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Finished Living Room

The living room truly has been “finished” for awhile, but I procrastinated on posting, since it’s been rather cluttered with misc. items.  I had last week off work, so for the first time in awhile, it’s all clean & tidy!  I think the living room has been the most dramatic before/ after and perhaps takes home the prize for best place to read a book or enjoy a conversation.

Let’s look at the before pictures (pulled from the Zillow listing):

So as you can see, the room is a sized fairly generously, but the wood floors were in awful condition (lots of scratches and paint drips) and the paint choices were horrendous.  The lime green accent wall even had the trim painted to match.  The three other walls (and ceiling!) were painted sky blue.

Even in it’s “before” condition- this room had many features which attracted us.  We loved the light let in by the large windows (which too were in awful shape- original to the 1965 house).  We also loved that there was a separate den downstairs, so that we could have a living room without a television–a place to read, chat, play guitar, and entertain.

The transformation 

Before I moved in, I hired contractors to sand/ refinish the hardwood floors in the house.  That alone made a big difference.  Within the first month of living at Greenvale, Daniel and my dad painted the room (& ceiling!).  We chose a warm greige, called “free reign” and painted the trim white.  The paint alone made a huge impact on the room– it went from seizure inducing to calm & cozy.  The other reason I love the color is that it takes on purple and brown hues depending on the time of day and subsequent lighting.

In terms of furnishings, we mostly up-cycled furniture from my apartment.  My sister generously gifted us their sofa & love seat and my parents gave us the desk in the corner.  We original bought the beige club chairs from Costco to use by the fireplace downstairs.  However, when we were quoted a $2,000 price tag to update, we decided we didn’t need to sit by the fireplace after all (at least not now!).   It’s also nice to comfortably seat a large group.

We have enjoyed adding more pieces as we stumble upon them– my favorite recent find was the blue & white ottoman, purchased at the Habitat Restore in Charleston, SC.

There you have it- the room that finishes the “adult floor” as Daniel likes to call it.  Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO,

Kari

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Kyng Suite

I have been excited to share before and after pictures of the Kyng Suite (formally known as the tree room) since before our wedding, but alas life has been busy.  The room was renamed in honor of its first guest, Will “Kyng Crab” Gilrain.  Second to the living room, this bedroom has probably been our biggest transformation.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

Let’s start with the before pictures (pulled from the Zillow listing).  

The last owners LOVED a good accent wall, and apparently also loved an accent CLOSET. Yes friends, look closely and you will see a bright orange closet. Oy vey!

It is easy to see how this room earned the nickname “tree room,” huh?  The previous owners had two young children, and this obviously was their nursery.  I am certain this room was hand-painted with love, but painting over the neon lime green was anything BUT a labor of love.  Many f-bombs went into its new sunny appearance.

You would not believe the number of coats of paint primer it took to cover the raised surfaces of the tree leaves.  You also might not believe how many coats of paint it takes to cover lime green!  Fortunately this was the last “neon” room in the house, so our future paint projects should be less challenging.  In the two weeks leading up to our wedding, I was going crazy making last-minute arrangements with wedding vendors and poor Daniel was staying up late painting this room to get our house “picture ready” so I could take my bridal portraits at home.  I’m still not sure who got the “worse deal” in that scenario.

P.s. this is EASILY my favorite bridal portrait from our wedding day.  I had the BEST bridal party and I cannot recommend the addition of a bridesman.  Brett was a trooper.

My girls, Brett & I on my wedding day. Thanks to Caiti Garter Photography for capturing the love!

But alas, back to the Kyng Suite.  We fully intend that this room will eventually become our nursery, so we picked a sunny yellow called “spun honey”– perfect for a baby girl or boy.  For now, it serves as a second guest room.  Honestly the foam mattress is so comfortable, it’s my favorite escape when I’m feeling sick or having a sleepless night.  If you are in the mattress market, I don’t think the price/ comfort level can be beat with the Zinus Memory Foam 10 Inch Green Tea Mattress, Twin.  

Aside from purchasing a mattress and bed frame (Nextdoor for the win!), we mostly just recycled art and miscellaneous furniture to fill the space.  It was nice to find a home for my “Kari Chest” that my grandparents gave me when I was a little girl and find a home a few art prints that just didn’t quite fit with any of our finished rooms thus far.

The only project left in this room for now will be replacing the closet doors, but those can wait until we have another Lowes coupon 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you love the space!

XOXO,

Kari

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Stairway To Heaven

Of course I have not fact-checked this, but I would say 50% of the time Daniel picks up his guitar he starts playing “Stairway To Heaven.”  So, the song seemed like an appropriate title for our new staircase gallery wall.

We were a bit home-bound this weekend- I got a heavy dose of poison ivy last weekend and on Friday, I finally caved and went to the doctor for some relief.  I am finally a bit less itchy, but have felt so WEIRD on the steroids that it just seemed easier to lay low this weekend.  But, of course you probably know that I am entirely too restless to just read a book or binge of netflix (although I did a bit of each this weekend).

It was fun finding a way to incorporate our attire from the our wedding day.

Hence, I enlisted Daniel to help me build a gallery wall for our staircase.  I purchased several frames to use at our wedding, that mostly have been sitting in a box collecting dust.  We decided to embrace the new house/ newly wed vibes and make a wedding-themed gallery wall.  I love that we got to incorporate a few wedding gifts (shout out to my friend Lindsey and Daniel’s family friend Therese!).  I was also excited to incorporate Daniel’s boutonniere with a scrap of the hem of my wedding dress in a shadow box.

Among the family pictures taken on our wedding day, I love that we re-purposed pictures of our parents on their wedding day as well as both sets of my grandparents on their wedding days.  Two months into our marriage,  it still feels pretty easy.  When the road gets harder, it will nice to be reminded of the long marriages that came before us.

Of course we ended up with one empty space. We figured our save-the-date could be a placeholder until we pick up another frame. Funny story, it was like $2 more to get an extra 150 save-the-dates so we will be using them for random lists until at least our 5th anniversary 🙂
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Getting Ready for Spring

Spring is easily my favorite season, and it’s finally almost here in Richmond.  This weekend we were able to finish a cosmetic makeover of our front porch and set up a fire pit in the backyard.  I cannot wait to tell you more about these projects!

When we purchased the house, the previous owners gifted us a set of three plastic Adirondack chairs and a baby lawn chair.  I also had a green plastic bistro table and chairs set from my previous apartment.  When I moved, I simply dumped all the porch décor out front and decided to let it go until Spring.   The porch looked cluttered but was not a priority since it was fall/ winter.  After a few teases of spring weather, I knew I was ready to conquer the front porch.

First, we acquired hanging basket planters from Aldi.  I love Aldi- simple $12 fix, that added some contrast to our green décor.  From there, we found a free wicker settee on the Nextdoor app.  This loveseat nearly fell out of the car on the ride home.  We are fortunate that we did not get pulled over by the cops, as I am certain we broke several traffic laws.  We also had a VERY good laugh on the drive home.  The previous owners gave it to us for free, as the chair arms and backs were in rough shape.  I went a little trigger happy with the glue gun, and an hour later, the wicker piece had a new lease on life.

Next, I upcycled a creepy chair I found in the attic.  I simply unscrewed the back and seat cushions, and then used as a plant stand for our “Homeland plant.”  Daniel and I are big fans of Homeland and I snagged this plant from the Habitat Restore once the show finished filming a couple weeks ago.  It brings me great joy in knowing our houseplant probably provided some of the air Claire Danes breathed during filming!  

Finally, we picked up new cushions and pillows for the settee.  Together we settled on a floral pattern which repeated green tones from the bistro table, but also added reds, blues, and beige to the color palette.  We grabbed a simple end table, to finish the space. 

Total cost of the porch makeover: <$150.  Not too bad!

 

Once the front porch was cleared, we moved the Adirondack chairs to the backyard on one of the flatter areas.  We researched strategies to build a fire pit from pavers, but settled on purchasing a pre-assembled faux-stone fire pit.  For a about the same price, we were able to finish the project in about an hour.  It should be worth noting that a good 30 minutes of this project was picking up “gumballs,” so that our guests will not trip as they find their seats.  Once the weather warms up, we will give the chairs a good hosing down, but for now they work just fine.

After we set up the backyard, we enjoyed sitting around the non-existent fire.   We have reached the conclusion that we really have the perfect yard for introverts (like ourselves).  The lull of the Powhite highway adds a heavy layer of white noise, and we have tons of critters that together make for excellent daydreaming.  It really makes a great place to get lost in your thoughts.

There you have it, two projects in one weekend!  Come on spring weather, we are SO ready for you!

XOXO,

Kari  

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February Projects

Although many people have said it would be easier to go room-by-room through the house, we have taken the approach of starting several projects simultaneously.  Originally this was accidental—literally every projected we started took longer than anticipated. 

For example, changing the light bulbs in the kitchen ceiling fan lead to the discovery that the lighting portion of the fan is completely broken!  That “quick” task turned into a hour of fiddling around, probably several F-bombs, and then eventually realizing we just need to replace the whole fan (which by the way is still on the docket).  When things like that happened we started saying, “You win house!”  Sometimes it feels like the house wins A LOT!   

The other reason, we have working in a several rooms at a time, is that it has given me more time to “treasure hunt.”  I absolutely love thrifting, yardsaling (yes, it IS a verb), digging through my parent’s rejects, and browsing Nextdoor for furniture, art, and décor.  It honestly brings me joy giving a second life to a “reject,” and makes me feel like I am doing my part to keep things out of landfills.  It has also helped to stretch the budget—remember moved from a one-bedroom apartment into a four-bedroom house!  We have some serious space to fill!

So, while we have not “finished” any rooms lately, we have made a lot of progress around the house.  The guest room is nearly complete (a post to follow!), the kitchen cabinets were re-arranged to better suit my cooking needs, and several pieces of art are now up. 

Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite treasures:

 

Gold Inked, map of Boston.  List price: $130, we paid $5 at the Habitat for Humanity Warehouse Sale + $25 for a frame at AC Moore. 

Why I love it: The gold catches the light creating movement in the room and it reminds me of my summer as a camp counselor outside of Boston and several trips to visit my aunt and cousins.

    

Corner Cabinet.  List price: unknown, paid $200.  I could not find anything new on Target, Wayfair, or similar sites for less.   

Why I love it: This piece has character, is solid wood, and was surprisingly light to carry into the house!  The deep shelving provides a great place to display some of my favorite keepsakes: grandma’s pink luncheon set, crystal glasses from my grandparents, and our wedding china.   

XOXO,

Kari