Basement Betterment

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas, and enjoyed their break! During my time off, I have been trying to fix a few things in my basement. Here we go...

This is what the original storage/laundry room floor looked like when I purchased the house. 

Normal wear and tear (and spills) on concrete. Not too pleasant to look at.

Then, add the crap of about 6 girls living in the same house, and sharing the same storage (catch-all) room. YIKES.

Eventually, I painted the floors with concrete paint. OH MY WORD. That was tough. Took forever to dry (since it was in the basement) and I believe I spent the majority of time high on paint fumes. Nevertheless, it looks much better than what it did originally. 

This was a while ago. 

The paint helped smooth the overall eyesore, but with holes in the concrete (collecting dirt and dust), it just never felt clean on the "laundry" side. Thus, a new project began... 

After clearing out a pile of junk that was well... junk, it was already better.

This thing is the biggest pain in my side. So ugly, so permanent, and so dangerous! 

I literally hit my head three times while laying the new tile. You think I'd learn? 

Anyway, I found super cheap floor tiles at Home Depot, and began to lay them out. 

I ended up choosing the white because of it's bright, clean finish. 

Also, it is very easy to sweep, thus keeping the dirt from collecting in holes.

Getting there...

Almost done.. 

 ...and BOOM. It feels so much better in there. 

I'm still working on the piping (you can see it's white now), and the wall. 

I am painting those a fresh white color as well. 

  SNEAK PEEK

I have been planning to fix up the bar area. Not sure when this will happen, 

but I'm happy to report that I got rid of the chalk board bar top. 

It was fun while it lasted, but it needed an update.

Begun, the update has...

TO BE CONTINUED...

(Thanks for reading!)

Christmastime

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

This is the first Christmas with the new paint. I'm happy to report that all of the colors seem to play nicely with one another. I've backed off a little with the decorating this year (mainly due to lack of energy), but I love that it remains simple. 

I've added a rug to the center of the room for a bit of added warmth. 

So much wood and tile flooring can be harsh to bare feet during the winter! 

Happy Holidays!

Two years later...

Hey, y'all! I'm about 3 weeks away from my two-year anniversary of purchasing my home. I cannot believe how time has flown! I have recently begun painting my main level living and dining room, as well as the hallway. It's not complete, but I'm afraid it might be a while before I can post finished pictures.

Anyway, here are some updates of what's been happenin' around the house...

Living Room Gets a Facelift

With just under a hundred different wood types and tones, 

here is what the living room looked like when I initially purchased the house. 

However, the color on the wall was not this bright of a white, it was more of an "eggnog" color.

After I painted the fireplace (this was done a while ago).

Here is a picture of what it looked like recently, before I started painting. Sorry it's so dark.

Miss Bevin and I started painting the long wall first. 

I chose a shade of darker grey, "Smokey Day", for an accent wall. I love having the long 

wall a darker color, because it really brings the living and dining rooms together.

We then moved on to the lighter grey "Windsor", 

which is a few shades lighter than the accent wall. 

Lauren helped me MAJORLY with this project. We've both been painting our butts off! 

Two things: 

1. Once there was a strip of the grey in the hallway (below), I realized that the hallway was 

actually GREEN before..instead of the weird yellow color.

2. Isn't this trim color awful with the cool tones of the paint? I think so, too.

The hallway after being painted the grey. Yes, I realize that it looks pinkish purple--

that's what you get for using a camera on your phone. At least it looks much cleaner.

Then we started painting the trim... Lesson Learned: It is a NEVER-ENDING process! 

Here is a picture of my main front window before painted.

After the window is painted--Holy Freshness!

On to the rest of the trim we go... This is with the morning light coming in. I just love that big window now! I'm trying to decide what to do with the window treatments. I want to keep it as light and airy as possible, but without losing the privacy of dark curtains.... so we'll see what happens. Thoughts welcome!

Trim...

I plan to paint the hallway doors the dark grey color. I'm just sick of all the wood--blugh!

Trim...

...and more trim. Don't mind the thing hanging on the wall--

I just wanted to get it off of the floor-- it's definitely not going to stay there. 

Since I have moved into this house, the yellow glow of the sconces have driven me nuts-- 

to the point of not even turning them on...ever. On the right, you will see the original sconce, and on the left, you will see one that I made (like father, like daughter right?) Removing the yellow glass keeps it from looking dingy, and adding the box around makes a cool shadow! 

White light from the sconces makes it feel more updated, I think.

Here is a picture with both built, and everything put together! 

I thought I would share this, too. Lauren is working on her room now--

she likes to mix and match tools with kitchen utensils. :)

I'm still working on many, many touch-ups and finishing some trim work, so my work is definitely not done. Hopefully this summer will be another project-filled one-- Feels good to be blogging again!