HOUSE TOUR {Laundry Room}

Well, here it is. Behold, the laundry room.

Only days old. 

This picture lets you see one of my favorite window views: Teton Mountains behind a farmer's pivot. It feels so country. 

Sheeting and wiring.

  

Drywall. 

Cabinets. 

And the doors. 

Yep, my man built 'em all.

Ceramic tiles on the floor and Sherwin William's Repose Gray on the walls. 

We totally scored the tile for about a dollar a square foot. We know a guy. 

Trim and baseboards, hanging rod, and our old beater washer and dryer. 

A little tip: Install cabinets AFTER you paint the walls. 

We still need to pour the black concrete counter top and attach the drawer fronts for this room. 

This corner was left unfinished because the plan is to build floor to ceiling cabinets against the wall to match the ones above the washer. 

We'll get there one day. 

In the meantime, my brooms, mops, and vacuum don't have homes. I didn't realize how important a broom closet was until I was without one. 

Here are the freshly painted mudroom lockers. 

...And what it looks like today.

In hindsight, I'm thinking I probably should have straightened up our crap to give the illusion of perfection. Oh well. You get the real deal.

I got the baskets at Michael's here. I love them and the way they keep our gloves, scarves, and snow hats organized and out of sight. 

I bought super cheap silver hooks and spray painted them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint before Andrew attached them. 

After transferring all of our coats from  the master closet to the hooks, I got thinking that maybe Andrew and I should get rid of a coat or two?

Back to BEFORE.

And AFTER.

It's huge and beautiful and makes me very happy...especially after 4 years with my washer and dryer in the kitchen next to the dishwasher! Bleh.

As far as decorating this room...I haven't gotten there. Too many other things on my mind! Let me know if you have any ideas.

Stay tuned for the next room in our new house tour!

What you may have missed:

1. exterior
2. entry way/ sitting room
3. great room
4. dining area

HOUSE TOUR {Dining Room}

We've seen the entry/front room and the great room. Let's continue through to the dining area.

I know that people usually photograph their dining rooms with candles and table settings carefully laid out....but I'm not even near that point in here yet. This room still needs a lot of work, and you're gonna have to get it as it is.

This was a long time ago.

Here, the walls are textured and we're experimenting with paint colors. 

We eventually settled on Sherwin William's North Star paint. 

The pallet ceiling is going to have entire posts dedicated to it in the future...

We are still working on it. My lovely scribbles illustrate what will soon be added to finish the ceiling off.

(Did I mention this ceiling was FREE to build?)

Here, are the beginnings of the wood floor and baseboards...

...And the room with our furniture and new IKEA rug. 

But actually, that table is not even ours. A friend is loaning it until Andrew can build a new one. (You may remember the bed, nightstands, and coffee table he's already built.)

The table in our previous home fit approximately two and a half people around it. We decided it's time for an upgrade. 

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Behold, our table construction inspiration. I love the colors on this one...but not the ornate froofiness of the legs. 

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I prefer straighter lines. But chunkier than this. 

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Benches would be easier to build than chairs, but I'm concerned they'd get uncomfortable. 

Now the heirloom hutch came from Andrew's family. Please excuse the clutter. It is where the possible decor items for this room have gathered until they have homes or get donated. 

You get to see this room as it is, remember?

This is how I've decorated inside the cabinets. I'm thinking that in the future...a long time from now...maybe refinishing the hutch. At this point, the thought just makes me feel tired. 

But the inside of the cabinet is so dark, and in the meantime, I want the contents to pop out more than they do. 

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So I was thinking of applying what I've seen with fabric, wall paper, or vinyl designs like this on the backs of shelves or cabinets. 

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It could be the non-permanent, cheap, easy upgrade I'm looking for...though I haven't made any decisions on color or design yet. 

As for the opposite wall, I have other plans. 

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I want (Andrew) to build two shelves like this...but again, chunkier and with cleaner lines. 

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I'm sure many of you have heard of the House of Smiths blog. They have these shelves in their home that they can easily style to match the season. I like that flexibility.

I love Shelley's decorating style. It is how I want to decorate when I grow up...

I couldn't not share a few of her lovely displays.

So far, the only decoration I've finished in this room is this. 

Using left over sand from our concrete counters, I filled the pitcher 1/3 of the way. Then I stuck in my flower sprigs. The sand allows them to stand up tall in the shape I want. 

Maybe one day, I'll spray paint the pitcher a different color, but it'll do for now. 

Every room needs some greenery, in my opinion. 

There you have it. Stay tuned for the next room in our tour!

HOUSE TOUR {great room}

Alright. We left off in the entry way...let's make our way into the great room. 

This is what it looked like a few days ago. 

This was a looonng time ago. I'll do a time progression from here.

An entirely white room.

With repose gray SW paint and the beginnings of the built-ins. 

Counter tops being installed. 

Andrew's beautiful stained tops.

Installing upper shelves over top of the wood counters.

Carpet, the rest of the shelving, and two-thirds of the blinds. 

(The fireplace mantel is resting on the blue blanket in the foreground all ready to mount.)

Andrew attaching two 2x4's to the wall as a brace for the mantel. 

(I started decorating the built in shelves at this point. I think I've rearranged the shelves fifty-seven times since then...and it may take another fifty-seven times before I'm satisfied.)

Mantel bolted in place and scratch coat applied in preparation for stone.

Hearth covered with slate tile and pallet wood around the base. 

I like that the rustic look matches the dining room ceiling. 

Finished stone. We used leftovers from the exterior. 

Isn't the sectional couch fabulous? Andrew's parents gave it to us for free, feigning excuses like it's not good for mom's back, and it's getting really worn out, feathers from the down cushions are pokey...yeah...whatever.

Don't think we didn't see through it all to the simple fact that Joel and Rhonda are incredible generous and awesome. The couch still has tons of use left and in the meantime, we spend more nights on the couch then we do in our own bed...it is sooooo comfortable. 

I need all you talented people to come over and provide me with some of your shelf styling input. 

I am going bonkers from staring and analyzing and changing things over and over and over...

I threw some old windows up on the mantel I salvaged from one of Andrew's remodels. I haven't decided yet how I feel about them. Maybe wreaths over top of them would help?

Finishing touch of trim around the hearth...a much cleaner look. Grout is all that's left.

The big questions now is: What the heck do I do with this gigantic blank wall?

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Our plan was a computer table up against the wall similar to this. We liked the computer in a high traffic area in the same room as everything else. 

But after we we put wood and carpet down, we could see it wouldn't work. With the way the flooring defines the sitting and walking areas so distinctly, a desk would block too much of the wood path to the bedrooms. It would look awkward and force people to walk on the carpet instead. 

So now what?

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The only thing I can think of is a gallery wall of sorts. But I don't know. My thoughts are: 

• Wouldn't it make the room look too busy to have it on a wall adjacent to those crowded built-in shelves?
• Would it look less busy to have it all white like this?

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• A narrow hall table would fit in this space...
• But is a gallery wall going to drive my OCD self crazy with frames that aren't exactly straight and go crooked at the slightest bump?

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• Is this kind of project just a lot of work and effort for something I might hate?
• Would it look all that bad just to leave it blank?

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I like the look of the wall arrangement behind the stairs here...it's not too busy/crowded/cluttered like some can get. But that could be because there are no pictures in those frames, and I doubt Andrew would be cool with empty frames on his wall.

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Have you created a gallery wall before? What did you learn? Was it worth it? If I need to buck up, just do it, and stop being a crybaby about it all, let me know. And if not a gallery wall, what?

Thanks,

Rachel