Weekend updates preview

So I still haven't pulled all the photos off my phone, but I have taken a few shots that I can share. I'll have the full blown before and after shots later, so think of these as previews.

Henry's mural

First let me start with the nursery that we actually started weekend before last I think. It made us both a little sad to paint over the things that were painted on the wall for Kinsley. We were able to make it through because we had just painted her new "big girl" room the weekend before. This is really making me realize how long we've been at this reno thing this time. blah. So the room used to be yellow with pink "murals" on the wall. As  you know, we are having a boy this time so that wouldn't work. We painted the room a nice pale blue and as with each child, he too will have a mural. We didn't really plan on the "theme" for his nursery, it just sorta happened. More on that in another post. Colin's nursery was airplane themed, Jonas's was ocean themed, Kinsley's was meadow themed, and Henry's is woodland themed. We are reusing the crib bedding that Kinsley had, something that I have never done before, because I like it and it's neutral and once again, the whole theme just sorta happened and it fit. So here's a sneak peek of the nursery. This is the beginning of the mural. I think this was on day 1 of its existence, so there's been alot more added and obviously you can't see the top of it but it goes to the ceiling. As usual this project exploded to a level far above what I originally intended, but I've learned not to fight the urge and to just go along with it. :-P

Cotton, flannel, & fleece, oh my!

So in addition to the mural, I've picked up a few other things to go along with this woodland theme. There I was, cruising Joann, when I spied this fabric. Now I wasn't even looking for fabric for myself, I was just there with a friend and when I saw this I knew that I had to have it. I didn't even know what I was going to do with it when I saw it. I grabbed all the fabrics and headed to the cutting counter. While I stood there in line, and thankfully there was a line because I had no idea how much of each to get, the uses for this adorable fabric came to me. I knew that I didn't need bedding for the crib and I already had the matching valance so all that was out, but what I didn't have was bedding for the pack and play that will live in our room for a while until he can bunk in his own room. I also didn't have boyish covers for the boppy, or the Moses basket. The light blue fabric at the top left is flannel, the green one to its right is cotton, the animal print one is standard fleece, and the other two are cuddle fleece which is super soft but a bit of a pain to work with because it stretches and sheds like mad! I've also ordered some custom stuffed animals to keep him company, and his "baby/lovie" will be in keeping with the theme also. I so can't wait until all this is done, it's going to be so over the top!

The boys' closet, sorta.

Henry had a special project to do that I had nothing to do with other than to suggest it. He found the time during all this to make the boys a closet. There is a large utility closet in their room, so we decided that we could section off 1/3 of it for them. We have 1/3 for our stuff, the water heater has 1/3, and they have the other 1/3. The closet isn't finished yet, but here's a preview of it. Henry made a new raised floor so that in the event of a water leak, maybe their stuff won't get wet. Smart thinking I think! We still have to finish it off and add the shelves, but there will be no door. This serves one major purpose and that is that it will keep them from leaving it open and slamming the bedroom door into it. That door is just to the right, you can kinda see it in the bottom right of the pic.
So we've also been working on more adult spaces/ the entire first floor of our house. The cabinets have been painted, the hideous pink carpet is gone, the baseboards have all been removed, the laminate and underlayment are piled up under the bar, and we bought seven, yes 7 gallons of paint at the Depot the other day. We had such a space to paint that we were pretty confident it would take most of it and leave some for touch ups since we do not intend to repaint for a while. I don't have pics of the actual rooms painted because all of the furniture is still in the middle of the rooms so you couldn't really see anything anyway. What I do have is a picture of the swatches side by side so that you can see where we're going with things. Before any of you say "omg, that's builder beige, that's hideous, that's what I want to stay away from!" let me say that we have already experimented with the bold and questionable, and we feel that going back to basics is the sane choice at this juncture. Let me also say that while the color on the right is one of our original choices and was one of the ones painted on random walls in the kitchen for the last 2 months, the one on the left is new. I couldn't find the original swatches in the house and when we were at the store I only found the darker swatch "spud". I had been discussing using a "parchment or oatmeal" color on the way to the store, so I took it as a sign to go with it when we couldn't find the original lighter brown swatch "caramel something or other". The color on the right was painted in the kitchen/dining room. We feel that it was a wise choice since all the trim, doors, and cabinets are white. We wanted something adult like that would warm up the space and not wash it out. The crisp white looks amazing with it, and our dining room furniture is sort of a blonde wood so it pops as well. The color on the left looks like parchment in certain lights, however our house does not typically have said light so much to my surprise when I cut in upstairs it is a much darker taupe-y color than what I thought I was getting. Note to self: bring home the swatch and tester before you buy gallons of paint. I do like the color, and now that it's up I realize that it's a better choice than the super light color I thought I wanted/bought. It won't show crud as well. :-P This color is painted everywhere else downstairs. The entryway, the stairway (yay! goodbye yellow that I thought I loved), and the living room. We also have enough left over to do the boys' room and office later on. The half bath will get a soothing green color in a week or so because I'm so over the purple that was a "mix these buckets together and paint" choice. The light color makes the darker furniture in the living room pop, and also looks awesome with the crisp white trim. Our goal is to install the flooring not this weekend but next, since we already have a full schedule this weekend. (Happy Anniversary to us, this remodel turned out to be our gift!) The flooring is kind of a medium tone that we really hope will play well with the furniture and wall colors.
Overall, we're really happy with the choices to go "back to basics". There are multiple reasons that model homes are painted these colors, and that's because they are soothing, neutral, and appealing to a vast array of individuals. From now on I think I'll stick to crazy throw pillows, curtains and accessories if I feel the need to be bold and daring because this whole repainting the entire inside of the house thing, it's not happening again for a looong time. -Kellie-