Round Two: Master Bedroom Mood Board

You may have seen recently that I shared my first master bedroom mood board. In that post I actually mentioned that I had already decided to not go with that color theme.

Since then we painted the walls in our room blue.

Now that we’ve painted the room I’ve been thinking about how I can incorporate some of the things we already have in our room as well as a few other things to finish out the room.

Here is what I came up with:

Of course some of the items are the same as the last mood board. You can find out more about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 in this post.

Here’s the lowdown on the rest of the items:

8. This is Thistle Blue (MSL160) from Martha Stewart Paint which is the color we recently painted the walls.

9. I feel like there is something missing above our bed. I would love to diy something like this simple and pretty collage. Source.

10. With all the bold patterns I currently have all over the room I feel like I need a  more neutral duvet that I could dress up with colorful pillows. Source.

11. I already have a set of three photos which were hanging in this room before we painted. I’d love to dress them up a little by adding either a diy or finding and open frame to hang around them. Source.

12. I would still like to change up the covers on the mini couch. I was thinking about using this as the accent band around the pillows. Source.

13. This would be the main fabric for the couch cushions since it’s a little more neutral and matches the color them a little better than the current ones. Source.

14. A few weeks ago I picked up some new candles and I’m loving the scents and that they have and the lids to keep them clean. I have been loving this Spring scent and it also happens to be green which matches nicely. Source.

15. To go with the jar candles you can also buy candle holders which seems like a fun way to jazz up the candles and they work with the theme. Source.

16. I couldn’t help but throw in another green candle to go with the black and silver candle holders. Source.

17 and 18. Since the duvet is plain I want to add a few accents pillows in both of these fabrics, as well as more in number 12 to go on both the couch and the bed. Source and Source.

Now I’m ready to go out and find some things to finish out our room. I would be great to finally feel like I’ve finished at least one room in our house.

Anyone else feel like they need to give there bedroom a little design love?

Painting the Master Bedroom

We’ve been at it again.

In my defense the paint sale is still going on at Miller Paint so I went in and picked up my last sets of paints. To be honest it was 6 gallons of paint but I think I’m done for a while.  With 12 gallons of paint I really took advantage of the sale I guess.

As per usual we pulled everything out of the room that we could. Since the bed is so big and we didn’t want to take it apart we just left it in the room.

A few days before we got paint I tested out some swatches on the wall. At first I wanted to find a wall and a ceiling color but I just didn’t like the combo of any of the paints shown below.

In the end I chose the Thistle Blue, which of course is another Martha Stewart Color (MSL160). I liked that the Myrtle Blossom was lighter but I was afraid that it would be to purple. In the end I went with Thistle Blue since it’s actually the lighter shade of the Darkening Sky color that we used in  the kitchen.

Just like before I had the paint swatch color matched in Miller Paint’s Acro Pure in the eggshell sheen.

I didn’t take any during shots but here’s the room after the first coat was finished. Don’t you love the crazy plastic covering over the bed?

While we were in the room painting the cats were being oh so helpful as usual. Thanks guys for getting your hair all over the curtains.

I bought 2 gallons of paint which actually ended up being just a little less than I would have liked. We weren’t able to do a full two coats which made me a little nervous. When we went to do the touch ups I was afraid that we would end up with streaks in the paint but it turned out pretty good.

To be honest when I was picking out the color I was pretty skeptical about the color and not having a different ceiling color. I have to admit though I really like it.

I love the contrast and the way the bed really pops on the blue walls.

You may have noticed that I even switched out the couch cushions. They aren’t new they are actually just the back side of the other cushions. I do like the green especially with the walls but between those, the curtains and the duvet there’s just a lot going on.

It’s hard to get a good read on the color since it does change a bit in darkness depending on the lighting.

Here’s just another view to try and show what the paint color looks like.

With Chris’ help we were able to go from putting down plastic to everything back in the room in one day. I think that was the fasted we’ve painted a room yet.

Now that the room is painted maybe I’ll work on finishing it up a bit. It really needs something on the walls and a more cohesive look.

Anyone else out there painting there bedroom lately?

What a Difference Some Bark Makes

We’re back to rain and cooler skies around here this week. Last week though we had a little break with a number of warm sunny days. While the sun was still out Chris and I worked outside laying bark . It took about 6 yards in total and we probably could have used more but we’ll see how it goes.

Before we were actually able to lay any of the bark we did have to do quite a bit of weed pulling and cleaning up to do. We started with the beds in the front of the house which were overrun with weeds and flowers.

It’s amazing how many weeds came up over the winter as well as how the pansies spread like crazy. I didn’t even plant any in this bed last year.

The pansies that I planted in this bed last year bloomed out a lot this spring and really crowded each other.

After a weekend, some evenings and about 4 loads of bark in our truck we finally got the weeds pulled and all the bark laid in the front of the house. It really is amazing how much better the front yard looks now. This much bark may not be the cheapest upgrade but it does make the yard look so much better. I’d say that’s some pretty great bang for your buck.

It looks even better walking up the driveway with the bark covering the former rough rocky edge of the driveway.

Up closer to the house the flower beds already look so much better than last year and we haven’t even planted anything new yet.

While we were pulling weeds we did move around some of the pansies we had just to spread them out a little.

Hopefully one day this hydrangea  in the center will get really large and fill in a lot of this flower bed. Until then it seems like the pansies are trying to take on that challenge.

Back up on the front porch here is the new view of the yard.

There wasn’t anything to work around in the back except for one fushia bush we moved there this year. Chris did all the work back here. Mostly pulling up a lot of moss and weeds and then he put down the layer of bark.

He did the same thing on the other side of the back of the house.

From farther back the beds look a lot better just having the bark in them even though there’s nothing planted in them.

Continuing around the corner Chris finished out the bark by putting some along the house.

That leads back to the front of the house were you can see the flower beds from a little different angle along with the small bed along the house.

Here’s one last shot of the hillside in front of our house covered in bark.

It was quite a bit of work but here’s hoping it keeps most of the weeds at bay this summer. If nothing else it looks so much better than when we moved in. If you didn’t see the comparison in the last post check this out. We were pretty surprised by the change.

Anyone else out laying bark this spring?

Little Blog Update, Big House Update

For the past couple of weeks Chris and I have been working outside to improve the look of our house. (More on that soon.) I took the opportunity to take an updated picture of our house for the blog header. You may have noticed that it’s changed a little, no?

The previous photo was taken in November 2011 when we came to see the house for the first time.

This one was taken just last week.

It’s amazing what a year, some cleanup, and green grass can do to the look of our home.

It’s the little things like this that make me love blogging. All the hard work really seems to pay off even more when you see the difference side by side.

Have you ever looked at an old photo of your house and are amazed at the change?

My Favorite Painting Supplies

I am by no means a master painter but I have been helping my mom paint for years and I’ve painted a few rooms in our house now. Since we somewhat recently started painting this house we’ve been collecting tools and supplies to paint with. I thought it would be fun to share what tools and supplies that we’ve found and liked using. Just like with any project I think painting can be so much easier if you can find the tools that work for you.

Here’s the supplies that have been working for me recently:

1. This roller frame is pretty standard I didn’t put much thought into the one I got. I just chose the cheapest one and it seems to be working fine.

2. For the first few rooms I didn’t use the extension pole since there were mostly small tight spaces. Now that I started painting ceilings and open rooms it has been great to have, especially with our 9′ ceilings. I have also found that it’s so much easier for me to get the right amount of pressure using the extension pole even when I may not need the added height.

3. I usually pick up these middle of the road roller covers.

4. The trim and touch up pads are a fairly recent addition to my list. I like them because they can get into corners and tight places but they give a better coverage than a standard brush which I always seem to need a second coat with. They are pretty small though and take longer to do a corner than say a corner pad but they work.

5. I’ve been using a paint edger since we started painting this house but I recently upgraded to this one. Let’s be honest here; I’m a pretty messy painter. I cannot help but get those little wheels covered in paint which makes it useless for edging. Since the rollers on this one tilt back, I can load the paint without making a mess of the edger. I was actually able to edge the ceiling in the sewing room without having to cut a line with a brush, something that I really appreciated.

6. I typically keep at least a few of these small trays on hand. They are great for carrying around while painting with a brush or the touch up pads. The rough slanted edge helps me to get off all the excess paint on the touch up pads without making a mess of the sides of the tray.

7. While painting the guest room I purchased a nicer angled brush. I didn’t get this exact one but I’ve heard it’s pretty good. I like the angled brush for getting in really tight corners and touch ups.

8. I always have at least one inexpensive brush on hand while painting. I use it to wipe off the paint can after I pour out paint and I don’t feel bad about not rinsing it right away since I don’t care if it stays perfect.

9. Let me say this again; I am a messy painter and an impatient one. I don’t like to take my time cutting in trim and molding. I’ve been using the 2″ frog tape and really liking it. I don’t know that it’s way better than blue tape but it’s been working pretty well for me.

10 and 11. I use an inexpensive metal paint tray for loading my roller and paint edger. I always line it with a plastic liner I can just throw away.

12. Okay say it with me this time; I’m a messy painter. I have been buying these inexpensive plastic sheets to cover the floors. After I tape off the floor molding I just stick the sheeting to the under side of the tape. When I’m done I just pull all the tape off and wad up all the plastic. It’s definitely saved my carpet many times and it’s quick to use.

So there it is, the list of some of my favorite painting tools. You can check out the paint page that’s linked in the menu above for more info on the paint I used and what rooms I’ve painted.

What are some of the tools you can’t paint without?

*I am by no means trying to endorse a specific seller of any of these items although I do own many of these items. I really just used the links to find pictures.

Paint It Like You Mean It

Surprise, surprise I’ve been painting again! Well the buy 2 get one for a dollar sale is still going on at my local paint store so I took the chance to get another three gallons of paint.

This time around I painted the sewing room. With some help from Chris I was able to do all the painting in one weekend and get everything back in the room Monday night. I love when a project takes only a weekend.

I knew that painting the room, especially the ceiling with everything in the room would be too difficult. So Chris helped me to drag everything out of the room and put it in the dining and living room. We had to lock up some of the stuff in the powder room so that the cats couldn’t get to it.

Once everything was out I taped off all the molding, around the light and laid out the plastic to cover the floor.

Just as I was getting ready to paint I noticed a certain cat named Marshall had taken up residence on top of one of my shelves. I made the perfect cat spot just getting all the stuff out of the room.

Now back to the room. I started off by painting the ceiling. (It’s always easier to paint the ceiling first.) This time around I decided to the paint the ceiling in Sunken Pool by Martha Stewart. Just like last time I had it paint matched in the Acro Pure paint.

As usual I went around all the edges first and then came back with the roller. It’s always so awkward to paint the ceiling the only way I feel like I can get the right pressure it by standing right underneath the roller. At least this ceiling isn’t huge.

I was only able to paint the two coats on the ceiling on Saturday. I cleaned up all my supplies but accidentally left the room open all night. When I woke up there were quite a a few holes in the plastic. The cats really do like the plastic.

Back to the paint; Here’s what the ceiling looked like when I came back in the next morning. So pretty even without the walls painted.

Part of painting the ceiling was deciding what parts to actually paint. You see there’s a beam that runs across the room and leave a small broken piece of ceiling. It’s hard to see in the photo but I decided to keep that awkward corner the same color as the walls.

Speaking of the walls I went with Zinc by Martha Stewart this time. Just like I did on the accent wall in the guest room. I had about a half gallon left over from painting the wall so I mixed the two cans together just in case the colors weren’t an exact match.

A while back we heard a tip on Ask This Old House that you should use a nail to pound holes in the rim of the paint can. This way the paint will drain out back into the can. I’ve actually been doing this for a while now. It doesn’t keep the paint from dripping down the front of the can when but it does help to drain out of the rim little by little.

Once the paint was mixed we got to painting the walls. For the first coat I did most of the edges and tight corners while Chris came behind with the roller.

I couldn’t resist adding this picture in. Here’s some evidence that Chris did help paint. I am also told this position is the only way to paint high walls.

After the first coat dried then I came back and used the roller to paint a second coat on the insides of the walls since the edges were already well covered.

It really is amazing how much the paint color changes as the paint dries.

After I finished the second coat we immediately pulled off all the tape.

Then of course I stood back and admired our work. I love the contrast of the Sunken Pool and the Zinc paint. The dark color makes the ceiling pop that much more.

Here’s a shot of what the corner by the door ended up looking like. I’m glad I just went with painting it all grey instead of trying to paint the ceiling teal. It all just blends together.

I tried to take another shot a little closer to show the colors. The grey is pretty true to life here but the teal is a little brighter in person I think.

Once the paint was dry I put back all the outlet plates and moved all the furniture back in.

I took this as a great opportunity to try out a different layout in the room.

I switched the chair to the other side of the room and relocated the plastic drawers out from under the tables. Everything isn’t in the perfect place yet but it looks pretty good.

I think the dark color looks pretty great with all the white furniture and all the bright colored fabrics and accents.

I feel like I’m finally getting really close to being able to call this room finished!

The Shed Saga Continues

Even though we “finished” building our shed last summer it seems that we weren’t really done. As soon as the weather got a little warmer less rainy Chris jumped at the chance to finish the last big stage of the shed. He has been planning on adding a lean-to on the back of the shed for a while now. He has wanted to not only shelter the dog kennel but also to be able to add some more covered storage.

Chris started out by attaching a 2×6 board to the shed. To do this he had to remove a single row of siding. Then out on the edge of the concrete slab he built a frame of two 4×4′s and a 4×6 header. After the framework was together he cut and attached rafters using brackets.

Once the rafters were in place Chris cut to screwed up the trim. With the trim in place he added the plywood sheeting on top and then stapled on the tar paper.

Chris didn’t want to leave the pressure treated 4×4 posts unfinished so we came up with an inexpensive solution; cedar fence boards.

Chris cut a bunch of pieces to size first. Then he held them in place while I nailed them up. Here’s what the first post looked like when we were almost done.

Chris was worried it would start to rain soon so he left the pillars and finished the roofing. Again Chris pretty much did all the work here. I mostly just helped lay out the shingles so that he could nail them down.

Here’s the glamour shots of the new lean-to all finished. Roofing is on and posts are finished.

I think the posts turned out pretty good and blend well with the rest of the shed.

Now I guess we can move onto the next outdoor project. Maybe we’ll wait until it get’s a little warmer first.

Has anyone else not been able to wait for nicer weather to start an outside project?

For more info on the shed check out the posts here, here and here.

Earth Day Tree Planting

For a while now Chris has been talking about planting some trees along the back of our yard.  In honor of Earth Day our work gave away tree seedlings last week and Chris and I collected 9 trees; 4 douglas fir and 5 noble.

The back of our property pretty much ends before any of the trees that can be seen in the photo below. Chris took the opportunity of the free trees to try to fill in some of the landscape. It will take a while but many years from now there may be a little fuller view in the back.

While I was busy inside the house Chris went out last weekend and planted the trees. Below is a picture of each tree taken from left to right as in the view from the picture above.

So there they all are. Hopefully they will last through the year and we can measure them again next year. It will be interesting to see how they do and hopefully many years from now we can enjoy some tall evergreen trees that Chris planted himself.

Anyone else plant some trees for Earth Day?

In the Mood in the Master Bedroom

Have you ever been up in the clouds planning something in a perfect little world of your own only to be brought back down to earth when you show someone else? Well that’s what happened when I created a mood board for our master bedroom. So, even though I probably won’t use all of this any more I still spent some time collecting and putting all the items together so I thought it would be fun to share.

As you may already know I’ve been slowly working around the house painting different areas and working on the whole house color palette. One of the rooms on the list is our master bedroom. For a little while now I have been feeling like there is just something missing from this room. I think what it’s missing is cohesive picture of the final result. Here’s a reminder of what it looks like as of now.

Soon after we moved in a made the curtains and not long after that I made new cushion covers for the couch. I thought I was trying to be clever and maybe a little daring on mixing the patterns and colors but to be honest I just don’t love it.

One day while doing some of the usual surfing on Pinterest I came across this picture.

Source: Desire to Inspire

Honestly i think it’s a little weird for me to like this because to I don’t really like yellow, but Chris does. Although the more I thought about it I just loved the look of the greys and the sunny yellow accents started to grow on me. I finally just decided to start collecting some pictures of different pieces, fabrics and colors that I liked.

I put it all together and created the following mood board. Some of the items are new and some are items we already have.

Here’s the list of sources:
1.  Ofelia Vass Gray Duvet Cover from Ikea. Source.
2. Black Hemnes Bed from Ikea (I don’t think this is available any longer)
3. White Hemnes Nightstand from Ikea (I don’t think this is available any longer)
4. Lillberg Couch from Ikea (Purchased years ago and no longer available)
5. Premier Prints Chipper Twill Storm Fabric. Source.
6. Premier Prints Chipper Twill Storm Fabric. Source.
7. Premier Prints Jo Jo Slub Corn Yellow Fabric. Source.
8. Martha Stewart paint in Zinc. Source.
9. Malm Occasional Table from Ikea. Source.
10. Aryd Block Candle Holder from Ikea. Source.
11. Skimmer Block Candle Holder from Ikea. Source.
12. Aryd Block Candle Holder from Ikea. Source.
13. Vift Yellow Block Candle from Ikea. Source.
14. Forsoka Biege Block Candles from Ikea. Source.
15. Wooden Storage Crate Plans from Shanty to Chic. Source.
16. Premier Prints Willow Yellow Fabric. Source.
17. Premier Prints Chipper Slub Corn Yellow Fabric. Source.
18. Premier Prints Chipper Slub Charcoal Fabric. Source.

First of all I wanted to paint the room Zinc like I did with the accent wall in the guest room. As for the furniture we already own the nightstands, bed and couch. For a while i have been planning on painting the couch frame white and I would really like to make new covers out of the fabric in #5. The one new piece of furniture would be to build my own occasional table similar to the Malm table and add some of the accents in the mood board.

I originally wanted to replace the curtains with something out of #6 and #7. This is the major thing that I probably won’t do. I did just make curtains a year ago and spent a decent amount of money and time, totally throwing those out the window and starting over seems ridiculous. Plus Chris told me that he really likes the ones we have. So there’s my call to come down from cloud nine and back to the real world.

So there it is, the mood board that I won’t end up using much of since it really doesn’t go with the curtains. Time for another round of trying to pick new paint colors and figure out how to fix those silly couch covers. I thought I was done with the paint color scheme but it just doesn’t look that way anymore.

Has anyone created a new look for a room your were excited about then decided it was not feasible and started all over?

Here We Go (Painting) Again

Wow it just feels like I haven’t posted in a while. Between the weather and general life we haven’t really finished anything that we’ve been working on. Finally last week I finished something! It took me all of the weekend before last and a good portion of nights after work last week but I’m finally done.

After I finished painting the last round of spaces (pantry, closets and powder room) I thought I would take a bit of a break until the Acro Pure paint went on sale which I was hoping would happen sometime in the summer. Well It just so happens that the paint went on sale at the beginning of April and I just couldn’t resist grabbing some more while it was on sale.

This time around I went with the guest room because I was hoping to test out a couple of colors on a room that would be relatively easy to paint. Even though I tested out the colors in the powder room I still decided to do a couple of test swatches of the two colors I wanted to use.

Both colors are actually shown in the Paint Wall Colors tab and of course they are from Martha Stewart again.

So before we get started here’s a reminder of what the room looked like before I started painting.

Chris helped me to move everything out of the room and take down the roman shades and the closet shelf.  I did a few calculations on space and ended up buying 3 gallons of paint to cover all the walls and the vaulted ceiling. I purchased two of the gallons in flagstone and  one in Zinc and I got to work.

 

I started with the Flagstone Grey since I planned on painting most of the walls and the ceilings this color. I went with an eggshell sheen just like I did with the closets and pantry.

 

Since I was pretty much painting by myself I worked wall by wall. I started by painting the edges of one wall and then filling in with the roller. This was the first time in this house that I’ve using the extension pole with the roller and I found it was so much easier to paint with.

Chris did come part way through and helped to do the rolling on the closet wall as well as start painting the ceiling. Once I was done with the rest of the edges I took over with the ceiling painting. It was definitely nice to have the pole for this and not have to move around on the ladder.

Here it is after I painted all the flagstone on everything but one wall. I didn’t have to do a second coat on the edges but just for safe measure I came back with the roller and did a second coat on everything I could. I probably could have just touched up a few spots but I always seem to have an issue missing spots and I hate finding them much later.

When we I really don’t like the color but once it dries is is such a pretty taupe-y grey color that I just love.

Once I finished with the second coat of flagstone I switched to working with the darker colored paint in Zinc.

 

Since I had just finished the flagstone I didn’t want to tape off the wall and risk ruining the paint so I decided to try my hand at cutting in with a brush. I watched a few videos online and then just went for it.

This was the first time that I’ve ever used a brush to cut in a wall before. It actually wasn’t too hard and although it didn’t turn out perfectly I think it turned out pretty well.

Then all I had to do was fill in the rest of the wall with the roller. It took two coats to fully cover the edges this time and of course I did a second coat with the roller as well.

It’s so weird that at night the wall almost blends into the ceiling. Although you can see the difference in color along the walls the ceilings seems to shadow and blend.

Although I preped the closet when I did the rest of the room I help off painting it because I couldn’t decided on the color. Since I still had sample pots left over I ended up trying both Love in a Mist and Sharkey Grey out and both looked pretty good. I finally decided to use the Love in a Mist since I like it and I already had paint left over from the pantry and closet painting. It really lightens up the closet and brings a nice subtle hint of blue which looks so pretty with the greys.

In the natural light it’s a lot easier to see the contrast of the lighter and darker grey. You can even see that great pale sky blue in the closet.

I love the way that the one wall is subtly darker and it’s not a shocking in your face contrast.

I’m just in love with the new paint colors. It makes the room look so fresh and updated.

Once we moved all the furniture back in the room I loved the paint color even more. I love the look of the darker wall behind the bed. Now I just need something to fill in all that empty space. All in good time.

Yay! One more room painted. Now that I’ve tested out the colors in a much larger scale I can’t wait to start painting come of the other rooms I’ve been thinking about.

Anyone else painting some rooms? Does it feel like it’s taking your forever?