entryway LOVE.

what did you do for the 4th?  barbeque with friends, hang by the pool, or maybe just light off some sparklers with some cool lemonade?  well, not me my friends.  i did this.

 

but that lovely, calming blue used to be dark maroon red, and it was the worst.  and we finally did something about it. i have a blue entryway, blue staircase, and a white ceiling.  who would have thought?  it makes the space look at least twice as big, and it wasn't nearly as hard as i thought it was going to be.  with the help of my mom (the expert painter) it only took us an afternoon.  and we were done in time for sushi and a late trip to ikea :)

of course nothing is totally done - trim still needs to be painted (probably this weekend), decor needs to go up, stairs need to be carpeted - but i can finally start planning the wall collage up the stairs i've been dreaming about for two years now.

a few more pics of our super-productive independence day.  please note that for a little while, our entryway and hallway was red, white and blue.  very patriotic.

swatches of the new paint

downstairs detail with light fixture

mom painting the top ceiling corners!

philip hard at work (with mussolini darting down the stairs)

door looks amazing with the new wall color!

updated entry decor (still in progress)

 

 

what a difference a day makes (a hard day that is).  

until the next project... have a happy thursday!

hallway update: fini!

after a week of no painting (no paint fumes for me on doctor's orders!), i finally finished the hallway.  phase one of the artery's demise is complete.  kind of.  i'm not allowed to paint the ceiling (husband's orders this time due to my excessive clumsiness), so philip is doing that part next.

but so far?  it looks great.  and i absolutely LOVE it.  it has made our hallway look at least twice as big as it did before.  it still needs a little fixing up - some pictures, artwork, maybe a little table or something.  i'm not sure.

phases two and three: the entryway and the hallway, respectively.  i'm thinking the entryway will come next (maybe even next weekend?), and i have a gorgeous shade of blue, behr's faded denim, that i have in mind for the entry.  but then there are the questions of... what to do with the stairs (previous owner painted them white), carpet, wiring the stairs for lighting, do we really like the entryway?... so much to do.  but one thing at a time, we'll get it done :)

i'm surprised and happy about how easy and fairly quick this project was.  i was able to do it in the searing heat, with no AC, while taking summer school.  but mostly it was relaxing and almost therapeutic to just sit upstairs and paint while listening to spotify, fixing something i didn't like about our house.  the red paint over the wallpaper was so intimidating that i built it up into something so difficult it would take years for us to cover - when all it took was two coats of primer + paint in one, along with a few half-days.  not so bad.

but here we have the before and after of the upstairs hallway!

makes the floors look nicer too :)

til next time (i'm itching for my next project!!!)...

xoxo

hallway update: trim paint

since i last shared pics of our newest house project on saturday, i haven't done a whole lot.  father's day was sunday and since then i've been a little under the weather - but i did start some of the trim paint!  it looks wonderful, and i can't even believe how quickly it's going.  at this rate i should have all of the upstairs done by friday morning - just in time to start the entryway this coming weekend :)

here's the trim:

old trim

new trim

progression from old (on top) to new (on bottom)

i am not used to so much white in one place in my house!  we have colors EVERYWHERE - and the only thing i've painted white in the house is the ceiling.  the trim is behr's oyster, which i love.  it's turning out lovely so far - after the painting is done i'll treat myself to a new light fixture for my fancy new hallway :)

should have more updates soon - happy tuesday!

til next time - xoxo

death of the artery

there is a feature in my house that we not-so-lovingly call 'the artery.'  this monstrosity is actually just our entryway, staircase, and upstairs hallway - but the walls and ceiling of all three are painted a very deep, dark red.  and did i mention that the paint is over wallpaper?  because it is.

every since we first looked at this house, i knew if i lived here i'd have to do some major painting, especially in the artery.  but due to the dark hue, i figured i'd have to hire a professional and it would take at least a week to get it all done.  i actually priced it out last year, but seeing as the cost was over $1000 i figured we could maybe try it ourselves.  a few days ago, i decided it was time to start the big job.  we have a laundry list of projects to get started on with the house, because it has been months since we've really done any updates to it.  so a quick trip to home depot, and here you go! 

hallway before

hallway after

 today i just accomplished the upstairs hallway, but it's a start.  and what's more is that it only took me a few hours and two coats of paint to transform dark red into white.  or, more specifically. behr's camembert.

some walls white, some still red

finishing up!

LOVE this! looks like lights are on upstairs now!

 next up is the trim tomorrow - can't wait!  next weekend hopefully i can tackle the entryway - now i have some good momentum and motivation.  plus i smeared blue paint on my wall as a sample, so now i kinda have to do it :)

happy saturday all!

xoxo

paint party!

what's better than getting an email from your friend late on sunday night inviting you to a party on saturday?  finding out it's a paint party -- where the fun is painting said friend's living and dining rooms but also drinking the beer this friend is bribing you with.

and that's pretty much what the painting party was on saturday.  now, i know what you are thinking.  why mix painting and booze?  but if you knew my friends... you'd know why (kidding!).  but seriously, it went really well.  philip and i moved most everything out on thursday and friday evenings after work except the big things - cabinet with television, bar, couch and dining room table.  philip and i were up bright and early saturday morning getting ready for company.  we covered everything up and made a huge pot of decaf babushka blend (my new obsession -- for those who don't know, i'm strangely obsessed with anything russian) and got to work.  mom and her friend vince arrived and my girlfriends were there shortly after and we got to work, set to the tunes of my awesome painting party playlist to keep us motivated :)

starting to move things out

taping up the mantle - check out the paint swatches! 

half of living room in the entry

the bathroom: update iii

happy sunday all!  and for us, it has been quite an awesome weekend.  first up on friday night: drinks and dinner at our local pub up the block with layne where layne & philip had a hell of a time ganging up on me for being awful at math.  layne is a high school math teacher and philip is, well, philip.  just for fun, why don't you comment on this post if you know how to find the inverse of the following equation:

y = x + 1

exactly.  no one should be forced to look at letters in a math problem scribbled on a cocktail napkin while drinking a delicious mighty arrow.  and no i couldn't figure it out.  but a good time was had by all nonetheless, it had been ages since we had hung out with layne and the three of us have a pretty damn good time together.  i had to work saturday morning, but when i left for work it's worth noting that the bathroom still looked exactly like it did when i posted the last update.  new bathtub was still in the entry way.  but by the time i came home, the tub was actually upstairs.  philip was hard at work putting up the cement board we are using as the backing for the tile.  the old tile was connected to greenboard, but this stuff is supposed to be much better since it actually repels moisture rather than basically absorbing it and disintegrating.  so the cement backer is a huge improvement.  i decided i should do something productive as well and did a very thorough cleaning of the first floor (the 2nd floor is just a war zone at this point).  blasted belle & sebastian, scrubbed the kitchen, vacuumed until my vacuum actually overheated, swept, mopped, polished just about everything.  i even got out some springy decor: green linen tablecloth from crate & barrel, and some greens to put above the mirror on the mantel where our christmas wreath was.  i have this grate bowl for a centerpiece where i keep two white pillar candles and i filled the bottom with faux moss and leaves, making it look really woodsy.  i love it.  

my dining table centerpiece. understated.

new greenery above the mirror.

i'm really ready to do the downstairs.  that's our next project by the way; as soon as the bathtub and tile is done we will be painting the living room and dining room.  we put up three different paint samples before we left for LA president's day weekend but really didn't love any of the colors.  i added two more samples last weekend and now we can't decide between those two!  

it's between the one on the far right and the one above that!

anyway, i'm really ready to just take everything out of the living and dining room to paint, give it a good cleaning and re-do the rooms.  i'm ready to get some real decorations in there!  we still haven't hung photos or anything because we were waiting until we painted... and here we are, a year after we closed we will be painting.  but one project at a time :) 

all the while, philip was being much more productive, i must say.  i couldn't do much cleaning up stairs, because most of the floor looked like this:

yeah.  so all i really did was clean up our bedroom.  i finally took off our amazing flannel sheets we got as a housewarming present that have literally been on since november when we got them.  i'd wash them and put them right back on -- i think it's the only way we survived the winter upstairs before we got our electric blanket.  but all the while, philip was hard at work on the bathroom.  by the end of the night, we hardly had the energy for anything at all.  i ran out and got chipotle -- the thought of cooking made me cringe.  by we had earned a night off, after all.  we watched the first half hour of gladiator before deciding it was, in fact, bedtime.  9:30pm.  but here's a few shots of the finished (for the day) product:

in the middle - cement board half up.

mussolini, making sure everything was up to code.

reading the instructions while lounging in the lined bathtub.

not a bad start.  next weekend we will actually put the tile up!  i'm beyond thrilled with how it's going so far.  philip is just amazing.  we slept like babies, except for when my snoring woke philip up at 5am, who woke me up.  we got to fall back asleep listening to the sound of spring rain outside.  even out tulips are trying to come out already!  i can see their little green buds popping out of the desolate brown grass in a few places and i just can't wait for spring.  today we had a lovely brunch at our favorite spot with mom, vince, uncle rich & beth before taking a long walk around sloan's lake.  but it's time for me to try my hand at roasted peppers and homemade pizza -- we rented the new woody allen tonight!  enjoy the end of our weekend all, and i'll post again soon.

til next time! 

alaina