Rec Room Re-do

I mentioned in this post the other day that we've got some big ideas/plans for our house's rec room. I promise in another post I'll talk allllll about those plans, but first let me familiarize you with the room itself.

I don't know if I've ever even shown our rec room to you. And maybe that's because until recently, it used to looked like this:

YIKES! Holy wood, wood, and more wood Batman!

Four walls, AND the ceiling were clad in wood. That's waaaay too much wood (that'swhatshesaid). ;)

The ceiling was and still is my favorite part of the room - it's a richly stained, very pretty beadboard, which makes us relatively sure this room used to be the house's back porch (we've found, at least in our area of PA, that a lot of older homes' front and/or back porch ceilings were dressed with beadboard). That, and the fact that our neighbor, who lived across the street all his life, remembers this being the old back porch :)

But because every surface of the room is wood, save for the carpeted floor, the ceiling was the last thing anyone noticed. Plus this room was flat out DARK and DEPRESSING. And so I set out to change that.

Hint, hint. You can see a little sliver of it there on the left wall in the photo below:

Leaving the ceiling as is, we started sanding down (for good adhesion) and priming EVERYTHING else...The wood paneling, the wood trim around the windows, the corner trim between the wall and ceiling, and the built-in bookcase(in the photos above and below).

Yes, even that was originally stained wood.

After TWO coats of primer - because the stained and poly'd wood paneling bled through the first coat in some spots - it looked like this on the left wall (the wall with the door that leads out to our now back porch and yard, mentioned here).

Then, after two coats of Benjamin Moore paint in eggsell finish, a good night's sleep and a half-a$$ed photo shoot the next morning ;) , we had this:

Here's a close-up. The color's hard to read in pictures (especially these crappy ones, haha. Don't worry, there are better photos later) but it's a subtle off-white when paired with the semi-gloss white on the trim and door:

Here's the longest expanse of wall halfway done (the wall continues about 2-3 feet beyond that second window). It was so much work I did it in sections to keep from going crazy...though some might say it's too late for that ;)

Then I finished the right wall and half-bath wall but for got to take picures of them :) The bathroom itself got an overhaul too, but that's for another post yet to come.

Now for the reveal: Here's the finished product of the room with our desk setup. Isn't it so much brighter (read soooo not depressing anymore) and doesn't the ceiling stand out beautifully now?

Above the desk I hung some stuff like this chalkboard. It was an old window my mom and I found in my grandparent's barn. I freshened up the white paint and sprayed the glass panes with chalkboard paint.

I've been writing season-themed sayings on them. All summer long it's said, "Let's have fun in the summer sun"

Then this summer-filled round frame hangs near the top of the wall (I found it at Big Lots along with the curtains in this room). It has pictures from our honeymoon, some other beach trips, and winston of course :)

It's a fun spot to switch out seasonal decor.

I'll take the round frame down in Fall (which for me is like, a week from now!!!) and put up a leaf wreath. Then for Christmas I hang a music sheet wreath I made last year. And then for Spring I'll hang a faux forsythia wreath - which you would think I'd have an aversion to after our backyard forsythia clearing rampage adventure mentioned here. :)

The last thing on the wall above the desk is a frame with old photos from when I was still in college.

From left to right, top to bottom, its one of my mom's kittens, my mom dancing, my sister, a bridge in New York (I wish I knew what bridge it is!), a piece of one of the World Trade Center's beams left from the rubble and shaped like a cross, and my mom reading.

The wall area to the left of the door has become a spot where we hang up Winston's collars and leashes. I hung that piece of wood and hooks with the thought in mind that in the future it'll be a place to hang coats, hats and kick off shoes when little ones come in after playing outside :)

I'll leave you with a side-by-side Before and After, and as promised I'll be back later with posts on the bathroom makeover and our plans for making this room MUCH more functional. Til then, as Tigger says, "TTFN! Ta-ta for now!"

                                  BEFORE                                            AFTER

      

~Amy

Laundry Day

It was laundry day over the weekend at the Storm household.

Here's what happened when it was time to fold the clothes out of the dryer.

Anything catch your eye? Let's pay a little Where's Waldo Winston?

 Did you find him? :)

There he is!...asleep under the warm, fresh-from-the-dryer clothes.

He stayed there like that until all the clothes were folded off of him, haha! :)

I bet it was so warm and comfy on the cool, rainy day we were having.

In fact, when we were done I could almost hear him thinking, "Hey guys, do you think you could unfold all those clothes and put them right back where they were? I'm trying to sleep here, you know."

And don't worry, I did help fold. I just let Mike finish the last few items while I snapped some photos ;)

I'll leave you with a little video I took of Winston about a week ago.

Like I mentioned, it was nice and cool this particular day we did laundry, but most of the summer it was HOT as a MUTHA in our house without having central air.

Our window units (you can see the living room a/c unit in some of the photos above) usually do the trick, and almost always Winston - being the royal canine he is - prefers curling up on the couch, chair, bed, or other soft, cushy surface.

Which is why it's particularly funny when the cool kitchen floor is where we find Winston chillaxing in warmer weather :)

Case in point:

So cute! haha. Ahhh, a dog's life... :)

Flowers, Fall, and Footprints

A few little tidbits for you here today:
I had a birthday earlier this month. It wasn't a big one...except for the fact that this is now my last year in my twenties :)

These are the birthday flowers my hubby bought for me. Aren't they perty? 

We were at the grocery store together and he said, "Do you want some flowers for your birthday?" and I said, "Uh, yeah!" and he said, "Ok, pick your favorites." Haha. So I chose purple, green and white.

~

On a flower-related note, I read Thrifty Decor Chick's Crazy for Fall post last week and can I just say, I am right there with her! I LOVE me some Fall! It's my favorite season, you know.

So like Sarah said, since nothing says "It's late Summer and Fall will be here soooon!" like some beautiful sunflowers, I picked me up some :)

Just think - soon we'll have pumpkins and apple cider and crisp, cool air - I'm definitely PSYCHED!

~

Yesterday, it rained so hard here that we had huge puddles in our backyard.

Huge puddles mean mud.

Mud means this happened:

Yeah. On the freshly steam-vaccumed carpet.

So Mike stepped (pun!) up and cleaned those muddy paws...

...and the paw prints out of the carpet:

Nicely done, hun! Not even a trace of the disaster that had taken place just moments before!

Thank goodness for Spot Shot...and a man who doesn't mind cleaning ;)

Overdue Kitched Appliance Update

It's been 8 1/2 months since we bought and installed (and payed off thankyouverymuch!) our kitchen's upgraded stainless steel appliances. Forgive me for the looooong overdue post to share it with you...but I've just been basking in their glory this whole time - yup, still loving them 8 plus months later :)

They were our Christmas present to us from us last year :)

I'm holding out hope for a new couch (a sectional!) this Christmas but that may not happen since we've got big plans in the works for another room in our house (the rec room - more on that in a future post if/when it all goes down).

Anywho, here are some shots of our new-and-improved kitchen appliances, with a few other beauty/detail shots thrown in for good measure :)

Dishwasher:

Hubby and I keep corks from wine and champagne bottles:



One of these days we'll have enough to come up with a cool diy project using them.

Stove:

And fridge:

Sorry for the smudgy goodness on the fridge doors...guess it's time to wipe it down again :) I found out a dab of olive oil on a clean, dry cloth does it in a snap!

Above the fridge we removed the cabinet doors and inside placed two baskets that hold our glass vases, pitchers and empty milk bottles (we take them back to the store and get money back each time towards our next half-gallon of milk).

We still need to paint the inside of those cabinets white to match the others.

Here's a lesser-seen angle of the kitchen, standing in the rec room doorway looking back towards the dining room:

And here's my favorite angle; the first thing you see when you walk into the room:

Remember when it looked like this?

And it's hard to believe this angle...

...now looks like this:

Yes Kitch, (my kitchen's new nickname...yes I just nicknamed my kitchen) :) you've come a loooong way - I'm so proud of you, *sniff.

I guess this room goes to show that stretching your dollars by going DIY (we installed our tile backsplash, painted the cabinets, swapped out the sink light fixture, and clad the island in beadboard) allows you to splurge a little in other areas, such as our appliances (which we got from Lowes when they were discounted for the holidays).

Another cool thing? We did all this in less than two years. Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)

Still on the Kitchen To-Do list is replacing our dirt-magnet vinyl flooring. We're thinking a nice earth-toned 12x12 tile would be nice.

How bout y'all? Anyone finally (or almost finally) satisfied with the transformation of a room in their house? particularly a kitchen? It takes time right? Before I got into all this home-decorating/renovating stuff I thought it was a breeze to change up a room, but I've come to find a room doesn't flip with a switch. It takes time and patience and creativity for it to evolve.

Til next time!

~Amy

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

They say to let sleeping dogs lie...I say take photo shoots with them...observe :)

Awww, just look at him. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Why, what soft, floppy ears you have winston.

What sleepy eyes you have too.

Cold, wet nose? Check.

What's that? You're catching on to my photo shoot, huh. I'm sorry, is my flash bothering you? :)

"Dad! Save me from this crazy woman so I can sleep in peace!"

"Oh I see how it is, you're in cahoots with her :/ "

This post brought to you by People Who Love To Have Cuddlefests With Their Sleeping Dogs.