White Walls and Reader's Choice: Ceiling Paint Color

After you readers decided you would like to see the studio painted with white walls and a colored ceiling (check out the poll in this post), we decided to take care of getting the walls painted a crisp white over the weekend.  

I mentioned it before, but these walls were in terrible shape.   We removed the corner shelves and the window valance and then proceeded to spackle 75-100 holes.  I don't understand where all of the holes came from!?  The only conclusion I have is a BB gun.  Other than holes, the walls were just dingy, so a fresh coat of paint made a world of difference.

Here's a reminder of what the room looked like when we moved in...and throughout the past year:

After a fresh coat of white paint:

Ahhh, so much better.  We used Behr Premium Plus (for extra help covering all those soiled areas and the stenciling) Ultra Pure White in Eggshell.  For the most part, I think paint sprayers aren't that great.  They use a LOT of paint and take forever to clean and it takes about the same amount of time to cover everything you don't want painted as it does to paint the room with a roller.  All those disclaimers out there, they are great when you don't care about getting paint on the ceiling or floor--which we didn't.  The carpet we are gladly ripping out and the ceiling we are painting as soon as you all decide on a color (poll at the end of this post), so covering the window and outlets was no big deal and made for a relatively quick paint job and a hazy looking room.  

Check out the difference between the new white walls in the studio and the now-beige-looking door swinging in from the hall:

One of these days I'll get all of the doors painted and gold hardware replaced, but for now, let's talk about your next decision for this room.  What color to paint the ceiling?  I've narrowed down 175 swatches to 4 for you to choose from.  Of course everyone's screen might make the colors look slightly different, but pick the one that you would like to see the ceiling wearing:

Your choices are:

1. Martha Stewart Lagoon--the bluest of the bunch

2.  Martha Stewart Araucana Teal--a true teal

3.  Martha Stewart Hummingbird Blue--if 1 and 2 had a baby, it would look like this

4. Martha Stewart Sea Glass--the softest of the picks

Yup, I picked up 4 different brands of paint swatches and landed on all Marthas.  I think our winner is in there, and as soon as there is a clear winner, we'll get the ceiling painted.  

Ready, Set-ty, Vote!

P.S.  While you're in the voting mood, don't forget to vote for our Exterior Melodrama right here.

Taking Care of Bidness

What a week it's been around here.  We are blown away by our readers and the support and excitement you all exude.  With all that has happened this week, we have a few announcements and business to take care of, which gives me an excuse to make a list.  Here we go! (let's go!):

1.We started off the week announcing that I was selling a smaller version of our dining room painting in our Etsy shop.  I mentioned I hope I could paint more. After it sold within a couple hours and I continued to get emails requesting more.  Of course I was caught off guard, but also so excited and grateful.  Having studied art for years, painting has been a passion of mine for a long time and to be able to make money as an artist is rare.  That being said--I purchased ten more canvases last night and you can expect a stocked Etsy shop, full of abstracts soon.   

2.  While we are on the subject of my art and our Etsy shop--Amanda, from Our Humble Abowed, is actually doing a giveaway for any chalkboard drawing print in the shop.  Head on over there and enter, and there's even a discount code to use if you've been eyeing one and can't wait to see if you win.  May's chalkboard drawing (which I haven't even started, gah!) will be available next week and up for grabs in the giveaway as well.  

3.  Yesterday's announcement that we are letting you readers design the studio in our home was one of those decisions that could have bombed and had the potential to be embarrassing for us.  Easily, no one could have virtually shown up and voted.  But it was quite the opposite.  The votes are still rolling in, but the winner is pretty obvious:

White walls and a painted ceiling by a landslide!  Chris said, "Oh! That's the one I voted for."  I started cracking up because I didn't expect him to vote. I chose every option as one that would look good and work in the space and I would have honestly been happy going any direction.  This weekend, we hope to get the room prepped and painted a crisp white and have swatches for you to choose for the ceiling color on Monday.  Yup, you're picking the color.  Your work is far from done in this room so get your color and design hat on. (?? just roll with it).

4.  This announcement is special, just for you readers.  RugsUSA has been a partner with us before we even had much of a readership--we love them for that. We are huge fans of their area rugs and have two in our own home hanging out in the dining room and guest room. Even more than that, I find myself recommending their area rugs to a lot of clients when I do custom mood boards.  My friend over there has agreed to offer our readers 25% off site wide (applicable to any area rug) through May 20th.  Just use promo code BLOG25.  Here are a few of my recent (and favorite) client recommendations to give you a starting point to apply your promo code:

1, 2, 3, 4

5.  Last thing, we would love if you would cast your vote today for Our Exterior Melodrama video (which we also got done this week, read that post here) in CertainTeed's exterior makeover contest.  We are crossing our fingers for this one.  It only takes a few seconds.  You can vote once every day by clicking the "Love it" button right here.

That was a lot of bidness. And with that, I wish you all a happy, happy weekend.  

Psst. I wasn't paid to promote Rugs USA, or their products. We really are just fans who like to hook their readers up.

Reader's Choice: From the Ceiling to Wall

This morning, before Chris's alarm even went off, I nudged him awake and said, "Wouldn't it be fun to get the readers involved in designing the studio?"  Even half asleep, he seemed enthusiastic about the idea.  It's not that I couldn't whip up a mood board and do, yet another, before and after of a room easily--it's that we have done that with every space in our home so far.  We decide, and work and then you spectate.  Eh, let's switch it up.  You decide (with our guided options) and we'll put the winning vote into action and then everyone is invested in the space.  I think it will be exciting, don't you?

And so, here is your first big decision and it has to happen before you (yup, y-o-u) can even decide on a specific paint color:

Option A--White walls and a white ceiling:

Source 

Option B--Light blue walls and a white ceiling:

source

source

Option C--White walls, painted ceiling in a bluish tone:

source

source

I whipped up a quick poll for you to cast your vote.  Feel free to add additional commentary, questions, concerns or ideas in the comments sections.  We have a lineup of things for you all to decide on and can't wait to get this studio renovated with your input.

A Starting Point for the Second Nursery

This morning, after breakfast, I told Greta she was going to help me do one of her favorite things--clean up!  We went upstairs and opened the door to that third upstairs bedroom that we haven't touched or used (other than to store our stuff) since we moved in over a year ago.  It was quite a mess:

You can tell from Greta's face how excited she was to be in this room.  It has a baby lock on the door so I am not even sure she knew this room existed (did you?).  Since we aren't certain when we will be blessed with another baby (more on that here), we have decided to turn this room into something we can use right now. Our first thought was a playroom, but to be honest--every room is a playroom for Greta.  Also, she doesn't have that many actual toys.  Her idea of fun is trying Chris's shoes, "washing" the dishes, drawing or even moving objects from room to room.  In almost every living space, we have a few things for her, like blocks or books, but we keep every area Greta-friendly and she seems happy with the arrangement.  All that to say, this room isn't going to be a playroom, but *drumroll* my studio (!!)--for now, anyway.

This morning, the room was filled with outgrown clothes, boxes, mattresses and decor items that we aren't using right now.  After a few hours, we had it all organized and cleaned out:

What a sight, eh? I figured this was the best time to snap some official "before" photos of the space since this is as cleaned out as it has ever been.  Plus, we wouldn't want to forget all the stenciling and pink that will be covered up soon.

The room is almost identical to Greta's room before we renovated it.  The corner shelves, the stenciled border, the light fixture and curtain...thing.  Unfortunately, these walls are in worse shape.  In some places it almost looks like they were shot with a BB gun or something.  Nothing a little spackle and paint won't fix. 

Speaking of paint, I am excited to decide on a color.  I want to keep it light, because I'll be doing a lot of photographing in this room, but also something that is inspiring since this will be my creative center of sorts--and I am forcing myself to step away from gray--at least on the walls. 

It's hard to believe this room is in our house, right?  It's also hard to think all of the rooms in our home used to look like this.  We are excited to bring this one up to par and finally make it a beautiful, usable space.  Who's with me!?  

Anyone else have a space that is just for them?  I have promised not to hog this room entirely (we have plans to add a little something for Greta, too) and I also promise not to call it a "mom-cave."  Ugh.  

We Can Be a Bit (Melo)Dramatic

Remember how we love entering contests--especially when it comes to contests that help us fix up the house?  Well, we're at it again.  It is no secret that we have been struggling with the exterior of our home.  In fact, not a day goes by that I don't wish I would run into the guy from Yard Crashers at Home Depot.  I'm about to set up a tent there and just hang out until he shows up (actually, that's not a bad idea if this doesn't work).  We entered a contest CertainTeed is having that gives the winning home owner $75,000 to help an exterior makeover.  If you're thinking, "Your yard isn't that bad."  Think again.  We haven't fully disclosed all of the problems that we face out there mostly because the list is ever-growing.  However, we crammed all we could into our 1:30, maximum-length video entry you can watch here.   

With the video, which is a yard tour like you've never seen (it's embarrassing, really), we also did a little photo shoot illustrating how our mood has changed regarding our exterior over the past year.  The sequence looks a little something like this: 

The top ten entries with the most votes head into the finals where judges will choose the winner.  We'd love if you would vote for us!  You can vote once a day (woot!), but you can watch our entry as much as you want.  Head over and check it out here.

Original, Soft, Abstract Art: Blues, Greens and Grays.

Remember my large 6'x8' painting I did for the dining room (you can catch the whole process here)?  It has gotten a lot of attention lately, which is amazing.  To the inquiring minds and readers, in response to your emails, I am sorry--this is not a tutorial for it.  And there probably never will be.  Some art there is no step-by-step to.  I hope you can understand.  

The good news is, I did a smaller one--the first of many, I hope--and added it to our Etsy shop.  I used the same colors as the one in our dining room--lots of greens, grays and blues--all on a slightly smaller canvas.  Let's face it, 6'x8' presents a lot of shipping problems.  Ha!  So this original, gallery wrapped painting on canvas is 24"x30" and ready to be welcomed into your home. 

Purchase the painting here.

Pinterest Hits and Misses

Sometimes I think that Pinterest was created just for me and for those just like me.  I used to have files and files of links and photos, labeled the best I could.  Note: labeling by date is the worst idea ever.  I utilize Pinterest on the daily--not only to store my inspirations, recipes, and also to organize some of my mood boards I am working on, but I am also constantly trying the things I pin.  Multiple times a week, I am referring to my pins and trying things out.   Rarely do we hear how things actually turn out.  Here are just 3 of our most recent hits and misses we found on Pinterest.  

1.  The Miss. Garlic Parmesan Edamame using this recipe.  Chris, Greta and I love, love, LOVE edamame--but this was not good.  It was so rich and messy!  Edamame is a finger food, and to handle each pod covered in garlic, parmesan and oil was just as unenjoyable as the overpowering garlic flavor masking the flavor of the soy bean.  Do yourself a favor and skip this one and stick to sprinkling edamame with sea salt.  

2.  The In-Betweener.  One Sunday morning, Chris and I set out to get our faces glowing with homemade pore strips using this recipe and tutorial.  The verdict:  It smelled ba-ad.  Like cheese puffs.  Which don't necessarily smell bad if they are cheese puffs, but we don't really like our cleansers--or faces--smelling like that.  After setting for about fifteen minutes on our faces, we peeled it off.  I can't say our pores were completely clear, but our faces were baby soft.  It was cheap and funny, made funnier because we couldn't move our faces to laugh with the hard shell spread over our cheeks. Worth a try.

3.  The It-Really-Works!  You may have seen pictures of green onion stubs in water floating around Pinterest.  Since we buy green onions almost every week, I thought I'd give a go at regrowing the ones we already sliced down.  By the next week, the green part had grown above the glass rim again ready to re-use.  My only mistake, make sure you tell everyone in the house why there are green onions in water on your windowsill for a week, or they might throw them out.  ...meh.  You'll have to take my word on this one--green onion stubs in water really do grow back.

What have you been trying on Pinterest lately.  Hits and misses?  We should all be informing/warning each other, right?

P.S.  You can follow us on Pinterest here!  Happy, happy weekend.  Hallelujah, it's here. 

Deb's Earthy-Urban Mood Board

I'm back to share another one of my favorite mood boards of the week.  I don't know what I would call the style of this room I put together for my client, Deb, recently--"Earthy Urban"?  Haha--we'll go with that.  Deb recently moved into a new place and asked for my help to infuse some life into it.  Her goal is to have it all put together by Memorial Day.  I am currently working on a large painting for her space, which is making me even more excited to see photos when it is all put together.  Here's what I came up with:

1 (Benjamin Moore Copley Gray), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

What would you call the style?  What's your favorite piece?  Me--I have been drooling over that ottoman ever since I picked it out for her.

Is there a room in your home begging for some help? Are you stuck in a design rut? Send photos and your dilemma to moodboards@chrislovesjulia.com and let's get started. Check out our Mood Boards page for more info.

Before And After: Entryway!!

First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for your concern yesterday--my nose is a little swollen and sore, but pain killers and your sweet comments are getting me through it.  I'm already cautiously laughing about it. 

Now onto the eye candy--our entryway solution.  Spoiler alert--it's a lot better than my little bamboo shoe rack I found last week:

Behold:

Yee-haw.  Our "entryway" is more of an entry wall, but we still wanted something that would solve our shoe storage problem and when I discovered this Hemnes shoe cabinet at Ikea, I knew it would be perfect.  It really anchors the new mirror and it did what not even the prettiest shoe rack could do--HIDE our shoes while storing them in the pull out compartments:

Once I showed Greta what this new piece of furniture was for, she had a good time finding all the shoes scattered around and throwing them in.  Hopefully that means our floors will be free of shoe clutter at all times.

Another aspect of this shoe cabinet that has us sold, was the depth of it.  It's only about 8.5" from front to back.  Because our staircase leads right down to the front door with this entry wall directly to the right, any traditional-sized console in this space could make things feel cramped.

This left us ample walking room:

I still am on the lookout for a pretty dish for catching keys, but other than that, we are loving the clean look. And since everyone loves a before and after, here's a look at where we started before the mini-revamp:

And after--with our new mirror and shoe cabinet in place:

Just for fun, I dug up the official before picture of the space showing how it looked when we first moved in:

And now:

Love it?  Hate it?  Can you believe we didn't have to adjust the height of the mirror at all once we got the shoe cabinet together?!  What luck we have.

Keyless Isn't Always Cool

Newest item on our wish list:

We have locked ourselves out of the house at least 6 times in the past year.  Luckily, Chris has always been able to save the day--but this morning he was at work and I found myself in the car wondering why our keyless car wasn't starting when I pressed the button.  In denial, I kept pushing the start button while simultaneously pushing the thought out of my mind that I left my keys inside of house that I locked minutes earlier.  A sick and sleepy Greta was already to go, strapped in her car seat and we weren't going anywhere...but we couldn't stay in the car all day either.  I left Greta strapped in, hoping Chris had accidentally left the back patio door unlocked from grilling last night. Nope. The side door?  Also locked. Dang, we're so responsible.  I had no other option but to start checking the few windows within my reach.  We are a one car family, so calling Chris at work with no option of him coming home to rescue me would do nothing but worry-damage.

Ah-ha!  The front window was left un-locked.  It was a good 5 feet up, but this was my only way in.  I shimmied it open as far as I could, trying to keep a grip on the smooth glass and then wondered how I was going to boost myself up there. My plan became to plant my hands on the sill and jump as high as I could and lock my elbows until I could somehow swing my long legs passed my arms and into the 2 foot opening.  What was I thinking?!  I am not a gymnast or an athlete.  The doubts all became very clear when I couldn't keep my elbows locked for more than 2 seconds and teetered stomach to sill for a moment longer and then went crashing face first into our home with my arms still pinned at my side.   My nose took the brunt of it.  The blood started gushing and my whole face was burning.  I stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a stack of napkins for my nose and found my keys on the counter.  The sight of them made me so mad--at them! This inanimate object I wanted to throw across the room because how could they not have found their own way into my purse.  Once I made sure I had my keys in hand, I locked everything up and went back out to the car to call Chris. "I think I just broke my nose."  And then the tears started and I could hear Chris getting worried, so I corrected, "I meant to say, we really need to figure out a place for our spare key. "  Cue whole story you just read.

So while we may not go for the obvious rock, announcing to the world where we are hiding our spare key is almost as ridiculous as hanging both house keys on the same ring.  Let's just count this as a friendly reminder to make sure you have a spare available in case of emergency--there are some great tips here.  Not everyone's nose is a resilient as mine.  ;)

*Screeeech.* Backtrack.

If there were two words to describe this weekend, they would be "Poor Greta."  She is so, so sick.  Her terrible, barking cough has meant no sleeping for days and today a runny nose was added to the mix.  Chris found this homeopathic cold and cough medicine approved for kids age 2+ (hooray!) and she is currently taking her first nap since Thursday.  

The other word to describe the weekend would be "backtrack."  In the midst of lots of snuggling and humidifying and baby Vicks, we managed to gather a few things to spruce up our entryway.  I had envisioned a beautiful wood shelf on brackets underneath our new, large mirror like this inspiration photo:

Our entryway would have a shoe rack underneath, since we absolutely need a place to stash our shoes when we walk in the door.  We live in reality around here, even if I wish I could have that vase of flowers and the floor free of shoe clutter--it just wouldn't work for us.  The shoes would still pile up underneath and the vase would last 30 seconds with Greta's little hands.  Eh well. I picked up a sturdy piece of wood at Home Depot and some stain and three brackets ready to make our shelf.  I also found a beautiful bamboo and oil-rubbed bronze shoe rack in the online classifieds that I claimed within minutes.  Once I got it home, and before I started on my shelf, I put my shoe rack in place and this in when the *Sccrreeeeeechhhh* comes in.

No.  No, no, no, no, no.  That wouldn't work.  It's not wide enough.  The styles don't match.  Even though the shoe rack is pretty, it doesn't match the mirror.  Darn.  I put it back up on the classifieds ten minutes after it was in our home.  (If you're local, here's the ad in case you're interested)  In addition to bagging the shoe rack, we have also bagged the shelf.  We are concerned any shoe rack is going to make things look cluttered under there, so we are backtracking and devising a new plan for our teeny entry wall. 

And to tell you the truth, it's already in the works.  Off to take full advantage of Greta's naptime...

Procrastination Nation

It was over a month ago, when I repainted our divider railing between the dining room and family room a shiny oil-rubbed bronze.  Without skipping a beat, I started on the large staircase and then I never finished it.  Really.  The bottom half (that required more cutting in) was still gray, and I brushed one coat of oil-rubbed bronze on before I got distracted...for over a month.  Our friends and family that have been over during that time even pointed it out and questioned what was going on.  I replied with nervous laughter, "Oh, we're always right in the middle of things around here."

Recently, I noticed how dated our high-traffic House Tour tab was, and I figured it was time to put the procrastination to an end so I could snap a new photo.  This one is currently the photo of the staircase in the House Tour:

Gray railings, the painting in the dining room before I finished it, and the built-ins aren't shown. Now for the updated photo:

Much better, or at least more true to life--and eons away from how it looked when we first moved into our home last April:


While both Chris and I do prefer the oil-rubbed bronzed railings, they still feel very stark to us.  Hopefully down the road, we'll be able to upgrade them all together.  As far as process goes, especially when it comes to cutting in near the carpet, I used the same technique I did when I painted the railings gray.  You can check out that video here.

I think our staircase holds the record for the most amount of transformations in a single year in our home.  You can see how it looked when we first moved in above.

Then, I added a slew of artwork:

Then the railings and spindles got a coat of gray paint:

Then I simplified things with a few family photos:

Then the railings and spindles got painted again:

While the ornate spindles aren't exactly our style, we are loving the classic oil-rubbed bronze look that will appeal to a broader group of people if we don't get the chance to change things before we sell.  Not that we are planning on selling our home anytime soon, but we don't plan on being here forever and when we're making decor decisions "what is best for resale" is definitely always on our minds.

So it took a month.  Okay, over a month.  But now it is done and it is the weekend!  Any fun plans?  We hope to make some progress in our entryway revamp and check out a new restaurant in town.  And who knows, maybe Greta will even want to sleep in!  :)

P.s.  We announced the winner of this week's giveaway here.