House Preparations

I can't believe summer is almost over.  Jake and I were going through our calendar the other day and every weekend in September is already booked- it's insane.

I'm in a wedding at the end of the month and am co-hosting a shower for another friend before her wedding in Key West (fun!).  Somewhere in between then, Jake and I will be headed to Louisville for our friend, Howard's wedding in October.  Craziness.

But back to the shower coming up in a few weeks and everything I have to do to prepare for it.

My friend, Jill is getting married in Key West this November and wedding festivities are in high gear.   We head to Isle of Palms next weekend for her bachelorette and then two weeks after that she'll fly home to VB from Jacksonville for back to back showers with family and friends. Her maid of honor/sister, Madeline as well as another bridesmaid are in the area so we're hosting a bridal shower brunch for around 20 people in her honor... at my house.

I always knew I loved to entertain, but this is only the third formal event I've hosted at our house (the first being our housewarming and the second Thanksgiving) since we moved in.  The minute we confirmed the location would be at my place I started a list of things I wanted to have done before the event.  It sounds ridiculous, but things like adding hardware to the kitchen cabinets, etc. all of a sudden have a sense of urgency when you're about to open your home to a large group of people.

My To Do List:
1. Replace kitchen tiles (we already had the tile, we just needed to old stuff ripped out and the new stuff put up)
2. Add hardware to the kitchen cabinets (nothing there to start with)
3. Area rug for the dining room from RugsUsa.com

4. New stainless steel trashcan for the kitchen

5. Bench for the front porch and new house numbers
6. Professional weed treatment for the yard, bushes trimmed, lawn edged
7. Find and renovate a buffet/sideboard for the dining room (something like the below)

9. Steam clean the ottoman and wash the couch cushions
10. Replace the outdoor light fixtures

Since making my list, the kitchen tiles have been replaced (more on that soon!) and hardware has been added to almost all of the cabinets and some of the drawers.  I've also come close to making moves with a few other things (ahem, the buffet) but it may come down to the wire.  #itusuallydoes

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?

Discover Your Decorating Personality

I recently came across the HomeGoods Stylescope while catching up on my girlfriend's blog and couldn't help myself.  Initially I wasn't sure what five images to select, but then I stopped overanalyzing and went with what photos spoke to me per their request.

Looks like I'm Set Sail with a touch of Farmhouse Glam.  Are you surprised?

I had mixed feelings about my design personality at first, so I took the test a few more times, opting for some of the runner-up images I'd debated before.  Wouldn't you know that Set Sail was part of my results every.single.time.  I guess I'm more predictable than I'd like to think.

There's nothing wrong with my design personality, and I'd even like to think I fit their description nicely, but it seemed like the other styles were so much more unique.  Urban Funk, Sassy, Farmhouse Glam- they all sound awesome, and then there is Set Sail...which doesn't leave much room for the imagination.

Oh well, all in all the test was right on for me and my style tendencies.  They did state that they tend to think you are where you live and I can't imagine living anywhere other than the beach, in my house, with my comfy down striped couch, typing on my laptop by light of my coral lamp.

I already follow the blog they suggested, but definitely started following their Set Sail Pinterest board.  I had even already pinned a few of the spaces... shocker.

What's your design personality?  Find out and share!

we're making progress

All this time I've been thinking that I'd shared more photos of the house, but it turns out those moments only happened in my mind.  My bad.

Despite the house being 100% move in ready, it's impossible for me to live in a place I haven't gotten to add my personal touch to.  While our house was picture perfect before we moved in, there were still some things I wanted to add/change to make it feel more like ours and show a bit more of my personality and style.  Jake thinks I will find any excuse to spend money and go to Home Goods, but that's simply not true, I genuinely take pride in my living space and just have to personalize it.  If you think about it, there isn't a single place I've lived other than my dorm rooms that I didn't paint a wall and purchase space-specific decor and furniture for... it's my nature.

A few things on my list to be addressed immediately were:

1. the mailbox
2. the kitchen (long story and I'm sure you'll disagree)
3. wall color
4. living room
5. gallery wall
6. hallway bathroom
7. front door
8. porch lights
9. paint the window shutters

Surprisingly, I've made a lot of progress but somehow my list hasn't gotten any shorter; for every item I check off, I add two more projects/spaces.  My list currently looks more like this:

1. the mailbox The mailbox and post have been completely replaced, I just need to add house numbers 

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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!  

8. porch lights Not even close to deciding.

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.

10. NEW find art to fit new our walls and hang what we already own sort of started

11. NEW 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!

12. NEW window treatments throughout the house

13. NEW area rug for living room

14. NEW dining room table

15. NEW buffet/sideboard for dining room I'd love to refinish an older piece but haven't found what I'm looking for yet.

It's coming along (by my standards) slowly but surely!