Work in Progress 5

It's so weird that my little sister and her hubby just bought their first house- I'm so excited for them! They closed on the house Friday, so when I left work, Britt, Ava, & I went to Sherwin-Williams, Target, & Lowe's for some essentials. Then, Saturday, the real work began! I've actually looked forward to this all month. Of course I like to work on house stuff and watch how paint and pulls and new lighting transform! If you read The Dalomba Days blog, I'm sure you've seen all the before pictures of the house. Luckily the outside doesn't require a ton of work right now! Here's the outside of their lovely home:

I painted cabinets for HOURS! :) All cabinets in kitchen and three bathrooms were oak, so Brittany wanted painted cabinets instead...so glad she bought an electric sander! Also, all cabinets are getting new pulls and spray-painted hinges. I can't wait to see the finished product! This is going to be one, creatively-decorated, comfortable, well-planned home!!!

Brittany hired a painted for the entire interior (except cabinets). This is the color that the majority of the house will be painted:

Here's Brittany and one of her college friends, Hillary, who helped us and kept us very entertained with her stories!

She's probably thinking, "I've been doing this since 7:30 a.m.!"

Ava hung right with everyone as usual. She can find something to keep her occupied no mater what! She gave lots of hugs like this one- she's definitely Mimi's girl! :)

More to come...

Home Tour 2: Jamie

When Ron & I joined Cornerstone Church more than three years ago, I met Jamie. She had a sweet baby boy, Hudson. We became friends pretty quickly probably because we have lots in common...we were going to the same gym and loved Spinning class, we like home decor stuff (when I was trying to finalize paint colors for our new house, we talked on the phone for probably over an hour each with our S-W color fan. Ha.), and we like shopping:) She and her husband, Greg, had us over for dinner one night (our wedding anniversary is exactly two months apart). I had just found out that we were going to have a baby too! I loved her house!
Since her husband and his family are builders, they saved LOTS of money by building it themselves and were able to do lots of extras like custom cabinetry, flooring, lighting, stainless steel appliances, crown molding throughout the house, ...
Soooooo, three and half years later, here's the "tour":

Entry way:
Her front door is a wooden, distressed door. When you walk in there's kinda of a long hall. She got the very large painting for a housewarming gift.

At the end of the hallway is this little nook. See the photography? More about that later. The table and chair were hand-me-downs.

The dining room is painted a great reddish-orange color. The table and chairs were purchased from Pottery Barn OUTLET (love that store!). The table was only $250 compared to PB's regularly priced tables, $700-1000+.


Jamie's kitchen really caught my eye on my first visit because I really liked the wall color (Sherwin-Williams Wheat Grass- now in my kitchen/hearth room) and the brick floors. I also love the use of black in accessories and fabrics. Greg bought their table on clearance before they were married. She got the jute rug at Marshall's for $15. Most accessories were gifts.

To save money in the laundry room, they opted to not install cabinets, so Jamie made these polka dot curtains instead. Cute!


The black bench and shelf was also purchased at Pottery Barn Outlet.

Living room: The leather couches came from Sam's Club (the pair was $700). Their coffee tables/end tables were Christmas presents. Lamps were on clearance at Hancock's. I love the built-in shelving/cabinetry.

Guest bath: paisley shower curtain from Target; mirror from Pier One ($60)- gift card; rug also bought with gift card. The Peter's Pottery was a gift.

Master Bedroom: I really liked this color too so I used it in my master bathroom (Sherwin-Williams Halcyon Blue...not sure if I spelled that right). The king-sized bedding came from Marshall's for $120! The furniture was Greg's before they married. The lamps are from Fred's.

The ceiling detail work is beautiful.

Their master bath is chocolate brown.

Hudson's Room: Hudson is almost 4 years old. When he was transitioned from the nursery to a big boy room, they did an accent wall with bedboard, painted it yellow, and distressed it. Looks great! The bedding is from Pottery Barn, but Jamie was able to find one set on eBay and the other set was a gift from his grandmother. Most of the accessories and books were gifts or hand-me-downs.

Harrison's Nursery: Greg painted the monochromatic stripes on the walls. The bedding was purchased from baby's are us. Most of the furniture and accessories were gifts from family and friends. Hudson was moved to his room in time for his baby brother to join the family, so Jamie updated the room a bit for the new baby.

Upstairs
This is the guest bedroom. I love the black furniture!

Jamie made the shower curtain from a piece of scrap fabric at Hancock's for $7.

The bonus room is a playroom for the boys and a sewing & scrapbooking room for Jamie.
The desk with hutch was made from primative beadboard that she found at an antique store in Hardy, Arkansas- neat!

And last, but not least, here's the super-organized attic with shelving built by Greg.

This spring, I'll take get some pictures of their pretty backyard and covered patio. It is awesome!
In closing, here are some of Jamie's tips for being thrifty as a stay-at-home-mom:

• She cooks at home a lot instead of eating out.
  
• They only have a house payment...everything else was paid for with cash.
• They do use a credit card and pay it off at the end of EACH month so that they have flight miles.
  
• They only put what's needed to live on in the checking account. The rest goes into savings.
  
• She asks for gift cards for occasions.
  
• They do spend more on furniture because it will last for a LONG time. And she spends more on photography because that is something she really likes and wants to have those beautiful memories in the best light:)

Master Bedroom

Our Master Bedroom:
The master bedroom has an unique ceiling that is painted in 3 colors: white, pale blue-gray, & a bit darker blue-gray. Walls are painted with the pale blue-gray. The floors are dark -stained concrete. I have a mid-sized oriental style rug with golds, browns, & hints of the wall blue. My husband was given the queen-sized bed, dresser, & bedside table when he was a teenager- it was a light, honey oak. He surprised me by staining it a very dark espresso. Later I distressed the furniture with sand paper. The bed is dressed with linens I found at Marshalls, including an orange quilt to spice it up a bit. My newest purchase for the room is a round mirror from Target. I've displayed family pictures & pottery. Above the bed I hung 3 square metal pieces from Southern Living at Home. The lamps were an inexpensive purchase from Wal-Mart. From Pottery Barn (clearance) I found the white panels.

I definitely have more work to do in here. I haven't done much to it since initially moving in two years ago. I have some ideas floating around...

Ava's Nursery

I had SO much fun creating Ava's room. I am planning to update her room in the next month; she's 2.5 years old now. It seems like yesterday that I was planning her room before she was even born. I know every parent knows this, but TIME FLIES!

I decorated the room with painted white furniture, pale lime green walls- Sherwin Williams Hearts of Palm, lots of different fabrics from Hancock Fabrics-toile, ticking, floral. I incorporated antique heirloom furniture updated with white paint & unique pulls, hot pink ribbon (my sister's idea). Ava's room has an oil-rubbed bronze chandelier (Lowe's) that matches her curtain rod and doorknobs. I purchased the curtain & lamp from Target; I love the Shabby Chic line. Her dark stained concrete floor is covered with a large rug that I found half price at the Pottery Barn Outlet in Memphis, TN. My childhood blanket and rocking chair are used in the room also. All photographs were printed in black and white. I chose to use the dark-colored cross, curtain rod, and chandelier to tie in the dark-stained concrete floors & door knob. Also, I used that oil-rubbed bronze throughout my entire home; I wanted the room to flow.

My mom helped me paint the furniture. My friend, Meg, custom-made the bedding.

For the "big girl room update" I plan to use the custom pillows and bedskirt and my childhood twin bed. I want to add more wall art and shelving to display her things. I am looking forward to doing it!

I'm linked to Transformation Thursday.

Football, Hearts, Marshalls, Root Canal, & Snow

Well, this is a random post. First, when I showed my Valentine decor, I forgot my cute towels- so here they are... This one is in Ava's bathroom.

Kitchen:

Today, I had to get a root canal. I was kinda nervous about it. I left work early, and it just so happens that I had time to go in one of my favorite stores, Marshalls. :) I thought that I should buy myself a little something to take my mind off the dental procedure!
I have had a thing for birds lately. I guess it's because they're everywhere in home decor these days. Check out my owl:
The cashier looked at it and said, "Uh, this is interesting." HA!

I've been wanting to add to my V-Day decorations, so I bought this:

The pink mannequin is for Ava's room "update"- more on that later. And I needed the peanut butter-filled M&MS.

I have been teaching for 6 years; this is the most we've ever had to be out of school for "winter weather" (4 days and counting). Snow days are so much fun (until make-up days get here!). Here's our roof covered in beautiful snow!

Ava was so amazed at the snow- so sweet.
This is our front yard:

Sunday night out church small group came over for a Super Bowl Party. I didn't get many good pictures...but here is the food, of course!

One more thing to add to this random post- poor Ava had the stomach virus this week. The party, snow, stomach bug, root canal, and rare solo shopping trip has made this for an interesting week- and it's only Wednesday. Have a Happy Valentines!