Kitchen Message Center

I do a lot of web surfing for my inspirations and this one comes from fabulous kitchens like this:

traditional kitchen design by san francisco architect Gast Architects

And this:

other design

…and this too.

I love love love this idea, but buying a chalkboard that would fit this awkward section of wall was just not realistic. So I went and asked the Lowes guy at the paint counter if they had chalkboard paint, which they did, but he also told me we could use any MATTE finish paint color and use it like a chalkboard. I liked this idea much better since I wasn’t all that excited to paint a part of my wall dark black….and it was cheaper. So we picked out "Mark Twaine Gray Brick" (...where do they come up with this stuff??)…which gave us a darker space, but wasn’t super black.

I marked out the area I wanted to paint with a pencil and slapped on a few coats of paint.

We picked up an 8 foot piece of moulding we found for about $5 in the moulding section at Lowes and used that for the frame. Jon and his dad cut it to size and we nailed it to the wall, filled in the nail holes with wood spackle, and done! LOVE IT!

…now if we could just remember to buy chalk at the store!

Master Bedroom Makeover

The previous owners left us a powder blue room perfect for a baby boy, perhaps..but it just wasn't our style.
BEFORE

I was envisioning a calm, beach like feel with accents of an aged red color and pale yellow. Visions of all those chic bedrooms from pottery barn wouldn't get out of my head. It took a while to pull it all together, and I'm still working on the finishing touches.
AFTER

What really tied together the room for me were the drapes. The trick is to hang the rod between the top of the window and the ceiling, not just at the top of the window (which is how people traditionally hang them). Then be sure to get them longer than you need, so they can pool on the floor a few inches for a romantic, luxurious look. This makes the ceilings appear to be higher than they really are and makes an illusion of space in such a small room.
This is taking it to the ceiling:

I wanted to leave about 6 inches between the curtain rod and the ceiling (we will be putting up crown molding this summer). So we ended up with this masterpiece:

The side tables have also been a project. I bought them on the cheap from a clearance at westelm.com...what a mistake that was. I thought I was buying real wooden side tables, not fake cheap-o wood.

Ooops...lets read the product details next time, Laura. Since I had taken too long to decide what to do with them, I wasn't able to return them. What to do...what to do...light bulb! I had uber amounts of antique white paint left over from our bathroom paint job.
DIY TIME!
1) Lightly sand the tables with sandpaper
2) Apply a few coats of paint
3) AND a few coats of clear sealant

...VIOLA Uber chic!

The area rug under the bed adds so much warmth to the room, consider it an option, it surprised me how much I liked it. We originally had it in the living room...and after deciding that an over sized rug in that room made our main living space look smaller...we shoved it under the bed...aaand perfection!

Our Parkside Retreat

Ok ok...so we don't live near a park. But we can see Lake Erie from our house! Jon and I fell in love with our house the moment we saw it. Everything about it we (well..maybe just me) are obsessed with. From the hardwood floors on the first floor...to the super cute "lavender room" upstairs. :)

The old homeowners did all the big reno projects, leaving parts of the house a blank slate. So we've had a lot of fun decorating and putting our own touches in the house to make it a HOME!

I just fell in LOVE with the kitchen...but it was in need of some serious color.

so here is where I got the inspiration for a gray kitchen:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/102335/Teri-Turan-contemporary-kitchen-atlanta
It just looks so posh with the white cabinets...it actually makes my heart skip a beat a little! So I spent hours at Lowes just staring at paint swatches until my mind went numb. Finally I took home "Stony pebble" by Valspar and gave it a try...BINGO! I was nervous to go so dark, but I think I would have been disappointed if I chickened out and went any lighter.

Sooo now here it is:

The gray color I pulled from the granite really make the cabinets look even whiter.  And it even makes the hardwood floors look richer. Dare to go dark!