Chest of Drawers Makeover

The antique chest of drawers that my husband has been using has been with us since the beginning of our marriage.  It was very dark and many of the drawers weren't working so well.  I didn't really want to paint it since the style just wasn't a favorite of mine anymore.  So, I happened to find this one at the local Restore for 25.00.  

It was a mess.  It was missing one handle and it had marker all over it, even on the drawers where someone wrote "socks", etc.  Beyond all of the ugly, however, was a pretty solid piece of furniture.  I decided to go with it. 

My process was simple.  After removing the hardware, I sanded it down just a bit to make it a little smoother.  I then used a flat cream colored paint also purchased at the Restore.  I applied two coats, but not with perfect coverage.  I then lightly sanded it once more, distressing a bit here and there.  To finish it, I applied Johnson Clear Paste Wax.  That's it!  

I am very happy with the way it looks now.  Is it perfect?  Absolutely not!  Does it have a lot of cottage charm and a well worn look?  Absolutely!  And that's what matters to me.  Now if I could just find a matching piece of hardware it might actually be close to perfect....

Vegetable Garden Progress

My husband has been doing a lot of side work this Spring so the garden progress has been a little slow.  The fence is up except for the horizontal boards across the top, bottom, and middle sections.  

We have a couple more raised beds to build making it 8 in all with a space along the back for berries and perennials.  We are using wood chips to fill the pathways between the beds.  It is shaping up nicely.

We set this little weathered bird house on top of one of the posts and someone moved in right away! We noticed the twigs the very next day which was a nice surprise.

We will be adding a sign above the screen door when I find the right piece of wood to fit the space.  We plan to cozy it up and soften the look by adding plants around the border of the fence as well.

  I am told by my neighbor that people walking by stop and ask her what we are building and why we are using a screen door!  I think the raised beds will give it away now that they are built, don't you?  As for the screen door....why not??  I have had it in the basement for a while now and decided it would be a neat addition to our outdoor space.  We always seem to be doing things a little differently, but that's what makes it interesting, unique, and cottage-like.  Trying to add charm and character to an otherwise plain space will draw attention I suppose. 

The Garden

Not only are we working on the entire inside of our home, but the outside as well.  We live on a .75 acre lot with a few trees behind and on one side.  When we moved in both sides of the yard were completely lined with dead pine trees.  They were so unsightly so taking them down was a priority.  Now we have a lot of open space and the challenge of making an open yard feel cozy.  

My husband has a degree in Landscape Contracting and currently is in charge of the grounds at a local college.  Landscaping and gardening is a passion we both share. Together we put a lot of time and energy into our gardens.  The house we left behind had a small cozy backyard...perfect for creating different areas of interest all around the yard.  This house is different and requires a different approach.

We have already added many small trees such as Crab Apple, Kwanzan Cherry, and Japanese Maple trees along with Hydrangeas and Vibernums.  The bed you see in the middle of the front yard is new as well.  Being on a budget we shop the sales and especially raid the end of season selections which allows us to buy a lot for a small price.  

We also are passionate about eating healthy and growing nutritious food for our family.  We eat a lot of produce so having our own vegetable garden is important for the budget. This past weekend my mom took the kids so my husband and I decided to start fencing in a 24x32' space off the back deck.  There are deer, rabbits, and dogs, etc. in the neighborhood so we decided to provide the protection right from the beginning.  Here is a look at the progress so far.

My husband does side work and was recently blessed with a job that brought home these beautiful boxwood shrubs.  We decided to section off and cozy up the fire pit area which also directs the eye to the vegetable garden.  We will be adding more shrubs in the near future for privacy and to soften the space a bit.  I really like how it's turning out.  The door to the vegetable garden is a screen door that I picked up at the Restore for $10.00.  Not too bad.  I will be staining or painting it one of these days.  I didn't plan on using it outside but it gives a nice cottage touch, don't you think?

We still have a lot of work to do in the vegetable garden.  I will keep you posted as we get the rest of the fence built and the beds put in.  One more project partially finished!!  Never a dull moment around here!

Lightened up

I've had this little dark wooden cabinet for as long as I can remember.  It has been all over the place...as a nightstand...a bookshelf...in the garage, etc.  I am not sure why I have never parted with it. Maybe it's because I knew it had potential and could be really cute with some paint and a little attention.  

Currently it is being used at the end of our kitchen peninsula as a perfect home for onions, potatoes, and a vintage kitchen scale.  This also happens to be the first thing you see down the hallway when coming in our front door.  

In keeping with my goal of brightening up this home, I decided it was time to do the same for this little bookshelf.

After a little sanding with a hand sander,  some Alabaster white paint, a little more sanding, and a coat of Johnson Paste Wax it looks completely different.

 Much much nicer.  I am not sure why I waited so long to do this, but I am so glad I finally did.

One little project down....many more to go!  Feels good to get something done, even if it's small.  You can see the lovely state of our unfinished floors.  The hardwood flooring process has begun, but progress is slow.  So for now I will be happy with this little kitchen improvement!

Favorite Finds

Sorry for the delay in posting!  I took a small trip to Boca Raton, Florida to visit a friend of mine and had so much to catch up on once I got home!  I have never gone so far from home without my family so I was quite nervous.  It was a much needed getaway from my normal routine which can sometimes overwhelm me. I love being home, being with my kids, and working on the multitude of household projects, but I really need a change of scenery now and then...a break from having so much to do. This was a time to recharge and get refreshed and all I can say is it went way too fast!
 

My friend, Teresa, is one of my favorite people.  Like me, she loves to eat healthy plant-based foods so we headed to some of her favorite places for juices, raw pizza and raw ice cream.  So good!!
We made green smoothies, raw fudge, and tried some Kombucha from Whole Foods.  I have never had Kombucha but have to say it was pretty interesting.  It's been on my list to try making it, but I haven't gotten around to it just yet.  Of course, we walked on the beach and relaxed by the pool a little too.

It was a refreshing, much-needed break with warm sunny weather and a great friend!  Perfect!

I wanted to share one of my favorite places that I like to shop around home.  It's called Georgie Emerson Vintage in Canal Winchester.  The owner is a sweet lady and the shop is full of vintage, industrial, shabby goodness.

She has a rack of clothing and I have found some of my favorite tops there over the years.  This time I happened to find three plus a silky scarf.  I love having special shops like this not too far away.  I tell my husband I need some "therapy" and off I go!  Just walking in to shops like this causes me to take a deep breath and unwind!  Everyone needs a place like this.  HappyMonday!

Painted Floor

I have always been a fan of painted floors, especially the distressed ones or the ones painted solid white.  When we first walked into this house all I could see was the extremely dark woodwork and the old stained carpet....everywhere.  It was awful. 

 I told my husband that I did not want to live on this carpet even for a second.  Thankfully he understood.  So on move-in day all of the carpets were removed before we brought anything into the house.  Now that is something I was very thankful for.  We had lots of people from church helping so  the carpet was out very quickly.  Sadly, this house was not graced with hardwood floors when it was built in 1978.  So....plywood floors have been our floors for the past year.  

I wanted one room where we could all go and hang out that at least felt finished or mostly finished.  So in our family room I decided to distress the plywood floor.  Having never done this, it was a 'go for it and see what happens' DIY project.  This is the room before the carpet was removed.  You can see the stains and how dingy the carpet was.

This is the room once the carpet was removed and painting had begun.  You can see the plywood floor in the corner.

This is the floor after the plywood was painted to resemble distressed barn wood. The furniture is all pushed into a corner since I worked on one section at a time, moving the furniture around as I went.

What do you think?  I have to say we really like it.  It feels smooth like hard wood and is definitely a conversation piece.  People are surprised when I tell them what it is.  Here's the method I used:

I started by painting the floor a dark grey brown color with floor paint from our local Benjamin Moore store that I had custom matched to the color of the muntins or grids in our casement windows.  Then I took Dove White floor paint and dry brushed it on top of the darker color.  Next, I sanded and sanded and sanded until I achieved the look I wanted.  The last step was to coat the floor in water-based polyurethane.  That's it!!

Looking back I might have done it a bit differently but for now it has given us a great floor that is washable and beautiful!  So until we install hard wood, which I am excited to say has actually begun in the front of the house, this will work just fine for us!

Finding Me

I think I am in the process of finding me and what I really like.  I like so many things from Shabby Chic to Cottage to Rustic Farmhouse to Industrial style.  I like parts of them all but not necessarily a whole houseful of any one of them.  What does that say about my style?  It says I am finding my own style based on what I really like and what I want to surround myself and my family with.  I see so many beautiful pictures that I am drawn to and want to draw inspiration from, maybe too many pictures.  It can be overwhelming when you like so many things.  I guess it comes down to what I feel good living in, what I want to relax in with my family at the end of a busy day, and what inspires me the most.

After taking care of the kids' schoolwork and doing the basic daily household things, I usually get back to working around the house.  I am not one to put it off for too long.  I want to get it done and move on to the next project.  That requires deciding exactly what I want to do and picking paint colors, etc.  Hello choices...hello decisions.

Recently I saw a paint color on the HGTV Fixer Upper blog called Silver Strand by Sherman Williams.  I decided to give it a try in the basement.  I really like it.  I am sure the fluorescent lighting changes the color a bit, but it really looks good down here. It is a blue green color with grey in it according to my 9 year old son.  After living in mostly white rooms which I still love, this color is refreshing and fun and soothing and I think it will end up in the entire basement.  It feels good to find a color that is "me".  It feels really good to find a color that I love on the first try which usually doesn't happen for me.

 Once all the painting is done, this area will be my scrapbook studio.  Right now it is a mess and completely unorganized.  Ignore that as you look at these pictures that focus mainly on the paint.  The upper walls look a little more grey than they really are but you can see the contrast against the bead board. The bead board is painted Alabaster by Sherman Williams.

So I will keep painting this week and try to get this room functional!  I will show you the progress as it happens little by little.

Winter Wonder White

Looking outside today all I can see is white.  It snowed all night here last night...on top of what we got earlier in the week and the week before that.  It is beautiful, but I am secretly hoping this is the last of the snow for the season.

I love white.  I love soft whites and brighter whites, but I think I am most comfortable living in softer whites.  I am in the process of choosing a white paint color for the main parts of our home and it is a big challenge.  I had a white that I loved in our old home, Dove White from Valspar, but it doesn't look the same in this house.  There is less natural light which changes everything.

This is a corner of my dining room.  There used to be wall paper in here and now it is just a dingy left over color. This picture isn't the best due to the wall color and the lack of light, but you can get an idea of what's going on.

I am trying samples.  My walls look like I let my kids loose to experiment with cans of paint!  I want to get it right and find that perfect soft white that has a touch of cream but not too much.  I want to find one that isn't too stark and doesn't grey out on me and look drab.  I know I should just pick one and be done with it, but that doesn't seem to happen with me.  I think I over think it. My husband probably thinks that too.  Fortunately, he is pretty patient with the paint color conversations that go on around here...at least most of the time.  And there are quite a few of them.  My oldest son gets a strange far off look in his eyes when I start to ask him paint questions.  Not good.  I need to get it settled for everyone's sake.

If anyone has a white paint color that they really like I would love to hear about it!

Before Shots

Today I want to show you more pictures of the house that were taken as we were walking through.  The lighting isn't the best but you can definitely get a good feel for the way the house looked.

The half bath: definitely not a fan of the wallpaper...grapes in the bathroom??

This is the other side of the kitchen.  At first I thought I might like the little arched cooking nook.  Then we realized how low it was when my husband kept hitting his head while making spaghetti. Not going to work for us at all.

This view is from the half bath looking at the sliding door leading out onto the deck.  The challenge is what to do with this space.  The upper cabinets block the view and the space is barely big enough for a table.  This door will be used a lot so we will have to figure out the best way to use this space.

Here's a look into the basement.  Isn't that carpet great?   All we need is a disco ball and we'll be set!

Bars must have been the thing to put in the basement in the 70's.

This is the full bath upstairs.  This will be the kids bathroom and they don't care for the ducks at all!
I have to agree...the wallpaper has to go but the space is good and the window adds charm.

My son is checking out the first bedroom.  It is small and cozy and just right for him.

This is the second bedroom.  It will be my oldest son's room.  That color is almost painful to look at. We saw pictures of the house years ago and this was a Hello Kitty room with neon pink everywhere.

This is the third bedroom and it will be our daughter's bedroom.  She is six.  This color will have to be changed...it is so bright and makes the room feel smaller.

This is the master bedroom.  It has the smallest window but the space is large with a bathroom attached.

Here it is.  We have never had a master bathroom and we've been married 17 years!  So even though this ones leaves a lot to be desired... it is ours.

Oh...and one more shot of the basement that I forgot to include.  There is a nice gas fireplace past the bar at the end...a little like it's own room.  This might become my scrapbook studio until we can come up with something else.

A view of the deck off of the kitchen.  We have always had patios so this is a new space for us. I like that part of it is covered and the rest is open.

This is the view looking off the deck at an angle.  We have  nice trees that give some privacy.  The lot is 3/4 of an acre which gives us plenty of room to garden, something we are all passionate about!

This is our house.  It is a lot different from any house I have ever lived in and it is not what I would call my style at all.  It needs a lot to give it that cottage feel I really like.  What it does have going for it is the space, the neighborhood, the yard, and the quiet street.  All these things are better for raising our family.

So that's the tour of the house when we bought it.  We have already begun to make changes and I will share those with you soon.  Thanks for taking a look!

The Before

When I walked into this house for the first time, I immediately saw all the dark woodwork.  I am a fan of white woodwork so this was a huge problem for me.  This house already has less natural light than our previous home because of it's layout and window sizes.  The dark woodwork just amplifies that issue.  

As I sit here and look around I can see the changes taking place.  I can see more light.  Maybe it's my age or just the stage of life that I am currently in.  Or maybe it's the fact that I am home every day teaching my kids and working on the house.  Whatever the reason, I am definitely craving more light....more sunlight...more white...more lightheartedness.  

Today I want to show you a few before pictures of our home.  We have already made some changes but there is still so much to do.  These are some of the pictures taken when we came to see the house.  

Front Room or Formal Living Room

Kitchen

I think the combination of the dark woodwork, dark cabinets, stained carpets, and outdated linoleum paints a pretty grim picture.  It was very hard for me to imagine this as my dreamed of cottage.  That's where the visionary in me had to kick in and take over.  It was either that or get very very sad. 

Little by little transformations are taking place around here, in our home and in our family.  We have begun remodeling. We are growing together here.  That makes it worth all the effort.  I hope to show you the process as we go along.  Some things are already completed, but there is still so much to do.  It is definitely about finding balance between working, cooking, family time, household projects, outside activities, and resting.  That is possibly the biggest challenge we face. 

Beginning

My home is where my heart is.  It is where I live each moment, teaching my three children, preparing healthy plant-based foods, decorating and re-decorating until I get it right, and trying to do the best I possibly can on a budget.  I love to thrift shop and yard sales are a thrill for me.  I call it my therapy. It allows me to bring home something that excites me and create a unique mix and match look in our home.  It allows me to just let down and search out what exactly I want my home to reflect.  Have I figured it out yet?  No. Ask my husband.  But I am working on it, one beautiful re-purposed piece at a time.  

We moved last March from a bungalow style home built in 1900.  It was small but cozy with lots of character. It was a great home for our family for almost 10 years.  However, as the kids grew, the house seemed to get smaller and smaller along with the yard.  It was time to leave the busy street setting and search for something with more space...and more places to decorate.  Never could I have imagined buying the house we are currently in.  But, here we are.  Our house is a 1978 Tudor style home that still looks like the 70's. Really, it hasn't been changed at all.
 Honestly, when I walked in I said I could never live here.  It was too dark...dark paint,ugly wallpaper everywhere, and dark glossy woodwork.  Awful.  Made me cry...a lot.  It really did.  I even panicked.  How could I leave my beautiful white woodwork and french doors and hardwood floors?  In the end, the location won out and here we are.  I have to say, I do love the quiet neighborhood and having a big yard. I really do. So...here goes making this house into a cottage, one thrifted piece at a time.