Dancing on the Ceiling

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We are moving into the living room for this post. Once again, let’s take a look back at what we were working with.

It wasn’t a total disaster in here, so the work was much more cosmetic. I really wanted to keep this room all white, but add interest and texture through architectural details.

Starting at the entry, we replaced the front door. It’s a very basic door. The one I really want is about $2,000 over the budget, so we’ve just gone with something simple from Lowe’s.

We also added new trim around the frame of the front door. The glass was missing above the door and our goal is to replace it with a stained glass piece. Just haven’t found the right one yet.

Next up, the radiator that greets you as you enter this room. It was necessary, but not nice to look at. In just a few days, Jeff and my father built a cover that fits like a glove. It also made this area feel more like an entry.

Just 2 weeks ago, we made a long-awaited update to this radiator cover, a marble top. Only 2 days after a quick trip to A & S Tile to select the piece, it was ready and installed. I LOVE it! We are not done with this area yet. We’ve got more plans and will share them once they come to life.

Earlier I mentioned that I wanted to add texture to this room. We did this in a few different ways. First, to add texture, we added applied moldings to all of the walls. What a difference this made.

For a hot second, I was going to do a stencil inside each panel. I did a few and hated it. It was just too trendy and it pulled the focus away from the moldings themselves.

Applied moldings just add so much sophistication to this room. Lord knows it’s occupants don’t ; )

A second architectural element we added was a decorative ceiling medallion. I found this great one at Architectural Depot. I had a black chandelier from IKEA that we simply spray painted white. The medallion really helped elevate this light fixture and it was much cheaper than purchasing a new chandelier.

That’s not the only thing we did to the ceiling. In interior design, the ceiling is often referred to as the 5th wall and it shouldn’t be ignored. In our master bedroom, we painted the ceiling the same color as the walls to draw the eye up and to make the white tray stand out even more.

In this room, we went with wallpaper. Yup – I wallpapered the ceiling. Well, I didn’t do the actual work – I just picked out the paper! Thibault came through again. Because I saved money on the lighting, I was able to spend a little more on this fabulous paper.

The floors were in surprisingly good shape with the exception of just a few minor spots. We had them refinished and stained several shades darker. We had arranged for them to be done while we were on a trip to Paris. Four hours before we left for the airport, we got the couch stuck in the stairwell trying to move it. Seriously…

We have since figured out that by simply putting the couch on it’s end, it moves seamlessly between rooms.

I never wanted to leave Paris, but we came home to these GORGEOUS floors. They made being home from vacation a little easier.

If you take a close look at that photo, you’ll see that I may have been going through an “owl phase.” There are 9 owls on that mantel. When I do something, I really do it. Sometimes that’s not such a good thing. I’m now over the owls.

At one point, I got bored with the white in here and I actually painted the entire room on a Friday afternoon. This only lasted 2 days. It was back to white before the weekend was over. (I used to have quite a lot of time on my hands…)

You’ll notice that the fireplace surround is brown in this photo. One quick, cheap project that changed the look of the surround was adding peel and stick tile. One day, I’ll spring for marble. Until then, this will have to do. When I did this peel and stick tile was a new product. You can find it everywhere now and it’s a great money saver and super easy to install.

We recently did something that I swore would never do in this room, but I am apparently the Queen of Never Say Never.

That’s Jeff installing the mounting for a TV to go over the fireplace.

When I told my mother what was happening, she said aloud the words I hadn’t yet been able to utter, “What about Christmas?” Yes. Christmas. I go a little crazy at Christmas and I love decorating this mantel.

I guess I’m going to need to get a little creative this Christmas. I’m thinking about just wrapping it up like a big present. I’m sure Jeff would love that!

So here’s what this room looks like today. The owls are gone, but baskets of toys keep popping up. It is NEVER this clean and tidy, but it does fulfill its purpose. A whole lotta life happens in this living room.

What’s next – I really do want a new chandelier. Here are a few I have my eye on.

We also plan to install a section of tile near the entryway. Something with marble to coordinate with the new radiator top. There’s talk of adding a pilar to the radiator cover as well. I know that my father is just dying to start yet another project and I don’t want let him down.

If any of these projects happen, I’ll be sure to share them with you all on this little blog.

Sweet Dreams are Made of These

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Our third and final room upstairs is the master bedroom. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was 3 years after we purchased the house before we started work on this room. There was so much work to be done.

Plaster had been applied to all of the walls and painted in yellow, brown, and gray. Sorry for the terrible photos, but think Olive Garden late 90’s. That was the vibe in this room. I love breadsticks and endless bowls of salad as much as the next gal, but I certainly don’t need to be thinking about food when I’m trying to go to sleep.

I’m certain that I’m just standing there thinking about wallpaper in that picture : )

We had all of the plaster removed and that little closet in the corner was torn out as well. Removing the plaster was a horribly messy job and was done before we moved into the house. The room served as a storage/work area while other rooms were being remodeled.

It is a good thing that we waited to get started on this room as a heavy storm revealed that our roof wasn’t in the best condition. New roof = smaller budget for the bedroom.

Fast forward 3 years and we were ready to get to it. You might have noticed that the ceiling was really high. While it was nice to have a vaulted ceiling, it was wasted space and there was no insulation in the room. We lowered the ceiling and added much-needed insulation.

The vaulted ceiling allowed for us to easily add a tray into the center. Knowing that due to my insomnia, I’d be spending hours on end looking up at this tray ceiling, I wanted to have something worth looking at. I came up with a design and my brother, Josh, brought it to life. I joke that if we move, I’m taking this ceiling with me. I’ll reveal the final design later in the blog.

As for the rest of the room, we removed the horsehair plaster, put up new drywall, and installed can lights. I really do love drywall. If you live in a historic row home, you know the struggle of attempting to hang a simple picture with a nail on a plaster wall.

Like most older homes, this one came with little to no storage and we had ripped out the two tiny closets that were here. My father built these custom built-ins for the master bedroom and they are just about perfect.

One last touch to this room was wallpaper. You can’t go wrong with damask. This print has a shine to it that instantly caught my eye. I’ve always been a fan of Thibault Wallpaper. Their prints are classic with just the right touch of modern. This one is Arturo Damask in Metallic Silver from the Monterey Collection.

For the rest of the walls, we went with Dove’s Cry by Valspar. This is one of those perfect colors that can go tan or grey depending on the room and the light. Plus, how perfect is that name??

Now for some after photos.

I know I’m a broken record when it comes to having big ideas and a small budget, but I truly believe that you can bring your vision to life without breaking the bank. Here’s how I saved a bunch of money in this room.

  1. The wallpaper. I only did an accent wall. This saved on the cost of materials and labor.
  2. The bed – I picked up our headboard at a Restoration Hardware outlet. I saved 60% off the retail price.
  3. Those little nightstands – I found them at Gabe’s of all places. Don’t sleep on places like Gabe’s – you can find some great, cheap things there.
  4. The comfy corner chair and the accent pillows – HomeGoods finds.
  5. Euro shams and sheets are from IKEA.
  6. Curtains – I desperately wanted to have curtains custom made in the material that matched the wallpaper, but that wasn’t going to happen. I found these at TJMaxx, they went really well with the wallpaper, but they were too short. I purchased a few yards of linen fabric that matched the headboard and added it to the bottom.

My sweet dreams are coming true as we renovate this home. Next week, we will move to the main living area that is still work in progress and more fodder for my dreams.

Tiny Bubbles

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For some reason, some of my most vivid childhood memories are of the bathroom displays in the Bon-Ton at the Uniontown Mall. Yes, I am fully aware that most people do not look back on their childhood and remember such things – they usually think back on dance recitals, ball games, vacations… I think about the mall.  This gives you a bit of insight into not only my love of shopping but also a bit about how most of my time as a child was spent – in the mall – with my mom – most likely returning things  – and buying new things that would soon be returned.

My absolute favorite display was all white and had fake bubbles coming out of a teeny tiny tub. I don’t know if I imagined it or if they actually had the song, “Tiny Bubbles”by Don Ho playing in the background, but that’s how I remember it.. and I just loved that display. I even named it “The Don Ho Bathroom.” Not too creative, but give me a break, I was a child. When I stood in silence, looking at The Don Ho Bathroom, I was transported to a clean, calm place. I wanted to take that display home, put it in the corner of my bedroom and listen to Don Ho all day.

Now I am finally able to design my own bathroom. Unlike the dream bathroom of my childhood, there is very little white and it won’t even have a tub. I will, however, find a way to get “Tiny Bubbles” playing on a loop in there!

We probably won’t have a finished bathroom until late August, but an enormous amount of work has been done to it already.

A few weeks ago, my father brought with him the “big guns” aka Josh and Frankie.  Joshua is my brother and owner of Cooleytown Construction and Frankie is the lead carpenter. They managed to accomplish in two short days what would have taken Jeffrey and I three months to do. Actually, that’s a lie – Jeffrey and I could have NEVER been able to do what they did.  

Like the majority of houses in the historic district, we have horsehair plaster walls. I cannot wait to have drywall that I can actually drive a nail into in this house.

Just a reminder where we started…

And now for some demo and progress pictures…

Bye-bye horsehair plaster…

Bye-bye closet…

Bye-bye tub…

Hello framing and hardie board and plumbing!

These photos do not do justice in showing the amount of work that they did in those two days. Shower walls went up and plumbing is ready for fixtures. My bother wired the bathroom and even put up with my demands of moving outlets and lights around.  A heated floor was installed, which the salesman at Lowe’s warns us that we will never use.

We removed a small closet from the back room so that we can move our washer/dryer from the deep dark recesses of the basement and into the bathroom. Jeff wants to replace the washer and dryer, but despite its age and appearance, I’m holding on to it.

Here’s a quick look at the floorplan.

As for the design of this space. I’ve had a LOT of ideas and some pretty grandiose plans for that shower. None of which are truly in my budget.

When designing this room I was really going for a modern, warm, natural feeling. I wanted it to be sleek and classic with just a touch of whimsy.  Of course I had dreams of an over-the-top custom Ann Sacks tile installation in the shower and the very best fixtures that Kohler had to offer. Not only did I have a budget to keep in mind, but I also had to create a space that will help with resale. To quote Marie from When Harry Met Sally, “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.” This, my friends, is why you must think about resale value when designing your home.

Here are just a few of the designs I’ve been contemplating.

**Keep in mind, I am republishing these blog posts from over 9 years ago. I too am laughing at some of the designs I had come up with!

Realizing that our budget would have been blown on tile with no money for a toilet, I had to come up with a budget-friendly solution.

Inspiration came while my mother and I did what we do best, we went shopping. A stop at Mid-Atlantic Tile revealed the answer to the budget-busting bathroom design. I think it was a little sign from Don Ho as well. You didn’t think I had forgotten about him, did you?

The accent tile is my “Homage to the Don Ho Bathroom” These are my tiny bubbles…

And here is a little peek of those tiny bubbles installed in our shower.

I’ll share more updates on the bathroom in the coming weeks and I’ll leave you with this gem from demo day.

And just for fun…

You’ve got to go through Hell…

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Here’s a little peek inside the money pit. Most people would have shut the door as quickly as they had opened it on this place. To me, it was a diamond in the rough, and I could see its sparkle and brilliance, even in this state. 

I cannot wait to share the before and afters for each of these rooms. 

But for now, enjoy this walk down memory lane with me.

If you are wondering, that is a sensory deprivation tank. 

As I mentioned, I am republishing this blog. It has been nine years and some of these rooms have been redone more than once. I’m sure a few will undergo a few more updates in the next few years.