Stripes part 2 - hallway is complete...for now

Everyone remembers my beautiful, gorgeous, perfect hallway makeover right?  Oh you need to see it again? Ok great no problem:

I'm still in love! And if we remember from this post, I decided I needed to print lots more pictures to complete the hallway, because the stripes are great but they're even better with some jewelry.

Well I dressed up another wall between the dining room and the guest bedroom.

I love the giant key!!!  Plus the little Fairy Tales Do Come True sign, and the other door knobs and the same pose for our engagement and wedding picture on the right side there.  (It's hard to see but we spell out LOVE with our fingers, stinkin' cute, I know.)  All these items were either bought at Goodwill, on clearance at Target, or given as gifts so this section of the wall was really cheap which always makes me happy!

I found the Home, Fairy Tales Do Come True, several of the frames and the giant key all at a thrifting trip with my cousin Katie.  She is the Queen of thrifting and she loves taking people along and helping them find great stuff for cheap.  She has her own thrifty blog that's definitely worth  checking out!  I don't remember for sure but I think I only spent $7 on those items at Goodwill. Love it!

I also did a little family picture wall between the dining room door and the office.  I hope to add more family pictures to this wall over time, both old, like my grandparents and great-grandparents wedding pictures and new pictures that we have yet to take.

To my mother, and mother-in-law, I need some more family pictures!  Let's get that set up sometime soon, deal? Good.

So here's what the whole hallway looks like with all my pictures up. :)

I know it's not the best angle, but it's really hard to take good pictures of long spaces :(

Oh well, I'm still in love with this transformation especially compared to the gross green it was before.

Eewwwww! 

So I'll keep adding to the hallway forever and rearranging and all that, plus I need a new light fixture because the one that's in there now is sad and definitely doesn't give off enough light:

 but for now I love it just the way the hallway is.  So classy and a sure fire conversation starter with the stripes.

Until next time, everyone stay classy!  Has anyone tried painting your own stripes yet?  Here's how!

A little paint goes a long way-Dining Room edition

To continue the tour through the process of making our house into our home, I'll show you our dining room next.

Here's what it looked like when we moved in.

Not too shabby, but I wasn't quite loving the tan color, I wanted something that would go a little bit better with the chandelier, plus I wanted a color that would compliment the gray color we painted in the living room because there is a big opening between the two rooms.

I wanted something fresh bright and clean like this dining room I found on Pinterest:



So we decided to go with a gray tinted white, called mink frost.

Let's get into the before and afters.

Before:

And After:

I love the way the paint color makes the wall decor pop!  It looks so much better than with the tan.

It's so much brighter and it makes me happier :). My next few projects for the dining room include finding a bold pattern for the curtains because the ones I have now are not quite what I'm looking for and I'm not loving the brown.  I did get them for free from my cousin so that's always good!  I know I can use them somewhere, I just don't want that place to be my dining room.  Maybe in the office or the guest room.

  I want to go floor to ceiling with them but we'll see what I can afford.  I also want to upgrade the table, either get a new one or stain and repaint the one we have.  If I get a new one, I'm definitely getting a bigger table.  The dining room certainly has the space for a bigger one.  Money will be the deciding factor.  We shall have to see what comes out of it.

I'd love to get a buffet or a china hutch to put in the dining room but I'm not sure where I could fit one.

Hope you enjoyed my dining room tour.  Do you approve of the change?  Know of any awesome patterned curtains for cheap?

A little paint makes a big difference!

Let me show you where all these projects are being completed.  Welcome to my humble abode!

How about a little background on my little house.  James and I bought our 1920's home two and a half years ago and when we bought it, it was in pretty good shape.  The kitchen had new cabinets, the windows were only a couple years old and it had a brand new roof.  The only major things left to be done were finishing the basement and a couple minor, cosmetic changes.

When we moved in the living room had a gross green color.  It looked like something that comes out of you when your sick.  Sorry but that's how I would describe what it looked like in person.  We definitely had to repaint it. It was terrible. 

So while I was picking the paint colors, of course I went to pinterest to get ideas.  I wanted something to go with all the black picture frames I have plus my favorite black and white city skyline pictures, and it had to go with our big tan microfiber couch.

This was my favorite from pinterest.






I love how the gray color goes with the dark brown furniture so I decided to go with gray.

Here are a few before pictures of the living room.

See what I mean about the color....gross!

This is the final product!

I also updated all the outlet covers and light switch plates with these mirrored metallic silver plates.  Love it!

Since taking the after pictures I also found these awesome gray curtains for $50 total on overstock.com. Great deal considering everywhere else I looked was going to cost me $50 per panel meaning I would have spent $200 for both windows.  That's a little crazy if you ask me.

I love how the gray looks with all my dark accessories.  Now our house is one more step closer to being truly ours.  It's much more homey and for a couple who has moved around as much as we have the past few years from rental to rental, it's really nice to be able to do what we want with a space.

The only thing left to do in the living room is acquiring an area rug that both of us like, that won't break the bank.  An impossible task?  Perhaps.  Of course I say that's the last thing to be done but I'm constantly changing things and swapping things out so nothing is ever really done.  Also since my hallway makeover, I don't get the same excited squeal when I see the living room decor.  So naturally I'll have to fix that.


So what do you think?  Do you approve of the gray or were you partial to the puke green?

Next time we'll venture into my dining room for a little before and after.  See you then!

Stripes obsession!

I have been loving the idea of painting stripes in my hallway ever since I pinned this pin:

to my "For our home" Pinterest board.  I loved the idea of having a subtle change of two slightly different shades throughout the hallway.  I was a little worried that the stripes might make the hallway look too small but it actually makes the hall seem wider!  And it's not just the stripes I drew from in this pin.  I also loved the combination of flowers, pictures, and the lantern from this inspiration pin.


Here is my finished product:

This is definitely my favorite wall in our house!  It's so pretty and classy and it has some of our most important pictures as a couple.  We've got our prom picture from high school, our first picture taken as a couple on James's 18th birthday, a wedding photo, our initial, our marriage certificate, and the hanger I made to hang my wedding dress on for our wedding day.  I also included the fake Calla Lilies because those were our wedding flowers.  I can't get over how pretty it all is!  It's a huge improvement from the gross green color it was before:



The trickiest part of this project was all the measuring and taping it took to make those stripes the same size and the lines straight.  None of it was hard, it was just time consuming but it is well worth it and I'm going to show you how!

Here's what you'll need:
A tape measure or ruler
Painters tape with edge lock
Paint brushes, rollers, drop cloths
And of course...Paint!


Oh and a helpful canine companion to keep you company :)

What a cute little guy! Right?



First I painted the lighter color throughout the entire hallway.  I figured this would be easiest because a darker color usually shows up better on a lighter color as opposed to a lighter color over a darker one.


Next is the stripes!  I measured my walls from the trim around the ceiling to the top of my baseboards and I came up with an even 100 inches!  So I figured 10 stripes at 10 inches wide would be perfect! Then you have to decide if you want the darker color stripe to start at the top of the room or the bottom.  I decided on the bottom because we don't have step ladders in our house and I can't reach the ceiling standing on my dining room chairs.  Haha so I started at the bottom with the darker color, that way I wouldn't have to paint too high on the wall.


Now it's very important to do it the right way.  You can't just measure 10 inches and put a line of tape and then 10 more and add another piece of tape.  You have to make sure the first stripe is taped so the bottom of the tape line is at the 10 inch mark like so:










I did this in three or four places along the wall depending on how much room I had between the doorways.  Then I connected the marks with the edge lock tape to complete one stripe.


Now the next stripe needs to be measured a bit differently to ensure each stripe is exactly 10 inches. This time we have to measure from the bottom edge of the tape we just used to mark the first stripe to the point where the top edge of the next piece of tape is right at the 10 inch mark like this:



Do the same thing again marking spots along the wall and connecting the marks.  Now for the third stripe you go back to measuring from the top edge of the second stripe to the bottom edge of the next piece of tape.


Keep alternating all the way up the wall.  I marked the stripes I wasn't going to paint with pieces of tape like this:


As soon as you're done taping, paint and try to wait patiently as the paint dries before peeling off the tape to reveal the beautiful finished product.  This is the part that I have the most trouble with.  I just did all that work, I want to see what it's going to look like!  Are we there yet?

(Optional step: keep checking on the paint every 5 minutes to see if it's dry yet.  What's that?  Every one else is grown up enough to be patient?  Oh, ok I guess it's just me who chooses to do this step.)

When the paint is finally dry 20 million hours later, you can peel the tape, make a giant tape ball (and throw it at your husband) and then you can marvel at the beauty!  This is what my whole hall looked like:


Such pretty stripes! I just wish the lighting in the hall was better.  That will be a project for another day.  Apparently those types of projects cost money and are not more important than eating food.

Now I'm accessorizing and have decided I need to print more pictures to fill all the frames I have been hoarding when from when I find good sales at Hobby Lobby and Target. So I haven't finished the hall yet but I have a great start and every time I walk by this wall I stop and stare, then give a joyful sigh and continue on my merry way down the hall.  Let's take one more look just for fun!



Best thing ever!

Who's inspired to try stripes of your own?  Anyone else have trouble waiting for paint to dry?