Upstairs Bedroom

The most time-intensive project we've tackled so far has been the upstairs bedroom. It was covered in wallpaper that had to be stripped before we could paint everything, so we've been picking at the paper for months.

Finally, last weekend it was time to sand, prime, and paint the walls.

I picked up a few home decor magazines in Paris on my way home from a conference in May, and some beautiful grey bookcases inspired the grey-wall-grey-trim paint colors we used. The trim is actually the same color as our downstairs bathroom - Behr's Dolphin Fin - and the walls and ceiling are a lighter shade of the same color. We still need to add some more personal touches, but at least it's ready for guests!

Here's the best comparison. I think I should invest in a better camera; the iPhone photos just aren't doing it justice.

Operation Backyard - Update!

More progress to report on the backyard! Irish moss went down between the pavers, Japanese spurge was planted in a shady bed along with some hostas, hydrangeas now line the fence, the patio table is together, and we got impulsive and bought a few solar path lights at Target and stuck those in the ground. All in all, we're really happy with our hard work.

Just as a refresher, here's the "Before" picture.

Irish moss waiting to be divided and planted. Of course they were out of the smaller plugs so we had to take the kitchen shears to these...we're still waiting for them to spread to fill all the gaps (this is only ~half of them).

Most of the plants are in and the grill got delivered.

Table assembled - check! Hydrangeas planted - check!

 Solar-powered lights - check!

We celebrated the progress Friday night and tried a new grilling recipe: Balinese Grilled Chicken. We also made grilled pineapple to go with it, and it was amazing!

Kitchen Plans!

We're definitely making progress around here! Deposits are in, and we have plans for the new kitchen! Considering it looks like this right now (it's actually messier than this picture) and it's not functional for any number of cooks, we're really excited to get this one done!

We're planning to open up the space a little bit (the wall the fridge is against is coming out) and create an island with seating at each end. The picture below is oriented roughly the same as the "Before" picture above with the window you can see above in the top right corner of the drawing below.

Even though the kitchen won't be done till mid- to late-September, pretty much every decision is made from the faucets (Danze and Delta), light fixtures (schoolhouse), and flooring (cork), to the counter tops (carrara marble), sink (Rohl farmhouse), and wall and ceiling colors (Pineapple Fiz and Rocky Mountain Sky. :) Here's a sampling below!

And yes, that's a white fridge, not a stainless one. Whirlpool's White Ice line looks like a line of Apple products! Demolition starts the last weekend in July - who's coming?!? To save money, we're demo-ing it ourselves, and learning as we go!

Fifty Shades of Blue

One of our first projects when we moved in was to paint the living and dining rooms (it's really all one room) to get rid of the egg-yolk yellow walls. We used the living room rug as the anchor for the room and went with a light blue-grey color. After making throw pillows to coordinate with the walls and buying a blanket to complement the throw pillows, I decided I didn't like the blue walls (the other rooms we've painted turned out beautifully, so I guess every now and then there's a dud). Back to the drawing board - and Home Depot - I went.

 I still wanted a color that was almost blue, almost grey, and almost green, so after trying many more shades, saturations, and hues, we ended up with a blue slightly greyer than the first blue. :) The walls below are half old and half new; can't you tell?!? I'd post a "after" picture, but honestly the camera can't do it justice.

We've lived with it for a few days now, and I'm loving the new blue!