Office update and the plan

Well hello! I�m back with another update on my office redo. I�ve mentioned before that I had only one goal in mind when redecorating this space � making it BRIGHT.

And whooowee, it�s working! :) I�m SO thrilled with the direction it�s going.

Last time I updated, I showed you the difference a coat of primer and a couple coats of white did to the space:

OH my. Night and day. Get it? Dark room = night. Light room = day. Har.

Anyway, next up was to paint the ceiling and the upper third section of the walls. After visiting the paint section at True Value, I found what I just what I was looking for. It took a while though:

Yowza � HUGE selection.

I used my inspiration fabric and found two colors that matched perfectly! The first was the ceiling:

I have to tell you � I hadn�t used Dutch Boy paints till I started this redo. But I am in love. I am SO impressed with how well it covers.

The kind I got had a primer in it, but I still thought I�d have to use two coats. I had only used one coat of white primer over the (red) ceiling, (yes, red), and didn�t think there was any way one coat of blue would completely cover the red/primer:

(YES. The ceiling was red.)

But it covered in in one coat, easy peasy. I painted it at night, (hence the bad night picture) and was sure when daylight came I�d have to do another coat.

NOPE! Love love LOVE!

I chose a beautiful light blue called Purify. Here�s the formula if you�d like to try it out:

(By the way, remember to always use a flat paint on your ceiling!)

I gotta give more props to �my� True Value � every time I get a paint mixed there, they keep record of it under my name. No more looking through the blog to figure out what the color of my walls are!  ;)

Then it was onto the upper part of the walls. I picked a sand color that matched the brown in the fabric exactly. Again, I started painting at night, and right away I knew it was way too dark:

It was a true sand color. I mean, like the beach was on my walls, sand. I stopped at one wall that night so I could see it the next morning. But when I saw it in the light, I was still sure it was too dark.

We had the Bub�s birthday party a couple of days later, and I was completely outvoted � everyone loved the darker tone. :) I tried living with it, but it just wasn�t what I was going for.

A friend suggested maybe I should try the color of our family room:

It�s called Sisal and I big fat puffy fluffy heart love it. It�s my favorite neutral. So I had it color matched, but lightened 25 percent.

Helloooo! It was perfect!

It�s hard to tell in this picture, but the new, lighter color is on the left, the darker version is on the right:

I know the colors don�t look that different in the picture, but trust me. Or it could be just me � very possible. :)

Here it is against the lovely blue ceiling:

Sigh. It�s so PRETTY. (Don�t worry, crown molding will cover that red.)

I love the colors with my DIY pendant light:

Giddy. :) :)

So, here�s the low down on the changes to come in this space�as you�ve seen, I moved my farmhouse desk to this side of the room:

Before it was squished into the other corner. I love this set up -- I can be on the computer or working and still see what�s going on in the family room and kitchen.

This is the plan for the bottom two thirds of the wall:

(source)

Be still. my heart. :)

The window corner will get the following:

I�ve tried moving my rattan chair over there, but then I can�t get to the windows to open the shades and let the light in. :) So my dream plan would be to build a set of window seats in that spot.

Not sure how that�s gonna happen.

Dad? Hello?? ;)

Of course, the windows will get treated with this beautiful fabric:

I can�t remember if I got enough of the stripe or the paisley for the windows. It will be a surprise for all of us. :) (By the way, I got the fabric at Joann�s.)

My Pier 1 chair sits where the desk used to sit:

When I bought that chair years and years ago, I wanted the ottoman but didn�t have the money. Guess what I found a year ago at Goodwill? Awww yeah � the matching ottoman! For $10!

Once I get those cushions covered, I think that rattan texture will be perfect in the space.

Finally, the Bub�s old dresser now serves as storage:

And now that it�s up against the white, I know I want some contrast. Just not sure what color it will be.

I did find a gorgeous, stunning dresser on Craigslist, but it�s much wider. If I get it, the chair would have to move to the window corner. It�s a sacrifice I may just have to make, cause it is GORGEOUS. Ack!

That is, if it�s not sold already. Crossing fingers and toes! For now I�m planning on not having it, just in case.

So that�s the plan for the rest of this redo! I put off the painting for eight months, and now I know why. :) It took one coat of primer on four walls and the ceiling, two coats white, and a coat on the ceiling and upper walls. Yikes. That�s a lot for me, who usually does one coat and done. :)

But if I�ve said it once, I�ve said it a trillion times � paint absolutely transforms a room! The before:

And now:

Fear not color lovers � there�s plenty coming. I plan on adding punches in the art -- I�m so stinking excited about that part! And I�m thinking about one more accent color�haven�t decided on that yet.

And I am SO looking forward to having such a serene space!

I need it. This is what I look at as I type tonight:

Ummm. Wow. Just�wow.

(Think we have enough remote controls??)

A Christmas/toy store/trash bin BOMB went off in my family room. Actually, my whole house. Glad I�m done painting the office � I�ve got plenty to do. ;)

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

 

Thank you to my sponsor!:

A white room!

Hello there!! First of all, WOW, you Squeezies have some beeeeautiful Christmas trees!! There are 445 linked up so far � and you have till next Thursday to include yours. That has to be the prettiest post I�ve ever seen. :)

I�ve been working on some BIG changes in our den over the past week, and I couldn�t resist showing you the progress!

I mentioned last week that, in the middle of Christmas decor madness, I decided to finally take on the painting of our den. I know. I am a special kind of crazy. Fruit loop. Cuckoo!

When we built our house, we never had an overhead light installed in the den (bangs head against wall), so it�s always been darker in that room. I decided to go with that cozy feeling, and painted the walls a pretty brick red long ago:

It was cozy, but wow�it was just so dark. I know � it�s brick red Sarah, what do you expect?! So�when I found the inspiration for this room in the form of beautiful new fabrics, I knew I was ready for a change:

UGH�I. love. them. Beautiful!

Because I was going to have to prime the whole room to start the redo, I kept putting it off. And off. And then off some more. And then off for a couple more months. And then again. For about eight months. Or so. :)

But then the crazy hit and I just had to do it NOW. In December. Yes, my husband is a saint.

I started with some supplies, thanks to True Value:

I normally use an old sheet as a drop cloth, but I got to splurge a little bit and got an actual plastic tarp. Awww yeah�that�s the good stuff.

Thanks True Value -- double thump on the chest at ya! Yo.

I chose to prime because I was covering a dark color. Since I�m using white on most of the walls, it was absolutely necessary. I don�t usually prime if I�m painting a new color over another color � even though the experts say I should. :) But when covering a dark color with a light color, it�s necessary. (You will thank me.)

It took me three hours to prime this room � it was NOT the most fun I�ve ever had, let me just tell you. Keep in mind I had to prime the ceiling as well, so that added to the FUN. :)

I only did one coat of Kilz primer, and probably should have done two. But if you don�t know by now � I am incredibly impatient. I�m like a five year old, seriously. I just want to see the final result SO BAD.

I used Dutch Boy paints for the first time on the farmhouse table I found as my new desk. I used it again for the white on the walls -- that awesome pour spout had me at hello:

Oh�I LOVE it. You may notice I use semi gloss for the white over the primer � I know the thought of a gloss on your walls gives many of you the heebs. But I�m adding molding to that part of the wall, and semi gloss over everything makes it look more custom, more authentic. It does in my little opinion � I use it with almost all of my molding projects. (To see what I mean, click here or here.)

I also went ahead and got a new Purdy brush, because I am now obsessed with Purdy brushes:

I was SO excited because I found the coolest painting tool I�ve ever seen while at True Value � a big, huge, honkin� paint roller:

It rocked my world!! I was so excited about this baby � thoughts of finishing up the room in 45 minutes were swimming through my head.

But�I quickly realized I didn�t have a paint tray large enough to fit the honkin� roller, and that was a big problem. I headed back to True Value and they had just sold their last one (made specifically for that roller) just hours before.

Curses!! Shakes fists in air!

I got an extra large tray and it just didn�t work � I couldn�t get the paint on evenly enough. So it was back to the regular roller -- but I will use the honkin� roller one day�oh yes. I will. :)

What did work was this simple little paint brush comb:

Be. still. my. heart. This thing rocks. I think it was $5, and I am quite sure it will save me hundreds in paint brushes. Really.

I used the comb on the brush on the left after priming and painting. The one on the right�well, it�s pretty obvious I didn�t:

Can you believe it? The one on the right has been used more than two times, but still � you can see the difference it�s going to make. I won�t be without it from now on!

So, after one coat of primer on the whole room, and two coats of semi gloss white around the bottom 2/3 of the room, this is where we stand now:

Holy LIGHT Batman!! :) Yahooo�I love it!!

You know what�s weird? At first, after I painted over the brick red, the room seemed smaller than before. You know how everyone says dark walls make a room smaller? Sometimes I disagree � they also make the walls recede and kind of disappear in a way.

The white is without a doubt BRIGHTER. I know � duh. But it had me thinking � could I live with an all white room? Initially, I loved the crisp, clean, bright feeling so much, I thought maybe I could.

But with time, I know I need some warmth and a little bit of contrast � both of those will come with a color above the white, the beautiful fabric I showed you, and some art I can�t WAIT to show you.

I haven�t started any of that yet, but I can see it in my head and it looks ahhhmazing!  ;)

So�what do you think? There some absolutely gorgeous all white rooms out there � stunning! Could you do all white, or do you crave some color like me? This room almost made me a convert�almost. ;)

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

 

Thank you to my sponsor!:

Painting the backs of built ins

Well, I finally did the last of the painting in the Bub�s room today � sheesh, this room has involved a crazy amount of painting. I am not touching a paint brush again for months! OK, weeks! OK, probably tomorrow!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was struggling with the color for the backs of the built ins. I was thinking the navy may be too much. The accent colors of red or yellow would just be too bright. And I did consider going back to white for a hot second, but it was fleeting.

I just LURVE when the backs of built ins are painted:

I just think it�s a really inexpensive way to accent the architecture and it makes your accessories positively pop!

And if you�ve read this blog long, you know I am a lovah of painting ceilings as well. I have done it for years and the Bub�s room is a great example of how great it can look�and it had me thinkin�.

Why not use the grayish blue from the ceiling on the backs of the shelves? It grew on me and I thought it would look pretty fab. The bonus � I had some leftover from the ceiling!

Well, I ADORE it:

Sorry the pics aren�t great � it was gloomy today and I was losing light!

The blue is a color match to Upward from Sherwin Williams, and it�s a really lovely, soothing grayish blue:

What�s funny is just a few weeks ago I asked my fellow Twits on Twitter about recommendations for a grayish blue -- and DUH, I had it right here. (I was thinking about it for another room.)

Anyhoo, it�s awesome � it looks like it would have been on the same paint chip as the wall color (Admiralty from Lowe�s) as a lighter tone of the navy. I was a teensy bit nervous how the red and yellow accessories would look with it, but I think they�re going to be great:

The red will anyway. :) I still need to put everything back arrange it. (The FUN part!)

There will be a Squishy II coming later this week. It�s been kinda nice not cleaning up after a fish lately, but the cutie gumball tank looks so lonely without a little friend.  ;)

I�m SO close to done with the room! I�m waiting on a couple finishing touches but I really hope I'll be able to show you this week. SQUEAL! I love it!!

I do need your advice on a couple things! One, leave the doors on the built ins as is or paint the insets on them?:

At first I considered the navy�then I thought maybe the Upward color. Now I�m thinking I like the white. It kind of works with the white board and batten around the bottom of the room and continues the white�which I�m digging now. What do you think? Color or no?

Second question for your brilliant minds � the gorg sconces in the window area are a oil rubbed bronze finish, which I normally adore�but with all of the brushed nickel accents in the room, I�m wondering if I should spray paint them to match?:

If my ORB spray paint was jealous with my use of the Heirloom White � it is full out loony on me now, because I am absolutely in LOVE with the brushed nickel in this room � I�m using it all over the place!

I love how the dark arms of the sconces pop off the drapes, but it�s kind of bugged me that they don�t match the metallic accents.

So what say you? Built in doors in color or white? Sconces as is or spray painted? I would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks in advance � you rock!

I�ll announce the winner of the HomeGoods gift card tomorrow! Have a great Monday!

 

Thank you to my advertiser:

A blue room (I did not cry!)

It took me a whole year to figure out the paint colors for the Bub�s big boy room (are you tired of hearing about it yet??). I wanted something that was a bit more mature but still fun�and I was determined to NOT do primary colors.

Why? I have no idea. I guess because it was predictable? I�ve mentioned before how hard it is to create a unique space for a boy no matter what the age. His apple green and cream nursery was my answer to breaking away from the blue for a baby boy.

But a couple weeks ago, when the new room came together in my head � it had blue walls. Not just blue walls, but deep, navy blue walls. Navy blue walls that screamed, �A cute little boy lives here!!� All of the sudden all I could think about was BLUE.

Can I tell you � I�ve never liked blue. Not one bit. It�s just never been me. But lately, it�s really growing on me. There are three rooms in our house that may have tones of blue on the walls in the near future.

Well, make that two more -- one already does. This is why you never, ever, ever, NEVER say never. :)

Ever:

That light switch is crooked! Gah. That�s gonna drive me batty.

I have realized something about myself lately � I adore contrast. Like, big fat wanna marry it if I wasn�t married already LURVE contrast. This blue with the white woodwork is turning out exactly how I saw it in my head:

And look at this blue with the apple green!:

Ignore my scraggly paint lines on the green wall, and just pay attention to that beautiful color combo! I love it. I�ve already gone with other colors for the room, but seeing that green with the blue makes me want to keep the splash of apple in here.

For those of you who are freaking out that�s it�s going to be too dark � I promise you it is not and will not. The area under the chair rail will be bright and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve � you�ll just have to wait to see. ;)

I used the Behr Ultra paint for this project � from what Paint Guy told me, it�s the only version of Behr that is low VOC. Although at times I still felt like it was a bit stinky � I�ve used low VOC once before and it didn�t smell �painty� at all � this one did at times.

The Ultra also has the primer in it as well � which turned out super handy, cause I was going to have to prime over the little bunnies, lambs and words on the walls. Because I was covering a light cream with a darker, saturated color, I did have to do two coats, which I normally don�t do.

No hint of the bunnies peeking through, so it works!:

I can �cut in� with the best of �em when I�m going up and down on a wall�but horizontally I fail miserably. So I had to tape off all of the chair rail and crown molding, and the result is giving me the itchies:

     

I may just recaulk everything, instead of trying to get the lines matched up. Dark paint is not forgiving!

I used a scrubbable flat paint, which I�ve used before and am quite happy with. It looks GREAT on the walls. As I�ve mentioned, I usually use an eggshell finish on our walls because it�s a great compromise between a glossy sheen (which shows all of the wall�s imperfections) and a true flat (which is just asking for hives, especially in high traffic areas).

You can�t see the roller marks with this paint either, which I LURVE. Overall, I�m really happy with it! And it was only $30 a gallon � I thought it would be much more than that. I�m a pleased peep with Behr paint:

Home Depot was able to pull up the actual paint (called Admirality) from Lowe�s so they could mix the true color � I didn�t even have to color match it! That was super cool.

And guess what? I didn�t cry when I painted over those cute bunnies. Not even a sniffle. :) I am so excited with how the room is coming along, I am having a blast starting the transformation. I�ll show you more later this week!

P.S. My friend AnNicole wrote here about the Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint as well!

The $10 coffee table

I know. I know. I said I would catch you up on the stairs tonight. I know. Winces. I�m kind of at the mercy of others when it comes to this one, which I hate. I am not used to people helping out with my DIY projects, and while it is wonderful to have the help � it also means I have to be more patient than usual, which I am so not good at. ;)

Anyhoo, I should be able to show you a close to finished product next week. (Crossing fingers.)

So I figured I would finally share my coffee table project for the family room. I showed you back on the rug post how large our old table was. I absolutely LOVE this table � I got this and a matching end table from Bombay Company years ago. (Can I get a moment of silence for BC? That place rocked.)

It served us well � we could eat off of it, drag choo choos across it, do puzzles easily. It was just so. incredibly. huge. It measures three feet across. HUGE:

Our family room is actually quite large, but as I�ve mentioned, the changes we made to it when building created very little wall space, so the furniture all floats. I love the layout and suggest it all the time � making and �L� with your sofas/chairs in a long room creates a cozy and warm space.

But cozy and a three foot wide coffee table don�t mix. So I was on the lookout for something new, and a few weeks ago I came across this beaut at Goodwill:

Wow, isn�t it fantastic? :) I know, it�s not. It wasn�t. But it was only $9.99. And as soon as I saw it, I knew it could work for what I had in mind. It was labeled as a desk, and was actually quite tall. (You can see how much taller it was than the sofa above.)

Because I heard on HGTV once that your coffee table should be about two inches lower than your sofa, and since HGTV is decorating gospel, (OK, only most of the time) I took this baby out to my fanfreakingtastic compound miter saw and cut down these legs:

Oh yeah, I did! I stuck that baby right under the blade and cut them off! Buwahahaha!! I think I took about four inches off each leg. (Then I added little cushions to the bottom of each one to protect the rug.)

Because the top was beyond fixing with paint, I knew this table would work perfectly for my plan. It�s actually a laminate veneer on top and the sides, but I didn�t mind the color of it at all. I considered painting it, but painting laminate is not a quick job, and I wanted to keep the contrast of the table against the rug. So how the heck was I going to make it work?

I was going to upholster this bad boy:

I turned it over onto the foam and just traced it. (Foam courtesy of Goodwill, a find a few months ago. It�s also served as coloring book for my son as you can see.)

I wanted to tuft the top of the table with buttons and wanted to make sure everything was symmetrical. I realized I could just use the middle point of every square and then one in the middle for five buttons. I just drilled into those points:

Then I upholstered the top with batting (Goodwill again, score!!) and fabric using my staple gun:

At this point I lost steam a bit and let it sit for a good week. Something just wasn�t sitting right with me.

There are three things that are extremely important to me when I decorate our house. The first is the project or item must be comfortable. Second, it has to be something our son can play with/around/on and third, it must be something that I will not FREAK OUT about when our son is playing with/around/on said item.

And this only had one of the three � it sure was comfortable when we propped our feet on it! ;) But as I watched my son playing on it, I realized why I was hesitating to finish it. The choo choos didn�t roll quite as well on this one. There was no way you could set a drink on it. And if you did, I would be over in the corner, biting my nails, breaking out in hives.

Beyond all that, covering the raw edges underneath was going to take more work, and I wasn�t positive how I was even going to do that.

Sooooo�I took it all apart. It took longer to take apart than it did to put it together. Gah.

I had a new brilliant idea � I would use some beadboard I already had and just cover the top. But I wanted a different look than just planks of the beadboard laying across it. Beadboard can get a country feel real quick if you�re not careful how you use it � and as much as I look a country/farmhouse look, it�s just not our family room. :)

So I figured it out � I used miter cuts on the beadboard and started from the outside and worked in, creating a square design:

I was in luuuurve.

To finish off the edges, I added some �fencing� molding � only $2 for an eight foot piece. After living with it for a day or two and getting stabbed by the corners, I quickly realized I would need to sand those down:

It worked perfectly!

I filled in all of the nail holes (I used the nail gun to attach it to the top of the table) and any gaps with spackle:

Sanded it down and primed, then painted:

I got a creamy paint to use on it, but after the first coat I realized it would be too light. So I used the wall color from the family room, mixed a little in to make it a bit deeper, and I couldn�t be more pleased!

I put the drawer towards the sofa so we have easy access to the fifty billion remotes and my bloggy necessities. ;)

Oh yeah, and another spot for me to frantically throw toys when I can�t take stepping on one more itty bitty thing.

We had a large basket on the top of our old coffee table for the remotes, and it fits perfectly under the table. I wanted to be able to slide it easily on the rug without it snagging, so I hot glued some of my mini-moving men to the bottom:

I never used the little ones anyway and it did the trick! This baby flies! And yet another spot for itty. bitty. teeny. tiny. toys. They breed.

The whole coffee table ended up costing $30 -- $10 for the table, $10 for additional beadboard and $10 for the paint. In the end, $30 is still way, way, WAY less than I would ever spend at a furniture store. AND I absolutely love it!:

Before, with the old table, old rug, same cat:

After�ahhhh�.

Now, just a few more (potential) changes to this room and I am done! (Still can�t decide if I can part with my beloved drapes, even though I think they may be too much now.) I�ll show you the mantel next week!

Stay tuned for another great giveaway this weekend!