Changes downstairs

The last time I shared our family room, it looked like this:

Everything has looked pretty much like that since 2016, then we decided to change up the layout this spring.  The couch was too far from the tv, and there was a lot of space in the front of the room that got all crapped up with kid stuff.  So, we decided to move our shelves together near the far end, and move the couch forward to create a kid area that can't be seen from the door.  Here it is now:

The baby buggy in the corner now lives in the playroom, and in it's place, I put a couple old school desks I found at Goodwill.  I added to the 'coloring nook' with a gold plug-in pendant from World Market. 

The rest of the area behind the couch is sort of a jumble, but I guess that is the point!

I have tried to get some stuff on the walls, too.  I was so tired of looking at a big blank wall above the sectional, so I got a 20x30 made of my favorite image of the boys. 

It was obviously way too small for that spot as a stand-alone image.  See this blog post on my photography site for more info about how I found that out the hard way!  Instead of the picture of the boys, which I moved above the desks, I decided to get these canvases from Target:

These are the proper scale, and I love the retro look of the print...as well as the beautiful colors!  I plan to fill in the sides with gold framed prints to keep with my 'black, gold, and wood' theme throughout the house. 

A vintage cane chair (set of two, actually) that my neighbor was throwing away is living in here for additional seating.  I would love to reupholster it, because the fabric isn't in good shape.  I've also thought about painting it!

You can see I put my white Goodwill mirror from the Russet street house on that back wall.  I'm not sure it will stay, but it's nice to get it out of the garage for now.  The half moon table underneath it is absolutely a placeholder for something better when I find it.  A curtain in the doorway of the laundry room is a nice way to cover the mess with no fuss.  This brings me to my real issue....the color of the doors in the lower level.  They used to be an orangey wood, and I intended to paint them white to match the trim. 

But after I primed (with BIN) and painted the inside of the bathroom door, I got to thinking that maybe Urbane Bronze would look nice on the outside of the door as well.  So, I did my thing and ended up with a nice dark door.  PS - painting over BIN is a dream, it sands perfectly smooth and paint sticks to it like crazy!  Also, I never remove hardware, and always do the insets of a panel door first. 

There is only one coat on the outside of the door, because I'm not sold on the color.  This photo was taken before the mirror was added, but this is a good representation of how it looks during the day.  There is a good amount of light down here, so I'm not worried about dark doors making it look dark.  I do think it might make the old parquet floor look orange, but that may be the other door throwing me off. 

Also, I know it was popular five years ago to do interior doors this color, and I don't want to be 'dating' myself.  I do like the way it looks when opened into the bathroom!

We only have the bathroom, playroom, and door to the garage.  You can see at night how much more orange/yellow the floor looks.  However, I'm not sure white doors will be much better!  

I do love the idea of dark doors from a cleaning perspective, since my white doors upstairs are filthy from the kids.  Along with my walls, but that is a different story.  So, what do you think?

Next post, I'll be taking it outside!

Our favorite thing in the house

This area of the house has been completed for awhile now, but the craziness of life has made this post a little late.  Ashford, Shaun, and I all had birthdays in June, and then Zach fell off a slide and broke his arm!  Unsurprisingly, we've been using this appliance an awful lot lately.

We knew almost upon moving in that this area would be a great kegerator spot.  We really could've used another closet, but what is better....more space to hold crap you forget about, or tap beer?  As I said in my post last July, PRIORITIES. 

We still need to add trim under that cabinet, but for now the white paint on the toekick is a great disguise.  We got the kegerator from kegerator.com.  Very unique name, I know.  It was very exciting when it arrived!  I got a 15" base cabinet from Home Depot and promptly put it there to pretend like everything was done. 

Then I realized that I couldn't take on this project myself, mostly because I don't install stone counters, but also because our children are stage 5 clingers and I needed professional help.  I called a 'handyman' company I've used in the past, and they gave me a quote I could live with.  For $1000, we got the cabinet installed and preparation for counter, quartz countertop, counter installation, a new outlet, shelves hung, and all touch ups done. 

I am in love with the quartz!  The color is Wilsonart 'Haida' and it is very simple and pretty.  Marble-esque, but really just very soft and neutral white with black/gray veining.  I haven't decided if I will caulk the edges yet, for now it looks great.  I painted the cabinet with our Behr Ultra Pure White trim color, and got some fun hardware from Anthropologie. 

For the area above the counter, I opted for these 'Vigneto' shelves from Ballard.  The top shelf holds a lot of vintage steins from Shaun's grandpa, and fancy liquors we never drink. 

We ended up with this off-kilter arrangement because the stud was directly in the middle, and we couldn't put the bracket for the wine glass shelf in the middle due to the glass holders.  I was initially annoyed, but I think the rustic look of the shelves makes it look ok.  Since the bottom shelf is not in a stud on the right, we opted for a light picture frame and no glasswear on that side.  (I have no idea what to put there, so baby Zach in a towel after a bath is as good as anything - considering he is the reason I drink!)  I was most excited about the tap handle holder. 

We went to a local bar that had a similar pipe-inspired tap handle holder, and the idea really appealed to us.  I got this 18" pipe towel bar from Etsy, and then went about finding the right hooks to use for the handles.  It wasn't easy, the bar was thick and the threads to go into the handles had to be right.  I ended up finding a 'clothesline' hook at Ace that worked, but it was rather long.  I just sprayed them with Rustoleum 'Black Night Metallic' spray paint to match the galvanized pipe better. 

I really love the outcome, and we have room for a few more handles of beers we get often.  I hung the print we've had since Russet street in this area, I still love it and I'm glad it found a home.

The wine glass shelf is great, but we really don't use it for wine glasses.  Those live upstairs, because we drink wine on the couch in our living room.  Often. 

Being from Wisconsin, I'm a huge New Glarus fan.  My awesome brother got me this used tap handle and a pony keg of Spotted Cow for my birthday, and it was the perfect gift!  If you've never had Spotted Cow, go to Wisconsin (it's only sold there) or have a friend pick you up a pack.  So good!

Overall, I'm very happy we did this project, and it really has given us a lot of joy and fun while entertaining.  When people don't know we have it, and come down the stairs, it's amusing to see their eyes light up when they look behind them.  I feel it was well worth the $2400 we put into it.  And obviously, it could be done for much cheaper if you have the time and skills to do all the labor!

It's also totally awesome to pour myself a tiny beer whenever I like.  Let's be honest, some days are 'it's 5 o'clock somewhere' days.  Ok, most days are.  I can safely say I have at least 8 ounces of beer daily.  It is a small indulgence to look forward to!  

I hope this post has inspired you to create a little beer nook in your house!  Your friends will thank you.  I will thank you when I come over.  By the way, invite me over.  I need to talk to adults!

 Have a great weekend!

 

Our family room

I kept putting off this post because I wanted to get more done on this space, but it's clear this is the way it's going to be for quite awhile.  So, here is our lower level family room!

Whoa nelly, this has come a loooooong way.  Here is the listing photo:

And here is what it looked like when we took possession:

You guys may remember previous posts about all the work we did removing the paneling, the drop ceiling, the stanky carpet, and installing the awesome can lights where there was no lighting.  If not, here's a quick rundown of how it progressed:

This was the biggest renovation we've dealt with since our Russet Street kitchen.  I'm so glad the bones of the room are done, because it was so stressful!  Shaun removed all the paneling, the ceiling, the carpet, and trim around the windows and floor.  We hired out the drywall/plywood, the electric, and a family friend installed brand new carpet over the floor tile.  We were so grateful we didn't have to rip it up.  The new carpet is from Home Depot and it is so soft and beautiful!

Shaun really did a great job with the board and batten, we used 3/4" thick MDF boards because I wanted a chunkier look, but also wanted to keep costs down.  The baseboard is 1x4, the battens are 1x2, and the top board under the ledge is 1x3.  The top ledges are all pine.  Our amazing drywall guy installed quarter inch luann plywood to the lower walls for us to cover the glue and muck left from the paneling.  Let me tell you, it was a real treat to prime and paint all this crap!  In this next pic, you see that I have a slight dilemma over how to hide our TV cords.  I'm not giving it much thought until we get a bigger television, though.  Obviously, this one is way too small for this room!  (That is Shaun's 'obviously,' not mine.)

When I decorated this room, I felt I needed to branch out from using the same curtains and décor that I already had.  None of the curtains I had would've worked with the warm grays on the walls and floor.  I also just wanted something different that still complemented the rest of our style throughout the house.  I saw these curtains online at West Elm and fell in love, we all know I'm obsessed with all things aqua and teal!  What sealed the deal was that a similar shade of gray to our wall color (SW Popular Gray) was also on the curtain panels. 

I chose to mount the rods (these Allen and Roth ones from Lowes) on the ceiling like I did in our basement family room in Minnesota.  I did this because the ledge on the wall with one window pictured above is 6 inches deep and the curtains would not hang straight if I used the bracket on the wall.  I could've gotten a bit more height mounting on the wall, but I think the ceiling mount is cool and different, and I was able to make sure the curtains hung nicely in front of the deep ledge. 

There in the corner, you can see my vintage buggy where I take the baby's monthly photos.  It is the perfect spot, I can roll it in front of that window and take the photos without any major prep.  I love easy.  Here's the most recent one, he's about that age where he doesn't stay where I put him.  He's also cutting his first tooth, and eating absolutely everything...yay for baby-led weaning!

Our monster sectional fits nicely down here, this is honestly Shaun's favorite spot in the house. 

I found some clearance pillows and a throw in the 'Horseradish' color, and a teal hounds tooth throw at West Elm to complement the curtains and pillows I already had. 

It's always a little cold down here because our HVAC system isn't set up great, so throws are very necessary!  I also think it just adds so much to have some pops of color on the couch.

The shelves on either side of the couch are from CB2 and we love how they tie in the wood from the vintage dresser on the opposite wall.  Our original plan to do built ins on this wall didn't pan out when we started crunching the numbers and realized we didn't have enough width to make it work.  This is a nice compromise.  They were super easy to assemble and attach, and the shelves were just $200 each. 

The view from the far wall shows the huge Pottery Barn Studio wall easel (no longer available) my sweet brother bought for us last Christmas.   

It was a serious pain to install, and the frames (which are also Pottery Barn, btw) don't really fit well in the brackets and sit a little crooked all the time.  Even still, it's a cool piece and the wall above the piano was the perfect spot to showcase my favorite images. 

You can see here how the frames just sort of toss about in the breeze on the down rods.  Maybe that is why it's no longer being made!

This area under the stairs and the nook/ledge with all the random crap on it is still a mystery to me.  I envisioned having some kind of shelving on the wall and then a larger bench with storage where the trunk currently sits.  We can't really fit a true mudroom near the door to the garage, but a bench with some hooks will hopefully work nicely. 

That door to the garage still needs to be painted, along with the trim around it.  I'm throwing around painting the doors down here a gray instead of white.  Still unsure about that!  For fun, here is the before shot of the door to the garage I shared a few months ago. 

Ew!  Let me cleanse your eyeballs with this cute pic of Zachary.  He might look happy, but he really really hates being on his belly and can't figure out crawling yet.  He also is deeply offended whenever I put him down and try to do something other than lovingly stare at him.

This parquet area is where the area rugs I don't know where to put are living.  They don't really match anything, but it's fine for now. 

And a wide view.

I can't wait to get some photos and art on the walls, the rest of the trim, doors, and stairs painted, and my nooks and crannies finished.  Until then, the before and after is making us very happy!

I'll share the playroom soon, it needs a little bit of clean up before I can show it off.  I hope this room was worth the really long wait, sorry it took so long!