Frustrated with painting the living room...

I really am so annoyed.  It is so hard picking out paint for our living room.  I have a total of nine paint samples and a million swatches.  We just want something light and fresh.  When you think about it there is only so many colors....we didn't want anything dark and narrowed it down to light green, light blue and light tan/yellow shades.  I just wanted my walls tinted.  I'm really picky about things.  For example, not a fan of accent walls.  But we have lived in this house almost two years and I want a semi-decent living room, since we spend the majority of our time in the living room.  I also like doing things 110% the first time.  I don't like a quick and easy fix, I like a permanent solution.  I don't like cutting corners.  There are plenty of beautiful living rooms our there, that I love and am inspired by but there is also many things I see and think...Oh my! (not for me.)  It is also hard because we have baby and need a functional baby proof living room.

                

This is my latest project, my father-in-law gave to me, for free.  Jake and I wanted to make Sawyer some kind of book shelf, this isn't want we had in mind but I might have to use this for another room in the house, if I can nurse it back to health?  It needed some desperate TLC, it was wet, dirty and moldy.  I am hoping it has good bones.  I washed it with soap and water and gave it a good scrub.  This picture is after the washing.  I have been sanding and sanding.  Jake cut the bottom off with the neighbors saw.  I wanted it symmetrical. I already have stain and plan on staining it soon.  Stayed tuned for the finished product.  It might need new backing because I am not sure how it will stain because of the water damage.  Or I was thinking I could cover it in fabric? 

Thought of this great idea with some left over ribbon, from our wedding.  Instead of a hot pink hair ties to keep Sawyer from opening cabinets in the living room, I tied them with ribbon.  Cute right? I was really proud of myself for coming up with this one. 

I cleaned out our fridge today.  I threw away six expired salad dressings, that I use all the time.  Gross.  Our fridge is bare but sparkly clean.  Grocery shopping tomorrow, we are out of everything.

Sawyer is way off with this time change.  Right now she is in bed with me watching Shrek 2, for the hundredth time, while I blog....its 11:05pm.  She just didn't want to go to bed.  It's kind of nice to have her cuddled up bedside me.  I am so sick of the weather, it's raining so hard right now.  It's been thundering and lightning all day today.  Over it.

Cute Planter Box

     I highly recommend going to McClendon's Hardware in Belfair and picking up one of these cute cedar planter boxes.  The are ridiculously cute and are only $12.99!!!  I go to McClendon's at least once a week.  They all know us there, and love seeing Sawyer.  She is so popular between there and Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, every one loves her and we don't mind sharing.  I love the sale stuff they have and can always find what I need.  I waited all day for Jake to get home so we could build it together in our living room.  Why does it feel so good to use an electric drill?  Jake got a sweet drill for Christmas and it is amazing, I don't know how we made it without one.  I told Jake I really wanted an electric sander, maybe if he wanted to buy me something sweet for Easter?  I'm just saying.  After the finished product, we decided we needed two, so I plan on going back and getting one more. 

This is what I call cheap entertainment with a finished product.  I can't wait to plant something in it. 

     So Sawyer expects a bath every night.  When it gets around that time, she starts taking her clothes off.  Or she will just walk up to one of us and put her hands in the air.  Her way of saying, "Please take my shirt off or I will have a tantrum."  Her new thing is to stand on her head like this picture, when she doesn't get what she wants, when she wants it. 

     Then she just stands at the baby gate, staring around the corner at the bathroom.  Occasionally whining and stopping her feet.  She is so cute and smart and she does love bath time.  She puts her hand under the water faucet until I have to turn off the water.  She plays with her cups and sometimes even drinks the soapy water.  She also likes to splash me.  When I get her out,  I let her step through the towel between my legs and fall to the floor.  This is something my mom did with me and I remember doing it.  We also had a metal copper bottom "top ramem" pot that had a broken handle that we used to rinse my hair with.  Every time she'd pour water over my head we named off a different brand of cereal, lucky charms, cheerios etc.  I plan on doing this with Sawyer when she get a little older and gets hair.

Bedroom inspiration...

     So I found some pictures while surfing the world wide web and saved them.  These have forced me inspired me to mesh my likings with husbands.  Don't tell Jake but I have been considering hanging a dead animal on the wall....in the bedroom.  However, not ready to hang one in the living room.  Baby steps, right?  Our bedroom is next on our projects to revamp.  I hope to paint soon.  My goal is by summer to have a newly decorated room.  Unfortunately, this involves buying a king size bed and new bedding.  Our first purchase together was a queen sized bed and we have already out grown it.  I can't believe we have almost been at our house two years and been sleeping in this plain room.  The bed blends into the walls I'm surprised we can even find the bed. 

This is our boring room, exact same as we moved in.  White walls, not one thing hanging.  I have five pieces of IKEA furniture.  I don't plan on getting new furniture or painting them.  I know for the night stands they have glass tops, that are dark grey but see through I thought I could put a cute fabric under them to add some spice.  I thought maybe I could add knobs, maybe, but I don't want to screw anything up.  I have an old mirror that has a black frame that was my Grandma Eva's that I plan on using.  I also have some black monogrammed letters, N and J I can use.  So I have been looking for a black rod to go over the slider.  I thought striped curtains would be cool, but I would be down for some funky pattern.  A nice funky antique chair for a corner.  This is probably the only arrangement that is functional for us.  I would also love more pictures of the family, maybe black and white.  And I was thinking some shelving, the DIY ones that everyone is making lately. 

These are some rooms I like and hope to mesh together....

The hanging light bulbs and the olive green bedding are what I love about this photo. 

I love the striped bedding with the ugly yellow color quit....maybe I like the paint color of the walls since this picture and the one above are very similar?  Even though dark paint scares me.

I like the ruffled big annoying bed skirt.  I could never do anything as brave as this. 

  

I want, I want, I want..

The finished yellow door....

Today, Jake had the day off because it was President's Day, and we took advantage of it.  We already had our paint.  We just needed a nice long day to take the door of the hinges and allow for proper drying time.  Taking the door off the hinges was the hardest part, they just wouldn't budge.  Finally after multiple attempts we pried all three hinges out and got the door off.  I thumb tacked a blanket over the door just to keep the cool breeze out and put the baby gate up.  Our living room/kitchen is our main room where we spend the majority of our time, so it needed to be baby proof. 

I wiped the door down with baby wipes, and taped in the necessary places.  We couldn't get the door knob off, so we just taped around it.  After spending so much time with the hinges, we gave up right away.  We have four indentations in our door and I started with them first.  I had a small roller but needed to use a paint brush for the creases.  I just went very slowly, as yellow seems to play tricks on your eyes.  I had Jake double check to see if I missed any spots.  I did a thick first coat, let it dry and then did a second coat.  We painted it in the garage on saw horses, we used a heat lamp (for when we had chickens), we had a small space heater running (that we turn on at night for the dogs), and Jake turned on his propane heater for me.  We only blew a fuse once.  As long as Sawyer napped, was about how long it took me to paint the door.  We let it dry for around five hours.  We put it back up and it was plenty dry, we just kept the door cracked to prevent any sticking to the frame.  It looks amazing and I feel accomplished.  I love tackling big tasks and crossing them off of our to do list.  It makes our house look great, adds character and charm.  I can't wait to make an Easter wreath and hang it on the door. 

I think we did a pretty amazing job, these pics don't do it justice as it was getting dark.  Now all we need is a cute door knocker.   

WE USED BEHR PAINT (CHARISMATIC-SEMI GLOSS) FOR EXTERNALS SURFACES (DOORS, SHUTTERS ECT) IT HAD PRIMER IN IT.  PURCHASED AT HOME DEPOT.  HOPE THIS HELPS.

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Ode to yellow..

So, we bought some yellow paint at Home Depot on Sunday and got the down low on how to paint our metal front door.  We bought paint with primer in it, it is what home depot guys recommended (BEHR, charismatic-color).  I am so excited.  Weather has been awful and we are going to need to take the door off and paint it in the garage and allow sufficient drying time.  So hopefully in the next couple weeks we will have a new front door.  Sounds pretty simple; take door off hinges, remove door knob, tape around window (green frog tape is the best), wipe door down with a wet cloth, sand if need.  Other advice was to use the smallest roller we could find.  Be patient, go slowly and allow enough drying time so the door won't stick to the frame.  So here are some pictures to give me some inspiration.   Everyone we talk to thinks we are crazy but we have a vision and can't wait for the finished product. 

Earthy, yet quaint.

Clean and Crisp.

Vintage, Cosy, Cottage.

 

Bold and bright.

Three houses on the same block.

Colonial and firm.

In love with this photo, I just want to step right in to those boots.

Manicured, cute.

This has Martha Stewart written all over it.

This must be the door to the dragon's keep.

Window panes, steps, stones and bricks.

Modern and fresh.

Traffic light yellow apartment elevator.

Royal blue.

Beattle juice, beetle juice...

(all thses photos were found on bing..i just searched yellow doors)