New, very pink find

Last week on facebook I noticed this dresser for sale.  It was already super bright coral pink, but needed some work as it had been used as a tool chest by the owner; Jen from Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture.  She was auctioning it off and I was lucky enough to have the winning bid - $40.  It really was a great deal, it has 9! drawers and only one of the drawers needed some work re-attaching some wood to the back.  She even gave me some extra paint, so today I cleaned it off and touched up the paint, and then gave it a clear coat of poly to protect the paint.

I added some wallpaper to the drawers for the final finishing touch.

It looks great in Kate's room with her blue walls.

 And it is a perfect match to the New York picture that was already hanging in that spot.

Lots of storage and lots of space on the top for all the stuff that girls gather.

I brought in this low coffee table I wasn't using downstairs anymore and made a bench seat for when she has friends over.  We already had this quilt too and see some of the squares are also a perfect match for the new dresser.

I finally gave in a few weeks ago and let her get a poster, her beloved One Direction, and this is about as good as it gets for a made bed.

Kate's other green dresser is a very similar style and it is now in her closet for storing clothes.

linking here

Another room painted

One room I don't know if I've posted pictures before on the blog is of Chris' office.  It is upstairs and the only bedroom upstairs that has wood floors.  The previous owners in this house had it set up as their baby nursery because it is closest to the master bedroom.
Anyway it's a nice room with wood floors and a big closet.  The only downside is that it only has one window.  It still has plenty of light during the day if you open the blinds though.
Up until this point I did not do anything to arrange or decorate, but Chris had all his books guitars etc set up how he liked.
Of course I was excited when he finally said "Anna, if you really want to you can paint my office, as long as I can pick the colors and it is not a light pastel color".  He wanted to help paint and everything, but as last week was my last of summer break, and he was away in Amarillo for work I decided to get it done.
I didn't buy the paint and start working in the room until about 3 in the afternoon and I finished it all up (except for moving the books and things back in) probably by 1am.
The first couple of hours was all the furniture moving, taping and prep work.

Let me show you some before pictures.  3 walls in the room were painted a reddish brown color, and one wall was just white.

This is one of the new paint colors I picked (benjamin moore "rockport gray")

 Another before picture with his collection of Beatles records 

 His guitars and the one white wall

 Another before - brown walls, brown floor, wood furniture

 The white wall with a sample of the new paint color (sherwin williams "moody blue")

And now the "After" pictures.  I wanted to keep all the same things in the room, I did a little re-arranging and organizing, but I think it worked out good and it still has the same vibe as before, and Chris is happy with it!

 I think this is my favorite wall, I love the way the guitars look against the blue.  I moved the albums to this side (there is more space on this wall if he wants to add more to his collection).  The Who canvas thing is from Target a couple of years ago.

 This little chair is super comfortable and was $10 from a yard sale!

I brought this shelf upstairs from my office to display his typewriters.  He uses the top 2 ones to type up poetry and writes and sends letters to a few people.  Our joke has always been that when we go to a fancy starbucks in the River Oaks (a fancy part of Houston), where everyone is on their laptop or smart phone, that he wants to one day bring a typewriter and start typing.  The typewriters have always been a talking point of interest for Kate's friends who some of them had not seen one before, or probably ever get to use one.  It is a big novelty when they have got the put in the paper and write something.

So different from the IPod generation of kids that who knows what they will be using when they are our age.

 I bought him a new lamp at Homegoods.....

 This print I'd bought off etsy.

Few more things - Chris' little league baseball picture, some collectible stamps of baseball stadiums in the US, and a framed leaf that our daughter Kate had picked up as a toddler - it was from our pear tree in our old back yard the first year after we planted it and it lost it's leaves.

 This original art from Goodwill looks great in a frame, pretty great for I think a $2 purchase, and our family picture from Disneyland 3 years ago.

some of his favorite books, and marathon medals.

 Dr Pepper clock and rusty sign from his Grandfather's farm.

So another room done!  We may start getting some new light fixtures soon, upstairs every room just has the plain white ceiling fan, which we don't use the ceiling fans much so they just collect dust.

So still a few more projects to work on around the house, but I think I've painted every room except our bathroom.  We've been here a little more than 3 years now

Finished Office and Living Room - new paint

I think I am finally done with painting!  My downstairs rooms at least.  I'll just share all these AFTER pictures, if you want to see the rooms before you can read these posts about the green desk

or this one has some pictures of both rooms.  The color was not bad, but just beige, so I was ready for a change and it needed fresh paint as that was a flat paint that showed every little mark.

Here is my office, painted Behr Dark Ash on the top, and Benjamin Moore Simply White on the bottom below the chair rail.  I LOVE the way it turned out.

I found this color online and it has been on my pinterest board for a while (see this picture).

I keep craft and scrapbooking supplies in this dresser:

And the plastic drawers are not pretty but they don't look too bad on this shelf.

I got a few of these white frames from IKEA for $1.99 for a few favorite family pictures........

 With my Mum (I'm in the backpack) and one of my Dad when he was young.

and pictures of my grandparents....

I love the color against the white crown molding.

And this new white curtain rod (also from IKEA).  These curtains have moved around the house in a couple of different rooms but I think they look good in here.

And the living room got painted my favorite light gray - Valspar Seashell Gray.

I'm trying the chalkboard hanging vertical, I read somewhere that hanging things this way makes the ceilings seem higher, not sure if this is true, but I like it this way for now! 

I like Kate's little quote and artwork better than my 'tree' I had as a temporary filler.

and my globe "collection" (I guess 2 counts for a collection, right?)  The little one is a bank so it's actually in use to keep that spare change.

And my other bigger collection has moved back to the family room (this room is also painted Seashell gray)

I love it all in here and the blue-ish fiestaware looks good with my blue dresser.

Emmy is happy she can nap in peace without painting or furniture moving going on around her....

The knitted blanket I bought at a flea market / thrift store in New Zealand last year.

See the cute stool the lamp is on?  I bought it from a blog "friend" Pamela who lives close by.  If you haven't already visit her blog From My Front Porch to Yours.  She is very talented in furniture painting and decorating.

 The blue chest and pillows have also moved back here to co-ordinate with the other blues in the room

Have you been painting or moving furniture lately??

Painted Office

I painted my office yesterday:

More pictures to come later...........

I am on a roll (literally) for painting projects this summer.  So far I have done 2 bathrooms, utility room, upstairs hallway / kids playroom and stairway and the blue dresser.

I think I have only one or two more house projects to finish, other than that I'm getting things together for my classroom and cleaning and organizing closets.  We go to Goodwill to donate a few bags, but usually end up coming home with new treasures again too.

I LOVE summertime, getting things done around the house, and relaxing with the kids.

Green Summer

This year we are thankful to be having lots of rain which is keeping the yard green.  Last year we had no rain all summer and we lost our big oak tree.

I planted a few sunflower seeds in our little veggie garden and they popped up quickly.

We also have a pumpkin vine growing like a weed.  Last year I put out our pumpkin after Halloween and it self seeded.  We have already had one little pumpkin but our beagle Molly ate it!  Maybe we'll have some more by Halloween this year and not have to buy one.

Also have some flowers in pots in the front.

Including this hydrangea, I think this is the third time I've tried growing a hydrangea but the only time it has survived.  I thought by keeping it in a pot I will remember to water it.  So far so good.  It just had the first flower this week, it is a pretty pale pink.