30 Is Just Around the Corner: September 2013

So this post is a little over a month late, but I strongly hold to the "better late than never" mentality. How I thought I was going to be able to knock this out in the midst of back-to-school I have no idea.

Regardless, I have loved the challenge of making this house a home over the past 13 months. And I am far from finished.

Now for a tour of the house as it stands today, room by room. Two disclaimers:

Every one of these pictures was taken with my iPhone. Obviously, my life is glamorous.
These are all "keeping it real" photos. Contrary to popular belief, my house is far from Pintrest photoshoot ready most of the time.

The Front Yard & Porch

This area got a little more attention this year (when I moved in, I was so focused on the inside that I did virtually nothing other than mow the grass outside). It still needs a lot of work, but it's getting there.

The Things I've Done:

Mowed the grass. Which is a great workout thanks to the extreme slope of the front yard. This project is slightly easier thanks to the gift of an electric mower from Dad.
Cleaned up the landscaping just a little bit. Put down a little mulch and weeded out a little bit of the flower beds.
Purchased super cute chairs for the porch. They are surprisingly comfortable even though they are plastic.
Repainted the front door and the table between the chairs a fun, sunshiney yellow
Put Papaw's spiral planter to use after a coat of black paint and some newly painted pots
Made a house number sign (the actual house numbers are on the awning over the garage, but they are the same color as the awning, so you can't see them)
Replaced the garage (thanks to a plumbing issue one month after I moved in where we discovered that the old garage door not only didn't function, but didn't lock)

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Work some more on the landscaping on the front of the house, including fully mulching all of the flower beds (I didn't buy nearly enough mulch)
Do some repairs on the awning over the garage
Clean up the planters on the right side of the house (I was too embarrassed to even take a picture)
Move the hook for the house numbers away from the door (I need a masonry bit for my drill and I don't think I own one. I certainly don't know how to use it if I do).

The Living Room

Luckily, I walked into an incredible color palette in this room. I love the gray walls with the contrasting white trim and fire place. I also lucked into some great furniture, including some awesome family pieces.

I am thankful for little pieces of history in this room. The chiffarobe by the entrance to the dining room and the cedar chest by the door belonged to my great-grandma. Above the shelf next to the white chair is an original deed for the house that was left for me by the previous owners.

I am also so thankful that the previous owners left some of the little architectural features when the redid the house, like the arched awnings to the dining room and hallway.

The Things I've Done:

Purchased my first ever flat screen TV. The layout of the living room makes the only real place to put the TV above the fireplace.
Hung new curtains that Mom made on the windows. I love the lightweight gauzy fabric that provides privacy but lets the light through.
Purchased a rug to put down on the floor to warm the space up slightly.
Pulled various pieces from my artwork stash, including the large scripture painting over the cedar chest and the wood palette in front of the fireplace.
Snagged a leftover window pane from the basement, a cool marble and spindle three tiered table from a coworker and a chair that was no longer needed from work (the gold one by the fireplace) to fill a few empty spots.
Made a cushion for the top of the cedar chest by the door to protect the top.
Recovered the ottoman in front of the couch, which was an extra one from my parents house.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Purchase a larger rug for the floor that fills the space a little more.
Redo the artwork over the couch. I like these shelves in general, but haven't really liked them here since I put them up.
Do a little repair work on the wall over the door.
Repaint the inside of the front door white. (Right now it is a very dingy grayish color).
Make a quilt to go in this room.

The Dining Room

This might be one of my favorite rooms in the house that I never use. When you live by yourself, most meals are eaten on the couch, not at the table.

This table is one of my favorite things though. It belonged to my grandma on my Dad's side, and I have fond memories of it from family gatherings. The shelves behind the table, which I moved over from my apartment, are full of fun little treasures that I've gathered over the years or from family.

Again, I walked into a great color palette on this one. No painting necessary.

The Things I've Done:

Used a stained glass window cling to cover the high window between the shelves. This window looks straight into an apartment building next to the house, so I wanted a little privacy. And it is the perfect thing to see right when you walk in the front door.
Recovered the cushions on the dining room chairs. They used to be a lovely gold pleather, which was extremely functional when this table was full of grandchildren, but not exactly the look I was going for. Now they are a fun medium gray with small squares of golden yellow.
Took an old beat-up dresser from my brother and sister-in-law and repainted it yellow to use as a dining room buffet. This bad boy stores all of my tablecloths, paper plates and plastic cutlery, and some china in the bottom drawer.
Pulled together an old tredal sewing machine from a family friend, train pictures that belonged to my grandpa in frames made by my dad, an old bathroom door from a train station (my grandpa was a conductor) and a few small nicknacks centered around a picture of my grandparents from my brother's wedding.
Grabbed a mosaic I made out of paint samples several years ago for over the buffet.
Hung a matching curtain on the window to the ones in the living room.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Buy a run for under the table to define that space
Find a way to make the train station door look a little more substantial. It's a smaller door, so it looks a little dinky here to me.

The Kitchen

This is another favorite room in the house that I don't use often. My crazy schedule and occupancy of one in the house makes cooking less than desirable. (In staying with the keeping it real theme).

I am still in love with all of these counters. In my apartment, I had approximately 12" of counter space (that isn't really an exaggeration). When I moved in, I vowed I could take a nap on those counters.

And those gray cabinets. Let's just say I'm a little obsessed with them.

The Things I've Done:

Painted. FINALLY. I bought the paint when I moved into the house, and it took me just shy of one year to actually paint.
Sewed curtains for the windows. The window over the sink faces the neighbor's house and the one to the left of the cabinets looks straight into the back yard. Let's just say I felt a little exposed.
Found an old feed sack at a quilt shop that I framed in an oversized embroidery hoop
Created a sweet little display on the open shelving next to the fridge.
Snagged a few free printables online that I framed and put on the top of the hanging cabinets.
Hung a sweet little apron Mom made me in a serger class she took.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Finish the curtains. Because I don't know how to make a buttonhole on my sewing machine, the curtains are currently pinned on to the rods.
Potentially tile under the upper cabinets.
Fix the ice maker in the fridge. It worked fine until I moved the fridge to paint. And it hasn't worked since. And I'm too stubborn to get someone to come over to fix it.

The Master Bedroom

This is one room in the house I definitely use. And I love. And is never totally clean. As seen in these pictures.

The Things I've Done:

Painted. This room was originally painted a dark gray, which I liked, but it didn't match my stuff. So I went with this brown paper bag brown that is a delightful neutral.
Bought new bedding. This just happened a week ago, and I've loved it since I put it on. It's bright. It's happy. It's comfortable. And it's a winner.
Made the book cover artwork over the dresser. No decent books were harmed in the making of this art piece. All of the books came from CCU's Library Book Sale. And when CCU gives away books, that is a good sign that they are not the most important.
Brought two of the original wooden doors from the house up from the basement and put them on either side of the bed. (This is the exact reason I cannot get on Pintrest. Five minutes and I am dragging heavy wooden doors up from the basement by myself).
Created the paper flower over the bed from pages of an old book and the other artwork to fill the space between the two doors.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Buy some sort of shoe rack to get all of my shoes behind closed doors (there are shoes lined up under the windows and under the bed in addition to a back of the door shoe rack in the closet).
Switch out the fabric on the jewelry holders to something that matches the room better (these were originally made for my apartment bedroom).
Recover a few of the pillows on the bed and add a few more. A bed can never have too many pillows.

The Bathroom

This was one of my "step outside my decorating comfort zone" rooms of the house. But I am delighted with how it turned out.

The Things I've Done:

Painted. This room was originally painted with a color I can only compare to mustard. And, while it was an attempt to match the original yellow and orange tile on the floor, it was more than I could handle.
Picked out the fabric for this absolutely amazing shower curtain that Mom made me. Seriously, my Mom is wonderful.
Painted the white cabinet across from the sink to stash my getting ready stuff using paint I found in the basement.
Created a piece of artwork that serves as the perfect reminder every day when I get ready.
Gathered up some fantastic little decor for the window sill, including some bathroom signs from the Crouch building at CCU.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Repair the walls and touch up paint where I attempted (and failed miserably) at hanging a towel rack under the window.
Replace the wall hand towel holder (that is literally falling out of the wall) with a table top on that involves absolutely no power tools.
Retile the floor. While the tile is original, the floor is not completely covered where the original fixtures were replaced by the previous owners.

The Guest Room

This room spends a significant amount of time with the door shut. Mainly because a) Mom has claimed this as "her room" and is sensitive to the cats, so it keeps them out and b) there are still a significant amount of boxes shoved in areas of this room that still need to be unpacked. I do love this purple color that I walked into, even though its a color I would have never picked myself.

This room does house one of my favorite pieces of family furniture, an old hoop skirt chair that belonged to my grandma.

The Things I've Done:

Put some of the original furniture from my bedroom at the apartment and some bedding that Mom gifted as an excuse to buy new bedding in the guest room at their house.
Made some bird artwork for over the bed.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Make a palette headboard for the bed. It's half of a set of bunkbeds that has been flipped upside down to add additional storage space underneath, but the bed just kind of feels like it is there.
Switch out the bird artwork over the bed for a couple of canvases that my nieces painted for me before I moved in. I haven't really liked the artwork since I put it up.

The Hallway

This little space, through the small arched doorway in the living room, leads you to the upstairs loft, guest bedroom, bathroom, and my bedroom (in that order).

But, it's still a sweet little space

The Things I've Done:

Added a floor runner from my old apartment.
Pulled in some artwork I made several years ago out of scarves and costume jewelry from my grandma. This is one of my favorite things.
Made a sweet little picture symbolizing the two places I call home: Crestwood (outside of Louisville) where I grew up and my parents still live in the same house as when they got married and Cincinnati where I've lived for 12 years and feels just as much like home.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

The wall heading up the stairs to the loft (which I consider to be an extension of the hallway) will get a collage of various treasures that I've collected or gathered from a little store I call My Parents' House.

The Loft

The entire upstairs of the house is one large room. (When I purchased the house, it was listed as a third bedroom. Which is crazy.)

Right when you walk up the stairs there is a small nook I've turned into a guest room. In the next week or so, it will become a bedroom for a friend from work. Around the corner is a small living room, mostly with the furniture from my old apartment as well as a foxy boxy TV. That's how I roll.

My absolute favorite part of this entire space is the Craft & Sewing Room that takes one entire end. Please pause to catch your breath. This is a big deal. This has always been a dream of mine and is now a reality. This allows me to keep my entire workspace set up at all times so I don't have to waste time setting up or tearing down. I smile every time that I walk in here.

I also turned the closet in this space into storage for all of my craft and sewing stuff, including cubicles where I can organize my fabric by color. It's like real life Tetris.

The Things I've Done:

Made a duvet cover for the bed (which is the second half of the set of bunkbeds that originally belonged to my younger brother).
Grabbed some big work tables from work that they were looking to get rid of to create the space for my sewing machines and craft area. These big IKEA tables are perfect to have plenty of space to work and maneuver projects.
Added rolling plastic drawers under each table with the items needed for that specific sewing machine (pedals, needles, thread, etc).
Created the piece of artwork hanging from the ceiling out of straws thanks to a tutorial found online.

Things I Still Want/Need to Do:

Make throw pillows for the couch out of the same material as the duvet.
Make covers for the sewing machines out of the same fabric (I bought a sheet set to have the maximum amount of fabric for these pieces at minimal cost)