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!

Second Bedroom, 2.0

Whoooooo's happy about our second bedroom/ office? 

We are!

In large part to some amazing Christmas gifts from my sister, the second bedroom is turning into something worth looking at.

Behold it in its original glory:

This is a particularly rough picture of the room, as it was right before painting. I promise, we don't usually keep our house looking crack-den chic.

After painting the pale yellow walls to a grey-beige, and a visit to Pier One for pillows and lamps:

Sloooooowly, sloooooowly, we're getting there! Note the completely empty bookshelves--a sight that may never happen again in our household.

AND NOW! Here is it today: 

The design rundown:

• New white 5-shelf bookshelves (Walmart. $25/each)
• Sleeper sofa (free. Donated by a friend)
• Glass lamps (Pier One. On sale for $50/each; regularly $75/each)
• Velvet pillows (Pier One. On sale for $20/each)
• Long bird pillow (Pier One. $40/each)
• Blue and white chain pillows (Target, two years ago. $15/each)
• White sheer curtains. (Bed Bath and Beyond, two years ago. Given as wedding gifts)
• Owl mirror (Earthbound Trading Company. $30)
• Owl tryptich (Pier One. Given as gifts)

Master Bedroom: In the Works

When we bought the house, before the master bedroom was painted: 

After the bedroom was painted--with no decorations and with the bed in the middle of the room:

Then, the bed was moved over to the side of the room, giving us more room on the left:

To come: more wall art, a bookcase, and a chair! It may be taking a while to tackle all of these projects, but I'm excited to see them slowly come together!

Kitchen Decorations

For the kitchen (which is our next big project to tackle), I have BIG ideas for the decorations. There's one long wall that screams out for something fun and funky. For some reason, I've been hung up on a focal point that has the following two requirements:
1. It must be of epic proportions. No 8x10 picture for our kitchen wall.
2. It must have something to do with subway or bus signs. Don't ask me where this came from. Just go with it. :)

A few ideas that I've been tossing around:

A reproduction of a bus blind in London from the Transportation for London Museum Shop. When I lived there, I used to take the 11 bus all of the time (my stop: Chelsea, World's End). If I can't live in London, I can bring London to me!

source: TfL

Another poster from TfL Museum: I adore the bold black and white graphics on this one. It's London but done in the coolest way possible. Both of the TfL posters come in a variety of sizes so I could get a BIG one like I really want.

Or, what about these subway sign panels from Flying Junction store on Etsy?



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!!