Sunday in Suburbia: Our Guestroom Suite

Two weeks ago I planned on unveiling our new hall bath.  Four days ago I decided that while we may wait to replace that shell sconce {sad face}, I needed to do something about that 6'-6" long plate glass mirror.  So...I'll show you the hall bath next week! I am super excited about my light bulb moment for the mirror wall, and I think it will make a tremendous impact for only $16!!!!  But for now -

Navy+Teal+Gold Guestroom

Sunday in Suburbia: We have been Delayed

I really wanted to update the progress on the guestroom and hall bath, but we had a small set back around lunch time on Saturday.  There was a small little portion of the stairwell that had not been painted because we did not have a tall enough ladder, but last week we purchase one of those telescoping multi-position ladders so we could finally give the basic step ladder we were borrowing back to my mother.  After two successful position changes, we were setting up for the last tiny bit I could not safely reach in the previous positions.  It is on the actual stairs so one side of the ladder is up a few steps from the lower side.  We went to release the latch to pull the lower side down and the ladder just flew downwards, catching my wrist between two rungs.  Luckily nothing is broken, but I have one more day before I'm allowed to bend my wrist :(.

Sunday in Suburbia: The Hall Bath Reno Progress

I can not believe we are starting week four in the house!  I really can not believe my office is still a disaster.  Well, at least some other areas are making progress...

The guestroom and hall bath were previously, hmmm, no nice way to say it - horrific!  The guestroom was a workout room for the previous owner and the ceilings had black streaks (why? no clue) and the walls were baby blue.  Since this room was secluded from the other bedrooms, near the hall bath, and had a nice vaulted ceiling I decided to create the guest suite in here.

Here's my color inspiration (loosely):

Design Seeds Teal Doors

Let's review these two rooms before we bought the house:

The Previous Owners Work Out Room

The Little Mermaid Hall Bath

So you say, "Why the little mermaid hall bath?  It's blue, no biggy. Your inspiration includes blue."  Well, did you notice the ceiling is also blue?  And not really the right use of blue nor the right hue.  What about that shell light sconce?

Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the light switch plate before my husband broke it and threw it away.  However, it was a more elaborate version of this one:

All these things are well and good for the right person, in the right home, in the right situation.  None of those apply here, so after taking all the towel bars down, taking the blue cover off the shower curtain rod (yes, more blue) and applying a primer and three coats of paint to the ceiling (luckily only one coat to the walls) we are almost to a happy point.  To be honest, the ceiling needs another coat, but I'm about over it right now.

Almost there...

I have decided to infuse my color via the vanity base cabinets.  Primer will be applied today, and the first coat whenever I finally make a decision on the color.  I was thinking navy with some weathered edges and cute little cottagey-looking hardware.  I'm not a cottage design type person usually, but I realized my whole house can't be gray and contemporary, right?  And what better place to extend past my comfort zone than the bathroom I'll rarely use. :)  Plus the faucets lend themselves to a more casual feel, so I'm going to embrace it!  Navy cabinets with teal towels and accessories will liven this right up!  Hopefully I'll show you that next week along with the guest bedroom.

Oh one last thing - had to show you how these towel bars were mounted.  I mean gee whiz!  Are we swinging from it or what?  Two huge anchors and three screws PER END.  Perhaps it doubled as a bar for pull-ups... after all, it was next to the workout room.  That reminds me...I should do something that resembles a workout...

Sunday in Suburbia: We Are In!

Moved in that is.  Well, kinda.  I am in shock at how much we managed to cram into our old 1100 square foot apartment.  It's not like things were pilled sky high or a hot mess either - I guess I'm just crazy awesome at organizing! ;)

I have been joking about how with our plethora of extra space I don't know where to begin!  Should the Christmas ornaments go in the basement?  Maybe the garage?  What about the attic - not the attic through the drop down door, the attic in the FROG {front room over the garage}.  If we ever need the attic space at the drop down door we have a serious problem and someone should call Hoarding: Buried Alive.

Of course after I toted the artificial Christmas tree up the stairs and down the hallway into the attic I realized, "this should be in the basement, because the fake tree will go up in the basement while the real tree will go up in the family room."  Oh well.  I think I may be rearranging most my kitchen cabinets, too.  That is what I get for planning ahead and literally drawing out the cabinets and what will go in each; someone should slap me.

So onto pretty things!  Or at least on their way to being pretty things.  The first floor is painted!  I have not repainted the trim yet, but hopefully this weekend.  We are going to add to the crown to beef it up a little - especially in the family room and breakfast room where I have a dark gray wall color {to match Martha Stewart "Flagstone"}.  I sorta wish what I did in the foyer was in the family room, but I'm hoping once I complete the space I'll be happy with the color.  Depending on the light it does go a little green, which I'm okay with.  I would rather be a little green than too cold.  The foyer is actually the Fieldstone again, but I had Home Depot do it at just 50%.  It's my new favorite gray!

It's still a mess in here! But painted - waiting on the back ordered sofa.

Do you enjoy taking off the vents and outlet covers to see remnants of previous colors?  This house has seen quite a colorful past.  Green, yellow, burgundy, gold, and teal {like for real teal} have all filled this home at some point...and I'm pretty sure all at the same time.  I guess I'm just too boring for that!

From green, to flesh toned neutral, to lovely gray

The dining room is where I injected my color.  I started with a tester of Sherwin Williams "Refuge"...then realized I just couldn't do it.  So then I bought a gallon of Sherwin Williams "Interesting Aqua."  Seemed more blue than the muted aqua I hoped for...so first I painted the laundry room with it (random, I know), and then I just started mixing paints together and voila!

Experimenting

I have a slightly grayer version of Tiffany Blue {I think it's about 80% Interesting Aqua and 20% Flagstone at a 50% intensity}.  It took me a couple days of walking by the room to determine that I like it.  If I had not painted the semi-gloss trim color all below the chair rail, I don't think I would like the above color nearly as much.  Eventually we will add some trim work down there, but shock of all shockers...I haven't been able to commit to a design! :)

It still needs LOTS of work: the chandy, the chairs (which will end up in the breakfast room), the oak on the stair rail - I did the vase and orchid just to temporarily make me feel better about the lack of decor...oh, and most importantly...we need to FILL that wine rack up!  I accept donations ;).

Adobe Road Winery Petite Sirah Knights Valley

I did not want to move a bunch of wine, so I drank all but a bottle of red and a bottle of champagne before we moved...not all in one night of course.  We have been saving this red from our 1 year anniversary trip to Sonoma when we stopped into this little wine shop at lunch time.  After tasting five delightful selections I purchased my favorite, and held onto it for special occasion. We had it our first Friday night in the house.  Not because we only drink on Friday, but just because we were so exhausted the first few nights that I did not want to waste it with a meal of hot dogs or grilled cheese.  {It would have been excellent with a steak, but we had lobster ravioli with garlic marinara}.  Pretty sure I'm about to become a wine club member.  Bottoms up!