You spin me right Round Room, right round

After almost two months of walking by the paint swatches I had tested on the walls, I finally buckled down this past weekend and (nearly) finished the Round Room. We will come up with a better name for it at some point but for now, we'll stick with it. 

This room was beat up. There were scuff marks and weird discolorations all over. It was pretty overwhelming considering the entire room is approximately 10x10. We're honestly not sure how this room was utilized by the previous owners but it seems to have been used a lot. Please don't judge the fact that we lived with it in this state for 4 months before painting; neither of us wanted to do anything twice. 

    

I painted this room using a Sherwin Williams paint that I picked up from a mom2mom sale on Facebook for a whopping $5. It wasn't a full gallon but there was plenty to paint this size room and there is plenty left. It was very close to the color I had wanted so considering I saved about $40, I went for it. As I said above, I would consider this room nearly finished because it still needs a quick coat of white on the trim and ceiling! I didn't do that this time because I wanted it to feel settled after the weekend.

   

These are opposite angles of the same windowed wall but you can still see how much brighter the whole room looks with a cooler color. Not to mention the new windows that we had installed. WOW. What a difference a whole new house of windows makes. The old ones were 100 year old original, single pane wooden windows. They had been painted over quite a few times and they were impossible to get clean. Out with the old and in with the shiny, bright and new!!

   

The view from this room to the living room is also much nicer now. The coolness in this space and the warmer tones in the living room play well together. There are some elements that we crossed over (dark wood, modern but soft art, and patterned rugs) so that the adjoining rooms wouldn't look bizarre when pictured or viewed together. I think we accomplished the general mission! 

This is one of my favorite walls in the house. I am a sucker for succulents (pun intended) and though I am pretty decent at keeping them alive, I opted for some artificial pieces for this wall. I think the geometric shapes of the planters and the softness of the print tie in very well together. There is also a small glass urn terrarium that I put together a while back sitting on the buffet - I'll post how I did that another time. 

This is my favorite room so far. It ties in nicely with our Dining Room and when the "den" and kitchen are completed (hopefully soon) there will be a very nice flow throughout the main floor of the house! 

Making it all fit

Now that we have lived here for more than a year the basement has undergone some renovation, reorganization and most recently we've changed it's function.

When we first moved in we used the basement as an office of sorts. Rob's computer was down there as was my crafting desk, so we used the space to work on projects and hang out while the other was working. It wasn't decorated, there was barely any furniture and it felt like a dark basement. It was a waste of much needed space in our small home. 

Over the summer we decided that we wanted to have some part of the house, other than our bedroom, that was carpeted. We figured with a baby on the way we should have some space to put toys and let a babe romp around without fear of falling on the hardwood or marble flooring. The basement seemed like the best option since it would mean that we wouldn't have to cover any of the original wood floors. Plus the existing basement carpet was horrendous so it was the perfect choice. Below is a picture from when the laundry room flooded, yet another reason to rid the basement of it's old floor covering. 

The original carpet in the basement was directly on the cement floor so it was hard as a rock. We called Empire and it was a simple process that was started and finished in two days. We chose a very neutral color but added padding and a deeper plush to the carpet itself; much more acceptable for a baby to crawl all over and the change made the basement feel more like a part of the house. 

   

You can see in the picture on the left above that we left the original carpet 

on the stairs because we plan on refinishing with a rustic wooden stairway. 

Once the carpet was installed, we needed a place to put the furniture that had been in the den because that room would now be the nursery. This is when we had to do some problem solving, without getting rid of any furniture we had to add a whole new room to our house. 

Rob's desk moved up into the nook in our bedroom where the dogs beds used to be. Moving his desk created space in the basement for the futon and one of the black side tables that was formerly in the den. We also took the tv and buffet from the living room and moved it one floor straight down. Now we have a living room on the main floor and a family room in the basement. The black cubicle unit is now part of an entertainment unit in our bedroom and the only piece we retired was the red chair... it had seen better days. 

The transition happened little by little but now it seems like this is the way our house should have been set up all along. We stretched the little bit of space we have as far as it will go and we are very happy with the way it feels now! 

we've rearranged

So the living room, our most lived in and "in-flux" room, has been rearranged once again - shocker! It was feeling a little too closed off with the couch creating a "wall" between the living room and dining room. I guess it's a live and learn situation: we broke down a wall in order to open up the space and then we placed the couch in a way that the room felt closed off again. Well last weekend I looked at Rob and said "Would you mind if we did some moving" - those have to be his least favorite words. I know this is especially true because I always ask while we are watching some kind of show or movie; all I can do is sit and think about is how I don't like the space i'm in; meanwhile, he is innocently watching and enjoying whatever flick we are watching!  

To remind you what we had going on before, take a look at the picture below - tv against the wall, couch creating a wall, coffee table, chair in corner and an open wall to the left. From this angle you can't even see a bit of floor! 

It definitely goes well enough and there was plenty of room to walk by to the left of the couch but it was just not "right!" Away we went with moving, we tried a couple different arrangements before we ended here. 

The angles are a little different (and the second photo was taken at night) but the feeling in the room is much more open! We were able to keep the television and buffet where they were, the large city scape art was just moved up a couple inches to accommodate the couch and the floor lamp stayed put. After moving the couch we realized that by using our coffee table as a side table under the window (top left) we were able to save a lot of floor space without losing any surface space! And look, you can see the floor! 

Overall, much nicer and (hindsight) it should have been set up like this all along. It's a nice configuration for conversation as well as tv watching and there is a lot of open space for extra chairs when we have people over! 

The dogs love it too, we had my cousin's little girl over the other day and it gave them plenty of room to play!! They got some major lovin' that day! 

        

I know some of you will think i'm crazy, and I think that of myself a bit for even thinking it, but I think I am going to repaint the room. There is still something off about the space; it's a little too warm with the furniture that we have. I won't go back to white, that was too cold but I may offset the warmth a bit with a soft grey... I don't know yet. Painting is such a huge undertaking but it's worth it. I think we will live as is for a bit and see what I decide with color before making any hasty decisions. 

Any color recommendations for this room? What color would YOU paint it!?

Reader Redesign: Meet Hannah

Hello everyone, we apologize for the lack of posts lately! Life has gotten ahead of us and we have seriously slowed down in the renovation department. We still have lots to do and lots to post about but we have had some hiccups that we are trying to decide how to solve and therefore haven't had any big reveals to share. Soon, we promise!

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To tide you all over, we have a Reader Redesign that was sent to us in response to our guest blogger post a couple weeks back! Hannah is an interior designer from the Grand Rapids area of Michigan and is currently working on flipping her second home (you go girl!). After looking through her website, it is obvious that she has a talent for home decor and renovation; we are so excited to share her "bookshelf" redesign with you now!

I am drooling over her shelves as a use of space for a seemingly small living room - so much warmth and personality is added by taking only about one foot of space out of the room. Now obviously it takes a while to collect all the items that she has on display (I love her use of books, plants, jars, growlers, and much more) but be encouraged: bookshelves are great to display all sorts of things, you probably have more items to display than you think! Shelves like this are a perfect way for anyone to put their personality on display and the cool thing is: everyone's shelves would end up so different!

In her original post about these shelves, she says that they only cost her about $180 as opposed to the much pricier wood built-in's she was originally thinking of installing. I personally am glad this is the route she took, I think the blue of the wall showing through really brings the whole room together and makes this feel like a part of the room instead of just an addition. That was some good thinking on her part! ***If you click the original post link you can see the before pictures of this room as well! 

Hannah's home renovation is really remarkable. If you have a minute to take a peek at her first and second homes you will see what I mean! She is also available for design consultation, etc. so if you have questions please post them on this page and we would be happy to send them her way! 

A BIG thank you to Hannah for sharing her awesome shelves with us! We are so thrilled to share them with you! 

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Has anyone else been restyling their environment lately? Starting any new projects? We'd love to hear about them! 

a painter paints a wall for free... "it's on the house!"

Sorry for the terrible pun but I just couldn't help myself!

At the end of our last post we conveyed that we were painting the living room but might not like the color. Well we were right and then wrong. When I first edged in, the color looked reddish and really dark. Hoping that it was just the first layer, I went back around the room (all 29 edges!) to paint a second coat and unfortunately was still unsure when I went to sleep that night. You can see the first layer closely in the picture on the right and the second layer in the middle - much creamier but it still dried with a reddish tint. 

 

When I got up to roller the room the next morning, I was still disappointed that the color was darker than I had wanted. It was hard for me not to like the color since the whole gallon of paint cost us $5, but there is always a "feeling" I get about paint color; it either works or it doesn't at all. 

After painting all the walls with two nice smooth coats, we were beginning to like the color. After moving all the furniture back into place and doing a little rearranging (yet again) we decided that the color was comfortable and made the room feel complete instead of just looking like furniture placed in a room. 

Yes, I'm watching Alias!  

We love the way the new paint color makes the charming cove ceiling pop! The cove is such a fun touch and one of the things we initially loved about the house - we are happy to have it be a little more noticeable! 

Also, we changed some things around: we added the lamp behind the chair (Target Threshold), put a table between the wall and couch for the lamp, switched the table in the "collage corner" and moved the leather ottoman to be a side table for the over-sized chair. All we need now is a perfect tray for the ottoman and we will be in business! 

Living Room: CHECK!

Keep posted for our next projects, we've got lots of fun ones coming up!

Until next time,
Lindsey

p.s. LOOK AT ALL THAT SNOW and it just keeps coming!

making progress in the living room

The dining room has probably undergone the most changes so far in the house. First we ripped down one of its walls to combine it with the dining room and secondly it has been decorated and redecorated more than once. 

In our apartment we had space for two full size couches because of the open layout and the length of the space but in this house we simply don't. Now, part of the redecorating and rearranging included a layout in which we tried to include both couches but it was too frustrating and tight. As you can see in the layout below [generated by floorplanner], having two couches in the living room was way to smooshed. Even though the room is fairly large, the walkways and front door pose a problem when trying to fit furniture - there aren't a lot of layout options.

I just went crazy one day; so frustrated trying to move around the coffee table and between the overbearing furniture I started to move things around. I ended up with one couch in the middle of the house with no home, ha! We like to say it's all part of the "process" so we don't feel like crazy people! The lighter couch that ended up with no home, is now housed in basement. We decided to keep the maroon leather couch upstairs due to the shape, size, and color! We don't even have any real pictures of the first layout because it never felt right... we knew it wasn't going to last.

 

This is the only photo I could find with the light couch upstairs. If you can use your imagination, the front door is directly to the right of the couch in this picture, the coffee table is just below the frame of this shot, and the TV is where Rob is looking. All in all, not a good situation.

After we removed the couch, we had a lot of empty space. Not enough for another couch or even a loveseat but we knew we wanted more seating. I found a oversized chair at Tootie and Tallulah's that fit the bill! It matched our color scheme and just fit perfectly in the space - plus, it is so so comfortable (as Taylor, Oswin and Harlee are so graciously modeling for us!).

After a couple adjustments and side table switches we came out with a good layout with lots of walking space as well as floor space for our two crazy creatures. My mom was a huge help during this, helping pick out curtains that fit the room and moving everything to its perfect spot!

The walls in the living room have seen many pieces of art and different corner displays, the lighting has changed, frames have been switched, curtains have been swapped and the odds and ends have been added and removed. All in all we are very happy with this current arrangement! 

 

Standing behind the couch, with the front door to your right, this is the view of the living room. The wall above the TV still needs some love and the lighting needs to - yet again - be changed.  All in good time!

 

Standing in the dog's bed (pictured above) this is the view from living room to dining room. The collage corner to the right was originally in the boring white corner from the picture above. We like its new home much more! **please look away from the clutter on the dining room table!

 

Again, standing behind the couch, you can see the over-sized chair and the leather ottoman that we added for seating as well as the art we chose to hang in the living room! 

The thing we are liking most is the flux of everything. Nothing stays in one place and it doesn't have to. The two large pieces of art (which we had framed locally at Greene's Art Supply in Birmingham) were originally meant for the dining room. After one look at the new arrangement, Mom and I decided that the "it is well" art would fit better in the dining room while the architecture pieces fit perfectly in the living room!

We are still going to paint this room and we may or may not already be underway with that project! Results to come later, we are still deciding if we like the color!! 

Thanks for reading, until next time, 

Lindsey

house flow and rugs

It's very fun to look around the house and start to see a cohesive flow from room to room. Each room has a piece of it's own that makes a pop but all in all the rooms work together (thank goodness!). We are beginning to feel settled here and most of our rooms are completely livable!

We haven't painted and the white walls are starting to bother me, but we have talked about it and we want to be very sure what color we want before we take the time to paint properly. Since it's such a task to really do a great job, we will probably wait for another month to paint the main areas. Bedrooms/sparerooms/basement might come earlier.

I just wanted to show you some of my favorite views in the house - from room to room so you can start to feel the flow like we do!

Photo 1: The first is from the living room to the dining room. The full view (more than just the floors) is much nicer but we aren't done decorating and I don't want to give anything away before we are finished. I love the way the two rugs look with the hardwood floors. Please don't mind the pukey green chair cushions, those are on our list.
Photo 2: The second photo is from the hallway entrance to the living room looking down the hall into the spare room. The hallway is shaping up with a couple of photos and art pieces and the spare room (sneak peak) is almost done! We will have a post about that room after all the spare boxes, etc. are moved out.


I also wanted to show you the rugs I have found for the house. I was never a big fan of area rugs but as soon as you buy a house with all wood floors you become a #1 fan almost immediately!! So far I have only paid full price for one of the rugs that we have in our home - honestly, a good price makes a lovely rug even lovelier still!

Row 1: Left - Dining Room Rug, Home Goods
             Right - Hallway Rug, Target
Row 2: Left - Kitchen Rug, Home Goods/Marshalls
             Right - Living Room Rug, Target (50% off!)
Row 3: Spare Room Rug - hand-me-down (FREE!)



For now, that's all we have to share but there is plenty more to come!

until then, Lindsey

before we begin

Well we closed - YAY!! - and we've had a garage sale (yes already haha) and it has been quite the whirlwind getting projects done and semi-settling into the new house. We are really loving the layout and all the potential this place has for us and our eventual family (Lord willing!!).

Before we begin posting pictures and tales of the projects we are doing around the new house, we want everyone to be able to see the house before we made any changes. These photos are from our inspection date and do include a little bit of the previous tenants furniture so bear with that please! 

Let's begin the tour! 

Our cute little home in Royal Oak, MI. 

This is the view when you walk in the front door, there is a wall directly to the left!

Another view of the living room from the archway in the previous picture. 

Through the swinging butler's door into the kitchen. 

From the other side of the kitchen - not a whole lot of cupboard space but we do have a basement to store extra things! 

 Cute pedestal sink in the bathroom with a great little vanity mirror.

We lucked out with the bathroom decor - it has newer tile, new marble floors and the colors aren't horrendous!

Bedroom #1 / Our Dining Room (after project 1)

Bedroom #2 / Spare Room for guests

Master Bedroom upstairs with walk-in closet (beyond arch on the other side of the bed)

There are a lot of built ins in the Master Bedroom! 

View from our Kitchen window - Oswin's new playground! 

Thanks for taking the tour everyone, we can't wait to share what we have in store and all the projects that we have already started / finished / are in the middle of! 

Until next time,

Lindsey