Lighting

It's been awhile (a long while) and no promises but I decided I needed to start recording these updates on a regular basis again. We'll see how that actually goes...

I've done a few updates to the lighting since I last posted including getting a new fixture for the front entry and moving that fixture to the back entry which made a huge difference.


That being said there is still a long ways to go. I despise boob lights. Could there really not have been a better choice then these jokers?

Capital Lighting

They are builder grade and due to us having a very limited budget while building these lovelies were scattered throughout our house. Now that we are becoming a little more settled (still a LONG way from being comfortable though) I'm starting to become ready to switch them out for more up-to-date fixtures with a bit more character. Although this house started as a 5-7 year house for us, we're already at 4 years and have no plans to even being moving anytime soon....although I did recently list us on Zillow at a make-me-move price about $75,000 over the last estimate of our house. That's why it's classified as "Make Me Move" right?

Here are some updates I'd like to get to eventually. I keep lots of records on my Pinterest boards now but that doesn't record where we've been & the path along the way :).

KITCHEN:
1. It's so dang dark in here, I want to put in some under cabinet lighting operated on a switch.

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2. Again, speaking of the darkness, I'd like to add a semi-flush mount fixture in the center of the room. I loved this one but apparently Ballard doesn't carry it anymore.

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3. I really like the look of little pendants hanging down over the sink. I don't know if this would end up being too busy & I don't know about having to have pretty bulbs but I like this one.

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LAUNDRY ROOM:

This just has your standard boob light which does a good enough job of lighting up the room but I'd like a little more character. Something along these lines but less expensive & smaller.

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STAIRS:

The lights we currently have are good enough but not really my style. I'd like something low-profile but with style, like this, but that emits a bit more than just a "warm glow."

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TIM'S CLOSET:

Poor guy has a straight-up florescent fixture, ugly as can be & awful colored lighting no matter the bulb. I'd like to get him something that gives better light for him & isn't ugly (for me).

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UPSTAIRS BEDROOMS, BONUS ROOM & MASTER BEDROOM:

I know some people don't like ceiling fans but around here the mugginess just sits on you like a wet blanket and without the extra airflow from ceiling fans in the bedroom it just gets to be a bit stifling. That being said, I'd like to have ceiling fans that are attractive and add to the room rather than detract. The upstairs rooms & bonus room currently only have lights in them & we have an ugly ceiling fan with a light kit so I'd like to replace all four with something like this, but not $400 each, yikes!

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FAMILY ROOM:

We currently have 4 can lights & a fan in the den but although the plan was originally to add a light kit to the fan I think I'd rather just replace it. If I couldn't convince Tim to get rid of the fan altogether I'd likely just get the same as what is in the bedrooms but I think some negotiating with putting the fan in the bonus room just might let me get away with getting rid of that one. In that case I think I want a rustic looking chandelier which I haven't seen any of that really interest me just yet.

HALLWAY:

Our upstairs hallway just has can lighting (smart!) but our downstairs hallway still has a boob light. I think that I'd like to replace it with the flush-mount that matches all of our other pieces.

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HALF BATH & OFFICE:

I can't remember if the half-bath has a vanity light fixture or if it has a ceiling mount. I could swear to you that it is a ceiling mount though. I have some big plans for this room (at least for now) which a large light would compete with too much so I think I want something pretty, but low-profile.

The office has the most basic flush-mount imaginable right now with no character at all but I'd like to replace it with this very simple flush-mount that does not look like a boob. (side-note: I'd also consider this for the Laundry Room & for the Hallway).

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MASTER BATH & GUEST BATH:

This is our current fixture in our master bathroom & I'm pretty sure its the same but with a different number of lights for the guest bathroom:

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Nothing really bad about it, but nothing particularly interesting either. I also want to frame in our mirror & put a built-in cabinet between our sinks for more storage so we will need two separate fixtures for that to work. 

For our master bath, I'd like something a little quirky & am willing to spend a bit more since I will be using it/seeing it multiple times each day. Something like this could be fun.

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For the guest bathroom I think I'd end up waiting to see if our first child ends up being a little girl or a little boy because I love both of these (although they'd both be too small).

Little Girl:

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Little Boy (in antique brass):

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Ultimately I think we can all learn a lesson from this...boob lights are not a necessity and even builder basic could transition into something much more attractive such as this. :)

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Updates (Downstairs) - pictures & details to follow!

Front Entry
- Got a rug (HomeDecorators.com)
- Got a new light (Ballard Designs)
- Got a table (Craigslist - $35)
- Got some art (by friends)
- Made some curtains (I did it)

Dining Room
- Got rid of the table & chairs (sold on Craigslist)
- Got a hutch/china cabinet (Ballard Designs)

Hallway
- Got rugs (West Elm)
- Got art (frame gallery fm Target, others custom framed)

Office
- Painted (mixed a few random colors together)
- Built desk & shelf (I did it)
- Built in corkboard (I did it)

Back Entry
- Replaced light (from front entry)
- Got a vase... (that empty area was killing me - Neiman Marcus)

Family Room
- Got a TV (& surround sound - thanks lightning storm - Jeff Lynch)
- Got some art (custom framed & donated by Grandma)
- Got tables (Rug & Home)
- Got couches (Hand me downs, sold the others on Craigslist)
- Got lamp (local antique store)
- Got pillows (Pottery Barn)

Kitchen
- Curtains (shower curtain from Pottery Barn, spray painted rod from West Elm)
- Art (spray painted EAT from Hobby Lobby, frames from Pottery Barn)
- Under cabinet storage (Lowe's)
- iPad mount (gift from brother & sister-in-law)
- Barstools (hand-me-downs)
- Rug (Pottery Barn)
- Trash Can (Bed, Bath & Beyond)
- Added spice rack to lower cabinet (Lowe's)

Pantry
- New shelving configuration (I did it)

Master Bedroom
- Quilt (Pottery Barn)
- New Dog Bed (I did it)
- New buffet (Local antique store refinished by me)
- Bedskirt (Pottery Barn)
- Art (by me)
- New TV (Best Buy Black Friday purchase)
- Bedside lamps (Pottery Barn)

Master Bathroom
- New rugs (Pottery Barn)
- New towels (Belk)
- Updated gallery wall (by me)
- Reconfigured Tim's Closet (by me)
- Reconfigured My Closet (by me)
- New toilet plunger (ooh fancy... - Lowe's)

Half (Guest) Bath
- Storage Cabinet (Pottery Barn)

Laundry Room
- Air Register (Lowe's)
- Art (Ballard Designs)
- Drying Rack (Ballard Designs)
- Rug (Ballard Designs)

No Excuses

There've been quite a few changes in my life recently not limited to a new job, raising almost $15,000 for cancer research, dealing with multiple different courses of treatment for Tim (and about to start a new one), trying to keep a house together, trying to keep my sanity & trying to keep up a social life, but honestly I just got bored of blogging for awhile (pbly bc I've been keeping up with Tim's blog so much). Still probably won't be back full time but thought I'd catch everyone up on what I've been up to lately!

So here are a few posts you can look forward to reading sometime (hopefully soon):

A new dog bed - constructed by me (& my dad)
My latest obsession - Accupuncture!
Dehydrating Food - aka what not to do
Refinishing a buffet - still can't believe I did it
Some things I'm dreaming about right now
Hanging a flatscreen/hiding the cables
New kitchen rug, trash can (& soon curtains)
New hallway runner(s) & art
New bedroom art
Restructuring the bathroom gallery wall
Curtains for the front door
New art for the den & new (to us) couches
San Francisco Trip
Refresh of the pantry
Little landscaping refresh
Garage Clean-out/Basement Organization

And here are some (hopefully) upcoming projects that will be happening at the hizzay sooner than later:

Cabinets in the laundry room
Replace transom in the laundry room (seriously dad...lets finish this one! :))
Staining/sealing the back deck (yep 2 1/2 years later we still haven't done this)
More landscaping...
Master Bedroom curtains
Hallway Art Project
Master Bedroom Art Project(s)
Front/Back Hall Light Replacements (might as well do it at the same time)
Front Hall Rug

....told you I've been busy.

Laundry Room Update

It has been a LONG weekend thanks to our "buddies" over at Sears. First things first, in case you are just starting out with us, here is where our laundry room started and here is where we were last time with the planning.

We got the floors placed last week and painted & installed the quarter round. Also repainted the entire room & all of the trim because apparently painting over 2 year old paint is kind of obvious...basically the room looked fantastic, just needed the washer & dryer in place to get started on our next steps.

Then the fun began...Sears came about 4:30 on Friday and delivered our new washer & dryer. They looked fantastic!

Unfortunately they didn't tighten up the intake hose as much as they should've & as we pulled out our first load of laundry we heard the unmistakable sound of dripping water. I climbed over the tops & saw a giant puddle of water on our brand new floors just sitting there. We immediately called the Sears store we purchased them from who sent us to the customer service number. Long story short it was 3 the next afternoon before anyone actually showed up to fix it. I've never experienced such terrible customer service in my life. Each entity was trying to push off the responsibility to the other so now we will get to deal with their insurance adjusters & so on. Let me tell you just how excited I am about this...oh & on top of everything else, they got scuff marks & dings all over my freshly painted walls & trim after climbing all over the new washer & dryer to try to tighten the hoses. They also dinged up the top of the washer & dryer with all of the gymnastics...ugh.

 Water on the floor

 Water dripping down the washer

Look at the hose on the top right compared to the one on the bottom right, 

you can still see the threads on the Y joint.

Anyways, all is fixed (for now) and our next step will be installing crown molding this week as well as trying to see if we can trim down the old transition piece to reattach. I'm hoping to have the entire room completed by January, we'll see how it goes once we determine just how much is damaged! We really are counting our blessings that we discovered it that night rather than days or weeks later.

Check out my list below to see how far we've gotten, I will be so excited to get one room in this house completed after 2 years!

1. Order new floors
2. Get underlayment for floors
3. Remove shoe molding
4. Install new floors
5. Get a pipe collar to cover where the new flooring meets the dryer vent. - canceled this, they don't make them...oh well!
6. Install pipe collar - see above
7. Get quarter round
8. Paint quarter round
9. Install quarter-round
10. Touch up baseboards & quarter round  - I actually ended up painting all of the trim
11. Remove existing shelf
12. Touch up walls - We unexpectedly ended up painting all of the walls too, oops
13. Touch up trim around doors (see here for the issue with it) 
14. Trim transition piece
15. Replace transition piece
16. Get washer/dryer delivered
17. Order rug
18. Order new air register (ours was stark white & I found one in aged brass online for only $6)
19. Place in new air register
20. Get hooks for ironing board
21. Install ironing board hooks
22. Buy crown molding
23. Paint crown molding
24. Install crown molding
25. Buy cabinet materials
26. Buy new dog bowls (the ones she has now are a little gaudy for my taste)
27. Build cabinets
28. Paint cabinets & cabinet trim
29. Install cabinets
30. Install cabinet trim
31. Install cabinet knobs
32. Buy hanging bar
33. Install hanging bar
34. Replace light bulbs to be the swirly efficient kind (see why the peeps at Lowe's love me?)

Why of Cork!

I know, its a lame title but I couldn't resist, the dork in me had to come out. As I discussed in my master plan, we purchased Cork Flooring from Lumber Liquidators to put down in our laundry room. My first post about our laundry room had a glimpse of what the previous linoleum looked like but I'll give you a better idea in just a few. This project was actually pretty simple (thanks to all of the help from my dad) and its made the room look really incredible!

So here is our former flooring in all of its glory. It wasn't that it was bad or looked terrible, we just wanted a higher quality floor for resale value.

Luckily we were able to leave it & just start adding everything else to the top since we picked out a floating floor (yet another reason we chose cork over tile). First we pulled all of the flooring out of the boxes & laid it around the den to "acclimate to our environment" for about 48 hours.

Next we laid down a moisture barrier, I'm still not sure that we really needed it but figured it was better to be safe than sorry!

We actually determined later that we started on the wrong end of the room but we made it work anyways. Lets just say that our lives would've been much easier had we been able to slide a full piece under the door jam rather than piecing it together. :)

We really only had 2 obstacles to our rectangle, the air vent & the dryer vent on opposite corners of the room. First up was the air vent, my dad used a combo of a drill & a jigsaw to make that cut. It was really close to the edge of the board so we accidentally broke one before getting the hang of everything. After getting it cut out it was a matter of quick measurements & cuts and banging the boards together until we got to the dryer vent in the other corner of the room. Then it was a guesstimation of a cut & trial & error until it fit. We thought we could just buy a PVC collar to cover it but apparently they don't make those. Oh well, it will be hidden anyways!

Our 32 square foot room took about two hours to do from start to finish. Here it is in all of its glory (without the quarter round to cover the edges).

Finally it was just a matter of trimming off the edges of the underlayment & placing the quarter-round back in, sealing up the edges & touching up the paint on the baseboards (Sherwin Williams Dover White in glossy) & the walls (Sherwin Williams Dapper Tan in flat - btw its not that funky yellow color you see below, the more accurate color is in the photos above)!

Laundry Room Re-do

Ok, so I've been pretty slack around here lately. Lots to catch up on but for now it's really just a teaser. Here is a link to my original post about our laundry room.  Well, we're FINALLY getting around to fixing it up. The in-laws are generously gifting us with a new front-load washer & dryer & the pedestals as our Christmas gift this year. They got an AMAZING deal on a fully-loaded Samsung washer & dryer set (not sure if that is the exact one but they look really similar) from our local Sears Outlet on Black Friday & they will deliver tomorrow.

Well since those giants are huge & extremely heavy so we knew that if we were ever wanting to re-do the floors that now was the time. I first read about cork floors over at Young House Love through their kitchen remodel & became interested. We first looked into slate but with the laundry room being right next to our bedroom I wanted something that would be a little quieter...not to mention warmer on the feet. We found the last 3 boxes of our style & color (pictures coming soon) at Lumber Liquidators for about $3 a square foot & started the install Tuesday night. I have to say that it was pretty easy & actually went really quickly once we got the prep work out of the way & got the hang of it all.

All of that will come to you soon enough but for now I wanted to share my plans with you for our future laundry room space as well as my checklist to both keep me in line & you in the know!

Here is a view from the ceiling. Feeling a little cramped? The room is just 4.5' x 6.5' so we need to use every imaginable space available to us. You can see the washer & dryer peeking out just a big under the blue cabinets (still haven't committed to that color but its my initial idea) & there are some other cabinets on the other side we'll get into in a minute. That thing on the back of the door would be the ironing board that I'm going to get some brackets to install & hang it there.

The green square on the floor is the Le Poeme rug from Ballard in Sage that is only $50 for a 2'x3' rug...sold!

The gold on the left wall is actually these safety pin plaques from Ballard as well that my sister & her husband bought us as part of a wedding gift. I have a big crush on them.

Here is a better view of the room as you walk in the door. We will be keeping the same wall color, just touching it up a bit.

Now turning to the right you'll find the washer & dryer with cabinets. Not really sure what the extra strip of white is at the top, it was just supposed to be crown molding.

 

Cabinets on the sides will have doors (see reference idea below) & yes we have an old birdseed bucket that is used for a multitude of things but came with the ubiquitous name of "puke bucket" thanks to what it was called in my childhood. Mom & Dad kept it classy folks. The silver bar will be for keeping extra hangers around & most likely will inevitably be used to dry my bras...the class is embedded in the DNA. I haven't done a lot of measuring so my idea of how this will all pan out may not be accurate but this is the rough idea. I'm loving these knobs from Anthro but will pbly see what Hobby Lobby has before diving in.

Next up, the left side of the room.

Hidden behind the door will be a rack for our OXO Floor Sweeper & my newest friend in the cleaning game, my Shark Steam Mop. On the right side will be a much thinner cabinet.

I'd like to put a tilt-out drying rack up top to dry larger pieces of clothing so they aren't scattered throughout our downstairs, similar to this old piece from Ballard.

Below that I'd like a shelf for perhaps some carpet cleaner, stain remover, etc & a taller shelf for the things you need but don't really want to see like the plunger & toilet brush. Finally below that I'd like a built-in area for our dog's bowls since that is typically where we keep them but it would be nice to have them look a little more professional.

I think that's about it! So here is our ever-growing to-do list. I still have to run everything past the husband & the master builder (my dad).

1. Order new floors
2. Get underlayment for floors
3. Remove shoe molding
4. Install new floors
5. Get a pipe collar to cover where the new flooring meets the dryer vent. - canceled this, they don't make them...oh well!
6. Install pipe collar - see above
7. Get quarter round
8. Paint quarter round
9. Install quarter-round
10. Touch up baseboards & quarter round
11. Remove existing shelf
12. Touch up walls
13. Touch up trim around doors (see here for the issue with it) 
14. Trim transition piece
15. Replace transition piece
16. Get washer/dryer delivered
17. Order rug
18. Order new air register (ours was stark white & I found one in aged brass online for only $6)
19. Place in new air register
20. Get hooks for ironing board
21. Install ironing board hooks
22. Buy crown molding
23. Paint crown molding
24. Install crown molding
25. Buy cabinet materials
26. Buy new dog bowls (the ones she has now are a little gaudy for my taste)
27. Build cabinets
28. Paint cabinets & cabinet trim
29. Install cabinets
30. Install cabinet trim
31. Install cabinet knobs
32. Buy hanging bar
33. Install hanging bar
34. Replace light bulbs to be the swirly efficient kind (see why the peeps at Lowe's love me?)

We've still got a LONG ways to go with this project but I'm really excited to see progress & will share how far we get after the weekend!

Oh, Yes He Did

In all of the celebration of Tim being cancer-free plus it being his birthday weekend he got, shall we say, a little loopy. His loopiness brought on a bout of instability causing him to run into to wall of the laundry room which provided a domino affect of knocking the ironing board down and breaking off a chunk of the molding on the door casing which I discovered the next day and luckily found the missing piece.

Tim being the not-so-handy-man just chuckled at it and left it to watch ESPN. I've tried coercing, threatening and even pleading but I keep getting the brush-off from him about getting this fix. So I decided to do it myself (he in return will be doing my laundry the next two times).

First I went out and bought some Elmer's wood glue. I don't know if its the best but it was pretty darn cheap and I remember my dad using it growing up so I went with it.

Next I put the piece back into place to see which way it needs to face, luckily it fit in there pretty well still.

Next I put down a towel and put glue on the piece (note to self: next time put the glue in the hole so you don't get it all over your fingers and have your finger stick to the piece).

I put the piece on the wall and held it for about a minute. As I was removing my hand I realized the piece was stuck to it when it came with it so I did the previous 2 steps again...awesome. Finally it was stuck up there.

You can still tell something happened but at least I don't have to worry about losing the piece now. We need to caulk it, sand it and repaint it but for now I'm just glad there isn't a gaping hole.

So Fresh and So Clean, Clean

Our Laundry Room is just what we need. It fits the washer, dryer and some essential cleaning materials although there is probably a way for me to get it a little more organized. I leave the pup's bowls in there so she has plenty of space where she can splash around and make her mess. I actually caught her in the act, check out that guilty face.

Things we have left to do here:


1. Put in tile - Out of all of the rooms, this is the one that will most likely be tiled first, as it only makes sense to do this as we switch out the washer and dryer (more on that later). I'm planning on putting the same tile in throughout the house and with so little area to tile we can actually get some good stuff without paying way too much for it. So the slate is back for this one.

2. Get a new washer and dryer - Our washer and dryer are more leftovers from Tim's college days and although they were new when he got them I don't think being in storage for almost 4 years did them a lot of good unfortunately because they've been giving us a hard time. The washing machine likes to shred things as they get too close to the top and the dryer likes to give them slight little burn marks. Nothing we can't deal with in the short term but I have a feeling they are close to their last legs. Home Depot has some great deals on front loaders with the little storage bins for the bottom that we may have to check out although we do have a Sears Appliance Outlet Center where all of the appliances with the smallest dints & dings go with some huge discounts. They always have some amazing deals so we may have to check that out as well. I've been avoiding doing research on the best ones in the hopes that I can pretend we won't have to do this, doubtful but so far its working!

3. Get a new storage - I'd like some cabinets that I can hide our cleaning supplies and such, plus cabinets also have more shelves to store things. I orginally thought I just wanted cabinets hung a little higher with a small shelf underneath for regularly used items such as the pup's special food, detergent, softner, etc but then I saw this picture and I'm really rethinking those pedestals, maybe getting shorter ones...or building a custom height platform. Hmmm...