Dining Room Makeover

I love wainscoting in a dining room, and although this room didn't have it, there was a pretty chair rail, so I decided to give the illusion of wainscoting by painting the bottom half white and the top half the same Earl Grey color from the office and kitchen.  The beautiful hard wood floors and the floor to ceiling windows with plantation shutters were a great start to this space. A quick and cheap update was changing out the chandelier for something a little more streamlined.

Our dining room furniture has never been my favorite, but I think I realized that part of the reason I didn't like it was because it has always been in a tan or brown colored room.  I had planned to paint it with chalk paint, but once I saw it against the grey walls, I didn't mind it after all.  Plus I opted to take the hutch off the buffet and replace it with the mirror from our master bedroom dresser.  I never liked it on the dresser, but I think it works fine in here for now. This dining room is also much larger than others we have had in the past, so I was able to purchase two upholstered chairs to give us eight seats, which I know we will need soon.  And, just to break up the wood a little bit, I put a rug under the table as well.  All the other accents came from our old guest bedroom.

I actually really enjoy this room now, and for the first time in many many years, I find myself sitting at the dining room table to eat, read, or color with the kids.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Top 1/2 Walls: Sherwin-Williams Duration Matte in Earl Grey SW 7660
Bottom 1/2 Walls: BEHR Flat in Polar Bear White
Ceiling: Glidden Bright White Flat
Trim: BEHR Semi-gloss in Polar Bear White
Chandelier: Stanton Hill Patina Chandelier (Home Depot)
Upholstered Chairs: Jada Linen Chairs from World Market
Rug: Bella Edison Nickle nuLOOM rug from Wayfair

Additionally, we had new carpet put down on the stairs just next to the dining room and it adds some brightness to the entry and the dining room as well:

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

Office Makeover

What had been a very blue sitting room, suited us better as an office.  On a nice sunny day, it was bright enough in there thanks to the large floor length windows, but the dark blue ceiling made it a little heavy, especially at night.  So we had the ceiling and all the trim painted white and the walls painted the same Earl Grey that is in the kitchen and dining room.  Eventually I would like to paint the built-in's white to match the trim as well and change out the ceiling fan for one with lights that cast down to brighten it up.  All of our office furniture fit in here fine, although it had to be re-configured a bit and staging built ins isn't really in my wheelhouse, but I love the hardwood floors and the huge windows with plantation shutters.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Walls: Sherwin-Williams Duration Matte in Earl Grey SW 7660
Ceiling: Glidden Bright White Flat
Trim: BEHR Semi-gloss in Polar Bear White

Laundry Room Makeover

It seems odd that my first house project would be the laundry room given that the house has MUCH bigger fish to fry, but I wanted to get it painted before the new washer and dryer were delivered and I only had one day to get it done, so I wasted no time in tackling this project.

In addition to having color choices that aren't exactly my taste, the laundry room had a VERY strong smell of dogs and a lot of holes in the walls, so I patched and painted everything, including the ceiling, trim and cabinets, and now it feels (and smells) more like us.  I would like to change out the laminate flooring at some point and put down tile, change the light fixture and a new sink would be nice, but those are way way way down the road at this point.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Walls: Sherwin-Williams Duration Satin in Fawn Brindle SW 7640
Ceiling Paint: Glidden Bright White Flat
Cabinets and Trim: BEHR Ultra White Flat
Washer and Dryer: Kenmore Elite 5.2 cu. ft. Top Load Washer and Kenmore Elite 7.3 cu. ft. Dryer both in Metallic Gray

Our Little Yellow House 5

The move was a bit more eventful than I had anticipated, but we finally moved in to our new house at the beginning of March.

Our Little Yellow House.

House Number 5.

Where we will become a family of five.

Let the journey begin.

 

The Move ~ Indiana To Georgia

Moving from Indiana to Georgia was the most difficult move we have made yet. Not only was it the farthest move we have made, but we also have two little kids (and all the junk that comes with them), we had to be out of our house a month before we closed on our new house and I am pregnant to boot.

Thankfully we sold our house very quickly, then made one quick trip to Georgia (literally drove all night, looked at 18 houses that day then drove back the next day) and found and bought a house there.  Then a month later we packed up our house in Indiana, put 1/2 of our stuff in PODS (they quoted me that our whole house should fit in two PODS, it didn't even come CLOSE), rented a storage unit and moved the rest of our stuff in there for a month.  This threw a major glitch in our moving plan because we now had to figure out how to get all the stuff from the storage unit to Georgia.

 We closed on the Indy house and Phil left and moved to Georgia to start work. The girls and I moved in with my in-laws for three weeks until it was closer to time to move into our house in Georgia.  At the end of February Phil flew back to Indiana, rented the biggest U-Haul possible and packed up the whole storage unit in our truck and got ready to make the trek south.  Unfortunately, not even moving day went perfectly because the movers that I had hired didn't show up and when I called them they had no idea what I was talking about.  Thankfully Phil and his dad were able to do most of the work with a little help from me, and we got it all done in a few hours.  Of course it was literally 10 degrees the day we were moving and our faces, hands and feet were so numb.  I was very grateful to go on a coffee run and warm up!

That afternoon, I packed the girls into my car (with two new DVD's and several new iPad apps) and followed Phil in the U-Haul for the 8 hour drive south.  The girls were awesome little troopers and we pulled into our extended stay hotel parking lot at around 10:00 pm and running on fumes.  We then stayed in the tiny, hotel room for the next 5 rainy days but we did get to try all kinds of fun new restaurants and get the lay of the land a bit.

Our next big hiccup came when it was time to move in.  We closed on the house on a Monday morning and it's Georgia custom to give the homeowners a couple of days after closing before you take possession.  In hind sight, I would never ever agree to this custom again.  We did a 'final walk-through' but because they hadn't moved out yet, it was impossible to tell if everything from the contract had been completed, not to mention when they finally did move out, a few things were damaged that we didn't see in the walk-through.  Additionally, we were supposed to take possession Wednesday night but they weren't fully moved out until 1:00 pm Thursday afternoon, which left me with two very tired kids, no where to go and two PODS being delivered around their piles of garbage and other things in the driveway.  Not to mention, the night before Phil had asked that we at least be able to unload our U-Haul into the garage since we needed to have that returned by Thursday morning as well.  So Phil and I spent two hours Wednesday night unloading a U-Haul by ourselves as their movers were loading their truck.  It was a mess.

Long story short, it was not the smoothest of transitions, but we made it work and I learned several things in the process, mostly that movers are worth their weight in gold and I will not be moving again for a LONG time (but I've said that before)!