Traditional Meets Tropical Dining Room Reveal!

Hello hello hello!

It's me. AGAIN! Can you believe it!? 😄

Who remembers the last time there's been multiple blog posts within a two-week period? Anyone? Because this girl can barely remember herself. My guess is it would've been somewhere between 2013-2015. Simpler times, when spray painting a lamp or writing about some random thing I found on Craigslist was enough content for a sufficient post. (I would STILL buy those pink chairs btw). Nowadays unless you're completely overhauling an entire room, it barely seems worth the time when you could watch about the same thing in a 60 second Instagram Reel.

Well, lucky for you dear reader, this post IS about an entire room overhaul. May I present to you our traditional meets tropical dining room! 

This room was CRANKED OUT. I don't think we've ever completed anything from start to finish so fast. We cleared the decor on a Friday evening, went full speed ahead with the help of our in-laws over the weekend, then that following Saturday I wrapped up putting everything back again. 

For a little perspective, below is what the room looked like when the house was listed. 

Here it is after we were living in it for a year. 

And here we are a few moments before putting up the first strip of wallpaper. 

That's right, wallpaper. But not just any kind of wallpaper, REMOVABLE wallpaper. Which I am convinced is proof that there is a higher power because for the amount of traditional wallpaper I've stripped, ripped, and cursed at over the years I honestly NEVER thought I would be one to put it ON my walls. But you guys, this stuff is amazing. Removable, non-damaging, forgiving, peel-and-stick wallpaper is SUCH an easy way to bring pattern and texture into your home it's going to become your new best friend.

For this project I found the perfect pattern at Tempaper.com. They have tons of beautiful designs to choose from but this one caught my eye immediately. The tropical vibe was exactly what I was looking for and the color palette not too crazy to turn Eric off. Plus the toucans were just "tou" cute (see what I did there?). 

Pure joy. 

But if you notice, we didn't wallpaper all the way to the floor. That's because the bottom third of the wall we decided to install board and batten. Board and batten describes a type of interior paneling that has alternating wide boards and narrow wooden strips, called "battens."

For both the vertical and horizontal boards we used 1''x4'' pine ripped down so each piece was only 3'' wide. The baseboard was a 1''x6'' trimmed down to 5.5'' to match the height of the new baseboards we've installed throughout the rest of the house. We went through a few different options while determining the distance there would be in between each vertical board, but in the end decided it would be easiest if we kept to where the studs were in the wall. That spaced each board approximately 16'' apart, give or take a few inches in the gaps around the corners and flanking the doorways. 

And that was where we ended after a very busy weekend. 

The next few days were focused around priming, caulking the seams, covering nail holes, and ordering more wallpaper because apparently my math was wrong... go figure. 🤷

While we waited for those last few rolls to arrive (and shout out to Tempaper because it only took maybe four days even without expedited shipping) we picked up our brushes once more and continued painting the board and batten. Compared to the bright Alexandrite green of the mudroom, here we went with a deep moody grey with purple undertones; Stunning Shade by Sherwin Williams. 

I LOVE how the color drastically changed the whole mood of the space. It's dark, but dark in a way that is calming. Plus pairing it with a lighter wallpaper really balanced everything out. After a second coat and any final touch-ups, the only thing left to do was install the top most piece of trim. 

That, and break the room in with an impromptu art project. 😉

Ok, I'll stop talking, now pull up a seat at the table and enjoy these DELICOUS "after" photos! 

How a room evolves over the years is one of my favorite part of interior design. Great homes take two things; time and love. Dont rush the process, use those cherished items you hunted down and scored (like our dining room table), DIY'd yourself (like our chairs), or were so excited to purchase because it was the first "new" thing in your home (like our chandelier).

Don't fret over how long (or short in this case) a room comes together. Do what brings you joy, and remember to TAKE PICTURES. Nothing makes the journey more worth while than seeing just how far you've come. 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

Light It Up! Creating Stylish Lighting On The Cheap

Happy first few weeks of Summer friends!  

We've been spending our time enjoying the sunshine, our backyard swingset, exploring the local parks, and having lots of "water days'. So far, so good. 

Lucky for us, long days of playing outside mean early bedtime for the kiddos. And as any parent knows, the most productive hours of the day typically happen after the sun has gone down and your "helpers" are away in dreamland. 

Among larger projects like updating the trim and finishing the mudroom makeover, I've been slowly working my way through the house addressing our light fixture situation. Our "fixuation" if you will. 

From the moment I saw the listing pictures, immediatly I thought to myself, "Well these have to go" to pretty much every single light in the house. Nothing about them brought me joy. Their color, their shape, their resemblance to a certain part of the female anatomy, nothing. In fact, right in the middle of move-in day, my mother-in-law accidently stood up under one of the chandeliers and busted the glass dome into a million pieces. Thank goodness she was unharmed, but in the middle of her endless appologies I finally had to hold my hands up and shout "I HATE ALL OF THESE LIGHTS! It is MORE than OK that you just broke one!"

But replacing all of your light fixtures can be a pricy task, so I didn't want to try and purchase everything at once. So the first item of business came up during Black Friday, we pulled the trigger on this brass chandelier from Wayfair. 

I love the crazy arms and how you can adjust the height and orientation of them. The brass coloring wasn't quite what I envisioned though, so one day a light bulb went off (ha) and I bought myself some Rub 'n Buff to add more brassy-ness to it's finish. 

It was after that moment that things really took off. Rub 'n Buff is SUCH an easy way to bring that warm antique gold to almost any surface. So instead of purchasing new lights for our kitchen, toy room, and hallway, I just buffed the current semi-flush ones we had, and honestly, I really love how they turned out! The old style that turned me off so much before, suddenly had my heart fluttering. 

Funny story, so remember how my MIL head-butted one light? Well her son took out another. Poor Eric was doing dishes one evening and crashed into the hanging light above the sink, shattering the (ugly) shade. Which gave me the perfect excuse to swap it for somethig more modern. 

And most recently, the many boob-lights that were upstairs in our hallway and closet are now brassy and classy! Those were just $23 flush lights from Costco, major save from the similar designs you'll find for $70 or more. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll for sure have seen the adventure of this beaded beauty. She's a Facebook Marketplace find for $60 and right now is on Overstock for over $480! She is sooooo pretty, and I was overjoyed when Eric figured out how to remove the chains and make her work for our mudroom. 

So that's where we are right now! A few purchases, but overall we really just utilized what we had by jazzing things up a bit. There's still our bathrooms and laundry room to do, as well as upgrading all bedrooms with ceiling fans. 

But you know, one bulb at a time.

To turn the light off on this topic, I'll leave you with some pretty satisfying before and afters. 

Have you ever used Rub 'n Buff? What other tips and tricks do you know for updating light fixtures? How many boob lights are in YOUR house? 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.

Wellman Weekend Warriors!

Happy Monday everyone. 

I think this song runs through my head at least once this day every week. It's just so dang catchy, and especially true sometimes: "Monday Monday, can't trust that day...."

Nope, can't trust it.

I think one of the reasons I'm especially sluggish this Monday, is because of all the work we did over the weekend. We got a TON of stuff done! I give credit of our progress solely to the fact that Eric's parents and sister came down Saturday and helped us ALL DAY LONG! They were seriously warriors. Eric's dad brought down a trailer full of tools and big boy toys that made everything so much easier. 

One of the biggest things we Eric and his Dad did was tear up our backyard. It was looking a bit sad when we moved in. 

Note all of the brown/patchy/dead spots. Eric's original plan was to just spray and kill a portion of it, mow really low, then reseed. But by around 4pm Saturday it looked like this!

It is now seeded and covered in hay. Luckily we found a sprinkler in the shed so we can easily water it. 

Another project we got rocking on was repainting the cabinets. This will be a long process, but we were able to take down all of the doors, remove the hardware, and sand everything. This was messy beyond all reason, and I cringe when I think about having to do it inside the kitchen, but the hand sanders made it go a LOT faster. 

Sanding the drawers and remaining cabinets will be done another day. As well as priming and painting. 

We now are sporting the "open cabinet" look. Sometimes I think about keeping it this way, especially when I see pictures of kitchens like THIS, but then I think OMG all of the DUST! And change my mind. 

Another "cross this OFF the list!" moment was replacing our foyer light.

You may recall this post about me walking away from a sweet antique chandelier and then having a "Dang it why didn't I snatch that up!??!??" moment. 

Well a couple months ago I went to the Valley Thrift Store (which now is JUST down the road from us!) and found a cute little chandelier for $4.00. SCORE! I bought that bad boy, and it sat in our apartment dinning room for...well...a long time. But I just KNEW that someday I would have a purpose for it and it would be magnificent. And you know what? That day was yesterday! I grabbed that $4 lamp, some spray paint, and went to town. 

First I lightly (and evenly) sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum primer. 

Yes I am quite proud of my rigged up painting system. 

After the primer dried, I sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum yellow spray paint. 

Eric helped me hang it up in the tree so I could make sure the bottom was completely covered. I thought this was important since that's the part of the light that people will see most often. 

After a few hours of letting it dry, Eric took down the original light fixture, and rigged up our new chandelier! I bought 5 globe bulbs from Menards  since I love the look of exposed light bulbs, and thought it would be a nice touch. 

Needless to say I'm OBSESSED with how it turned out. *insert HUGE smiley face*

We do have a ceiling cover to hide the wiring, but I guess Eric was just too excited and decided to hook the lamp up without putting the cover on first. Oh well, I'm still super pleased with the how much brighter our entry way is! 

While on the high of a new light, we finished decorating our dining room. The china cabinet is filled with dishes, the table is all set up, and we even hung some pictures on the wall! 

This is the table from my grandma I was talking about in a previous post. It's made from a tree from Valley Forge, which I think is pretty amazing. And yes we only have three chairs. One broke in the move to our apartment last year, but it's perfect for that awkward 3rd wheel date! 

Some close-ups of my little accessory arrangements. Putting these together are another thing that keeps me calm. Eric is pretty much convinced he married a crazy person at this point. 

Whenever I am overwhelmed by how unorganized the rest of the house is, I come in here to sit, and take in the happiness of a complete room. :) 

Phew! 

Sorry that was so long, it's just so much fun sharing our progress! 

Were any of you able to cross off a few things from your "To-Do" list this weekend? 

Labor Day Painting Party

It's practically already Friday! 

This week was short and sweet thanks to Labor Day, and on our day off labor we did! Having that long weekend was EXACTLY what Eric and I needed to get started on painting. We visited Menards at least once a day...but it was so worth it. For one, the new Menards by us is INSANE! It's absolutely huge, has two stories, and a moving sidewalk to help you get from floor to floor. It's the only Menards in Ohio that has this magical pathway, and the first day we were there we totally got stuck on it. It was pretty funny actually, we had to pick up our whole cart and carry it the rest of the way. 

Good thing we work out! 

The whole process of painting started on Sunday. We first sanded down any bumps and uneven spots on the wall with sandpaper. We also filled in any holes left from the previous owners. After sanding we primed all those spots with 1-2-3 primer so our new paint wouldn't have "dry" spots. We found the primer in the basement, so that was free! 

Look at that brush technique :) 

Once the primer was dry, we wiped down the walls, went full steam ahead, and painted away!!! I did the bottom trim and half of the walls, while Eric did the edging around the ceiling and the top half of the walls. So after about 3 hours we had a brand new living room! 

I love how this room turned out! I think the Gadget Grey seriously brightens up the space. It's so soft, lovely, and I think we will be able to add all sorts of great color with accessories. We took the curtains down as well and that also really helped bring in more light. 

Monday was focused on the dining room. It was the same sort of prep process with priming, sanding, and cleaning. Eric did the entire top half, while I did most of the bottom since I could actually reach all of it.  Gadget Grey on top and Palladian Blue on the bottom equals one pretty eating space if you ask me! 

Isn't the contrast between the dark floors and the soft blue of the walls gorgeous?! I can just imagine our table in here with bright red and yellow flowers all over it. 

Sorry there is still a bunch of stuff sitting in the middle of the room in all of these pictures, but I was just so excited!!! 

So that is our progress thus far! We plan to start working on the kitchen this weekend, though it may not be as easy since the walls are textured. Any advice on how to tackle that? I just doubt a regular paint roller will do the job. We also want to kick start painting the cabinets, which will be a whole new adventure. 

 Here's another set of before and after pictures since I just LOVE to see side-by-side progress! 

uuuggg blurry pictures :( sorry! 

So proud of our first painting experience! 

Now on to the next!!!