Kind of running out of steam about this point on the whole painting thing.  After painting what I’ve painted, I was not looking forward to painting the other guest bathroom.  You know, the one with the hole in the wall, after we found the leak in the roof. Yes. That one.

This room has been a thorn in my side and every time I pass it (which is alot) I am reminded.  It screams, “Paint me!  Paint me!’  So, a few days ago, I had a few days off and figured I would start it.  Take it slow, you know?  I worked it all out in my head.  Not going to paint the ceiling, it doesn’t need it, I told myself.  Just paint the trim white. Nothing else, and then maybe do the walls the next day and then maybe, put another coat on the trim.  Take it easy, there’s no rush.

Well, that all went out the window because I can’t do it that way and have to get it done. Started on the trim.  Then, might as well do the walls while I’m at it.  Finished it in a day.

Jeff walked in, “did you see this?”.  I knew it was the ceiling.  He points upward.  It’s the ceiling. Dang it!

So, this morning, we grab a good trim brush and another paint pan and I decided to finish it.  It didn’t take as long as I thought it would.  It looks a lot better than it did.  Eventhough, the paint color wasn’t much different, it just looks cleaner.

It’s done!  So happy that’s over…on to the next project!

I didn’t bust a mirror, but, pretty much ruined it.  I tried something fancy with the frame and Yuck!  It did not turn out well. Plus, the sprinkler hitting it every day for a week probably didn’t help it either.  I wonder who did that?  Hummm…I’ll give you one guess.

It started out green, so, it’s an improvement I think (if you don’t like green, patina frames, of course).  This mirror came out the guest bathroom.  For such a small space, it has taken me a long time to finish!

First I took the door off…all the contractors LOVED that because that was the only bathroom we had working for a while. Then, I painted it.  Have to admit, probably not the best paint job I’ve ever completed.  Where ceiling and walls meet is not my specialty.  But, I did my best trying to fix it and it looks better.  Plus, once things slow down, I’d like to put crown in there, so it will hide my mistakes.

Then, I took the door handles off so I could paint them oil rubbed bronze.  Kelsey didn’t know that you couldn’t open the door easily without the handle and locked herself in there.  I really didn’t know how I was going to get her out.  It’s a ranch, so she could have opened a window and got out the front.  I didn’t think of that right then.  It’s that mom instinct to get the child out!  She was in no danger at all.  As a matter of fact, she was completely fine with the whole thing.  Not bothered. But, not a good feeling when Steve called out and said “Mom, you’d better come here…..Kelsey can’t get out of the bathroom.”  That’s truly a sentence I never thought I would hear.  But nothing is surprising any more.

So, it’s finished.  Found a mirror. I put up some pictures and fixed the towel holder.

The guest bathroom is ready for guests.   And family members of course!

Can I get an Amen?  I’m telling you what, this is so true in life, renovating (yes, I said it) and in actual, well, lighting. This house sat for a long time.  Glad we saw it during the day, because it would have been a little creepy walking around in the dark.  Nope, no thanks, I’d like to see what I’m buying, thank you very much.

We really hadn’t planned on spending money on updating the lighting yet.  That was going to be down the road, when we got in and had time to look around.  But, one trip to Home Depot (and after I was looking for light shades and realized they were $20-$25 a piece to replace….and they needed to be replaced).  Once you replaced all the shades you could have bought a pretty cool new light fixture.  So, a couple trips and one full cart later, we have new lighting.

A husband and wife and daughter installed them for us.  I missed all the excitement, but, sounded like it got a little heated there for a bit.  Something about you can’t do this and this is not to code, your wrong, I wish I’d never married you (not really, they didn’t do that, but, it sounded like it was an electrical emergency).  “Hand me the 12-gauge wire and stat!”

First stop on our lighting adventure is in the bathroom.  We found these on-line.  Jeff found them.  The other lights were crystal covered and quite beautiful, but, not our style whatsoever.  Not that we aren’t crystal like and beautiful, but, I think we are more like oil-rubbed bronze.  Rugged, hardworking.  I’ve said enough.

Next light we changed out was the one in the entry.  The old one was pretty and again, had crystals hanging from it.  I still have them, thinking about a project for them…think wind chime.  Anyway, again, not our style, hadn’t planned on changing it just yet, but, so happy we did.

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Can you see the crystals?  And the light shades?  Plus we were having a hard time finding the replacement shades.

Next stop, Dining Room.  Now this one, well, no love lost on it at all.  I hit my head on it so many times.  And it didn’t feel good.  I’d advise not doing that.  It was heavy but again, small, wobbly and hurt my head.  I don’t think lights are supposed to do that.

Now, these last two lights are, well, awesome.  I can say that because I didn’t have anything to do with picking them out so I cannot be accused of bragging. Again Jeff did.  Picked them out, not brag.  And, they turned out amazing. We used Edison Lightbulbs in both fixtures and they really give off a beautiful yellow light.  What a difference.

We added more ceiling lights, in the bathroom and closet.  But, they aren’t as interesting as the other lights.  Didn’t change the fans in our master, or the kid’s rooms either. Need to circulate that air!

Lights out!

Kelsey wanted a desk for her room.  All the homework she’ll have to do, you know.  So, we looked at desks that matched her bedroom set.  Nope.  Looked at various other sites and didn’t find what we were looking.  Finally we found a table and chairs and thought maybe it could look much better.

Kelsey knew exactly what color she wanted it to be.  She wasn’t convinced that the Heirloom White would turn out ok.  With alittle imagination and some great spray painting (thank you very much) it became a fun new desk.

We used a satin finish.  The color was perfect for her room.  Now all we need is alittle homework!

We added more flooring to the kitchen and it looks so much bigger.  Need to know what to do with the space now!

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We sure weren’t sure the floors were going to look good.  At all.  We were concerned that the floors would lift.  Or worse yet, the color wouldn’t look good at all.  We took a chance at the color and boy did it pay off.  Some of the floor looks like burl wood.

More to come!

After a few weeks of running loads back and forth, we can finally say we are moved in.  We tried to plan it out so that it wasn’t too stressful.  Get the bedrooms set up so that we have a place to lay our heads.  And I think it worked.  After 7 moves as a family, I would hope we’d have it figured out. Stress-free moving, that’s what we are all about!  (Yeah, right!).

On to more fun things.  Some of the most impactful changes we’ve made in the past to update rooms is obviously paint and trim color, but, I think the changes we’ve made to fireplaces has to be top of the list.  I can’t wait to use the fireplaces.  Had them all checked and they work!

Now I love stone fireplaces; like the one we had finished in Franklin.

Or the one we had in Brentwood,

There are two fireplaces is in the main house.  One in the kitchen area.  And one in the master bedroom.  The one in the kitchen/gathering place area (really don’t know what to call it) looked a little, well, let’s just say dated.  But, with some cleaning and little paint,  presto chango, a new look.

I’d like to change it someday, but, that’s for another day.  Not a pressing need at this point.  It works and until we figure out what we are going to do with the kitchen area, it stays!

The master bedroom fireplace has a tile fireplace.  We really liked the one we had finished in Franklin, love the stacked stone look and we had a wood mantle put in that looked like an old railroad tie.

Or the one in Brentwood, which I don’t know if we ever used it once.

As far as the current fireplace goes, we didn’t change it too much.   Just painted the molding, and the walls surrounding it.

Just by changing the color of the molding and the walls, it freshens up the rooms.