[Not so] Pretty in Pink

I’m a big fan of buying small cans of paint samples to test on a wall, since it’s so hard to see what paint is going to look like out of the can (and off the swatch). I’ve had good luck with this strategy so far. That is, until this unfortunate incident.

Now that is PINK. You seriously couldn’t go in it without the pink reflecting on your skin and clothes and feeling a bit pink yourself. Not to mention what the room looked like from the street below (this room is on our second story, so a passerby could see up through the blinds and wonder “Why did they chose THAT color??”

Anyway, this all started when I was on a painting spree having just bought our house – every wall in the house was in desperate need of paint, and I had determined that “I’m only going to paint this room once.” Well, I ate my words as I pulled out the paint brushes for attempt #2. Here's a shot on move-in day with plain jane white walls.

 Knowing that this would one day be our daughter, Clara’s ‘big girl’ room, and having just made the curtains for the room in a medium pink color (I was inspired by these Land of Nod curtains, but they didn't make them long enough for my windows), I chose a darker pink (instead of a pale baby pink, which would really look like pepto bismol). Well, that didn’t quite work out how I had pictured it in my head. Here's where I was putting it all together - looks ok, right?

The good thing about paint is – Ta Dah! Presto chang-o. 

This time around I settled on a soft gray, (Sherwin Williams Popular Gray, and Heron Plume for the ceiling). Gray seems to be my favorite color of the moment, as we just finished our gray and white master bathroom. In this bedroom, the gray acts like a backdrop against the pink curtains and Clara’s new white furniture – much more subtle and sophisticated. Oh, and we decided to go ahead and scrape the popcorn ceilings and retexture/paint while we were at it (we’re slowly working through the house!), and it’s much easier to paint the ceiling first and then the walls, so that you can sloppily paint the corner where the wall and ceiling meet, and then just cut in with the trim brush once when you’re painting the wall.

There wasn't a real rush to move Clara to her new room, we just felt she was getting too big for the crib and was developmentally ready to try out a 'real' bed. Not to mention we’ve planned a few overnight hotel stays this summer and fall and I’m hoping she can get used to a big bed between now and then, so as to avoid any fell-out-of-bed injuries in the middle of our vacation. Last night was her first night sleeping in the bed...and success! No falls or injuries...and she loves it. She was actually excited to go to bed, which is a nice change (wonder how long that will last...)! 

Now that the room is painted and the furniture is assembled, all we have to do is:

-stencil some designs and butterflies on the walls/ceiling

-put up crown mouldings

-design and build some floating shelves

-get together art for a grouping of frames on the wall

-move all the junk in my art supply closet to another room

-put in closet organizers

-make/buy a fun ottoman for her reading nook

-move all her stuff in!

Phew. One thing at a time!

Gray Matter

My little family has been living in our 2-story brick home for almost a year now (our first home!) My husband and I dreamed of buying a home for many years, but the timing was never right, especially once we made a temporary move across country. One thing that never changed was our desire to paint and improve every rental we lived in (yes, every one, I'm counting at least 5…) until we finally had the opportunity to return home and buy that piece of property we had wanted for so long. So, although we have been working tirelessly on painting, scraping, building, cleaning, and updating fixtures, hardware, etc for the past year, getting our feet wet per-se, our master bathroom felt like our first major project as homeowners. Nevermind the fact that I thought we’d be embarking on this project the month after we moved in (I’ve never been one to wait patiently for something).

But, it was worth the wait. Here’s a couple of before shots (on move-in day, so pardon the bad lighting!):

And now, the after.

We settled on a gray and white color palette, with temple gray marble tiles in the shower and tub surround, porcelain roto-print tile for the floor, and white ceramic subway tile on the walls with oil rubbed bronze accents. The vanity is a white base with gray and beige granite top from Home Decorator's Collection. While we’re not afraid to tackle big projects ourselves, this time we decided to go with a contractor for the tile work because the job involved a complete gut and reframing a whirlpool tub, and we knew if we attempted to do it all we’d kill ourselves trying to do the work outside of our 9 to 5 jobs (not to mention we’d be without our bathroom for weeks, possibly months!) So while it cost us a bit more, it was the right move. And we saved a chunk of change by doing all the demo and reinstalling toilet, vanity sinks and faucets ourselves. We're so happy with the results. I love feeling like I'm in a fancy hotel bathroom (though honestly, I never stay in hotels with marble showers. yay!) Does this make anyone else want to take a shower? Or is it just me?

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I’ve finally joined the bandwagon and have started The Sweet Life – if you’re reading this I hope this won’t be your only visit to my blog! I’ve heard many times from friends that I should be blogging about our adventures in home buying, decorating, DIYing, baking, living, etc., etc. But, I never felt like other people cared about what I was up to. Maybe nobody does, but I thought in the least this would be a good exercise in putting myself out there – and sharing my little glimpses of inspiration that I glean from all over the place and from the creative blog community out there on the web. So, here goes nothing!