New Project Alert : One Room Challenge!

Thanks to our dear friend Linda, we've signed ourselves up for yet another project of massive proportions :

Here's the deal : We signed up to participate in a month-long challenge offered to 20 fearless bloggers to finish or re-do one room in their house.  You know how that goes…. everyone seems to have at least one room in their abode that they keep meaning to update, or are just almost there but not quite.  This challenge goes out to all of you us that need to have a fire lit under us to FINISH THAT ROOM.

When :  The challenge kicks off today and will last 6 weeks.  Each Wednesday, the participants of the challenge will post an update complete with snags, snaffus, progress reports and pics!  The 'reveals' will be posted on August 1st.

Who : See list below of my fellow gluttons for punishment.  Be sure to check out their progress and war stories, too! 

What Room :  Bethany's master bedroom!  

I read a fabulous quote from none other than American apparelist Michael Kors that really struck a kord … He asked why it is that we always leave our most treasured, private area [the master bedroom] to last?  We spend too much time there to not have it dressed properly.

So true I thought when I read it and have been thinking about it ever since.  When this challenge presented itself I figured it was the perfect way to just get it done. Nothing like a little peer-pressure (and a professional photo shoot for our portfolio later this summer) to light a fire.

The Plan(s) : 

Neutral Territory.

-OR-


'Switzerland in Coral'

I want a generally neutral room.  The first option is just that.  But after falling in love with the perfect chenille velvet this weekend (see Instagram pics at right), I'm leaning towards incorporating an arbitrary pop of coral in my room.  It makes me happy.  And I like that the smokey neutrals don't necessarily "go" with the coral.  But I don't know which one to choose.  Mr. Switzerland is going to require a lot of work from our workroom to do a roman shade and curtains.  And the zebra rug is a bit distracting.  But I might get bored easily with Neutral Territory.  The plus is that the curtains can be store-bought and the sheer roman would be pretty easy to do ourselves. 


 The walls will be a light grey-white with a smokey brown-grey on the ceiling.  The rattan light fixture is being converted to hardwire as we speak so the only decisions left to be made are which rug and which window treatments to use.


Your input is welcome!


Wish me luck.


Check back next Wednesday for an update.

And be sure to check out what everyone else is doing.

Goodluck to:

Beth - Chinoiserie Chic

Lauren - The Cottage Mix

Sherry - Design Indulgence

Lindsay - Everything LEB

Barbara - Hodge:Podge

Kim - Kim Macumber Interiors

Lisa - Lisa Mende Design

Tiffany - Living Savvy

Jessie - Mix & Chic

Linda - My Crafty Home Life 

Danylle - Nana Moon

Nicole - Nicole Scott Designs
Julia-Pawleys Island Posh

Jennifer - The Pink Pagoda

Lindsay - The Pursuit of Style

Emily - Rue de Emily 

Lindsay - Sadie + Stella

Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey

-Bethany

Check out the updates each week:   Week 2,  Week 3,  Week 4,  Week 5

#decisionmakinghell

#eekimexcited

#anotherproject?

If you are looking for help with your home, we'd love to work with you! Contact us for a listing of our services and prices. Nancy and Bethany

My hallway is officially zhushed!

Remember this post on zhushing up my hallway?

I was finally ready to execute on this idea.

I started out with this 'inspiration pic' from Atlanta Homes Magazine.

                                                 

I wanted to do wallpaper, but since we don't plan to stay in our house forever, I thought I'd better save it for the master bedroom.  So mom and I got to work making a stencil. We made a pattern similar to the inspiration pic. We used acetate folders from Staples to make our stencil and some leftover paint from my office (you would be suprised how little paint this took up.  We maybe used a half of a cup of paint).  The project cost us a total of $2.

Since I wanted the walls to look more like handpainted wallpaper versus stencil-y, we painted it with a paintbrush following the stencil as a guide. 

 The stencil and the laser level kept us on the right track and made the pattern uniform. While our application of paint was very measured so it would looked handpainted.

Ta Da!

From a distance it looks like a unified design or even papered (if you really squint).  But up close, the paint strokes and the amount of paint is very uneven. Being a perfectionist, it was actually kind of freeing to do this imperfectly.  I love it so far!  Now we are left to decide whether to do this to the other side of the hallway or not.  I am worried it may feel like a maze if we box it in with both walls painted.  Thoughts?

What did you get into this weekend?

-Bethany

Project Update : Bathroom

The projecto de bano is coming right along.  It felt a little like putting 'lipstick on a pig' - prettying first, reconstructing later but the progress has been a refreshing change in the Brower home.

Inspiration Pic:

                                                                    Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Bethany on Pinterest

As it is today:

Paint is Naval by Sherwin Williams

A play on Osbourne & Little's 'Best In Show' wallpaper was stencilled on the ceiling.  A few changes were made to reflect our breeds of choice.

New used Persian Lilihan scatter rug to warm the toes

Settling on the right mirror was exhausting (remember this post?) but I finally found this guy at Greenfront last weekend.  It's the perfect compromise between Venetian and traditional.

                                                                         Source: rugsusa.com via Bethany on Pinterest

I am still looking for the perfect garden stool to put next to the tub and a new light fixture for above the mirror.  Here are my current thoughts:

                                                                       Source: shopcandelabra.com via Bethany on Pinterest

                                                                      Source: homedecodirect.com via Bethany on Pinterest

And then comes the legit work of laying herringbone slate floors and installing a new toilet and vanity.  


A bit backwards, dontcha know :)

-Bethany


PS - Please contact us if you are interested in consigning any decor bloopers you have lying around your home.  We're running low on our own design mistakes in our basements, and are actively looking for new items to offer on our FOR SALE page!!

Office Project Numero Uno (also happens to be a good Ikea Hack)

I wanted this bookcase.

But it wouldn't fit in my tiny office space. 

So I settled for a Hemnes from Ikea and got to work.

Step One : Cut a hole in the box (sorry for the Saturday Night Live reference) 

We primed all of the surfaces that we wanted to paint with a quality primer.  Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer is what we used here and it's never led us astray.

So we primed away in mom's kitchen.

And primed away on mom's floor.

We did two coats of paint; this is after the first coat. Usually I like to preach the poor quality of Behr paint and true to form, it did an awful job of adhering to the primer, but that's what we used here.  The color is called Tuscon Teal. 

 

We painted the back board of the bookcase, which happens to be a thin sheet of cardboard, not even MDF.

And we painted some more.  This time the interior of the frame.  

The blue is really showing up royal versus the teal that it is.  Had to switch to Instagram to show the color better.

Thus, pay no mind to the 70's vibe going on in the following pics.

I added a little sparkle.  Can you blame me?

 A package of 4 brass box corners from eBay set me back about 53 cents.  WAHOO!

And voila!

More legit pictures soon.  And by soon, I mean probably in the next year because I have yet to master the art of taking decent photos.  So for now, most of my stuff is from my iPhone.

Happy start of the week!!

-Bethany

Be careful what you wish for...

I've been stalking the local Home Depots for about 9 months looking for a Fiddle Leaf Fig plant.  I purchased one last spring for $24.99 there, but it soon lost its leaves and turned brown.  I should've know since some of the leaves were sickly when I picked him up.

So at my last jaunt to HD, a gardener was pruning the indoor plants and I asked about FLFs.  She said she's seen some come through there from time to time and to email her my contact info and she'd keep me updated. 

Then I got the call...

"Is it large?  Because my last one was pretty small and I want to find one well on its way to being a tree."

"Oh it's big.  It's 14 inches. And it's on sale"

[14 inches?? Ummm, ok, not that big, but I'll take what I can get...]

So she "holds" it at the service desk and pick up Mom and we run our happy little selves over there to pick him up.

And there he stood in all his glory. 

About 6' tall and 6' around.  Apparently I didn't understand the 14 inch reference... it meant pot size, not height.  He's a MASSIVE corn-fed boy, I tell ya. And a sale? Hardly - he was still $99.  But, I'd like to put this search to bed, so I bit the bullet.

So Mom and I laugh.  We glance awkwardly at each other.  We shrug our shoulders and get to work putting him in the car. 

A pleasant overnight guest on all accounts, however, my first reaction to him this morning was "OMG."  I think he may be TOO big...

Should he stay or should he go?

Now for an update on the bathroom.

New curtain rod came yesterday, complete with little hangers that match the crystal balls on the ends.  Still haven't picked out a new, less crappy toilet (har har har, excuse the pun) nor have I gotten the tile to re-do the floors.  Now I'm just waiting on my new towels so I can accessorize this thang.

- Bethany

project update : paint and ceiling DONEZO

Now for the hard part...more decisions to make. 

1 - light fixture - stays or goes?

2 - new tub? then do I do tile?

3 - toilet?  not even a question. yes.  that can't be hidden behind a curtain.

4 - new tile.  want a herringbone pattern in slate, but not sure how much darker that could make it.

5 - in meantime - need perfect throw/scatter rug

6 - new shower curtain rod... on order.

7 - vanity.  have rustic bombe chest I'd like to convert... is that harder than it sounds?

-Bethany



guess who's not tired of navy...

this girl.

Inspiration:

                                                           Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Bethany on Pinterest

-Bethany