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Monday, March 31, 2014

Beth's room

Well I finally was able to tackle Beth's room!
It is not finished yet BUT the big part, the painting, is done!  Now comes the fun decorating part!
Since we had 5gals of Valspar - Filtered Shade (the color we used in the livingroom) I figured I would use that as the base color for Beth's room. I was planning boy or girl to do gray with an accent wall with stripes of navy or pink. 
I did 2 coats in the whole room, once that was dry it was time to measure out all the stripes. I decided to do 4 stripes in each color.. Each one measures 12inches.
After all that work it was finally time to get some color on the wall. I picked California paints - love letters. It is bright pink but not super bright.
I didn't want Beth's room to be super babyish or super girly because I really don't want to be redoing her room in 5 years! I wanted something she can grow with!


I am currently on the hunt for a navy blue rug, and I need to make a navy blue roman shade, again I want colors that Beth can grow with! 

We have nothing but her mirror, which I also painted (was mine and Chris in our old house) on her walls. To be honest we haven't had much time to do anything else to her room yet. I am waiting for some cute things from etsy to arrive :)
Hopefully will be done soon!


Sunday, March 23, 2014

We've been a little busy

Sorry for the lack of posts ... we have been a little busy lately!
We welcomed our daughter Elizabeth Joy to the world on March 6th.


You can check out our family blog Keeping up with the Murrays to see all the info!

We are making some changes to our living room (new couch yay!) and also painting Elizabeth's room so there will be a few new posts in the next week!

Xo's

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Glass and Stone

Wow, so I realized today it has been over a week since I last blogged about anything to do with the house.. SORRY!!!!
We have been crazy busy around the house getting ready for our little one's arrival. With that being said so much work has been done. We are trying to get as much done as we can as the little one could come any day now and getting things done is a lot easier with a toddler that likes to "help" then with a toddler that wants to help and a new born that wants to be held or fed or changed 24/7!

One big thing that still needed to be done was our kitchen backsplash! We had purchased the tile from Lowes back in December about 4 weeks before we closed on the house. We knew exactly the kind of feeling and vibe we wanted in our kitchen and we found the perfect tile!
We bought enough to cover 23sq.ft it cost us about $251.
This bringing our total kitchen update price to about $481!!!! So much better then the $1000's we could have spent!

So for anyone looking for a way to update their kitchen without breaking the bank Chris and I both fully recommend using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation and retiling your backsplash! It takes some work and time but so worth it!!

Here is a look at what our kitchen looked like the day we closed on the house....

Before anything was done
Here is the kitchen NOW!


I know we have said it before but we are so grateful to have so many handy people around us, and this project could not have been done without the help of my amazing father in law!
He came up to help and ended up doing most of the work since Chris was trying to fix our still leaking bathtub :(


We are both so pleased with how this turned out, we picked this tile because it looked modern, the glass gave it a little more feminine feel but the stone gave it the masculine feel that Chris wanted. The color also gives it a masculine feeling, and Chris loves to cook so I wanted to make sure he could do that in a space that he enjoyed!

We went with a gray grout, it blends with the tile but also makes the tile stand out, White would have been to much and would have pulled your focus from the tile to the grout.


You have probably noticed a "GRAY" theme in the house, our old house had a lot of brown, which I felt was really hard to match things to or to introduce new colors. Gray gives us the chance to play with fun patterns and other fun bright colors! We can add pops of bright blue, or yellow and it doesn't look at out of place because of the neutral background!

One pop of color you will always find in our kitchen is my orange kettle that Chris got for me our first Christmas as a married couple, and our green and purple mugs that are always by the coffee maker!



We have a busy weekend ahead of us... My parents are in town so we are going to be getting the guest room all set up! Well the bed at least! I have decided on colors or anything for that room and I am not rushing into it! I have a feeling I will be doing a fun accent wall, like in our master bedroom, but only time will tell!



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Those Swedes sure know how to decorate

This weekend we made a trip to Chris's favorite place... IKEA!!!!!
Please read that having the most sarcastic voice in mind. Every time we have been to Ikea we either forgot something or a piece was missing. It is safe to say when I mention the word "Ikea" or if Chris sees me looking at the website he starts his anti-ikea rant.

I on the other hand.. LOVE IT!!!
Ikea is my happy place.. I wish I could do my whole house in strictly Ikea, but for now I am happy to settle for a few pieces in every room!

We headed there this weekend with a specific list of things:
2. A side table in a fresh color to put beside fire place to keep Madison's Doc McStuffin's house on
5.Shelves for all of Chris' collectable CODE 3 fire trucks

As well as a desk, but we did not purchase that this weekend because the spot where the desk will go is still under construction, still fixing our leaky tub problem! We also didn't know which desk we would go with. While at the store I picked out the desk of my dreams..
This desk has everything I want, a spot for our printer, places to put a few pictures, shelves to put pens and all other "office" supplies on and this nifty little magnetic fold open file holder! To be able to put little notes on there about when bills are due, or upcoming things will be so helpful! Also the file holder is a great place to put the bills that need to be paid!
Hopefully this piece of furniture will be making its way to my basement in the next few weeks!

All the other items we bought were the exact items that I found online and knew I wanted!!
The Sofa Table is located on the wall behind the couch, opposite side of the living room from the fireplace.
I got it in white with the intention of eventually painting it a nice fun pop or color, but the more I look at it the more I love it in white! It is fun, clean and we don't have any white furniture in the house, other then Madison's room!
We are going to get 2 more bins for underneath (which will hide blankets, toys and some out door items since it is near front door).

Notice the awesome starburst mirror?? Well I bought that about 2 years ago at Home Goods, after spending a few months looking for one. I was so excited and had fully intended on hanging above our bed in our old house but it never made it's way up there. 
So yesterday when Chris FINALLY hung it up.. I was so happy that we finally found the perfect home for it!

Check back later this week to see the other fun Ikea products and how we are using them!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

1 Shade of Gray

CASTLE .. Thats the shade of gray we picked!
When we first looked at the property back in August I knew immediately I wanted to change the color of the cabinets! I started researching how to paint or stain the existing cabinets because we didn't want to invest a crazy amount of money into new ones! We know in about 8-10 years we want to do a renovation that includes blowing out the wall in the kitchen and completely redoing everything in the kitchen, so investing in new cabinets now didn't make sense, when the existing ones were in great condition.

The thought of spending a thousand + dollars on new cabinets didn't make sense to us, so in my research I found the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation Kit! It comes in so many different colors from white to black.. even red! The kit retails for about $69 at Home Depot, so we figured if we get 2 kits spending under $200 was a heck of a lot easier on our wallets then the couple $1000.
We knew it was going to be work and not something that was done over night but that was fine. I did most of the work myself and had some help for a few things! 

So simple a 8.5 month pregnant lady can do it ;)

They had a regular light stain and to me it was not aesthetically pleasing. I knew the vision I had for the house .. neutral grays with pops of color in the main areas, and colors in all the bedrooms! The light brown stain did not match this!

First off all the cabinet doors had to come off and be put in a work space, we used the basement, as it has tons of room, as well as windows and a vent so I was safe painting there. I also used a face mask to avoid inhaling any of the fumes.

The first step of the process is "de-glossing", basically throw on some gloves and scrub the crap outta the cabinets! You get the de-glosser and some scrubbing pads in the kit, this helps avoid having to sand (yay!). Do all 21 doors/ drawers took about 3 hours.. I scrubbed so hard to make sure to get all the dirty and gloss off!!
The following night Chris' cousin Kate came up and helped me de-gloss the frames which took us about 2 hours, we also taped the inside of the of cabinets so when we painted it didn't bleed.

The next day the painting started!
To do the first coat on all the drawers/doors took me about 2 hours.. then they needed 2-3 hours to dry.. so by the time I was finished it was time to start over!

Then came painting the frames.. this took longer as it is more tedious, to make sure you don't get it inside the cabinets!
 I luckily got some help with this part .. one of the men that works with my father in law finished it off for me as I had to get to work! Later that day I did the 2 coats on the front of the doors. The following day the "finishing coat" was put onto the frames .. we decided to skip the "glazing" step as we liked the more clean, modern look. This saved us a lot of as well.

Chris then did the final finishing coat on all the doors, as I was having a rough day and wasn't feeling up to it. 

When I came back the next day the hardware was on and the doors were back up! The whole process took about 5-6 days. If I had time to just focus on this project it might have gone a little faster but it was finished in time for us to unpack the POD and start putting things away!



I originally planned on going with white, but it was actually my mother in law that suggested going with a charcoal or a gray, because our counter is white and our backsplash (still to be completed) has white in it with pops of charcoal and greenish-blue. I am SO glad I listened to her .. we LOVE the color we picked.

This kit was super easy to use and the DVD it comes with, as well at the instructions are easy to follow! I am so please with this product and would have no issues using it again or recommending it to other people!

Chris was little iffy on the whole thing and I think was worried about it not turning out and ruining the cabinets BUT in the end he is so pleased with it and feels it completely changes the feeling of the kitchen! It got Chris' stamp of approval ;)


We HIGHLY recommend checking out this product for a quick easy change! It can even be used in bathrooms to change up your vanity!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

List Update


We have been incredibly busy around here lately.. trying to get as much done as we can before Baby Murray makes his or her grand appearance.
We have gotten ALOT done but still have more to do!
I didn't even get to making the lists for the basement!

More blogging will be done in the next few weeks because this coming week is my last week of work for while :) I will be able to take pictures and spend more time writing the blog!

Here are a few updates on our project list progress!



- Master Bedroom (66% complete) -
  • Paint the wall where our bed is going the color we have chosen is Olympic - Brigade
  • Order the new bedding I have wanted for a few months now.. (will do post of that later)
  • Move all our stuff in!
  • Make curtains or Roman shades for the windows
  • Add lights .. this house has NO ceiling lights in the bedrooms or living room!
  • Purchase a fun colored rug!

- Main Bathroom (20% complete) -
  • Purchase a fun colored shower curtain
  • Change out the gold faucets and accessories and put in silver
  • Remove the pedestal sink and add a vanity with some storage
  • Paint - havent decided on a color scheme yet
  • Add some fun storage above the toilet 

- Nursery (16% complete) -
  • Paint the room .. still deciding on exact colors but we are going for gray with stripes on the wall that the crib will be on!
  • Add recessed lighting
  • Make curtains for the single window
  • Have the baby to bring home to the nursery (thats a big one)
  • Once the baby is born add pops of hot pink or navy blue depending on the gender of baby Murray #2
  • Put crib together

- Madison's Room (71% complete)-
  • Sand and refinish floor in closet
  • Close off old pipes that are in the closet from the washer and dryer
  • Paint room Lavender Haze (the color Madison picked!)
  • Put in big girl bed and get Madison used to her big girl bed
  • Fix the track in one of her dresser drawers
  • Make black out curtains for her windows
  • Finish closet with an Ikea shelf and a few other fun things

- Kitchen (14% complete) -
  • Paint trim and door white to match this rest of the house
  • Paint the cabinets .. we are going to be using a rustoleum cabinet transformations kit and will be painting them a charcoal color to match the gray paint
  • Put up the glass tile back splash up that we got a few weeks ago
  • Change out the light
  • Take out laminate flooring and replace with hardwood
  • Matching stainless steel appliances 
  • Paint walls

- Living Room (57% complete) -
  • Knock down the wall on the left in the top picture to open it up to the kitchen, same as the wall on the right in the bottom photo
  • Paint .. the color we have chosen is Valspar Filtered Shade, this will also be the color of our kitchen and our hallway
  • Buy new couch
  • Find a fun colorful rug to add a pop of color
  • Hang tv, install electric fireplace,
  • Hang a few photos
  • SIT AND RELAX AND ENJOY.. getting closer to be able to do that!

Monday, February 3, 2014

and then the bath leaked...

Ahh.. the joys of home ownership.
This weekend felt like the never ending money trap.

First off let me explain to you that this house has not been lived in for 2 years, the owner was living in assisted living and her kids decided to sell the house. So we knew coming into it there would be some things we would have to spend the money on to fix.

It all started on Saturday, we had the oil company come out to service the boiler and hot water heater.. the guy working was awesome and so helpful! He showed us the service tags and how it said  "OH BOY" as one of the comments, that right there should have been a warning sign.

He told us he NEVER had a filter clog his vacuum! Luckily Madison and I were not home during all this. Thankfully, he got it cleaned out and working like brand new (yay no need to buy a new one!). Our boiler is back to working great.. we knew in the next year or 2 we will be replacing it (let the saving begin!). 

To add to this.. Chris car that he drives to the Bronx for work .. think old beater car that no one would want, is deciding its time to stop working. Mind you its a 1991 Mazda and has served its purpose.
We are now looking at a new vehicle for him.. leaning towards a Jetta, so good mileage, safe for the kids etc.. so more money heading out the door.

THEN...
This morning Madison and I headed downstairs for M to play and for me to finish our moving announcement mail outs I stepping in a pool of water right by the computer desk and noticed the pool of water sitting under my laptop.
My stomach dropped... I've had this laptop since I was in college to 2006 and it is FULL of so many pictures from before Madison was born. I have come to accept its probably NOT going to work and the files PROBABLY can't be saved as water was pouring out of it when I picked it up!
On the plus side our desk top that was there was fine! Thank god MAC's are a single piece that sits up a little higher.

So I started mopping up the water while trying not to cry over the laptop and began thinking what the hell caused this! 
Then my father in law said.. probably the bath that I took last night. The pipe probably needs to be drained. 
Remember how no one lived here for 2 years... well of course that pipe probably is clogged and hasn't been cleaned.

The best part of all this.. Chris was at work!  So happy monday and happy snowday to me!

I was joking around with my mom because her maiden name is Leake and I said it's probably grandpa Jay's way of screwing with me causing these all the leaking! But then I realized we've had a blue jay or jaybird hanging out in our back yard this week and I really thought ok its him.. so Grandpa.. I'd love if you stopped causing some problems and help us with the lottery numbers ;)