Dressing room to bedroom

Before we put our house on the market, I knew I had to turn my dressing room back into a bedroom.  There wasn't much to do, I just had to move the bookcases and bench out and find a bed.  Luckily, my mother in law had acquired a charming vintage metal bed for us, and it was a perfect piece for this room!  Here it is with a bad paint job and faux wood contact paper over the adorable metal flower design.  I can't believe I didn't get a shot of the contact paper!  Seriously, it was awful and I scraped at it for a long time.  

I thought about painting it a fun color, but ultimately decided white would be best.  Shaun told me the flower design was ugly and I should paint the entire bed white, but I wanted to keep that detail.  I figured if it looked ugly once painted, I could always paint it later!  

I used two cans of spray primer, and two cans of Rustoleum Universal spray in satin white.  I think the end result is darling!  It is amazing what some fresh white paint can do.

Once I cleaned up the insets, I loved them, and they keep the bed from looking too much like a hospital bed. Which it does, I'm aware.  

The rest of the room turned out great!  I finally hung the yellow clock on the wall, it had been resting on top of the window blinds for the last three years.  

I added this little half-moon table, which was also given to me by my mother in law and painted white years ago.  It works so well under the window, a perfect fit!  An old Ikea desk lamp was a free bedside light, even though I wanted to buy a cuter one.  I was actually pretty impressed with my restraint.  (Since, you know, I get Shaun's employee discount at TJ Maxx!)

I found the sheets, bed skirt, and reversible throw at Target, the pillows and blanket I already had from various places.  The yellow vase was purchased years ago from Crate and Barrel.  I decided to leave the racks on the wall as display rather than take them down and deal with patching all the holes.  I couldn't think of anything creative to use them for, so I hung my colorful skinny belts and a girly purse.  

The other rack holds a robe and some other random items.  Yep, I stole one of Ashford's toys because it matched the room.  

The other side of the room looks exactly the same.  I did paint the windows in this room, which I hadn't done yet.  I was actually shocked at how many doors and windows we hadn't painted in the five years we've lived here.  Awful that you do it all when you are going to be leaving soon!

I still get ready in here every morning, as you can see I didn't remove all my shoes or extra overflow clothes in the closet.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and even happier that it only cost me a few cans of spray paint and some bedding that I can use when Ashford is old enough for a twin bed.  

On the home sale front, we have had huge turnouts for our open houses, lots of showings, fabulous comments, and a few very interested buyers, but only one couple that has had a second showing....which was yesterday.  They really like the house and do NOT have a house to sell, which is amazeballs.  We are hoping and praying that this is the couple that puts in our first offer.  Wish us luck!

The house saga, and an ode to winter

Hello, all!  I just wanted to check in and tell you all what has been happening.  Our house has been on the market for 65 days now, and we recently dropped the price 8k to 197k.  We really feel bad about the price after all the updates we've done, but we are also trying to be realistic about the soft market in Racine.  Homes comparable to ours (although not as beautifully decorated/updated, of course!) are selling in the high 180s - so we are hopeful that dropping below the 200 mark is going to get us a new set of buyers.  Our realtor is pretty confident we will sell in the low 190s, so we're hopeful about that.  We are SO ready to sell, and have had nothing but great comments on the house, in fact we have two sets of buyers that really want our house, but have their own houses to sell.  Isn't that always the way it goes?  

This winter has not been kind to us.  We just get more and more snow, and the sub zero days are awful.  It will warm up and snow, then the ice and snow will melt, then it is below zero and everything is ice.  We don't ever feel like we have a weekend, it is always spent cleaning and shoveling.  Our beautiful patio is definitely not a selling point right now!

The shared driveway is still the number one issue for potential buyers, which is funny, because the shared driveway has saved my life this winter!  Our neighbors are retired, and they take care of every snowfall for me while Shaun is away during the week.  If I didn't have them, there is just no way I could get the snow shoveled and keep track of Ashford.  That kid does love to join the shoveling fun, though!

The winter doesn't always seem as bad when you get to see it through your child's eyes.  

And the snow does make for beautiful photos during the day...

...and at night.  So, there's that.  (I still don't like you, snow)

We have an open house scheduled for tomorrow, and I have a question for you all...should we have Shaun's famous homemade cookies and water bottles available?  Or is that a pointless expense/effort?