Interior Barn Doors - I'm drooling now...

I couldn't be any more in love.

Barn Doors...

INSIDE?!

Yes please!!

Look at how gorgeous they are??

I just texted Husby a picture of the one below...saying "how great would a barn door be in the basement as the door for the pantry??"

Poor guy is cranking out work as fast as he can to prepare for our new carpet/flooring being installed in less than a month!

(side note...how cute is the chalkboard note "dog" pointing to the dog bowl in the picture above?)

And sure...we just built the pantry and installed a pocket door. So covering it up wouldn't be too harmful!! Right?!

+++ (and here's my Husby selling point) we can make it totally masculine looking...since that's the vibe we are going for down there (in the front half of the basement at least). I am thinking metal hardware and maybe a whitewashed grey/blue door to match the walls??? ehh? ehh? I love it!!

What are you lovin' right now?

Gettin' primed and ready!

We've been looking at alot of these lately...because it is almost time to PAINT the basement!! I know right...I'm kinda dying over here!!The exact colors will remain a mystery...unless you have been to my house in the past week, then you will have a good idea of what we are going with...although Husby has decided that now he is worried about some of our my bold color choices...*sigh*

(...and the lighting in this picture does these colors no justice at all...so stop gagging on the dirty mustard color to the left...I can hear you all the way over here. I haven't completely lost my mind.)

The basement as been completely drywalled and sanded...drywall guy has been paid...and we are ready for paint!

Wanna see?

Of course you do...and I know some of you are saying, "Wait! I thought it was going to be a secret?!" Well, that was our intention...errr well Husby's intention...but he has loosened the reigns and I am free to share photos!

yahoooo!

Before I show you...allow me to boggle your mind with how far we have come...(now, these are the original before's...but they are "before" enough to serve my point today.)

Remember, this is the original basic layout (computer renderings) of the basement...some things have changed...i.e. the Snack Bar area.

So, without further adieu...our new basement with legit photos...(more before and afters coming soon!)
 
This is just right of the bottom of the stairs...basically standing where our office desk will go...looking into the Game Room. The Pantry is in that room to the left. The far closet on the right holds utilities like BGE meter and sump pump. The Closer closet to the far right is storage and electronics (for TV).


Please note each corner, besides doors and windows is a rounded bullnose corner...I am in love with them!

This was our view about 6 months ago, basically looking towards that far wall between the left wall and the first coloumn...

And here's another before...kinda...in this picture you are actually in the Game room standing by the pantry door and looking towards the closet areas...

In comparison to original rendering...not too bad!

This view is standing in the Snack Bar/Bathroom hall area facing the TV wall...where we will put our new 55" LED HDTV....booyaaahhh!
The Office will go to the right...

Snack bar area...

Which will look something like this...colors and arrangement may change, but will include cabinets and a mini-fridge.

Here, you are looking into my Studio here. The set up has been arranged in my head about 80 different ways...I think I am just going to have to wait for furniture to really lay it all out. More than likely though, you are looking at the Photo Nook, where I will house my backdrops, etc.

This is pretty much the same view from before...

This is the left side of the same room above.
My TV will sit up in that top left hand corner (where the blue tape is).

 

Isn't it GREAT?!?!! We are just too excited. Next is paint, then flooring...if all goes well...we may have a complete basement by...June?! That's my hope at least!!

We'll share more soon!!

Kitchen Makeover - Is it too late to change my mind?

I know. We just re-did the Kitchen back in '06 (at least I think it was in '06...ha)  and oh how I wish we were re-doing it now, because my style...gosh even our style has changed. So follow along in my little dream world. It's so pretty here...and one day...maybe one day...we can do a kitchen overhaul, on a budget and get just what I am looking for!

this post is heavy on the pictures...

but I couldn't show you what I loved...

without including them...

enjoy them with me...

drool with me...

dream with me...

:)

First of...I want white cabinets and stainless steel. Even though I liked stainless steel back then, we just couldn't afford it at the time. Thanks to younghouselove.com for many of these pictures!

I love butcher block and dark countertops...

 

I love Subway tile!

I love open shelving or glass front cabinet doors...

And as you can see in MANY of these pictures, I love splashes of color...teals, yellows, greens, even orange! I want a greyish color on the wall with hints of blue in it. I want to add those nickel plated or black rounded/cup drawer and door hardware. I want big glass canisters holding my flour, sugar and brown sugar. I am lost on the floor. Part of my would love to continue the wood from the rest of the house, but I don't think that's possible. :/

So far, I have come across one kitchen that seems to embody it all...it's my favorite

over at...Odd Girl Out.

It has the subway tile backsplash, and the pops of color...the stainless steel...and dark countertops.

It has open shelving, even if it's just a little bit of it.

Open canisters and more pops of color...and look at that tile...gorgeous!

I even love the technically exterior light fixture she used!

*sigh* A girl can dream right?

Bedroom Shelving - the votes are in!

So about two weeks ago I asked for ya'lls help to decide on where to hang some shelves in our Master bedroom...and many of you came in with your votes!

Option 2 came in with three votes:

Option 3 got four votes...

And Option 5 got four votes...

I kinda feel like I like Option 5 the best, it gives me lots of space for storage...BUT...I don't know that I have the "stuff" to fill it up. And I think that Option 2 doesn't offer enough space...

Soooo....we are going with Option 2. Just enough space, but not too much. :)

Seems like a nice happy medium option yeah? Now to install...maybe Husby can watch while he is "resting." ;)

Board and Batten Hallway - Could we?

So I know I have mentioned Board and Batten before, here and here. I LOVE the design. I think it's such a clean, chic look. I had toyed around with the idea of adding it to my Family Story Wall, but I think it would be a bit too much for that small room. (If you look past the living room, you can see the Dining Room and the wall we are planning to use for our Story wall on the right.) We had already added crown molding and we are planning to use the "ten dollar shelves" (from Anna-White.com) on our Story wall...so adding more "stuff" just didn't seem like a great idea.

So, I got to thinking...where can I add board and batten...I mean, I'm to the point where I need it so badly that I HAVE to have it. :) Some designs are just that good. :)

Then, it hit me. The hallway.
But is it too small a space?
Oh, but wouldn't it look so good?!
And then I can finally make myself pick out an actual paint color for the top of the board and batten.
Hmmm...

So I hopped over to Google images...one of my online BFF's.

Here are some of the ideas I came across.

(image from here)

(image from here)

Oh, I think this is doable. Would this be a great place to incorporate the board and batten design? Our hallway now is so boring and plain and white. I want to include pictures too...but is my hallway too small to add picture on the ledges, or even have little ledges at all?

Thoughts?

Bedroom Shelving - Nobody puts shelf-y in a corner!

Was that title straight cheesy or what? My b. It's been one of those goofy days.

Alrighty then...on to the reason I am posting...I have some great little white shelves that Mom got for me from Goodwill. I loves her longtime. I know what I want to put on the shelves, and around about where I want to put them...but now quite h o w I want to install them.

So that's where you kind folks come in.

I needs opinions.

You ready? Ok...so here's the plain corner of our master bedroom where the shelving action will take place...

Some minor information that may impact your decision...The left-hand wall is slightly wider than the right-hand. So keep that in mind when  making your decision.

Ok...onto the options...and yes, I used photoshop to do this...isn't it grand?! Annndddd....here are the shelving pieces that we have, although in each option all pieces may not be incorporated, this will help if you have any OTHER ideas. (Or if you know the layout of my room and may have other ideas for where they could go.) *cheese* :)

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

(by the way in this picture those two middle pieces would be together to make a corner piece, even though it looks like there is a space in-between!)

So? Thoughts? Which Option do you like? Or do you have other ideas? HELP! I cannot decide!!

Houses into Homes

So I want to share with you guys two of my FAVORITE Houses that I have come across in the Bloggy world.

Both have made their houses into beautiful, warm homes...and boy do I wanna steal some of their ideas...here are some of what I consider "theft worthy." :)

...by the way...all pics come from House of Smiths and House*Tweaking

I love this entry way...the muted colors...the sense of Family...love.it.

I love this Board and Batten wall...I want one...somewhere in my home!

I love how she decorates her Kitchen/Dining Room wall for each season...

 

So cute!


And of course, we all know how I feel about her Pantry...seeing as how I completely made my pantry to look like hers...somewhat.

Drop by her Blog...House of Smiths...check out all her tutorials...it's just a super cute Home!

Now...onto House*Tweaking...seriously. I want to just move into her Home...

I love her Dining Area...

 

And her Kitchen...love.it.

Ugh...and I LOVE this wall leading into that area...

Don't even get me started on how wide-open and airy it is...

Then...there's the Powder Room...I so wanna try that circle painting technique somewhere in my home!

And see that over there...

Yeah. That's her tucked away mud-room. *sigh*

I know...it's bad looking at all this...makes me wanna dip out of work early and go home to make my home even more HOMEY...haha! But I need money to do that...and need my job to get money. Ugh. Vicious cycle. :P

So what homes are you lovin'??