How Paint Can Transform a Room

Before I get to the fun stuff, a short story:

Before we found that lovely little house we now call our own, we took a gander at the community about a mile down the street that was only in it's first phase of construction. It was a Ryan Homes community, and we knew several couples who had purchased and built their homes there. We loved it. We stopped by the sales office in November 2012, toured the model home, did some number crunching with the sales rep, and left because - hey - we hadn't sold our first house yet. The thought of two mortgages left us feeling a little queasy inside.

We came back in January after we actually sold the house and were living with Denny's parents. The sales rep was happy to see us and we picked up where we left off, looking at a Sienna model with a basement. There were only a handful of lots left in the first phase of construction, and we even put a deposit down on the last corner lot available. After going home and sleeping on it, we woke up the next morning with a slight amount of anxiety. THAT much money for a house? THAT much money down?

I get it, I get it, I get it. Houses are expensive, especially brand new houses. 20% downpayments are ideal. We had quite a bit of money saved up, but something didn't feel right. We didn't want to live for our house. Plus, due to the length of time it took to process permits in our municipality after Superstorm Sandy, we wouldn't have our house built until September. So we went back, got our check back, and resigned ourselves to look at resales.

And then we found our house. A month and a half later.

BAM! MLS photo in all it's glory

Surprise! Our house is the EXACT same floor plan as the house we were ready to build, only five years old, without a basement but with a morning room. We were going to opt out of the morning room with the builder because it would have been an additional $10,000 tacked onto the final cost of our freshly built house, but the basement would have been free under the builder's mortgage company's finance company incentive program.

You win some, you lose some.

But here is the kicker: the cost of our same-floor-plan-but-five-years-older-house was almost $40,000 cheaper than buying brand new. Plus, it had more property.

I feel like this is a no brainer. Obviously you know which way we went.

And now this is the story of the morning room we wanted, weren't going to get, and then got anyway.

We moved in at the end of April and I got to revel in our morning room-ownership. It's such a great room; it (coincidentally) gets the most amazing morning light, has high ceilings, two big windows, and a sliding glass door leading out to our patio. I pictured us sipping our morning coffees and reading the paper there on Saturday mornings, and turning it into a formal dining room where I could (finally!!!) host holiday dinners.

Except it looked like this:

Another MLS photo for your enjoyment

A personal photo of mine, taken at night.
This room was a HOT MESS.

Welcome to my magic school bus.

GAHHHH.

Holy yellow, batman!
Holy paper blinds, batman!
Holy vertical blinds on the sliding glass door, batman!

Literally, this room GLOWED in the morning. It was so primary yellow it cast a yellow hue throughout our entire first floor. It was the most unwelcome wake-up call every morning as we came downstairs. Our pretty little room in all it's yellow glory.

"GOOD MORNING, OWNERS! AM I BRIGHT ENOUGH FOR YOU ON THIS LOVELY MORNING? COME DRINK COFFEE IN HERE AND I WILL BURN YOUR RETINAS RIGHT OUT OF YOUR EYEBALLS. NO NEED FOR THE NEWSPAPER."

It also had paper blinds. Yes, our five-year-old morning room was sporting some dusty, brittle paper blinds. It appears that the house, once built, automatically had these blinds put in for the first owners in every window, but the owners only added REAL blinds to the windows on the front of the house. Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.  Every window that faces our backyard has paper blinds.

No bueno.

We are going to slowly swap out those over time, but the morning room was the first to get some new blinds action. A day after closing, we called a gentleman who owns a small business specializing in custom blinds, who we used in our previous home. He came out, measured, we chose the style we wanted (white wood to match the rest of the already installed blinds), and he said he'd be back in two weeks.

In the meantime, we had already decided we liked yellow because it really is a cheerful color and it would play off the gray paint on the rest of the walls on the first floor--just not THAT yellow. Before we even moved in, we knew it had to go.

My mind was blown...how can they be so similar yet SO different?

All I can say is that we picked...one of these. Which one, I don't rememeber (I'm terrible, I know). I can, however, tell you it was Behr Paint, picked up from Home Depot. It was a nice creamy, buttery yellow. And it was paint and primer in one, holla! I asked the kind gentleman at the 'Pot (my nickname for Home Depot...pronounced "po" if you're wondering) if we should prime separately anyway just in case since the existing yellow was YELLOW. And the kind gentleman said no, but we'd probably need two coats and that just a gallon should be enough.

Maybe next time I'll go with my gut and prime the damn room anyway because that ONE room took that WHOLE gallon of paint. I like to have SOME paint left at the end of a job, but there was a DROP left in that gallon.

It's now time to give mad props to my Father-in-Law, who finished cutting in for me and painting the whole room during Mother's Day weekend while I was out. Thanks, Father-in-Law, shout out to you!!!

I should also mention that the vertical blinds came down, HUZZAH. Replaced with sheer panels and an antiqued white rod and holdbacks from Christmas Tree Shoppe. I know these panels aren't the best quality, but I couldn't stand looking at the verticals anymore, and whenever we tried to use the sliding glass door the blinds would pop off individually and I'd be left whining about how much I hated verticals. Plus, my house was built in 2008 and not 1991, seriously. Sayonara, verticals! Sorry not sorry I had to ditch you.

So this is what the paint job looked like once we painted:

At least the table is cleared off?

BUT WAIT! You might be saying. What are those UGLY, yellowing paper blinds doing there? I thought you said you ordered new wooden ones?

You would be right, dear reader, except for the guy we ordered them from FORGOT ABOUT US. And never placed our order. So we didn't actually get new blinds installed until last week. A month and a half after we placed our order.

And here they are, better late than never, I guess:

So much better.

The final look is much airier and bright and less retina-burn-inducing-bright than it was before. Overall, I am a happy girl and am known to actually sit in here from time to time to do things (including reading the newspaper because I no longer feel like my eyes are bleeding).

A couple things left I'd like to do in here (bullet points are a girl's best friend):

• Window treatments for the windows
• Find an awesome dining room table that will seat at least 8. Given that this room isn't exactly humongous, I'm looking forward to this challenge. I'm thinking a 60" round table or building our own farmhouse table, but we'll see.
• Eventually replace sheer panels at the sliding glass door with something I sewed myself
• Add trim to windows and around the doorway into the kitchen area
• Replace ceiling fan with a snazzy (DIYed?) chandelier
• Add some art and wall decor
• Find better-looking wall registers that sit so high up on that one wall. Kind of like so:

source

And really, the view out of those windows could use some fixing up, too, because I'm still looking at a giant dirt patch every day.

I'm glad we have so much to do around here, but I'm annoyed that there is so little time to do it. I'm impatient like that. I like things done yesterday, if you catch my drift.

"Weekend warrior" is an apt title, but I'd much prefer "Full-time House Ninja."

We still have a long way to go, but paint make SUCH a difference in the way a room feels. Have you ever JUST painted a room and felt so much better about it?

PS: You might be curious about what is going on with the shop. I do have the best intentions of actually creating new pieces again, but when my craft room/office is in dismal shape/only partially unpacked/a mess, it's hard to find some inspiration. My goal is to get that room together this weekend, so hopefully soon, friends!

You guys.

We had eight (EIGHT!!!) inches of rain this month. Or maybe this Spring, total. Whatever it is, there was a lot of freaking rain.

Naturally, I feel like almost half of that occurred this week, the week we had all that topsoil spread so we could start seeding this weekend.

Mother Nature, you washed away all of our topsoil and I am ANGRY.

Looks like we'll be raking and spreading whatever is left ourselves on Sunday.

Because Saturday? We're beach-bound.

That, the fact that it is Friday, and the fact that I am pulling off wearing pants at work that I sometimes wear to sleep are providing me all the comfort in the world.

Literally. Comfiest. Pants. EV-AR.

I Need Blogging 101 Classes, STAT

Seriously, Blogger, all I wanted to do was change the size of some of my photos so they weren't gargantuan and get all the pink off the blog because that's not the look I'm going for anymore and (someone help me) I want to design my own header later tonight BUT NOW WHY IS THE ORDER OF MY POSTS ALL MESSED UP?!?

Rage.

And now you are two.

[UPDATE: For some inexplicable reason, when I went to change the size of the photos in this post, Blogger reposted this post TODAY. Peyton's birthday was last Friday, June 14th, which is when I actually posted this entry. Just so I don't look like a slacker blogger mom. Mmmmkay.]

To our sweet girl:

Today you are two. I feel like you are not my baby anymore.

I remember this baby.

This baby who cried, cooed, kept us awake all night, and made us better people.

Made us parents.

I'll never forget thinking how beautiful you were.

And still are.

Even when you still make these silly faces when you try foods you don't necessarily enjoy.

Our beautiful porcelain doll.

 I love your "wtf" face, your blue eyes, your loving spirit.

You are so full of energy and love, and can light a room up the second you walk into it.

You are so smart. I am amazed by the things you say and do.
(And mommy loves that you're a bookworm in training)

You have made our lives complete.
Even when you grimace in pictures.

Even when you're sick, you're the happiest girl I know.

I love that I didn't teach you how to hold a pencil, but you just held it that way from the get-go.
I love that you love to draw and are so creative and imaginative.

We can't imagine life without you. Our big girl.

I love that we waited and waited and waited for your to finally get some hair on that head, and that every morning you ask me "Ponytail, Mommy?" Because you know Mommy loves playing with what little hair you have.

We love your spirit, and most of all, we love that you're ours.

We love you, angel baby.

Happy 2nd birthday!

A Backyard in Stages

Every morning, I open my blinds to the backyard to let in all of the glorious morning light we get, only to be greeted by a variation of this:

GAHHHHHHH

Not a pretty picture by any means. And actually this is a pretty inaccurate photo of what I see right now, given that some extra bushwacking and rough grading has been done and we've added a shed and a fire pit to that concrete patio.

This is what it looks like now. Except not in the morning.



 I am a bad, bad blogger. I haven't been able to find my camera (holla back point & shoot!) since we moved in, and I'm trying to remember to snap photos as I can from my iPhone. I'm getting better, but the yard was actually cleared a few weeks ago, so I'm trying to find any photos I can of the process.

At any rate, this is what it looked like before (MLS photo, because I'm terrible):

Lots of trees. Lots of PINE trees. Very unstable, very thin, very apt to sway from top to bottom with even the slightest breeze. And as I mentioned before, making a safe, fenced in backyard for Peyton to play in is a big priority for us, so we put clearing those pines very high on our to-do list. And so they came down the week after we moved in.

We paid a local contractor to come and cut down the trees, grind the stumps, and haul everything away, but the ground was left with shallow pine tree root remnants that I thought I could tackle myself by hacking out of the ground with an axe I found in our garage.

All the best intentions

After an hour of huffing and puffing and trying to get as much down during naptime as possible, this is what I had:



You guys. That was HARD. And there was a lot more. So I did some research and the general consensus is that, left in the ground, they will rot over time in the soil. I'm just going to have to keep an eye out for any new weird growth, I guess.

At any rate, the next step is grass. Beautiful, lush grass. But because sod isn't necessarily in the budget, seed it is for this yard. I would LOVE sod (Instant yard! Beautiful "just cut" lines!), but because we are penny pinchers and looking to do as much ourselves as possible, we're just going to buy seed and spread it ourselves, water the crap out of it, and hope for the best.

And because our soil is so sandy, this showed up on Friday:

That's getting spread tomorrow. We'll probably need more dirt. You guys, why is DIRT so expensive? Geez.

Hopefully we'll be able to seed by the end of the month (then pray the rest of the summer isn't scorching hot/provides ample rain) and soon we'll have a happy little grassy spot for the tiny child to play. After grass, we're going to get a vinyl fence installed (by yours truly) by the end of the year and we'll be golden!

Here's the rough plan, via a painstakingly detailed MS Paint sketch:

Once we put the fence in, the 5 year plan is to add a pool and then we will never ever have to leave our house. So exciting!

In the meantime, however, this is how I'm feeling about our dirt patch:

I just want some grass, man!

PS: I don't want anyone to think that we hate trees and are anti-environment. It's actually the opposite. However, I am not particularly all that partial to pine trees, and our daughter's safety in the backyard trumps the pine trees. If it helps, we are planning to start composting, planting some nice dogwoods in the backyard away from the house, and buying/building our own rain barrel to make up for the great tree massacre of 2013.