Before and after pictures of the dining room

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Got this email from HGTV today- some inspiration for our future remodel.

http://www.hgtv.com/topics/kitchen-color/index.html?nl=HGK_v041_Feat_Color

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After  a few weeks without heat, I realized that this isn’t for everyone. Talk about having appreciation for modern amenities!

It is hard enough to get up with the baby in the middle of the night, let alone when it is 58 degrees in the house. Try adding cold pee to the mix when our 4 year old has a rare accident.

We are lucky that we have multiple bathrooms in this house, so that when we do have something torn apart, we will only be moderately inconvenienced.

The kitchen will be another story I’m sure- but well worth it .

If you wonder whether an old house or fixer upper is a good idea for you, consider this- If you don’t like to camp- don’t do it.

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We replaced the very old competitor kitchen faucet which had an annoying whistling sound if you turned it on full force- with Moen’s Lindley Eco-performance faucet yesterday. Our Lindley faucet features our newest finish- Spot Resist Finish which is great for me as a busy mom. The less often I have to clean things, the better. And, check out how much better the sink area looks with just this change!

Less noticeable improvement- the plumbing was so old, that we didn’t have shut off valves under the sink which meant the water supply for the entire house had to be shut off to work on this project. See the new shut offs installed along with new plumbing.

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Sometimes it can be hard to find some inspiration when decorating a room. I found this really cool Style Assistant on the MyHomeIdeas website. Just spin the wheel and the assistant will generate a style based on decor, color and room. With 500 different combinations, you're bound to find a little inspiration! Where do you get your decorating ideas?

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Thinking about going bold in the girls bath. First- wallpaper-which I have never attempted. And second, a bold design.  I figure a small space is a good room to take a design risk…    I thought I was sold on the beach toile wallpaper, but there are so many really cool wallpapers out there, the more I look, the harder it is to decide. I am a very visual person, so printing out samples and taping to the wall really helped me see what will go well with the vintage black and white tile.  Now, I have narrowed down to 3 samples that I am ordering online to verify colors and scale of the designs.

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In our case, the grass was greener at about every other house on our street. During the course of the summer, grubs took over and killed our entire front yard.

We had recently watched a This Old House episode where they talked about seeding grass in the fall. We had just enough time to follow their recommendation to get the new seed down by early October.

So, we decided to go for it.

Despite the small size of our yard, the entire process took a full week of 1 person’s time.

This was using tools we had on hand- nothing specific for the project, except a seed spreading tool borrowed from a neighbor.

One tip- at first, we didn’t flag the perimeter of the yard to prevent walking on or driving over the new seed. We ended up with tire marks- the guilty party? Me….

I highly recommend inserting flags or roping off the area to call attention as people pull in and out of driveways!

Here is a related article with some good tips. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,486816,00.html

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We are on a roll in the master bath room….

So happy to report that we successfully replaced our very old faucet with a brand new Moen Kingsley Widespread. It is so shiny!

This project was more than just a faucet replacement, but didn’t turn into a vanity replacement as I had feared. When you try to combine old and new, there are no guarantees that things will work out. I wasn’t 100% sure we could convert the internal spout to external until we took the old faucet off and saw what we had to work with. 

Once the old faucet was out, we took the entire sink out for a good cleaning, replaced the plumbing to the wall and snaked the plumbing in the wall. The result is amazing! Our water drains and we now have an external spout with more water pressure than before- despite the water-saving faucet. Yippee! What are the chances that the same update to the girls bathroom faucet will go so smoothly?

Added bonus- Widespread Moen faucets are M-PACT compatible, which means if we want to change the trim part in a few years to a different style, all we need to do is twist off the handles and spout and twist on new trim.

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We finally took the time to install a Moen Curved Shower Rod in our master bath. What a difference.  I wish I had taken a before picture of inside the tub to show how much more elbow room we have now. 7 inches doesn’t sound like much, but it really makes the shower seem bigger. It also feels brighter in the shower since more light is getting in.

Love it!

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While reading through some DIY blogs, I came across an interesting idea-making throw pillows out of placemats! 

This blogger did a great job showing step by step instructions- I couldn't believe how easy it was. I even found the same exact placemats for under $5-check out my finished pillows. 

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I don’t know that I would diagnose Macy as “spirited”, but she certainly displays some spirited dimensions from time to time. After reading about how to parent a spirited child, I realize that how we handle home renovation can make or break how it goes over with Macy. Her top priority- pink bedroom walls. Ours, about 100 other projects.

I was thinking that it would be fun to move her one night after she falls asleep to the guest room and then proceed to paint her room for a big reveal in the morning. Then I remembered that the book I read said spirited children can have strong negative reactions to surprises. They become overwhelmed.

At the other end of the spectrum is letting her help- which could be disastrous. Try explaining  to a 4 year old that the color will look different once dry.

I think the way to go is to maybe narrow down the swatches to a few I can live with and let her pick. Then explain our plan to paint part of the wall in the next few weeks. This sets her expectations, while giving us some flexibility on a deadline.

Any advice? Please comment…

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Here are the 3 color options we are to choose from for the stain.

We are leaning towards the one in the middle. They told us that the actual will feel darker than they look in the picture because the entire floor will be that color.

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We are excited to have the wood floor in our library refinished this week- by professionals! We tried to remove the glue coating ourselves which resulted in painfully slow progress and a few gouges in the floor. This is just simply more than we can handle so, we called some friends for recommendations and ended up hiring the same company that refinished the floors in our old house for the new owner!

Since we aren’t getting the entire first floor refinished, the floor guy recommended that we go with a satin finish rather than glossy.  That way, it will blend better with the other rooms.

Stay tuned for the results!

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While installing beadboard in our half bath, we came across a little problem-a slope in the floor!

Check out what John did to fix this. 

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I am not really a collectibles type of girl. However, I do have a few Coke items that I’m sure the guys on American Pickers wouldn’t mind getting their hands on.

Years ago my grandmother gave me her vintage Coca Cola tray that she got in 1941 working at a Coca Cola bottling factory.

Paired with my wooden crate, it makes our dated kitchen feel a little more playful.

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The half bath is finally done; it was a lot of work. 

What a relief!

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