THE MOM CAVE

I LOVE that word! Mom Cave.  I first heard it from a HomeGoods commercial.  And thought to myself-hmmm thats what I need.  Our guest bedroom was quite the eyesore.  Yes it had a bed for guest and yes the walls were at least painted but thats where it stopped.  It mostly had become my dumping ground to hide my excessive garge-sale-going-excursions. (to which I have slowed down quite a bit).

I am a new convert of gray!  I love gray/grey (however you like to spell it).  Its such an amazing color- it can be warm, cool, neutral, masculine, feminine...its quite a versatile color.  So 1st up gray walls! accented with white & a punch of yellow.

Before:

AFTER:

Linking to:  

320 Sycamore

Serenity Now

Wall Color: SW Colonial Revival Gray
Dresser: Painted w/ Rustoleum's Auto Paint in Gray distressed w/ walnut gel stain
Sewing table: Painted w/ Rustoleums gloss white
Chair recover project here
Inspiration Board project here

Laundry Room & Kitchen featured

So excited just saw that my laundry room is being featured over at Melissa's The Inspired Room.

You can read about it here.   Go visit Melissa and see all the amazing room tours!  They are divided by category.  LOTS of eye candy!!! and there are LOTS of talented bloggers our there!



ALSO my kitchen was just featured over at Favorite Paint Colors.  You can read it here.
If your trying to decide on a paint color for one of your rooms please head over to Kristen's blog for lots of inspiration.  She has it divided by color and by room.  Make sure you bookmark her for future reference- you never know when your gonna get the itch to paint something! (or is that just me?)

My Goodwill score

Now I have to admit I almost NEVER find anything in our local Goodwill store that makes me swoon. EXCEPT today.  I was with my 2 youngest at the Dollar Store (cuz thats how we roll) and decided to pop in the Goodwill store next door.  When I walked up to this baby I knew it had to be mine! and the $50 price tag didn't hurt either!  (Thats a good garage sale price!) Here she is:  *sigh*

Its made by Bassett furniture- dovetail drawers-georgous pulls! Yum!


I cant wait to get to sanding on this one!  I am loving the Restoration Hardware washed wood look lately.  Its got that great rustic-chic look with a Swedish influence .  Here are some of my inspiration photos:

 Via: Restoration Hardware

Via: Restoration Hardware Baby

Via: Wisteria

Via: Wisteria

Then I stumbled upon this website when I googled Swedish Furniture.  http://theswedishfurniture.com/archives/swedish-paint-finishes-how-to-wash-raw-wood

I may just have to try this out!  

Have a great day!!

Master Bedroom is DONE (well almost)

I just cant stop "tweaking".  I am going to officially say the Master bedroom is done-(well except for flooring-Im craving some dark wide-plank-hand-scraped hardwood *sigh*)


So 1st off here's the breakdown of how this room has evolved:
Year 1:  bright white-builder ugly walls-black bedding-no furniture-newly married-oh my gosh we own a home look.  (sorry dont have pics)


Years 2-4:  Ok lets get some color on those walls- ooooo how bout yellow? ya thats it-bright-gawd-awful burn your eyes yellow-oooo and lets add some red floral crazy pattern valances-oooo thats nice (ok so this was in my "Tuscan" decor days)  (again no pics)


Years 4-8: So OVER the yellow.  Lets warm it up-mmmmm Chocolate!!! and blue!! yea-cuz everybody's doing it- its chocolate and brown EVERYWHERE.  So the walls got painted SW Toasted (and to be honest its still a VERY yummy color if your looking for a nice warm brown)  I painted, sewed curtains, made a duvet, sewed a bedskirt, etc. etc)  We LOVED it- and lived with it for many years.

And here it is after I "lightened" up.  The walls are Restoration Hardwares Cappuccino.  I made another duvet and recovered the headboard in a lighter fabric. On a side note-covering a headboard in silk fabric is a DIY disaster -I lived with the blue silk for a while but the puckering drove me nuts!!  The creamy velvet/suede is sooo much better.
(be warned Im about to post WAY too many pictures of this room- kinda like those proud parents who post a bazillion pictures of their little chubby, drooling baby)


AFTER:

Chairs are from The Foundary and the rug is from Joss & Main
The little silver table is a Target find, the nightstands are from Bombay Co. (remember that store) Im really looking for new ones-but those will do for now.


This room is now so restful! and truly a place of peace-why oh why do we wait to decorate our bedrooms.  They seem to be the one room we leave for last when it really should be the 1st.

Linking up to:

A Brooklyn Limestone- (Real Room Linky Party)

A Touch Of Gray

Chalk Paint.....oh how I love thee

Wow! is all I can say.  I first heard about it here from Miss Mustard Seed.  Then I went here & placed my order and had a wonderful chat on the phone with the owner.  So today when the UPS man rang my doorbell-I about tackled him to get that box outta his hands.  Unfortunately I dont have an amazing piece of furniture to paint (yet) so I grabbed the next best thing- a mirror.

Now with this paint there is no sanding & no priming - should I repeat that? NO SANDING NO PRIMING!  and its water-based.


For this project here's what I used:

Chalk paint in Paris Grey & Old White.  Minwax clear wax paste & Fiddes & Sons antique paste which I heard about again from Miss Mustard Seed here.  Now for technique- people I am NO teacher and honestly I have no clue what Im doing- so for tutorials please, please visit Miss Mustard Seed.  But honestly all I did was slap it on with an old paint brush- wait for it to dry-applied the wax paste-applied the antique paste-wiped off the excess and I was done! D-O-N-E.


Here's the frame after the paint had dried and before the waxes  were applied (and to be honest I liked it enough to leave it at that) but if you are wanting the worn, antique look and want to seal your piece-apply the wax.

And here's the after (yes shot with my camera phone-*sigh* one day I'll have a big girl camera!)

LOVE!!


I am planning on using these paints on my mothers old baby chest.  She has moved into a new home recently and wants me to update it for her.  I'll keep you posted on the progress of that.


Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed

The Kitchen Revisited

I have shown my kitchen makeover before-but this time I have GOOD photos of it.  My dear client and friend is a professional photographer and I recently asked her to come photograph my home-which she happily did.  


Lets start off with the nasty before pics- because lets be honest a makeover just isnt as exciting unless you see the ugly befores right?

Can you say -booor-ing..... blonde cabinets, ivy wallpaper, blah, blah, blah.  


After:

Of course I still want new flooring, marble counter tops, subway tile back splash, farmhouse sink, gas stove top, stainless steel island top, new refrigerator, etc..etc... but alas all of that will have to wait-and by the time I can afford all of that I will probably be "over" the black cabinets & yellow walls and want to change it! LOL




Wall color: SW Blonde
Cabinets: SW Black Latex Acrylic Paint
Island: SW Navajo White