Master (bedroom) of the Universe!

He-Man did not assist.

The biggest project so far in our house has been our master bedroom. It has had so many awesome people helping, and it was a real labor of love. It took us about a month to complete during weekends and a few weeknights. We are so lucky to have so many people with the skills needed to make this happen. When we first saw the house, the room was white with rusty baseboard heaters, rough blue floors, and an electrical system from the 1920s.

Ignore the rug, curtains and terrible picture. These are from when we were house hunting! Below is a good shot of what kind of condition the floors were in.

Our order of operations for this project was a little backwards. We started by painting the walls a greenish blue. Jess and Charles went at it like a machine, and had it done in a morning. The touch up coats were done by me, Diane, and Meagan. .

Then, came the sanding. Oh, the sanding. We rented two industrial sanders and bought two hand sanders. The dust was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Here's a shot of Sean and Chris sanding the dressing room:

After one whole day of sanding, the room was still no where near done. We had hoped this would be a one weekend project; not so much. 

The whole next week before we moved in was spend sanding with small hand sanders until we lost light. We had to use extension cords because the electrical was not safe. Here's a shot of Meagan and Heather working hard on a Tuesday night (I did mention it was dusty, right?):

Underneath the blue layer of paint was a lovely brown with multicolored polka dots. This is the most confusing thing; was this a clown's room?

Next came the electrical work in which the electrician had to cut holes in the walls....maybe we shouldn't have painted first ;) Chris is a magician and made the holes disappear though!

We washed the walls and floors probably three times, and I swear I still find dust.

And finally, we stained twice and sealed five times over the course of a week, then my mom, Chris and I painted the baseboard heaters.

 When I say "wide pine", I'm not kidding! There are still a few pockmarks with a remnant of what the floor once was, but overall it looks awesome. I love the character of these floors.

And last but not least, we moved in.

Hooray! Special thanks to:

Jess, Charles, Tom W, Diane, Sean, Meagan, Heather L, Joe, mom, and anyone we missed!

Tonight, we dine in...

I finally have another room complete! This was another wallpaper room and I again will state how horrible wallpaper is. But this room didn't have just one wallpaper. No, it featured two amazing floral wallpapers. I say amazing because I am amazed that anyone would do this.

My before pictures are from when we were house-hunting, so its full of furniture that isn't ours and you can't see much of the bottom wallpaper.

Check out that light fixture. Ick.

So, in comes the wall paper removal team, mostly consisting of my dad, my mom, then Laura and Tom...(I think! Sorry if I missed anyone!)

My mom is always so cheery! Even when scraping walls...

Then we had nice fresh walls to paint. Look at my dad being a pro with the wall paper removal! 

We got all prepped to paint and found that the paint was clumping.

Did I mention how terrible wallpaper is?

On the walls was an invisible adhesive that you could only feel when wet.So, Meagan and I spent about 6 hours scrubbing the walls with wallpaper paste remover and tiny scotch-brite sponges. I hate you wallpaper. This room to took two full days before it was even ready to be painted. There should be a special hell for people who use wallpaper.

Anyway, Diane and I got to work and painted the room a few days later. Besides some mishaps with painters tape ripping the white off of the chair rail, it went smoothly.Then, Tom, Chris and my dad put up the new light fixture on Sunday, and complete with a curtain and my great grandmother's tablecloth, the room feels done. So...here's the finished product, what do you think?

 

And a sneak peek of what will hopefully be my next post:

Opinions needed....dressing room!

One of the coolest features of the house is that adjacent to the master bedroom is a dressing room.  It's one of my favorite rooms, and Chris said I could do whatever I wanted with it. That's a dangerous thing to say, right?

The before: white walls, white closets, and those great wide pine floors....painted a horrible blue. (Don't lecture me on my "before" pictures, please! I took this while we were house hunting, and you can't see much of the room....)

So, we sanded down the floors (no small task- more to come on that), stained and sealed them. This has taken over a month! Since I could paint it any color I wanted, obviously I painted it purple. Close to the color of the room I had as a teenager, but with a dustier shade to it, making it seem a little more grown up and little less preteen. (The heaters are being painted soon, that's why they aren't on!)

Now I am ready to buy an area rug and some curtains. I thought about channeling my inner 16 year old with this soft looking royal purple rug. Then I started thinking; how about green?

I'm usually pretty reserved when it comes to color. I don't want anything huge because of the amount of work that went in to the floors- I want people to be able to see them! I want to have a really cool looking room though; skipping the more elegant ideas I had in my mind before we moved because lets face it...that's not me! So I want to know...which rug do you like?

This one:

I would pair the above with bright green curtains. I like all the bright colors, and there is a little purple in there too. The blue would tie it in with the master bedroom, I think. Not sure how I feel about all the red though. red and I don't mix!

This one:


I'm honestly not sure what I would do for curtains with this one. Maybe chocolate to tie it together with my master bedroom (which will have chocolate curtains), since there is no door between the two? How do you feel about chocolate,  lilac, and sage? Do those even go together?

Or do I play it safe with purple?


More purple:

And if I do go with a solid purple, what do I do for curtains? I don't want it to look like Barney vomited in my dressing room.

My favorite in the purple/green family that I just found:



Might be a fun way to play with the idea of adding green to the room without overpowering it. I think sage curtains would be just right.


Anyway, I feel like I can never see the "big picture" as well as other people...so I appreciate any input! I really want to be brave and go with the first one, but playing it safe is always so appealing. What's the verdict everyone?

Making our bathroom livable....from wallpaper to the city

So our move to the country was a little shocking at first.

I love the city. I love the sounds of other people going about their daily lives. I feel safer in the presence of others than I do in the woods. I prefer the smell of hot pavement and exhaust to the smell of freshly cut grass or the forest.

So when we moved from Concord (not exactly a bustling metro) to our new home(on a golf course....not exactly the wilderness, I know) I had to bring some of the city with me.

So, introducing my bathroom. Let me describe it to you, to prepare you for the horror.

Off white fake tiling made out of some kind of wood. It looks dirty. Outdated fixtures that I can live with. The shower makes me feel like Will Ferrell in Elf.  You know, when he is realizing he is a human, and remembers showering, splashing water on himself because he's too tall for the shower-head? Either I am a giant or people were much shorter when they added plumbing.

So...we can fix the aesthetics. Paint the wood and remove the....oh wait. I forgot to mention. The wall paper. Oh, the wall paper. Lurking above the wood lies a few feet of this gem:

I know, it's so fabulous. It screams terrible motel that is full of roaches and mold.

So: cue wallpaper removal! Thanks to my friends Heather, June, and Kim the wallpaper came down!

Heather does not love wall paper removal. In fact, we had to hit this wall up with a sander after because it was so horrible!

Enter a few coats of paint, an amazing shower curtain, and some elbow grease...Voila! The end product:

I brought my bit of the city to the country, and I love it. Someday we'll fix those fixtures and that floor....but I am pleased for now.

Thanks for all the help ladies!