The Eagle has Landed.

Who needs to clean? It's much better to use your last day before the storage unit arrives to dash off to my mom's sleepy little town and take the mahoosive bed of glory back from her! Click here for a reminder of the first post from when we bought it (for $45!!!).

The trees prove that FALL IS HERE!

I'm not sure if it's strictly recommended that you put a too large headboard on your car roof so that it dangerously sticks out to impale other cars. 

As a side note, Rob has a huge love affair going on with his custom VW roof rack. I thought he was totally crazy, I mean they're useful, but I don't think they make the car look any different.  When we went to the movies this weekend though, he parked next to a VW GTI (faster version of his Rabbit). He commented going into the theater that the GTI owner would be jealous of his roof racks... and when we went back out to the car he had a note in his windshield from the GTI owner asking to buy his roof rack from him. Obviously VW owners are crazy! Okay sorry for the tangent, it made me laugh. Either way, we got the bed home! 

We also got it up the stairs... one.single.inch.at.a.time. That bitch is HEAVY. But we heaved and we hoed and eventually my limp noodle arms and Rob's quasi brawn got it up there without making any large holes in the stair walls... how do you spell the saying, "heave ho" by the way? I like to think it's heave hoe! Because then while I'm lifting heavy stuff, I feel alright because at least I'm lighter then this skank I'm lifting. 

Sorry for the phone pictures... and the nighttime-ness. I was excited!

It's ridiculously big. We ended up putting it in the little nook in the bedroom... it felt a bit too in your face to put it anywhere else. Plus now we can wall mount the 32in flat screen and watch tv in bed on the opposite wall. And now there is room for a dresser underneath the Tv too. Cause ya know, with 3 closets in the room we need more storage!

This room is impossible to photograph, it's an L shape! 

Here! The bed is now in front of the window! 

Did you spot the finials on the footboard? If you remember, the footboard came to us missing it's balls ;)

I didn't want to sleep in a eunuch bed so I looked ALL over Lowes for something to put in it's place. By the way, they thought I was INSANE for looking for wooden balls, they kept telling me to go to hobby lobby, but I knew I had seen something there before... enter stair finials for decks ($3.50 each):

It's the pretreated pine stuff so it looks greenish. It has a truly horrible texture (and an odor?!) but I figure we can sand it down, then prime and paint it black when we fix the other boo-boos on the bed. 

Ignore the holes, I will fill those and repaint!

It looks fine from far away but up close it looks a bit tiny. I think I'll need to add something else to it to beef it up down the line. 

Missmatched railings from the thrift store for the win!

I can't wait to test it out with our mattress tomorrow! Not bad for $45 (and $7 for the finials), eh?

Halleluyer!!

It's official. We closed on the house and it's OURS NOW!! :D Happy days!

We're having the carpets cleaned tomorrow, our Pod full of our belongings is arriving Friday, and the new HVAC system is being installed Saturday. Sadly, the closing costs were higher than we were estimated so the vinyl flooring will have to wait, instead we're hoping the Stanley Steamer gods will make them bearable enough for a month or so til we build up our bank accounts again.

We're so excited! And a little nervous about getting it all done, unpacked, and presentable before our guests arrive. Wish us luck!

Master Bedroom Paint Colors

Continuing on after our brief hiatus...

Why is the master bedroom always the hardest to pick the color for? I left it last because it's the iffy-est! I think our main problem is that we really love Gray Cashmere the best but we don't want it all over the house as well as in the master too! And I don't like the darker or lighter shades of it. So I did some pinterest searches to find rooms I liked, and then borrowed colors from them!

via

Patterns!

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This is the closest to what I'm imagining. Plus the bed is black!

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So I'm thinking of three colors right now, again mainly from Benjamin Moore although I have a Sherwin Williams thrown in. 

Vapor Trails by Benjamin Moore

This is in the same family as Fieldstone, the color that I painted my dresser in so you KNOW it's pretty. It is, in my opinion, the perfect gray. It's a black base paint with a few squirts of brown and that's it, so it doesn't read purple or blue or green. It's just a calm gray. 

Rob doesn't like grays but he does love the color of the dresser so he might approve this still. Most grays ARE cold though so I do see why he dislikes them, this one isn't though. 

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Gray Wisp by Benjamin Moore

This color is a 95% match to Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage. I like it better than Silver Sage though... it's a touch more noticeable. It doesn't help that although we have a Restoration Hardware Outlet in Cincinnati, they don't sell the paint there. So I'm 6 hours away from the one in Chicago. No thanks. 

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via (can you tell I love August Field's home?)

Morning Fog by Sherwin Williams

I think this could be a compromise, but I'm not sure. There aren't enough pictures of it in use online for me to tell!

Oh I forgot to mention, all of the paint we're getting color matched to Olympic ONE. We're too lazy to scrub all of the walls in the house and some need a primer on top. I had a great experience with it with the dresser. :)

Any favorites?

Fieldstone Dresser Continued (a How To)

Part two today folks! I love a good reveal so I broke it up into two parts so I can also show some of the work that went into completing the dresser.

Now I know there are a billion how-to's on the internet on how to paint furniture so I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here, but I know for a fact that many of my real life family and friends who read this blog have no clue how to do it (sorry bloggers, run away now if you want). I'll run through it fairly quickly, I didn't take step by step pictures because honestly it's self explanatory.

1.) Clean the piece. Lets just say that thrift stores store their furniture cheek to cheek with other nastier stuff, like baby toys at Goodwill. Notice any deep scratches and circle them with a crayola marker if you're worried you'll forget (anything else might show up under the new paint).

This is everything that I used on the dresser:

- Elmers wood filler (~$3)

- Medium block sander (~$2)

- 4 in Weenie roller set (~$5 but you won't have to buy the roller again)

- 2 in Chip brush ($1)

- Floetrol (~$8) It's an additive for water based paint, it puffs up the paint temporarily so your brush marks disappear. I only used a tablespoon out of the whole quart for this project.

- Olympic ONE in Satin (~$12) Again I have 75% of the can left. I could have used a sample pint probably.

- SC Johnson Paste Wax (~$5, it's in the furniture polish aisle at walmart by the way)

2.) Fill in your circled nicks and scratches with wood filler. Smoosh it in with your finger. When dry, sand it til it is smooth with the rest of the piece. Sand the rest of the piece, you're only trying to rough up the paint and get rid of the glossy finish, you do NOT have to get rid of the previous paint, that is way too much effort. As you can see I barely did any sanding. 

3.) Also take out the old knobs with a screw driver. If they're stuck or painted on then bang em out with a hammer.

Now you can start painting. If you are not using a primer and paint in one then you must prime first. I like Zinsser gold label, it's oil based and stinky but it covers anything and everything. 

4.) Add your capful of Floetrol to your paint tray and mix it in with the paint (I've poured it into the actual can before but it shortens the life of the paint if you want to use it again in the future). This step really is important. Without Floetrol your piece will look like you painted it... badly. With it, it will look like store bought furniture (ie: seamless and without raised bumps and track marks). I told people to buy this all the time at Lowes but they never listened. LISTEN TO ME PEOPLE! 

5.) If you are using a primer and paint in one, like Olympic ONE then go on and roll on that first coat with your roller. 

Only roll what your roller can roll to, don't squish it in the corners. After it dries, go back with the chip brush to reach the corners, make sure you're dipping the brush into the Floetrol mixed paint!

Oh and don't load up the paint brush and roller with too much paint, you want thin coats, NOT thick. Thick looks inexperienced and homemade. You don't need perfect coverage on the first coat, the others will take care of the patchiness. 

6.) - 7.) One coat is horribly patchy so you'll probably need to 2 or 3. I did 3 because I'm a bit OCD. 

8.) Check the size of your new knobs. If the screw won't go in then you'll have to widen the holes with a wider drill bit. If you're like me you can nag and nag at your man all you want and then after 2 weeks of him ignoring you, go steal the electric drill and do it yourself (while he takes pictures). 

Pick a drill bit that is one size bigger than your screw. Its okay if its a bit bigger, the knob head will hide it. 

I should say that you probably should wear sunglasses or some form of safety eye wear. My anger protected me ;)

Oh yeah! Skills! ;)

Ta Da! Now put your new knobs in and fix any spots you messed up with the drill. 

9.) Lastly you'll need to wait a few days (2-3) after painting it and leave it completely alone. You want the water based paint to harden and cure. After the few days you need to protect your paint job with some sort of finish: either wax or polyacrylic. Both are fine, both are difficult in different ways. I used wax, I can't really tell you how to do it because I don't really understand it myself but you can google that part easily. Again, wait a few days before moving it around and using it. It's hard to wait but you don't want to chip and mess up the soft paint.

You're done now but check to make sure your drawers slide in and out easy. If they don't, put a line of hot glue along the bottom edges of the drawer and let it dry. It makes a clear smooth edge which slides on the wood better than wood on wood does. 

Now you take pretty pictures of your beauty and shiver in the cold the whole time. Also, if you ever move into temporary housing, bring coats with you!! 

Fieldstone Dresser

I've been patiently waiting on a nice sunny day to take pictures of the long finished dresser, but it's not going to happen. I finally dragged it out on Saturday and then just messed with the saturation to make it look less blah. It's been raining for about two solid weeks, so while the grass IS very green, the sky is just gray and yucky. It's also turning chilly which just sucks as I packed up all my sweaters and jackets into the Pod, so I'm stuck with just T shirts and a single pair of jeans. :(

Anyhow enjoy!

I truly love this color, Fieldstone by Benjamin Moore, it's a perfect gray. If it looks slightly blue-ish in these photos then it's Picasa's fault! :) 

 

And thanks to Olympic ONE paint plus Floetrol, this might be the best finish I've got on something before (aside from my oil based paints). 

I love the knobs. Such a steal for $1 a piece from Michaels! Plus I got one 40% haha. 

The previous painter had painted EVERTHING, including the insides of the drawers. Luckily they're white so I didn't need to touch them. 

Yeah, even the sides and undersides of the drawers were blue. Effort!

If you remember (it's okay, it's been a LONG time ago-- find it here), I got it for $35 from the local Restore. 

And lastly, a before and after for happiness sake:

Before - 

After - 

Now it has a calmer presence :) I'm debating turning it into an island in the kitchen (since $350 for one at Ikea is a bit 'spensive... and common). I'm not sure how sturdy it is though, I can sit on it but I'm not exactly heavy. I think if I added beadboard to the back and put a wood top on it with room to slide 2 small tools underneath it it'd be cute! We'll see though. 

You likey?

Linking up to:

Mustard Seed!

The Wreath is Done!

In the wise words of Medea, "halleluyer". :D Haha I love Madea (see youtube clip here).

I had to lean it against a window since I have no door to hang it on yet! Maybe next week :)

I got the pumpkins at Michaels for $1.50 a bag, for a total of $6 for 4 (after coupons). The moss is from a $1 bag from the Dollar Tree. The straw wreath form and ribbon are from Hobby Lobby for $2 each (after coupons). So a total of $11. 

Not bad considering the inspirational Williams and Sonoma wreath is $99!! 

I would also like to point out that hot gluing bits of moss down is HOT! My poor fingers. It's also tedious, it took me a few minutes to get the pumpkins on, but an hour to finish up the moss.

And yes since I stupidly picked un-wired ribbon, I had to have my Nana tie the bow for me :) Bow tying is a lost art I tell you! I can do it if the ribbon is wired but I can't do this type of twisty bow at all, sorry I can't tell you how!

It wasn't hard though, just hot glue the pumpkins down and then glue the moss in around the pumpkins so they're all nestled in. Leave a space for your bow and then go beg your Nana to tie it for you haha. 

I did this while watching the Big Bang Theory, hence the engrossed look.

I tried to do a random pattern the whole time, it messed with my OCD for sure.

Ta Da! I'm pleased, it only took a few weeks ha :) Also, check out my Nana's sexy cherry hardwoods! 

Linking up to:

and Modern Country Style Fall in Love party!