer trying not to die. I'll blame it on my Scandanavian roots... 

When the weather starts cooling down I want to put an apron on and bake, but my kitchen isn't exactly the happiest of places. Knowing I plan on spending more time in the kitchen I decided it was time to start working on the heart of our home, starting with changing out this crummy ol' fluorescent fixture that was driving me CRAZY. 

There is a special place in hell for fluorescent lighting. I hate it. It's unflattering. It's cold. It's sterile. It doesn't belong in my kitchen. So I went off to Lowes in search of something with a bit more charm. 

If I could have my way I would have had the wall mount removed in favor of a pendant, but due to the placement of the skylight in the kitchen an electrician would have to shrink himself down to the size of my two-year old to fit in the spot where I wanted the pendant so I decided to stick with a wall sconce. 

When I went to Lowes I didn't really see anything in the wall sconces section. Everything seemed to be a little too small, or the wrong finish. (I needed oil rubbed bronze to match the cabinet hardware.) I was starting to feel a little disheartened when I thought I'd check the outdoor lighting, just for kicks. Lo and behold, I saw this baby...

An oil-rubbed bronze wall sconce with a vintage inspired shape, and it was the perfect size. I couldn't stop thinking about how cute this would be over my kitchen sink with an Edison bulb in it. So for just under forty bucks this little guy was on his way home with me!

I got home and made Patrick switch off the power in the kitchen. (Safety first!) We then proceeded to remove the old, ugly fixture, which revealed several layers of old, ugly wallpaper. 

Yay!

After the fixture was down Patrick got to installing the new fixture. 

It's like night and day difference!

I tried to remove the wallpaper, and ended up having to spackle a lot of the area due to random holes/ missing bits of plaster. So out came the ol' trusty Dap spackle. I LOVE this spackle. You put it on pink, it dries white. It has a great consistency to work with, and is an overall great product. 

I like to let the spackle dry for 24 hours before I sand it, but that's because I'm an overachiever. Actually, it's because we have plaster walls and I want to give it the chance to fully dry so I don't end up sanding off our plaster walls too. 

With all that being said my kitchen is going to have to get a fresh coat of paint, and I am so over the tan/brown/gross color on the walls.

Prepare yourself for 

Benjamin Moore's Nimbus Gray. It's a little bit blue, a little bit gray, and a whole lotta amazing!

Big stuff's coming... 

Until next time, hugs, kisses, and warm fuzzies from me to you!

-Victoria

Where We're Headed...

I feel like people often look at me like I'm crazy when I see pieces or spaces because I don't see things as they are. When I look at a piece or a space I can almost instantly tell you what I would do with it. I almost always see potential. My husband has a hard time with this. When we were house hunting Patrick gravitated towards more turn-key homes. I wanted a fixer upper. I wanted something that I could make uniquely ours. 

 

I realize that not everyone can do this. Different people have different gifts. My husband has one of the sharpest memories of anyone I know, but putting together a room is not one of his strong suits. He is however, excellent at helping me execute my vision. (I love you, sweetheart!)

When we were house hunting, Patrick took some convincing on more than one occasion of the potential of homes. I would have to get out my iPad and plug in the home's floor plan and render up design options for him to see that these homes had all the potential in the world. The nice thing about My husband is he has the ability to reel me in when my vision is over our heads. (I've been known to bite off more than I can chew from time to time.) We really do balance each other out well. 

So when we saw our home I could see past the awkward layout, and the smell, and the filth. I saw character. I saw potential. I saw what could be. 

I want to help give you guys an idea of what I see when I look at a space, and let you in on what my vision is for this little house we call home.

When we saw this

I saw this

Navy blue walls. Bright built-ins. Cozy, and clean. 

We plan on filling in the doorway to our bedroom, because there is an entrance around the corner that is more functional, and by having the door in the living room you lose valuable wall space in both the living room and the master... Something I am not willing to lose. Filling in the doorway is going to be challenging because in the master bedroom the wall is plaster, and we've been told plaster and drywall together can cause some issues down the line because they settle in different ways... Yippee!

The walls are actually painted panelling on the living room which is also going to be a blast. We can either Sheetrock, (which I feel is wasteful, because the panelling is in perfectly good condition.) or I've seen people use spackle to fill in the spaces in the panelling to give the look of Sheetrock. I seem to be gravitating toward option two. 

I never thought of myself as very traditional when it came to my design aesthetic, but more and more I seem to gravitate toward classic pieces. 

Moving on...

When we looked at the kitchen I hated everything...

The oak cabinets, the painted Formica, the glass tiles... None of it worked for me... Also, you can't see it but to the right the kitchen has a bar that has yet to be used. It's open to the dining room, but not really working at all. 

When I look at this kitchen I see this...

White cabinets, closed off from the dining room adding valuable usable wall space. Right now all of our appliances are completely cluttered in the corner because we don't have enough USABLE space. By closing the kitchen off to the dining room it solves problems that we need solved. 

The butcher block counters, and tin tile backsplash are non-negotiable for me. When I think of what I want in a kitchen it always includes those two things... And a porcelain farmhouse sink. That wasn't an option for the rendering or you would have seen it in the design.

One of the reasons I don't mind closing off the kitchen is because it's still very much open to the living room. Not only that but we also will be gaining valuable wall space in the dining room... Which leads me to...

This room was a mess... Literally. Those curtains are hiding French doors that are begging to be open.

We are heading somewhere in this neighborhood...

This view would be from the French doors. By closing off the kitchen we have wall space to put our hutch. (Which currently resides in the closet in the dining room. The closet will be converted to a much needed pantry. And the washer and dryer hookups will be moved out to the sunroom leaving us with a true dining space.

I hope you guys understand a little bit better why we fell in love with this dirty, old house. Underneath the grime and funky layout there is a home. If you know me at all, you know I have every intention of making this house beautiful.

Until next time!

XOXO,

Victoria

Switch it, change it...

Hey ya'll!

It's been a while since I've had a chance to blog. To say life's been a bit crazy is an understatement. Between my job, my toddler, and my husband being back in school there hasn't a whole lot of time for anything.

We're sneaking in improvements whenever we get a chance, but there haven't been a lot of chances lately... Don't give up on us! We're still fixing up this little bungalow!

Last time you saw the front of the house it looked something like this...

So bad.

First of all, the tiffany blue drove me crazy. Why you would paint sections of the door rather than the whole thing is beyond me. All I know was it had to go! I had been dreaming of a bright red door with navy accents. I was dreaming of Classic Americana. 

Next, the house numbers were laughable. Literally stickers peeling off the house. I can't even...

Also, we have a mailbox on the house that the previous homeowners used as an apparent ashtray... That baby had to go!

And last, there is an alarm system sticker on the window that has bugged me from the get-go!

Big plans baby! Big plans!

I went to Lowes with a vision in mind, and cash in hand... A dangerous combo.

I got a gallon of navy, a quart of red, and fresh numbers for the house.

We ended up with something a bit like this...

So how'd we get here...

I started off by removing the alarm sticker, the mailbox, and the house numbers. After removing the mailbox I had to take bleach cleaner to clean the siding. I'm not entirely sure how long the mailbox had been on there, but judging from the grime left behind it was quite a while. 

After the gross was removed it was time to get to work. I started by painting the front door red. I started by using a brush for the crevices with the intent of using a small roller for the bigger areas, but the roller was leaving behind a terrible texture so I ended up using a brush for the entire door. I decided to paint with the door on the hinges for the simple reason that we live close to downtown, and it's not the quietest street. I didn't want someone walking into our house. While it was drying I left the door slightly open. 

After one coat it wasn't looking great. 

Super streaky... I knew I was in for several coats.

While the first coat was drying I washed my brush and got started on the trim. The navy seemed to cover a bit better, but still looked like it needed multiple coats.

After I got the first coat on the trim, the first coat on the door was dry enough that I could rinse my brush and put a second coat on the door. This method seemed to work well and I was able to get everything done in a few hours. 

I have four coats on the door, and three on the trim. Totally worth it to get rid of that two-toned door!

Installing the numbers plaque was super easy. It drilled right in to the siding with no problems whatsoever. So much better than those stupid stickers!

We still have big plans for the front. We plan on building a porch so we will actually have a landing, installing some window boxes for those big window boxes. Something like this...

But in navy...

We also plan on putting in some landscaping. The previous homeowner just had a lot of overgrown weeds... And lots of poison ivy.

Here's a side by side to see the difference...

So much better!

Since it will be a while befor we can build a porch we need to paint or stain the stairs to protect them... I'm stumped... Ideas? Any help is welcome!

Until next time...

XOXO,

Victoria