Choosing a Yellow Front Door

If you can have a "thing" for front doors, then consider me head over heels for quite a few.  I've always been a fan of putting some color on your door to create an inviting entryway and my own house is no exception.  As a matter of fact, painting the door was at the top of my to do list when we moved in.  #itsallaboutpriorities

After turning to friends, family, and pinterest for ideas and eventually taking the The Front Door Test, I chose yellow.  According to the test, having a yellow door means:

You Are Happily Helpful

You are social, giving, and very community oriented.
You like to feel like you're making a difference in the world.Friendly and optimistic, you are a very welcoming person.You like to bring people together. You are the perfect host. 

Not too shabby, right?  Hopefully our guests will find it to be true.   This door "personality" (if you can call it that) pretty much sealed the deal for me- all that was left was to pick the perfect shade.  Similar to judging a book by its cover and a wine by its label I absolutely pick paints by their name.  Of course I go off the color initially, but if it doesn't have a good name forget.about.it.  It can't/won't be considered.  So, what'd I pick?
Drum roll please...
...
... Behr's "Yellow Brick Road"

For a little extra personality, I added the "hello" decal from Hello Vinyl on Etsy.  It turned out cheerful and inviting which is exactly what I hoped for.  

Would you say its an improvement?  I think so.  Have you painted your front door?  I'm curious to see what other fun color choices people are making.

real progress- now we're talking

When we first moved into our house almost a year ago I had a list of "immediate" things to do- some necessary, but most just preferred.  As you may have already guessed, after the initial excitement wore off so did my zeal.  Needless to say, I came across the original list and realized we have in fact made some progress.

Here is the list and notes from September, with new notes since that update:

1. the mailbox The mailbox and post have been completely replaced, I just need to add house numbers. Numbers have been added, courtesy of our neighbors with the same mailbox.  Imagine that. 

2. the kitchen (long story and I'm sure you'll disagree) This is going to stay on here awhile... turns out the tile is going to be much more difficult to remove than I originally thought and since Jake doesn't want to change the kitchen, it looks like I'm on my own.  Demo starts Monday and, if all goes according to schedule, should be complete by the weekend!

new backsplash with a tiny view of the current tile

3. wall color I painted over the cream walls with a tan/grey color in the hallways and dining room and went a shade darker in the living room (same color from my living room in our townhouse). Still painted.

4. living room This isn't done, but progress has been made.  We replaced a bookshelf I bought my junior year of college (it was under $20 and originally intended for a bathroom) with a tall white cabinet I received as a birthday present and I'm a fan.  I also steam cleaned our couches (although you can barely tell), we added linen curtains, and slowly started hanging artwork.  No news on this front.

5. gallery wall Totally done and I'm really proud of how it turned out.  It may have been completed late the night before our housewarming, but at least it was done (and done well) before the masses arrived.  We've started on the opposite wall.

6. hallway bathroom I'm almost there... I bought a new shower curtain, rug, and hand towels to start and painted the walls Turquoise Mist last night.  All I have left is cabinet hardware and hanging something on the wall(s).  Purchased hardware but didn't love it, so I'm back to square one.
7. front door I have always wanted a yellow front door and that's exactly what I got.  Jake painted ours for me the first weekend we moved in while I was out and it made my day!  I since added a "hello" decal, which I love!

8. porch lights Not even close to deciding. I'm now wondering why I thought this was an immediate need.

9. paint the window shutters All I have to do is paint them black from brown, but it hasn't fell high on the list of priorities.  Done.

10. Find art to fit new our walls and hang what we already own sort of started.  I'm not sure what art wasn't hung at this point so I'm considering this done, although we do have some bare walls still.


11. Master bedroom, including getting a king size bed and a ceiling fan I'm not sure if the desire for a bigger bed is actually new (it's been a reoccurring topic) but the focus on decorating the master bedroom in any way definitely is!  Upgraded to a king size bed in November and had a ceiling fan installed in June- thank goodness.  Now we just need a headboard. #itneverends

king bed with summer bedding

12. Window treatments throughout the house We put 2" faux wood blinds in the front window and linen curtains in our bedroom.

new blinds make a big difference

13. Area rug for living room I still want to do this, but am being picky.  The best part will be when I end up just getting a solid, neutral option and then we'll wonder what took me so long.

14. Dining room table Bought one during a Memorial Day sale and it delivered at the end of June!

Legacy Classic Glen Cove dining room table

15. Buffet/sideboard for dining room I'd love to refinish an older piece but haven't found what I'm looking for yet.  I haven't given up on this- I just haven't come across the right piece for the right price yet.

So what do you think?  Do you like the progress?

Armoire Do-over

Feeling encouraged after my lil yellow table turned out ok, I thought it wouldn't be too too scary to tackle a larger piece.  That said, I had a rule about buying furniture while we were still renting- and that was not to do it.  I'd just hate to invest and fall in love with a piece of furniture that wouldn't fit in our next space.  Don't you agree?

Well, low and behold the minute we put an offer on our house I started to nest.  I found this piece on craigslist for $100 cash and convinced Jake we "needed" it for the new house.  With our closing date a month away and no real place to store it, my parents kindly enough offered up a corner in their garage... a spot I found myself in several nights after work until it was move-in ready.

This is how he (I personify inanimate objects a lot) looked the day I got him:

The first step was to remove what hardware I could- there was no getting the door of, but the handles all came off easy enough.  After giving him a good sanding, I taped the door trim to protect the glass and started priming.  This guy definitely took two coats of basic primer, but it was important to get it right since I planned to paint the shelves white.

Next came the color!  Something you should know about me is that I don't typically pay full price for a gallon of paint.  I'm that person frequenting Lowe's and Home Depot's reject section snagging anything in the blue green family or completely neutral for $5 or less a can.  So far it's worked for me.  But in an effort to be honest, I didn't have anything other than primer when it came to white, so I did buy a quart of a grey/white color.  There, now everything is out in the open. 

Making progress...

Once I was done painting, it was time to add the finishing touches.  The below coral handles I'd purchased in white and planned to replace the original drawer handles with didn't quite work out. The knob on the door is connected to the cabinet's locking mechanism making it difficult to remove and the combination of it with the new handles just wasn't working for me.  Oddly enough I'm happy with the original pulls... it keeps a bit of the character for sure, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

Here he is in his new "home".

Well, what do you think?

Did I lose you?

It's been over 4 months since my last post and I've got nothing to really explain it other than life... which also is happening for everyone else, including the most popular bloggers.

Truth be told, I've considered starting a new blog or just redesigning this one and changing the name (esp since I don't have a matching url) and while that debate has been going on in my mind I've avoided putting any time or effort into it as it currently stands.  Big mistake.  I mean that certainly isn't the way to build suspense for a new look or name... and it's not helping my cause with gaining or keeping followers either.  Basically, I did not choose wisely and I'm sorry.

So, what's been going on since March?  A lot actually!

1. Jake and I traveled to Cancun on a trip for my work and it was amazeballs (yes, all one word).  It was really nice because even though we've taken trips together we don't splurge the way you can when the majority of your costs are being covered.  That nicety allowed us to spend our own money on excursions, which were so much fun, and other little things we wanted to do... like be total tourists and purchase photos from said excursions.

couples swim with dolphins

networking reception

view from the balcony

2. I traveled... a lot.  In addition to Cancun, I visited Savannah for my Mom's 50th birthday; Salt Lake City for SNAP! a blogger conference (as a sponsor, not a blogger); San Diego for our largest event of the year; and Atlanta immediately after for the Homes.com & ForRent.com Crafting for Charity event.  It sounds like a lot and it felt like a lot up until I hit my bed after the very last trip was over (and even a bit after that).  Don't believe me?  Take a look for yourself!

park in Savannah

fun closing party at SNAP!

putting the finishing touches on the booth 

trip to the San Diego zoo after a long week

After photo from the Crafting for Charity event in Atlanta

3. My inner DIY-er was uncovered.  I've always enjoyed artsy projects but working on the dining room redesign for The Nicholas House during the Crafting for Charity event really exposed the joy of it.  It doesn't hurt that Beth Hunter from HomeStoriesAtoZ asked if I was a DIY-er because she thought I was a natural... but seriously, she told me in Atlanta and made the same comment on her Crafting for Charity post.  Needless to say, I finally came home and started looking at every room like a potential project.  What's on my list? Replacing the kitchen tiles to start, adding hardware to our guest bathroom, freshening up the master bath, and renovating the laundry room.  I'm sure theres more but that's what first comes to mind.

I know that's only a list of three update, but it will have to do for now. #babysteps

Oh, well I guess #4 could be that I started regularly inserting hashtag into both verbal and written communication. #bettergetusedtoit