Don't Underestimate Stuff

Just a couple updates to our living room for Mission: Foursquare this week, it's coming along! But, back up ... this is where we were last time.

 

Didn't realize until I went back and looked at these photos, just how far we've come since June.

 

Here is the to-do list from that June 12th blog post with the completions highlighted:

• Add a rug
• Add a coffee table
• Paint or wallpaper the backs of the shelves
• Get a better chair to replace the gray one (maybe the chair in the family room?)
• Get a great painting for over the fireplace
• Tile over the red brick on the fireplace???
• Do something with the tile hearth???
• Replace some of the accessories on the shelves with better ones
• Hang art on the large walls on either side of the opening to the foyer
• Get a new, brass floor lamp

Now, here we are.

 

 

I know, right? Some "stuff" makes all the difference. So, I'll start with the painting over the fireplace. We actually found that painting before we selected the wall color for the dining room, and I think they look pretty good together.

 

 

The painting is a beach scene with dunes in the foreground. We found it at the Stockley Gardens Art Festival where we met the artist, Steven Ward.  I love the bold colors in his art. He is from St. Augustine, Florida, just down the road from where we grew up in Jacksonville so his beach art, in particular, feels like home. This art festival is held twice a year in the Stockley Gardens park in Ghent and it benefits Hope House. The next one is Oct 19th & 20th.

 

Designwise the painting gave us a color palette for the living room. I love that there is orange in the dunes which really reflects the color of our pine floors.  One problem ... the red brick fireplace looks even worse than before. So, it is still on my to-do list!

 

 

Rug and Table. I had found this table months and months ago at Bassett. I thought I would like a glass top table to keep the room feeling airy and this particular metal is sort of a blend of colors - perfect!

 

But, wait! I got an email from Bassett about the Labor Day sale. I went online to order the table for 30% off but the shipping was soooo expensive. Negative. So I called the store in Newport News (just a little over 30 miles away) and asked about having it shipped to the store and I would pick it up to avoid shipping costs.

 

"Sure," they said, "but would you like us to see if we have a floor model because we're selling those too?" Huh? Of course! So I ended up buying a floor model for half of the 30% off sale price - yes, that made it below cost! Yay me!

 

And, the rug? I looked at so many white rugs that they all started to look the same. So, I figured, maybe they really do look the same? So, buy an inexpensive one! I ordered this one from Wayfair. 

 

 



I did move this chair into the living room from the family room. I guess it looks like it doesn't go but I like it for a few reasons. A. It's the right size. B. It is similar in color to the floors. C. It adds warmth in a very chilly blue-gray room. D. It's free.

 

But, I despise the pillow - note: add pillow to the to-do list.

 

Also added the cute white garden stool that I found at Home Goods in Virginia Beach. Learned a lesson there. Don't buy something that is not flat on top and expect to use it as a table! Looks good, though.

 

 

Lastly, I had those two posters from Italy reframed in simple white metal frames. Those posters hung in my office when we lived in Vicenza, Italy and I worked in the Civilian Personnel Office. That makes them almost 30 years old and I still like them and use them. The one on the left is Venice (Venezia) and the one on the right is a very rare snow scene in Florence (Firenze).

 

I think we're ready, enough, for company????

 



The Kitchen: Where to start?

As promised, we've moved on to tackle the kitchen. This will NOT be a quick project.

Moving day, March 21st, before the boxes



There will be multiple steps to spiffing up the kitchen but we won't be doing any major remodeling. We like our kitchen, tiny at it is - except for the floor which looks fine in a picture, just not close up!

These are the problems/things we hope to solve/improve:

1. Change the wall color to match the family room (Sherwin Williams celery)
2. Window treatments for sink window and door (every other window in the house has faux wood blinds?)
3. Rug
4. Organize the counter tops. Remove as much as possible from the counters and find better organizational solutions.
5. Organize the contents of the cabinets utilizing the tall retro-fit cabinet in the family room and the closet in the family room.

The third item was fairly easy. I found a great rug on Wayfair. It is a Dash & Albert indoor/outdoor rug that we can take outside and hose off when it gets too dirty. Perfect! I bought it immediately when I saw it because it has the green from the family room, the blue from the dining room, the beige from the floor tile and some gray that looks great with the stainless steel appliances.

 

Next ... paint.

 

Easy in theory - I knew I wanted the same green as we have in the family room. Why not something different? I wanted to create continuity between the rooms because we put a kitchen table in the family room, making it an extension of the kitchen. Also, our kitchen has a lot of little patches of wall - not enough to pull off a new color (in my opinion). But, difficult in practice - it is mostly cutting-in, ugh!

 



Third ... window treatments.

Honestly, I wouldn't have wanted window treatments in the kitchen because we have a fenced-in backyard. But, we get pretty intense morning sun in those windows and it can get really hot. So, I found these at Smith & Noble. In an effort to have something different than the wood blinds that we have on most of the other windows (wouldn't do well on the door), I chose natural woven shades in white with banding in a leaf print that includes a green very similar to our new paint color. They will look something like this:

 

Organization is by far our biggest problem for both the counter tops and the cabinet contents. So I have a couple ideas for the counter tops but the cabinet contents will be the subject for another day!

 

This is what the kitchen looks like on a regular basis (minus the paint can). We just can't keep it neat because it is so small. A great challenge!

 

 

So, I found these great hanging containers at IKEA - love them! They are from the FINTORP series. We got a couple different types and so far, we have installed the baskets. I can't tell you how much bigger the kitchen seems since you can now see all of the counter top! Amazing! A great start at clearing the clutter (I sound like a stager, don't I? I should take my own advice more often!).

 

Also moving the coffee pot to this spot takes it out of sight from the family room and dining room. Better!

 

For the other corner, on the right side of the oven, we bought the little bucket type containers for condiments and utensils. When we get them installed I will show you in another post.

And as far as this stuff goes ... you know all the take out menus, business cards, note paper, etc.

 

I am thinking about using this wall that the back door opens onto ...

 

 

For something like these wood wall pockets from Ballard Designs. The longer one, in white. Or black? 



 

Also, I really need some kind of slim container where I can temporarily store recyclables until I take them out. Any ideas??? It would have to be only about 4" or 5" deep and possibly hang on the same wall under the pockets.

 

So here is where we are this weekend. Not too shabby for a week's work?

 



 

Top Down!

A note before you get started - you can now sign-up to receive Mission:Foursquare posts via email. Just put your email address in the little box on the left. There are a couple annoying steps but then you're signed up! Thanks for reading!

 

Just in the nick of time, we finished a kid's room! Well, it's mostly finished. Finished enough? Yeah, finished enough.

Top floor bedroom - fit for a prince!

I'm really proud of this room because we did relatively little and made a huge difference. Here is what we did:

 

1. The windows in this room were replaced with new ones. The old window air conditioner was removed and we had a hot air return installed to help the HVAC system work more efficiently.

 

2. "Clear the room." Isn't that what they say on TV? Yes, we moved all the "stuff" out or to the middle and we PAINTED!

     

This turned out to be a little more challenging than you would think. I am a home stager and I have an associates degree in Interior Design. In theory I am proficient at selecting paint colors, right? I am embarrassed to say, "NO!"

Right after Christmas I ordered the duvet cover for this room when it was on sale at a favorite place to shop, West Elm. Then, as soon as our offer was accepted on our new/old house I started looking a various paint colors including the one for this room. So, like a good Girl Scout I was prepared when we went to  Home Depot (I love their Behr Ultra paint with primer). Here is what we came home with:

 

 

I hope you can see what I am trying to show you -

it is a very lovely shade of lavender! Perfect for a young man ... Ugh! 

3. Second trip to Home Depot then completed painting the room this time.

4. Put the furniture back in place, unpacked the remaining boxes and cleaned the carpet.

 

5. Visited another favorite place, IKEA in Woodbridge, VA and purchased this awesome Mandal queen size platform bed.

 



I chose this bed carefully and for lots of reasons. First the size. Our son is 6'3" and probably still growing, so he really needs a queen bed or larger. This bed has no head board or foot board which is less confining for people with long limbs. And, the room is smallish with low ceilings so the low profile of the platform is great because it takes up less vertical space. The color is perfect because we already had all the other birch colored furniture, also from IKEA, that we used in another room in our last house. And, lastly, the Mandal has drawers providing us much needed additional storage. 

 

6. Put the bed together, filled the drawers and made the bed.

 

7. Accessorized.

 

  

One of our son's favorite things is this LeRoy Neiman poster, Golf Champions. Since the bedding, carpet and walls are neutral the poster is the color inspiration. I am using the most dominant color in the poster, green, as our accent color. I ordered the pillows from Wayfair, bought the basket at  TJ Maxx and I will gradually replace other items in the room with similar green ones.

 

Here is where we started:

 

 

Still to do: the window trim, window coverings and a new light fixture. We will also add roof vents for additional help with heating and cooling.

 

Top room down, several more to go. Progress feels sooooo good!

 

Paint color: Behr Ultra in matte finish, Wheat Bread, 720C-3