I Can Now Officially Set My Chinoiserie Stencil On Fire

I posted before about the tiniest powder room in the world and the stencil that I thought would be a breeze to put up.  I wanted wallpaper, but no.  Wallpaper is expensive and I have a million things that need to be bought for the house like toilets, for instance.  I'll save money by doing a stencil, I thought.  Oh if I could only go back in time.  I would have paid top dollar for wallpaper now that I know the hell that is putting up a stencil.  In general stencils applied to one wall are tedious but do-able.  Something I've learned that I'm passing on to anyone who will listen.  INTRICATE STENCILS ARE NOT MEANT TO GO AROUND CORNERS.  PERIOD.  Anyone who tells you differently is not of this world...or delusional.  I ended up cutting a lot of the stencil and I did A LOT of hand painting it.  You know how many coats of white it takes to cover a dark gray wall?  A sh!t ton, that's how much.  But the good news is that I finished it, and it does look rather good if I do say so myself.  In addition the toilet and sink are also in.

That door is getting a darker stain

Ignore the missing vent cover on the floor...oops!

Can you believe how teeny tiny everything is?  It's like a bathroom for  a gnome.  When you sit on the toilet and shut the door the only thing you can see is the door which seems as though it's mere inches from your nose.

The room is still not quite done though and here's what I'm thinking.  I really want a bit of color in here since it's all gray and white, and the color I'm thinking of is coral.  I found a mirror at a consignment store for $25 which I'm going to paint a coral color and I'd like to do some kind of a coral window shade.  Here's the mirror.

I also need to address where I'm going to put a hand towel, and most importantly some soap.  No room on that sink for anything.  So that's it for now until the final reveal of my wee chinoiserie powder room.  At the rate I'm going don't expect anything in the near future;)

More On Lights

The weekend was spent painting.  It seems that's all we do lately.  My daughter's bathroom is painted, the porch  ceiling and most of the porch is painted, and I finished my stencil.  I'll talk about the stencil in another post when I've gotten over what a complete and utter time suck that was.  I haven't taken pictures because my battery is dead and I keep forgetting to charge it,  but I will.

In the meantime I've been thinking about hallway lights.  There is a door that separates the kid's rooms from the master so I wanted to do something a little more fun in their area, specifically star lanterns.  I got the idea from Gwyneth Paltrow.  I never thought I'd say that before.  Normally I think she's a pretentious cow, BUT, I read an interview where she listed things that she "couldn't live without".  Apparantly one of them was a high end (of course) star lantern by Charles Edwards.  She hung them going up the stairs so her family could pass them going up to bed at night.  I thought the idea was sweet.  So I was thinking of these since there are differing heights in the hallway.

Source: shadesoflight.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: shadesoflight.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I think the idea of having stars above seems so whimsical. I know I would have loved something like this as a little girl so I hope my girl(s) thinks the same.

Is It Just Me Or Are Outdoor Fans Mostly Hideous?

So we're still working on the porch.  I bought paint over the weekend only to realize that they forgot to tint it...doh!  And of course they were closed on Sunday so I couldn't go back and therefore no painting got done.  Wah wah.  Instead we scoured the internet for an attractive outdoor fan only to find out that it's an oxymoron.  Ok, maybe that's a little harsh but, unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for one, the choices are meh.  

Unfortunately we really need one if I want to spend any time at all outdoors this summer.  There could be twenty people outside and only one mosquito and I'll be the only one who gets bit.  Repeatedly.  So annoying!  So needless to say, I need a strong draft to drive them away from my oh so fragrant skin.  Here are some fans I found that I don't hate. (Note: all images are via lampsplus.com except otherwise noted).

Right now this is the top contender.

This one is interesting.  A fan'delier.  Expensive.

via lightingdirect.com

I actually just found this one.  I like it.  May be a winner.

This one is ok for this type of fan, but definitely looks like it should be in a tropical location.

I like this one but it's a bit modern for our house.

 My husband loves this one.  I like it too, but it's another one that is just a bit too pricey for us right now.

So what do you think?  I don't have a choice.  We're definitely getting a fan.  Now we just have to choose the lesser of the evils.

Color My World Link Party Favorites

Ok, can I just say that Tuesday really crept up on me...oops.  Anyway it was really fun seeing how everyone incorporated a new color into their space.  Everyone did an amazing job, but I'll just pick a few that really stood out to me.

I love love Megan's living room from A Lived In Home.  

I love the pillows, the furniture, the curtains, the chevron (aka charlie brown) rug, the dog!  I'll take it all.  Just gorgeous.

Another one of my faves was Mindy's adorable nursery seen on her blog Rindy Mae .

I've been scouring pictures of nurseries lately since I'm going to have another little girl myself, and this nursery was just to die for.  There are so many details that I adore in this room.  First, the color combo is so fresh and soothing.  Perfect for a baby.  Mindy posted a ton of pictures that show every detail which is sooo worth checking out.  Love.

And then there's Jenn's amazing furniture transformation for her daughter's room over at My Fabuless Life

Since I have pink on the brain lately, I was immediately drawn to this.  I love the color and the Eloise painting.  Her step mom painted that!  What?  Are you kidding me?  I so want one of my own!  Make sure you check out the photos, especially of how it looked before Jenn got her hands on this.  Amazing!

Well I could go on and on about everyone's rooms, but I'm writing this right before work and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be late as it is.  I really enjoyed this challenge and am so thankful to have been a part of it. An update on our laundry room.  Nothing's changed:(  There was a mix-up with the washer/dryer so that's supposed to be delivered on Friday and I'm still working out the window treatment.  Tons of other stuff is going on in the house though and hopefully I'll be able to post something about that soon.  Hope everyone has a great day!

The Porch

Our porch is FINALLY (I can't emphasize the word finally enough!) getting worked on.  Our contractor had some personal issues recently that put our project on hold for way too long.  Now he's finally at it again.  Good thing, because It was really gettin' old climbing a ladder to go into the house!  I'm sorry to say that this is the last picture I have of the porch before it's very recent improvements but you can see the ladder and get the idea.

And here it is in it's current state.  Not quite done, but a definite improvement.

The stairs are temporary but they'll be the same size.  They're almost done with the decorative bits and then we still need railings and paint.  I still haven't decided on the exterior paint.  The exterior paint at the front of the house is not as fresh as I'd like so I'll probably do a light cream.

The porch ceiling will be a classic light blue shade.  I always wondered why porch ceilings in older houses were always blue until I read Carrie's post about it.  Some very interesting theories on the matter.  We're just going to go ahead and stick with the tradition.  Once the painting is done we'll have to figure out furniture.  We have a small set that we've had for a while which might have to suffice for now...what with budget constraints and all.  Here's some inspiration pictures for what I hope the porch will look like someday.

Source: southernliving.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I love the idea of outdoor curtains.  Not sure the hubs would agree though.

Source: bit.ly via hannelore on Pinterest

The porch swing might be a little too big for our back porch, but our front porch (which we'll tackle in another 20 yrs) is ripe for one.

Source: conspicuousstyle.com via Margaret on Pinterest

This is a dream porch.  Not going to work on ours, but just gorgeous!

Source: Uploaded by user via Ashley on Pinterest

This porch looks so cheery.  Makes me want a cold glass of lemonade and tea sandwiches. 

I'm so looking forward to actually hanging out on the porch, especially since summer is just around the corner.  Lately it feels like it's already arrived though!

It's A Girl!!!-Sharing A Bedroom

I haven't told many people but now that I'm a bit further along I can let you in on a little secret.  I'm 17 weeks pregnant.  This might help explain why projects are so sporadic around here.  I was so nauseous in the first trimester that it was so difficult to get anything done.  I just had an amniocentesis (I'll be 40 when the baby is born...am I crazy?) last week and already got the preliminary results back...no major chromosomal defects and found out that we're having another girl.  We're both thrilled on both counts.  I'm glad it worked out this way since I wanted the kids to share a bedroom.  It will be much easier to decorate for two girls as opposed to a girl and a boy.  So now the preparations for the room begin.

Plaster repairs are finished, but now I'm stuck on what I want to do in the room.  At first we'll put the baby in our sitting room (if it ever gets finished).  I bought twin beds at a consignment store a while back that I plan on painting.  I love the idea of picture moldings, but then I also like the idea of a wallpapered accent wall or a curtain headboard.  Here's some of my favorite inspiration pictures.

Source: designyourwalls.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: howdoilovetheestyle.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: roseandhudson.tumblr.com via Plum Cushion on Pinterest

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Source: birchandbird.com via Carrol on Pinterest

I'm still deciding on fabrics. I showed you this one which I love. It's either going in the playroom or the bedroom, but I'm definitely using it.

I also really like this Suzani and it has coordinating fabrics.  Best of all it's cheap cheap cheap!

So, more decisions.  Eek!

The Color My World Challenge- Conclusions And Link Party

Well the challenge is over.  I didn't finish my laundry room, but I got a hell of a start.  I'd like to thank Jessamie and Suzy for putting this together.  Without this push the room would probably still be a shell of a room.

So, now to recap what I did.  I decided to do my new laundry room in black and white...and I love it!  Here's how it started.

And here it is now (so far).

We painted the walls in black and white horizontal stripes and put in black porcelain tile.  My husband made a table (franken-table) for the farm sink to sit on which I think turned out really nicely.  Originally I was thinking about doing a sink skirt, but the sink actually looks too nice now to cover it.  Props to the hubs.

He also made this drying rack.  

I made a laundry rules sign that I put over the window (which still hasn't been painted!).  The pendant is new.  I'm a bit disappointed with it though or with how it was shipped I should say.  I bought it over a year ago at One King's Lane and it didn't come with the crystal bit that hangs down.  It also doesn't look quite like the picture when I bought it.  Unfortunately I found this out a year too late.  Oh well, I still like it though.

So now we just need our washing machine/dryer to be delivered, a window treatment ( I decided on the toile with a green grosgrain ribbon trim), countertop, upper cabinets etc.  A nice list remains but I'm loving my black and white laundry room.  

Now it's time to link up.  If you've incorporated a new color into one of your rooms link up your pictures...I'd love to see them! You can link up to any of the challenger's blog posts and they will appear on all of our blogs.  We'll be picking and posting about our faves next week!

 And, don't forget to check out everyone's recap on how they used/liked their new colors.

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...