Real life renovating and our Winner

 

This has been the scene around here lately. Rooms that usually look so polished and tidy are pulled into a mass of furniture in the center. It isn't because I am redecorating or rearranging. It is because I am FINALLY tackling some of our outstanding reno items. 

Sean and I are what I refer to as 90 percenters. We bust our butts and get a project 90% done. It is finished enough to get on with life and seems like so little left that you tell yourself you will get around to it soon, but just not right now. Because you are sick of living in a reno zone. So before you know it you have everything back where it belongs and the thought of moving it all again to finish up is awfully unappealing. 

But I saw a truly inspiring quote recently that read

{ Do it RIGHT NOW because later will become never }

So true! I have realized that I don't want it to become never. Specially when it really isn't a back breaking amount of work. It is just prioritizing and making it happen. 

So for the past few days I have been going around with my spackle and caulking and painting, finishing baseboard in our bedroom and the kitchen reading nook that were nailed in place years ago but never quite finished. Definitely not rocket science, just tedious and not topping any FUN project lists I've ever made. But it feels good to get it done!

 

I also want to THANK Tailor and Stylist again for their amazing giveaway! Our winner was entry number 31.

Shoot me off an email at inthefunlane@gmail.com when you see this Ashley!! 

(in the event Ashley doesn't claim her prize I will redraw in 1 week)

Stripped Down Dresser

I did some interesting refinishing a couple weeks ago. The interesting part was that I stripped it down, but didn't paint it. I felt kind of lost when my work was done at the point I usually feel it is just beginning.

 

It came about when Sean told me he wanted a different dresser as his night stand. He wanted more storage. 

So I took him on a thrift store run and look what he found! I know it looks JUST like the dresser we already have in there. AND it's already white! But guess what?

This dresser is metal. The whole thing!

 

We immediately fell in love with it and how unique it was. In years and years of painting furniture I've never ever came across one. I knew they existed, but hadn't ever seen one in person. So I stripped it down, years and years of different paint. ALMOST all the way down. 

 

Leaving just enough patina to keep it from feeling too tool-chest-like. Once it was done we decided it looked far more lovely in the living room so we were still left hanging for Sean's bedside dresser...

 

So we moved this new/old dresser upstairs and it feels perfect. 

 

The wood is the perfect warmth for the room. And he has 3 whole drawers to hold his sock collection!

This is what I call a win-win.

 

And I will definitely be dragging the poor guy out thrifting way more often if this is what happens!

Fresh Paint in the Master

No, not on the walls (I still love our silver paisley wall paper, which might be a record for the oldest thing in our bedroom!), but on a few furniture items. Mainly this dresser and a mirror.

I still want to eventually find a lower dresser for that side, but for a short term solution I repainted it to coordinate a lot better.

You are probably asking yourself one of two questions:

Doesn't that look familiar?

or

I don't even know what the dresser looked like originally, so who cares?

Originally I brought the dresser home for $15 but got a lot of old peach and gold paint and  my thumb sliced open in the bargain (long story, but I can tell you I now have an extreme distrust of bungee ties)

My original makeover was a cool grey paint with the Brockhampton knobs from Anthro. It looked great, but was too much grey for our new white/cream/navy scheme.

A bright white paint and a semi gloss finish makes it feel clean and sophisticated now. A much better fit for the space.

The brockhampton knobs were super cool before, but with a little playing I figured out how to open them up and change out the fabric. 

I actually just covered over the plaid with this canvas so that down the line I can go back to the original fabric if I like.

I also painted a new oversized mirror. It was a WAYYY bigger job than the dresser because I always completely remove mirrors from their frames. Just taping and then painting is fine sometimes, but you may notice that when you look at a mirror you can see a bit of the back of the frame reflecting along all the edges so I think it is important to paint the back as well for the best finished product. And let me tell you, this mirror weighs the equivalent of a hippo!

The mirror is actually one of 7 I brought home from an Ethan Allen auction I went to a few weeks ago when they moved to a new location. I was the only bidder and got them for $10! I think I'll put one in the living room at Lexington as well, and you'll love some of the other treasures I bought for it at the auction (which have some how settled in other rooms of our house, funny how that happens). 

I painted it Wheat Bread which I think was from CIL. A nice blend between beige and grey, and it ties in well with the map on our dresser without being too matchy.

The sheer height and scale of it really ups the glam factor.

Two other Lexington purchases that have gotten awfully comfy here are these Urban Barn orchids. I got them the weekend all accessories were an extra 50% off so they were only $16 for both. Can you tell I like to arrange things in couples?

I am really happy with how things have been transforming in here since the start of the year. It is kind of feeling more and more like the calm and soothing hotel suite I never want to leave on a good holiday!

When I get the funny face I know I'm doing something right, so that's a prize unto itself!

If you have been working on a transformation as well please link me in the comments! 

To dye for

Yesterday Wren and I had to head over to Ikea for some Lexington related supplies (the kitchen cabinets are all Ikea) and I picked up an extra Euro sham to get the outstanding items finished in our bedroom. I also picked up a king sized white fitted sheet in the as-is area for $10.

 

Then we headed to Michael's to grab some fabric dye to make our own custom blue bedding. I didn't see a shade of blue I loved so we picked up both teal and royal blue ($4.99 each, minus 20% with a coupon) so I could blend until I liked the color. The instructions said to use table salt as well, but I did not follow the directions as per the package when it came time to mix the water and dye. The reason was that I did not want a really really strong, overly saturated color. Just a soft hit.

So after adding some dye to the water, mixing it really well and testing on a fabric swatch I liked the tone I came up with.

Time to dunk the sheet! It needed to be stir constantly for about 15 minutes to get a good even color, then I let it sit for 10 more.

One sheet done, and then it was time to do a couple pillow cases I already had at home as well as a white bed skirt I had (which I originally got at Ikea as well for only $16, so if you don't have one and want to try this it is a pretty minimal purchase).

After rinsing them and then throwing it all in the wash machine it was time to see how it all looked. It is rainy and gloomy here today, so the color looks kind of washed out, but I adore the finished product!

The reason I wanted to try dying my own is to achieve a more worn in, faded blue over a new, crisp blue. Next to the linen headboard the ruffle shams are the perfect amount of floppy, comfy blue.

The dresser still needs a fresh coat of white paint, but I swapped out my free, road side mirror for something a little chunkier with this canvas map. I think it adds just the right amount of masculinity to the old dresser.

Now that I've attempted dying fabric at home I think I will definitely be putting this stuff to use again in the future with throw pillows or slipcovers. 

Have you tried fabric dye? what did you dye??

Here I Indi-go

I have always been a blue girl. Of all colors, blue seems to always be the one I am most drawn to, however it is usually in shades of faded, beach blues, robin's egg blue and other fairly happy shades. But a few weeks ago I opened the new Restoration Hardware source book and was totally smitten with their take on indigo. I kind of wondered why I'd never explored much with it, except that at first glance it is awfully dramatic and pretty much the furthest thing from white!

But I was in love! And when I saw these 2 linen chairs on clearance at HomeSense for $140 I decided maybe I should give indigo a go. They are going into the living room at Lexington, but I have plans to bring them into our dining room later (we still need a table after someone bought my last one, and I want to go BIG so I need more seating!).

But even before these chairs fell into my possession I was taking the indigo road in our bedroom. I had my eyes on a beautiful ombre bedding set at Anthro last year but missed the boat when it went on sale. I didn't think much of it until I saw this Ralph Lauren set. It actually appeals to me more because it mixes structure and clean lines with lots of white still.

The duvet retailed for $370 but I snagged it on clearance for $50. I brought it home, threw it on my bed and loved it, but also felt like it was missing something so I decided to implement a 2 step plan. The first step was to track down some new shams.

I went back to the store and found these shams on clearance for $10

Which definitely helped pull it together, but I still have another step in my plan. I need another Euro sham ($16, from Ikea), but I also have a fun project I'll be giving a go this week I can't wait to share.

I am thinking of repainting the dresser as well, since the grey is a little murky next to our headboard, and I scooped up a pile of amazing mirrors at an Ethan Allen auction this weekend I will be giving a makeover for both Lexington and our bedroom. So in short, I have a lot of work ahead of me and not a lot of time for laying out on my new bedding with a good book

Happy voting to all my fellow Albertans!

The king and I

The second week of January was freakin cold. COLD, so I appreciated a smaller bed, cuddling close to keep warm with Sean. But by the third week it was mild again and we decided that it was time to take the plunge on something we had been discussing for about a year now: switching to a king mattress.

The funny thing is we did things just a smidge backwards because we bought a headboard before we committed to a mattress. It was one of those things that prompt you to make the jump to King because it was too good to be true!

I was shopping at HomeSense at the very start of January and saw a beautiful headboard there, only one, in a king and lacking a price tag. I knew it looked familiar so I went home, did some googling and low and behold I realized it was either an exact replica, or perhaps a cast off Warner headboard from Restoration Hardware (I realize it is not normal to remember things like that, specially if you aren't in the market for a bed, but I'm weird like that).

My first reaction was to drag Sean down there the very same night, but on closer inspection we discovered a rip in the material so I sadly left it. I resigned myself to the fact that I would either have to get creative on another headboard project or just splurge on the real deal. Then my mom called me one afternoon saying she saw another one at a different store and put it on hold for us! So just couple weeks ago we made another trip to finally seal the deal on our King sized upgrade. The second headboard was in perfect condition, still wrapped even, and boasted a price of $500. Not the cheapest headboard out there, but it saved me about $1600 on the Restoration Hardware SALE price once you include shipping and tax!

Of course it has caused a trickle down effect and now I am looking for some snazzy new shams, ideally something with a little texture.

And I am also working on a new side table for Sean's side of the bed. Our last mattress was a plushy pillow top that gave Sean back aches for days, so it was extremely high and needed a tall side table. Now it looks a little high with this bed and the light glares in your eyes at night from that angle so it's time to go lower.

The sand linen is the perfect hit of texture and color next to our muted grey paisley wallpaper.

I LOVE the nickel nail head detail all down along the frame. It adds a fresh feel to the linen.

As usual my wheels are turning and plans are being hatched for what else to add/subtract in here.

One thing I am desperate to subtract is the obvious cords for the TV and I can't wait to add a few extra hits of bling on the new nightstand.

For the commenters asking about the duvet, I bought a Cal King duvet and cover, but the bed is just a standard king so I am not sure if that has anything to do with the extra hang over. But I REALLY think someone would make a killing selling oversized king duvets and covers for those of us who like lots of over hang. It might even save a few marriages in the process on those cold nights when blanket real estate is a major point of contention!

Master Bedroom

It has been over a year and a half since I wall papered the wall behind our bed and I think I've only shared snippets of our master bedroom since then, in an oh so clever attempt to avoid cleaning up all the laundry bins and random tidbits during the kitchen overhaul.

For all those who are new to our 3 year journey, here is a trip back in time to where we started.

The first reincarnation was done on a SHOE STRING budget! Recycled furniture, homemade headboard and the addition of $26 in Ikea shelves to suffice as night stands.

Then we punched it up a little with an at home paint concoction I mixed up for the perfect charcoal grey.

And after adding an old dresser and desk as night stands, some new bedding and wall paper we have our latest version.

My side of the bed has a repurposed old school desk holding books, art and a few trinkets.

When you live with a man who is sooooo supportive of whitewashing the whole house you have to let a few of ideas slide through. Like a giant TV staring you dead in the face every morning! Ironically, I think I've used the thing more than he has and have caught numerous great old movies during my 2 am insomnia sessions.

I fell in love with our duvet cover on our holiday last year during a stop at PomPom interiors. It was quite a splurge so I wasn't able to convince Sean we needed the matching linen shams. Thankfully I scored a couple of these awesome linen euro shams at Ikea recently in the as is section for $10! Now I just need to buy another pillow insert~

Surprisingly, the duvet cover is by far the most expensive item in our room! Both of our nightstands were $15 finds I painted up and replaced hardware on and the mirror was a freebie, also painted up.

The other bed linens all come from Kohl's, they have a beautiful line of ruffled white shams, sheets and bed skirts that are almost always on sale!

I think this is one of the hardest rooms to photograph in our house. It always looks washed out and over exposed in photos, but in person the grey paisley wall paper pops off the wall and adds just enough personality for my taste. Wish I could remember the manufacturer of the paper because I want to do the powder room too!!

I'm sooooo happy that all our "down stairs" furniture and accessories are back down stairs and not crowding all our bedrooms, but of course my wheels are always turning and I am already working on tracking down a new and improved headboard/bedframe.... And the progress continues here!