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.

Midweek Confession

Since I'm on a roll this week, I might as well try to get back into a few good habits.   Midweek Confessions, inspired by our real friend Elizabeth over at E, Myself, and I is always fun to participate in.

No need to waste any time.

1. I've embraced two of the three Pinterest secret boards you're allotted.  I won't share what they are (it's a secret) but I'm sure you can guess one of them.

2. I spent too much money on a quart of "powder paint" for the dresser in our bedroom.  This locally made, organic paint is supposed to compete with Annie Sloan's chalk paint and is cheaper (if you can believe it).  Let's hope its as good as everyone claims.

3. I'm going to be in two weddings this year and I'd sort of forgotten how expensive being a bridesmaid can be.  I love both of the brides, so no worries there, but I'm not sure Jake and I will make it to Napa for our anniversary after all and I'm bummed.

4. Making over our bedroom has become an obsession.  We'd never invested any money into our room until recently when we bought a king size bed, and now it's on.  Since our headboard and footboard no longer fit and my love for our furniture is starting to wane it's set a ball in motion that neither of us can stop.  Hopefully the paint, curtains, new duvet, refinished dresser, and possible upholstered headboard (fingers crossed!) will do the trick.

5. I've made hot chocolate (with more marshmallows than a five year old would request) every day for the past week.

6. I'm finally back on the Weight Watchers train but am not having as much immediate success.  The first week I lost 2 1/2 pounds and gained 0.1 and 0.7 the weeks following.  I'm sure the cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies last week didn't help my cause.  I need to lose 10 pounds by the time we travel to Cancun in March.

7. I have had no desire to do laundry lately.  The result has been me going through the dirty clothes recycling my dress socks. 

8. The most recent movie I watched was Judge Dread, and I liked it.

Master Bedroom Makeover

Before Jake left for Haiti I decided that I was going to use those two weeks while he was gone to be super productive... in a tangible way.  I set the following goals:

• Replace the broken blinds in one window with 2" faux wooden blinds for all three windows in our living room.  I know the math seems off- one set of blinds was broken and three ended up being replaced- but I couldn't bring myself to replace the basic blinds with more basic blinds.  When we moved in I wanted to get plantation style blinds and this was my window of opportunity (pun intended).
• Deep clean the house (including Jake's bathroom).
• Makeover the master bedroom.

And here's what I accomplished:

• I purchased new blinds from Home Depot and recruited my brother-in-law, Will to install them.
• The house was professionally cleaned, but not by me (although I was able to keep it that way for a week until Jake got home).
• I painted our bedroom (Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore) and Will helped me I helped Will hang curtain rods.
• Ordered a new duvet from Kohl's and then one from Pottery Barn, both of which did not end up working out.  Ugh.  I'm currently waiting for this one to arrive to test in person.
• Picked out and ordered linen fabric and blackout lining for custom curtains.  It sounds crazy, but I really love the Pottery Barn blackout linen curtains at 96" but can't afford four panels at $119/panel.  Who can?  I mean seriously.
• Purchased a fan for our bedroom and requested estimates for installing it.  However, based on the  quotes I got and the fact that we don't know anyone personally who can install it, it will just have to wait.  Hopefully we'll find the time (and money) before it gets warmer.

Before and after shot of our living room window.

inital home purchases

I'm sure this list will continue to grow, but I've been slowly but surely acquiring some things we'll need (mixed with some things that I want) for the new house!  It's so exciting to be purchasing things that will go into a permanent space and I'm trying to remember to pace myself.  Below are a few things I've snagged to date.

-Samsung refrigerator (obviously this had to make the top of the list)
-coral reef shower curtain... I haven't decided whether this will go in the hallway or master bath yet, but it will definitely have a home somewhere!

Coral Reef Shower Curtain from West Elm

-simple white curtains for the window in our front room

 Cotton Curtains from Pottery Barn

-antique china cabinet (which I'm in the process of refinishing)

-and paint!!!

Tattered Sail

 Barefoot Beach (in my current living room)

 The Harbor 

kitchen addition

After refinishing my first piece of furniture I enjoyed it so much that it immediately became a hobby.  I'm constantly searching on craigslist for a cheap piece with potential and find myself wishing more and more that we had a garage so I could actually buy and store the deals I come across.  The reality is though that we don't have a garage and the outdoor space we do have (albeit significantly larger than at our last place) isn't really conducive to storing random sized pieces of furniture just sitting in the que for a makeover.  Facing that truth has resulted in a slow progression of this hobby, but forward movement all the same.

The most recent remake is the below antique magazine rack that belonged to Jake's dad.  His mom was happy to provide me a free piece to take another stab at refinishing and seemed please to clear out some space in her house at the same time.  While I am wishing now I'd taken the time to snap a picture before,  I can only say that is was stained a medium brown and had little wear considering its age.  For that reason, sanding wasn't needed and I could go straight into painting!

I know it seems a bit weird to have a magazine rack in the kitchen, but Jake had the idea to put the recipe books in it the way we did, and once those were in place it seemed odd to put in any room other than the kitchen.  The wall that it's currently on is prime real estate in our kitchen and seemed appropriate since it got lost in the only other nook available.

If I could change on thing it would be the height of the table (I said "if"); it isn't unusually short but both here and in the other spot we tried, it didn't seem quite tall enough.  With that much space between the top of the basket (conveniently storing dish towels) and the bottom of the picture it seems to put emphasis on the gap between items, but the picture couldn't go any lower and the basket can't get any taller.  What I can say is thank goodness for the lime green, it helps it to pop against the wall and the colorful recipe books demand attention!

one room done

The kitchen in our new place is the only room I'd say is 100% done, and by done I mean livable and decorated.  All of the other rooms are still lacking in the decor department; they need pictures to be hung and items to find their permanent home... you know, last minute touches.

I'm happy though that the kitchen was the first room to be checked off our list since we spend so much time there and I really do love how it turned out.  Our color choice, "Pitter Patter" was a good compromise since Jake likes everything 3 shades darker than I do.  Judge for yourself.

Before

 

After

Saturday

This was my favorite day from this past weekend...seriously. I woke up early and moved from the bed to the couch to watch some tv, amazing. After some time being lazy, I went for a run. It wasn't anything remarkable, but it felt good to be productive.

Jake got home from cycling soon after me and we decided we wanted to go out and do something. Jake usually approaches every day with this intense motivation for activity, but this was newer for me. We ran some errands and randomly decided to go to Conte's to check out their used bike sale. I was thinking we might find a mountain bike for Jake or a beach cruiser for myself but we had no such luck. Jake sneakily told the sales associate we wanted information on a entry level cycle for me...umm, no thank you. I have definitely mentioned that I'd like to get into the sport, but not yet!!! We looked at a few bikes and I politely refrained from mounting/test riding any of them. Honestly, I can barely get on a regular bike without almost falling over (graceful, I know) so the thought of climbing onto the something supported by 1/2" wide tires is terrifying. To avoid this fear, I quickly turned the focus on to Jake, he is the one who is counting down til graduation so he could make this type of purchase anyway. A lot of questions were asked and answered and after everything was said and done he walked out a new bike owner! There is a lot more that went into than this, but since this only takes us to about 2:00pm I'm giving the abridged version. Main details, he goes to get "fitted" this week and should have the bike by Friday. As I'm sure you've already guessed, he has made plans to cycle Saturday, and I'm sure will add on a ride for Sunday too.

After this big purchase we celebrated by painting the kitchen! I won't go into detail but here are some before and after pictures.

before

after

Lastly, this past Saturday marked being married for 6 months! We're not typically celebrators of non-annual anniversaries but Jake is a fan of unexpected celebrations...as was proven this weekend. He told me in the morning he was going to take me to Croc's for dinner and I was genuinely excited. As we were getting in the car, he got a call from his clinical instructor, Alex, asking if we could jump his car. The story was that his wife was at work and he had tried a few other people before Jake but no one was answering. Supposedly, they had just made the connection on Friday that we lived close to each other- how convenient! Anyway, I was happy to help him out and proceeded to drive out to 89th St.

The following should have been dead giveaways that Jake was up to something:

1. He suggested we bring our camera...to dinner.
2. When we left our complex (before Alex's call) he asked if taking Shore Dr. would be quicker than the interstate- it isn't if you're going to Croc's, it is if you're going to the North End...let's say 89th St. Plus, I'm awful at directions and taking the shortest route; he of all people knows this about me!
3. As we walked out, he went back to grab his jacket and asked if I wanted mine. I didn't think this was necessary...since we would be dining in.
4. He was way too excited when Alex called and even put him on speakerphone...once he hung up, he instructed me to take Shore Dr. after all.
5. When I got to 89th St. he told me to park on the street, even though I suggested it make more sense to call Alex and see where his car was.
6. Upon parking, he said Alex was killing time on the beach and we could meet up with him down there and then follow him back to his car.

As we were walking down the path to the beach I knew something was up...the picnic blanket with flowers, a handmade poster (with our names and french bulldog cut outs created by Alex and sons), and wine confirmed. Jake had coordinated this whole thing with Alex on Friday, he even recruited him to set it all up while we were painting! His plan was to have a little appetizer and wine on the beach before our 7:30 reservation at Croc's- he timed everything perfectly, I was blown away. Hallmark holidays come and go and we don't do very much, but when I least expected it he pulled something off that required actual planning. It was awesome and thoughtful.

the view

Friday

This weekend was insanely productive. To prove just how busy I was, I will be creating posts recapping each day. I had some high moments and some low moments, but all rank blogworthy...enjoy.

This past Friday I got off work early (a definite PLUS) and Jake finally agreed to go with me to pick out and purchase paint for the kitchen (another PLUS). After bouncing back and forth to decide between buying from Lowe's or Home Depot, we parked at Lowe's. We compared tons of colors before we settled on a marine inspired blue. When we asked the Lowe's team member to help us, we discovered the shade we had selected was a $30+ can of paint! Now, I don't consider myself as frugal as Jake but I definitely knew we could find a color we liked equally for less (remember, we're renting so I'm not trying to spend a fortune). The woman pointed us in the direction of our other options and explained how as you moved from left to right, the paint price increased. We carried ourselves and our first choice swatch to the furthest left hand rack and began trying to match the shade as best we could. Despite our efforts, we couldn't find anything comparable- this was frustrating considering how long it took us to agree the first time around. And so, a search for a runner up began....the winner was green grapes and our total came to $20!

Now, I'm sure you're thinking my night couldn't get any better than this, but it did! I was timing everything perfectly (including our Lowe's adventure) to pick the rents up from the airport at 9:30pm, but my mom's text t 9:00 that they were delayed until 10:40 threw things off. Being the flexible person that I am, I went back to their house, watched some tv with Jake, and played with Finn. Around 10:20 I left Jake behind and headed to Norfolk International Airport (you're not missing much if you've never flown in or out of here). I pulled in to curbside pick up at 10:35 and listened to my radio to pass the time. Come 11:00 I was curious whether there had been additional delays with their flight, but if you've ever been at curbside pick up you know that leaving your car unattended for even a split second is not a good idea, so I waited. At 11:08 the lights dimmed and the music cut off- my car battery died. AWESOME. At 11:15 a security officer came close enough that I could ask for help...my parents arrived at my car at 11:17. PERFECT. We waited for the officer to come back and jump my car (time escaped me at this point) and finally arrived home at 11:56. Poor Jake was asleep on their couch, he had to be in Suffolk (about 45 minutes away) at 8:00am for a group cycle.