Currently Working On....

Wow, I am haphazardly working on quite a few projects at this point, but am focusing on the living room!

Last night I sanded all of our wood paneling which is currently painted semi-gloss white.  I had previously filled in all holes, nicks, and cuts in the wood and now have a super-smooth finish to start priming over!  This was a challenge, as the wood pile next to the stove definitely had wood just dropped or thrown into the corner - majorly damaging the wall.  David has removed most of the base boards in the living room, and will be taking the mantle off of the wall for me to paint as well. 

This space is going to be a challenge as we've never painted paneling before, but we can't wait for the outcome!  The room also has a whole wall of built-in shelving that will also be recreated - we will transform it by painting the now BRIGHT orange shelving a nice clean white.  I'm also considering a bead-board backing in the shelving area.  Room color - up in the air!  We've got two nice very very light tans on the wall for our constant consideration.  Home depot this weekend!

(I'll post the 'before' pictures shortly!)

STRESSFUL...But now more excited than ever!

WOW, David and I have had an amazingly stressful end of 2010!  We almost thought that our hopes and dreams of making this house our home were crushed!  On the date of our originally scheduled closing, Monday the 20th of December, we received an email from our Realtor...."Not going to close today, I'm calling you now."  That one sentence just made my heart drop, and later we found out that there was a problem with one of the banks' approval letters.  (We are purchasing a short sale - there are THREE banks involved!).  Needless to say, we had to wait for PNC to rewrite their approval letter in accordance with advice from our lawyer, who was worried about potential future title problems if the letter was not rewritten.  As many people know who have looked to purchase a short sale, these banks involved can take weeks and weeks to respond to any requests.  AND, this new letter had to more clearly state how much profit this bank and the one in line after it would be making (as many know, proceeds from a short sale or foreclosure are distributed in the order of the lien recorded - PNC was the 2nd in line with one more bank following it).  The third bank was actually going to receive more funding from the sale of the house than the second - usually a big no-no that banks won't accept.  Therefore, this one little letter put David and I on edge as we waited the outcome of the board meeting - it really put a damper on our end of year celebrations. 

Thankfully, we heard on New Year's Eve that PNC had met and revised the letter!  We were ecstatic and scheduled our new closing date - tomorrow, the 5th of January right away.  I really feel like writing that board a Thank You letter, because they could have so easily denied our new request, once they saw that they, as the 2nd lien-holder, would not be receiving a greater amount of funds than the 3rd lien-holder.  So....as I write this I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no other problems arise as we head to Annapolis to finally purchase our new house that has been SEVEN months in the making!

I am sure that many people are interested in the short sale process - what it entails, what to expect, how it works - so I will make sure to create a post that fully explains our experience.  For better or worse, it has helped us to be able to afford a home in the area that we love.  :) 

YAY for move in time!

How do you feel about upholstered beds?????

No, for real, what do you think?  I'm torn, and I'm no designer...any insight/thoughts would be appreciated!

Furniture, furniture, furniture!

We are only a few days away from closing, so right now we are working to determine the logistics of the whole crazy process.  I swear, the number of things that have to be done to move are just ridiculous...all of the address changes, utility setups, and car-related matters just pile up!  In the midst of this, one thing on my mind is the furniture we will need for this home - we've never had anymore bedrooms than two, and when we left NC we sold one of our bedroom sets.  Also, our ill-planned purchase of an off-white couch has necessitated its placement in the backhouse/party room area!  Therefore, we're going to need two bedrooms worth of furniture and a new living room set.  Fortunately, I have lots of ideas!  I've decided that this time around, I am going to buy what I really want rather than what's on sale.  I am looking into a leather couch and loveseat and an accent chair in the living room, a classic wood sleigh bed and dresser for the master bedroom (our first king-sized bed!), and a country/homey feeling off-white cottage style queen sized bed and dresser for the downstairs bedroom.  Our current bedroom furniture will make its way into the guest room.  :)  We are going with a warm brown for the leather couches, and I've got my eye on a set from Haverty's that David and I sat in and LOVED.  It looks great, of course, but most importantly it is super comfortable and smooshy.  The arm-rests are at the perfect angle to take an afternoon snooze while watching television.  Because all of that brown has the ability to make a room seem dark, I found THIS CHAIR:


I LOVE it!  It will coordinate perfectly with the colors we've had our eye on for the walls.  My friend Bre has a great accent chair and it just makes her living room feel so comfortable, so I know its a necessity.

So, one more step will be completing after closing on Monday...we're headed to the furniture store to place our order!  Good thing they have two-year no finance charge credit right now!!!!! 

My Dream Bed

I want this bed AND this bedding set SOOOO bad for our master bedroom!  Too bad Pottery Barn shipping costs are off the charts.....

In my last post, I explained that I was looking for a great grasscloth wallpaper for our office.  Well, I found a few examples that show how great this fabric will look on the wall! 

Here is a darker version:


And here's a great lighter version:


Either way, from what I've read it is a great wallcovering option for an office - grasscloth wallpaper is made of many different types of natural grasses such as jute, seagrass, and bamboo.  Because of the multi-textural dimension of the fabric, this type of wallpaper easily hides pin-pricks in the wall made from hanging different paperwork in the office.  It also provides a great contrast to the many bright white built-in bookcases that line the walls of the office.

I found it interesting how grasscloth is harvested and the product is made.  A site I found explains, "Grasscloth wallpaper begins with the harvesting of the natural fibers. Many of these grow along wetland areas, stream banks and mountainous regions. The fibers are isolated from leaves, sometimes fermented and individually chosen for their natural beauty. They are woven together alone or in combination with other grasses and fibers, producing hundreds of different styles."

I find it so interesting that we can layer these type of grasses on the wall to create a natural, harmonious element within a space that is usually used by a person while they are highly focused and possibly anxious.  Maybe this wallpaper will have a calming effect while we both work hard on our graduate degrees!?  I also love that we're bringing nature's elements into the house.  Because this home is in a river-front community, using grasses that line a riverbed seems perfect!

First Things First

Immediately after move-in, I have plans to complete two items fairly quickly, in order to get the house 'finished' to my liking.  First, I need to get someone over to drywall our currently unfinished laundry room, drywall inside of our pantry to 'finish' it (currently it is a a cavity tucked into the hallway with 2x4s for shelving), and to reframe and drywall around a window the current owners had replaced with a smaller one.  I'm anticipating this to be a no-nonsense step that can easily be completed by a handyman, of which we have a few recommendations from friends.  Although I'm sure David and I could hang the drywall, it is important to me that the drywall hung be professional, so that the room can stand up to the next rounds of decorating. 

(Pictures of the unfinished areas to be posted soon).

During this time, our job is going to be ripping down all existing crown molding and baseboards that don't live up to our standards.

Then, I can get to painting (and even wallpapering.. )!  I have a few color schemes in mind, and I'd like the opinions of friends and family on which ones to go with.  We're looking at neutrals in shades of brown, blue, green, yellow, and grays that can all flow well together.  We don't want our house to look like an easter egg, so each shade will have barely a touch of the primary color included over a greyish tan base.  I'm going for a 'coastal' look with soft calming colors that make everyone feel comfortable wherever they may be in the home.  I'd also like to bring the feel of Wilmington with us to Edgewater!  These colors seem to all go well together and pretty much any furniture or decorating scheme will mesh with these ideas.  Definitely no more primary colors or hard solids on my walls!

Soon, I will have a floor plan up so that it will be easier to evaluate each option, but take a look at these colors:


Sherwin-Williams:  Urban Putty (For Entrance, Living Room, Hallways)

Here's a picture of it in a home:



Sherwin-Williams: Rainwashed -2nd Color Down (For Kitchen and Dining Room)  Is this more of a blue or green?  It looks different in various pictures I've seen it utilized!

Here is a picture of it in a home: (Looks green here, doesn't it?)


And I'm not sure what this very very light purple/gray is, but I love it.  I found this off of the Martha Stewart website and will need to do some more research.  I'd like this color in the bedroom downstairs:

More to come soon!  I've found an amazing sawgrass wallpaper for the office, and have to track down the yellow I'm looking for.