Welcome to Our Humble Abode

In addition to our work on the second bedroom and the living room, we've also been working on the entryway. 

Before.

After.

We picked up the little sandstone owl bookends at the Portobello Road Market in London. 

Aren't they the sweetest little things? They survived the transatlantic flight wrapped about ten times in our sweaters. 

I also found this classic British telephone decoration at Hobby Lobby this past weekend:

LOVE IT!

We've been working on the house since March 2011, and I'm just now feeling like bits and pieces of it are coming together to look like a real house. Here's to 2012 and more house updates/ decorating!

The Evolution of the Den

Of all of the rooms in our house, the den is probably the closest to being finished. We figured that most people who come over will see this room, so we concentrated our efforts there.

The den had humble origins.

Before the curtains were up. Pretty much the first day we moved in.

Then, we decided to scrape the popcorn ceiling. NOT my favorite project.

Here it is, in all of its newly painted glory (Valspar Churchill Hotel Wheat, for those of you interested). The furniture is mostly in place:

Next comes a rug from Target to tie everything together.

For Christmas, I got a desk and a papasan. Yay for more storage and seating!

Spot the puppy!

Oh, Happy Day! {The Living Room Before and After}

The ceilings have been scraped. They have been painted.

The walls have been repainted. The furniture has been put back in place.

And we have a new and improved den!

Before:

Notice the unfinished ceilings and the horrible yellow paint that is more suitable for a nursery than a den

AFTER!

The living room is on its way to joining the 21st century! I love the new paint color (Valspar Churchill Hotel Wheat). New lamp shades and a new rug are on their way!

Ceilings: Before and After

KITCHEN

Before 

when the kitchen ceilings still had their popcorn-ness

and when the old (horribly dim) florescent light still existed in the kitchen

Kitchen

AFTER

shiny, smooth ceilings

shiny new light fixture!

I don't have a picture of the living room before, so use your imagination!!

Living Room

AFTER

I think we are ALL so glad to be done with this project--it was messy and time-consuming, but 150% worth it.

On to painting the downstairs tomorrow!!

Tearing up the Place

Our house has gone from bad to worse. In the process of prepping the ceiling for primer and paint, we discovered that there is (was) wallpaper under the layers of paint in our kitchen. Hideous, blue and brown striped wallpaper. Yuck!

So, in addition to sanding the ceiling last night, I also had to begin the process of ripping the painted wallpaper down so that our new paint will go on smoothly (lest we create even MORE work for ourselves). Our house honestly looks like some homeless squatters should be living it in! (Pics to come!)

And to make things even worse, Landon broke his right hand falling off of a ladder Tuesday night, so I'm the only able-bodied one for the time being. What ELSE could happen???

I just want to finish all of the painting by the time Landon has some friends down in July for a bachelor party (not his own, but a friend of ours). If we're done painting, I can at least put the furniture back in place before they get here.

Halftime Report: De-popcorning the ceilings

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Landon and I have decided to upgrade the ceilings from the popcorn ceilings in all their 1987-glory to smooth, painted ceilings--hopefully, bringing another portion of our house into the 21st century (watch out kitchen and bathrooms: you're next!).

Landon is just finishing up downstairs with the scraping, and we'll be able to move onto the spackeling and  sanding tomorrow or the next night, followed soon by the actual painting of the ceiling.

Here's where we were as of two hours ago:

ALL of our furniture from the downstairs--the pictures, the kitchen table, the couch and anything else you can imagine--is now crammed into the 450 square feet or so of our living room. We're doing anything but living in it, as you may imagine.

The clean, non-popcorn ceiling in the den. Oh, how lovely it will look when we have painted it white.

Still left to do: the kitchen (the white portion of the ceiling) in contrast to the already scraped foyer.

London Calling

How adorable is this bookend?

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I ADORE London, and the old red buses, which were a part of London's transportation offerings for more than fifty years, are so iconic of my favorite city. I think these would look great in our travel inspired living room! The London Transport Museum Shop also has bookends of the Gherkin building, the classic black London taxi, Trellick tower, the Battersea Power Station and the red telephone booth.

Workin' on the Living Room

We've been in the house for two entire weeks now, which is hard to believe. It's gone by so fast! The first things we did after moving in were 1) organize the kitchen and 2) work on making the living room homey because those are the two places we spend most of our time...and the places that our guests see first.

There weren't any window dressings in the entire house when we bought it, so we went to Lowe's and got an entire house worth's of blinds. We chose the white faux wood plantation blinds, as these weren't too expensive but still looked WAY better than your regular ol' mini blinds. Behold the faux wood plantation blinds:

not our actual window, but you get the idea

The next thing we did was purchase curtains for the large glass door/ceiling-to-floor windows in the den. We both wanted to make the living room comfortable but modern; I've always loved the idea of the den as a place to showcase all of our travel photos and souvenirs, so we decided to base our world theme around the colors of red, brown, beige and black. I was unsure about the curtains (which are crucial for tying a room together) until one day in Lowe's (big surprise, as we go there at least once a day!) when I found these by Waverly:

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They are a darker brown than you see here (see below for a pic from our actual room), and they have a gorgeous geometric pattern on them that is vaguely reminiscent of Moroccan artwork. We opted just for the floor length curtains--no valance for this room. They really bring the entire room together, and we LOVE them. :) The curtains also come in red and black, and we're thinking of putting the red version into the dining area, which is open to the den. That way, the window treatments will be coordinating without being too matchy-matchy.

Landon hangs the brackets for the living room curtains

a shot of the curtains from the couch. We just open the curtains during the day so we can see out onto our (currently boring) backyard.

a close up of the pattern

Living Room Curtain Options

A while back, I did a layout board on what I would like our future living room to look like. I've still been scouting for options--I'm always on the lookout for a bargain!


Today, I found another option for the living room curtains. They are still light green, like the ones on the layout board, but instead of the $169 ones from Pottery Barn in the original post, these are from Overstock.com and come it at a handy $50.99. Definitely more budget-friendly.

Pottery Barn Peyton Drapes in Mineral Green

vs.

Overstock.com Jasper Circles in Sage

Moroccan-inspired Living Room

When I moved out of my college dorms and made the transition to my "big girl" graduate housing, I needed furniture desperately. My first purchase? A bright red couch, which I still absolutely adore. I've always been drawn to the gorgeous jewel tones associated with Moroccan culture, and I think the red couch provides a solid foundation on which to build a Moroccan-inspired living room. The lanterns, embossed tin and end tables add touches of Moroccan flair without the room losing its contemporary feel. 

I know some people are wary of color, but in this case, the red actually works as a neutral against the khaki, yellow, blue and green. If you were really daring, you could do a light blue (from the rug) on the walls for an even greater saturation of color. Toss a couple of sparkly sari pillows (like these below) on the couch and you're set!

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Product List

1. Pottery Barn Comfort Square Upholstered Sofa in Cardinal Red
2. World Market Jala Medallion Tufted Wool Rug
3. World Market Latika Amber Lanters
4. Urban Outfitters Print Shop Kew Gardens from the North-East
5. Pier One Embossed Tiles Wall Decor
6. Behr Jungle Khaki
7. Pottery Barn Peyton Linen Cotton Drape in Mineral Green
8. Moroccan Side Table