Monday, October 15, 2012

Office Makeover Part 1

I had given myself a goal to paint my office in September and believe it or not, I did!  We had the stickiest weather so I didn't want to put my furniture too close to the wall without being certain it was dry.  My office is now worthy of showing you my progress!

So what was I working with? The room wasn't too bad but it wasn't anything to fawn over either.


I know, it looks a mess right! When you don't love the room, you don't really feel the need to clean it up before you put pictures of the mess online.  It became somewhat of a storage room where we put the things we weren't sure about.

We painted it "Smoky Charcoal" by Glidden and I absolutely love it.  I have yet to purchase a tester and see how I like it before going for the gallon so I got lucky again.  Its a very smart idea but once you get me to home depot I really don't want to go home, try it, and come back...I guess I'm just lazy.  So, we got to taping, then got to painting.  Then I sat in the middle of the room and waited for it to dry because I was just so antsy!

I bought 2 Billy shelves from Ikea in black-brown and got to setting them up.  They are much nicer than some of the other furniture I have purchased from them in the past.  They even have a cut out in the back for where the moulding is/would be.

I had piled all of my frames and books in the guest room and now I am trying to sort through the mess.  Here is my office as of now.  It isn't done yet but it looks a heck of a lot better than it did before.



What do you think? I think I followed my inspiration for this space.

This office chair has got to go! So big and bulky!

Reese loves looking out this window with my little bench



I still have a lot that I want to do but I wanted to share my progress so far!

My next project? I'm thinking the basement bathroom, I'll give you a better idea when I nail down my idea.  I'm not sure if I can get it done in October but heres hoping!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Pomander Topiaries

At our wedding, I made tissue paper pomanders for every aisle.  Now that the wedding has come and gone, I'm trying to think of other uses for them.  I could very easily say that they had their hay-day but they were so much work that I'd like to see them have another use.  I'm decorating our bedroom in light blue and grey and coincidentally, my pomanders are light blue.

Wedding Day Photography by Jay Moore Photography

We were very fortunate to have several pieces of furniture passed down to us when we moved into our house.  We have Batmans grandma's bedroom set in our room right not and had our cable box and DVD box on either side.  I found it to be such an eyesore and was trying to think of a way to stack them and have more space on the dresser.  I told Batman we should take out the middle drawer and put them there and he looked at me like I had 3 heads.  So I took that as a no...for now.

I am an active Pinterest fan and found this.  REALLY?! Isn't it crazy when you see exactly what you were thinking/wanted and love it!  I showed Batman and it did just the trick.  What else is great about it? I can make topiaries for either side.  Double Whammy.

I didn't stop there.  I found these gorgeous pots and fell even more in love with the idea.  I got to work looking for fabric.  I didn't want something too busy because the blue is pretty bright.  I found this fabric and thought it would do the trick.



It was pretty easy to modge podge the pots, the hardest part is that Reese wanted to eat the scissors, then sit on the fabric, then jump on my head..it was a never ending battle.  It didn't require much fabric at all and I love how you can make it match any room.

If she could talk, she'd be saying, "Can I help? Can I eat this? Can I stand on it? What are you doing?"

I started with a straight line on the pot and rolled and modge podged as I went until it was completely covered.  I wasn't sure how to finish with the fabric so for one, I made a slight lip and folded it under.  The other I just modge podged until I was out.  This was quick and easy.

When I was all podged out, I put them on top of a jelly jar to dry...it doesn't have to be a jelly jar of course.



I bought my dowel rod, styrofoam ball, and some moss and was ready for completion.  Now, I have some matching bedroom decor and another use for my pomanders!




All I have to do is refinish my dresser.  Thats for another day!


Saturday, September 29, 2012

Today is the Day!

Last night, not only did I catch up on my DVRed shows but I cleared out the office so I can paint it today.  I should really thank all of those expensive movie channels I pay for, if it wasn't for them not adding any new movies I would have probably put this project off again. So, thank you!

I haven't even made the trip to Home Depot yet but seeing all of my things in the hallway and this empty room are motivation enough! I haven't fully decided on my color yet, I'm hoping I will fall in love with something when I get there.

So here I am, in my empty office scoping my Pinterest "Office" board for some final inspiration while listening to Third Eye Blind.  I know that once its painted I will want to go on a shopping spree but I'll have to fight the decorating urges.  We bought bookshelves from Ikea months ago and they've been sitting in our room, still in the box, ever since.  To defend myself, they were out of the other 2 shelves I want so I'm still waiting for them to get them in.  It also helped us keep Reese from army crawling under our bed after she got "fixed."

Wish me luck! To be continued...

Monday, August 27, 2012

September Project

It has been busy in the Batcave for the remainder of the summer.  What have we been up to? That is a very good question.  To sum it up, we took a trip to the beach, did some mild spring cleaning, our little Reese got herself "fixed" so she won't have any Reese's Pieces, and Batman is getting ready for a new school year..this time with Kindergartners!

At the Beach with Batman
Reese with her Party Collar
Remember that feeling for the first day of school we had when we were growing up? I miss that feeling..some of them at least.  I also miss the feeling of waking up and seeing that it was a snow day!  I felt bad for Batman and then I got over it!  He was lucky enough to have the whole summer off while I woke up and drove my hour commute to work. I won't lie, at first I thought I would hate it but it was convenient being able to e-mail/text him with "Hey can you pick this up for me?" or "Can you vacuum the living room?"  Then I think about how lucky he is to have a summer off! Yes, teachers work very hard and the poor boy taught first grade without air conditioning in the humid Maryland weather, but months of vacation time must be nice!

The end of his summer was filled with lesson-planning and setting up his classroom.  I was put to work to set up some of his posters for around the room and I took my time making it perfect!

I think my new thing is to work on a project a month and my next project should be the office.  This might motivate me to get a little motivated to finish a room for once. So, my inspiration...

Source
We took a trip to our Ikea last night to get the Billy and Benno shelves and of course, they are out of stock on the Benno shelves.  They said they wouldn't be getting them anytime soon but the store an hour and a half away has them.  So what do I do? Wait it out and hope they get them? Make the trip to the other store and hope that 2 fit in my car? Order them online and pay the whopping $40 for shipping? I'm so torn!
Source - this one I found on Pinterest and I can't seem to access from the link.
When I lived with my parents my room was red and black with a pale yellow wall so I have lots of decor already.  This time I'm thinking about making the whole room monochromatic and having red accents.  My latest dilemma is how dark to go with the grey wall.  My furniture is black-brown so I don't want it to be too dark of a room but some of the darker grey's are just so intense, I love them.  What do you think?

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Bathroom Stencil Grand Finale

My bathroom project is nearing the finish line, I just can't keep it from you any longer!  Being that this room is the first room I have ever painted, I am going to brag like a proud mommy...get ready for it!  I gave you the teaser here but I have definitely made some progress in adding the finishing touches.

I am still on the hunt for some more doo-dads but why wait?

Here she is!!
Of course its a she!


I'm still working on accessories but this is what I have for now.  I think this will be something I acquire with time.
My sister hates "people" pictures in the bathroom.  I think she is right when it comes to this little kissy picture of us but I just love the frame..and my shoes, so it stays for now.


I am love with my mirror.  It was originally black and I got it from HomeGoods for $30.  I think I need a new light fixture though because it throws off where the center is.


Still looking for the right soap dispenser so don't judge me in the meantime.


Conveniently, this Bathroom Companion goes with my color scheme.  There is no better place than right out in the open.  If you haven't seen one before, it has all kinds of random bathroom facts.


The candle holders were from a trip to Hobby Lobby and the watering pitcher was spray painted coral to match.


My chevron canvas art hangs above my toilet.  I used colors to match the bathroom and tie it all together.

I'm so in love with my bathroom now.  I think I'll be redoing all bathrooms before I move on to bedrooms.  They're just so much easier with how small they are.  What do you think?

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Bathroom Stencil Part 1

When I gave you the grand tour of my house, I showed you my beautiful pink bathroom.  What a gem right?  That pink was so not my color and was the first to be painted.  Of course, I got my inspiration on Pinterest.  I found this blog which lead me to this blog.  They were both my inspiration in the end and Jones Design Company includes the template for the stencil, perfect.


Lets not forget this beautiful pink bathroom!  All floral decorations are compliments of the previous (male) owner.  Not that there is anything wrong with floral arrangements but these are a bit goofy and that "painting" is just as goofy.

I have been really into blue and coral and wanted blue walls with coral accents.  I had the hardest time deciding on paint colors and went with more of a turquoise in the end.  Instead of using a lighter color for the stencil, I went the opposite way.  I wanted it to really pop.

And the painting began....

(PS my paint had primer in it...2 birds with 1 stone!)

I had some pretty ghetto ways of lighting the room and it involved a lot of contorting in such a confined space.  I took our light fixture out so we wouldn't get paint all over the base of it.

Once my solid color was painted everywhere, I kicked Batman out of the room and began drawing the stencil.  Keep in mind, it is a lot of work but I am in love with the finished product.  I took my stencil and drew it entirely on one wall.  I didn't want too much pattern to be overwhelming in the room, especially since our bathroom is so small.  This was a good idea because it is a very tedious project and would have taken much longer for the rest of the room!

I apologize ahead of time for my low quality pictures of the process.  Luckily, it is explained step by step on the two previous sites.


You can sort of see the stencil.  To get the double line you just place the stencil to meet like a puzzle next to it.



Once I drew it over the entire wall, I began painting.  I started left to right so that my hand wouldn't smudge over it.  Getting behind the toilet was the hardest part.  I put some of my paint in a red solo cup and just carried it with me.  When I was finished for the night I would just wrap it in a plastic bag so that no air could get in and dry out my paint.  I also used old pillow cases (inside out) and trash bags to cover the floor behind the toilet and sink.  I had to improvise with what I had to protect my floors in those smaller areas.

And finally, I was almost finished!


Tonight, I am finishing up some of my coral accents to add to the room.  It has been surprisingly hard to find the right color coral, or any coral at all.  It always seems that when you are looking for something specific, you can never find it!  Stay tuned!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Tour of the Batcave

It is so exciting when you buy your first house.  Actually, I'm sure its exciting every time.  Then you realize all of the bad things.  Packing, its never-ending and so hard to stay organized instead of just throwing everything into a box. Unpacking, its great having help but they end up putting things places where you will never find them again and ask you questions the whole time, I have yet to find my pasta strainer and I'm Italian..I need it!  Then, when you're all settled in, you want everything to look perfect. Perfect doesn't come right away.

Our House!

I had tons of dorm room quality things that I had acquired through my college years.  Most of those things weren't worthy of keeping.  We had to buy so much and ended up getting some just for now furniture.

Our house was vacant when we first looked at it.  We had to envision everything with our belongings and its really hard to imagine furniture that you don't own yet.  Considering that we had to start from scratch, we've come a long way!  Let me show you what we fell in love with...

Living Room
Our living room was so hard to figure out!  We only have 1.5 useable walls for furniture.  Its a really big room but its long and narrow.  More to come on that later.  How about those curtains...eek.


Our deck is pretty big and I love our patio below with the swing.  We now have patio furniture and a grill!  We also have a shed which has electricity, crazy right?

The Basement
The Batcave!  This is where the football games will be watched.  I don't have any say on this room so this will be interesting.  It will probably be sports memorabilia on all walls.

Main floor bathroom
This bathroom isn't terrible but I am not a fan of pink.  This was the first room painted and I love it!  I'd show you but I'm still on the hunt for accent pieces.  I hope to show you soon!

Kitchen
Our kitchen, pretty self explanatory.  Nothing amazing but more than we're used to.  The house we lived in while we were in college didn't have a dishwasher so we are so happy to have one! We also didn't have AC so this is like posh living.

Master Bathroom
The bathroom is pretty small.  It has a tub to the right but as of now, this room needs some beautify-ing.

The Office

Master Bedroom Vanity
I love having this in our house! At one point Batman asked me what we would store there.  Isn't he cute for thinking we would put things there? Allll mine!

Guest Bedroom
These next few pictures have some furniture in them.  The earlier pictures were from the appraisal and didn't have these full rooms.  This is our guest room.  All it has now is a bed and things that need to be unpacked.

Master Bedroom
Our room is really big for a townhouse.  I love it! The curtains have been changed and some updates have been accomplished.  The comforter is from Macy's by Martha Stewart.  It was a black friday purchase that I got for more than half off.  The curtains were included as well but I'm not the biggest fan.  The sheets that were included are so thin that when I pulled them up, my thumb went through.  I'd recommend the comforter but if I didn't get this for so cheap I would be so upset with the quality of the sheets.  I can give you a glimpse soon but keep in mind that this is our room, I want it to be perfect so that means I will really have to map out what I want to do.

Kitchen
Some decorations in there.  The table was my great-grandma's.  My Dad refinished it and it is beautiful.  This picture doesn't give it justice.  We also have a leaf for it, with it in it fits in the entire space.  The chairs are temporary, we are looking for something stained espresso (or to be stained) but we need narrow chairs since we are limited with space.  The shelf is also another one of my Dads creations.

Back Patio
So now you have seen our house and can follow us as we make it more of our own.  In a dream world it would have hardwood floors.  I am having the hardest time adjusting to these white carpets.  I grew up with wood floors and boy are carpets a lot of work!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Pieces of Reese

A week after I married Batman, the silence in our house ended forever...we had a puppy!

I was hunting and hunting.  Did I mention I was hunting? I knew exactly what I wanted.  My childhood dogs were both rescues and that was my number 1 requirement for our pending puppy.  We were so lucky with the amazing dogs we rescued that I knew I had to rescue my own.

Sophi: My 2nd childhood dog
I couldn't leave out my Sophi dog.  She is the main reason I was in a rush to adopt.  I missed her so much when I moved out that I needed a dog of my own.  Unfortunately, all pictures of Corky (my first dog) were before digital cameras were a common household product.  That makes me sound old but in my days, high school students didn't have their own laptop and camera (not in my circle of friends anyway).  Corky was still one of my loves though...I still miss her.

Batman had two beagles as a child and was pretty partial to them.  We hadn't zoned in on a specific breed but we had some preferences.  I was leaning towards the lab side for my dog type.  This might sound really picky but I really wanted a short-haired dog.  The thought of my dog getting her hair did lost its appeal when my brain did the math of how much it is to have a dog in the first place.  We didn't want too big of a dog (we live in a townhouse and wanted to start out medium).  I looked on the internet and found a rescue company that I really liked.  They had several puppies in need of a home and I found a litter that looked exactly like what we wanted!

I convinced Batman to take an hour long road trip to meet the puppies.  He finally agreed but said we were just going to "look."  Silly boy..he should have known better!

We got there and fell in love with this little puppy
9 weeks old- Adoption Day
Talk about a chunky monkey right?!? When rescuing you never really know what you're getting but they said she was a beagle lab mix.  We say...she's a keeper!

4 months
Its hard to believe our little bat-dog has gotten so big in the past few months!

Her name? Reese! She's just the right color and happens to be my favorite candy!  She was almost named Rogue but surprisingly many people didn't know that X-Men character.  I liked Rogue because Roguey-Perogie would have been a pretty fun nickname.

Batman has never had a puppy before so boy was he in for a treat.  Training a puppy is a lot of work but she's finally getting there.  My girl can give high fives and she's just 5 months!

I could go on and on about this little nugget but I'll save it for another time.

So, what do you guys think she is? Those ears scream beagle right?

Thursday, July 26, 2012

About Me

Ok, ok..I'm not really batman's wife but sometimes it feels like it! I'm married to a HUGE comic book movie fan.  I knew he was a nerd way before I married him but I was in for the real shocker when we moved into our house this past February.  I'm now the proud co-owner of boxes of comics. Huge boxes.  Boxes I can't even pick up! Oh well..its not too bad...it could be worse right? I could have uncovered something really freaky, like if he collected mangled doll heads or something...not that thats bad or anything.

Anyway...who am I right? I'm a newly married girl, living in a newly purchased house, with a new puppy.  Just like everyone else out there, I'm trying the whole DIY aspect to living.  Me in a nutshell? I went to school for art (kinda but basically the same thing).  This makes me want to get extra creative and even convince Batman to paint a room!

Before being a home owner I would quickly duck out of the room when helping around the house was mentioned.  My Dad was a construction guy so I grew up with sawhorses and sawdust in my yard/house.  Now that I have a house, and Pinterest, I just want to do so much!

I might as well mention that my mom spoiled me with great cooking growing up.  In the cooking department it has been a struggle but I'm actually pretty good! I just tooted my own horn.  I really just like sweets though.  Offer me a cheesecake and a cheesesteak at the same time and the cheesecake would win.  Baking is more of an interest than dinner...the hubby hasn't complained yet.

Here's to my secret life as Batman's Wife!


And there's my puppy! More to come on her later...