The Evolution of a Bedroom

When we bought our 100-year-old farmhouse in 2010, no one had done anything major to keep the home updated.  The walls were cracked and damaged plaster, and the windows, floors, doors and trim were original to the house.  Here's what our room looked like back in 2010:

Honestly, the pictures don't do justice to how yucky the room was.  It was musty and the walls were in a state of disrepair that doesn't show up in these pictures.  The ceilings were only 7 feet tall, too.

We decided to knock out all the plaster in the home.  The background of the picture below is what the room looked like after they tore out the plaster and lathe.  They had already scooped out about half of the mess by the time I took the picture.

 Once that was cleaned up, Nathan installed new windows, rewired the room and insulated.  There was no insulation in those old walls!

After that, he rebuilt the closet.  We spent our spring break hanging drywall in one bedroom.  Yes, it took us the whole week!  Don't worry though, things went faster in the remainder of the house once we had some experience.  The hardest part was finishing the drywall.  Our bedroom was the first room that we did, and while it has some imperfections that bug us occasionally, it turned out pretty well and we learned a lot!  We kept the original floors but hired someone to sand them and refinish them.  The upstairs floors are pine and the downstairs are pecan.

Here's what our room looks like now.  I still have a few pictures to hang, and I need to give the woodwork and doors one more coat of white paint, but it's mostly complete.

I'm always curious where I can buy the things I like when I see photos on Pinterest and blogs.  I'll try to keep you updated on all the details as I add pictures of the house.

As you can see, Nathan vaulted the ceiling so that it's a normal 8 foot ceiling.  That made such a difference in how the room feels!

Wall paint: Shale by Martha Stewart 

(I had them mix this color at Home Depot in a contractor grade paint to keep the costs low.)

White duvet cover: Pottery Barn Hadley Duvet Cover 

Rug: Clearance at Pottery Barn last summer

Brown pillows: Pier 1

Curtains: Bed Bath and Beyond

 Vase/Branches: Pier 1

Black Mirror That Still Needs To Be Hung: Walmart

Silver Candle Holders: Garage sale for $10, but I've seen them at Hobby Lobby

 Eventually, I'd like to get a chair that coordinates better with our bedroom colors, but this one works for now.  It used to be in our living room when we lived in a bigger place.

Iron Wall Hanging: Clearance at Pier 1 a couple years ago

Baskets: Target (These hold up SO well!)

Brown pillow: Walmart

Lamp: Bed Bath and Beyond

 This shelf (Target) used to hold all of my cello and piano music, but it fit perfectly in this space and really helped with clothes storage since our closets in this house are much smaller.

I was thrilled when I found these doors at Home Depot.  They are the same style as the doors original to the house.  While I was glad to get rid of the old, musty parts of this house, I've tried to keep some of that quaint farmhouse feel the house had when we bought it. 

House Inspiration

My sister Therese came over yesterday and introduced me to Pinterest.  I had heard of it and knew what it was, but I hadn't let myself use it because I could envision myself getting addicted.  Sure enough, I am hooked!

The downstairs bath, right off the kitchen, is probably going to be the celery green color in the top left.  I love the wainscoting too.  The cabinets below are like the ones we've ordered, but I like the idea of doing the black mirror with it.

I'm going for a really calm and serene look in the master bedroom.  I love the bottom left picture.  I tend to think of tan walls as boring walls, but with big white trim, it looks really crisp!  I thought the canvas prints below were a great idea too- the girl that made these used the lyrics from her wedding song to make the prints.  We have green and brown bedding right now, but *hopefully* I'll work getting an all white set into the budget. 

Nathan and I are moving into our house in March and have been renovating it from top to bottom.  Nathan actually bought it before we were even engaged, and in the past two years has done some work to it.  But we weren't sure that we even wanted to live there (it's pretty far out in the country, and more than an hour from where I teach my students) and we had been continually debating about whether to fix it up and move in, sort-of fix it up and rent it out, or sell it.  Well, in December, we decided we were tired of paying rent and two sets of utilities, and we would move in the last week of March.  Nathan has been spending all of his extra time there, and things are really starting to come together.  I'm so proud of how he isn't overwhelmed by the big project- he's so good at going step-by-step, tackling one small project at a time.  For most things, he's learning as he goes, and it's really turning out great!

With the decorating end of the job falling to me (it's a fun job!), Pinterest seems like it's going to be an inspirational help, and maybe a little waste of time.  Our home is a century-old farmhouse, and I hope by keeping the furnishings themed around clean lines and simplicity, it will still feel somewhat like a farmhouse when we're done.  I'd also like the home to lean towards being modern, but not so much that it feels cold.

In the kitchen, I'm going with cabinets very similar to those below.  Most of the top cabinets will have clear glass doors.  The actual cabinets are square and simple.  The main question for me is what color to paint the kitchen walls.  I like the robin egg blue above with red, but wonder if I'd get tired of it.  I could also paint it a nice neutral color like in the above right.  I was originally thinking of painting it an orangish-red color (not cranberry red), but since Nathan doesn't love dark walls and the kitchen is a part of the house we will both be spending a lot of time in, I nixed that idea.  The other question is whether to use a normal table in the kitchen, or build a booth, something like pictured below.

Isaac and Eva driving home with me a few weeks ago.  My car was getting worked on, so the dealership had loaned me a 2012 version of my car.  The kids were going on about different features they really liked about this car, how nice it was, and how I should buy it.  I told them that it would cost a lot of money to buy the car, so I'd just keep driving mine for a few more years.  Then they wanted to know how much I meant when I said it would be a lot of money, and I told them probably $25,000.  "Oh my!" Isaac said, "For that  much money, you could make your house civilized!"

The front porch is going to be our storage/entrance room.  I love the color of the bathroom for the porch, and since it has lots of windows, it shouldn't be too dark.

 We aren't going to buy cabinets in the laundry room for now, and I thought these were great ideas of shelves and things we could do ourselves.

Yes, our house isn't quite "civilized" yet, but hopefully by the time we move in, we'll be on our way towards that with cabinets, finished drywall and refinished wood floors.  The new windows are mostly in, and the siding/guttering/soffeting will be finished in a month or so.  The rest of the things won't be such a big deal to do while we live there...and I'll just be glad to have the super dusty projects out of the way.  Some of the ideas in these pictures are far into the future, and others are things we can do right away.  So tell me what you like and what you don't, and send me links to your own good ideas too!

In the guest bedroom, or "Isaac and Eva's Room" I'm going to paint the walls a neutral color and then accent with bright colors, like lime green (bedding above), bright yellow and some teal blue.  The picture just above isn't the right colors, but I love the flower pendant (only $30 at IKEA!) and the white chair.

Fall Party

I hosted my mom and two youngest siblings, sister Megan and her four little guys, and Krista with her two little girls for a Thanksgiving party.

 In the past year, I've learned that the happiest people make the best of what they have.  So, for this party, I used the super cool ideas I found online, and then altered them to fit my budget and my home.  Case in point: the 1980's-style light.  Definitely not the ultra-chic chandeliers hanging above most party-guide photos, but it isn't so bad with four fall-colored paper flowers (total cost: $2.50) hung from it.  A big round of applause goes to Nathan for folding paper flowers with me a few nights ago.  They're a little tedious with only one hand.

 The centerpiece is from sticks found in my back yard, a vase my mother-in-law found at a resale shop for a dollar, ribbon saved from a gift from a student and a little construction paper.  One of the projects I did with the kids was to have them write (or draw) what they were thankful for on leaf shapes cut from construction paper and then hang them from the branches.

The runner is something I bought with a wedding gift card (so free for me), and the pumpkins, candles, leaves on the plates, and wooden acorns were purchased at Hobby Lobby last week during an 80% off sale.  That made the pumpkins, according to big/medium/tiny $2/$0.80/$0.40.  I had everything set up but thought I needed a little something more, so I added the scrunched paper napkins to the glasses for one last pop of color.

 Here's the kiddos, pre-crafts.  Everyone except the two babies participated in crafts.

 My mom and her youngest grandchild, 9-month-old Elliana.  

 My college friend Evelyn was able to stop buy for a few hours and join in the happy chaos.  Here she is with sweet Benjamin.  They are in the basement where we were doing crafts.

 Pilgrim Evangeline.  We like to call her the family's "cherry on top".

 My oldest nephews, Samuel (6) and William (4).

 My brother Isaac.  He is such a good leader for all the kids.

 Evelyn and I after lunch.  

I didn't really get pictures of the food, but we had sloppy joes, tomatoes, carrots and broccoli with dip, chips, taffy apple salad, pumpkin muffins and chocolate pumpkin-shaped cake.

The cake also had a stem, but you can't see it in the picture.

 We tried really hard to get a group shot as everyone left.  But with 8 kids under 10, this was the best that we got.

Nathan stopped in during lunch and we were able to grab a quick photo...check out the swollen, sausage-like fingers I have here!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.  

I hope you have a wonderful holiday 

surrounded by the people you love.