Laundry/Bathroom

As I have said in other posts....I live in a very old house. So when we moved in this year we wanted to make a lot of changes so that the house would function better for a family in 2012. A lot of renovations had already been done by previous owners. An example of this is the laundry/bathroom that is off of our kitchen. This is very convenient that the laundry is on the first floor...but when we bought the house there was still some room for improvement. We needed storage in the laundry room, and we also needed a place to organize mail. All of this had to look neat and tidy since it was part of the only bathroom on the first floor.

First I will show you some before pictures as it was when we bought the house. These pictures are not great....I should have taken more. It is difficult to see in these pictures but there was no shelving or storage above the washer and dryer. It also felt very dark to me. I like color and sunshine flooding every room so that was one of my goals for this area.....make it brighter!

Here are some pics of this area after we made changes. We had a limited budget so my father-in-law helped us out. He is a retired cabinet maker/wood working genius so he gave us some old cabinets that he had from another project. They were two different kinds so he just painted them all white so that it would be less noticeable. He and my husband installed them in one afternoon then we added some molding and a granite counter top to finish it all off. My husband also built a little shelf for our mail and other paper work. We like how it turned out but may still make some changes to the mail area.

The cabinets above the washer provide soooo much hidden storage!

This is the bathroom area that is behind the curtain. I added the curtain so that there would be more privacy if needed. I had walked in on too many people using the bathroom....so I decided this was really needed. Now whoever is using the bathroom can just close the curtain. The door to the laundry room can also be closed .... the curtain is just extra.

The color on the walls is Sherwin Williams Torchlight. Gold buffalo check curtain is from Country Curtains. Towels are Martha Stwart from Walmart. Thanks for looking!
beth

Toy chest makeover

My father-in-law made this toy chest for my daughter when she was born. We love it... but had no room for it in her bedroom. So I decided to put it in her play area that is off of our family room. I painted the toy chest with red chalk paint since I had some left from other projects. Red is a very popular color in this house! I plan to use the toy chest as a coffee table in front of my tan colored couch in the future. But for now the toy chest is better tucked up against the wall so that no toddlers hurt themselves on it.

I used a mixture of two different Annie Sloan red paints. I was aiming for a color that would be similar to the chairs in the play area. Once I move the toy chest in front of the tan couch I think the red will not be so overwhelming.

                                                                 Before.....

After.....

Painted Farm table

This is the table that I found on Craigs List....I wanted a red table but could not find one in any stores. So I used AnnieSloan paint to paint part of the table and chairs. The Annie Sloan paint is amazing! I just wiped down the table and chairs....then started painting. I used "Emperors Red" and used 1 to 2 coats. I then applied the Annie Sloan dark wax. The wax darkened the red a little and made it look like it was not freshly painted. The final result is exactly what I wanted. I painted this about seven months ago and it has held up beautifully!

Below are pictures of the table before I painted it.

                           



                                                              

Two of my favorite things

I love my coffee & my kitchen!
 I love my Keurig coffee maker.... If anyone is thinking about buying one but is not sure.....DO IT!!!!!
It makes a single cup of coffee so you have fresh coffee all the time.

This is my coffee area. Also a sneak peek of the kitchen. The kitchen is still a work in progress...I will be posting the before and after pics of it soon.

Dining Room

I wanted a bright and cheery dining room. I love lots of color...it really makes me happy. Especially during the winter months when it is gray and gloomy outside...my colorful house feels warm and inviting to me. Once again I decided to go with yellow/gold on the walls. It is Sherwin Williams Torchlight. I bought a table off of craigs list so that I could hand paint it red. I used Emperors Red Annie Sloan paint on the table and chairs. I did not paint the top of the table.. or seat on the chairs.

I got the curtains at Pier1 imports. I had the rug from a few years earlier...it is from Pottery Barn. The clock is from Pier1 also.

Bathroom Project

When we moved into our house the bathroom seemed really dark. It does not have a window, and the over head lighting was pretty dim. So I wanted to freshen it up with some paint. I thought a yellow/orange paint color on the walls would brighten it up a bit. I also decided to paint the existing cabinetry and mirror white. A new granite counter top  finished things off. I really love how it turned out! Every morning when I go into this bathroom it makes me so happy.


Before we bought house...

Yellow paint goes on the walls...

Started painting the vanity white...

Picking a counter top color...

Finished!!!! 

We love it

Welcome!!

Welcome to my blog. My family and I recently moved into a new house...actually it is a really "old house". We have tons of projects that we want to do in the house, so I plan to share them with you all as we accomplish them. I always go to other blogs for inspiration before I start any project and it has really helped me. So hopefully I can "give back" and someone will find the inspiration they need here.
Enjoy,
beth