We’re Expecting…

Ike and I have exciting news….

We’re expecting…….an eating area make-over! 

Someone go retrieve my mother from Babies ‘R Us and kindly explain that I’m a horrible daughter and I will never joke about being pregnant again.

Phase 1 of the make-over:  The addition of beautiful chairs.  The Jackson Metal Tub Chair from World Market, to be exact.

I had previously mentioned my obsession with farmhouse tables and metal chairs.  I had a particularly interesting day at work.  I was drooling over chairs online and noticed that these lovelies were 25% off.  Nate and I had the following conversation.  Please note that I am impulsive.  Nate is not.  He is my voice of reason.

Michelle:  “I’m obsessed with these metal chairs.  I’m going to buy them.”

Nate:  “Whatever.”

Michelle:  “No, I’m serious.  I have to have them.”

Nate:  “Whatever.”

Michelle: “Stop messing with me.”

Nate:  “You’re a big girl.”

Michelle:  Click.  “Okay. I did it.  You are to blame.”

Come to find out, he actually likes this style.  The dude continues to surprise me lately.

I have only briefly tested out the chairs but they are pretty darn comfy.  The metal-ly goodness makes me smile. 

This was my first World Market experience.  It was a good one!  The chairs arrived quickly and were packaged well.  They look exactly like the images online.  I have this problem with buying things online and then hating them when they arrive.  Not the case with these lovelies.

Ike even approves…

Please tell me I’m not the only impulsive person out there.  I am now on a self-imposed house spending freeze until after the holidays.  Or until my next crazy idea arises.

Phase 2 = table

Phase 3 = lighting

What do you think of the chairs?  Who are my fellow impulsive readers?  Who thinks Ike needs a hair cut?

Royal Design Studio Giveaway Winner

And the winner is….

Congrats Cindy!  Can’t wait to see these built-ins!

Molding Questions Answered

Who’s sick of my powder room?  I kind of am.  I’m not gonna lie.  I mean, I’m in love with it.  I’m just tired of posting about it.  This is the last post.  I think.  I hope.  Tomorrow will be fun.  I promise.  Oh, I can’t wait to share tomorrow’s post.

Here’s something fun.  A nice reader left an explanation of the term powder room in the comments…

“Supposedly the term powder room comes from a small room the was reserved for powdering wigs on the way out the house. That way it was contained in a small space.”

I learn so many things blogging.  (Thanks Julie!)

We’ve had some questions regarding the molding in our powder room.  Let’s hope I can answer them! 

Please refer to following picture…

How did you determine the height and spacing of the moldings?

We determined the height of the molding based on laziness.  I stenciled two full sheets on the wall and then stopped.  I thought this was genius.  The slight flaw in our plan is the outlet and light switch. Nate needs to cut the plate to cover both.  Eh.  You win some and you lose some.

As for spacing on the squares, we looked at our inspiration image.  We guessed that they used about 4” from the wall.  We held up the molding at 4” and we both liked it.  Done.

What did you use for the top part of the molding?

Nate ripped a 1x2 down to 1 1/8”. He thought the 1x2 stuck out too far.  I was impartial.  He nailed the 1x4 to the wall.  He then glued the ripped board and placed it on top of the 1x4.

What did you use to make the squares?

We used a decorative Colonial molding.  Nate installed the squares on the wall.  No pre-assembly here.  He cut the ends to 45 degrees and nailed them the molding into studs (where available) and also used glue when there were no studs.

Did you keep your original baseboard?

We did keep the original baseboard.  It worked with the rest of the molding so there was no need to replace it.

How’d you finish off this project?

We caulked between the wall and moldings to provide a seamless look.  We then painted over everything.  It was nice having the walls already painted white.  Made the molding going a lot faster.   Well, as fast as painting moldings go.

Any questions?  Moldings bore me.  I love them.  Just don’t love writing about them.  But I do try to be educational…sometimes. 

On a fun note, did you watch any good movies this week-end?  We watched Arthur (the Russell Brand re-make).  Amazing.  You must watch it. I’m serious.  You CAN have amazing and Mr. Brand.  I didn’t think it was possible. I now want to watch the original…

***The winner of the Royal Design Studio Stencil will be announced this evening.  Stop back to see if you were the lucky winner!***

Giveaway- Royal Design Studio Stencil

Today’s an exciting day on the blog!

Royal Design Studio is giving away one stencil ($50 or less) to a lucky reader!

Royal Design Studio has an amazing selection of stencils.  Before I started on our powder room, I mentioned to some friends and family that I wanted to stencil.  They all gave me the same funny look.  I think they were all imagining my brother’s high school bedroom with the grizzly bear and evergreen stenciled border.  Stenciling has come a long ways.

I chose the Nova Trellis because I wanted something that was unique but not too crazy.  We are pretty conservative people and I wanted something that would fit in with the overall traditional feel of our home.  I also wanted to have a little fun with this room.  The Nova Trellis was a perfect fit for us!

Do you have a room that could use a little pizzazz? If so, be sure to enter!

• PRIZE: One stencil $50 or less with free shipping included
• TO ENTER (required):  Visit Royal Design Studio and then leave a comment here with which stencil you like and where you would use it.  (Share colors too if you’re a real overachiever!)
• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Sunday, November 6th at 11:59 PM CST
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
• OTHER STUFF: The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, November 7th

Be sure to follow Royal Design Studio on facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest stenciling news!

Stenciling Thoughts

On Tuesday, I showed you our powder room make-over. 

A key part to this make-over was the Royal Design Studio Nova Trellis stencil. Royal Design Studio has a great stencil selection. Picking out a stencil was almost harder than the actual act of stenciling.  Almost.

 

Speaking of stenciling.  I’m by far the first blogger to stencil a wall.  There are a lot of tutorials out there.  I found Young House Love's tutorial to be the most helpful. 

Here’s what I learned:

The Stencil: 

• The stencil was made of a good quality material and held up through the entire process. 
• The repeating pattern made it easy to keep the stencil level.  I don’t see straight.  I usually think levels are wrong.  Nate was impressed with how well I did.  Especially when the molding also ended up level with the stenciling.
• The stencil was large which made long portions of wall go smoothly.  You could cover a large portion of the wall without having to reposition the stencil.  I loved the big reveal after completing a section of stencil.  It was almost like Christmas morning over and over again.
• Corners and shorter portions of wall were more difficult.  I solved this problem by cutting out parts of the stencil to use in the corners and above the door.  Not the most ideal (or probably recommended) situation but it definitely worked.
• Below is the best picture of the size of the stencil.  (I started stenciling above the window and then decided I preferred that portion of the wall white.  Stencils trump wall paper because changing back to white was easy.)

Time:  Stenciling takes a lot of time. A lot.  I think I spent 16-18 hours stenciling this room.  I am not a patient person so this was definitely a test for me. At one point I thought I may be stenciling well into my 80’s.  I’m also sometimes dramatic. 

Tools:  I used a disposable plate, bowl, foam stencil brush, painter’s tape, spray adhesive (brush and adhesive purchased at Michael’s), and patience.  I used the bowl to hold the paint and the plate to dab the excess.  The adhesive was helpful to hold the stencil in place on the wall.  Painter’s tape was handy on the corners.  You could probably get by with just the tape but I think the adhesive helped prevent the paint from bleeding through the stencil.

Paint:  I used Black Leather by Dutch Boy in an eggshell finish. I think the contrast of black and white is what makes this bathroom but it also made stenciling difficult.  Getting the right amount of paint is an art.  You need enough to fill in the stencil but not so much that it bleeds through.  Too little black is greyish.  Enough to get a deep black was a mess.  I found that practicing on cardboard was helpful.  The trellis pattern was very forgiving though. The tiny pixels may not individually be perfect but they blend well overall.  As seen below…eye trickery…

Would I stencil again?  Yes. I love how the room turned out.  The time was definitely worth it. I love how it has the look of wallpaper but isn’t.  I’d like to think that the process taught me patience but I don’t know that I would go that far.  I did find it mildly therapeutic after I got the hang of it.  I loved the selection at Royal Design Studio.  I  really wanted something unique and their wide variety of designs made this possible.

Any other questions regarding stenciling? I’ll answer them all! 

Do you like the look of stenciled walls?  Would you like a chance to win your very own stencil from Royal Design Studio to spruce up your space?  Stop back tomorrow for a giveaway for a free stencil!!

Powder Room Reveal

Our powder room is done-ish.  We still need to add crown molding and wall art. I might also switch out the mirror and window treatment.  I’ll count it done-ish enough until next week-end.  Why? Because I finally finished stenciling and painting moldings.  Can I get a high five?!

This room is a little bolder than my usual conservative style but I’m digging it…

I used the Nova Trellis supplied to me by the wonderful Royal Design Studio.  (I’ll do a full stencil review and giveaway later this week!)  The white is Ultra White by Valspar.  The black is Black Leather by Dutch Boy.

I was originally inspired by the moldings and use of stencil in this room that I found on Pinterest via Apartment Therapy…

Drool worthy.

I’m extremely happy with my copycat.

It’s hard to believe this is even the same room…

Gosh. I love moldings.  Nate wants me to blog that I hate painting them in hopes that I will remember that I do not want him to install more.  He’s such a trooper.

Have you stenciled before?  Do you think the term “powder room” is funny?  My family and friends laugh at me.  Who’s a fan of moldings?  Who’s a fan of moldings but not of painting them?

Black Claw Feet

I was hoping to have a powder room reveal for you today but we have this problem where we think things will take 2 hours and then they take 6 instead.  It should be done tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

One project I did complete this week-end was a Pinterest inspired project.  I was going to use it for the big Pinterest party on Wednesday but I have something better.  The suspense.

I saw this image on Pinterest via Kohler…

Hello, pretty black feet.  I want a tub with pretty black feet.  Hmm, I have a claw foot tub..

I also have an unnecessary urge to paint things that don’t need painted.  Let’s do this.

I grabbed some Black Magic Olympic paint that was hanging out in the basement and went to town.

The black feet are so beautifully creepy.

I always get nervous when I do projects like this but I’m digging the tub’s free new look.

What do you think?  Who else is Pinterest challenging it up this week?

Linking up to the Pinterest challenge at: Young House Love, Bower Power, House of Earnest, Ana White

Shutterfly Winners & New Toilet Trend

We have two very important topics to discuss today.

1. The winners of the 25 free photo cards from Shutterfly are:

• Sarah@ {rad: renovations are dirty}
• Samantha
• Amy@ buffalo-roam

Congrats ladies!  I will be e-mailing you with your winning codes this week-end!  I loved reading everyone’s favorite part of the holidays.  I can’t wait to watch Elf…repeatedly.

2. We are starting a new toilet seat trend.

Lesson for this week:  Toilet seats are fragile.  I love how it broke off in the fun wavy pattern.  I’d keep it if the dog would stay out of it.  Okay, not really.

What lessons have you learned this week?  Who wants a wavy toilet seat of their very own?

Stay tuned next week for a powder room reveal and Pinterest Challenge project.  Get excited!

Get Outta My Head

Today’s interesting fact.  I become easily obsessed with things.  And by obsessed, I mean obsessed. Like that’s all I can think and talk about all. day. long.  I’m borderline needing medication.  Ask Nate.
I’m thinking about a weekly series titled “Get Outta My Head.”  But I’m bad with follow through and I don’t want to let you down.  We’ll see.

What can’t I get out of my head this week?

Farmhouse tables and metal chairs…

via decor pad

via Restored Style

via Design Manifest

I’m pretty sure Nate is going to run for the hills if I say the words “farmhouse table” again tonight.  I have him pondering the idea now.  Pondering is a step above his previous idea that his wife had lost her marbles.

Where did this latest obsession come from?  A dream that I think stemmed from picking out our new lights (thanks again Barn Light Electric).  I want to take our kitchen a step further in the country/industrial department.

Just picture the table and chairs here…with this cream light and maybe a shelf above the patio door.  Or perhaps taller moldings.  My brain is out of control.


The table is doable (thanks to Ana White).  The chairs are a different story. I need your assistance.  Help me find an affordable chair.  The closest thing I can get is this chair from Industry West for $125.

 

via Industry West

$125 multiplied by 4 equals a hard time convincing Nate that this is a good idea.  Which it is.  Of course.

What do you think?  Love it or hate it? Who has chair options for me?  What are you obsessing over this week?

Hunting in Naperville

This past week-end the dudes of the family were hunting pheasant in South Dakota.  Us ladies decided to do some hunting of our own.  Bargain hunting.  We made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Naperville, Il.  It’s a very good thing I live far from civilization.

During this trip, I made my maiden voyage to HomeGoods.  As witnessed by my awesome cell phone photo… 

It was amazing.  How can you go wrong with a TJMaxx that doesn’t have racks of clothes and only home items?  You can’t.

What bargains did I find?  Nate prefers to ask me what I didn’t find. 

How can you pass up a cute @ sign?…

Or a wire basket that holds cooking magazines?…(If you have time to notice my dirty toaster, you have time to clean it.)…

I finally bought soap dispensers for our master bath.  I forgot that I don’t have chrome finishes.  Rookie.  I still like them.  They will eventually be moved to our Jack and Jill bath that does have chrome finishes.

What didn’t go home with me?  A pair of Christmas dog pajamas that I am kicking myself for not buying and this mirror.  It had a pretty decent sized scratch deep in the mirror or it would have been mine. Sad...

Has anyone seen this shape of mirror anywhere lately?  Preferably one that isn’t a million dollars.

On a side note, I purchased my first pair of skinny jeans a few weeks back.  You know, now that they probably aren’t cool any more.  They are the most unbelievably comfortable pair of jeans that I own.  Who knew?  I digress.

Overall, a successful first trip to HomeGoods (and many other stores in Naperville).  13 hours later and I was home again.  That is a lot of shopping for this girl.  Ike and I slept well that night…

Have you been to HomeGoods?  Do you like shopping or loathe it?  I’m surprisingly not a great shopper.  I get sensory overload and wear out quickly but I was a trooper on this trip.

Don’t forget to enter for a chance to win 25 free holiday cards from Shutterly. Enter here!