"Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity"


~Plato

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Fall Home Tour Part 2


Welcome Back
to Part 2
of my Fall Home Tour!

Let's get right to it
shall we....



These two pictures are from the master bath...




The children's bathroom....
this cabinet is one of my
favorite pieces in the house.
Looks like the maid 
needs to replenish the towels...



The young man's room...
I was only allowed to put up
a few pumpkins...
we can't get in the way of 
the Lego's or Superheros!



The little lady's room...

She likes her little pumpkins and owl
next to the gumball machine!







And here is the master bedroom...
We finally have a new bed!
No more "girly" swirly white bed
Sweet Husband wasn't a fan of it!


We found this one on Craigslist
and painted it black!
I did have a moment where
I wanted to paint it white...
but I'm glad we went with black. 



Tomorrow we will head 
outside to the back porch 
and maybe (if the rain holds off)
the greenhouse!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Fall Home Tour Part 1


Happy First Day 
Of Fall!


While it's most definitely not fall
weather here....it has not
stopped me from decorating
for the season!

We've changed a few things lately 
around the house.....
added a bit more color...
a new front door...
and a few new furniture pieces...
  so keep your eyes open!

Here we go...


Found a few pumpkins around town 
and placed them next to this sooo cute
sign I painted thanks to the tutorial
over at Ella Claire...so easy and oh so cute!


The front porch ready for pre-fall...
I was joking with my girlfriend the
other night that there are 3 decorating
seasons between now and November...

Pre-Fall
Halloween
Full Fledged-Fall

Full Fledged-Fall 
I will bring out more pumpkins
and hopefully corn stalks!
And MMMOORRREE pumpkins!
 



 Simon the cow looking
over a few velvet pumpkins
and an olive basket who is
patiently waiting on mums...
darn these South Florida produce markets!
Guess it's just too hot here!
 


The front entry way...
Sweet Husband installed some
ship lap inspired boards to our
knee wall a month or so back....
it definitely added a much
needed upgrade to the typical 
builder knee wall.


And here she is...my beautiful new door!!!!
My Dad & Mom were able
to acquire a bit of reclaimed
Pecky Cypress boards and they
were kind enough to share with us!

So Sweet Husband had been dying
....okay not really he was more or less
...bribed...bullied...& threatened by me
 to make a new door out of the boards!

And I think he has found a new profession!



My current obsession...antique turtle shells
 


Love this old rug I found last weekend 
Although Sweet Husband wasn't to sure about it...
he referred to it as tattered...and when we 
happened back by the dealer after purchasing it
she told us someone had come back by to buy it after
we had....and so he asked her who it was so he
could go and resale it to them...
that man sometimes!
 

Other side of the knee wall...and my
other obsession...
Audubon prints!



  



The new cabinets Sweet Husband
built out of old windows

Well that's it for Part 1....
Stop back by tomorrow for 
the rest of the tour!
 


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

An all white kitchen! FINALLY!!!

Welcome Back!

I've been MIA for a
long time apparently! 
Gosh....it says I haven't
blogged since SEPTEMBER!

YIKES!!!!

What can I say we've been as
busy as a one armed clothes hanger!

Guess what....
we FINALLY tackled the kitchen!

I'm going to share all of it with you
the good, the bad and the 
close to calling a divorce attorney bad!

But hey....in the end it all got done...
We are all satisfied...
 and the marriage is
still happily intact!

This is a before picture of the kitchen!

 And here is the after!

I was aiming for a mix between the kitchens
from It's Complicated, Downton Abbey
and Practical Magic....
I think I hit closer to Practical Magic...
what do you think?


 So let me start by saying this....
kitchen redo's are not for the faint of heart!

Sweet husband and I have tackled our
fair share of projects in the past
but I have to say this one darn near
did us in!

Of course he would start by telling
you that MY first mistake was
trying to pack a 2 month or more
project into 1 week (yes 7 days!)
over the kids spring break..


 But in my defense who wants to pack
school lunches and make dinners in
a messy kitchen? I thought...we can
do this...one week...TOPS!

UUUUMMMM.....yeah....NO

Granted it was back in tack by 7 days 
with the majority done...but it was no
where close to done! 

And after 7 days...we were both exhausted
and barely speaking...not sure if it was all the
work, the paint fumes or the countless 
decisions that had to be made...but it was rough!

 However, I did learn a few things 
about myself, my family and kitchen redo's...
I'm going to share them with you and then I promise
to get to the good stuff!

1.

  I HATE painting kitchen cabinets! Matter
of fact...you will never catch me doing that again!
I will save up every penny I own and buy white
cabinets before I EVER do that again!

2.
Just because you're husband is a General Contractor
and can make/do/fix just about anything.....
this does not and I repeat NOT mean he
is the right GC for you! 
Because believe you me....it makes for an 
uncomfortable family dinner time when 
you have just fired him off the job that morning!

3.
My daughter will jump a sinking ship faster than a rat!
Day 3 she had called her Nana to come get her
and save her from the chaos!

4.
My son is oblivious to anything as long as you
keep feeding him...
breakfast...snack...lunch...snack....dinner..snack

5.
If you think it's going to take an hour/week/month
and it's going to cost $/$$/$$$
 well just go ahead and double everything...
you're better off that way!

6.
And finally I always thought I was
pretty confident in my decorating 
decisions and most of the time 
pretty good at it....
this taught me I know nothing 
and it's a good thing to have 
friends who are design savvy
who can help you when you
are almost in tears in the middle
of the grout selection at the Depot!

 Now...on to the good stuff!




Much to sweet husband's dismay I decided
if I was going to paint cabinets then I was
going to use the GOOD STUFF!

Annie Sloan Chalk paint...here I come!

I ordered from a wonderful store...
seriously they were super nice and super quick
with both shipments of paint!
(remember...double everything...HA!
 I didn't buy enough first go around)

Upon researching the colors
on other blogs and websites 
 I found that Annie Sloan's
Pure White would be too white
and Old White would be too yellow.

But a 1 to 1 ratio of both would be perfect!
And it was! 
It took about 3 good coats..but we got there.

I then finished with a coat of 
Varathane water based
satin floor sealer from Lowe's
 

Sweet husband did a fabulous job 
building a faux range hood.  
I found the corbels at a thrift store
awhile back so we added them 
into the design and then painted
everything to match.

He also added trim to all the cabinets
and finished out the under side of the cabinets
so everything would look custom and complete.


Luck was on my side when I found this
deep white Kohler porcelain sink on Craigslist...
for only $20!
I really think it added so much 
to the style of the kitchen

One of my splurges before we even
started this project was buying
Bessie the cow!
I've wanted her for so long...but she 
needed the perfect spot....hence
the reason we built the hood!

Her name is now Daisy and we love her!
You can buy your own Bessie at
I think they are on back order right now...
but hopefully will be back in stock soon!
 We used classic white mini subway tile from
The Home Depot as well as the grout
 the color we chose was Bone


The flooring was also from the Depot and is
a really cool product. It is water resistant and can
even be used in basements. 
We installed it right over the
existing floor. 
It even stands up to commercial use!
Perfect for a rental home such as this!

For those of you who don't know or don't remember....
we only rent here! So everything we did had
to be in a classic design and be able to hold
up for many, many years! Plus, since we were 
doing everything ourselves cost also played a 
big part!

Because, lets be honest if it were my house
you can bet I would have been looking at
great big beautiful white marble slabs and
new stainless steel appliances!

But all that aside I think it turned out wonderful!
And not to be tacky and talk money here....
but....just so you have an idea...
everything from the 
hardware, paint, counter top, tile, wood, sink, & flooring...
we spent under $800.

Even though I realize I have a free General Contractor...
 I think anyone can do what we did.
And while the upfront money was hard to stomach..
that's honestly only 8 REALLY good dinners out!
At least that's what I keep telling myself!



Hardware is from The Home Depot
as is the counter overlay we used.


 I hope you like our "new" kitchen!

Check back soon and I will show you
how we transformed the glass house into
a different room also!

What can I say...we were really inspired by
the house in the movie
Practical Magic...
hint hint!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Barn Door

Who else besides me has fallen 
in love with all of the
sliding barn doors you've
been seeing in homes?

We have been looking for
a way to "dress" up a 
door way in our house...
it is the entrance to the
children's room and bathroom.

So I showed sweet husband
a few of the pictures I liked...
begged him to go on a 
pallet hunting run...
and here is what he created...




Let me show you how
he did it...

He dismantled two pallets
and laid out the 
frame of a door 
(customized to fit our space) 


Then he made two cross pieces
for the look and support


After that we discussed what type
of pattern we would like..
then he cut the pallet boards 
to fit the frame.
 


If you look closely you can
see the molding he used 
to attach the boards to...
and to keep them straight
because pallet boards
have a mind of their own
 

After hours and I do mean
HOURS...of sanding...
we stained the door.
 

 Now I wish I could be more helpful here...
but this is what I can tell you about the
instillation...
 he went to his shop and created something...
 yep that's the best I can do for ya.

I know he took aluminum and created
brackets and a track.....
and then he attached rollers 
that came off an old glass sliding door...

I am so not kidding...
he is like MacGyver when he
rigs things...


We both love how it turned out...
even though he is threatening to
remove Pinterest from my computer

 
Now I just need to find the
right door pull for it...
good thing there is
an antique show this weekend!


We've also been very busy working
on fixing up the back porch...
here's a sneak peek! 


Thanks for stopping by to 
see our new "old" barn door...

P.S
To anonymous who left me a comment....
I don't know how to send you a reply so hopefully
you will see this...

You asked how sweet husband built the glass house....
specifically how he managed to attach all the windows together.

I will try and find out specifics for you...
but I can tell you that he built a
box like frame out of sturdy metal post...
If you would like to email me
I can have him give you more specific information!
Thanks!
Amy


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