1930's Doors Finished

Awhile back we found these amazing 1930's doors at a garage sale for only $5 a door. We knew they needed some serious love to be brought back, and we did just that. We gave y'all a tutorial on how to strip and sand them, and then we went and painted them and beautiful crisp white! It completely slipped my brain that I never posted some pictures of them up in the house. So without further ado, here is the progress the doors have made:

what we started with

after striping and sanding, so pretty right?

 Here is a door all finished! I love the character they add from our previous doors, and that they have so much history!

The door plates the doors came with are by far my favorite! The handles are from Anthropoloige on sale for $8 a piece {considering they were like $24 ea to begin with we were happy with the price}. We used these same handles on our old doors, but man oh man- they look worlds better on these.

Its pretty amazing to me how smooth we got them to come out. There were so many cracks, rough edges, etc. when we got them. We left a little un-even texture to them, as to not take away all history, but they look amazing! I had a reader that was thinking about staining hers, and that would be amazing as well! We went with the white because it flows with our house better. Hope you guys like them!

<3,
Adri

Featured On..

Apartment Therapy!!

Were so excited that they did a feature on our kitchen! Go check it out if you have a second. And if you're from AT- thanks for stopping by. Take a look around, make yourself at home:)

<3,

Adri

Some Updated Photos

I know I am totally going to kick myself the second I put these up, because knowing J and I- something will be different by tomorrow. I had my lovely best friend Melissa Young come take some updated photos of the kitchen, dining room, and family room. To say that she is talented is an understatement. All the photos in here are taken by her, other than the terrible 'when we first moved in' shots, courtesy of our iPhones:) The main changes are the kitchen {obviously...} and paint color, with little differences sprinkled here and there. 

Here are the updated shots {with some before shots to compare} of the family room:

When we first moved in.

Feels like home right?!

After adding hardwood, trim, fireplace, and details.

Current

Current

 To see a full breakdown of the changes we did in this room, go here.

Up next, the Dining Room. Not too much has changed in here, and more change is for sure to come. The tan rug needs to go ASAP {doesn't match the grey well, and the dogs tore up some thread..gotta love 'em!} and i've been day dreaming of a different table in here as well. I know, i'm crazy!

Initial shot, first makeover, and now current:

When we first moved in.

After adding trim, hardwood, and details.

Current

To see a full breakdown of what we did in the Dining Room, go here.

Finally, the Kitchen. I freaking love the kitchen.

When we first moved in.

You know you love the {floor} tile countertops!

After some work on the trim and floor.

current

To see a full breakdown of what we did in the kitchen, go here.

We change things up in the house so often, so I am going to try and be better about updating the Hour Tour shots. I hope that this inspires some of you to be able to look way beyond what you initially see in a home. When we first moved in we had a rough vision of what we wanted to do, let the ideas marinate {can you tell its dinner time and i'm hungry, i'm using words like marinate on the blog..} and then went to work. Doing most of it yourself is always so much more satisfying too. Sometimes I wish J was a plumber and an electrician instead of his business job, that way we could have done the whole kitchen ourselves too! Check back tomorrow for another update of what the 1930's doors turned out like, I had totally forgotten to post about them until a reader was like "whats up woman!" Oops! Thanks for keeping me on my toes:)

<3,
Adri

Craigslist Find: Post Office Box

This weekend we found some amazing finds on Craigslist!! My favorite of the bunch is a really rad vintage post office box. We were planning on re-selling everything we bought that day, but both just fell in love with this guy, and are not gonna give him up just yet!

It is made out of solid metal, and is a dark army green color. We are in love:)

It has so many fun little quirks to it. On the back side each area has a name of someone {were thinking military..not positive though} and apparently its from Town of Freedom. So many ideas going through my head as to what I will put in it. For now we are keeping him in our office, although it might not be where he stays for good.

By putting him there it has reaffirmed my desire to re-paint the office. The green and stripes is fun, but very overwhelming when you walk in. Almost like a circus, but a tad better;) Any opinions on what color we should go with? Currently in the house we have a lot of grey, some dark blue, some light blue, and antique white. Laundry room is still up in the air, but as soon as that project is finished, we are for sure tackling this one!

Once again Craigslist provides us a great find...hooray for deals!

<3,
Adri

Design Inspiration Monday

An amazing house tour from Design*Sponge

Obviously a lover of farmhouse sinks here. I am envious over those pendant lights, the window at the sink, and even the back door. I don't know how a back door adds so much character to a room, but it totally does.

If I could have that couch it would make me happy. Very happy.

I love the dramatic paint color here.

I am totally smitten with this kids room. The bike, the bed, and definitely the desk. I pray to God that my future kids will be ok with having a desk like that in their room, because they're getting it whether they like it or not!

Oh hello beautiful sink!

All images via Design*Sponge

This home is done by the incredibly talented designer Jessica Helgerson. I want her to come do my house next:)

Happy Monday!

<3,

Adri

Modern Manor: Mid-Century Modern

Heading into the weekend today I wanted to give a little shout out to one of my favorite stores..Modern Manor. I get a lot of questions lately about certain pieces of ours, and {unless we made it ourselves} 9/10 they are from Modern Manor. It doesn't hurt too that our best friends own the place;)

Here are some current shots of the store {located off of 7th ave.} that another lovely blogger, The Brick House, took.

All above images via The Brick House

Don't you just want to go shopping, right now?! They have the most amazing pieces there. Some midcentury modern, some vintage, some eclectic, some classic, etc. You can tell that they price their things fair as well, because every time you go in there is NEW stuff. I have rarely been there and seen a familiar set up, because everything sells so quickly.

Really though, if you are looking for a unique piece of furniture, art, decor, whatever, stop by Modern Manor. And if you see a cute young couple named Ryan and Kylie, say HI! I promise they don't bite;) Also, if you go and they don't have something specific that your looking for, you can tell them what it is and they will take a note- and then call you if/when they get one in! Another fun vintage {this one is more thrifty} in that area is Qcumberz. They always have something random! Rust and roses is a great one too, if you are looking for something a little more shabby-chic, also in the area!

I'll leave you with a fun shot of some precious babies. Modern Manor currently has over 450 vintage Eames stacking shell chairs. I would totally get some if I had a play room for kids. Heck, I would totally get some for anywhere in my house!

image via Modern Manor

<3,
Adri

Featured On..

They did a round-up of fun DIY lamps! What an awesome site:)

<3,
Adri

Does Paint Go Bad?

When you are a person who paints, and paints a lot, you begin to learn the 'in's' and 'out's' of it. We have painted our whole 1,980 sq ft. house ourselves, so were pretty familiar:) Through painting all the rooms I began to wonder if the paint I bought as 'extra' would go bad on me before I even needed it. So without further ado, here are some points to keep in mind:

• Always seal the can completely {tip: we put a paper towel, bag, old rag, etc. over the lid when we hammer it on-this protects us and the surroundings from getting sprayed with little spots of paint}
• Keep the cans inside your house if possible. If the paint gets too cold or too hot it will go bad much faster. We of course keep ours in the garage, where it gets to only 100 million degrees during the summer, very smart. Very,very, smart;)
• When testing to see if the paint is still good, paint it on a test area, or even on those free stirring sticks they give you. Let it dry for a little to make sure the color is the same and that it sets up well.
• Make sure you either keep a list of the paint code, or at minimum the name of the color, for future purchasing. That way you will be guaranteed to get a matching color.
• If paint even slightly looks discolored, texture is chunky, smell is way off..TOSS IT. You do not want to spend time painting on a color and have it be expired.

From what we've experienced and what i've read, there is no real set expiration date on all paints. Some stay good for 2 years, some 7, it just depends on the conditions the paint is kept in.

With all that said, can you guess what I tossed out a lot of this past weekend?

all cans either expired, empty, or WHO KNOWS where they came from!

Im still in awe of myself that I thought the orange would be a good bathroom color and the green a good office color!

We did some serious spring cleaning of the garage. We had so much stuff thrown in there from the kitchen makeover, and with summer coming up, J wanted to clear it out so he could actually park in there!

old kitchen cabinets, along with a mess of other stuff

We even found a mirror in the garage that the previous owners must have left! We are clueless as to how we haven't seen this before!

Is anyone else doing spring cleaning? Have you ever opened a can of expired paint and wanted to puke? I have:)

<3,
Adri

Paint info sources: here, here, and here.

Craigslist Find: Oven And Microwave Wall Unit

First off, THANK YOU so much to all who gave advice, opinions, sweet words, etc. yesterday! They were all super helpful and kind, and are really helping us make a final decision. You guys rock! I just wanted to take a second to show you a great Craigslist find. When we first started talking kitchen makeover I really wanted to somehow have two ovens when finished. I knew we probably weren't going to get any sort of 'double-oven' unit because we still really like our oven and cooktop that we currently have. Eventually we will upgrade that to gas, but for now its perfect for us!

Jeremy wasn't to sold on the idea that we 'needed two ovens. I rationally explained that if we ever wanted to be able to have both of our families over for a meal, and be able to cook the main dishes, we needed two! {Obviously I realize it is not a true necessity, but I do freaking love having it!} He told me the only way he would budge is if we found a smoking deal, which is his usual response to anything that I want, that he doesn't deem necessary;) We started searching Craigslist like crazy people, because we wanted to find one in time to order the appropriate cabinet for it. Luckily God was on my side on this one, because we found a fabulous  GE unit for $500 {newer model retails for $2,249}. Let me tell you, when buying from Craigslist, you have to look beyond the mess. Heres what the oven looked like when we bought it:

I was so disgusted with the inside. I just prayed and prayed that it simply meant that the oven worked great, which is why it was so gross. They even left their broiling pan {with tin foil} in there for me, how kind;) Immediately I cleaned it out with Scour Off, which I won from the lovely Organic Life Love blog!Then I did the 'self clean' mode. It came out beautiful!

I love love love having two ovens in the kitchen. I know some may think that its weird that the microwave and extra oven are in the 'pantry' room, but I love it. Its barely separated from the kitchen, but it is just enough that the oven doesn't heat up the kitchen! Perfect for cooking in the 120 degree summer! 

We are huge fans of Craigslist. Have you found any great steals lately? Any bad experiences?

<3,

Adri

Laundry Room Dilemma

So as you know we are getting our new front loaders {actually they arrive tomorrow,eeekk!} but we are unsure of something else. We plan on using Cloth Diapers when we have kids, and I know that they are extra work, so I want to be as prepared as possible for that time. Although we aren't doing the baby thing for awhile, we are doing the laundry room now. So heres where I need all the amazing mamas out there who CD, or even ones who don't {but know how messy kids can get} advice.

Do we or don't we need a sink in the laundry room?

Will only using a sink work {meaning can we put all the gross stuff down a sink drain}?  Would we need a sink plunger?!  {I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit}

Can we go without a sink if we use a diaper sprayer?

Do we need both, so we don't go insane?

Do you think were insane for planning this far ahead?!

All valid questions by the way:) We just don't want to put time, effort, and money into a room and then the second a little one pops out {its totally that easy, right?!} need to change it to accommodate.

If we do need a sink, we have a soft spot in our hearts for one like these babies:

image via D*S

image via Flickr

above images via Retro Renovation

I would love to have one like these. A large sink that I don't have to worry about getting messy {obviously poop can get that way...} The only thing that is holding us back about putting a sink in, unless necessary, is that it will force us to stack the front loaders. Which in turn forces us to have a whole lot less counter space. So..what do you think? Sink? Poop sprayer? Both? Mamas we need some help!

<3,

The girl who will be a master at spraying poop one day;)