Peacock Blue

Y'all may remember I'm Not a Neutral Gal...and here's the proof.

One room I haven't talked about much yet is the office/guest room.

When we bought the house it was dingy and dark. A teeny dim light in the middle of the room barely made a dent. The color was a green painted over bright purple, giving it a dark muddy appearance. Even the ceiling was painted green!!!

Now y'all might have seen pics of our laundry room, which is painted peacock blue.

And I love it.

Here's a quick before (blah)

And midway through (okay...)

And after (yay!)

We still need to paint that door to make the transformation complete (and touch up the ceiling), but I can definitely live with this.

I actually wanted to paint our master bedroom this color, but after the laundry room Matt thought it might be overwhelming. 

So we had two extra gallons of peacock blue.

The office Matt wanted to paint a lighter green, called "cool cucumber" or something like that.  After a coat of primer to cover the dingy green, and a coat of cucumber...it looked exactly the same.

Exactly.

So I proposed we make use of those peacock gallons!

My parents were skeptical.

My mom made a fish face and acted like she was swimming every time she walked into it.

Matt claimed he liked it.

We installed a ceiling fan (thank you Jason!) and painted the ceiling white.

The way it was left for awhile it just looked like an awkward blue room...but I had a vision.

All our funky pictures, our bright and bold accents would find a suitably funky room to live in and make the transformation complete.

With Matt's parents coming for a visit I decided it was time to get things done (or at least rolling) in this room.

A bit of rearranging, a few hours assembling the futon Matt's parents got us (they claim it was selfishly so they could sleep better, but it was very generous and all future guests can thank them!), and a bit of sewing and the room is much closer to being complete than it was.

The orange board is actually magnetic, and those are words for some creative poetry on the go. The chevron fabric I got with my Hobby Lobby coupon and just used a tension rod to hang it after hemming the edges. Jerry and Elaine were a thrift store find I couldn't live without, and they finally don't look so out of place.

It may be loud and not your style but I definitely love it. Love the graphic prints and the bold pops and the mod feel of the whole thing.

So if you're headed through OKC sometime, drop us a line--we've got a room ready for you!

A House Redeeemed

The house we bought comes with a bit of a sad story.  The couple that lived here got a divorce, and have a young daughter.  The whole house felt, at first, dark. 

I fell in love with the layout of the house, but knew right away that everything needed some lightening.  The rooms were dark, muddy colors. Even the main living area is a dark orangey/pinky//tan (we discovered it was a burnt sienna color first, and think they only did one coat of tan to try to cover it...bad idea).

The house is naturally light, with lots of eastern and western facing windows. We wanted to bring the light back inside, as well.

Cue the song, "Leeeet the sunshiiiine, leeeet the sunshine in!"

No, the TV and the rocker didn't stay there...I just don't have updated pics...

Our bedroom was another place that felt dark and dingy.

We originally were going to go with the peacock blue used in the laundry room, but thought it might be a bit overwhelming in such a large space so we opted for the same color as the living room.

Don't you worry, though.  Those extra gallons of peacock went somewhere...you'll just have to wait for that, though.

The kitchen countertops turned out better than I hoped--I love them and would do it again in a heartbeat! What a $70 facelift!

And no, we're not going for a "feathered" effect on the backsplash.  We'll be using a paintable wallpaper that's textured to look like pressed tin...

But that's after we get the rest of the cabinets painted...

We've still got a lot to do, but we've made a considerable dent.  I feel like this is a house redeemed.  Scrubbing away the bad memories, the bitterness, the hurt, and covering it over with a fresh beginning. Filling this space with love and opening it to be a place of fellowship.  This is not our house, its God's, and we're just making it ready for Him to use.

On a side note: we are never ever ever ever ever ever ever getting a cat.  I know there are clean cat people...but this house didn't have one of those.  There is cat hair E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.

And I'm allergic.

Its not a fun combination.

A HUGE thank you to my parents and brother who've spent countless hours painting, trimming, scraping, cleaning, scouring, laying contact paper, and watching Tatum.

That's all the energy and patience I have for tonight...each of these pictures has taken about 5 minutes and I desperately need a shower!  I know I've skimped on the weekly photos for two weeks, but I've been pulling 18-20 hour days and am so sore it hurts to sit down! If I can find the fabric I bought weeks ago I'll have one tomorrow!

Little by Little

I can't tell you how many times Matt has said this over the past two weeks.

Have we really owned our home for two weeks?

A lot of changes have been made...

From a boring laundry room like this:

snooze...

To a vibrant room like this (NOTE: the cabinet doors will go back on when we get our hinges and knobs in!)

Aren't those machines just gorgeous???

And our bedroom has gone from a muddy green...

To a cheerful, buttery yellow...(baseboards and window sills still to be done...)

And the kitchen? 

Ooooh the kitchen.

We're in Phase 1.5

First we painted the cabinets (well, we've still got the cabinet doors to do so we're a long way from done, but this at least we can move into).  Then we painted the walls.  Finally tonight we began the process of painting our countertops.

Yes, you read that right.

We're using a Giani Granite Countertop kit in Bombay Black, and tonight I scrubbed and scoured and wiped those countertops until they shone, then applied the first layer of primer.

This is before:

This is with the cabinet bases and the paint done..

And here's with the first layer of primer halfway dried (and all the cabinets and the breakfast bar covered in plastic).

It felt gutsy making that first stroke of black on that light laminate...

This is me thinking, "I hope I know what I'm doing!"

And of course this blog wouldn't be complete without a picture of either Tatum or Roy.

Or both.

Tatum still makes this face when she eats food. But she keeps on eating it...so...I guess she likes it?

Roy has loved the venture into finger foods.  Lots of little puffs get dropped on the ground for him.

I have a feeling Tatum is his new favorite.

Today I was in her room packing up her clothes, and she was playing on a quilt on the floor. When I heard her squeal in laughter I looked down to see Roy laying with his back to Tatum and her sidled up to him...systematically pulling his hair out.

I think he's considering it penance for the diaper episode...

Not a Neutral Gal

Hi.

My name is Kait.

I'm a Pinterestaholic.

I'm loving pinning things to boards about my home decor style, crafty ideas, being a chic mama and amazing pictures of places I'd love to visit.

But I've noticed a huge trend lately.  Actually, in Seattle at least, its been going on for a couple of years.

Its this obsession with neutrals.

Gray is the newest chic color.

There are gray bedrooms.

Gray living rooms.

Gray bathrooms.

Even gray nurseries!

Then there's this other trend.

The all neutrals trend.

Call it what you will--cream, taupe, beige, brown, gray...they are all neutrals.

As in Switzerland.

As in lack of infusing opinion.

And that's not just me.

Give me COLOR!

Aren't these space fun? You walk in and it tells you right away the kind of person who lives there.

And maybe some of these pictures are not your style (they're not necessarily all mine), but then...that's the point, isn't it? They're not your style...but they definitely are someone else's!

So, sorry, Trend of 2011-12.  I'm not buyin'.

What about you? Do you like lots of color? Or brain dead calming neutrals? Or a happy medium?