And the Journey Continues...

I finished the laundry room this week and am planning my next project...the dining room.

I have some big ideas, but am not too sure exactly what I want to do.

One of the plans is to put a built-in china hutch in the room.  

I am thinking of something similar to this.
Of course, without the chair in front of it.

Even though I like the wide beadboard as the backing, I am planning on using the thinner version.  I still have some left over from the laundry room.  

I envision displaying white dishes and pitchers.  

I think it would look gorg!

I also want to do a wall treatment by putting board and batten wainscotting on the walls.

I really like the combination of the
beadboard and board and batten.

I also am very fond of the simplicity
of the board and batten.

The flooring is going to be replaced.  

The room currently has carpet.  

Yep, I was convinced by the carpet salesman that 

the room would echo too much without the carpet.  

But, carpet in a dining room is a bad, bad, bad idea.  

Always.  

Wood flooring will be going in it's place.

I am infatuated with wooden shudder blinds.  I would love, love, love to use them in this room, but they are  very, very, very expensive.  

So, I am considering wooden blinds 
or bamboo blinds...
So many decisions.  

I also want to do something very drastic to the current dining table set. We have had it for about 15 years.  I really have never been in love with it...

but it is what I have.  

It has the wear and tear of 15 years too. 

I am thinking of painting it...but don't tell the hubster.  He will probably have a heart attack if he knew!

I also want to put comfy chairs instead of the wooden ones I currently have.

My heart is going pitter patter for this blue one!

I really like the look of this green one too!

There is this great place in Van Nuys that liquidates
hotel furniture for incredible prices.
 I am hoping to get chairs for a steal!

I have a time-line to get this done by the end of the summer, but with my track record, it will probably be closer to Christmas!  LOL

I will keep you posted of my progress...

xoxoxo,

     

         Karen

From Blah to Oh la la...

Okay
Before you start to read this, be forewarned it is a long post.  You might have to get a cup of coffee or tea...maybe even a snack.  You will be here for a while.  


Once again, leave it to me to give an obscure area of my house a make-over.  After 4 months I am finally done with my laundry room make-over!  

I am as giddy as a little school girl.  

Really...I am.

My laundry room is off of my kitchen and also houses our food pantry.  It is also the only access to our back yard through the house.  I go through the laundry room several times a day.  My laundry room was looking a little...well...neglected.  

For years, the hubster and I talked about putting new cabinets in there to match the cabinetry in the kitchen.  Sad truth is, life takes over and more pressing financial matters demand attention.

Now that I have been attacking..uhh...I mean...attending to more areas of the house...the laundry room was looking a bit shabby.  

And not the cute shabby chic kind either.

The first thing I attended to was the current cabinets.  The cabinets are the original cabinets that were most likely built on site when the house was built in 1969.  At the time I am sure they were very modern and chic, but for me they were very plain and in need of some serious attention.  

BEFORE
This the food pantry kind of before I started.  You can see it is very plain and painted white.  It was impossible to keep clean.  Especially when the hubster comes home from work all grubby.  You will see my solution to this problem. Let's just say...if you can't beat them, join them.  

BEFORE
This is the top of the food pantry.  Really plain.

AFTER
I added crown moulding around the top of the cabinet and picture framing around the doors to give it a more traditional look.  I also painted the cabinets black.  Now the grubby hands of the hubster can touch all he wants.
hehehe

AFTER
A close up of the cabinet.  I distressed the cabinets a little bit...just because I wanted too.  I also added those gorg glass knobs.  I got them for a great deal too!  I got all of them for the price of one!  That was a great day for me.
Ahhh...the memories!

AFTER
Just another after.  I love it!

WARNING!

There is an after picture ahead.   It is downright horrible to gaze at.  

BEFORE
I am sorry to have frightened you.  But you needed to see the sad ugly truth to what I started with.

AFTER
Ahhh...so much better.  I put bead board up 2/3 of the wall and then added a board across the top with knobs.  I was thinking I could hang the broom, mop and other items off of it.  But I am not sure I can do it now.  It is so pretty.

AFTER
Another view of the knobs.

One of the problems with this was room was the lack of organization.  Things were just piled on top of the dryer and sometimes the washer.  No matter how hard I worked to keep it tidy, it just didn't last.  One problem was the hubster's obsession to own every small appliance ever created.  Sometimes I think the Lord put me in his life to keep him out of an episode of Hoarders.  (Just kidding sweetie!)     Once I  decrapified I was able to organize what we wanted to keep.  This was a few day process.  

BEFORE
Yep...there is the proof.  It was a mess.
Part of the problem was that there was so much stuff in the cabinets that there wasn't room for all the things that should have been in there.  Also, the shelf became a catch all place for appliances we seldom used.

AFTER
Except for the picture being crooked, it looks so much better!  Like I said before, I did a lot of decrapifying and threatening of anyone who shoves stuff on the dryer again.
 I added a little curtain behind the washer and dryer so I can't see the hoses and knobs.  I updated the shelf by getting rid of the curvy moulding on it.
I also added baskets on the shelves.  I even numbered them.  If the fam wants to know where the trash bags are...why they are in basket 4.  Hopefully this will help keep it nice and tidy in there!

AFTER
Look!  No ugly hoses to look at. 

AFTER
I wanted to add a pop of color to the room.
So, red it is!

I chose to add wallpaper to finish the walls.  I really am not that big of a fan of wallpaper.  When we bought this house, the previous owner was a big fan of the stuff.  Every wall was covered in it.  Every wall.  And to make it even more exciting, it was the same pattern in the entire house.  Who does that??

I digress.

The black and white is very stark. I thought that a black and white toile would tie the whole look together.  I have to say, I really do like it.  Don't expect to see it anywhere else.  

The back door also needed some attention.  I framed the window with moulding and made a faux roman shade.  I really like the results.  

A little close-up of the rosette.
I think it is so cute!

Now for my favorite addition to the laundry room!  

I have heard that in decorating, one needs to add a little something that is unexpected.  

It's kind of hard to do something unexpected in a laundry room.

I added a mini-chandelier for lighting!  

I just love it.  

BEFORE
In 1969 this light was probably the bees knees.
Not so much in 2012.

AFTER
This was really a splurge in the room.  I did have it on my Christmas list and Santa came through!
I added a little medallion too.
I think it added a nice touch.  
I bet you want one in your laundry room now too!

Well that's it.  It is done!  Finally!
Yep.  

Dating after all these years

I know I have dropped off the grid in blog land.  It's just that I have been very, very busy.  I am up to my elbows in my laundry room make-over.  I don't know why I always think that things will be quick.  I should just always plan to multiply my timeline by 3.  Then, perhaps, I won't feel stressed about getting projects done.  Seriously!

I did take a few days off from my project to start another project for Valentine's Day.  

I am really excited about it.  But before I tell you about it, I want to give you a brief backstory about the project.  

As many of you know, my hubster works second shift and I work day shift.  Basically, we are ships that pass in the night.  In addition to this we will be empty nesters in about 6 months.  ( I take a brief moment to wipe away a tear and hold back a sob.) 

Sooo...we really don't spend too much time together.  

This got me to thinking that we need to make our time together more meaningful and deliberate.  I came up with a plan.  

We need to start dating again.  

Yes... each other! 

So, I made a scrapbook for him for a Valentine's Day gift.  

It's a year of pre-planned dates.  

One a month.  

Some are local and a couple are out of town.  Every one of them is inexpensive.  A couple of them are even freeeee.  Yippee!  

The idea is to spend time together, not spend money.    

Shhhh....don't tell him!

Here is a little look at what I did.  

I chose the 12x12 scrapbook so I could add photos of the date on the opposite side of the page.  

For this date we will just stay home and watch a movie together.
Netflix makes this a free date.  Yay!

Ok...I am Kindergarten teacher...I couldn't resist!
We will go see the Lorax and go to dinner.
If we go to the Matinee, we can save on ticket prices too.

For this date we will go to Barnes and Noble
and have a little scavenger hunt.  Our store has a Starbucks inside
so we can laugh over a cup of joe.  

Here are the scavenger hunt cards we will do while at the bookstore.
Even though memories are priceless, this date should be under $10  Yipee!

Ok...okay.  I know that a trip to the Mouse House is expensive.
But we have season passes so the cost is already paid for.
Also, we never get to go just by ourselves.
It should be a magical day! 

A dinner and bowling date!

We will cheer the home team
onto victory at a baseball game.
Tickets to our games are very reasonable.  

We will go to the fair.
They often have free seating at the concerts too.

We will go on an evening picnic to the local park.  

This is our anniversary month.
For this date we will order take-out,
look through our wedding album and view our wedding video.

We love camping!
We have a camping membership
so this little trip will just cost us the gas there!
Love!

For this date, the hubster has to do some planning.
He needs to plan a dinner and I will be his
sous chef.  Then an evening in front of the fire.
A nice little break!

This will be our last date for this project.
We will meet for breakfast (his choice) to discuss our
year of dating and plan for our next year of dates!  

I am excited for him to see this project.  

Even though we have been married for 20 years now, I want him to know that he is still very important to me, even though life makes it hard for me to let him know it all the time.  

Coming up with the ideas for the dates were not that hard...really!  

I was actually very surprised that a google search came up with dozens of sites and blogs about dating.  

Who knew???  

Once I saw these, I was inspired to come up with a few on my own.  As I said earlier, the idea was to spend time together and not go broke doing it.  

Now back to that laundry room project!  Aye!