century home

Transformation Tuesday no. 6

| The Bee Life

Our living room is finally looking grown-up, and I absolutely love it. One afternoon of; “Let’s just go look at furniture” turned into us actually pulling the trigger and buying it. One of our challenges was finding furniture that was deep enough… B is 6’6″ and I wanted him to be able to fit and be comfortable, plus once he tried out a deep couch he was sold; that was what we needed.  Mind you 45″ deep couches aren’t that popular; nor do they come in a lot of styles. With our oblong living room I wanted pieces that could be versatile and could be rearranged. Our other sticking point was the fabric and color, we wanted something light colored and also more lineny – no microfiber in this house! So once we found our pieces, we knew they were it, hitting our size/color/fabric requirements while being the perfect mix of the style we wanted.

Before:

The listing photos
The listing photos

After:

Luckily we could keep some of our original pieces: the coffee table was a steal from an antique store, while the light blue ‘car seat’ chairs were from B’s parents.  The rug was a steal from target being $40 and it’s Moz’s favorite – every time we get a rug she just goes and lays on it. It’s the cutest thing. There will always be finishing touches, but I am loving how this has come together so far.

House Hunters – Sun room

| The Bee Life

Since the weather is finally starting to perk up, there has been one room in the house that has been completely neglected – our sun room. This room is strictly a 2-season use room (for now) since it’s all windows and horribly insulated, thank you 100-year old home. So knowing this; I don’t want to put too much time or money into it, but I still want it to be a warm, inviting space that will be used on weekend mornings, rainy nights or afternoons.

Here’s the space we’re working with;

It’s basically a square with windows on three-walls and a door with two smaller walls from the camera perspective. First things first; it will need a coat of paint (the only room in the house that hasn’t been painted) – that dull yellow is going to turn into a crisp white. The ceiling and floors are a dark color, I am considering painting the ceiling white and maybe doing some antique texturing. A new area rug is also needed to add that cozy feel.

Inspiration:

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05

These pieces might be a little big for this space, but I like the idea of it just being a room with a couch so all you can do is relax and enjoy the weather without actually being outside. We plan to go furniture shopping soon for our living room, so maybe we will throw in a piece or two for the sun room! First thing’s first; PAINT!

Last Minute Easter Prep

| The Bee Life

Now that we have 3x the space and 3x the doors, our space hasn’t been as Eastery as I would hope, with it only being 2-days away.  I recognized that this will take some time to figure out the perfect pieces for our spaces, but I also love decorating, especially for holidays! Easter is the ideal segue to spring so it’s a perfect time to pull in a mix of the two.

Here are some Easter/Spring essentials:

1. Front Door – DIY vs. Store

DIY – This tulip wreath is a perfect DIY opportunity (look for a future post!) Not to mention it allows for flexibility in choosing your own wreath size and tulip color based on your preference and house, and it can stay up before, during, and after Easter!

Store – Target (and many other stores) have these beautiful egg wreaths.  They’re chic and simple and I love this as an option.

2. Centerpiece – Mine vs. DIY

Mine – This is my first attempt at an Easter centerpiece working with what I have.  The tall tea light holders are my current year-round piece, along with the black place mats, although I would love to find the perfect ones with some color! The bunny was a gift from my “future” mother-in-law, which added the perfect touch. All of these pieces (minus the bunny and place mats) were purchased at the Dollar Store; $9 for this look!

DIY – I love this DIY option because it brings in the perfect mix of spring and Easter.  The fresh flowers give this dimension and life, simply switch out the eggs for more flowers or just more “grass” and you have a piece that can stay-up after the holiday.

3. Mantle – Dream vs. Reality

Dream – I LOVE this mantle, and wreath’s over mantles – especially for Christmas.  Sadly this is not an option. B and his 55-inch TV won the battle over the mantle. So while I have some options on the sides and under the TV, it can’t be as dramatic as I would like.

Reality – We have a 55-inch TV over our mantle. So I switch out small pieces and add in elements of the current season or holiday when and where I can.  My picture frames and the lights are a current fixture (along with the TV) – so I am sure this will change a million times over throughout the year.

What are your Easter/Spring holiday essentials?

Happy Easter!

Transformation Tuesday no. 4

| The Bee Life

This TT (Transformation Tuesday) is one of my favorites yet. I totally underestimated what a change this would be, especially to such a small space. Our side entry aka ‘mud room’ was a huge eye sore, dark paneling, layers of old flowery wallpaper, and crackling ties.

Before

When we first got our keys in November, starting to tackle taking down the wallpaper was a random project that I worked on for one afternoon and then just stopped as I got to the third layer! And then it sat like that for weeks until finally I had the white paint open for another little project and I decided to paint over that wood paneling! Then B got into it, and we removed the rest of the wallpaper one afternoon … then I tore up all the floor ties, curious to see what was underneath, and after a few more rounds of paint… wah-la!

After

Rug / Roller Shade / Hooks / Shelf

We had all left over paint for the white and even the walls, which just looks so crisp paired together! The wall color is the same color we used in our hallway stairs going up to the second floor. Underneath the tiles was wood that was half painted and half not, so we decided to go all white again, eventually we would like to get some stone tile down. We bought a decent size rug, new roller shade for privacy and sunlight, and a floating shelf and some hooks to complete the coat area.  I grabbed the white standing shelf from another closet to finish the look. I truly can’t get over this, it’s so bright and big, for a small space, (it looks even better in person).

More things will be added along the way, of course, but this is one of my favorites so far!

House Hunters – Centerpieces

| The Bee Life

One small decorating detail that I have been rambling my brain on is a centerpiece arrangement for our massive dining room table.  Ideally I would like it to be usable year-round, but allow the possibility to add holiday touches.  Surprisingly, Pinterest has not been much help.  I like portions of centerpieces I’ve seen, but not the whole thing, so I am just going to have to get creative!

Wishlist:

  • Something that is classic and clean
  • Fresh flowers (everyday)… but highly unrealistic – fake flowers are not an option
  • Year-round
  • Airy and light

At this point I am leaning towards different size glass vases/cylinders that would house candles.  I also like the idea of candlesticks, but I want to potentially do this for our fireplace mantle, which is also a constant thought and struggle – everything I see is holiday related!

Pinspiration:

http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/
http://homedesignlover.com/home-accesory/15-traditional-candle-centerpiece-ideas/
http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-dining-room-centerpiece.html

My search for that first piece to drive the inspiration is ongoing, even window shopping in multiple stores looking for that one piece has been unsuccessful, but I am determined! I can’t wait to share the end result, hopefully sooner rather than later. Until then any advice, pictures or tricks you did would be awesome!

House Hunters – Organization

| The Bee Life

Happy February 2nd, everyone!

This past weekend, I got a lot of much needed organizing done! I am a very organized person, so the clutter and organized mess (yes you read that correctly, even my mess was organized) finally got to me! Of course, like everything in the house this too will be a work in progress, only because I’m a perfectionist and like everything to match. My main areas that still need some organization are; my bedroom closet, bathroom closet and hall closet, office closet and desk space. I need to put up some more shelves in all of the mentioned closets, and then matching boxes/tubs for various items.

Until I have my spaces complete, I wanted to share my favorite organization inspiration pictures for various places around the house!

Pulled from Better Homes & Gardens via Pinterest http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/organization-basics/make-organizing-fun/?page=14#page=9
Pulled from vtwonen via Pinterest http://www.vtwonen.nl/inspiratie/slaapkamer/naturel-slaapkamer/
Pulled from Pinterest – site source unknown
Pulled from Organized by Kelly via Pinterest http://kelleymorrison.com/?paged=6

Of course a lot of these ideas will be adapted into my own space and own needs, that’s the one thing I love about organizing – it’s that I can be creative and think of new ways to give everything a resting place. What’s your favorite part about being organized?

Transformation Tuesday no. 3

| The Bee Life

Remember that post when I “designed” our future dining room? (In case you missed it see here: House Hunters – Dining Room Design)… I also mentioned that we were having a custom table built, well table is complete, and dining room is complete!  We ended up going with my original design, but ran into some problems with the chandelier.

WORDS OF ADVICE: Don’t fall in love with something “available online” only to find it’s no longer available online or in any of the stores… also try and find similar models from different sights, just as back-ups or comparison.

I could not find a replicated chandelier of the one in my original design post ANYWHERE. It was my mission, I was so determined, but found nothing! And I called almost every Home Depot asking for the Hampton Bay, Menlo Park 6-light chandelier… I even went as far as upstate NY near my parents searching for this bad boy. Sold. out.

So… I had to try and find something else, it was hard but we finally found a replacement that we both liked and played into the character of our 100-year old home. We also went with chairs from Target, not only are they durable (and beautiful) but getting two chairs for the price of one (if that) is unbeatable!  Our table was built by a friend’s friend who is a carpenter, we were able to pick the wood, customize the size (8-feet by 4-feet), legs, spacing, height…everything. We ended up staining and finishing the piece ourselves to save some money and it came out great.

Before

After

photo 2

Final touches; side table with table-top lamp, new blinds, decorative bowl for the center of the table and place mats, and I am sure about a million other things along the way! I am completely in love with this space and can’t wait to entertain and have many dinners, game nights, and parties around this table.

Happy Dining!

Transformation Tuesday.

| The Bee Life

It’s my inaugural Transformation Tuesday! Are you excited? I am, this means we are starting to wrap this up! But since we aren’t quite finished or moved in, here are a few of the projects we’ve completed, although small in tow, have made a huge difference.

1. Carpet Removal – Hardwood Please
This one was simple… as soon as we saw this carpet, and the gorgeous hardwoods in the rest of the house we just had to tear this up. So we did, the first weekend we got in the house.  And with Moz’s help, poof! The carpet disappeared… luckily it was in a small area of the house.


2. Wallpapered Built-In’s
My first initial instinct was to add a little more life into these beauties by painting the inside yellow so they would pop! Then I remembered I had some left-over embellished wallpaper from when we made our bar (I’ll share in a future post).  After some measuring and cutting, I soaked the pre-glued wall paper, waited 5-minutes and then placed into the built-in’s… wah-la! Instant character.  I love this patterned wallpaper because it reminds me of tin ceilings, without actually having dark tin ceilings in your house. The pattern is subtle enough that it isn’t too distracting, and it brightens the cabinets up just enough, I love it.

I can’t wait to share more before and after pictures with you! Honestly, I have to keep reminding myself to take the before AND after pictures… hopefully we can get the majority of the work finished up this week.  We have been putting in long nights after work, and full weekends for the past three weekends. It’ll be nice when it’s all over.

Happy Homeowning!