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We’ve been super busy this autumn, but somehow I have managed to find time to give the living room a much needed facelift. it all started when I finally got the piano from my childhood out of storage (at my Dad’s house) and into our living room.
The process snowballed from one project to another. The piano only fits on one wall in our little living room, so that is where it now sits. I had to take the art down on that wall which left it full of holes, so I figured it was as good a time as any to put up a fresh coat of paint. Then I needed new art to go above the piano. Then we went to Ikea and we got a new sofa cover. Then I needed a new rug to go with it. My poor husband.
Regardless, this week’s project was tackling the big empty wall behind the piano. Since the opposite wall will have a pretty large scale piece (which is on the way and I can’t WAIT to share!), I figured a collection of some of my favorites would balance the room out nicely.
I went with my large letterpress drawer (found at an estate sale for $15), 2 small frames with family photos ($1 each at a garage sale) and a medium sized frame with a print by Kevin Russ (Virserum Frame on sale at Ikea for $12.99 and print from Society 6 for $19).
It wasn’t terribly difficult to put together. I laid it all out on the floor to make sure I could space it correctly, used painters tape to set up a center line and used the toothpaste trick. I’m pretty pleased!
The rest of the room is coming along. I still need to paint the ceiling and trim (blegh). The art is on it’s way and I still have to edit to the accessories a little. I think it will be very cozy by the time winter rolls in. I’m looking forward to decking it out for the holidays.
In the next month I’m going to try and get some painting out of the way. There have been a lot of paint projects that have been sitting since we moved in. Some rooms I couldn’t settle on a color, and some rooms I just got put on the back burner for other projects.
We are planning a trip to Ikea next weekend to get a few things on our shopping list. After that I’ll be able to finalize the paint colors for our living room and guest room. I have a loose plan, some things will depend on how our Ikea trip goes. But here is what we are thinking…
For the living room, the plan is to warm the room up with Whetstone Gray from the Martha Stewart Living paint collection. I always planned on keeping the room white, but with such an expansive ceiling and white trim, I think it could use some depth. I might select a slightly lighter shade if the new sofa fabric is too close to this value.
I am still planning to accent the living room with mints and peachy pink. With the piano in the room, there is SO much wood. We need to bring some color and texture to the space. I had planned on picking up this print from the Evolution Shop, but it seems to have sold out (just my luck). I’m searching for an alternative plan if I can’t track down the Dog Rose print.
You may remember my Guest Room in a Day post last year. In a pinch I threw together a halfway decent guest room. Yet again, my parents are coming to visit this winter and I want to make the room a little cozier and more our style. The plan is to paint the walls this warm shade of Pink Granite from the Martha Stewart Living paint collection. I would love to do a high chair rail, but I’m sure sure I will have time.
I’m going to let the walls and the colorful quilt be the color in the room. I’m planning to blow up one of my black and white prints (EXTRA large!) to go over the bed. The side table and lamp will undergo a coat of paint in some more neutral shades (perhaps black on the cart?). We may be switching the beds around in the house depending on what we find at Ikea next week. We’ll also be adding some clothing storage and a mirror as well to make the room more convenient.
We find ourselves at the close of another summer. I like to do a little mid-year wrap up about this time (see 2010 here). This summer has been a busy one. Lots of fun and some hard work.
We went backpacking with my little (though he’s a full foot taller than me) brother and Logan. We spent 2 nights in the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia on the banks of the Red Creek. The first day was rainy and the drive was long, but landscape was beautiful and we got to spend some quality time together.
I did the Color Run in Cleveland with my Sister-in-Law and had a blast. It was dirty, crowded and awesome. We’re looking forward to making it a summer tradition.
I worked on my ‘before 30′ list and learned something new this year. I tried my hand at rose gardening with the help of Lara, who helped me select some beginner roses. They did better than I could have ever imagined in their first season and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do next summer. We introduced Abraham Darby and Wildeve to our garden. Soon we’ll be wrapping them up for the winter.
The bulk of our summer was spent in the midst of a huge exterior home renovation. What started out as simply a new roof quickly escalated to siding, windows, door, trim and more. It was a big step for our little house, and we had to put some other projects aside, but we love the outcome. Check out the final before and after photographs.
I joined the 21st century and bought an Iphone! I purchased a case from Society 6 (which I reviewed here) and joined the Instagram world (follow me @lostandfawned) where I shared some of my favorite summer adventures!
We went to the zoo for my 25th birthday. I spent the whole day geeking out over animals and eating cotton candy. It was one of my favorite birthdays to date.
The day after my birthday I went to an Akron Aeros minor league game with all my in-laws (including our little niece) to celebrate my birthday and my sister-in-laws birthday.
We had an unexpected house guest and temporarily fostered a lost bird. He was lost and ended up spending a few weeks with us while we looked for his people. We never found his home, but we did find a wonderful sanctuary that was more than happy to take care of him. I found out this week he found a new permanent home with one of the volunteers from the bird sanctuary.
So here is to summer adventure! It’s been great!
What was your favorite part of summer? Did you do any home renovation? Go on any fun trips? Learn anything new? Share your summer story in the comments below!
It’s been a long, tough summer. A lot of work, a lot of stress and a little more money than we anticipated, but the biggest project to date is complete. You may recall the original plan when this all started. You’ll see we made some changes and ended up going a slightly different direction.
But less talk, more photos, right? Here we go…
Here is a side-by-side for comparison…
Not too shabby if I do say so myself! In fact, we love it! Here are some bullet points about some of the decisions we made…
- At the last second we may a quick change to the siding color. We went with a slightly warmer hue due to availability and price.
- As you know, I went back and forth on the door color for months. In the end, we went with the orange. And I’m so happy we did.
- We ended up using these lights on the sides of the front door.
As with all projects, everything ended up costing a little more than we anticipated. Mostly because when we took all the siding off, I started to think of all the other projects we “might as well do” (I said this constantly) and those little things build up. Things such as replacing a few rotted windows, removing the octagonal windows on the shed and installing square ones, rewiring the back light to work on a switch, etc.
Things that made the biggest difference…
- The scale of the siding. The 8″ wide aluminum siding was way to large for our little house. We went down to a 4″, which is much more typical and looks more proportionate.
- By the recommendation of the architectural board we went with 4″ contrasting corner boards and trim. It’s much pricier, but it makes a big impact.
- Our all glass storm door and re-painted cheery orange door make a HUGE difference in the way the porch looks. Our old wood door is so cute. I’m so happy to finally highlight it. The storm door was $200 from our local big-box store. We also had our crew install it since our old house likes to makes simple projects more complicated.
- No shutters. The architectural board asked us not to put shutters on the large windows since they could never be functional (too small to cover the windows). They asked if we put shutters on smaller windows to invest in authentic wooden shutters (rather than the cheap old vinyl ones we used to have). I’m not sure how I feel about the lack of shutters. Maybe we’ll add some to the upper window next summer. Thoughts?
- We added a Fypon door surround to the entrance. It was under $200 and makes a big impact.
The landscaping really took a beating, though it was nothing to write home about in the first place. We’ll be working on that a little next summer. The porch also needs some work. Chipmunks have made a home in the cinder block and it’s crumbling a little more each season. But I think we are done for the year. It’s been exhausting.
We are looking forward to putting some greens around our door this winter and smaller heating bills. But mostly I’m looking forward to relaxing in our home with no construction projects this autumn.
This summer we added a few new accusations to our furniture collection. Usually these just end up being instagramed, but a few are so special the deserve a little more notoriety.
This weekend, my grandparents sent us home with a real treasure. Their framed Lincoln assassination newspaper has been hanging in their den for as long as I can remember. I have always admired it. After dinner on Labor Day they put it in the trunk of our car. By my understanding, it is actually a reprint from a few years after the assassination. Regardless, it’s a pretty special piece and is now in our dining room.
Near our home is a consignment store that specializes in furniture and home decor. Every month a piece sits in their showroom the price decreases. Each piece has a tag that displays the dates of the discounts. Jared and I stop in every so often to see what’s new and check on pieces we have our eye on. This spring we spotted this mid-century cedar trunk. We kept an eye on it, knowing it would be at it’s lowest price in August. One day at work, Jared’s mom surprised us with the trunk as an early anniversary gift.
It’s the perfect size to go over the intake floor vent in the dining room floor. We are using it to hold linens, blankets and spare towels. I love the brass hardware and dovetail joints.
It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling to know that both of these pieces will travel with us and always be a part of our home. Maybe someday our grandkids will admire the paper and ask curious questions about where we got it.
This is the first real decorating I have done in our dining room since we painted. We are still on the hunt for a new dining set, but haven’t run across the right table yet. I’m also looking for some curtains for that window. I would love a floor length pattern there. A new rug in on the agenda as well.
All images property of Lost & Fawned. Feel free to borrow, pin and share, but please link lovingly.
It’s taken me months, but this weekend I finally committed to a door color. If you recall I was debating on one of the four following colors from the Martha Stewart Living collection at Home Depot…
On Friday I made a decision (with Jared’s help) and Saturday I bought a full gallon of one of these hues. If you are like me, buying a can of paint is super exciting. I can’t keep it sitting unopened in my house. I HAVE to open it immediately and get to work, which is what we did Saturday night. I don’t recommend doing this by the way. You’ll see why later in this post.
While you can paint a door while it’s vertical, it’s not recommended, especially if you are going with a bold or dark color. You really want to be able to load the door up with paint, which you can’t do if it’s hanging. Plus, it’s much easier to sand the door down if it’s laying flat.
After a good sanding to knock off the old gloss and smooth out some bubbling, I used painters tape to edge the windows and sides of the door. I don’t typically rely on painters tape when I paint walls. I find edging with a brush and a steady hand to be more accurate, but in this case the tape was necessary.
And now for the exciting part! The color is…
Butterscotch! When I opened the can Jared remarked it looked like a big can of pumpkin pie filling. As with most bold colors, it looks totally different wet than dry.
We finished the first coat as night was falling. As I noted before, this probably wasn’t the wisest time of day to start a project like this. We hammered sheets over our doors and went to bed. In the morning, they were STILL tacky. Luckily, I managed to get a second coat on and let them dry just before the rain started.
Somehow, the two of us managed to get the heavy wooden door back up on the hinges ourselves. I’m super pleased with how the door turned out. Check it out…
Wahoo! It’s so warm and friendly! I think we’re the only orange door in the neighborhood too. It’s going to be beautiful in autumn and will look lovely surrounded by greens this winter. I still want to change out the knocker and handle at some point.
So what do you think? Did we make the right choice? If we get tired of it by next summer, it’s an easy enough change to make. Maybe I’ll try one of the other three colors we considered. But for now, I’m loving this happy hue. Let me know if you have any questions about the color or the process.
And in case you were wondering, photos of the completed house exterior is coming soon! Very soon! You get a little sneak peek today, but that’s all.
All images property of Lost & Fawned. Feel free to share, pin and use as inspiration, but please link back with love.
We have been reclaiming our living room this summer. We usually live in our upstairs second bedroom which we have turned into a shared office/spare bedroom/workout room/etc. But this summer we have been spending more time downstairs watching movies on the sofa, playing games together or lounging on the sofa.
I never put much thought into our living room. It’s kind of come together over time, with whatever furniture was leftover from our apartment. It’s OK. Here’s what it looks like on it’s best day…
We like our Ikea Karlstad sofa (which we modified by having mid-century style legs custom made for instead of the blocky birch ones it came with), and can’t afford to replace it at this point anyways. But it could use a little refreshing. The pillows, rug, art, etc. are just a collection of things we like with no real direction. I recently purchased eggplant floor-length drapes for the windows to help block out glare when we watch movies. It could use a side chair. We like the white walls, but it needs a fresh, clean coat of matte white.
I’m contemplating a little makeover this winter. I would really like it to feel a little more put together and grown up. We still want it to be cozy, fit with all seasons and not look matchy-matchy. I’m considering a palette like this….
This was a snippet from a home feature on design*sponge. Right now a lot of our pieces are pretty masculine and I think peachy pink and mint accents with charcoal gray and wood could be a wonderful way to soften things up a bit.
- We’re looking at getting a fresh slip cover from Ikea for the sofa. We love this textured light gray textile, but this charcoal one might be more practical with our big black dog.
- We are going to freshen up the walls and ceiling with a clean coat of white paint.
- In a perfect world this beautiful botanical print would be mine in a huge frame. But I may have to settle for one of these (1 / 2) instead of the budget doesn’t allow it. We’ll see if I can pinch pennies elsewhere.
- All of the furniture we have will be used. I need to refinish the mid-century slat coffee table Jared bought me for my birthday. I am still on the hunt for the perfect side chair for the living room. I have been looking for ages, but now I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger on anything since I didn’t have a defined direction for the room yet.
- I would probably DIY some rustic pillows for the sofa. I really want a mountain of cozy cushions to lounge on. I have my eye on this rose turkish cushion cover to mix in.
- I like the rug we have, but we would probably move it into our dining room and pick up something more neutral (maybe this one from ikea, depending on what slip cover we go with).
- I would like to use the eggplant drapes I have, but if they don’t look right I’ll use them in the guestroom and upstairs bedroom. Some charcoal drapes would work to block out the light on the big window, or even a dark dusty green (good luck finding those!).
- In the next year, I plan to have a service move my piano down to our house from my dad’s house where I kept it through college. That would go in the living room as well just inside the door. It would be fun to accessorize that as well. A lamp (like this one) with a green tinted glass base would be lovely in a grouping with vintage piece.
Sorry for the wall-of-text. Listing really helps get my thoughts in order. Obviously I haven’t worked out exactly how this is all going to fit together. A lot of these decisions depend on which sofa slip-cover and which piece of art we start with for a base. From there everything else should fall into place.
I’m starting a pin-board to keep all of my inspiration and ideas in order. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest to watch it come together.
Tomorrow while I’m at my day job, we get to say goodbye to four of our old wooden windows. For those of you who have replaced windows, you know how expensive it is. We are doing them a few at a time. This round we are replaces the 2 in the kitchen (that had ice on the INSIDE last winter) and 2 upstairs that are rotted and cracked.
I will kind of miss the charming shape and cute little doors in the middle of the kitchen windows, but they are beyond saving. It’s impossible to keep the window sills clean and the last think you want is pieces of window falling in you pans on the stove. So it is time to part ways.
There are a few rooms in our house that leave something to be desired. One of these is the mudroom on the back of the house. We lovingly call it “the shed”. It really is a shed that they stuck to the back of our house at some point in it’s life. I love wood accents, you know I do. But the cedar walls are so dated, especially with the faux-marble tile, octagonal windows and boring beige doors.
It’s a small room. Only 10×15′ maybe (I confess I have never measured it). I do like the wood paneling on the peaked ceiling. I think it has potential. Eventually we want to make it our laundry room. But moving our water and dryer exhaust are a project for another year. In the mean time, I think we could spruce the room up for under $1000.
So here is the tentative plan. This winter I’m going to get some quotes to have the room dry-walled. I’m still debating on leaving the ceiling the wood paneled. We have already replaced the windows (see below). I’m thinking painting the walls a soft sea glass blue green would really make that room feel bigger and so fresh. Here are some more details…
- On the left side of the back door we would love a spot to dump our shoes. I love this unit to keep Logan’s leashes, collars and frisbees in order as well as our hats, coats and gloves. Under it, we are keeping our eyes peeled for some sort of vintage bench and shoe storage. GREVBÄCK Hat Rack – $29.99
- I really want to keep the walls light and fresh. Ever since I saw this laundry room in the 2012 Ikea Catalog I have been obsessed with a blue-green hue for the walls somewhere in our house. Sea Anemone by Martha Stewart Living Paint
- I keep my gardening tools in this room year round. When I saw this industrial shelf in the new Ikea catalog I know it was perfect. The price is just right too. HYLLIS Shelving Unit – $14.99
- Along the long wall, we would love a utility counter. We only need a few units, so we’ll probably be checking the local Habit for Humanity Restore frequently. If we can’t find white cabinets, we’ll paint them white and finish them with some antique hardware. Pictured cabinet from Lowes
- We plan to put a lot of wall shelves up in the room, but I really think some artwork will make it feel more like a room than a shed. I love this print by Eva Juliet. Valerian Print – $39
- The lighting situation is up for debate. Right now, there are 2 florescent fixtures along the ceiling. I’m not sure how to handle the peak in the ceiling. We have this fixture in our bedroom, and love it. It needs to throw light around the room since I plan to work at the counter with my kiln. Brushed Nickle Flush Mount Light – $20
For the flooring we really don’t want to take on pulling up that ceramic tile. There is not a whole lot of room to put anything thick on top. And this room get’s a lot of traffic. We use that back door as our main entrance on a daily basis.
So it’s time for me to plug Jared’s business. One of the products he sells is these Uno-tiles or these rubber landing tiles, normally used for commercial stair landings. They are highly durable, come in a handful of nice colors (how dreamy is that bright Orange or soft Windor Blue), they would be super easy to keep clean and we could install them ourselves. We may go with some blemished tiles from the 888 series to keep costs down.
As I mentioned, we have made some progress. When we had the siding off the house we had the crew take out the little octagonal windows and replaced them with new, white windows that function. It’s going to help keep the room sealed up in winter and it lets in so much more light. We got the larger window used for $25, can’t beat that.
After the renovation this summer, we need a season to rest. So my plan is to get quotes on the drywall this winter and take this on in the spring. I’m really hoping I can do it all for $1000 or less. That is the plan. We would probably re-drywall the adjoining hallway that leads to the kitchen and refinish it as well to clean it up.
All photos and inspiration boards property of Lost & Fawned unless otherwise noted. Please link & pin with love.
It’s been a heck of a summer so far. I know I have been a little more silent than usual. This house renovation has really left us drained in the evening. Even though we are not doing the actual work, I’m still exhausted when the sun goes down every day. Between making decisions quickly, discussing money and inevitable complications it’s a lot to weigh on your mind. But we’re in the home stretch.
We just have a few more days of work to go. Tomorrow the siding should be just about done and then it’s just waiting for a few special items that are on order to arrive. I’m sure even when it’s “done” we’ll be tweaking little things here and there until winter. Once the crew leaves it’s our time to start little finishing projects. On the list so far:
- Paint the doors (front and back)
- Scrape and re-paint the 2 door frames
- Paint door surround
- Move house numbers from mailbox to house (Above the door? On the door?)
- Give our landscape some TLC (it took a beating from work boots and ladders)
- Plant bulbs for spring
- Clean up nails that have evaded the rolling magnet
- Patch front porch
- New weather stripping on doors
And that’s just the outside of the house. All this has certainly taken a toll on the inside of the house as well. Ugh. It’s a little overwhelming but it’s looking so good. I can’t wait to share the finished photos with you all. We are giving our little house some major curb appeal.