October, home tour and projects

Hello and happy Halloween! I hope your forecast is better than ours! We’ll be heading out after school to get the kiddo some new long underwear for this evening. It may be a quick trip around the neighborhood tonight! :)

Thank you SO much for the love on our family room, not only here but on Instagram and Facebook as well. I truly, truly appreciate when you take the time to comment – it doesn’t go unnoticed!

At the end of of each month I like to recap some of my favorite posts – it’s a nice way to see what I’ve accomplished and catch you up if you missed a post. I’m definitely planning to slow my roll a bit for the rest of the year -- November and December are going to be unusually busy for us. So I’m looking forward slowing down the projects…cleaning and decluttering my house and decorating for the holidays sounds amazing! I can’t not do DIY, I love it, so I’ll still be working on things here and there of course.

Before I go into the recap I wanted to share that I’ve updated the “Our Home” page – some of the photos were a bit dated and I rearranged some things too. I’ve also added a Projects tab at the top of the site that includes some of my favorite decor, projects, tips and recipes over the years. I try to update that at least every couple of weeks so there’s always new sections and links popping up.

OK – to start the month I addressed the naked windows in the dining room/library. They had shades but no drapes so I took care of that:

The drapes were from our living room windows and they look SO much better in here. I still can’t believe how much warmer it feels in there – it’s a little thing but it made a big difference. I have some more updates of that room to share soon!

Next up I shared the ways I decorate our walls/fill them without using art:

That planked wall cost me less than $50 and it’s one of my favorite projects ever! I’m all about easy ways to add character to our home and this does it.

I’m so excited about the potential for our kitchen and thrilled with the table and it’s new spot. I had fun decorating it for a fall table setting:

Can’t wait to show you that same space with the new doors and board and batten on the walls! I think it’s going to look so good!

I did a little fall nesting throughout the rest of the house as well and warmed up the bedroom fireplace a bit:

That fireplace is one of the many things I fought my husband on hard when we built this house – and it’s now one of the many things that I now thank him for. ;)

The Bub and I took a trip to Cincinnati for a fun day and my part of the fun was IKEA. I shared a few of my favorites from the trip (including some Christmas decor):

This is my favorite kitchen at that IKEA. I walk through it every single time. :)

I finished up the new trim and paint on four doors in and near the family room and I LOVE it, as always:

Many of you asked about the signs on our bathroom door (I love them!!) and I link to where I got those in the comments of that post:

Black and white will always be a classic!

It has been an absolutely glorious fall this year – I shared our day trip to beautiful Brown County Indiana:

There’s still a few leaves hanging on – but the potential snow predicted this evening (!!) make take most of them.

One of my dream projects for our house has always been a window seat – and I’m finally going to get one. :) :) So excited. I shared my inspiration for what I’d like to do in this post:

(source)

If you follow along on Instagram or FB I’ve shared/will be sharing some more pics along the way. I’m really tired of painting but I may tackle the new window trim in that spot this weekend.

We only put Halloween decor out for a week or so inside the house and I shared how we do it quick and cheap here:

You’ll have to go to that post to see the surprise under the crows. ;)

One of the last projects I finished up in the family room was an old Craigslist dresser I painted:

I absolutely LOVE it in this deep gray color. By the way, I’ve been saying that paint color (Graphite) is Sherwin Williams and it’s not – duh! It’s Benjamin Moore but I had it mixed at SW. Sorry about that. :)

And of course, the full family room reveal happened earlier this week – finally. Goodness, we are SO happy with it!:

I’ll be sharing more details about the space next week!

Have a safe Halloween and a lovely weekend!! See you Monday!

September was a good month

Hello my friends! Don’t you love this month? It’s one of my favorites for sure – and that has nothing to do with the fact that my birthday is next week. None at all.

I’m reviewing the projects I worked on or shared last month – just in case you missed something! I kicked off the month of September with some of my favorite fall decorating ideas and crafts:

Tons of easy ideas for both inside and out on that post! I haven’t done much fall decorating yet – it’s seemed so early still! But now that things are getting done in the family room I’ll be pulling some stuff out this weekend.

I was determined to finish up the fireplace last month and I did it! It just took me the entire 30 days. ;) I started by going bold with the paint color – a dark gray:

I added the trim to the sides and front of the built ins and the fireplace as well. It’s just inexpensive lattice wood you can get in the trim aisle at Lowe’s – I use it for all kinds of molding projects. It definitely gives it all a more custom look for sure.

The color was bold and I was a little scared but I LOVE it:

Next up I shared how I removed the center of the cabinet doors and replaced them:

We used standard, unfinished kitchen cabinets and just built them out a bit so they were deep enough to hold the electronics. Problem was I needed to let those electronics breath so they didn’t get overheated. The metal radiator sheeting was the perfect solution:

I love the look – a little modern but also a very traditional feel at the same time. And YES, the remotes work through the metal!

Because my readers are awesome, I shared some of the projects they’ve tackled after seeing some of mine. Tammy’s wall of built ins turned out SO beautifully:

Be sure to check out some of the others!

After I got the paint started on the fireplace and the doors done it was time to attack the biggest project – the tile. There were a few options I was considering:

The herringbone had my heart all along, I was just a little nervous about installing it. At first glance I thought it would take a lot of small cuts.

I soon figured out that wouldn’t be the case at all so I went for it:

I shared the whole process of tiling a fireplace surround here – that post includes some tips if you plan to use a marble tile as well.

We absolutely ADORE the finished product:

SO happy I went for that one!

I stepped away from the DIY for a bit to focus on an area that was in desperate need of some decrapification:

Love that my spell check now recognizes that word. ;) That closet had become my “Monica closet” – a dumping ground for anything that took actual thought to address. :) Go here to see my process for going through all the crap and getting it organized again.

Because the fireplace was looking so good I had to address how filthy it was from all the construction this summer. Did you know you can clean the inside of your gas fireplace glass?:

It’s actually quite easy to do. I like to clean our fireplaces every year at this time before we turn them on for the winter. I also shared how I used high heat paint on the fireplace surround to get it looking good again here.

I was thrilled when I realized that taking down the wall in the family room meant our kitchen would get much bigger too. We were able to move our table to a spot that works SO much better with a lot more space, which meant a much bigger table would work. I shared our new one and thoughts on finishing it here:

Goodness I LOVE this table. I’ll show you what I’ve done with it next week. :)

Next up I gathered some of the prettiest fall printables you ever did see from around blogland – and all are FREE:

They are such an easy and inexpensive way to decorate for the seasons.

I was needing some warmth in the family room so I switched from our summer neutrals to some color for the fall:

If you’ve never sewn a pillow I also shared some quick tips – it’s not that hard, I swear!

I was fed up with some more of the disaster areas in our house of late so I focused on my problem clutter areas. Take a look at them and this space all cleaned up here:

Yowza. That was bad.

I love finding new fun places to shop that don’t break the bank – I took you on a tour of one of my favorites last week:

Last weekend I finally got the fireplace finished! I love it so dang much! I shared how I planked the wall above the fireplace for $13 and a bunch of I’m-so-happy-this-is-done after shots here:

A couple of you suggested painting the crown the same color and I think I’m going to try it. I’m not sure it will work but it’s only paint – I can easily take it back to white if I don’t like it. The total cost to finish up the fireplace was less than $200 – that included the metal sheeting, tile and supplies and the wood for the planked wall. I had the paint leftover from the wall in the bedroom.

Someone commented on the rug earlier this week and yes it does look baby blue in that shot – not sure why. It’s definitely a gray/blue color that works great with that whole wall. (You can see the true color in the pics above.)

I finished up the month sharing a quick tip that saved us a few hundred bucks:

If yours is ever jammed be sure to use this as a resource – most times you can take care of it on your own.

Whew! That’s it for this month! It was a great one – now onto beautiful October. :) Hope you have a lovely weekend!

What I did over summer vacation

Hey all! Thanks so much for the comments on the fireplace and built ins yesterday! I’m so thrilled with it and am excited to get it done. I started cutting tile yesterday but ran out of time to get any up. As much as I’m itching to get it done I want to take my time and do it right – so I’ve decided to take a break for the next couple of days and just have fun at my 20-year reunion instead of working. :) I’m HOPING I can get the tile done Sunday. Crossing my fingers.

Today I’m looking back on the past couple of months in my regular month in review. I forgot to do it for July so I’m covering two months (again). I can’t believe it was just July that we started the family room renovation – it feels like it has been going on all summer. Seriously, like four months now. But no, just a couple. My goal was to get the workers done with their part before school started and my next goal is to have the whole space done by the end of this month. I think I can do it.

It’s fun to look back on the process though – it was early July when we took down the wall:

Seeing all that light come through was very exciting. :)

I helped because I was SO happy to see it go:

By the time we were done that first day the room looked like this:

Seeing all the dust does NOT make me miss this part.

We had to have some audio/visual cables moved, had the fireplace built and then the floors patched in a couple places:

The floors were sanded and restained and that part being done was a sign of most of the contractor work being done:

It was a very good feeling. ;)

Along the way I discussed my inspiration for the fireplace area – the built ins were inspired by this photo:

(source)

And the wall above it was inspired by this one:

(source)

I had the pictures in my head all along of those exact rooms, but it’s always nice to find an actual photo of it. :)

I took a “break” and went off to Atlanta to host our third Haven Conference with four of my friends:

And then while the mess was going on around us got some projects done – this coffee table started out as mess and I absolutely LOVE how it looks now:

We haven’t had a coffee table for a while just because we liked the open space – now the room feels so spacious as it is and we LOVE having a place to our feet up. :)

I taped and taped and taped and painted some art I had made for the family room years ago:

I love the fresh colors!

Next up it was time to think about paint. I shared some of my best tips on picking out paint colors and sheens here:

And then my process of picking out the new paint color in the family room:

I love it! We’ve had the same color in that room since the day we closed on the house ten years ago. It is time for a new look!

One corner of the room is mostly, kinda done. I shared how I’m working now without my desk in this post:

And then it was time to get outside – I took you on a tour of our backyard garden and patio:

I’m looking forward to getting back outside after this heat wave ends (today!!) and fall arrives here in Indiana. (YAY!!)

I found out a very interesting fact during our renovation – our dryer was making our clothes smell like fire and I shared the reason why in this post:

And then it was time to get some stuff done in the family room! I spent worked my tail off one day and got all the painting, caulking, filling and board and batten done on one side of the room. Well not all. But close:

I also share my easy tip for beefing up the crown molding in that post.

I took a quick trip to Des Moines Iowa a few weeks ago to tour the Better Homes and Gardens headquarters with some other bloggers:

It was truly a dream come true to get to do that – very excited about working with them!

And finally, I was inspired by that trip and shared a few of the simple decorating touches around our house in this post:

I think very often simple touches are the prettiest!

There you go! Did you miss one? We all know that would suck. :) Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I’ll be back next week with some more progress!