Lacquered Walls...Light vs. Dark

I need your opinion today! My house has been turned upside down this week as all the rooms that previously donned dated, horribly ugly wallpaper are now being prepped and textured to get painted. I originally thought lacquered walls were out of the question due to a crazy high quote, but after talking to my contractor yesterday it seems they may be back in the picture. Woo hoo! Fingers crossed, waiting on him to throw me a number today.

So, the question is light paint vs. dark paint? 

ElleDecor

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I love, love the look of the deep, saturated blue tones but here's my dilemma...my dining room is tiny. Every time I show someone the color I'm considering, I get a nose crinkle. Do I heed the crinkle or push forward and show them how pretty it'll be in the end?

To refresh your memory, here's our dining room a few days after we moved in. In its current state, the wallpaper is gonzo, along with the drapes and the chairs have been sold. Pretty much a blank slate now.

One wall is solid mirror so there will only be 3 walls painted. I remember thinking it felt like a breath of fresh air when I took the dark paper out so that's what has me second guessing going with a dark paint color. Did I feel that way because it was a color/pattern I didn't like or is the room too small to handle the darkness? 

Okay, now it's your turn...what do you think? Light or dark?

Bathroom Tiling progress

I've been procrastinating tiling the kids' bathroom wall, because I've been just a tad bit intimidated. But, I finally put my big girl panties on and got after it yesterday. There's 8 feet of wall on the right left to tackle. Big job!

What I've learned so far...don't buy the cheap tile cutter! Jagged edges will be the death of me. Luckily my father-in-law is coming to visit and I told him he could only stay with us if he brought his wet saw. ;) He loves me so much!

Hope there's something fun on your agenda this weekend, friends. Looks like Fall is finally deciding to show it's face via a strong cold front tomorrow. I can't wait! Perfect timing for Octoberfest in the Town Square. We going to the weenie dog races. So fun!

Master bedroom Before and After

Ready for a little crazy boldness? I debated waiting to "reveal" our bedroom because there's still work to be done. There are several layers left to add before we can slap a "finished" label on it. But for now, we'll celebrate that the painting is finished and boy was it a big, 'ol job!

So, let's take a look at the before shot of our belongings with the previous owners' paint/fan selection.

BEFORE:

SEMI-AFTER:

Isn't it wild what a little paint can do?! 

Other changes? The posters on our bed are adjustable so I took out the center pieces. The bed seemed a bit overpowering with the tall posters in. Did you notice the semi-missing ceiling fan? We thought we could replace the blades and save a little money by not replacing the entire fan. Turns out, that's not the case with this specific fan. So add that to the list of things still needed to complete this room.

As much as this space is SCREAMING for an amazing chandelier instead of a ceiling fan, it's just not practical friends...remember, we live in hot, hot Texas.

Anyone remember this architectural piece from Bryn's room in the Austin house? I was super excited when I realized it was the perfect piece for our bedroom. 

I'd like to add a plant or two to bring in a little, natural life and greenery.

The angles of the ceiling made for a fun canvas when it came to painting the black portion.

And, yes, it goes allllll the way across the ceiling. Insert neck pain here!

Here's the very unfinished other side of the room. Pretty sure that little bench will get some new clothes at some point. I'm not one for clutter, minimalism is my friend, so the dresser will likely stay free of "stuff." One of my goals with this paint design was to make the television disappear. Pretty sure I nailed that goal!

It almost looks like a piece of art when the tv is on. 

Let's round out the room with a picture from yesterday's post so you can get the full effect from all angles.

I'm planning to let the remainder of accessories slowly evolve in this space. I'll pick up a piece here and there as I see something that floats my boat. For now, I love that it feels like we're living in our room instead of the previous owners'. And, I also love that it's one-of-a-kind!

Bedroom Picture Wall Reveal

It's such a good feeling to get our beautiful pictures and art off the bedroom floor and see it on the wall finally. Suddenly, things feel a lot less cluttered. Such a good thing!

We had these picture ledges from our previous house. They lived in our dining room with lots of white vases on them. Now, they fit perfectly in our bedroom and I love how this arrangement takes up the entire wall while allowing various sized pictures to find just the right spot.

Are you ever curious when you see numbers in peoples' homes, wondering why that number? Well, in our case the number 3 stands for the number of words in "I love you!" When we were dating, it wasn't uncommon for John to be standing across the room and suddenly hold up 3 fingers. And guess what I would do back?...

Yep, 4..."I love you, too!" So, it only seemed appropriate to sneak these metal house numbers into the design of our bedroom wall. For all my fellow bargain shoppers out there, you'll totally appreciate how much I paid for these babies. Wait for it, wait for it...20 cents! That's total, not a piece. It pays to scour the clearance section in the back of Tuesday Morning. 

This shot gives you a good idea of how shallow the ledges are. If you have a narrow area, like a hallway, these work great. We purchases ours at IKEA. They also come in white.

I love how the black shelves play with the black in the rug. Guess what else is black?...my hands, my hair, and my clothes after painting with it all weekend. Stay tuned to see they craziness I created. It's different. One of those things you'll either love or hate. Prepare yourself.

Window Trim before and after

I've been best friends with the paint brush recently. After painting our bedroom with Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee (OC-45), I knew our window trim was going to need a little something. The white trim was completely lost against the cream paint, so I went for something with a little more umph and a LOT of contrast...black!

Before:

After:

I used Rust-Oleum's Semi-Gloss paint in oil-base for just the right amount of sheen.

And, this is on today's to-do list...

Wish me luck. This is going to be a beast of a job but the impact is going to be quite something (in my mind's eye at least)!

Enjoy your weekend, friends.

Ceiling mounted mirror

Do you remember this not so beautiful shot of the kids' bathroom? How could you forget, right? The ugliness has to be seared into your memory for sure. Well, after going to town on the wallpaper, I found my fingers just itchin' to get ahold of those mirrors too. 

Let me take you back a few Sundays. Here's what you would have heard had you been fixing yourself breakfast in our home: 

***CRASH!!!***

"Oh man, that's seven years, right? Not good. Not good." I said, as I quickly yelled to John to help me out of the predicament my impatience had landed me in. 

Fortunately, I'm a quick learner and I was wise enough to wait for John's assistance when it came to the 8ft. long mirror hanging out there on the right side of your screen. I know my limits, friends.

So, here we are now, mirrorless and lightless. I was stumped for a little while about how I should approach this space. For starters, it only has one sink and it's awkwardly placed in the corner. Now that I've ripped down all the mirrors, I'm wondering where I'm going to position a mirror since moving the plumbing isn't an option.

I decided the best solution would be to hang a mirror from the ceiling. I made several trips to various stores looking for a mirror John and I could jimmie rig and turn into a hanging mirror, but came up empty handed. I was on the lookout for something fairly inexpensive just in case my bright idea was a flop.

Then, one day the heavens parted and I ran across the perfect mirror and guess what?! It was already made to hang. No jimmie rigging required, just a little black spray paint and swapping out rope with chain. Definitely worth the hunt!

John and his stepdad worked like madmen this weekend transforming mirrors, moving electrical outlets, adding electrical outlets, you name it, they did it! So grateful to have handy men in my life.

Bonus points go to the person who noticed we switched out the faucet as well. 

I found this faucet in the clearance section at Home Depot. It was marked down half off so I snagged it. Then, not even a week later I was perusing the same section and noticed the same faucet was marked down even more, to the tune of $25 more! I happened to have my receipt in my purse still so I went to the service desk and asked if they'd do a price adjustment and they did. Woo hoo! I scored this faucet for $24.00 when all was said and done. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I ordered the sconces a few days ago, but will have to wait 4-6 weeks before they arrive. I'm a little scared to proceed with tiling the wall without having the exact lighting specs in hand. Who am I kidding...I'm a little scared to tile the wall period! First timers jitters going on!

Pug on a Rug

Maverick wanted to give you a sneak peek at our new rug...

He's thrilled about it. Can't you tell?!