Life Lately

We've been slowly but steadily working to turn this house into something that feels like our home. I haven't had a lot of time to update you on the progress, but here are a few little peeks in the meantime! Above is a picture I snapped before a little dinner party we hosted with a few friends. I had some fun making a Fall tablescape with a few bunches of grocery store flowers, mason jars, and pretty ceramic pumpkins that were sent over by Grandin Road (I absolutely love their seasonal decorations! They always have the coolest stuff!) And I'm just looooving these gorgeous curtains that I got from Minted. I have been looking for curtains for the dining room forever, but I haven't found any that have made me want to pull the trigger. Then I saw these, and I just knew.

Lucy's room has been slowly getting a major transformation too! We  switched her over to the toddler bed and Violet to a twin when we switched houses. We painted the room (it was formerly like an army green), found a dresser on Craigslist, put her restickable dots from her nursery at the old house, on the wall, and purchased a rug. Next on the to do list is hanging her pom pom curtains from RH Baby & Child - they are blackout curtains and I'm sooo excited for that!!! (I'm hoping blackout drapes = sleeping in???)


Our living room has been coming along. We painted, installed hardwood floors, hung a gallery wall, and just bought a new couch! Hopefully I can snap a few better photos of that for you soon too. Lucy approves:

Sorry that's all I have for you so far, but between working full time, fixing up a house, and taking care of two beautiful babes, time to take photos is few and far between. And then there are times when I could be taking photos but I'd really rather be just staring at this gorgeous face:

(Can you blame me?!) Hope you're all have a lovely Fall! xo, Lauren

P.S. Grandin Road has a super cool pop up shop at Macy's in NYC. If you can't make it there they have a 360 tour that you can check out here. 

Half Bath Update

We finally got around to adding a fresh coat of paint to the half bath, and what a difference already! When we moved in it looked like this:

Faux gold ceiling and sponge painted beige walls. It was really busy and dark. I added some art to try to spruce things up a bit, but who was I kidding?! Here are a couple of close-ups to give you a better idea of what we're dealing with:

A couple of coats of wall and ceiling paint later and...

Hurray! Light, airy perfection. Eventually this little space will get a new vanity/sink, and probably a new mirror and light fixture. For now, it's like a million times better, don't you think? xo, Lauren

P.S. The paint color is Behr Silver Drop, the same color we used in the kitchen at our first house.

An Update on the Dining Room

Just going to leave this before and after here for your Friday morning viewing pleasure...

Our dining room when we moved in:

Our dining room today:

Amazing what a little paint and chandelier shade removal can do to lighten up a space! In other news, we finally got something hung on our dining room walls! I took some of the dyed fabric from my Shibori workshop and popped it into some frames. It definitely adds a little color and personality. We still want to get a wooden trestle table, some new chairs, and DIY some board and batten and maybe some light gray paint on the walls above to warm up the space, but this is a start! Happy Friday y'all!  xoxo, Lauren

An Update on Violet's Room

Please forgive the grainy photo! It was a quick snap with my iPhone. The last time we talked about Violet's room we were trying to figure out the best way to get her a cozy "nook" similar to the alcove in her bedroom at our former home. The winner turned out to be using curtains to sort of canopy her bed. Next we had to figure out if the layout of Violet's room would allow us to actually do this. The other day we tested out a few furniture arrangements to see what would work best.

After we had all of the major furniture pieces in place, I took a pair of curtains and hung them from the ceiling using some string and tape (classy looking, I know!), to see if we liked the look. Violet was a little upset at first about the idea of her furniture being shifted around (change is hard, even if it's wanted change!), but when she saw this she gasped and said, "It looks so pretty in here, Mommy!" I knew we had a winner. I'm planning for longer drapes, a framed out top, and four panels rather than two. Here area  few of my inspiration images:

I really love the look of the built-in bookcase in the above photo, but unfortunately there is a vent that prevents a bookcase from happening without a lot of extra work (Kev has enough on his plate as it is!), so I don't think that will work in Violet's room. I'm trying to keep this as low-maintenance as possible because I know he already has so much planned for this summer.

The colors in the photo above are so pretty, and so Violet. She's a purple and pink fan forever. In fact, she wants to keep the current purple wall color of her room, so we're probably just going to paint the trim and maybe the ceiling. I also love all of the pattern and the fact that the curtains are lined with a contrasting color/design.

Love this space too! So fun with the punchy colors and kid art. I definitely want to include some of Violet's artwork in the space (you can see one of her many rainbow paintings in the photo up above). What I'm trying to decide currently is what color fabric/curtains I want to use. Should I stick with white with a fun tassel or pom pom trim? Or maybe go with a more bold color? What do you think?xo, Lauren

Images 1 . 2 . 3. 4

Image 1 Credit: A Lovely Lark

Image 2 Credit: Trevor Tondro

Image 3 Credit: Melanie Acevedo

Image 4 Credit: Lily Z Interior Design
*I hope all of these are correct - I pinned them long ago and some of them are no longer visible on these sites.

1/2 Kitchen Reno: Inspiration

So we're currently in the midst of a half kitchen renovation. One side of the kitchen has an island complete with barstools graciously left behind by the previous owner and a baby poo brown crackly accent wall. I'm kicking myself that I don't have a better straight-on photo of this wall in all its glory, but it is what it is. Regret is for the weak, right?

We aren't ready time or budget-wise to do a full kitchen reno, but we've decided that we just can't live with this look a minute longer. Here's the plan that we came up with on a budget:

1. SHIPLAP. I miss our wood plank backsplash wall from the kitchen of our previous house, so we decided that this would be the perfect place to add a splash of shiplap. The wall is recessed on both sides, so we won't have to come up with any awkward solution for the ends or anything.

2. Redo the island. We want to cut down the island to one height (right now it's part counter-level and part bar-level), replace the countertop with some sort of reclaimed wood/butcher block, and paint it. I'm leaning toward black at the moment. We have a LOT of white going on in the house so far and I love the drama of a little splash of black here and there.

3. New stools and dramatic lighting. I'm not sure what style of seating we're going to go with for sure, but I'm definitely leaning toward something with a back for comfort purposes. I really like the metal cafe/Tolix look, or some sort of bentwood stools. Lighting-wise I'm also torn. I love more traditional fixture like this and this, but also could see myself going more modern like this or this. Or maybe something in between? Decisions!!! Which way would you go?

Image sources: 1 . 2 . 3

9 Tried & True Paint Colors

Over the last ten years, we've made a lot of great color choices when it comes to paint, but we've also made a lot of terrible ones. There was a lot of trial and error involved before we figured out how to choose a good paint color. When we bought our first house, we couldn't agree on paint colors, so we decided that I could choose the living room color and Kev could choose the family room color. We ended up with cranberry red and lime green. Like, glowing-nearly-fluorescent lime. I think we painted and repainted nearly every room in our first house. And even when you buy paint testers, although it helps, there's really nothing that can show you how a color is going to change the look and feel of a space until you get most of the space painted. So to hopefully save you a little bit of our pain and frustration, here are a few tried and true colors that we feel like, YES, we got it really right.

1. Behr Dolphin Fin

This color is such a great neutral. It goes with just about everything, and it contrasts well with bright white trim. Even though it's a nice light gray, I prefer it in spaces that get a lot of natural light. In darker spaces, I go a shade lighter with Behr Silver Drop, which you can see a little further down in the post. I think Behr may have taken this color out of their collection of paint chips, but they can still mix it for you.

You can see more of our former family room here.


2. Martha Stewart Magnetite

This color was actually a happy accident. I meant to get a more medium gray and somehow asked for this one by mistake. I didn't realize it until I started painting it on the wall, but I ended up absolutely loving it. It looks amazing in a space that has a lot of white to balance it out. It also looks great with wood tones, greenery, and pastels.


3. Behr Juniper Breeze

For this space we wanted a light neutral, but I didn't want to go with a traditional gray. We found this light blue-green-gray. I love that the color changes depending on the light and that it's still really neutral. It looks great with white and warm wood tones.


4. Behr Venus Teal

This is probably the most colorful that we've gone in a long time, but I love this color. It's rich without being too heavy and dark. It's colorful without being too saturated. It's just a really lovely, balanced color.


5. Behr Ultra Pure White

We use this color for all of our trim, but I love it on the walls as well. It's bright without being to cold. It looks great with pretty much everything.

You can see more photos of our new house here.


6. Behr Silver Drop

A slightly lighter version of Behr Dolphin Fin, which I mentioned earlier, this is a the perfect light gray. It looks great with everything, but especially coppers and warm wood tones.

You can see more photos of our kitchen reno here.

7. Behr Country Dairy

If you're looking for a great off-white/cream color, this is it. Light and airy, and a great neutral that pairs well with most anything.

You can see more photos of Violet's room here.


8. Behr Prelude

I was worried that this color might be too dark for this small space, so we added the beadboard to help balance things out. It ended up being such a cozy space. I love this color paired with whites, warm linens, and warm colors - yellow-golds, oranges, and reds.

You can see photos of Violet's nursery here.

9. Behr Smokey Slate

This color was the winner after we tested many, many colors for our lower cabinets. It would also look great on a piece of furniture like a bookcase, or even as a wall color. I love this color with jewel tones, whites, and warm wood tones.

So what about you? Have you found any paint colors that you love? I'd love to hear about them! We've still got a lot of rooms to paint! xo, Lauren

You can see more photos of our first house here, and our new house here.

(Just as an FYI, we tend to use a lot of Behr paint because we think it's a great product - this post is not sponsored by them in any way.)

(Paintbrush photo by my talented friend, Elizabeth.)

I've Got My Eye On .01

Now that we've moved, I'm surprisingly finding that I'm drawn to charcoal blacks, indigo blues, and brass. I'm not sure what it is about this house, but it somehow feels right. A few of these picks are a bit out of my league budget-wise, but they're definitely inspiring me at the moment:

1. Serena & Lily Hanging Rattan Chair - I think the girls would just love this and it's the right mix of whimsy and sophistication.

2. Oversized Mirror - Another great buy - this mirror is huge!

3. Paisley Pillows - This one is super budget-friendly - two pretty pillows for $29.99?!

4. Buffalo Check - Would love to upholster a chair or bench in this fabric, but a pillow is certainly  much more affordable option.

5. Libations Bar Cart - Okay, so this one is WAY out of my league, but so, so pretty!

6. Faceted Stone Lamp - I've always had a thing for soapstone (and this one is on sale right now!)

7. Medallion Rug - Love that this rug is a perfect combination of classic and contemporary (plus I bet the dark color would hold up well with kids and cats!)

The Carpet Has Left the Building!

We were hoping to have the same luck with this room as we did with the family room, but unfortunately no such luck. Beneath this carpet was there was simply subfloor - no hardwood, just particle board. Which meant that we could even lay wood floors directly on top. Particle board is too brittle to hold the nails properly, so we had to lay down a whole new layer of subflooring.

Here's the room with a fresh layer of plywood, and you can see our paint samples as well (sorry mustard color - you just weren't doing it for us). We were looking for a blue/green/gray hue of some sort. I think the one we ended up going with (Behr Juniper Breeze) is the bottom left square:

After painting, Kev added a silicon vapor barrier on top to protect the wood from moisture in the subfloor, and although the dog smell seemed to vacate the premises along with the carpet, we figured it couldn't hurt to have some extra layers between us and any potential odors that could rear their ugly head!

That shot looks so clinical to me - glad that wasn't the end result! I'm excited to say that I helped with installing the wood floors! I've helped Kevin choose and line up the pieces before, but this time I also used a mitre saw to trim the wood down to size and even used the nail gun once or twice! I've always been jealous that I wasn't taught how to do these things (being a girl and all), and I love learning. It's not fun having all kinds of ideas in your head and having to rely on someone else to execute them. Here's a not-so-great photo of the wood floor installation in-progress:

I haven't had a chance to take a photo of the full space, but here are a couple of photos from my Instagram feed to give you the idea:

(They were playing mama and baby bird and this was their "nest") 

We don't have a ton of furniture for this space yet - going from a small house to a larger one means we have some shopping to do! For now on this side of the room we're using this IKEA table (actually part of our desk that didn't quite fit in the office) and my old piano that my parents sent over as a Christmas gift. I don't think either will stay in this location, but currently this is where they landed.

I have to say it's kind of crazy having actual options as far as furniture placement. In the old house, the size and layout of the rooms didn't leave much space for creativity - there were certain places a sofa or table would fit, and that was that. So this whole concept of space planning is fairly new to me. I thought I'd be thrilled to have these big rectangular spaces to fill, but my mind is actually kind of reeling from the possibilities! Anyway, we're super excited to have banished carpet from the premises and our noses are breathing a sigh of relief for sure! Stay tuned for more to come! xo, Lauren

Update on the Family Room

Well, it's certainly not finished, but I'm happy to say that we've got one room in the house feeling a little bit more livable! Here's a reminder of what it looked like before:

We still have to:

• Paint and replace the cabinet doors at the bottom of the bookshelves
• Paint the shelves 
• Polycrylic the bookshelves and mantel
• Paint the ceiling (maybe a light blue/green?)
• Replace the fluorescent lighting with LED's
• Paint the vent cover
• Find a new coffee table (this is a super old one that's been hanging out in our basement for about seven years!)

This is the current way that we're using the room - mainly as a TV/play room, but we're thinking we eventually want to move the television to the living room and make this more of a family/sitting room. I'd love to replace the TV stand with something that has a little more personality/character. My parents gave us my old piano as as Christmas gift, now that we actually have space for it, and that might end up in here as well! And I hate the textured ceiling. The plan right now is to paint it, but I'd love to do something a little more extreme - drywall? scrape it? cover it somehow? Kev isn't into any of those ideas, unfortunately. But for now this is working for us, and we're all loving our lighter, brighter, more functional family room. xo, Lauren

So Long Carpet, Hello Hardwoods!

One of the first rooms we definitely wanted to tackle was our family room - AKA "the cave". It's the room where we spend most of our time - a lot of the girls' toys are housed in the cabinets and our TV is in this room. Plus, the fireplace! But it was SO dark and the carpet was super gross with the dog hair and awful smell in the carpet. 

While we'd love some drywall or even some shiplap in this space, we're working with a small budget, so here's what we decided to do with the space for now:

1. Prime & paint the paneling

2. Rip out the carpet

3. Add hardwood floors or refinish hardwoods (depending on what we found under the carpet)

4. Paint the ceiling

5. Possibly paint the brick on the fireplace

6. New curtains & area rug

We started by priming and painting most of the wood in the space. We painted first so that the carpet could act as a giant drop cloth, just in case there was hardwood flooring hiding under there. It took two coats of primer and 2-3 coats of paint + primer to get the job done. The wood was super dark and insanely thick, and it just sucked up the paint. 

Then we decided to remove the carpet to see whether or not we needed to buy hardwoods. We assumed at the very least we'd have to refinish the floors even if we did find hardwoods under the carpet, because why would someone cover up hardwood flooring with carpet unless it was damaged, right? Well apparently people actually do cover up perfectly good, beautiful, mint condition hardwoods with gross wall to wall carpet. When we pulled up the carpeting, there was a super THICK high quality carpet pad under it, and beneath that were absolutely beautiful hardwoods. I think the thick pad saved the floors from being stained by the dogs and kept them in mint condition. I couldn't believe our good luck. It saved us a ton of money and a boatload of back-breaking work.

We're still plugging away at the paint, but I can't wait to show you the transformation so far! xo, Lauren

Starting Over

It's been so bitter-sweet buying this new house. While I knew for a fact that we had outgrown our little home, it was a really difficult decision to leave it. We had lived there for nine years. It was our first home purchase and where we came home for the first time as a married couple. We spent our first night as husband and wife here, raised our babies here, and put in countless hours of work, blood, sweat, and tears to make it a home.

It took us all nine years to get the house "finished". We painted and repainted every single room. We put on a new roof, got a new furnace, converted to gas, put in a new water heater, landscaped, added a garden, installed hardwood floors, tiled the shower, tiled floors, painted cabinets, put in new counters, added a shiplap backsplash, new sink, faucet, hardware, and much, much, much more. We did it all while working full-time as teachers and raising a family.

Our new house isn't going to be one of those transformations that happen overnight. We aren't full-time bloggers like Sherry and John over at Young House Love. We don't have the money or star power to call in Emily Henderson or Jenny Komenda like Cup of Jo. But I'm excited to make this house feel every bit as much ours as the last one did. Even if it takes us nine years (although I'm hoping it doesn't!) Because we're planning to live here forever. '

It helps to soften the blow a little because when we visit our friends in the old neighborhood I can see that our little house is well loved and cared for. I feel like all of our hard work isn't going to waste, and I hope that the new family who lives there appreciates it as much as we did. I hope that they make as many wonderful memories as we have. And I hope that the house is set to last at least another hundred years.

I think that Lucy has already mostly forgotten her first home, but Violet is holding onto it fiercely. All of sudden out of the blue emotions will bubble up and she'll burst out with tears and wishes that she still lived in her old house with her little climbing tree and her secret garden and her room with her cozy bed nook. She misses romping through the neighborhood with all of her friends and taking walks around the corner to the park. I think that the move has been hardest on her. We have big plans to make her room feel a little more like her old one. She misses her birds and her clouds, and she's requested that her walls look just like her old ones did.

Lucy is excited for her dots to go back up on her wall, and she seems to regard photos and videos of her old crib with nostalgia, but she doesn't have the sadness over the loss of her first home that her sister has. Two is a much more flexible age, and she's taken the move in stride. She started climbing out of her crib just before the move, and I was nervous about switching her to a big girl bed and moving her to a new house all in the course of a few weeks. But except for a couple of weeks of rough nights for Kevin and I, everything has really been a lot easier than I expected with her.

A week or two after we put our house on the market, we were contacted by Sherwin Williams and Apartment Therapy about collaborating on a room makeover. We redid our master bedroom in the middle of trying to sell the house, and it felt insane to finally have the very last room finished only to move a few weeks later. I still feel sad and nostalgic when I drive through our old neighborhood, but I don't think I'd do anything differently. Our old house was perfect for our first chapter, and it will always have a big place in our hearts, but we're ready to make this new home ours. To make new memories and start the next chapter. We hope you'll follow along for the ride! I think it's going to be a great one. xo, Lauren

New House Tour: The First Floor

I wanted to get photos of the house empty - before we moved any of our furniture in, but the moving company was scheduled to come super early, so I didn't think I was going to be able to pull it off. Luckily my dad saved the day! While I was busy bubble wrapping back at the old house, he snuck in and snapped some quick shots. Here's the first floor in all it's glory:

The Living Room

Imagine this room paired with the fantastic scent of dog urine to complete the experience. We didn't smell a thing when we toured the house, but after we moved in? Let's just say we closed this room off and didn't use it at ALL for the first few weeks. It's a formal living room, which we've never really had before. On the other side of the wall on the right of the photo is the family room. We have potential thoughts of removing the wall entirely, or even just creating a doorway/walkway of some sort to tie the two spaces together. Or we might just keep it as is. A big question mark on this one.

Here it is from the opposite angle I love the French doors and the big windows (that are so sadly hidden by the most unfortunate maroon drapes) and that's about it. The carpet, paint color, window treatments, and hopefully *smell* will all go.

The Family Room

Dark. Wood. Paneling. It's super thick, solid wood. We eventually want to tear it out and potentially drywall (or I love me some of that Chip & Joanna shiplap), but for now we'll probably just paint it, rip out the carpet, and most likely even paint the fireplace. I also despise the textured ceiling, but, again, we may have to live with it for a while.

And the other side of the room:

Super excited about those doors that lead right onto the patio (which also needs a TON of work.) Luckily this carpet only has a mild urine scent, although it is CAKED in dog fur.

Half Bath

I'm super excited about having a half bath on the first floor! NOT super excited about the sponge-painted walls or faux gold-leaf ceiling. I also want to eventually replace the vanity and mirror.

The Dining Room

Another first for us: a formal dining room. There is a wall that separates the space from the kitchen, We want to see how the whole formal dining concept works for us, but there's potential to remove the wall and make one big space if we want to. At least this space has hardwood floors!

The Kitchen

I already miss my tiny little kitchen terribly. That was the hardest space to say goodbye to, since it was the one we had most recently finished. My farmhouse sink! Painted cabinets! Hardwood floors! :*( Sob. I do love having more space in the kitchen though, and someday I hope that this will be my dream kitchen!

I'm not a huge fan of this island in particular, but I do love that we have one! I have a plan to modify it to feel more us. The former owner was nice enough to leave these stools behind, so we're using them for the time being:

This are really makes the kitchen feel more spacious, and I love how it connects the kitchen with the patio/backyard. I can really see the girls playing in the yard so easily from this space, and it's really really amazing:

Here's another view of the island, with a shot of the crackle-texture wall that is behind it. At first this wall was a big question mark for us, as we weren't sure how to cover up/get rid of this texture, but the other day a light bulb went off, and we've got big plans for this baby now! The closed door in the photo leads to a partially finished basement (AKA toy heaven):

The Laundry Room

A big selling feature for me was the fact that this house has a laundry room on the first floor. A real, dedicated laundry room! Instead of the corner of a dungeon basement with incredibly precarious, narrow stairs! Life. Changing. To the right here is the door to the garage, and you can't see it in this photo, but to the left is another door that leads out to the patio/backyard area. Oh, and did I mention the storage? Yes, this house actually has it. Again, life changing.

So there you have it! The first floor of our new casa. Now, someone hand me a can of paint please!

xo, Lauren