Painting: Before and After

Hello, lovely friends!

It took us six days and the help of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and two sisters-in-law but we finally have all the painting done! My sister asked me to show pictures of the house painted before we moved any furniture in. These were taken about an hour before we started the big move in.

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Living Room ~ Before

The Living Room ~ After

I really love how the color lightens up the whole room and really makes the white shutters stand out!

The color is Cappuccino (MSL203) in

Behr Ultra in Satin

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The Bathroom ~ Before

The Bathroom ~ After

I absolutely love how the sage green color lightens up the bathroom. It all looks so fresh and clean!

Look at that beautiful beadboard. I really adore how it looks with the sage paint!

The color is Soft Sage (GLG18) by Glidden

We did a color match and used Behr Ultra Semi-Gloss

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The Bedroom ~ Before 

The Bedroom ~ After

We used the same paint in the bedroom and bathroom. The sage is so much prettier than the blue. It really matches all of my bedroom decor so well.

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The Dining Area ~ Before

The Dining Area ~ After

I really love how the yellow turned out!

The color is Whisper Yellow (300A-2) in Behr Ultra Satin

This was literally a few minutes before we left to meet everyone who was helping us move. We didn't have time to replace the plates over the outlets and I didn't get a picture of the kitchen as my sister-in-law was still doing the finishing touches in there. 

Isn't family the best?! We are so blessed with our families!

We are all moved in now and slowly unpacking and setting up. 

A big thanks to everyone that helped us paint and move in! 

Have a great week!

Love,

We Bought a House!

Hello, lovely friends!

 I am beyond excited to share the news that our search for a house has finally ended after many months of searching!

This is our beautiful new home ~ 
 

We bought this cute little bungalow this past week. It took exactly four weeks from our initial offer to our closing. The former owners were already moved out so we were able to get the keys to the house the next day. 

God is so good!

Here is the house ~ The before pictures:

The Living Room ~

The front entryway

I love the fireplace, the hard wood floors, and the plantation shutters in this room

I really like the big window looking out on to the street. Can you see the pretty autumn colors peaking through? Fall is so beautiful!

Notice the new paint has already been purchased!

The Kitchen & Dining area ~

I love the white and black back splash and the warm color of the wood cabinets. I can't wait to finally have my yellow kitchen! I have cut out and saved pictures of yellow kitchens from catalogs and magazines since I was little. I think the yellow will really make the tile and the cabinets pop.

Another view 

The side door entryway and stairs to the basement

Isn't the vintage fan above the window cool? There's also a little door for the old milk box under the window. I love these kind of touches in an older home!

I really like this little spot in the kitchen. The refrigerator is really neat too. The freezer on the bottom reminds me of the one we had growing up. Notice the pantry on the end? I am very excited to have a little pantry spot in the kitchen.

The eating area

The open area and the size really made me fall in love with this house.

This room is large enough to have my whole family home for our New Year celebration this year, New Years Eve is Christmas to my family.

The Bedrooms ~

The master is upstairs in the 1/2 story of the house

The walk in closet is very unique, I almost have to duck to enter the area and I'm only  5'1. My poor husband! He doesn't mind at all though. There's always some character to these post World War II homes and I love that about them.

The view down to the hallway between the eating area and the living room

We'll paint the main floor bedrooms after we move in at some point. We're not in a hurry to fix them up right away even though there's a lot of bright colors going on here!

The bathrooms ~

The floor and the shower both have newer tiling. 

The beadboard look is one of my favorites so I was very happy that the house already has it and we don't have to do it ourselves.

A laundry shoot! It's the little things that get me excited...

I'll be painting this a much more neutral, lighter color.

The half bath is down in the basement. That color and the Giants border has got to go!

The Basement ~

The built in cubbies along the staircase down to the family room is another little thing that I love

This room will be my husband's "man cave" he has been waiting for one of these for years! Even though he's going to decorate the whole room in U of M decor I'm very happy he finally has the perfect space to make his own.

The laundry room needs some work, like different paint color for starters, but it's actually one of the nicer ones in all of the houses we've looked at over the last few months. It is mostly finished, has a big counter space, and a spot for hanging clothes to dry. It also has an ironing board cabinet which is really nice.

I don't have a picture but there is a large unfinished work space that I am super excited about because it will by my place for painting furniture and working on my projects. No more painting on the patio of an apartment!

The Outside ~

The unattached garage is pretty nice, the cute little fence runs along both sides of the new driveway.

The landscaping is really pretty around the entire house!

There's a nice spot for a fire pit and there's even a Koi pond in the backyard. The trees are young but the yard is very shaded by the trees from the neighbor to the right and at the back of the house. I can't wait to have my very own garden next year! We eventually want to replace the brick patio with a deck. This yard will be a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors!

Well, as I'm sure you can already tell, We are very thrilled to finally have a home of our own. We are truly blessed!

Now for the cleaning and painting to begin. There isn't a lot else to be done which is wonderful!

I can't wait to move in and to start decorating and crafting again. The idea of making a home into a calming, peaceful, and homey place is very exciting for me. 

It feels like it took forever but it's so clear that we had to wait on God's timing for the perfect place for us. Everything went so smoothly throughout the whole process. Our constant prayer was that the right house would be obvious to us. Our prayer was answered very clearly.

We are both so thankful to my husband's parents for letting us live with them while we were looking for our house.

Have a wonderful week! I know I will. Moving day is this upcoming Friday. 

Back to blogging once again, lots of posts and pictures to come!

Love,

Nursery Rhyme Letter Tutorial ~

Hello, lovely friends!

 It feels like forever since I've posted anything. Just over a month, but whose counting?!

I wanted to share a little craft project that I made for my sister as part of my gift for her baby shower. My niece, Zooey, is about to be born in less than two months. It's a very exciting time for our family as I have two sisters, both due with baby girls within a month of each other.

I wanted to make something one-of-a-kind and personal for my niece's nursery. I didn't want to take over the decor,  just add a little something to it.

I found the inspiration on Pinterest but the photo only lead to a website called Madeit.com. The item had sold and there's no way of finding out who made the item, so I can't really give anyone credit here.

This is what I came up with ~

I bought the letter Z at Micheal's for 50% off for about $2.50. The spray paint is Robin's Egg Blue by Design Master and it was another 50% off Michael's purchase for about $3.00 dollars. The nursery rhyme pages are from the Little Golden Books; 'Eloise Wilkin's Mother Goose' and it was just 25 cents at a thrift store.

I tore pages from the book, with the rhymes and pictures that I liked best and also a few random pieces for the background. Most of what I did was cutting out the pages to that would fit the shape of the letter Z. I wanted as many colorful and cute pictures as possible to fill the letter. The hardest part was coming up with my design and cutting the pieces to fit on the letter perfectly. 

Once my pieces were cut I used a Q-tip to spread tea dye ink from a distressing stamp kit on the sides of all the pieces of paper. I wanted an aged, vintage look to the letter like the book.

I spray painted the whole letter twice. Making sure that the edges were completely painted over.

I sponge brushed the wood side and then placed my paper piece over it and pressed down once the paper was in the correct spot.

I layered the pieces until the entire Z was covered. The pieces were mostly cut to size but I had to take care of the pieces that over hung the edges with an exacto knife once everything was Modge-Podged in place. This was a little hard as far as Modge-Podge projects go.  I've done projects where you cover the entire piece, but never where I wanted a paint color to show. Basically I couldn't be as sloppy which always makes things easier.

To finish, I went over the whole letter with two layers of the Modge-Podge. Also, I only use Matte Modge-Podge.

My sister was actually Little Miss Muffet one year for Halloween. When I saw that page in the book, I had to have it for Zooey's gift.

One more look at the finished project with Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-cake, Little Miss Muffet, and The Old Woman and the Shoe as the background.

I'm currently working on another letter for my other sister Pam. Her daughter, Felicity, is due in a month. I'm doing the same spray paint color but the book pages are in all black and white from a Golden Book story of Children's prayers. I'm thinking of using some fine clear glitter over the pages to glam it up a bit.

If anyone tries this project I would love to see what you come up with. Happy Crafting!

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Summer!

Love,

Linking With ~ 

Cowgirl Up! Link Party

A Diamond in the Stuff ~ Time to Shine

Savvy Southern Style ~ Wow us Wednesdays

Ivy & Elephants ~ What's it Wednesday

Fine  Craft Guild Link Party

Common Ground ~ Vintage Inspiration Fridays

The Charm of Home ~ Home Sweet Home

At the Picket Fence ~ Inspiration Friday

My Romantic Home ~ Show & Tell Friday

The Shabby Nest ~ Frugal Friday

My Repurposed Life ~ Catch as Catch Can

Funky Junk Interiors ~ Saturday Nite Special