Second time's the charm

Upholstered ottomans like this are everywhere on Pinterest. And I really loved the idea of them. The price tag...not so much. This one from West Elm is $300, and that's a pretty decent price. I searched high and low for a large, square coffee table. I stalked Goodwill and Craigslist with no luck. So I started looking into buying table legs. Holy cow! Talk about expensive!

Then my mom suggested I just look for thrifted coffee/end tables with good legs. Great idea! One day when she was in town to help out after my surgery, we found the perfect table at Goodwill. The tabletop had seen better days, but that didn't matter to me since I was only interested in the legs.

Aaron (with a little guidance from my dad) took the little table apart and added some longer side boards and a 3x3 ft. top.

Then I had to decide exactly how I wanted to upholster it. I knew I wanted to add some padding/foam, and I thought about tufting it. (Is that even a word?) And even though it wouldn't have been too much work, I was already overwhelmed with everything so I decided to go the easy route and just do a simple reupholstering job. And I even found some fabric that I really liked.

Sorry the quality is so terrible--it's from my phone.

And I really liked it. But then I found this idea on Pinterest and I fell in love!

Well, I love it except for that freaky ottoman. It looks like a weird growth to me.

We had already painted the accent wall a dark turquoise color and I had some black & white Chevron pillows that I wanted to use. And then I even found a Chevron rug in my price range. It was fate. :) SO...I redid the ottoman.

And I LOVE IT! I can't wait until I've finished making slip covers for our very ugly, very plaid, and very 1998 couch and love seat set. (Which Aaron is quick to point out, I also loved. But back in 1998, I always tell him.)

An updated TO-DO list

I've been getting frustrated lately because I feel like we are SO far away from having a completed, decorated house. I've added quite a few things to the list since we first sat down to put it all on paper which hasn't helped my frustration.

But after looking at this list, I feel really good about our accomplishments. We worked our tails off this summer and all of the crossed-out tasks help me see that!


PRIORITY  
Repaint Maddie’s bedroom furniture (white)
Add new table top and repaint Belk table (black)
Repaint kitchen chairs (black)
Make & paint benches for kitchen table (black)
Repaint kitchen stools (black) and make cushions (coral to match curtains)
Make slip covers for plaid couch & loveseat and red Goodwill chair
Make long bench for LR
Upholster ottoman (I've actually already done this but I've changed my mind and I want to redo it.) 

Paint master bedroom

Paint master bathroom

Tile above shower and bathtub in Master Bath

Paint master closet and redo closet organization

Add board and batten to boys’ room/Paint walls above 

Paint and figure out organization in the playroom 

Install countertops and shelves in upstairs workroom

Paint garage floor

Add shelving and towel racks (for pool towels) in garage

Paint LR/DR/Kitchen/TV Room/ Foyer/Hallway
Paint large pantry in kitchen (coral) and put shelves in to make into a computer nook

Fill in TV nook in LR 

Paint accent wall in LR

Prime and paint Maddie’s room

Transform pantry into computer nook Move light fixture in dining room to breakfast room
Fill in arched cut-outs in TV room . (We decided not to do this. It just seems like too much work and the arches are growing on us.)
Make “built-in” entertainment center in TV room
New fan/light fixture in LR (fan from current master bedroom) 
Strip brown paint off beadboard in hall bathroom/Paint beadboard white
Paint walls above beadboard in hall bathroom
Repaint laundry closet and add more shelving
Repaint dining room furniture (black) (After putting the tables and chairs in the dining room, we decided we liked them the color they were. One less thing to do!)
Recover dining room chairs 
Make a large ottoman out of small end table 
Install new pantry 
Make curtains for kitchen (coral)


NEAR FUTURE (next 6-12 months)
Find and install new kitchen lights (main light and light over sink)
New light fixture in dining room
New light fixture in foyer
New light fixture in TV room
Put backsplash in kitchen

I get HIGH with a little help from my mom!

While the men worked on ugly nook project, Mom and I worked on stripping the ugly brown paint off the beadboard in the hall bathroom. The people who lived here before us thought ugly dark brown was a good color to paint perfectly nice WHITE beadboard. Getting that paint off was an experience--to say the least! I can now say that I have been high. LOL The fumes from the paint stripper were so intense and I made the mistake of working in the small bathroom with no mask. We were laughing hysterically and drooling on ourselves within 30 minutes. It was crazy! We eventually did get masks but I think by then it was too late; the fumes had taken over! We got a large portion of the paint off but after that experience, I let Aaron finish that job. I had a killer headache for the next couple of days that I'm pretty sure was brought on by my paint stripper high!

In this room we changed the light fixture, stripped and repainted the bead board, and painted all of the trim a nice bright white.  The wall color is "Celtic Blue" from Behr.

BEFORE pics:

AFTER pics:

I love how calm the light blue/white combination is!

Demolition Derby...

We are slowly but surely getting things completed, which is a good thing since we are running out steam pretty quickly. Longs days of getting up early and working until after the kids go to bed are starting to slow us down. :) But I'm happy to report that we have put a really big dent in our list of things to do. 

The biggest thing we've done is the minor remodeling of the kitchen and living room. Remember that ugly TV nook right next to the fireplace? Gone!! Forever! Yay! 

 

My mom and dad came down on Father's Day weekend for an "all-expenses paid working vacation" to help us with some of the big work. Not much of a vacation for them, right? Dad and Aaron filled in that ugly thing and knocked out the wall behind it to make an additional kitchen pantry.

Aaron--starting the demolition

In the Smith tradition, the kids added their names and the date to the drywall before it was sealed off. :)

Almost there!

And after shot of the wall with no UGLY nook. Yay! We painted the wall a great grayish-turquoise color that we LOVE! (It's a little brighter in this photo than in real life.)

New pantry

An almost-organized pantry. Since we have two pantries, I haven't decided exactly how I want the pantries organized.

Both sides of the wall turned out really well! I'm so pleased to have that nook gone and have another pantry in its place. Thanks to my dad and Aaron for their hard work!