Before and After: A Man Cave in the Making

When my husband and I moved into our new home, he was so excited to have an extra room to call his own.  It wasn't huge, but it was his :)  The previous owners used it as a bedroom for their 5-year-old son, who apparently was really into safari animals.  Perhaps you are starting to imagine where the "before" in this before and after began.  

The little boy's room had a safari theme, complete with bamboo fencing on the lower part of the walls and a metallic gold faux finish on the top. The brown chair rail, foot boards and outlet covers were dating this 21st century room/house at least 30 years.  It's the little things, people.  It really is.  So, since the room was not exactly putting the "man" in man cave, I got to work.

After ripping off the bamboo and trim, which unfortunately was put on with a nail gun and liquid nails (aka will damage drywall upon removal), I decided to just cover that part of the walls.  I wanted to add a little more interest to the space with some wainscoting and crown molding anyway so it seemed like the perfect solution.   

Just changing the paint scheme, standard white on the bottom and Benjamin Moore's Charcoal Slate on top made a HUGE difference.  It already felt like an entirely new space.  The rest was just finishing off the details and adding the wainscoting stiles.

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Charcoal Slate

Pardon the iPhone photography and moving boxes, but you get the idea.  Quite a change, huh?  Since this photo was taken, the walls were touched up and adorned with a gallery of Jon's military memorabilia.  Once we finish up the space and decide on the last furniture pieces, I'll be sure to post another picture.  In the meantime, I hope this shows you just how much a little paint and trim can transform a space.  I absolutely love it.  And whether or not it stays a man cave or turns into another bedroom later on down the road, it'll be great either way.  No extra painting/renovations needed=music to my husband's ears.  

Unfortunately for him, my mind is still churning and working on several other rooms in our home.  A designer's home is never done.  :)  But I digress... Here's one last side-by-side comparison of the room:

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Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Quick bathroom makeover

As I might have mentioned before, we have this ugly bathroom downstairs. The plan is, within a year or so, divide it and make it into a powder bath and the shower section the backside of a new master bath. In the meantime we needed to do something to improve the look.

For about $250 we replaced the ugly counter top with a simple white one from Home Depot, installed an inexpensive faucet, and painted the vanity. The hand towel is from West Elm and the round mirror is an Ikea purchase from a couple years ago. The wall color is Olympic's Whispering Wind and the vanity is a custom Benjamin Moore color.

Eventually, the bathroom will be gutted but in the meantime I think it turned out to be a nice improvement.

navy bedroom update

Hello! Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope you all put it to good use, spending a little QT and appreciating our service men and women. 

I got a little bit of painting done on my navy bedroom--not as much as I had planned, but enough to confirm that, once again, I made a good choice ;) I'll spare you photos as this point, because apparently I'm a little ADD when it comes to painting. I have half a wall painted here, a whole wall there, and a corner over there. 

So I thought I'd share with you my other plans to pull this room together after it's all painted. (Not the best of my moodboards, but I just wanted to throw something together to give you a better feel of what I'm going for.) Here she is:

1. modern wood and metal curtain rods (this one is from West Elm, but I'm planning a less expensive similar DIY); standard white cotton draperies // 2. star pendant (already have) // 3. DIY yellow ochre linen headboard (I have the materials--I just have to find the time to do it) // 4. old church pew I'm hoping to find for a decent price around town--I see them everywhere but they're always overpriced // 5. miscellaneous throw pillows to soften up the pew (I'm also considering a bench cushion) // 6. wall paint: valspar for ace, mountain midnight // 7. light, neutral rug; this one is a Dash & Albert from wayfair // 8. two contemporary paintings framed in aged oak (already have and done by yours truly) // 9. an antiqued round gold mirror (already have) // 10. antique marble column lamp (already have) // 11. run-of-the-mill old dresser that was my husband's, painted in valspar's coastal jetty; I may also paint/replace the hardware

And that just includes the major room items--no moodboard could fit everything. The room is so big it also serves as my home office. There is also a very large dog pallet in the far corner (way too large for a wiener dog and wiener-russell, but they somehow take up all the space), and a very comfy and underutilized chaise lounge that either needs a deep cleaning or just a slip cover. I'd also like to add a wing-back chair for a reading nook, but that's probably just because the room is so big I'm looking for ways to fill it. Maybe next time I'll send you a room lay-out so you can see what I'm talking about! 

Hopefully you can see how using a bold color correctly can create a wonderful space. If you walked into the room empty with just navy walls, you may say "this isn't for me." But (as I plan) by using whites/neutrals, metallics, woods, and soft finishes, it turns into a cozy, warm, and relaxed bedroom. A place I look forward to retiring in at the end of the day. You don't even have to use "a lot of whites" as some people might suggest when selecting a dark color like navy. I'm not going for a white and navy room--too much white would just create a lot of contrast, making the navy stand out. I want the navy to stand back, creating a soft backdrop for the room. So that people walk in and instead of thinking "wow, navy was a bold choice," saying "wow, what a beautiful bedroom!" 

Until next time!

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Okay, enough of business talk, let's start this Memorial Day weekend!  While you're enjoying your cookouts, pool parties and beach vacations, please also stop to remember the real reason for the holiday.  As a wife of a soldier myself, I know the joy of having them return home safe and sound, and I can't imagine the pain or suffering of those that don't get to experience that.  Thank you to all that serve, whether here, overseas or at home (family members) :)  You do us all a service for which we are so grateful!

Nguyen Nursery Update

With only 5 more weeks to go before baby Nguyen is here, it is crunch time!

Dana, Me, Mallory and the 3A babies at my shower this weekend.

I have been working on the finishing details for the baby's nursery. If you recall I did a post a couple months back where I was trying to decide between three different design themes. Well, I decided to go with a variation of the Geometric Palm Springs theme.

This campaign dresser I scored at a local flea market. Please excuse my mess. 

The hardware on it was pretty grimy and pitted. Since Brasso did not clean them up like I had hoped, I gave spray painting a try.

After reading some reviews, I purchased Krylon's metallic spray paint in Gold Leaf. The hardware on the corners of the dresser are attached with little pins. I was afraid if I took them off they would get damaged. So, I decided it would be best to hand paint them. Martha Stewart's Brass Liquid Gilding appeared to be a good color match to the spray paint.

After painting all the hardware, the corners were a bit darker. I then took an empty glass and sprayed the spray paint in to it. I mixed it real well and then applied the spray paint with a brush on to the corner hardware. Surprisingly, it worked.

I am pretty pleased with how the hardware turned out. Stay tuned to for the final nursery reveal.

Later, lovelies.

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the navies continue...

Remember this post? About my bedroom? Well it's been two months and those paint stripes are still on my wall. 

Yep.

It still looks exactly like this:

{Except now I'm noticing things that I didn't before I posted it last time...like the wrinkled throw at the end of the bed and my night table drawer that's not quite closed...oops. Oh well.}

We put our home improvements on hold for a little while to deal with other things, and then as I was entering my nightly vegetative state that happens every night after my toddler is asleep (and appears to be staying asleep) a commercial flashed on the screen about a BOGO Valspar paint sale at Ace. 

"Babe! Paint! At Ace! We gotta go!" I yumbled (that's yelled and mumbled in one action).

"Ok...so go.." my husband mumbled back from the mounds of physics equations he was cramming into his poor brain for his architecture registration exam. (The real-life marriage of architecture and interior design...glamorous isn't it??)

So when Saturday afternoon rolled around, I made my way to our small-town Ace. In all truth, the colors I preferred for our walls were Benjamin Moore colors, but I was just so ready to have it done that I decided Valspar would work just fine. And of course I couldn't find the Benjamin Moore or even the Valspar paint cards to take with me. But I have a pretty good brain for remembering paint colors so I knew I would remember them when I saw them. 

But that's where Valspar and Ace throw a wrench into my system: they don't carry the standard Valspar colors. They have their own color line. So there I stood...looking at those paints and having no idea which one to choose--also knowing that they closed in a couple of hours and I didn't have time to wait on a wall swatch to dry (nevermind the fact that I was paint swatched out). And the local store was poorly lit with about 5 lumens of fluorescent light. I would even suspect the only light in that place came from the paint display. So I toted cards all over the store, took them to the window, held them up on walls.

And then I just picked a navy, handed it to the dude and said "Here. Do it. Two gallons of satin in this color. Quick before I change my mind!" 

So I walked out, with two gallons of non-refundable paint in this color:

Valspar for Ace: Mountain Midnight VR111A

It looks to be pretty close to the 2nd or 3rd color from the left on my paint swatch headboard. I'm not even painting a swatch on the wall. What's the point?! I have two gallons. Non-refundable. I'm not even going to think about it until it's painted on the walls. And then it will be done. 

{Note: I don't condone this type of behavior. This is how paint disasters happen, people. I only did it because I've been studying navies like crazy the past several months, and color is kinnnnda my strong suit *flips hair aloofly*}

So I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime here's a couple of great navy bedrooms I snagged off of Pinterest to keep your brain in a state of anticipation. 

I really really NEED this spindle bed. Really. You don't understand.

I actually think this is a very dark gray with a blue undertone more than a navy. But I still think this room is delicious. Sue me. 

Again, not quite a navy. A little too light. But still, it's good.

Wish me luck! As soon as it's up, you'll be the first to know!

Until next time...