Nursery Updates - 80% Complete?

Gherkin's room has come a long way since the initial stripes were laid out and painted.  We've since installed some no-sew curtains, put together the crib, spray painted the dresser (that came in the wrong color originally), and changed the overall color theme of the room.

Originally I had preferred a yellow/grey blend in the room, but Craig wants the colors of the painting to be highlighted.  So I bought a teal velvet chair.  Not being one for rocking chairs, I just wanted something smaller and lower to the ground so I could actually touch my toes to the carpet while feeding the little one.

Target came to the rescue with this nicely priced ($225) mid-century feeling arm chair.  It was super easy to assemble, and has a nice texture that I think Gherkin will enjoy.

Then we had the dresser arrive, in the wrong shade of white.  It was really more of a peachy brown, then a true or antiqued white.  We debated sending it back, but as we had already unpackaged it, we decided to do the next best thing - spray paint it.

I shall be posting a how- to at some point during this century.  But in the meantime - we settled on a tealy-aquamarine.  It reads more green in person, and picks up on the color of the water in the painting nicely.

Now for some room finishing things, like shelves and a few more pieces of art.  

Ensuite Bathroom Updates - Befores & Afters

Shortly after the shower and floors were re-done in the wonderful grey marble we decided to hit up this lovely pink tile tub surround.

In addition to the area around the tub, it ran down a 18" section of wall between the tub and door.  Didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I really cannot believe it used to look this bad.  Guh, yellow-beige walls with pink and white tile?  How'd the previous owners do it?  Heck, how did we do it for 6 months.  Even though the bathroom still isn't completely done, it's oh-so-much-dreamier.  It's easily one of my favorite rooms in the house.

Anyway, we went with the same Autumn Slate as the bottom of the shower, only this time in 4 x 4 format instead of the hex pattern, since the 4 X 4s were all of $2/sq f.t and the hex was closer to $9.  

There was a little demo to do, and some drywall needed to be replaced, but all in all, it was a quick 1 day thing.  I would love to say that we accomplished in on our own, but it was all the tilers (Gino @ Atlanta Floors), for a very low price.

I am ashamed to admit, that the patching of the drywall, and the touch-ups on the paint are still not done.  And this tiling was complete in late April.  King and Queen of procrastination, right here.

This shows a bit better how the colors come together.  It's masculine, but I like it like that.  I can bring in other color and femininity in art and linens.

After a long ordeal with the plumbing, and entirely too much money spent on re-doing the same work 3 times (more spent on plumbing than on the tile or installation), we finally had working vanities, properly installed and leak-free.

We put up some wainscotting around the base of the vanities - I think it makes them pop.  Also, it saved us from having to repair yet more drywall.  It is not completely finished, but some molding will finish it off.

And our lighting choice - finally installed after a heroic battle with the lax electrical the builders deemed appropriate.  No box, just a wire coming out of the wall, with a giant gash in the drywall 2 feet long.  It was a nightmare, but one we pushed through.  Lights are from Lamps Plus - they were about $120/each.  Are solid metal, in a brushed bronze look.  The pillar candle look is accomplished with a glass hurricane shade over each light.

And finally, some Before and Afters.  To show the complete transformation!

How to: Stripes in the Nursery

 A few months before we knew Gherkin was coming, while were still trying to tempt her to make herself known - we decided to up the ante by starting on what would be her nursery.  The previous owners had used it as an office.  We used it as a guest room for a little while.

The room is the second largest bedroom, but by no means the biggest room in the world.  Perfect for a baby!

This is what we started with.  Bland, boring and brown.  Not sure of this shade, but it wasn't doing the room justice.

We decided to go with my favorite color in the absolute whole world, grey.  In a 2-tone stripe for neutrality.  Wasn't aware of Gherkin's presence, let alone her gender.  And a neutral palette would work well for either gender down the road.
     

We started by clearing out the room.  Getting our supplies ready. Taking off faceplates and wiping down the base moldings for dust.

The base coat of HD Behr's Irish Mist was first - here I am cutting in around corners and window trim.  And no, I do not typically use painter's tape when cutting in.  I just get a really good 2 inch brush and go to town.  If I dribble a bit, which has been known to occur, I can go back over the trim piece with some white.

I cut in, and Craig rolls.  It's a good division of labor, especially time-wise, we usually spend about the same amount of time with the paint can.  Also, does Home Depot's Behr paint smell like oddly off egg nog to anyone else?

After the base coat, which I trust I don't have to explain, we were ready to prep for stripes!

Step One is knowing the dimensions of your room, especially height - to determine how thick you want your stripes.  Now, you don't necessarily have to make them all the same size, though if you are going for a uniform look, it is best to have the 2 stripes more at eye-level the same height and any others deviating less than 0.5 - 1 inch.  If you don't your eye will figure it out, and it will bug you til the end of time.

Because of the height of our walls and where our electrical outlets lay, we decided to go with a combination of 14, 15, and 16 inch stripes.

Laying out your lines is of utmost importance.  Don't get impatient and just eyeball it - it will not be a good time.  We used a laser level on each top and bottom marking.  It probably would have been better had we focused on one line at a time, instead of one wall at a time - for our walls are not completely square, and there was a bit of a mismatch on some of the lines when we got all the way around.  Luckily for us, the window assisted in camouflaging these mismatched joins.

After you plot out your lines Step Two is to cut in on your lines.  Don't just start rolling, unless you really trust your ability to roll close to the .5 inch line of tape that is saving you from certain agony.  Also, you will get cleaner lines if you cut in first.

In the division of labor category, you could have one person cut in and another roll a different line, staying well away from the tape lines.

In our case, I just started about 20 mins before Craig did, and I was able to stay a stripe ahead of him.  The stripes go FAST!  We did run 2 coats on the stripes.

Also, marking your 'paint' stripes vs. your 'don't paint' stripes - VERY helpful.

Once complete, you have a fresh, modern gender neutral look for your room!  And this look doesn't just work in a nursery.  I've seen tone on tone stripes work well in lots of rooms, from Bedrooms to Kitchens to Living Rooms.  Just keep the color choices within the same paint sample strip and your golden.

All Renos are Sagas

We knew we wanted to update our ensuite bathroom when we bought our home.  It was one of the least redeeming rooms in the house.  It wasn't awful - it was just blah. 

Also, there was mold.  Not terrible-you-are-going-to-die mold.  But mold nonetheless.

When we moved in, this what it looked like.  Plain cabinetry, some pinky-brown ceramic floors, and not much else.  See what I mean?  90s builder bleh.

The shower in question - where the mold resides.  Looks really small  in the before doesn't it?   And here is the wonderful Before/After of the Shower! 

Some of the other Afters include some great views of the floor and detail on the shower.  As we are still in progress, the tub surround and vanity areas have yet to be updated.  The mirror will get a buildout of molding and perhaps some shelving.  There is a little bit of plumbing work to do and we are waiting for the lights and faucets to come in to get that vanity wall done.

Walls and bathroom floors are 12 x 24 Grey Marble from Floor and Decor Outlets, while the shower stall floor is 1 inch hex mosiac tile in Autumn Slate, also from Floor and Decor Outlets.  The Marble was $5.29/sq ft!  What an amazing deal hey?  We were not able to find a better deal anywhere else, and this marble is so spectacular.  I stand in the shower and just stare at it.  It's got so much depth.

The floors are not completely clean in these first few pictures, still got a little bit of grout haze.

Dry fitting our new open vanities to look at the horribly badly positioned plumbing (There will be 2 of these).  After having Dave the plumber come by to take a look at our shower in the kitchen (don't ask, the ceiling is not supposed to be leaking water) he estimated that we would need to move the plumbing to accomodate the new vanities.  (Vanities from Home Decorators Collection via Home Depot).

This is how we are living right now.  Storage but no water.  Want to brush your teeth?  Use the shower or the hall bath.

That's pretty much all the exciting stuff, the befores and afters.  But hey, if you do want more pictures, below you'll find the in-progess stuff.

While we were saving up/finalizing all our choices for the ensuite bath we did some smaller upgrades to pass the time.

Like painting the white vanity/cabinet dark grey.  This made it a lot more liveable.

We also did a bit of painting, pre-demo.  This is grey.  Which happens to be my favorite color.  In case you couldn't already tell.  :)

Demo & Flooring Installation pics!