Hallway Plans!

April 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m still on the kick where I really want to re-do the hallway.  Andrew was hoping I would forget, but not this girl!  I had a few things that I was hoping to have changed before the big update though. First on the agenda was the not too pretty electrical panel that is hanging out in the hallway. I was convinced (or desperately hoping) that the panel was void and served no purpose. But, I had our trusty electrician come out and take a look at it.   It’s live.  Not only is it live, it’s still in service. I was deflated, but it’s nothing that a picture frame can’t cover. After that,  we discussed moving the light fixture over a few inches.  That we could totally do! Yay. No beam or air duct in the way. But…then it was brought to my attention that it would be almost impossible to match the texture if we patch over the original hole. Deflated again. Realistically though, we don’t really want to take on a huge project just to paint the hallway and change the light fixture. That seems a little crazy.

Let’s review the original plan of paint color and light fixture.

That paint color was way too light, and that light fixture (ALTHOUGH GORGEOUS!) won’t be bright enough with just one bulb.   So the hunt continues for a light fixture but at least I did find a new paint color!

The heavens were upon me when I found this color on the Sherwin Williams paint deck I have.  I ran on over to Lowe’s and had it matched, and sampled.  It looks gorgeous!  Or at least the 4×4 square of it I painted looks gorgeous!

Now that I do at least have a paint color, let’s stream line this runaway train.

  1. Paint ceiling.
  2. Find light fixture with two bulbs and less than 16 inches in diameter that doesn’t hang too low.
  3. Sand walls and fill holes.
  4. Paint orange.
  5. Stripe one wall with light orange color.
  6. Clean and spray paint air vent in ceiling.
  7. Repaint the trim.
  8. Paint frame for artwork that will hang over electrical panel.
  9. Hang said artwork.
  10. Repaint doors leading from the hallway.
  11. Put everything back.

On Fab.com yesterday, they had a sale with prints of Eames chair designs.  Andrew loves the Eames style of furniture.  If it’s somewhat modular and looks Danish, he’s all about it.  We even had just watched the documentary on Charles and Ray Eames the week prior.  I was so jazzed to see the molded plywood chair design in print that I clicked it into my shopping cart right away.   Best part?  The print is orange!  The second best part?  I had a $45 dollar credit!   I didn’t even have to pay for it.  Woooo!

Fab.com/Etsy.com

We cannot wait until that shows up on our doorstep.   :-)

Now with having a better game plan, and knowing we don’t have to worry about the electrical stuff  - I’ll be getting started on the hallway endeavour come Friday.   Oddly enough, I’m getting a facial on Friday.  Nothing says relaxation that paint rollers and sand paper.   I’ll be opening up my doors just to cover them in dust.  Oh well.  It’s for a good cause.

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The Elephant In The Bathroom

April 16, 2012 by 17 Comments

I’m ignoring the giant elephant in the room.  The giant elephant being the fact that we still don’t have a back splash in the bathroom. So, how am I ignoring the elephant in the room?   Easily.  By walking around the aisles of bathroom accessories at Bed, Bath and Beyond bound and determined to replace our trash can.  Also, wandering around Lowe’s for the easy way to breathe some life into our cabinets.

Let’s please remember what I’m ignoring:

Our poor wood trashcan fell victim to a little water damage when we had a toilet pipe issue last year.  Sadly, it swelled. We got a little more mileage out of it by well..ignoring it, but it was time to go. I think I may hate Bed, Bath and Beyond. As a homeowner, I will probably be condemned from saying that, but it’s always just too busy and cluttered. Not to mention the prices are seemingly high, and it’s not really my taste. Because of that, we really did feel like we walked around forever trying to find a trash can to buy using a $25 dollar gift card I received for my birthday. When did trash cans become so expensive?  It’s something you put trash in. Really? But, I digress.

A solid 40 minutes later, this  trashcan was the winner!  The hammered design falls in line with our West Elm honeycomb bathroom set.  The brushed nickel base matches the hardware, and it’s not going to swell if we have any water issues.  All in all, I’d say it was a win-win!

Another thing that really bugged me about the bathroom was the hardware on the cabinets.  (Well, the cabinets too…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)  At least buying new knobs would be an easy fix.

Weird antiqued basket weave knobs? No thank you. They made the cabinets look so dreary! I couldn’t wait to get new ones, and I’ve been complaining about it for at least two years now. But, anytime we go to a home improvement store, we always have bigger fish to fry, so knobs get put further and further down the list. Thankfully, our last venture to Lowe’s was just for paint samples which gave me chance to finally rid myself of bronze-y knobs! Also, please ignore the fact that in the above picture a piece of the cabinet is missing. That photo was  taken during our “Let’s Put In a New Sink” trauma.

Please welcome happy brushed nickel goodness.

SO MUCH BETTER.

For less than 15 dollars, I was able to bring in some new life into the bathroom.  For that, I am so excited.    I’m getting really good at avoiding the lack of back splash issue.  Maybe it’s time to buy a new towel rod and toilet paper holder?  Or shower curtain?  Paint the cabinets?  List goes on!

Did you revive anything in your house this weekend?

Love,

J and A

Filed Under: Projects

Let’s Just Re-Do The Hallway, Okay?

April 5, 2012 by 2 Comments

You know you’re a homeowner if you can’t keep your mind on just one project.  Earlier in the week, I posted about how much I’d love to tile the bathroom.  Well, realistically – that won’t happen anytime soon.  However, that doesn’t help the fact that I am currently in project mode and want to get something done this weekend.   I ran down the mental list that I have yet to start checking things off, and it dawned on me that I really don’t care for the hallway.   You see, when we moved into the house back in 2009, the only room we painted was the office and the dining room.  We kept all of the colors of the previous owners, because they were livable.  It’s 2012 now, and I’m kind of over it and ready to make the house more to my taste.   The hallway seems like a good start because it would be “easy” (that word always comes to bite me in the butt, later.) and something I could do without the hubs.  Any project he doesn’t have to get involved in, makes him very happy.

Our hallway is the main hub of the house.  Our home is fairly small, so the hallway is the center of everything.  With a closet, and three rooms leading off of it – it’s busy!  The only real natural light we get into the hallway is when we have the curtains open in our bedroom from our french doors.  But, when the day is cloudy, we have to settle for artificial light.   I’d love to lighten up the walls with something that has more of a sheen to add brightness into the area.

Another issue we have in the hallway is the fact that one of the walls used to be the exterior wall, prior to the addition of the master bedroom.  When the renovation was done, they never properly removed an electrical outlet (At least, I think it’s an outlet).  Instead, they just painted over it.  Again and again.  I think I’m ready to say goodbye to that.

One of the “fun” things about a 66 year old house is that none of the light fixtures are centered on the ceiling. Why? I have no idea. I don’t really think it would be too hard to measure, divide by two, and draw a dot.   But apparently it is!   In changing up the hallway, I think it would be a good idea to finally move the light fixture about two inches over before I get it changed out.  (If you’re a certain electrician reading this, you may hear from me soon!)

Remember how I said this project would be easy?  Sounds to me like I’m starting to make it a little more difficult. But, in the words of Mike Holmes….”Do it right!”

In my “easy” project I’d like to:

  1. Replace light fixture and move it over two inches.
  2. Patch hole in ceiling where fixture originally was.
  3. Repaint ceiling.
  4. Paint the walls a light orange with a nice sheen.
  5. Remove painted-over outlet and patch the drywall.
  6. Repaint doors as well as trim.
  7. Possibly add a stripe, or stencil detail.

TOTALLY EASY.

I’m insane.  But, I will own up to that.

We already have artwork in the hallway that I would like to keep, because we’ve become fond of it.  One is a hand painted octopus water scheme painted by a local artist that I bought from an antique store for Andrew. The other is a really cute canvas piece from Urban Outfitters.

I threw together this little tile of things to think about it.  I, however, couldn’t tile the fact that I am thinking stripes on the corner of the wall in the above photo.  Could be interesting? Add a little dimension to this more or less boring hallway. But, I definitely do think I’m leaning towards a pale orange color to mix things up.  That’s a color we haven’t already used in the house, and it just seems different.  Plus, it will play off the chandelier in the bathroom too.

I think it’s safe to say I’ll be heading over to Home Depot tomorrow to get a better idea of what I’d like to accomplish!

Any suggestions?

Love,

J and A

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