Seriously? Has it been 7 months since my last blog post and depressing tearful confession? What on earth have I been doing!? I guess I should give myself some credit. I have done a lot in these last months.
I co-planned my daughters school auction, which was a totally tubular success, dude! We managed to come in $3,000 under budget, raised the most money (yet), got the majority of the people drunk, and got to see everyone dressed in 1980’s clothes. Rad, right?
Oh, and I got to crimp my hair. What could be better?
Aside from party planning, my other favorite pass time, I have been a re-decorating machine.
My kiddos pre-school is a very old, school. I have been wanting to remodel the adult bathroom there (well everything, really, but I had to start somewhere) since the first time I laid eyes on it 3 years ago. Luckily, a dear friend and fellow school mom also had the same idea. So we gathered up the hubby’s and got to work. Well, lets just say, our brains got to work, and the hubby’s hands got to work.
I had an idea to have each family paint a mini canvas, whatever they wished (an idea I stole from Yolanda from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and create a mosaic wall as the bathrooms vocal point. I wanted to keep it clean, fresh and whimsical. After all, it is a preschool bathroom.
I absolutely adore how it turned out.
My intent for mounting them on plywood, is that as the years go on, they can have other classes partake and rotate the child’s art, and decorating a whole wall inside the school with these works of art. Who knows if it will happen, but the intent is there. It will be up to other overachieving moms and dads to keep it up 🙂
I think the sun light on the ceiling is my favorite part. Thank you, Ikea. I realize the rest of the bathroom is almost impossible to see (do to shotty photography on my part), and the custom cabinetry my hubby did is not even in the photos, but you get the idea. My only regret, is that we did not take a before and after photo. You will just have to take my word for it, that it was bad…really BAD, before. Now, lets just say, everyone takes a little more time to go to the bathroom.
The problem with fixing something like this up, it makes you realize all the other projects you want to do around your own house.
So, instead of not doing anything about it, I got to work.
I have not really loved the color of my living room, since, well never. The problem is, it is such a tricky room because the lighting is different on all the walls, and the main wall continues into the kitchen with no real end place. Therefore, you must love the color so much, you want it in your kitchen too.
Thus the hunt began.
I kind of just wanted to keep it simple and use a color I already had. To save money and time…why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.
So I put up my master bedroom color on the wall for a patch test.
It seems to pass, so why the heck not. Two galloons, and two days later the room was transformed. Not sure in a good way. The color was simply to cool, and too blue. Great for a bedroom, not for my living room and kitchen.
You can see the previous tan color in the photos as well, which highlighted my dislike for the color even more. However, quiet moments was not the answer. I did complete all the walls and sat with it for a week before coming to this conclusion.
Meanwhile in that week, I painted, and repainted my bathroom.
I posted these pictures on Facebook with the caption “Am I crazy? Darn you Pinterest for “inspiring” me to spend an entire week re-painting my house room by room. Coral it is for this bathroom.
As it turns out. I am crazy. Shocking, I know.
So, I used the cream color I had just painted in my hallway the day before,
ditched the new pop art shower curtain (I still love it, I just have another use for it up my sleeve) changed out the light fixture, put up a picture of the kiddos (since this will be their bathroom one day) and voila!
To be honest. it is still not perfect. I am sure one day I will find the perfect color and re-paint it. But for now, it is sooo much better than “Coral Gables.”
I did find a great use for the coral paint though.
A nightstand re-do. Not quite ready to show it in the space…I am still working out a pillow problem in the master bedroom. I admit, I am obsessed with pillows. Not sure why, or what to do about it. I just can’t get enough of them, and I am constantly rearranging them.
I told you I was crazy.
Well, I finally sucked it up, realized I needed to repaint the living room and kitchen, again, and I did. I persevered.
In this case, I per-se-revered with Benjamin Moore’s “Revere Pewter.”
Dork. I know.
If you are a Pinterest crusader such as myself, you have become very familiar with the color. I think it is currently the most popular color sold, and pinned.
I absolutely love it! It is a great warm neutral that just allows a great back drop to any room. To be honest, it almost goes away, and to be honest, that is exactly what I wanted. A color that lets everything stand out.
out with the cool blue and in with the warm elegance
Sorry for the nighttime photos but I really didn’t want to delay blogging any further. You understand.
I think the best part of the new space is the gallery wall.
Of course I have always wanted one, but I was intimidated by the placement, hanging and potential hole filled wall I would leave behind from my constant mind changing and lopsided mounting.
Fear not, friends. Thanks to Pinterest, and my Molly (as a team we are “Moshley”) we cut craft paper to represent each frame, wrote the title of the picture on it (i.e. “Barn”) and even made marks on the outside of the paper where the hanging mechanisms were.
It made hanging them a cinch. Hubby was even impressed.
Genius, right!?
Sometimes.
I really need to work on my photography. I promise these are not crooked as they appear in this dark photo.
Completely satisfied…but friends it didn’t stop there.
I have been wanting a more functional office space for awhile now, and when I saw this pin on Pinterest, I knew this is what I wanted and needed.
After careful measurements and cost analysis, I realized it was perfect. I posted my office desk on Craigslist as a start.
Within two days, it sold for asking price and only $50 under what I bought it for years ago. Can’t beat that. It was super smart thinking on my part because though hubby was on board, he always needs an extra push to get going.
I would like to report, my master bath is still not done. I promise to show you its ‘progress’ soon.
Anywho, I absolutely LOVE the office. I find myself starring at it all the time, and it feels so good that the whole family can enjoy it, at the same time!
Classic. Beautiful. Functional.
Just like I like it.
More house stuff to come soon…I am not done yet.
After all, I must persevere.
Hope you likey!
XOXO,
Magazine Mom
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