home tour

This is the house my husband and I just bought and moved into, in June 2013. It definitely still has LOTS of decorating to be done, but I thought I'd post some pictures of what I've done so far!

come on in!





Here is the view of our front door, after you close it behind you.

I added the basket to the little side table recently. I love that this one has the painted-on stripes. I got it at HomeGoods.

anyway, if you peer to the right of that scene, you will see the living room:

I love layered rugs, and I feel like it's such a cozy feel to create. I especially love my red-toned rug in here, which is worn and ragged. I have lots of blankets in this room, and pillows to snuggle with. The new couch is perfect for that!  (forgive the chair with the ticking stripe draped across. I'm still deciding how I want to upholster it?)

I always love to have a candle burning in the house, but especially in the Fall and Winter. It just evokes a warm feel, and the good smells are a plus! 

The pipe/wood bookshelves that my dad and i built in August are starting to fill in, and I love them more and more every day! (didn't know that was possible. i sound like people sound when they're talking about their kids? Those things were a labor of love :) )

I've found i've been picking up pottery at thrift stores more and more these days (like the piece pictured on the shelves). i love the earthiness of it!

I just bought that cute black and white Nate Berkus frame at Target. I really love it! 

that's about it for the living room. onto the kitchen! our floorplan is really open, so creating coziness and warmth is at the top of my priority list. i still need things like curtains, but we're getting there...

This is the little pass-through that leads to the kitchen from the living area:

I did the paintings seen here at my studio. I love bright and colorful artwork, and it helps that these two tie in with my home's color choices.

I love my orange stools from Overstock.com! 

opposite of the kitchen cabinet area is the dining table/chairs:

again, with the layered rugs! The hairpin leg table was a custom design from Jason Chance at 501 South.

The chairs were also from Overstock, and the table was from Scott's Antique Market.

I did the black and white panel paintings over the long table, too.

last, is our bedroom. it's all white, with super tall ceilings. Again, still so much to do in this room, but it is feeling way cozier with the recent addition of our old white sofa up there.

Stay tuned, too, for a post about our new Crane & Canopy bedding which is amazing. And talk about cozy. I feel like our bed is a fancy hotel bed now. It's soooo freaking comfy! It's nuts. 

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Here is my old house - the condo that I lived in from 2009-2013.

I always love when people include tours of their homes on their blogs, so I thought I'd include mine on here, just for fun. I'm also including descriptions with information about where I purchased things, what I made, etc. If you'd like to see some more professionally photographed photos of my home, please check out Brian Patrick Flynn's article for HGTV located here.

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living room:

before it all began: (scary. this is is about a day after we moved in - didn't look like this for long, but it makes an excellent "before" pic, don't you think?)

after:

our living room has gone through many looks, stages, and phases, but here is where we are now.

(the view, looking into the living room from the kitchen)

the walls are painted "white dove" by benjamin moore. the sofa was a $25 dollar thrift store find, which i kept in its original state (upholstery-wise) for a few years, and then had it reupholstered in white cotton fabric. i love it! i adore the lines of it, plus our home is quite small for now, so it fits just perfectly. the acrylic coffee table is from cb2. the paintings over the sofa, i painted, then i framed them in some frames i bought at michael's. the side tables are from world market, and the clear seed glass lamps/shades are from target. i bought the large jute rug from someone off craigslist, and the small mint/white chevron rug from urban outfitters. the little chair to the left in this photo was from a vintage shop called "scarlett loves rhettro" here in atlanta, and i had the cushions reupholstered and spraypainted the frame a bright reddish-orange! i love it now. the little side table sitting next to it is from urban outfitters, and it's a nice little spot to sit a drink or the remote controls.

the table that is to the right of the sitting area is a piece that i put together from a base i found at a thrift store, and a circular top i found at another store. i faux painted the top of it to look like white cararra marble. the two chairs i bought from overstock, and spraypainted black. the light fixture hanging over the table was from lowe's. 

this is the opposite side of the room, if you are sitting on the sofa:

the shelves were installed by me and my dad. you can read more about that here. i painted our back door's bevels black - i love the graphic pop. i also made the little skirt that hangs on the shelf below our tv - it hides unsightly cords and whatnot.

this is the little landing at the bottom of our stairs, and also where i store extra decorative items i'm not using! i painted this vintage credenza mint green, and also did the painting that hangs above it. i like to think of it as an ocean scene. (it's in watercolor/acrylics) i also have a big bowl of giant bubblegum balls sitting on top, for some playfulness. :)

bathroom:

i painted the walls a hand-mixed color that is charcoal-ish-navy-ish, and also made a curtain and painted the little target shelf in a yellow and white chevron pattern.

here is the chevron tutorial.

above the little shelf is a photo from our wedding (of my brother and my husband) that i blew up to an 8 by 10, and framed in a white target frame. i love the contrast on the dark wall!

the "curtain" i made..

this was a little ikea hack that i manipulated. our bathroom is so small, and we don't have counterspace. i needed something to keep toothbrushes in, so i bought this cupholder from ikea. it was initially a brushed nickel, but that didn't match the other hardware in our bathroom, so i primed and painted the cupholder the same color as the wall in our bathroom. now it blends in juuuust fine. if only i could find a non-neon toothbrush? ;)

bedroom:

here is the progress on my bedroom update/makeover. it's always kind of a work in progress (which is why i haven't done a sidebar button for my bedroom yet), but i figured that i should have a button for it anyway, since i've done a lot of work in there!

here is the "before" shot. the room is REALLY small (probably about 10' by 10', so there is pretty much only room for a bed and a small dresser, but it's really all you need in a bedroom anyway! i keep things really symmetrical in my bedroom.

this photo was taken the day before i decided to paint it and whip it into shape. we had been living in the space (renting), and finally closed on it, so i felt it was time to make it pretty!

i love the window in this room, which lets in a lot of light in the mornings.

i've already done, then re-done my bedroom twice since we moved in, about a year ago (august '09). this is my room in its current state:

The bedding is from pottery barn, but the sheets (blue and orange ones) are from target. the black and white pillows are from ikea. i made the headboard and the bench seat cover, as well as the curtains. I also added orange fabric to my dustruffle because it wasn't long enough when i raised my bed! i like it better with the orange on there, anyway.

I hate the ceiling fan, but it's a necessary evil in my opinion.



the side tables were a vintage find (i got them at an old neighbors yardsale. they were only $15 for both of them, plus the credenza that is at my landing, downstairs!), that i painted white and wallpapered the insides with grasscloth. i also added vintage pulls, and glass on top. the side lamps were from a thrift store, and i spraypainted them black. i added shades from home depot, and voila! pretty swing arm lamps. i also did the big black and white artwork to the left of the bed.

second bedroom/office:

we created the shelves by disassembling an ikea bookshelf, and hanging the remaining shelves with L-brackets.

i made this curtain with a thomas paul fabric scrap i got for only $1! i hung it up with a tension rod from target, and some ikea curtain clips. i've had that great desk chair for years (got it at a thrift store in college), and jordan has also had the desk forever. rug is from ikea.

i painted this old filing cabinet white, and on top sits our printer and a lamp i already had, that is from home depot. unfortunately, the only lampshade i had is a little small for this lamp. i'll be replacing it as soon as i find a good one!

the shelves we "made"

kitchen:

anyway, here is my kitchen before: wooden cabinetry, yellow walls, stone backsplash and black granite countertops. some people would love it...it just wasn't my style!

here is the view from our "family room" area:

this is a photo i took when we first moved in! looking pretty bad, but i love the window:

aaaand after: i painted the cabinets and backsplash (yes, i just painted directly over the stone!) white, and added some modern handles from IKEA. i also added pale grey baskets above the cabinets for storage, and hung an old wooden frame above the sink. i attached a sleek lampshade to the previous fixture for a more modern look, as well.

we don't have a whole lot of storage space, so we use this stainless steel shelf from target as storage for "pretty" things, like plates, cups, and glasses. the baskets on the top shelf are from target, and the ones on the bottom are from bed, bath and beyond.

I use a vintage kelly green ice bucket with a lucite handle (a thrift store find) for my utensils holder: