pieces of home

I thought I'd share some pictures of our newly decorated living room.  Scott got some shelves up a couple of weeks ago so I was finally able to bring out some things that have been packed away. The room still isn't finished, but will it ever be?

I'm still trying to sell our recliner that I've tried to crop out of the picture, but no bites yet.  Our coffee table (which was left here by my parent's) used to be about a foot or two taller, but I had Scott cut it down so we could use it here.  It has a drawer on the other side where we currently store all of the DVDs.  The table on the far right is actually a record player that I found at an estate sale.  However, We need to take it to 'the doctor' because the sound coming out is really quiet.  That's on my to-do list. :)

The plaid chair was a $20 steal from Goodwill.  It's one of my favorites.

I made all the pillows except for the one with the bicycle.  I intend to make one more yellow chevron pillow but haven't gotten around to it.  The quilt was an Arizonian birthday present to myself last year.  I love it!

The sea fan (or whatever you call it) was purchased at Hunt & Gather in Minneapolis.

Our shelves are made from some old barn wood my Dad had in the attic of the garage.  We had them in our old house too.  The Angelus picture was another Goodwill score for $1.  My mother had the same framed print while she lived here, so I think it's kind of funny that I found one that's almost exactly the same.  The black framed photos are of my Mom and Dad.

And this is our current mantle.  I'm sure it's something that will always be changing, but it currently holds the pussy willows that Scott picked for me last week...

a couple of vintage cameras, a bird's nest, and an old photo of my Grampa.  And you can see our new gray carpet!!

It's a work in progress and I'm hoping to get a lot more done this spring before the weather gets nice and warm outside.  Once that happens, I know I won't want to be inside too much.  I still need to finish up the east room, both girls' rooms, and the sewing/playroom.

We're in the process of painting Ginger's big girl bed and I'm on the hunt for a retro school desk for Maria's room... one with the flip up top. :) The majority of our walls still need pictures hung too.  I swear it never ends. :)

Wishing you all a joyous Easter week.

I painted my parent's hutch

My parent's had intended on taking the hutch with them when they permanently moved down to Arizona, but it was either unable to fit in the trailer or my mother couldn't figure out where to put it in their new house.  So, I told them they could leave it here. I knew I wanted to repaint this and another shelving unit in the kitchen to match, but I didn't realize what a pain in the butt this project was going to end up being.

I originally bought this color paint to use on these two pieces as well as Ginger's dresser, but right away I knew it was the wrong color for the kitchen.  I ended up loving it for her dresser, but now I have a full can of paint that I don't know what to do with.

After that mistake, I knew I needed to go lighter in color so I 'quickly' picked out a new color (paint choice #1) off a paint chip.  After painting two coats I realized I didn't like it.  There wasn't enough contrast between the wall and the hutch.  I ended up taking the can back to Menard's to have them add more color.  I came home with paint choice #2.

I put one coat on and it was definitely darker and a lot better, but the color was still to blue and 'cool' for the rest of the colors in the house.  Now you are probably going to say to yourself "but the last color and the final color are the same", but trust me, they weren't.

I made the decision to go to my local hardware store and get a new  can of paint, this time with more green in it and with a warmer tone.  This is the final product that I'm fairly happy with, but mostly I'm just so sick of thinking about it that I'm leaving it as is.

Don't get me wrong, I DO like it. :)  It was so hard to get the color right in the pictures, but it closely resembles a teal colored Fiesta mug.

The room in which the hutch sits is still pretty sparse.  We just bought this 7 ft. circular rug (which should be here tomorrow) to go in this room and once I find someone to help me recover some box cushions and reupholster a couple of chairs, it will look more full.  I plan to put a large vintage school map that we found in Minneapolis in this room as well.

I filled the hutch up with all my pretty things and a few sentimentals as well.  I found the Taylor Smith & Taylor dish set at Savors before we moved into the trailer.  It was a steal of a deal and I've slowly been adding to the set every time I see a matching piece.

This is a photo of my mother's parent's when they were young and in love... new love. :)  I love it!

This is my first Polaroid picture I ever took.  It's of our rose bush from our old house.  I loved that place.

This photo is of my Grandpa (my Dad's dad), not sure when it was taken, but I'm going to guess he was 18 or so.  The tin was an estate sale find.  I remember my mother having the same tin when I was young, only it was square and a bit bigger.

And here we have an handheld antique mirror and one of my many bird's nests.  The nest sits atop a collection of old children's books that I found at an estate sale.  

I believe the books date back to 1880 or something like that.  Completely adorable too!

I'm relieved that the hutch is done.  What intended to be a couple day project turned into a project that dragged out over a week or two.

Scott's planning to paint the kitchen mid April and I'm hoping to paint the kitchen 'unit' fairly soon as well.

I'm heading out today for a solo trip to Duluth, which is always so nice, and a lunch date with my older sister.  We haven't done that in ages!

Enjoy your day!!

our fireplace transformation...

To be honest, I never really did like the fireplace in my parent's house.  I always thought it was a bit big and the color of the mantel wasn't my style.  However, when it's cold outside or there's a chill in the house, it's nice to be able to turn it on with a flip of the switch.

When we decided to purchase this house, I knew immediately that painting this thing was going to be high on the priority list.

I was initially planning to go white (again), but decided to mix it up a bit while still keeping the color neutral to go with the other furnishings in the house.  As you can see from the pictures, the kitchen still needs to be painted along with the green kitchen  'unit' as we like to call it... that will be a pale blue/green.

So, last week I spent a few days transforming it.  I sanded it lightly, wiped it down with a wet rag and proceeded to paint it gray.  The paint had a satin finish but turned glossy after I put on a few coats of clear coat.  I'm not to fond of the shine and thought about painting it again with a coat of gray, but I was so excited to finish and pull that painter's tape off!

The gray matches the marbling in the black part perfectly and it gives it a much more modern feel, in my opinion.

As for the mantel, it's quite large and I wasn't sure what to do with it at first.  But when Scott and I made that trip to Minneapolis a few weeks back, we found these really cool marquee letters that were so fitting for our home.  The mantel is still in limbo as I still have lots of things packed in boxes waiting to find a home, but for now this is what it looks like.

Tomorrow we're getting new light gray carpet installed which will hopefully brighten things up even more.  Scott is currently in Montana on a snowboarding trip, but when he returns he will finish putting up the baseboards, something we were waiting to do until after the carpet was in.

Today I made some new colorful pillows for our sofa and I'm looking forward to getting some shelves up and some pictures on the walls.  I'm finding it hard to commit to anything considering there are no longer holes in the walls.  Anyone else ever feel like that after you've just freshly painted?

Still so much to do...

snow, soup, and a painted dresser

It finally snowed!  A few days ago roughly 4 or 5 inches of that fluffy white stuff fell from the sky and greeted us when we woke up.  I couldn't wait to send the kids outside to play.  They lasted outdoors for about 45 minutes before they wanted to come back in.  I told Maria that when I was a kid, I would play outside all. day. long.  I think she found it amusing and impossible.  Those were the days....

As you can see, we have painted all the walls and radiators on the main floor white... well, minus the hallway and the kitchen.  It was a pretty big job but we managed to get it done in one weekend.  It feels so bright and fresh in here now.  The 'carpet guy' is coming this afternoon to measure out the square footage and we should have some new gray carpet in the next week or two.  No more Berber!  After the carpet is installed we'll reattach the cedar trim and hopefully start getting some shelves and pictures on the walls.

We've also made the decision to paint the wood fireplace... my dad will be so disappointed.  sorry dad. :(  I will most likely get that done this weekend before the carpet is installed.

We're still searching for some odds and ends furniture.  My friend Jake is helping us out in finding some tree trunks for either end of the couch.  I'm planning to do this to them... minus the legs.

I finally got around to painting Ginger's dresser too.  Over the summer we found it for free on the side of the road.  It was dark wood and the top of it had a big burn hole in it like someone left a candle burning or something.  I asked my dad to attach a new top and now you can't even tell that it's been replaced.

It was my first time using Floetrol mixed in with the paint and I really like the results.  Less brush strokes and no drag marks.

The color turned out different than I thought it was going to be but I still like it.  I intended to use the same color on two hutches on the main floor, but the color just isn't gonna jive. :)

I replaced the old pulls with new glass knobs that I found at Target and I think it adds to it's vintage charm.

Last but not least, I HAVE to share this amazing soup recipe with you too!  If you've ever had the Zuppa Toscana from the Olive Garden (and liked it), then this recipe is a must have for your recipe box.  It tastes just like the real thing.  Next time I will increase the bacon and decrease the sausage and pepper flakes.  Yowza it was spicy!  Scott ended up having to eat most of it because it was too hot for my liking, but the flavor was incredible!  And! last night I made Peach Lacquered Chicken Wings for dinner and they were so good that it was hard to stop eating them.  I'm going to suggest you add that one to your recipe box as well.

That's all for now.  Hope you all enjoy your weekend. I'll be painting... again!

Well, we're back from our trip to Minneapolis and let me tell ya... we had a REAL good time.  It was wonderful to get away for a night without the kids and do some long overdue 'kid free' shopping.

We went to Hunt & Gather and we were both completely BLOWN AWAY but what that store had to offer.  It is by far the best place I've ever laid eyes on and I plan to stop in every time I'm in the area.  There were so many unique and one of a kind items.  We found the BEST piece for our mantle, a school map for our wall, and a few other items that I'm not going to show you until the time is right. :)  I'm already itchin' to get down there again.

The following day we took a trip to IKEA.  Knowing that it's possible to waste a whole day there, we got there as it opened and headed into the showroom to take it all in.  As we approached the kitchen area, we began to daydream about our own kitchen remodel. One thing led to another and a few minutes turned into a couple hours!  We ended up building a kitchen island with doors that were 75% percent off.  It was a deal we couldn't pass up and an island was definitely something we needed and wanted.  We picked out an oak butcher block top with enough overhang for a breakfast bar.

We got our cabinets for the playroom as well as a butcher block counter top for a 'semi' floating sewing station.  The cabinets are already installed and partially filled and I love how perfectly they fit into the space.  I'll show pictures as soon as the room in completed... soon!

I still can't believe we spent over EIGHT hours in that place!  By the end, our think process was clouded and we couldn't wait to get out of there.

While we were away I received a call from the upholsterer that our couch was finished.  The call was two months overdue (he took forever!) but we're extremely happy with the finished result.

This is a picture of the couch before it was done.  I had been on a witch hunt to find a Danish Modern style sofa and was lucky when I found this one for free at a garage sale.  I actually didn't mind the color, but the owner's cats had gotten to it and ruined the from panels.  Scott wasn't too happy about refurbishing an old couch when we could buy a new one for practically the same price. 

In the end though, I think he was happy with the result... I know I am!

The fabric I chose is commercial grade which is pretty heavy duty and should last another 40 years at least.  The overall color is light gray with bits of gold and green.  It's perfect!

This past weekend has completely motivated me to get things finished around here.  I'm looking forward to painting the entire downstairs and replacing the carpet.  Just those two things are going to make all the difference and make it feel like our home and not mom and dad's. :)

Today, I'm planning to finish painting the bedroom doors as well as painting a few pieces of furniture.  Scott's planning to take Maria on her second snowboarding trip to Spirit Mountain which makes for a fairly quiet afternoon for Ginger and I at home.  Hopefully I can get a lot done.

Enjoy your weekend!

long overdue

Crazy to think it's been exactly one month since the last time I posted about our somewhat crazy life.  I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year... we stayed home... and have been enjoying the month of January.  No snow and mild temperatures doesn't make it feel much like winter around here.  It makes it hard for the girls to want to go outside and play too.  But, we did get four or five inches yesterday and they both went out and got some fresh air.  They came inside with rosy cheeks and thoroughly enjoyed their hot chocolate.

I wanted to share with you a Christmas gift that Scott made for the girls.  I saw the original design on Pinterest, and knew Scott could pull it together quickly.  I found the sheet at Saver's, trimmed it to size, and sewed on the elastic.  

After Scott built the frame, I draped the sheet over the top and wasn't happy with how it was laying.  It kept sagging into the center, so Scott attached to wooden dowels to each side.

And because the tent wouldn't stay upright on the wood floor, Scott decided to put to wooden pegs into the tops of each X.  They're removable, so putting the tent away is still easy to do.

Unfortunately, they haven't been playing in it as much as I thought they would.  Not sure why.  Either way, it's cute to look at!

Last weekend Scott removed the cabinets that my parent's installed nearly 15 years ago.  They worked well for them, but they just weren't our style.  We are planning to re purpose a few of them elsewhere in the house, one as a TV cabinet downstairs and another in the upstairs bathroom.

The room will one day become our dining/sitting room, but until we add some wood floors and remove carpeting in another room, it will just be a sitting room.  Besides Maria's room, it gets the best light in the house and make a great knitting room.  We're hoping to get the entire downstairs (besides the kitchen) painted in February... we'll see.

Scott and I are planning a very important trip down to Minneapolis on Friday.  We're dropping the kids off at Grandma's and then making our way to into the city for a one night stay and a whole lotta shopping!  We're going to make a stop at Hunt & Gather to see what vintage goodies we can find for our home, as well as a much needed trip to IKEA to pick up this, maybe this, and some other things. I also love this idea for using spice racks as bookshelves.


The cabinets and bookshelves are going in the playroom upstairs.  I am anxious to get that room organized and decorated. 


I gotta go get the kids in bed, so hopefully I can get around to sharing more later.


Enjoy the rest of your week!

progress pictures

I wanted to show you (but mainly my parents) some of the progress we've made upstairs.  I know that my dad has been dying to see pictures of the floors and I'm sorry for making him wait so long. Now, do keep in mind that no decorating has been done so it looks a bit bare.  All in due time.

This is Ginger's room

didn't the floors turn out nice dad?!

This is what the playroom/sewing/craft room used to look like with wallpaper and that's Ginger's yellowish bedroom through that doorway.

Operation 'take down wallpaper' was the pits!

  Here it is after we painted it white.  As you can see, we've painted the ceiling pink.

This is Maria's room, which gets the best light in the whole house.

As I have said before, I still need to get around to painting the doors but so far we all love the results.