2014 New Year's Resolution: Organize, Organize, Organize

2014 Woohoo!  A new year.   A fresh start.  Time for the annual resolution.  If you're anything like me your resolutions don't exactly stick.  Over the years my resolutions have gone from grand to absolute minimum.  It got to the point where I was promising myself to at least remember to rub cream on my heels everyday and I couldn't even keep up with that.  I have high hopes for this year's resolution though because, quite frankly, I can't take the mess anymore.  It didn't help matters when my brother came for a visit and  looked at some of the rooms and simply said, "Wow Tiff, you've got a lot of crap".  Noted.  I think when you live with something so long you start to get used to it in some weird way.  Having a fresh pair of eyes brought it back into the forefront.  Yep, we've got a lot of crap.  There is some stuff that hasn't even been unpacked yet among the stuff that we really don't want anymore and just need to get rid of.  Some of the rooms look like something you'd see on an episode of hoarders, minus the feces and dead animals.  I'm getting on a tangent here, but what is up with those people?  They must have completely lost their olfactory sense, right?  My husband watches that show sometimes and I get completely sucked in.  So irritating.  Anyway, here's my own personal episode of hoarders for your viewing pleasure.  I know I usually only show you my finished rooms, but this is reality people.  Please don't judge me too harshly.

 Sun porch.  A total mess.  I want to do a big built in bookcase in here and make this a nice reading room.  First step, get rid of all the crap.  Problem is most of this doesn't have a home yet.  It's either going to be sold or put in rooms that aren't finished yet.  And look at the windows.  I have to paint ALL of that.  Sigh.

Butler's pantry.  This is the room that is most used by anyone (including us) who paints or works on the  house.  That sink is a utility sink at this point.  Could it be neater?  Absolutely.  I hear you judging.  I agree with you though, trust me.

 Decoupage room.  We're going to have to do a skim coat on those walls to cover the decades worth of magazine clippings.  Really, who does that?  There was even a little porn section of clippings.  Bizarre. Obviously this is the woodworking room.  What?  Doesn't everyone have one of those?

This is the middle room on the third floor.  I'm saving this for the One Room Challenge which Linda, from Calling It Home, hosts.  I hope I get to participate this year.

Walk in attic.  This is supposed to be a little cluttered, right?  I mean, it is an attic.

Garages 1 and 2.  Disaster.

And then there is the mother of all organization projects.  The basement.  Dun dun dun.  I think we could build a whole other house with all of the stuff we have down here.  Can't find something?  Just buy another one.  That's what usually happens.  No wonder we keep running out of money.  Ridiculous.

So, I think I have enough to keep me very busy this year.  Now that it's out there for everyone to see, I'm completely in.  This. Is. Getting. Done. This. Year.  Mark my words.

Recapping 2013 And What's Up For The New Year

Happy New Year's Eve!  I don't know about you, but 2013 was a very weird year for me.  Lots of highs and lows.  Luckily it ended on a high.  In between all of that we got a few big projects done.  We finished the downstairs bathroom which I think is probably the most used by all of us.  When we first moved in it was the first functional bathroom and it's where I still wash the kids.  I don't know why we don't use their shower.  I guess we're just used to it.

I managed to finish the girls' hallway.

And then came the girls' room.  Still one of my favorite rooms in the house.

And lastly the guest bed and bath.  It's so strange to go to the third floor.  It's all construction, boxes and dust until you get to the guest bedroom.  Like an oasis in the middle of a desert.

Considering everything that was going on in our lives we were able to get quite a lot done in the house.  So what's next on the list?

I think we'd really like to start working on finishing the foyer.  The carpet has been removed and the stair treads have been refinished but I want to paint the risers white.  All the molding that you see is in awful shape and will need to be repaired and painted.  I'd really like to wallpaper the whole foyer and up the stairs.  That's going to be pricey though so it may have to wait.  We'll save some money though by doing all the repairs and painting ourselves.

We also need to address the formal living room.  This picture is from when we moved in.  It really doesn't look that bad in this picture but it needs some plaster repairs and paint.  I originally started stripping the wood and then realized what a pain in the butt it was and stopped midway.  Awesome.  So I need to somehow repair that because I refuse to strip anything anymore.

I never showed the kitchen.  I still need a couple of things before it's done, but you know how that goes.  One of these days I'll get around to finishing it and then I'll post pics.  And then there's the dining room.  I'm still working on chairs but I got some great ideas from all of you which is really helpful.  Realistically we'll be lucky to get these rooms done in the next year.  Time and money, you know?  It's not just paint and repair.  It's also buying furniture, window treatments, rugs etc.  It's neverending!

Do you have any big projects looming for 2014?

Guest Room Reveal (OMG The Before!)

I'm  calling it done.  It's been a long time coming folks.  We actually had our first guest over on  Thanksgiving and got the seal of approval.  As per usual I've finished the room about 95%.  What is it about that last 5%?  I think I just get bored.  Once the room is transformed enough I start getting the itch to begin on something else.  I'm 41 and probably not going to change anytime soon, however.  Whatevs.  So there are a few tweaks but they'll probably stay untweaked for a while.  If you remember, it all started with this fabric.

Llyta Canovas from Calico

And here it is.

Excuse my lame attempt at styling a nightstand.  I try, but it's not really my strong suit.  I put a picture of my little bebe on the nightstand as a distraction.  That chunky face makes me crazy.  Hopefully our guests will agree.

These are pictures that I took of our neighborhood, including our house of course!

I made the pillow cases (Not the round ones.  Please, I don't have those kind of skills.)  and the pelmet boxes.  That was interesting.  I'm pretty proud of myself for doing it but I definitely struggled a bit.  There are a ton of tutorials for both, however.  I just searched until I found ones that seemed idiot proof.  

And here's a view looking into the bathroom.  Linda  from Calling It Home made a comment to me about how the bathroom color looks like Pantone's color of 2014, Radiant Orchid.  There's a lot of haters out there for that poor color.  Obviously I'm a fan!  

I think this was one of my favorite finds at Home Goods.  It's on the cheap Jonathan Adleresque don't you think?  

So anyway, there were a few splurges in the room.  The Schumacher Zimba wallpaper is the obvious one.  I love it though and it's only one wall which helps.  The other was the Pier 1 Collette loveseat.  I've been eyeing it for this room for a while now and when it went on sale I knew it would be mine.  I only wish that sale had been a little more generous!  We already had the furniture.  It was my husband's when we met.  Nice, right?  I don't think I really appreciated it until we put it in this room.  It looks amazing in there.  The light is from Shades of Light and the color on the walls is Sherwin Williams Dover White which is a really nice cream color.  Everything else was from my faves (TJ Maxx, Target, Marshalls) or shopped from my home.  

Now, for the best part.  Look at the befores.  Look quickly though or it will burn your retinas.

Blech.  Ich. Yuck.  So even if you don't care for the after, you have to appreciate the improvement.  It really doesn't get much worse than this (unless you've seen the decoupage room on the same floor.  Seriously, if you haven't check it out on the "our home" page.  AWFUL.)   I don't even think The Brady's would have liked this room.

So what do ya'll think?  I love saying that.  I'm a Californian living in the South so it sounds ridiculous coming from me, but there's something so sweet about it that it makes me giddy.  I'm  pretty happy with the room.  I wish it was the master.  I'm going to have to up the ante when we do our room! When indeed. 

Linking it up...

Picking Dining Room Chairs. Why Is It So Difficult And Expensive?

So we've made huge strides in the dining room.   I never really talked about it until now because, oh, I don't know.  Got busy trying to ready it for Thanksgiving guests I guess.  Anyway, it's painted, we bought a rug, a table and put some pictures up.  And then it came to a screeching halt.  The table is big. It extends to 12 feet but we are keeping it at about 10 ft for everyday.  It's a big room.  Here's a little peek at it so far.

I didn't paint the pocket doors yet so they are still a beige color.  Can I just tell you what a pain it was to paint this room?  I wanted to hire it out but the quotes were in the thousands.  Really?  We gave that a big fat hell no and hunkered down and painted it ourselves.  

Here's the table without the table cloth.  Pretty traditional.  One of the chairs below is from our old dining set and the other is what was left in the house when we bought it.  

So here's my dilemma.  Number one, chairs are freakin' expensive and we need 10 for everyday.  Number two, I'm not sure what style I want to pair with the table.  Traditional would be the obvious choice, but maybe I want to do modern to mix things up a bit?  And then there's color.  Wood toned, colored, acrylic?  Mix and match or all the same?  I'm leaning toward something that has an upholstered seat at the very least.  I think the room needs some softening up.  It's pretty masculine with the dark blue gray walls and the furniture.  I also plan on doing a window treatment at some point.  So that's where I'm at right now.  I'm pretty sure that's going to be the status quo until sometime in 2014 but I do need to start narrowing down my choices.  Any opinions?  I'm all ears. 

Guest Bathroom Reveal (Finally)

It's done!!!!   It's only been like a year since it started.  I think it's my new favorite room.  What do you think?

We added the bead board around the room and the insets for some storage.  It's not actual bead board but sheets of bead board from Lowes.  Much easier to work with.

 

And just to recap, here's what the bathroom looked like when we moved in.  Ga-ross.  I'm not sure what was happening in here but none of it was good.

And now.  Ah, much better.

 

I know the pink isn't for everyone.  I didn't think it was for me either, but I really love it now.  I've been wanting to add some pink somewhere.  Granted, I didn't picture this bold of a shade but that's neither here nor there. 



So here are the deets:

-Vanity from Lowes

-Lighting from Shades of Light

-Mirror from?- Can't remember but it was cheap.  I remember that.

-Fabric from Calico, but it's discontinued.  It's called Llyta Canovas.

-Tile from The Tile Shop

-City aerial print from Etsy seller JennaSue Cityscapes

-Paint is BM Pink Raspberry

-Wallpaper-Schumacher Zimba in chartreuse.  Had some left over from the bedroom.  I couldn't resist, I just love it so much.

-Everything else came from either Home Goods, TJ Maxx, or Marshalls.  Oh how I love those places!

 

All I have left to do in the bedroom is sew some pillows and add a couple of accessories and that room is done as well.  I'm hoping to get that done in the next week or so but something always seems to come up so I'm not going to stress myself out trying to meet a deadline.  It's sooo close though...

 

 

 I'm linking to Thrifty Décor Chick