We had a great weekend in Ottawa with Patrick’s family and my sister was able to make time in her crazy schedule for a quick visit. It got COLD though, like way cold! When we got home last night it was down to 1 degree and this morning I woke up to blowing snow. It doesn’t seem to be sticking but I’m pretty sure my over ambitious gardening attempt last weekend is now dead…. sorry to my bank account and husband. On a bright note I still have my snow tires on and for all of those who laughed at me well ha ha the jokes on you {not really though}. I have also been battling allergies/a cold all weekend and am tempted to go to work this morning a la Katie Bower style, but think week two on the job may be a little early to pull out my crazy, what do you think?! Well enough about that, it’s makeover Monday here at Simply Style and I am excited to reveal another room that we have “made over” in our home.
We got the keys to our house around 2pm on a Friday afternoon. We were obviously excited but when we walked in and saw the place empty we realized how dirty things were and how much had to be done to our anti-fixer-upper!
Now we didn’t notice this first dilemma when we walked through the house {twice} but once it was empty you couldn’t miss it. Apparently when they laid down the hardwood through the upstairs, they didn’t bother to take off the baseboards or put down quarter-round so we had a sweet little gap that was a killer dirt and dust collector, so we knew we had to fix that right away! The previous homeowner also loved to hang about a bazillion pictures {or at least make a bazillion holes in the wall} really high so there was also lots of poly filling to do.
I was so excited to be in our new house but everything felt dirty and not ours and so me, being the crazy person I am, had to do something about that {like right away}. After doing a quick tour around the house I left everyone to run down to our local Benjamin Moore store. As I have mentioned before people generally think I am completely insane a little ambitious at time and this was definitely the case at the Benjamin Moore store. I was looking at paint chips and narrowing it down {in a matter of 45 seconds as if I were running the back picking triathlon} when I was asked if I needed any help. When I explained we had just closed on our house and I HAD to get paint on the walls I got the typical “who is this crazy person” stare. She suggested I take some paint chips home and see what they look like but she obviously wasn’t getting my OCD completely rational need just like every other new home owner {I’m sure} to get some basic home renovation done IMMEDIATELY!
For the main floor {it is fairly open and each room flows into the next} I was looking for a griege and chose Revere Pewter. I was also picking up trim paint {because something had to be done about the disastrous chocolate brown in our master bedroom} and who knew there were so many whites! I went with Chantilly Lace for all our trim, doors and anything else that ended up white in our house. Finally I needed paint for our master bedroom, I knew I wanted a dark grey as I had bought our pin-tuck duvet and the fabric to create and gigantor headboard but of course {like the organized designer I am} I didn’t have either of those things with me. I was 99% sold on the Chelsea grey but wasn’t sure if it would be too dark, lucky for me they had it on one wall of the showroom so I was able to see it in action and that was that!
About 45 minutes after we got the keys to our house I was rolling some revere pewter on a wall of our new living room. This was when I had my first Benjamin Moore heart attack {which you can read about here} as you know, but never fear, all worked out in the end. So needless to say I was a little nuts when it came to painting our house and actually painted every room except one in the first 4 months or so and all this painting desire started in this room, the living room.
Here is what the space looked like when we did our walkthrough after our offer was accepted.
{before}
{before}
See those high pictures? What is with that? As you can see this was an ok space but not an amazing space. Once all the furniture was done this is the canvas we had to work with.
{before}
{before}
Ok, so this is not a major makeover like our downstairs bathroom or kitchen makeover. Of all the spaces in the house this one was actually pretty, well, neutral, no lime green or chocolate brown trim here. But as I have mentioned there is nothing like a fresh coat of paint and this was the first room I tackled. After painting the room revere pewter with an accent wall of chelsea grey and moving in our new couch and the reupholstered chairs I tackled, we had a pretty boring space.
{work in progress}
The mirror beside the couch is something we have had for years, an old HomeSense find as is the ottoman {it coverts into a single bed and is probably my best HomeSense find to date}, the rug I picked up while in the US at TJ Maxx for $50 and the pillows are from HomeSense and Ottawa Street in Hamilton, ON. You can see that I had a {sort of} vision for the space but it wasn’t coming together.
Well after some work paint and repurposing we transformed it into this:
{after}
The end tables were $15 {thank you Kijiji} and were another up-cylce project you saw here. I picked up the lamp bases at the Christmas Tree Store in the US for $24.99 and the shades I found at HomeSense for $12.99 each. The gallery wall is all re-used frames that we had. I originally wanted all white frames but really didn’t want to spend the money on buying new frames when we had all these so I embraced the black and silver and with some spray paint for those that didn’t fit the mould we created this!
{gallery wall}
The only new items in the gallery wall that were purchased are the antelope head {I have an unexplainable obsession with faux taxidermy, it is only thanks to Patrick and perhaps me being reasonable, that we don’t also have a horse, moose, deer and dog head somewhere in the house} and the mirrored clock {which is currently just looking good and not operating}. I picked up the antelope almost a year ago before the HomeSense people or others realized the design obsession that was beginning with regards to faux taxidermy so he was only $24.99, they are now selling for $50++ at HomeSense and a LOT more elsewhere.
The clock was something I spied and stalked for awhile. I needed to replace a hot pink shoe print that Patrick did not approve of that was originally in the gallery wall. The clock was originally $29.99 which was more than I wanted to spend when I had something that was working for the time being, it then was reduced and reduced again to $16 but I still didn’t pick it up. Finally I was at HomeSense one day and spotted it for $11 and quickly snagged it up as it was the last square one they had!
{end table and curtains}
The large hurricane and sticks in the corner is something we already owned but all comes from IKEA. I’m still not sure if it is going to take up permanent residency here but for now it is working for me. Oh and check out those exaggerated baseboards, do you not love them! Since we were putting the quarter round down, this Pinterest inspired project from House of Smith’s was an absolute must! Patrick thought I was insane {much like the Benjamin Moore lady} but I knew they would be spectacular and they are!
{couch}
That middle pillow was a more recent addition that I snagged at, HomeSense of course, for $24.99. It is a Colin and Justin and I love how it ties the other four together.
{chairs and nesting tables}
The reupholstered chairs found their home on the opposite side of the room and between them are the awesome geometric end tables that were a donation from my parents when they moved. You know how I LOVE nesting tables so I was over the moon when my Mom sent these our way! The throw is $20 from Target and the pillows are from Home Outfitters and HomeSense.
{Zoe loves the chairs too}
This little Mexican loves the sun and this is her afternoon spot when the sun is beaming through the windows.
{window}
The curtains are from Target for only $19.99 per panel and the sheers are from Ikea for $7 for two panels. I snagged the super long curtain rod with diamond finials from HomeSense for $29.99 which is a steal! The bench was a repurpose project and is made from an old $10 coffee table I picked up at a garage sale.
{hutch}
The mirror has found a temporary home leaning against the wall on top of this hutch. We aren’t sure if we will be putting a tv in this room or not yet so it hasn’t been hung but I kind of like it leaning! The hutch was another donation from our amazing family. This one came from my in-laws and was an old Teak buffet. It took a LOT of primer to stop the brownish yellow from seeping through but after a few coats and then a coat of the leftover paint we used in our upstairs bathroom makeover {wedgewood grey}. I adore this piece and love how it turned out! Oh and theres those awesome baseboards again!
{after}
This is a really fun room, it doesn’t get used much {accept by Shaq} but it is the first thing you see when you walk in our house and I love the tone it sets.
{after}
I originally intended this room to be mostly grey and white but have since embraced the black. I have considered recovering the ottoman and spraying the mirror above the hutch but I think I like the balancing effect the black has. Plus it speaks to the black mirrors and ties everything together. Oh and the light fixture is going to be changing, just as soon as my not so organized husband finds the pieces for the fixture that is supposed to go up here! So, what do you think? Do you think I should eliminate the black in this room or leave it the way it is? Is the black ottoman too bold?
{before & after}
simplystyleblog.wordpress.com 