Before & After: Lighting, Painting & Crown Moulding Project...

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE


AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Three Words: I'm So Excited.

Three More: We Love It.

Three More: Hope You Do! :)

Three More: Reuben does too...

Update on Lighting Project!

I signed a contract for our new house project! I'm still working on the date, but I have a remodeling company coming in to do the following:

• remove 3 lights from our kitchen/seating area/pool table area (i.e. large rectangular room)
• install 13 recessed lights and 3 pendant lights
• patch/prime/paint the ceiling (currently tan- I want it WHITE)
• paint our walk-in hall closet/mud room (currently white - I want it TAN)
• Remove crown molding and install thicker crown in entire room.

That pool table light (and the track lighting in the kitchen and chandelier over the seating area are OUT!)

3 of these will be installed over the sink! (sink below!)

The curtain will be replaced with a bamboo roman shade and the three lights will hang above it. Note that dark ceiling and lack of crown - not for long!

I SO hope they can come and do it next week! I can't wait and think it's going to make a big impact!

Rugs... And Lots of 'Em Thanks to Devon + PB

So… my rug was delivered today around 1:30 p.m. I was SO excited. My sister was even over and couldn’t wait to see it, too. The guy takes it out of the fedex truck and I’m like oh shiz… it’s THIN. He takes it in, leaves and I roll it out and it’s WAY too thin, not at all what I had in mind. More like an outdoor rug. Total FAIL. My sister’s like come on, we’re going to the Pottery Barn Outlet now! So we hop in her SUV and ride up to the outlets.

I find one I LOVE for the pool table area and I’m still looking and looking and then they come over and say an additional 30% off all rugs. Then, a guy says if you go to the food court you can get a 20% one item at Pottery Barn… um, that’s it! We start pulling out so many rugs. I ended up with FOUR rugs:

1. Pool table area: 8x10 Natural Stripes Rug; Originally $549; on sale for $200, with 30% off… $140!


2. Dining room: 8x10 Chanille Rug; Originally $400; on sale for $250, with 30% off AND $20 off… $140!


3. Living room: 5x8 Links Rug; Originally $429; on sale for $130, with 30% off…$91!


4. Entryway: 3x5 Links Rug; Originally $179; on sale for $34, with 30% off….$24!

So, yes, I got FOUR Pottery Barn rugs for $395, with 7% tax a grand total of: $422.65. And, I had a leftover wedding gift card for $58.14… make that grand total: $364.51.

The other rug (the one that I ordered but was thin – blah) was $350 ($374.50 with tax). So yes, I got FOUR rugs for $10 less than the one I didn’t even like and isn’t nearly as nice/high quality as the Pottery Barn ones. I feel SO lucky today – yesss. So, here’s pics… I hope you like as much as we do!!

Ah... who doesn't love a fabulous sale?!! Clearly i'm still on a shopping high!


The seating area/pool table area rug and the new side tables!

The new dining room rug!

The new den rug (same as entry way rug - just a larger size!)

Entry way rug (smaller version of livign room rug)

Good News + Bad News

Good News: I got the house bug again - yay!
Bad News: I haven't taken any pictures or really finished any projects.

Good News: I bought new end tables for the seating area!
Bad News: They need to be on a rug... and I looked everywhere for a rug.

Good News: I found a rug and bought it today!
Bad News: It won't be delievered until "2-3 weeks."

Sigh.

Here is a photo of the end tables and of the rug. Hopefully in 2-3 weeks you can see the final product!

I got this in an 8 x 11... I'm nervous I'll hate it in person! haha But they did free shipping and to take it back I just have to take it to the store which is, conveniently, 15 minutes from my office and my house!

The end tables. LOVE them. They're already out but I think they'll look a bazillion times better once they're on the rug above!

Have you done anything to your homes lately? My list of wants is getting longer and longer! Notice I said wants not needs. Blah!

One To-Do Down

I bought a pillow for the scrapbook room! I had found it a while back on Joom's shop (on Etsy) and when I finally went to buy it she had closed down to focus on family, etc. But she's reopened so I bought 2 pillows - one for the scrapbook room chaise and one for the seating area in the kitchen! I love them - only $66 for both - woo! (including $10 shipping. ouchers).




Only 20 something to-dos to go - woo!!

Granite Update - and More!

So she came and was SUPER nice. She was really knowledgeable and I felt great about it. She brought samples and i'm definitely loving the baltic brown and one other - tan brown. She said they cost the same. We also discussed putting granite over the island (adhering it to the tile). She said she'd take it an inch over on all sides. She measured for it too and I asked her to line item it as we may not do it. We also discussed sinks - I hesitate to get one big one and am thinking of doing 60/40 or even 80/20 - we'll see! So it all went great!

Then I got the updated quote... first, she didn't line item out the island so it was A LOT (the island is about 9 square feet alone) and then the square foot price jumped up $4/foot for the tan brown. What? She said they cost the same. So... I wrote her back and hope to have an update tomorrow. I just can't decide about the island - I think I want to leave it as is... what do you think?

Other than that me and Austin:

• put together 2 dolce chairs
• put together a coffee table
• set up the seating area... can't decide if we like it - need help!
• installed a fan in the guest room (but don't have special bulbs so we couldn't put the light on)
• cleaned both bathrooms and did a load of laundry
• hung the M over the mantle and measured it for a TV
• hung the key rack thing by the door
• put together two bed frames
• installed the headboard and attached it to a bed frame in one of the guest rooms (love it!)
• made a new recipe (Sausage Rotini Pasta - LOVED IT!)
• found out that Reuben can get out of the backyard - eek!

Another great day! We're just plowing through this stuff - it's fun! I even made the coffee table by myself - woo!

New Chairs!

So, as you know, my wish list to the left is for me to click on those links every once in a while (every day) so I can pounce on items when they go on sale. So… I’ve been wanting those two chairs for the seating area ($140 each or $280 before tax). Well sometimes they do free shipping… sometimes they do 15% off… today they had BOTH – free shipping and 15% off making the chair total come out to $238 - $256 with tax… then I had my LAST Target gift card with $62 left on it. You guessed it – I ordered the chairs and they will be delivered for free to the new house on April 11 for a grand total including shipping and tax of $195.15. WOO!!! I'm so very excited!

Seating Area Inspiration Board

So I was stressing about what to do with the area between the kitchen and pool table. You may remember this post. Anyway, I’ve pretty much decided to do a lounge/seating area. I think we'll use it the most and can eat in there and hang out and we'll have a TV on the desk area - I just like it! I realize this means I’m forgoing any sit-down dining room deal, but honestly – we just don’t use it! And I guess if we have peeps over for dinner we’ll do what we did before – sit at the high table (I’m hoping to fit the high table in the pool table area with our bar stools at it. Anyway – here is the room – we LOVE IT! Click to make it larger.




What do you think? Here’s how much it will cost per my choices:

We already have the bench, end table and white platter. I also want my hurricane vase with sand/candle on the small iron table. But we need to buy the chairs ($280 for 2 including shipping) , the end table ($170), mushrooms ($32), pillow cover and insert ($37), green candle ($7), green apples ($10) and woven tray ($30) = $567. See any where I can cut corners? Or do you think this is a good price? Do you think the mushrooms are heinous? LOL I love them - they're our favorite food! And I think it makes sense because technically this area is in the kitchen so having apples and mushrooms ties in! :) (right?) Anyway, can't wait to see what you guys think!