Master bedroom make-over!

Ohhhh this has been such a long time coming.  It is recommended that the master bedroom is the first room you make your own when you move into a new place, but for Matt and I, we always do the opposite.  We do the kitchen first ( I looove to organize the kitchen cabinets), then the living room, bathrooms, and usually the guest room and office.  We have nice furniture, curtains, ect... for the room, but never do more than set it all up quickly.  I finally decided that enough is enough and we needed to make our bedroom a bedroom.  Well, this happened months ago (like almost a year ago) but since our bedroom is hardly ever clean, I never had the chance to snap some photos of it. Well friends, I have finally cleaned up our room enough to share it with you!  Mom, please pick your jaw up off the floor. :)

Here's a very poor before shot of our bedroom from about a year ago (It was laundry day):

Ughh. Even without all the laundry thrown around, it's just plain ugly.  And boring.  And ugly.  Those curtains used to live in the living room when we first moved in, but then got moved in here.  They're a gorgeous plum/eggplant color and block sunlight like nobody's business, but they don't match anything.  Something needed to be done, and fast.

Here is the view from the bedroom door.

Last February I found the new curtains, sheets, bed skirt, comforter, blanket, and pillows at Target (yep one stop shopping).  The new bedding is casual, comfy, yet has a little bit of elegance too (or so I like to think).  Which is the whole idea/plan behind the bedroom makeover.  The hottie dresser in the corner I found on criagslist for $50.  It apparently is some brand of furniture well know in Michigan and the seller's grandparents received it as a wedding gift.  The TV is from the living room because we recently purchased a new one (which I can now see without squinting at).  If you're super observant, you may have noticed the dresser on the far left is the one from the guestroom.  I moved it in here because I didn't want to share the new one with Matt.  I'm such a nice wife.

Ok, if you sweep to the right of the picture above (and look to the right of the window on the right.  Right, got it?), you'll be looking straight into the room, instead of at an angle. 

 The doors on the right go into my closet (shown here).  The little tan bench was a snatch up from my curly haired friend Rebecca, when she moved back to Canada (hiya buddy!).  I totally draped that scarf about 12 times before it looked "natural" enough for my liking.  Normally the bench is full of clothes that I tried on, but didn't feel like hanging back up.

Ok, moving on.  Here is the view from the corner by the tan bench, which gives you a better idea of the layout of the room.

I'm not 100% pleased with the art situationon this side of the room yet, so at some point something will be changed.  I also hate how the dresser and headboard clash so much, so at some point one of them will be painted or re-stained.  Probably the dresser...and it may be painted white.

Ok, here is the view from the corner by the new dresser (behind the TV).

The open door is the bedroom door (duh) which leads to the hallway.  If you pan over to the left a bit, you see our closets (which are never ever closed unless I've psycho cleaned and actually put away laundry for once...this has lasted about 3 days so far!)

Here's a shot of my bedside table:

I've been searching for a different lamp shade, but haven't found what I have in my head yet.  And I may paint the lamp a different color too (weird).  See that white penis shaped thing?  Here's a close up of that:

I think it's actually an appetizer dish, but I use this little Goodwill find ($2.99) for my hair ties, bobby pins, chapstick, and jewlery that I forget to take off until I get into bed.  The top of my table used to be a mess of bobby pins ( I found 38 on there when I cleaned last week...) so this has helped me keep things a bit more organized.

Here's Matt's side of the bed:

The mirror used to be brown (and in our entry way) but I spray painted it white to use in here.  The art print was something we found at Art Fair on the Square in Madison 4 years ago.  The blue thing is a piece glass we found in Door County and front picture is a photobooth strip of Matt and I from 2003.  That was an impromptu project a couple months ago, which I'll share with you soon.  And yes, that is a giant metal flashlight to club intruders with next the the picture.

So, far I'm pretty pleased with how far our room has come.  It only took us 6 years of living together to have dressers in the bedroom, so that's something.  I would still like to paint the walls a different color and add a giant rug to the room.  All the bedrooms are over the garage, so the floors are always freezing cold.  We've actually thrown around the idea of putting carpet in our room too, but we'll see what happens.

So, what do you think? Looking ok so far? Want to bet the room won't be this clean in a week?

~S~

Slight living room redo

Are you there readers?  It's me...Steph.  I am probably the worst blogger ever, seeing that my last post would be 3 months ago tomorrow.  Yeah, pretty bad.  I would like to place all the blame on the new job, but it honestly has just been laziness.  Thank you sososososo much to all of you that have not forgotten about me and have been demanding more updates...this post is dedicated to all of you. :)

Ok, back to business.  There hasn't been a whole lot of changes going on around Casa de Kendall, but there are a few.  First up, another living room redo.  On a day off recently I suddenly went nuts and spent about 5 hours (yes 5) rearranging and switching up the living room.  After 5 hours and about 4 different configurations, I ended up with a slight change from what you all have last seen.  This is what I started with:

And here is what 5 hours of moving/lifting/dragging/vacuuming/dodging puppies gave us:

WOW!  Quite the major change, huh? :)  Yeah, not really, but I'm actually loving the little changes I made. (New throw pillows are on their way as you read too!)  First off, obviously the basic layout remained the same, but I switched out the two awkward pictures over the couch for that long mirror.  The mirror was an awesome find at Walmart (of all places) for only $44!  I have had my eye on a similar one from IKEA for about a year now (which is larger, with a wider frame) but was around $100.  So, I figured this 1/2 the cost version will do a-ok for now.  Hanging the mirror took me almost an hour (sad, I know) because it had to hooks on either side of the frame to be hung with, but since I of course needed it hung that second (and knowing it would take Matt's help with the two hooks) I used picture hanging wire to have the mirror hang off of one screw in the wall, instead of two...Cross your fingers it doesn't come crashing down some day.  I pulled the coffee table into the middle of the couch/seating area instead of having it smooshed in like I usually do.

 I moved the dark brown bench (that had been our coffee table) over to the wall on the left to act as extra seating.

The pillows dress it up a bit and also match the colors in the Breakfast at Tiffany's art too. 2 points to Steph.

The coffee table we're now using was the one we bought when we first moved to Madison, back in 2006.  It had been acting as our TV stand until I moved Grandma Dottie's desk to act as the new TV stand:



Sorry for the bad picture.  I brought the lamp down from Matt's bedside table, since it has been unplugged and unused for about a year.  The white pineapple thing came from the entry way table, and the rocker was Matt's grandma's too.  I folded up a table cloth we already had to cover/protect the top of the desk and to add a little lightness to the TV corner.

The circle end table that used to be in the corner of the room, moved to the other side of the nice couch, and I brought an unused end table (that had been collecting dust in the office) in for the corner of the room.  I set the lamps on top of some hardcover books to give them some height.  And for you super creepy observant people....check out the new table accessory I found at Marshall's for $12:

Haha!  Isn't he a hoot?!  (Too much?  Too dorky?)  I think he's supposed to be a vase since he's hallow, but I like him as a casual observer form the corner of the room.  I have a thing for owls lately...I'll show you some more owl decor another time.

So, to give youan  easier before and after view, we first started with this (waaaay back):

Then went to this:

Then this:

And fiiinally this...I think I'll let it stick for a while:

Thoughts?  Are you liking the new living room set up?  Are you happy I'm back, or maybe wishing I would have stayed away?  Well too bad Sally.  I'm here to stay. :)

If you have any requests for blog posts, please don't be shy!  I'm always happy to hear your ideas!  Also, stay tuned for a garden update, and also some dining room updates as well!

~S~



What a man, what a man

Yesterday was mine and Matt's 3 year anniversary (cue awwwww) and Monday night after my soccer game, I came home sweaty and exhausted to find a great surprise.  Matt had been on-call all day (at home) and worked on the bathroom!  He managed to take it from looking pretty good, but not done, to looking GREAT and almost done. 

I had finished painting the vanity doors last week and had picked up two knobs for the doors this last weekend at Home Depot (we also picked up a nail gun and air compressor, both on sale for $69.99 each).  Matt put on the knobs and reinstalled the doors, without even hinting that he had done it, that rascal. :)  He also reattached all the baseboards  (minus one, that we can't find anywhere...) and attached the mirror frame to the mirror!  Happy anniversary to me :)  Here are some pictures, so you check out the amazingness that is Mr. Kendall (witrh a little help from me too):

We made the frame for the existing mirror using trim sold at Home Depot.  We bought 3 pieces (it came a white color) and then Matt used his Miter Saw (from Mark and Janet aka the in-laws for Christmas) to cut the pieces to size and at 45 degree angles.  Once cut, we used Liquid Nails to conect the four corners.  And since we did not have a nail gun at the time, we used a staple gun to attach the four corners from the backside of the frame. (Yeah, we're a bit hillbilly like that)  It actually worked and held up nicely.  Once the Liqud Nails dried, I painted 3 coats of the Marth Stwerart paint we had picked out over the wood.  We also bought, painted, and attached the 4 squares in each corner of the frame.  I like to think it gives it a little somethin' somethin' extra.  Though it looks different in the above pictures, the frame and vanity are the same color.

Here's a before and after to get a better idea of how much more awesome the new sink area looks.

Before:

And After:

If you're extremely observant, you may have also noticed the new sink faucet!  I'll post about that ordeal tomorrow...or later today maybe.  Here's another new thing we added (which you may have noticed on the back of the door above):



Cute, huh?!  I found them at Pottery Barn.

With all these little things being done...we are sooo close to being 100% finished!  I will be painting the walls (man, how many times have I already said that?...) THIS WEEK and also painting all the trim and baseboards.  Since our wonderful house has crooked walls galore, I have some serious caulking to do around all the baseboards.  And find that missing baseboard....  I know, you're super jealous of the fun times ahead, right? :)

~S~

Bathroom Update!

Wow, it has literally been 32 days since I gave you any sort of information about how the bathroom is coming along.  For starters, the floor is done.  I didn't give you a post about doing it because I wasn't there for any of it.  Matt used his last week off from work to finish the bathroom floor.  What a man :)  Go back and read this posting, but imagine Matt doing all the steps on the floor instead of on the walls.  Got it?  Ok.

So, I am one who never buys the little jars of sample paint colors from Home Depot.  I pick a color, sometimes bring the card swatch home and then dive in head first and buy a whole gallon of whatever color I picked out.  This is a-ok about 80% of the time.  The bathroom was not one of those times.  I picked out about 20 samples of different shades of grey paint from the Depot and went over and over them.  But I did not buy a sample jar.  I bought a full gallon of Martha Stewart Living Paint Semi-Gloss in Chinchilla....which I though was the perfect grey.  Not so much.  After putting 2 coats on the walls (and it took for freaking ever.  Our bathroom has about 17 different sized walls/nooks-n-crannies/angles.  And then Matt walks in (I'm the painter in our family) and says, "Ughhh, it looks purple."  And it did...in a light grey kind of way.  I told him was nuts and left it....and now after it being done for about 3 weeks, it definantly looks grey-ish purple.  Here are a couple action shots.  First, with only around the trim painted (one coat):

Then a little more:

And here's with a more accurate idea of the wall color.  And the awful towel hook I installed when we first moved in 2 years ago....can you even see it?

And the NEW fancy (aka normal) towel bar!  Hotchy Motchy :)

Part of me wanted to leave the grey-ish purple (my stubborness) but in the end, the room was looking way too steril for it's own good.  Sooo, we picked out a color we liked at Sherwin Williams and had Home Depot  match it to a less expensive type of paint.  I decided to try Glidden's Semi Gloss this time.  I wasn't 100% impressed with Martha Stewart's paint.  The color was true to it's swatch, but I felt like the paint was kind of thick and hard to put on the walls.  Glidden's was the exact same price as Martha Stewart, so I gave it whirl.  Luckily, Home Depot had Sherwin Williams' colors in their paint database, so they were able to match it without any problems.

I hate hate hate blogs that put up "teasers" without a finished product, but I haven't had a post up in over 10 days....so I'll leave you with the bathroom as it is now.  I'll be painting it the new color hopefully this weekend.

Thanks for sticking with us! :)

~S~

Guess who's coming for the weekend? {Guestroom makeover}

My mom!  Deb is so wonderful (yes, I call her Deb about 50% of the time.  We're best buddies as well as mother/daughter, so I figure I'm entitled to call her thus) and so much fun.  We usually end up exploring downtown Madison and eating ourselves silly at home and around town.  And since Deb qualifies as company (and it's her birthday weekend)....our guest room needed to be cleaned up STAT!  Remember last time you saw it?  Bah!  Disgusting, embarrassing etc ect! 

The toilet was moved back to his home in the newly remodeled bathroom.  And most of the other supplies were moved into storage in the garage and basement.  Just to refresh your memory, we started with this:

We definitely had our work cut out for ourselves.  Matt moved all of the bathroom supplies into storage and I originally was going to have this room painted by the time Deb came a calling, but decided that since we have company about 3 times a year, it wasn't super high up on the priority list.  And with the updated bedding I will tell you about in the next paragraph, the yellow actually worked.

I decided the guestroom needed quite the make over.  The baby yellow walls, red rug, and turquoise comforter were just not cutting it (No way, really?  Yellow, turquoise, and red don't work together?)  After thinking about painting (and just not being in the mood) I realized that if I used an already owned duvet cover, I wouldn't have to change the wall color if I wanted the room to come across as non-hillbillyish.  Sooo, after washing an already owned (aka old) down-alternative comforter (Matt is allergic to down) and stuffing it into a recycled (from the master bedroom) white duvet cover, paired with some super cute green striped sheets (which I bought and used once), I made the bed and fell in love with the Springy vibe the room gave off!  Check it out:

I unrolled the old rug from the living room and which immediately looked 50 times better than the red striped one.  Another apartment move-out cast off from a resident was a block of wood with three hooks on it....that sounded a bit homemade as I typed it, but I think it's actually from Target.  The wood is stained a dark espresso color and the hooks are a black color.  Anyway, I hung it on the wall for coats or towels, or whatever guests may not want laying on the ground.  I also brought in a small side table (from the living room before it was moved around) and put it under the hooks...you know in case guests need some table space.  I put a couple books of short stories down there too, in case Deb gets bored with me. (View from standing on the bed):

My far off in the distance plan is to refinish and move the dresser from this room and into the master bedroom, but for now I like it in the guest room.  I used some extra decor I had laying around for the top of it...and added a picture of Deb's 2 favorite kids :)  I also used a small glass tray for some lotions, room spray, and tissues (We in the Kendall house do not use tissues...we use toilet paper to wipe our noses, but I know Deb enjoys a nice tissue), to make the momma lady feel at home.  But seriously, how gorgeous is this dresser?  I never really appreciated it until now.  Growing up it was just there and when I moved to Madison (waaaay back in 2006) I took it with me since Matt and I had a bed and a chair to our names and then just shoved it into a closet everytime we moved.  Pretty amazing what a little Pledge and a couple decorations can do to open your eyes. 

Here are a couple more pics....you know, for your enjoyment :)

Fiona gave the room 4 paws up (wow, I am a huge dork).  We definatly still need to find some art for the walls, but I don't think Deb will be too offended with what we came up with for her.  

Cost of this guestroom make over: $0.00!  Everything I used we already had...even the little travel-size tissue package.  So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

~S~