It's Not Easy Being Green...

There's so many different shades to choose from!

Sis decided it was time to update her kitchen. In fact, a few weeks ago, she and Handy Hubs got a little crazy and painted all of their kitchen cabinets (you'll see this in the reveal down below)!

Kitchen cabinets before

Kitchen before

During my most recent visit, she decided it was time to update the wall color as well. The green that was in there was a taupe-ish camouflage green. She wanted something cheerier. We brought home four samples before we settled on our final choice.

Here you can see some of our sample colors. Sis has taped off the woodwork and I have started to cut in the edges. This is going to look good!

And... VOILA! White kitchen cabinets with fresh green walls. Beautiful!

Deja Vu

About a month ago I told you about how my sister and I painted a couple of walls in her bedroom purple. Well guess what? We've painted them again!!

It all started when she laundered the new comforter she bought to go on her new king-sized bed. Her top-load washing machine DEVOURED the comforter, ripping a hole in it, mangling the filling, and even wiping grease on it! What a shame! It was such a pretty comforter!

The new comforter prior to being devoured ...R.I.P.!

So Sis got smart and opted for a new duvet cover instead of a comforter—much easier to launder (if you aren't familiar with duvet covers, they're basically like a big pillowcase for a comforter)! The new duvet is very similar to the old comforter in design—white background with grey and back accents—except the new duvet has some lovely wine-colored embroidery on it. Regrettably the embroidery didn't coordinate with the purple wall color very well, so we set off to find a new color!

We finally settled on a beautiful color called "Plum Harvest" by Behr (my absolute FAVORITE paint brand!). It's very hard to tell here, but it actually matches the embroidery on the throw pillows and the duvet very nicely. In fact, it looks a lot like Welch's Grape Juice (yum!)!

You can see a glimpse of the wine-colored embroidery on the duvet in the lower right corner of this picture! Also, her new headboard was delivered since my last visit and she got new lamps! What do you think?

And... VOILA!! Here is the room with the new paint color! I hope to get better pictures of the room during my next visit. As it was, I was walking out the door to return home as I took this shot. The furniture was still out in the middle of the room, painting gear scattered all over, and the paint on the walls was still wet!

I wonder what color we'll paint her room the next time I visit?? ;P

Living the Dream

A year or so ago I came across a website that really got me excited. It was a website begun by a fellow stay-at-home-mom and DIY'er named Ana White. Long story short, she began building and drawing up building plans of expensive furniture pieces she had admired in popular home decorating catalogs and started a blog on which to share them with fellow DIY'ers like me! In reviewing her site, I found SO MANY projects that I would love to try and build one day—bookcases, headboards, night stands, etc.

Well Sis and her handy husband have been looking around for a nice headboard for one of their guest beds. I told them about one of my favorite finds on the site (Ana's Farmhouse Bed) and he decided to make it for their guest room (I am so jealous!)!

Here sits the pile of lumber that will become the Farmhouse Bed.

I was too busy painting the master bedroom to get pics of Handy Hubs building the headboard and footboard, but here Sis is sanding away on the assembled pieces. I think they turned out pretty good!

That headboard is SO HEAVY!

I caulked some of the gaps where the boards came together.

Time to get the pieces painted up! Big Goonie wanted in on some of the action too, so we let her do some priming.

And... VOILA! Here they are with finish coat painted on them!

Sis will put on a second coat of finish paint before the pieces get moved to the bedroom.

I had to head back home across the mountain before they were moved into the room and can't wait to see them in place! Will post a pic of the finale when it comes!

Passion for Purple

Yesterday's order of business was to bring some passion into the bedroom... PASSIONATE PURPLE, that is!

Sis bought some new bedding to go with her new bed and wanted to change up the colors in the bedroom. The new bedding is white with silver and dark grey accents, so we'll bring in a splash of color by putting some purple on the walls!

We'll paint purple on these two walls, so we taped off the baseboards so we'll have a nice crisp line between the purple wall and the white trim. 

This hallway in the master suite leads to some closets and the bathroom. We'll paint it a light silvery grey so it won't be like a dark tunnel.

Here's the happy homeowner rolling away! Doing good, Sis!

WHOOPS! Not doing so great over here! I managed to drip on the carpet! Egads!

The happy homeowner did a good job cutting in close to the ceiling!

A new large black headboard is currently on order. Can't wait to see it all put together! 

And... VOILA!! A master suite with purple and grey walls!

On To the Next Holiday!

Slowly but surely I've been getting my Halloween decorations packed away and setting out some Thanksgiving decor. I like the decorations, but I hate getting them out because it's so tedious putting them all away and they never seem to back in their bins as nicely as they came out!

Thankfully pumpkins can be used for more than one holiday!

Are you decorating where you are?

First Fire of the Season!

That's right! This is our first fire of the season! Actually, it's the first fire we've ever had since we bought this house—EIGHT YEARS AGO!

That's my kitty, Smokey, checking out the fire. He's not sure what to think of this as he's never seen a fire!

You may have noticed that my mantle decor looks a little different. My little one and I dragged out some Halloween decorations yesterday to help celebrate the season! 

She especially loves this tin haunted house I found a few years ago! She thinks we ought to find a few more and have a "haunted neighborhood" on our mantle!

How cute is this ceramic skeleton? He's assembled with wire and can be gently posed. Love him!

I got this witch smoker doll when I lived in Germany. She's even got a wart on her face by her nose!

Hope you're having fun celebrating the season as much as we are!

Framed

I've been busy altering the appearance of my new frame. Initially I contemplated painting and glazing the frame, but in the end I decided to coat it in a dark walnut stain instead. With the stain, the grain and the imperfections in the wood would still be visible, and the variation in color between the brown and green tones would noticeably toned down.

Too shiny!

I really liked how deep the color looked without rubbing the stain off and decided to leave it on to dry. It's shinier than I want, but it's still a bit tacky (I've been picking dog hair out of it like crazy!) and hopefully will dry a bit flatter. If not, I'll spray a matte polyurethane over it to get the duller finish when it's completely dry.

Now, to get this thing hung... I decided to hang it with those plastic hooks with removable adhesive strips, since I'm guessing the wall I'm hanging it on is brick or some other equally hard surface that's too difficult to hammer a nail into. For good measure I used three of these hooks.

I was able to use the string mounted to the backside of the frame to hang this—that saved some extra work, plus in hanging it like this, it's easier to get level!

And, ...WALLAH! Here it is all put together! 

The camera's flash makes this print look more washed out than it is. 

And lastly, I'd just like to share with you that while I was hanging this and decorating my mantle today, my kid kept nagging me to rake leaves so that she and the dog could go play in them. Call me crazy, but I think it might still be a bit too early...

Happy Fall, y'all!