Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Table and benches continued...

To pick up where we left off, it's bench time!

I chose this plan, again from Ana-white.com to follow.

And again, it needed a little personalization to fit our needs. We measured the space between the legs of the table where we wanted the bench to fit, and subtracted 2 inches, to give room on both sides. From there, we tweaked the measurements for the bottom. We also decided to do the legs a little different because the legs in the plan were a pain in the ass.

So we built them in about 30 minutes, and got ready to finish them.

We decided to stain the tops chestnut and paint the legs and aprons antique white.  To prep, we sanded everything until smooth. Then we stained the tops, and let it cure for 8 hours. Then we did one coat of polyurethane, let it set for 3 hours, and sanded the tops lightly. Then we did a second coat of Poly and let it cure for 24 hours and voila!





:)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Finally! Some Furniture!

The plan, from the beginning, was to build most of the furniture in our new home. Unfortunately it doesn't happen instantaneously. The good news is, Andy and I are pretty speedy furniture builders :) Yesterday we decided it was time to build our table and two benches. Here is how it went down.

First I decided on this plan from Ana-White.com. Unfortunately, the plan is for an 8 foot table. That is a little WAY too long for our tiny apartment. So we had to modify the plan, which is not as easy as it sounds. Luckily with the help of my math major husband, we figured it out :)

Then I went to lowes.com and made a shopping list. This also allowed me to figure out an approximate cost. Then we went to lowes and picked out our wood. It is really important to pick the straightest wood possible. This is probably the most lovely stressful part of the process. I am very particular about straight boards, and Andy could really care less. But in the end, he knows the straightest boards make the best furniture :)

Then Andy and I took our loot home, and got to work. We always measure out all of our cuts first and mark them before we start cutting anything. That might sound really obvious, but if you measure as you cut, you might not have enough wood. So then we run everything through the miter saw and get down to business.

Blah blah blah, we built the table, blah blah blah.

Then it came time to put on the legs. I wanted something a little fancier than straight 2x4's, so we measured half way and one inch from the bottom and cut off a little so the legs taper at the bottom.



I realize this has been the LONGEST post ever so I will leave you here, with more to come later :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Guest room awesomeness!

So right now, my guest room is still an idea in my head. We have painted an accent wall a teal blue and from there, its all in my head.

Here are the colors I am loving in this room. (but these colors look way brighter in person... not sure why...)

Our Accent wall is painted Bermuda

This is plumbery (but it's really brighter in person...) I want to paint a few accessories in the room this color. 


This is Organic Garden. I want to paint an accent wall in the bathroom this color, as well as make a headboard this color in the guest room. 


And in that room, there is no light. We have to plug a lamp in that can be controlled by the switch, but there is no real light in the room. I want to hang a light that will be plugged in, and I found this!


This is about the color that plumbery really is, so I fell in love! I want to find an old antiquey chandelier and paint it plumbery for the light! Isn't that fabulous!

I also fell in love with this big frame from Ikea, also painted plumbery. I am not sure if it would look best over the bed, kinda like this:


or on a wall in the bathroom opposite the mirror, like this:


Either way, I LOVE it! I also love that the one from Ikea is not a mirror, but a frame, so it will be the wall color in the middle, if I want OR i can paint the glass with mirror paint to make it a mirror!

I can't wait to pick up some things to really make that room special! I am currently scouring craigslist to find the perfect chandelier! 


Monday, May 23, 2011

Stripes, a love story

This is your typical love story.

Boy and girl think stripes would be a good idea.

Boy and girl start stripes.

Boy and girl resent stripes.

Boy and girl HATE stripes....

Boy and girl LOVE stripes C: It's like our own little romantic comedy!

Here's the long version.

Our original plan for the bedroom was to paint the walls gray with a yellow accent wall. Once we got into the room, and got the bedspread, we couldn't find a color yellow we loved. The real problem was that our bedspread kind of changes colors... In the daylight, it is a nice yellow color. But in the lightbulb light, it is almost lime green... Not what we wanted. So I didn't want to paint a wall that wouldn't look good with the blanket when the shades were closed...

So then I suggested, instead of yellow, lets do a wall of stripes! I had seen a few stripes before's and afters and LOVED them, so I suggested it. Andy LOVED the idea so we decided to do both the bedroom and bathroom in stripes!

This is the part where things got shady. In Red, I will write what would have happened if this were a perfect world. In Blue, I will write what really happened....


So we decided to paint all of the walls the lighter color, fully covered, so that we would only have to tape once, and all of the darker stripes would have the same base color. So we decided to tape the original walls, even though 3 of the walls were a tan color, and one wall was white. And everything was happily ever after... :) And that is where the trouble started... By not painting the walls a single base color first, we more than doubled our work load. We taped the ENTIRE room (which took FOREVER) and got ready to paint. We painted the light stripes first. 



Things started to look good, but then we realized we would have to tape the ENTIRE room again! GAH! So we got started on that, painting the dark gray stripes. We didn't end up taping everything again as we found I had a pretty steady hand and could paint an almost straight line :)


It wasn't perfect, but it would work, for now. 

Two days later, we finished the stripes in both the bedroom and the bathroom. Now they need to be touched up, but they are good enough, for now :)




This is the part of the story where the boy and girl fall back in love with the stripes and realize they were totally worth all the hard work and pain in the assness they really were. 

:)


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Okay, I can't help myself!

So while in Orlando, Andy and I went to Ikea to do some shopping (to be posted) and after that, we stoped by a West Elm. I had never been inside, and so I wanted to look around. As we walked through the door, I was inundated by throw pillows that would be PERFECT for our new living room! I am not even exagerating, they are exactly what I have been looking for. Andy grabbed my wrist and pulled me away to keep me from buying them right then and there!

So today I was looking at the West Elm website and I stumbled across the pillows again! And with them was this room picture. I have looked so hard to find an inspirational picture for what I want in my living room and HERE IT IS!!


I mean it's not perfect, but it has a lot of the same elements I am looking for! We are going to get a white couch (we decided white over blue because of the blue wall), and there are a few of those pillows. See how I mean they are awesome! Here is a pic of all of them:

I have a crush... I really love these pillows! Now all I have to do is convince Andy that we need them...

It's been a while....

So sorry it has been so long since my last post (almost 20 days! EE!) Allow me to explain.

We moved into our condo on April 27th, and the week following, and were painting like crazy people!! Lots of updates to show soon, I promise! Then, on May 7th, Andy graduated, then we left for our Honeymoon, and we just got back on monday, which has left me the last few days to get life back toghether! Then before I know it, it's the 19th and I haven't updated in forever!

So I am not updating now.... because I am at work... BUT tonight I will be updating!

Be patient, please :)

Sunday, May 1, 2011

New Condo, before

So the time has come! We have officially moved in! This means that all of my dreams and thoughts can start becoming reality! So here are the before pictures. so you can see what we started out with, then as I finish something, I will post what it looks like now!

At the bottom of the stairs is our front door, you go up them to get into our condo.


This is the living room (and ugly orange wall)


Kitchen! AND ugly yellow wall!


Master bedroom


Master bathroom


Other side of the living room


Guest room


Guest bathroom


Laundry Room


And thats it! We have been painting and changing things already, so stay tuned!