House To Do List

When we bought this house I started a master to-do list for all the things I wanted to update.  Four years later, I have marked off a bunch of those things and added just as many more.  But since I’ve updated it last, there are quite a few notable projects on the “completed” list.  Hurray! 

Here’s the list as it stands with all our recent accomplishments marked off:

Living room

• New curtains
• Woven roman shades
• Paint walls, trim, ceiling DONE!
• Recover couches (fabric is purchased!)
• New TV (scheduled for Christmas!)
• Hardwood/laminate floors + rug
• Crown molding

Kitchen: I haven’t done a lot in here, so the dream list is kinda long. :)

• Paint walls and trim
• New kitchen table or paint with new chairs?
• Add island, remove table and chairs?
• Hutch/china cabinet instead of table and chairs?
• Wainscoting/chair rail
• Backsplash
• Paint light fixture/towel holder
• New curtains? Rug?
• New stove
• Paint cabinets?
• Paint refrigerator, dishwasher panel to white
• Tile floors
• Enlarge doorways (I am putting this on the way back burner since we’ll have to move electrical)
• Crown molding

Dining Room

• Hardwood/laminate floors
• Add wainscoting/chair rail
• Replace French doors or paint
• Repair dining chair legs, patch chew marks
• Refinish or replace table
• Repaint with satin paint
• Crown molding

Office

• Build desk
• Cornice molding for window
• Curtains?
• Refinish bookcase, add molding
• Bifold closet doors?
• Add ceiling fan/new light?
• Install light in closet
• New floors?
• New desk chairs?
• Gray velvet chair (on the hunt for fabric)
• Crown molding
• Matching lamps for desk

Master Bedroom

• Ceiling fan/chandelier?
• Replace Quilt/Duvet cover
• New light in closet
• New dressers? Update hardware?
• Paint Michael’s closet, install light
• New floors?
• Crown molding

Master Bath

• Reverse hot and cold in shower
• Paint ceiling
• Touch up paint
• Replace toilet seat
• Replace caulk at bath and sink
• Tile floors
• Crown molding

Guest Room

• New curtains?
• Touch up paint
• Install light in closet
• Get new chair (pending)
• New floors?

Guest Bath

• New faucet
• Paint ceiling
• Replace caulk at bath and sink
• Tile floors
• Repaint walls with satin paint (darn those water spots on the flat walls!)

Laundry Room

• Tile floor
• Work counter or cabinets along wall
• Shelf on wall opposite washer?
• Reverse washer/dryer
• New faucet and laundry sink
• New light over washer
• Frame cat picture
• Touch up paint
• Replace drop ceiling

Den

• New floors (purchased, pending installation! WAHOO!)
• Paint fireplace interior?
• Roman shades + drapes
• New light fixtures
• New art for black frames
• Repaint frame mats
• Frame flower print
• Add desk for laptop, paint sewing machine cabinets or build new workstation along wall
• Dresser to replace black cabinet
• End tables with lamps?

Foyer/Hallway

• Shelves in downstairs closet (pending)
• Paint downstairs closet (check!)
• Paint walls, trim (patch chew marks), doors, ceiling
• Paint hall lights or replace
• Install light in pantry
• Patch chew marks (again)

Garage

• Paint floors
• Finish ceiling on car side
• Cabinetry + work bench
• Paint garage door?
• More shelving

Front Yard

• French drain/regrade
• Paint mailbox
• Paint shutters and front door black
• Resow grass (eradicate moles!!)
• Remove rocks from yard
• Edge parking space

Back Yard

• Rebuild deck, add ceiling for lower deck, add furniture
• Powder coat deck furniture
• Replace rotted timbers
• Paver patio
• Resow grass (happening this weekend!)
• Clear out back property line for garden
• Mulch flower beds
• Finish gate in fence

Exterior

• Paint thresholds on doors black
• Install new backboard
• Repaint Garage door

So you can see that’s a pretty extensive list.  All I left out was shuffling accessories. :)

If you were reading carefully you will know that I have a big announcement!  WE ARE GETTING NEW FLOORS FOR THE DEN!  I should say I am getting them, since I have been begging for them for four years.  That’s my birthday present this year.  And when laminate floors went on sale for Labor Day we snatched them up at 79 cents a square foot.  To prepare for installation, last weekend my mom and I cleared out the den and downstairs closet so we could tear out the old carpet.  Yahoo!!!

The curtains are tied up because I washed them (for the first time in seven years!!) and all the pleats fell out.  So I am repleating them while we wait.

My pretty new floors are waiting to be installed…

They are Angel Fire Cherry.  Here’s the sample from Lumber Liquidators where we purchased them.

I will have to be patient since my floor installer extraordinaire brother-in-law is busy with the arrival of his first child.  (Congratulations Josh and Hannah!)  But these beauties will be going down soon and I’ll be bringing you all the details!! :) Can’t wait!

There is a lot more slated for this Horvath House.  Come back to see what else we will be marking off our to-do list!

3 x3 Cubby Bookcase {Den Refresh}

When I saw these plans from Ana White I knew that I wanted to build this piece.  I didn’t really have a place for it, but I loved it!  At some point I showed it to my Mama and she thought it would make a great fabric storage shelf.  Eureka!  A purpose for the dream furniture. :)

Despite my protestations that I didn’t really need it, she had it built for me as a gift this year.  Well I got it installed back in the Spring, but I just got around to filling in all the cubbies and accessorizing it for photos this past weekend.  Bad blogger Sarah.  Here it is looking all nice and organized!

Anyway I have been enjoying it all the while.  It holds all my fabrics for my bag business.  I looked far and wide for baskets to fit these holes (14” x 12” x 14”) but never found the right thing.  So I decided to make my own from cardboard shipping boxes taped together.  Then I covered them with contact paper from Target.  They hold all the scrap fabrics leftover from projects.

I was digging through secondhand art at Mega Thrift last week and came across this hydrangea print for $2.99.  Love it.  It went perfectly with the wall color/décor in the den so I put it over the bookcase and accented the top with some dried hydrangeas to match.

Another deal that I scored recently ended up down here, too.  I was shopping for lampshades for my mom’s bedroom the other day and came across this blue and turquoise floral shade for $3.97!  I had been eyeing this shade for a while but never considered spending fifteen bucks on it.  But at four dollars I was happy to take it home with me!  I may have finished my shopping trip singing a little song about my awesome deal.  What can I say… my life is a musical! :)

Anyway, I got it home and immediately plopped it on my old lamp base from college.  It goes perfectly with the turquoise dresser.  And the metallic silver on the shade plays well with the bronzey lamp base and drawer pulls, too.  I’m in love…

While I was sprucing things up, I popped some brown/teal floral fabric in these forlorn frames on the wall.  It’s a bit better than the goes-with-nothing travel prints, but the mat still needs work to coordinate.  I’ll get to it eventually. :)

I think with a nice white border they could resemble my photoshopped inspiration art:

At least it’s in the same family. :)

Thanks for joining me for an impromptu refresh in the den.  How do you like my new cubbies?

Tackling the Living Room

I finally completed a much-anticipated and much-dreaded project in the living room.  I’ve been planning to paint the walls, trim, and ceiling since we moved in because while the color was okay, the finish was bad.  There were spackle holes and cracks and dings and everything was dirty.  So last week I finally jumped in and got it done!

First was the dreaded paint color decision.  I wanted something mostly neutral since the color continues down the stairs and around the corner as well as down our main hallway upstairs.  After trying a few samples and finding most of them too orangey, I decided to mix in a little gray and came up with a custom color.  It’s a combination of Olympic colors Gravel and Toasted Almond with some gray thrown in there, too.  I call it Toasted Gravel. :)  But it’s more like greenish/grayish/beige.  How’s that for a color?

Here’s what I’m talking about:

It’s a color changing wall paint.  In daylight it looks more beige, in evening it appears grayer and in lamplight more green.  It’s kind of interesting, but I like it!

I had some fun with ladders in order to finish painting the trim in the foyer.  Good times.  But no pictures.  I wouldn’t relinquish my death grip on the ladder long enough to direct Michael to take a photo.  Mama came and helped me paint the ceiling, too.  It was my first ceiling painting adventure… let’s just say it’s not my favorite thing ever. :)  But it’s much improved from the dingy off-white ceiling we had before.  And now the hallway and living room ceilings match.

I love the foyer now… the color really pops against the white trim!

 

I’m hanging on for dear life to these floral print pillows I made last year.  Riley is an avid pillow destroyer.  I have lost three of my couch pillows because of these tendencies.  So I keep these remaining two pillows in the chair across the room where she does not go in an effort to prolong their life.  I also have extra fabric so I can make another set in case of accidental death. :)  Evil doggy.

I added the Wake Forest trunk that was my grandfather’s as a side table of sorts next to the couch.

I have a lot more plans for this room now that the painting’s done.  (It only took me four years to get it done!  Oh and four full days of painting.. whew!)  Next on my list is to recover the couches.  I have already purchased the fabric which is a warm beige/gold color.  And I also want to make new linen curtains in a brown/cream/green patterned fabric.  Wish me luck with fabric selections! 

In the meantime, here’s a look at the before and after!

This one is a bit more subtle and you can see how similar in tone the two colors are.

And this one is my favorite!

So what do you think?  You like the new look?  I’ll be back as we continue updating the living room this fall.  Thanks for coming along!

Sheet Music Art

Greetings!  Tonight I have for you a quick little project using fern clippings from the yard and some old sheet music. 

You may remember the old fern art in the bedroom.  Okay, you probably don’t… Maybe this will help jog your memory:

Well the ferns I gathered back in 2008 were starting to look a little old.  They were ready to be replaced with something new and green.  So a few months ago I took them out and put a few homemade fern prints that I printed from vintage printables. 

They were sorta lackluster and they didn’t have that real greenery feeling that I was craving… and they were small since I was limited to my 8.5” x 11” printer size. 

Tonight while I was browsing my blogroll I came across this DIY pressed fern project from Pink Postcard. 

Her version was framed over ledger paper, but as soon as I saw it, I immediately thought of my stash of sheet music that I got from a family friend last year.  The sheet music is destined to line my antique trunk when I ever get around to restoring it.  But I don’t think it will miss a few sheets! ;)

I snatched my lackluster fern prints from the bedroom wall and began gathering my supplies:  three fern fronds from the yard (these are Japanese painted ferns, I believe.  I would have liked some variety, but my fern collection is limited), sheet music, glass cleaner, and glue. 

Remove old print, clean glass, select sheet music, reglue to glass, place fern, sandwich in between glass and pop back in frame.  Voila.

I’m sure that’s not the way you should do it, more like you should press and dry your ferns first, but this is how I did it the first time and it was fine.  So, we’ll just see how it goes. :) haha

I rehung the frames and then tried to make the after pictures as bright as possible.  :)

I picked music with the least writing, but two are from a piece entitled “Romance”… how appropriate.

The first one is from Brahms “Hungarian Dance No. 5” which I also thought was special because my husband’s family is from Hungary.  So there you go,  sentimental + music + nature.  Trifecta.

I’m liking how the creamy sheet music plays off the bedding but still looks layered because of the wall color showing through.  What do you think?

Hooty Hoo! It’s an Owl Baby Shower!

This past weekend we celebrated the upcoming arrival of my nephew with an owl-themed baby shower for my sister Hannah and her husband Josh.  Come along and see the fun…

The invitations were the jumping off point for the whole party.  It’s featured below along with my antique toolbox full of hydrangeas… The invites introduced the owl theme and color scheme for the party.  It was a rustic/woodland/owl theme with pops of orange, blue, green and brown.

Guests were greeted by a rustic welcome sign on the porch lined with orange zinnias.

Inside, the mantel was festooned with a banner and tiny owl figures lined the top.  A couple of pinecone trees add a bit of woodland charm.  The middle owl is a pillow I made for the nursery and the others were collected from various thrift stores and clearance aisles.

This little blue one is from Hobby Lobby and it’s a bank!  My sisters collects piggy banks (and non-piggies as well). :)

The gift table featured a garland of nursery fabrics and poms in coordinating colors hung above.

More garland decorated the wall over the drink table.  And a chalkboard welcomed guests.

Iced tea and lemonade were served in jelly jars tied with a twine bow.  Tiny flower arrangments in orange, green and purple were arranged in the same jars.

The dining room was decorated with an owl garland of various clip art that I strung together on brown yarn.  More owls and pinecones decorated the top of the buffet.

Baby letters hung with miniature clothespins adorned the dessert table which included chocolate coconut oatmeal cookies, chocolate owl cupcakes, and peanut butter fudge.  Yum!

The cupcake recipe is from Duncan Hines, and I will admit that the originals are a bit more elaborate than my creations.  :) 

This little felted wool owl is from Joann’s.

And this one was everyone’s favorite; it came from a local gift shop.

The food table was in front and packed with favorites:  chicken salad sandwiches, pimento cheese, deviled eggs, sausage balls, black bean corn salsa, mini bagel pizzas, fruit and veggies and chips and dip.

 

The center trays were fall leaf chargers by BHG with sprigs of cypress and pinecones scattered underneath.

I made cupcake toppers that ended up being party picks, featuring owls and various “hooty” sayings. :)

The parlor served as activities headquarters with “Wishes for Baby” sheets for guests to fill out…

Here’s a close-up of the wishes for baby.  We had a lot of fun with these.

I left the baby name blank so people could fill in their favorite name/nickname.  Some of my favorite wishes from various authors were: “I hope you aren’t afraid of girls”, “I hope you are never too big for your britches”, “I hope you grow a moustache as big as your grandpa’s”, and one of mine: “I hope you see the 22nd century”.  :) 

I used birdhouses as an accent even though owls live in trees.

The other side of the parlor was designated as “onesie decorating station”. 

We had various sized onesies and markers and templates for everyone to decorate a onesie for the baby.

When they were all done, we hung them on a couple of clotheslines.

My favorite was Josh’s creation:

And this one is mine since my nickname for the baby is “Button”. 

After eating and decorating onesies, we gathered in the living room while Hannah opened her gifts.

Her bounty included all the nursery bedding that Mama and I made.  Here is the quilt I designed and made complete with Bambi appliques.  Mama quilted it for me. :)

As guests departed, they took an owl cookie favor.  Thanks for “owl” the love! :)

Congratulations Hannah and Josh!  Can’t wait to meet your little guy!