Can't Put It Off Any Longer: Playroom "Befores"

 I've seriously been dreading this day and have been putting it off. Today is the day I show you the "before" pictures of our beloved playroom.

 

 

These aren't pictures taken the day we moved in ten plus years ago folks. I took these photos on Friday!

 

It's embarrassing really. I mean there's the green print curtains from my last attempt at updating the playroom alongside the blue checked couch that was passed down from my in-laws. Blech!!!

 

 

Since this room stopped being an actual playroom for the kids, it's become a catch-all for all the furniture we really don't want anymore, stuff that doesn't really have a "home," laundry I'm avoiding, etc. It's a hot mess, for sure.

 

 

I see a lot of de-cluttering in my future. Ugh!

 

But I keep telling myself to keep my eyes on the goal....a clean, comfortable place for our family to hang out. Besides, next to these photos, the "afters" will look even better, right?  :D

 

(Here's my inspiration photo again.)

 

Playroom Update: Sampling Paint Colors

Yesterday I was FINALLY able to get out and pick up a couple paint samples for the playroom at my neighborhood Sherwin Williams store. Having the kids home for the Summer makes getting out to do things like that difficult. But yesterday I was able to run out for a half hour and pick up the paint. Thankfully, my Sherwin Williams store is really close by.

(If you are just tuning in you can read HERE about my process of picking out a wall paint color for the playroom.)

I came home with my small cans of Comfort Gray (SW 6205) and Sea Salt (SW 6204) and immediately painted the samples on the wall. I started with the Comfort Gray and I liked it a lot. But the farther I went I started to get a sneaking suspicion that it was a little too dark. The playroom is a pretty small room. Next came Sea Salt.

 



 

I let the paint dry completely and I found myself walking in the room every few minutes to look at it. Believe it or not, after all my unscientific research, I'm pretty sure that Sea Salt is going to be the color for us.

 

It's still a nice gray (with a greenish cast), but is a little lighter. In making my decision, I took into account that someday I would like to get a dark gray sectional for the room. Maybe something like the IKEA Ektorp. I like the idea of a little more contrast between the walls and the sofa.

 

 



So that's where things stand with the playroom. School will be starting in a couple weeks and I don't think I will be painting before that. Plus we have a little architectural challenge we have to overcome before we paint. I'll explain more about that another time.

 

But the moral of this story is....even though you think a paint color looks perfect on the paint chip, in a picture, or in somebody else's room, it's worth it to buy a sample and try it out first in your own room.



 

Finding The Perfect Paint Color For The Playroom

I took some time yesterday to try and zero in on the perfect wall color for the playroom (when I got tired of walking around IKEA shelving boxes.) I'll show you the number one contender in a minute. But first I want to share with you the resources I used to help me narrow it down.

I started out at a great blog called Favorite Paint Colors. Kristin's blog is a terrific resource. Readers send her photos of rooms they have painted in a certain color which she in turn posts on the blog. She also categorizes them by color family, room, and paint brands and you can search her archives by any of those categories. I began my search by looking through all the grays. I made a short list of some colors I thought might work for the playroom.

From there, I did a Google image search of the specific paint colors to see how they looked in even more rooms. This is always an interesting search to do because you can see how a paint color looks in different lighting and with different trim, flooring, and furniture colors. It's amazing how different a color can look in different rooms. Sometimes you'll be lucky and will find an image than resembles your own room which is really helpful.

After Google, I went to Pinterest and searched the color again. I'm always surprised by how specific you can get on Pinterest. I searched by the color and brand and even more room images came up for me to look at. What's really helpful is when somebody else has already compared a couple colors you're considering and has painted samples on their wall for you to contemplate. Saves you a lot of time and money (getting samples.)

So you may have noticed that my #1 contender right now is Sherwin William's Comfort Gray.

On Pinterest I found these rooms that I loved.

The first one was Nester's sitting room.

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Another room that caught my eye was this kitchen that was redone by Layla at The Lettered Cottage.

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See what I mean about the color looking different depending on the light in the room? But I like the way it looks in both photos so I think that's a good sign.

 

The other great thing that happened when I searched on Pinterest was that in the search results were several rooms that I had admired on Pinterest before....which gave me a little confidence that I was on the right track.

 

So, what's next? Well, hopefully in the next couple days I will be able to get over to Sherwin Williams (I have a store really close to me) and pick up a sample of the paint to try out. I may also get one of the next lighter shade on the paint chip (which is called Sea Salt) just to compare. I'll give them a try in the playroom and let you know what I think.

 

What are your thoughts on Comfort Gray?



A Road Trip To IKEA And A Playroom Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I got to do something I had been looking forward to for a while. I headed off on a road trip to IKEA with all my favorite girls. It was a Ladies Day, Road Trip, IKEA-Shopping Extravaganza!! Our traveling party included me, my daughter, Sal (an IKEA first-timer), my niece, and my Mom.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. BUMMER. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits. Oh no....we forged on!

(See that sky? That's what is was like. All. Day.)

 





It's been a long time since I had been to IKEA on a Saturday. It was BUS-Y!

Since the closest store is two hours away, I always try to think ahead, make a plan, and use the trip wisely, so to speak, since I don't know when I'll be back again.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about our "playroom" and have been gathering inspiration.

So I picked up some Kallax shelving.

And I also picked up this rug. I think it will add a fun bit of color to the room. It was a good deal too. It's over 4x6 ft. and with my IKEA Family card I got it for 14.99! Rugs can be expensive, so I was a happy camper.

I got a few small things too.

 

 

I bought a couple more of these sea grass placemats. I have two already, but I wanted to be able to do a whole table setting using them.

 

The black and white striped plate caught my attention.

 

Those little metal planters are only .99. I had one, but was wanting another....for symmetry. I have a thing about symmetry. Ha!

 

I love the cork hot pads. They're great in the kitchen, obviously, but I find myself using them to raise objects up in different vignettes I do. So sometimes I run out of them in the kitchen!

 

And lastly, I thought this black and white geometrical print pillow was really cute. Another good deal at only 5.99.

 

It was a good day. We girls always have so much fun together....lots of talking and laughing. I love them all so much and it was great to spend the day with them.

 

So now I have a little start on the playroom. I want to paint and I figure I probably shouldn't put the shelves together until after the painting is done. Less to move, 'ya know? But our calendar is looking pretty full over the next few weeks, so I have no idea when that will get done. All in good time, I guess.

 

 

 

 



What I'm Pinning Lately {Screened Porches}

I've been on Pinterest again! I notice that I kind of get stuck on a couple things that I find myself pinning for a while. Do you do that too, or do you just pin randomly?

We have a nice deck. But honestly, we don't use it. Mostly because I don't like creepy crawly things. We don't have great deck furniture either, so I've never spent any time trying to make it nice or comfortable. I have this 'someday' plan of screening in the deck. I keep telling myself that we would use it more that way. So lately I've been dreaming of and pinning beautiful screened porches.

Here are some of my favorites.

This first one is from a popular Southern Living Cottage Of The Year. I love the fireplace, the door (which leads to a guest house), and the wicker. It looks so charming and relaxing. Wouldn't a fireplace be great to have on your porch for those cool Spring and Fall evenings?

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I really love everything about this porch.....the style, the colors, the textures....so pretty! I can just see myself enjoying a quiet breakfast there in the Summer. And check out that framed flat screen TV!

 



                  

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If I ever have a screened porch, I would like to be able to have both a seating area and a dining area. Look at this lovely porch. I love the long wood dining table paired with the metal industrial chairs. What a great setting for large family dinners. The trim and detail are so pretty too. You even get a peek at some exposed brick.

 

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One of my all-time favorite porches belongs to Kelly at Talk Of The House. She always keeps it looking so lovely and all decked out for the different seasons. Living in the South, she and her family get to use their porch almost year round. Lucky them! You can read all about the evolution of Kelly's porch HERE and HERE.

 

 



 

 

If you'd like, you can take a look at all the other porches that I've pinned too.


So what have you been pinning over on Pinterest lately? Do you have a porch that you get to enjoy in the Summer? Or do you just dream of one like me?

The Playroom {Brainstorming}

By now you've probably realized that I haven't shown you every room in our house. And for good reason, trust me. Case in point, the room we affectionately call "the playroom." I'm so embarrassed of this room that I'm not even ready to show you photos of it. I sometimes refer to it as a used furniture store. It always becomes the resting place for furniture we're not sure what to do with but aren't ready to get rid of and other things we don't know where to put.

Our current living room is an addition that was added onto the house in the 90's. The room we have used as the kid's playroom is the small original living room. When we first moved into our house (about 10 years ago now), our kids were preschoolers and so this room became their place. Even when we moved in I had grand plans for this room....bright colors, cubbies for storage, a table for projects. But time, finances, and well, little kids kept me from really making this a great space. About three years ago we did paint the room and I bought new curtains for it's big picture window. I was hoping to get some new furniture. But those plans stalled as well as I started to concentrate more on our actual living room and kitchen. There was a bathroom makeover in there somewhere too.

And now the kids are teenagers. We still call it the playroom, but it doesn't see as much action anymore. The room is mostly used for watching TV and Hubster and I recently talked about this space being used as home office.

A big re-do isn't really in the budget, but now that I know what we really want to see this room used for, I'm starting to gather some inspiration photos and I've created a Playroom board over on Pinterest. Take a look!

 Coastal Living

My #1 goal is to make this room comfy and a place that we will want to hang out. It's not going to happen overnight, but at least when the time comes I will have thought through how we will use this room and what I want it to look like.

You can see that there are some common elements in a couple of my inspiration photos. First off, a nice comfy sectional. The room is not large so it would have to be a smaller piece, but I would love to have some nice, comfortable seating.

BHG

Storage! I kind of have a love affair with the Expedit line at IKEA. We already use some of this in our kids rooms. It is so basic....and fairly inexpensive compared to other storage units....and can be dressed up in so many different ways depending on what type of bins, baskets, and accessories you use. I would love to be able to house books, DVDs, office supplies, craft supplies, etc.

**In looking to provide a link to the Expedit series, I discovered that IKEA is phasing it out!! Say it ain't so IKEA! It is being replaced by a similar series call Kallax. BUMMER!

We also need something to put our TV on. It is currently sitting on our piano bench....OY!

You can also see that I love the globe trend. I'm really drawn to those colors so that may be a jumping-off point for the color scheme of the room. We'll see.

But for now, I'm just dreaming and gathering inspiration for the future.

Vacation, Snow Days, And A Little Design Inspiration

I'm BA-AK!!

What a wonderful trip we had! So much fun packed into one week. We ate at great restaurants, went to movies (Yes, plural....we saw Saving Mr. Banks and Gravity. Two thumbs up on both by the way), shopped, toured around the area a bit, laughed A LOT, and relaxed. And the quiet....OH the quiet. It was lovely.

And I was reminded again how blessed I am. It was a treat to be able to spend this week with "the original four"....my parents, my sister, and me. To be able to say that we all get along so well and truly enjoy being together is something I don't take for granted because I know not all families can say that. Sal and I were so excited about this trip and Mom and Dad were just as excited for us to come. We really had a wonderful time together.

Meanwhile....back at the ranch.....my dear Hubster was handling everything at home. Cooking, making school lunches, getting everyone off to school, going to work himself, accomplishing some major home DIY, handling an unexpected snow day, even checking on Mom and Dad's furnace due to the frigid temperatures.....all with such grace and ease. He amazes me. I couldn't have gone on this trip without knowing that he was at home handling EVERYTHING. And over across town my brother-in-law was doing the same for my sister.

Yep....we're pretty blessed.

So I fully intended to jump right back into blogging yesterday but the kids wound up having a two-hour delay for school. Once they were finally off to school, I HAD to go grocery shopping. The cupboards were getting bare. And it was pretty apparent that they would be off today because of the cold wind chills that were predicted. So I had to get out and get it done while they were at school. And before I knew it, they were home again. And today, as expected, they have yet another day off.

This will be a January to remember for sure....such cold temperatures, snow days, a vacation. I fear that February is going to be a rough month for a lot of people trying to get back on track after this crazy January we've had.

Before I go I want to share a little decorating inspiration with you. The place where my parents stay in Florida, The Villages, has several regional recreation centers. Each one is decorated beautifully in a very specific theme. We went and looked at several of them, but I want to show you some pictures of my two favorites. 

First, a beach themed center.....

I thought this Adirondack style sectional was pretty cool. And check out the planked walls.

Here's a closer look at the amazing driftwood mantel. I think this is what Ariel's mantel probably looks like, don't you?  :D

We all enjoyed relaxing on these Adirondack swings.



Sal and Mom



Another favorite was the center decorated in Shabby Chic style. Yes, it may be a little over the top, but I thought there was a lot to gain inspiration from.

Beautiful furnishings and mixes of patterns. I loved the basket on the coffee table.

I thought this table and vignette were pretty. I noticed a couple great uses for basic pillar candles that I might try some time.

I've seen large jars like this in HomeGoods and I always wondered what I would put in them. What a simple idea!

A pretty tablescape.

This beautiful chair kept catching my eye.

Another thing that caught my eye was this round coffee table.



So there you have it.....a little eye candy on this Winter day.

I hope you are safe and keeping warm wherever you are!

We Interupt Your Regularly Scheduled Friday....

....to bring you....

Nope, sorry....no photos of the living room today. I did a little more tweaking yesterday and so I didn't take pictures yet. Next week, I promise.

I decided that today I would take a little break from my usual Four Things For Friday, to introduce you to one of my favorite bloggers. If you've ever looked over at my sidebar over there on the right, you'll see that I've listed some of my favorite blogs. Over the next few weeks, I'd like to tell you a little bit about some of them and how they inspire me.

Today, I'd like you to meet Kelly from Talk Of The House! Kelly is a wife, mom, and school teacher and she blogs about all things related to beautiful houses. My favorite posts are the ones about her own warm and inviting southern home. She shares her creative ideas about decorating her home for the seasons, setting a beautiful themed table, entertaining ideas, and home styling.

Talk Of The House

Kelly also writes about favorite home designers and is a wealth of information regarding Inns and great places to visit and vacation. She obviously does her research. She also does hand-lettering and her talent can be seen on the various chalkboards around her house and often on creative favors she makes for her themed tables.

This week, Kelly has been sharing about how she has decorated her house for the new year.



Talk Of The House

So how does Kelly's blog inspire me? Well, one look at her lovely home, and I don't know how you couldn't be. But here are specific ways that I have been inspired and influenced....

* I've moved towards keeping my general decor neutral and changing accents and colors seasonally.

* Hand-lettering on our chalkboard wall . Kelly's tutorial on chalkboard lettering is priceless.

* I styled the open cabinets in our kitchen.

* I continue to try and make our home a warm and special place for our family and for guests who visit.

* I'm also inspired by the fact that Kelly only chooses beautiful and quality things for her home.

I really hope that you will stop by Talk Of The House and take a look around. Tell Kelly that I sent you! I can almost guarantee that you will spend a bit of time there. (Make sure you also take a look at Kelly's adorable classroom. It will make you wish you had been in her class.)

Have a great weekend!

 



Christmas Trees And A Great Blessing

I have some pretty Christmas eye candy for you to look at today. But first I want to share with you something that has been a huge blessing in our lives.

We often take it for granted, but we have a wonderful asset in our community and that is our Children's Hospital. All three of our kids have received treatment there at different times and continue to see specialists there. Little did we know when we adopted three children from India that we would need their services so much.

Our Children's Hospital treats children from all over the region, but is located right in our back yard and we are really grateful.

For many years now the hospital's big fund raiser for the year has been a Holiday Tree Festival. Individuals and business donate beautifully decorated trees, wreaths, and other decorations that are then for sale. There are also raffles for large prize packages.

The tree festival is always held during the week of Thanksgiving and yesterday I took a little trip downtown to see this years trees.

 Here's a little sampling. The Christmas trees range from the very traditional, to elegant, cute, whimsical, and just plain fun trees. The traditional red and green ones are still my favorites.

Here are a couple close-ups of some of the details. I loved that reindeer in his cable knit sweater!

This was my favorite "non-traditionally colored" tree. The blue, green, and silver were just stunning.

This tree was one of my favorites. Just about all the decorations were made from burlap.....even the pointsettias.

The wreaths were beautiful too. 

There were lots of fun details to look at and I guess I'm drawn to snowmen. I thought the little tree on the chippy chair was really sweet.

And my favorite detail of all....a reminder of the true "Reason for the Season!.

I hope you enjoyed this little field trip to the Holiday Tree Festival!

Today's Thankfulness.....

* For a great medical facility for our children.

* For Christian music, and specifically Christian radio, which blesses me so much as I drive around town.

* For warm coats, gloves, and scarves.

* For family.

That Awkward Moment When....

....you don't know if you should be blogging about Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Seriously.

There are the popular trend-setting blogs that have already moved on to Christmas and there are the diehard "there shall be no Christmas decorations until after the turkey has been eaten" folks.

What's a girl to do?

I love Thanksgiving and am SO looking forward to it this year. But I must confess that I've been thinking about Christmas too. I've been thinking about decorations and have even bought a couple new things. I've been working on my Christmas shopping and I'm looking forward to all the wonderful music that proclaims our Savior's birth.

I guess I willl fall somewhere in the middle and write a little about both today.

First up, I discovered this free Thanksgiving printable being offered by The Pleated Poppy the other day while perusing Pinterest.

Isn't it pretty? I think it would look great in a gold frame on your Thanksgiving table as part of a centerpiece. Or maybe print small cards to put at each persons place. I wish I would've found it before I set my Thanksgiving table.

Moving on to Christmas.....

The third annual Holiday House Walk that is hosted by Jennifer Rizzo will be starting on December 2nd.

Five days. Thirty holiday home tours. Trust me, this is the mother of all home tours. I've followed along the last two years and was blown away.

You can get all the details at jenniferrizzo.com.



Today's Thankfulness....

* Hubster is coming home tonight! Yeah!!!

* For my Dad being willing to step in and help while Hubster is away.

* For technology that keeps people connected.

* For the creativity of others that we can gain inspiration from.

Finally....The Mudroom Closet Reveal!

Hello!

I'm excited to finally share my mudroom closet with you. I never dreamed this project would take me almost a month! It was filled with ups and downs and delays for all sorts of reasons. But in the end, I'm very happy with how it all turned out.

Let me remind you of how things looked when I started. Ouch!

              

When I first shared the mudroom with you, I didn't really have any thoughts of doing a makeover. I really just intended to clean it out and get all our winter gear organized. The sorting and cleaning out only took me parts of two days. I was able to donate some things the kids had outgrown, relocate a few things to different places in the house, and throw some things away.

But once I had cleared everything out and it was totally empty, I realized something....it still looked really bad! The walls were extremely scuffed and dirty from everyone just throwing their shoes and boots in there. I tried to scrub the walls but to no avail. I was only scrubbing off the paint. You see, when we put on this addition, we never painted the closet, only primed it. So I decided that before I put everything back in, I really needed to paint.

But somewhere in between realizing this and digging out the painting supplies, I remembered a very cool mudroom makeover that I had pinned from Carmel at Our Fifth House. I was totally inspired.

Now I knew that my closet wasn't, nor did it need to be as amazing as Carmel's. After all, she was creating a complete mudroom out of a closet and a hallway. I still was going to be closing my closet doors. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be cute, right?

I purchased some of the supplies I needed...like cute new metal door knobs and wood, but it just seemed that my time to work on the project kept getting waylaid. Between birthday celebrations, Hubster traveling (I knew I was going to need his help for some of my ideas), meetings, church activities, etc., it just wasn't getting done.

Finally, last week I decided to paint. I planned on using leftover yellow paint from the mudroom. But when I picked up the can, I realized it was not going to be enough. So I wound up mixing that with the leftover paint from the kitchen. It made the yellow a little duller, but I reminded myself it was only a closet. (You have no idea how many times I told myself that during this project!)

My plan was to wallpaper the lower half using the same bead board wallpaper that I had used in the kitchen, only horizontally like Carmel did. The day after I painted, I attempted to do the wallpapering myself. Big mistake. I really needed a couple extra hands. So I gave up on that and waited for Hubster to be able to help me a couple days later. But in messing up the wallpaper, I also had wasted some and now I didn't have enough. So that evening when I was tired and crabby and disappointed that I hadn't got the papering done, I headed out to Lowe's to get more which was a fiasco and a long story itself.

Finally, this past weekend we had no plans so Hubster and I worked together on hanging the wallpaper, installing a kind of chair rail board, painting, and installing new hooks.

Yesterday was spent purchasing a few accessories....like new baskets to store things like gloves and hats (It always bugged me a bit that you could see through the old baskets. It made it look a little messy to me.) and a cute sign I found at Hobby Lobby.

So....are you ready for the final reveal?



Ta-daaaa!!!!!

Hubster now has his own big basket on the floor for his caps, ear protection for mowing, gloves, etc.

My daughter also needed her own little basket for her iPod, headphones, and other little doo-dads she feels are necessary to keep in this closet.

And don't you love this metal sign? I thought it was just perfect for us all to see as we grab our coats to head out the door. It might be my favorite part of this whole makeover.

I also added another boot tray since it seemed like the two we had were always overflowing.

Now I have to be honest and tell you that there are still a few things that need to be put back in the closet. And the kids will be hanging their school backpacks here as well. But you'll indulge me a couple "beauty shots," right?

I love a good "before and after."

And one last look. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Thankfulness.....

* For safety for Hubster traveling in bad weather.

* For my sweet sister and her love for all the nieces and nephews in her family.

* For the Lord's provision of help when I needed it.

* For a beautiful blue Fall sky.