Sleeping in the attic

Ever since we bought our house, Greg has always been a little iffy about the sloped ceiling in the bedrooms on the second floor of the house. They were probably an unused attic at one point. If that is the case, I am so excited that we are using them as bedrooms! To convince Greg on how special it would be, I gathered some inspiration of charming bedrooms with sloped ceilings:


Erin Martin Design via Desire to Inspire

I love this green lacquered wall hangings as headboards in Arielle Glober's cozy bedroom (House and Home Canada)

Mmmm: exposed beams, white floors. Skona Hem

Skona Hem

Country Living

So Greg and I don't sleep in separate beds (and hopefully never will!), but this gives me ideas for our guest bedroom (Country Living)

Country Living

Country Living

Commune Design via Desire to Inspire

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Two things

1. Progress!

We are definitely making some headway on our reno. Greg thinks we might be 50% done. Yay!

So far we have:

-completed all demolition (removed all carpeting, baseboards, staples in floor, linoleum in kitchen, foyer and mudroom, countertops)

-prepped and painted the cabinets and gables (more on that in a moment)

-repaired subfloor where necessary
-installed backerboard in the foyer, kitchen and mudroom

-installed tile in the foyer

-patched walls everywhere where necessary on the main floor
-had floors on main and second stories refinished/sanded flat

A couple action pictures:



Left to do is:

-paint all walls on main and second floor (we are not touching the basement)

-paint floors on second floor

-install baseboard moulding throughout main and second floor
-reinstall cabinet doors onto gables and install cabinet hardware

-install new countertops

-cut and install subway backsplash tile in kitchen

-cut and install tile in kitchen and mudroom

-modify and install Ikea Isdans blinds on main floor
-determine flooring for bottom of stairs on main floor
-purchase and install new dishwasher
-purchase and install new over-the-range microwave

I know the "to do" list is longer than the "done" list but some of those "done" items are deceiving. For instance, those cabinets took me more than 3 weekends!

2. Lesson learned: painting cabinets

Ok, so the girl in the paint store was wrong. DO NOT do two coats of flat paint, followed by a low-lustre clear varnish. Well, don't do it if you're using a paint sprayer. The paint looked great and perfectly even before I applied the varnish. Once I applied the varnish it began to look, well, stripey. Even after two coats. I thought I would give it a week to cure and see what transpired. We returned this weekend to find them still stripey. Not sure how I'm going to fix this one, but I don't think the solution involves my sprayer. ARGH.

May these photos haunt you as they have haunted me:



If you are going to be doing this, just use an eggshell finish so you know what the end result will be once you are done painting.

Pelmets!

Rhymes with helmets, though not nearly as crucial (according to my husband).

Thanks to this post at Jenny's Little Green Notebook blog, I am now officially obsessed with pelmet boxes (not to mention Jenny's blog). Stay tuned to Little Green Notebook, because Jenny is creating a Flickr group of all the pictures of pelmet boxes that people have sent her, inspired by hers. Before I reveal the plans for my own (for my master bedroom and guest bedroom), here are a few inspiration photos.

The culprit.


Equally gorgeous and inspiring from Chez Larsson.

Michael Penney's

My pelmet will be adorned with this felt from FilzFelt:

And perhaps I will add some contrasting (yellow? aqua?) grosgrain ribbon or pom pom or ric rac as trim. Whichever one my husband dislikes the least!

Seriously though, I can not wait to get to the stage in our renovation where I can actually do this! Getting close...

NB: He eventually learns to love things, it just takes him a bit of warming up!

Kitchen cabs and chalkboard walls

I decided to use BM Florentine Plaster on my kitchen cabinets.


I bought a Campbell Hausfeld sprayer at Home Depot for $59.99 and rented an air compressor to use with it. I spent all.weekend.long (with a quick turkey break) spraying on the primer, 2 to 3 coats of flat paint and finishing it all off with 2 coats of Benwood Stays Clear low lustre varnish. The girl in the paint store suggested I do the flat with a varnish clear coat - instead of the eggshell finish I had initially wanted to do - for durability purposes.

I love the colour, it is not too yellow-y, not too gray, not too dark, but nowhere near white - it is exactly what I had hoped for!

They are currently curing in a spare room in the house where they will stay for the next few weeks until they are ready to hang. With all the effort it took to find the paint colour and paint them, I am not taking any chances with these babies!

Now that my kitchen has taken a turn for the lighter (since I decided to nix the dark grey cabinets), I can revisit my dream of turning the blank wall at the end of my kitchen into a black chalkboard wall!! Here are a few pictures of my inspiration. I especially love the ones that look like they have been written all over and erased a million times!

Clocks on chalkboard walls seem to be a recurring theme (ok - not here). I love this! There will definitely be a big, jazzy, utilitarian clock on my chalkboard wall!

Images via Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge, Living Etc. (all via Desire to Inspire, where else?) , Apartment 2024

Pastel cabinets

Now that gray cabinets are officially a no-go, here is a sampling of my inspiration for lighter coloured cabinets (I will not paint them white, dammit):

Images via Country Living, Martha Mockford, HGTV (Sarah's House)

Its Over

We can't get along. Me, my new grey kitchen tile and my grey kitchen cabinet paint swatch, that is. I know some greys can live together in harmony but not these ones. At one point I had to face facts.

This has thrown me into a bit of a panic. I am finally finished with all the godforsaken sanding that is needed to prep the cabinets for paint, and the one thing I thought was a certain constant in the whole kitchen makeover process is now gone.

A bit dramatic, I know. But so is the thought at having to reconfigure an entire paint scheme. There is a bright side though: we have these beautiful floor tiles that we LOVE. I can make compromises based on this.

To break it down: we scored an amazing deal on these 12" x 24" grey floor tiles. We will be painting all of the walls in our house Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace, installing a white subway tile backsplash in the kitchen and using a white Ikea prefab countertop with stainless steel edging. I have decided to paint the cabinets a much lighter colour now, perhaps almost a pastel. Think "almond" as in almond kitchen appliances. This is akin to the original colour of the cabinets (before they were painted white by the previous owners). I almost feel as though I am restoring them to their historical beginnings!

However the perfect colour still escapes me. I am torn between the following colours, specifically (try not to laugh):

BM Balboa Mist (OC-27)
BM Florentine Plaster (CC-520)
BM Gray Owl (2137-60)
BM Natural Cream (OC-14)
BM Baby Fawn (OC-15)
BM Revere Pewter (HC-172)
BM Moonshine (2140-60)
BM Misty Air (OC-44)
BM Old Prairie (OC-42)
BM Winds Breath (OC-24)
BM Celery Salt (OC-136
BM Feather Down (OC-6)
BM Overcast (OC-43)
BM Fog Mist (OC-31)
BM Grand Teton White (OC-132)
BM Opaline (OC-33)
BM Titanium (2141-60)
BM Spanish White (OC-35)
BM Gray Mist (OC-30)
BM Halo (OC-46)
BM Tapestry Beige (OC-32)
BM Lancaster Whitewash (HC-174)
BM Hazy Skies (OC-48)
BM Niveous (OC-36)
BM Cream Cloak (OC-135)
BM Collingwood (OC-28)
BM Marble White (OC-34)
BM Old Prairie (2143-50)
BM Ashwood (OC-47)
BM Classic Gray (OC-23)
BM Creamy White (OC-7)
BM French Canvas (OC-41)

This is where I am at:


Does anyone have any experience working with any of these colours...

UGH.

Spiffy floors!

Neglect! I know! I haven't been contributing to the blog in the past week. Here are some gratuitous Monte and Meme shots to show how sorry I am.



See how hard it is for me to get any blogging done around here?

On to home improvement: our floors are finally in the process of being refinished this week and the impact on the home is incredible. I managed to sneak out to the house tonight and snap a few photos while they are drying.

Before:

After (taken from the opposite angle but you get the idea):

Taking away that nasty dark red stain has brightened up the main floor so much! I love the way natural fir looks. Once the walls are painted and new baseboards are in, it will be almost unrecognizable.

The upstairs floors which I plan to paint white have been sanded and oh.my.god they are unbelievably beautiful.

Before (master bedroom):

After:


Before (guest bedroom):

After:

Before (hallway):


After:

Can't wait to see them in white!

Boy am I glad I decided to leave this job to the pros. Not only because they are doing a great job but also because it stinks to high heaven that house. I don't imagine people actually live in their homes while having floors refinished with an oil finish...