One Room Challenge Bathroom Week 4 - Paint, Paint, and More Paint

Hey there! I'm back for week 4 of our One Room Challenge Bathroom Update! I'm feeling a little calmer this week as we got a ton finished last week!! Woohoo!! From the start until now I realized that it has all been about paint!

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One Room Challenge Bathroom Week 3 - The Base

Oh. My. Goodness!! How are we already half way through this challenge?? I had a bit of a freak out yesterday as I sat in our bathroom, contemplating what to do next!! But, honestly this is what I love about the ORC. 

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Repurposed Kitchen Island

Hey there! We finally have some sun today!! Last week I shared a few things that we were trying out. One of them being a kitchen "island". Well, that turned out to be a big yes!! So, it got a makeover (of course).

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Patio Sprucing

Hey there friends! How are y'all?? We had a bit of rain this last week (thanks Bill), but it finally cleared up long enough for the sun to come out!! Yay!! So, I took that opportunity to style up our newly refreshed patio furniture!

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Girl Time and Furniture Painting

Are you in need of a fun girls night out?? If you are local to the Oklahoma City/Edmond area I have a great idea for you!!

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Stenciled Entryway

If you follow me on instagram you got a sneak peek at the beginning of this project.  I've never stenciled a wall before so this was definitely an adventure!!  But, man oh man do I LOVE the outcome.

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Tween Boy Bedroom Reveal

I know it seems like it has taken me a long time to finish the kids' rooms!!  In reality the majority of the work has been done for a while, just tough to catch the room clean enough for good photos!! :)

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Bringing New Life to the Built-Ins (again)

Hello there!  You might have noticed that the walls, and the brick weren't the only things that got a little paint love in our family room.  The built-ins also received some in the form of color this time! 

Several years back I transformed the built-ins from ugly-orange-oak to a beautiful almost white.  I loved them, but knowing everything else was going to be almost white I wanted to add some color in somewhere.  I have pinned so many images of bookshelves with the backs painted, so I decided this would be a great place to add a hint of color. Nothing too bold - just some navy blue (the same navy blue I used for the feature wall in our master bedroom).  :)

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Fridays Unfolded Link Party {#147}

I'm a little late to the party today!!  Honestly it totally slipped my mind!  My kids are on their second snow day today and I have been trying to keep everyone busy, including myself!  Good news - the sun has been shining bright in the sky all.day!!  

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What's Happenin'

I haven't forgotten about y'all I promise.  All sorts of things have been happenin' around here lately, I just haven't had a chance to pull it together to share with you guys!  ;)  So, today is a round-up of sorts.  A peek into our lives so to speak.

Some progress has been made in the family room update.  We contemplated paint colors for the walls.  And re-arranged furniture! 

Then there was a birthday in the house. :)  So, progress put on hold for more important things.

The kids had a day off from school, so we sorted through clothes.  My boys have been growing like little weeds!

Paint was chosen and painting began.

The house was a mess and laundry had piled up, so progress paused while I did some laundry.  As I was doing laundry, I realized I was running low on laundry soap, so I whipped up a batch.  

It's all gelled (is that a word?) and ready to be poured into containers!

Then the snow came.

And that meant some sledding.  (so thankful for a hubby and a dad who loves getting out and playing with his kids no matter the conditions...I hate the cold)

The snow makes me more and more mindful of my oldest and others I know who are among the many in the New England area that are buried under several feet of snow...not inches. I am thankful for technology that allows me to see his smiling face from time to time.  Makes this mama heart feel much better - you can tell a lot from just seeing their face, am I right?? (I screen-shot this while we were face-timing the other night - he would not keep his phone still, so the pic is blurry ;))

 

Finally the painting was finished and all the furniture back in place.  Nothing much is styled and pretty yet, so not quite ready for a complete reveal, but here's a sneak peek. Still lots to do, but we are definitely headed in the right direction! And, I am loving the new furniture arrangement!

See, I told you we've been busy!!  Hopefully I will be back soon to share more details of the family room transformation.  Thanks for following along on our little adventures :).

Painted Brick Fireplace Surround

I did something a couple of weeks ago that I never thought I would do.  I painted brick.  I love the texture and interest that brick brings to a room, but only if it's a nice brick.  Our brick is ugly, always has been.  I've just lived with it for years because I was too scared to paint it, and to cheap to replace it.  You know, painting brick is pretty permanent.  ;)

But, with the encouragement from many of you, I finally took the leap.  And let me say, I LOVE it!!

Here is a pic of what it looked like before the paint.  If you want to see the real before you can check out this post, where I kinda half got the nerve, and kinda white-washed the brick.  Which led to it looking like this.

I did a lot of reading first as to whether or not I needed to use a special paint, but most of the things I saw said that you didn't unless you were painting the actually firebox, which I was not. 

I started with primer, nothing special here because honestly I wasn't that concerned about an opaque coat.  I figured if some of the nuance of the brick came through to give the wall some variance, I would be okay with that.  If you are not, you might want to get a high-hiding primer. 

Halfway progress with primer - which takes forever btw.

Priming takes forever because you really are almost scrubbing the primer into the bricks. Bricks are porous so they really soak it up. Better the primer than the paint though!  I could have used a roller and saved maybe a tiny bit of time, but honestly, sometimes I just prefer a brush - more control.  Here is a pic after the primer was done - already tons better.

I let this dry for a couple of days, I wanted to make sure the primer was good and soaked in.  I don't know if that's necessary, it just sounded like a good idea to me. ;)

Then onto the paint.  I chose to use a satin finish because I didn't want it to be shiny at all.  I have had good luck with satin being pretty durable, so we shall see.  I chose to match the color of the built-ins which is a lovely creamy white.  It's not bright white, but it's not off-white if that makes sense.  It is Glidden Antique White.  The sample reads a lot more beige than it actually is.  

And finally, here are a couple of pics I snapped when it was finished!!  I just couldn't help admiring it.  :)

I talked my hubby into ripping off the mantel which was leaning and seemed pretty shaky, but was actually attached VERY well.  What a booger!  I've never really liked it very much anyway - it just looked like a weird afterthought. So, we are living with these weird wood blocks in the middle of my white wonderland until I can decide what to put in it's place.  I'm thinking either something like this

source: The Lettered Cottage

or something like this.

source:  The Lettered Cottage

Thanks to all my friends who cheered on my progress along the way!!  It really was just the help and encouragement I needed to mark this off the list!  One step closer to our new family room. :)

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