we're moving up... about five inches

This weekend was chalk full of activities and projects. We spent time with both sides of our family, played games, had dinners, and really enjoyed ourselves! In between all that good family fun, we worked on projects around the house, mainly upstairs, and scored some awesome deals on items for our home!

One of the things on our to-do list has been getting our bed up off the floor. We have been waiting to either build a bed frame or find one that we liked and in the meantime (the past four months) our box spring has been right on the floor. It doesn't really make sleeping any different but the bed is lower and it's hard to vacuum close by the bed. Adding a bed frame was always in the playbook for us, we just weren't in any hurry. 

Once in a great while I check Craigslist just to see what's happening out there and what may be available. Nine times out of ten when I do this, I don't find anything but that one time of ten is when I find something that we actually need that is in great shape, for an unbeatable price. Enter Wendi and her craigslist posting for a bed, chair, night stand and dresser all for $280 bucks! We don't need a dresser or night stand because of all the built-ins in the room but the bed was exactly what we were looking for and the chair was a perfect addition that we didn't know we needed wanted. In total the bed and chair were supposed to cost $110 (according to the original ad) but she gave them both to us for $100! Both pieces (valued at around $300) are in almost perfect condition and if we hadn't said anything, you would have thought they were brand new! 

Rob managed to fit the whole bed (disassembled) into the Torrent with the chair, what a guy! It was definitely a squeeze but we made it home. After some painting [we'll fully reveal that excitement in a post tomorrow] we were able to assemble the bed and waalaa! the room was transformed. For some reason, Rob and I equate nice bedding and bedroom furniture with the idea of being a grown up - who knows where that came from - needless to say, we were feeling mighty grown up last night when we stepped back and took a look at phase three of our bedroom process! 

     

     

Rob did most of the assembly while I handed him what he needed (and took pictures of him working). It wasn't hard to put together and thankfully the people we bought the bed from had opted to separately buy the slats for under the box-spring, always a nice addition. Once the bed was assembled we tipped the box spring and mattress back down and made up the bed. 

   

We like how the light wood offsets the darkness of the room and with the addition of the chair, it has something to match. Currently the built in drawers and railing around the staircase are a sort of dark cherry colored wood, but eventually those will be repainted and the natural wood look will be gone for good! Also the carpet, the purplish blue "elephant in the room", is being completely ignored during this process because it isn't going to last very long - our color scheme is designed with a wood or cork floor in mind. 

   

We are very pleased with the "final product" for stage three of this bedroom makeover. The chair and the bed tie together with their light wood, the fabric on the chair goes perfectly with the color scheme of the room (it's a burlap-y tan), the paint is working exactly how we wanted it to - here's your sneak peak at tomorrow's big reveal, and because I can't just leave a corner without flourish I added some empty gold frames for interest! All in all a successful weekend and a great deal! 

Did any of you snag some awesome deals this weekend? Take on a fun house project? Share what you are up to with a comment on this post! 

Until next time,

Lindsey 

*** In case you were wondering, our nosy pups were safe in their cages during this process so they didn't get into something they shouldn't. "How happy were they about that?" you may ask. Well, let me just say that Oswin is in fact not sleeping in this picture. When I got near her to take a picture, she closed her eyes in protest. Yes, she is that dramatic! As soon as she heard the camera noise she perked right back up and looked straight at me. WHAT A GOOBER. 

the forgotten room

After posting yesterday and going through all our progress we realized that we had never shown you our spare room / den area. It's funny to us, since our house isn't that big... how could we forget a whole room?! 

We think that because the room was a storage room for so long after moving in and because it's not a main living area where we spend a lot of our time, it was easy to over look. Oddly enough though, some of our favorite and most personal decor items rest in this room! 

So there you have it, almost three months after everything was placed and adjusted and hung up, we present our spare room / den!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In our last apartment we had a second bedroom that we used as an office. We made it as cozy as we could while still having to look at computers, shelves of craft materials, and piles of finished wood signs, etc.. Needless to say, it wasn't as cozy as we would have hoped for a spare room and our guests usually ended up on the couches in the living room. 

In our new house we moved all the office stuff and one of the larger, more comfortable couches down to the finished part of the basement to create our offices and a hang out place to work without sitting at a desk. (We haven't even shown you the basement because it's still in shambles.) 

Thankfully, because of the space the basement provides, we were able to use our second room as a combination spare room / den. As you can see in these pictures (taken before we even moved in), the room has some added interest with the wainscoting and chair rail. It's a little odd to have these details in a spare room but we think that the previous owner used this room (bedroom 2) as the dining room and bedroom 3 (our new dining room) as a spare bedroom. Confused yet? 

    

As for now, the walls are still all white but we may be changing that soon. We know for sure that we will leave the wainscoting as is to give the room a base and then add a color above for some contrast. The color will fall into our house scheme, but we aren't sure of what end of the spectrum. Stay posted to see what we choose! 

   

When it came to furnishing this room we were able to use what we already had. Always a perk for furniture that would otherwise go into storage and for us and our wallets! 

• Futon: Lindsey's futon from college that had been in storage for the previous two years we have been married and now it gets to see the light of day again! We appreciate it's function as a bed for guests or a couch, in its upright position, for some extra hang out space. 
• Side Tables: These were the night stands from our apartment bedrooms, we like using these in this room because it gives a little more guest room comfort. 
• Red Arm Chair: This chair had a home in the living room of our first apartment and our bedroom in our second apartment. It's broken in and perfect for reading! 
• Floor Lamp: A hand me down from Rob's parents that has served us well the last two years. When we moved into the house, I got a new shade that matches the decor and gives the lamp an updated style. 
• Cube Storage Unit: This is a newer addition that we only had for the last year in our second apartment. I love all the cubbies because it's so easy to display simply things in a fun and less "bookshelf" kind of way!
• Carpet: The carpet is a hand me down that we decided to flip over and use the back side for display - this method definitely wouldn't work with all types of rugs, but it's always worth a look!
• Curtains: These were given to us by my mom, she had them extra in her linen closet and they were a perfect match for this room! Thanks, Mom! 

Lots of sentiment is held in this room! Above: you can see how we have decorated the cubby unit with 7+ of our favorite things; it's so fun walking into a room and seeing things that make you so happy. Below: On the left you can see the wall above the futon which is where we display our wedding photos in collage frames along with other odds and ends we use to decorate. On the right you can see our very cute dogs how we kept the seating chart from our wedding day and now use it as large wall art in our spare room! 

   

I'm so happy that you all finally get to see our cozy little den, we're sorry it took so long! It's a great area for hanging out with the pups, reading a book or hosting a guest. We are thankful that we can now have a space like this in our home. 

Until next time, 

Lindsey 

seeing how far we've come

We always have an up-to-date list of what we've accomplished so far on the blog, but sometimes it's fun to take a look and compare the pictures of the original house (at move in) with our new and improved look in each room. The first picture of each "series" is the original, pre-move-in look and anything that follows is what we have done to the house! It's exciting to see it put together this way and really see what the differences are - let me tell you, paint is our best friend - i've said it before but it is amazing what a little paint can do!

Front Yard:

• Move house numbers to other side of door
• Re-do porch and walkway
• Re-landscape - Sod front yard
• Move mailbox
• Install flag and hang it
• Repaint the exterior of the house
• Repaint front door
• Repaint shutters

Back Yard:

• Dig out old garden beds
• Weed existing garden beds
• Remove white rocks
• Move hydrangea bushes away from house and to the back yard
• Decided what to do with shed - tear down and rebuild
• Install raised garden beds
• Plant vegetable garden 
• Re-finish swing
• Change fabric on swing and bistro set seats

Living Room:

• Change out curtain rods
• Hang new curtains
• New rug
• Paint living room / choose color
• Create walkway between living room and dining room
• Replace baseboards
• Hang art
• Paint inside of front door
• Add lighting

Dining Room:

• Change out curtain rods
• Hang new curtains
• New rug
• Re-upholster dining room chairs / choose fabric
• Hang art
• Organize closet for more storage
• Change closet door to be a glass "china cabinet"
• Paint dining room / choose color
• Baseboards
• Choose and hang light fixture

Hallway:

• Hang art
• Change the coat closet from a rod to hooks
• Change the shelves in the linen closet - real wood instead of pressed wood
• Paint the ceiling / choose color

Bathroom:

• Take down original shelving behind toilet
• Hang new shelves and decorate
• Hang Shower Curtain
• Re-attach fallen tiles in shower/tub
• Add hooks for towels and robes
• Organize closet behind door with baskets
• Replace sink pedastal with vanity style
• Replace fixtures / toilet paper holder / towel bar

Spare Room / Den:

• Paint den above chair rail / choose color 
• Change out curtain rods
• Hang new curtains
• New rug
• Arrange collage wall
• Hang art
• Add hanging bar to the inside of closet / maximize storage
  

Kitchen:

• Paint jars and cubby
• Build butcher block table
• Install new cooktop
• Hang pot-rack
• Install new hood
• Tile behind cooktop
• Hang art
• Paint underside of cupboards 
• Add shelf above cooktop
• Add knobs to cupboards

Finished Basement:

• Replace carpet in basement
• Remove carpet from stairs and re-trim
• Paint basement / choose color
• Complete ductwork that connects to living room vent

Laundry Room / Unfinished Basement: 

• Clean existing shelves
• Build laundry organization
• Create shelves for Rob's tools / work bench

Upstairs / Bedroom:

• Strip the carpet from the stairs
• Refinish stairs with a pallet wood look
• Hang curtains
• Organize closet
• Replace carpet upstairs
• Hang art
• paint ceiling
• paint walls
• new bedding
• create a bed platform

Thanks for keeping up with us!

Until next time,
Lindsey