It’s time for another round of Q&A. I recently opened the blog up to any and all of your questions, and I’m slowly making my way down the list. First was my gut-wrenching revelations about Doing It All, and then came Blog Bidness.
Today, I’m answering your questions that were specific to my house.
This is hands-down, the most frequent question I receive. I’m sorry to report that I don’t have a link to share. We bought it seven years ago in Nashville, at a store called American Signature. Mr. Sugarplum thought I was crazy for buying a blue sofa, but I’ve yet to tire of it. The blue velvet is a gorgeous statement, but is still neutral enough to go with everything. You can see all the Living Room projects to-date here.
You’ve talked about your rockstar contractor…will you share his information?
Of
course! If you’re in the Dallas area, I have a great contractor and a
speedy, affordable painter. Just shoot me an email for their
information.
cabinets was a foreign concept to me, too. And what kept us from
remodeling our Kitchen sooner, is we assumed makeovers like that were in
the $50,000 range! But when our contractor introduced us to refacing (rather than replacing) the cabinets and drawers, we were able to tackle our Kitchen for about one-fourth that price.
thin layer of wood veneer that matches your door. We were able to
choose our door style (Shaker with hidden hinges), and color (Espresso). We also had them add taller crown moldings to give the cabinets more height and heft. We’ve had no problems with it, and everything looks as pristine as the day they installed it!
How did you paint your bathroom cabinets?
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| {Guest Bath Makeover} |
My name is Cassie and I’m a stripe-a-holic. Seriously. I’d paint stripes on just about every wall, surface and curtain, but that’d be weird. So instead I wear them almost every day. There is something so perfectly cheery and preppy about stripes.
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| {Outfit Inspirations} |
Also, the clean line of a well-painted stripe sets my OCD heart to racing. After your base color is completely dry, tape off the areas you want striped. If you want evenly-spaced stripes, there’s some math involved. But if you’re going willy-nilly, just place your painter’s tape of choice where you want it. I prefer Frog Tape, but get great results from Scotch Blue, as well. The key is to make sure the tape is level (if you’re going for a horizontally straight stripe), and pressed firmly to the wall or surface. If you have textured walls, be diligent about pressing in all those gaps.
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| {Lacquered Striped Pots} |
Then roll the paint on, with firm, smooth strokes (or spray if using spraypaint). You don’t want to blot around the tape because paint will bleed through. Here is the second most important part….as soon as you finish your last coat of paint, immediately peel the tape off. If you’re completely anal (ahem, you know who I’m talking to), you can touch-up any necessary spots with an art brush.
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| {Son’s Room} |
Like
I talked about in this post, yes, I do have outside help. I use a
service every 2-3 weeks, and it’s the best money I spend. Honestly,
while it’s difficult for me to admit I have help, I would sacrifice
about 100 other expenses before I’d give up that luxury.
But
the byproduct of being slightly OCD, is my house never gets too messy
or dirty. I clean the Kitchen counters every evening, sweep the main
living areas every few days, and don’t go to bed at night until
everything is put away. Yep, I even fluff and chop the sofa pillows. I
just love waking up to a tidy house, and I’ve found it’s easier to
maintain a clean house, than clean a messy one. Although I do have a
room and a few closets where the doors remained closed!
I
love the Method line from Target! They smell amazing and work great.
And it doesn’t suck that all the bottles match when lined-up under my
sink (that post coming up soon!).
In one of our earlier Lamp-A-Looza posts, the Master Bedroom made an appearance.
After a few years, I grew tired of the red floral Ikea bedding, and jumped on something more masculine during a West Elm sale.
Which meant the dressing table no longer coordinated. See, I was a blogger before actually becoming a blogger. I painted this piece red and glued zebra paper to the drawer fronts.
This dresser from my room as a child got a stripe treatment, and glass knobs found on eBay.
I’ll be tackling this room eventually, and have even started accumulating fabrics. But for now, it’s kind of a hodge-podge parade of heavy and dark wood.
As for any other un-seen rooms…you’ve seen the finished spaces….our Son’s Room, Daughter’s Room, Kitchen, Entrance Hall, Guest Bathroom and Pool Bathroom. And you’ve seen the rooms in progress…Living Room, Breakfast Room, Dining Room and Den. That leaves one bedroom and the Master Bath…both of which are on the Makeover List, too.
Whew! I think that answers your questions about my house…which means we only have one installment left….and I’ve cleverly named it ‘The Randoms.’ If you’ve got any more questions, feel free to email me or leave it in the comments. And spill it…do you have help? Favorite cleaning products? Or tips on locating a blue velvet sofa?
Thank you for sharing the secrets of your house with us! I love your style, as I too am a strip-a-holic!
The West Elm bedding is perfect with your bed – good choice. Can't wait to see the bedroom made over . . . whenever it happens!
Thanks for sharing. That's a good tip about the sponge roller. I've got some future furniture painting to do so that helps!
I'm exactly like you on the house cleaning front- always do pillow chops and counters before bed…hate waking up to a messy house. I had no idea that the sofa was velvet- so good!
Fun post, girl. I love that so many of us are pillow chopping and cleaning before bedtime. There is nothing like a cup of coffee in a nice tidy house!
Oh yes – that blue sofa was when I first fell in love with you! 😉 LOVE it – still do and I absolutely agree it's a great neutral! – I just hired some help – I finally gave up the idea that I could do it all – it feels so good to let someone help me.
Awesome tip on the cabinets! I'll definitely have to look into this!
I am addicted to stripes too! Thanks for sharing your tips. A good way to help paint stick on textured walls is to scrape the edge of a credit card along the tape to get it to really seal. I did this when painting my stripes and I didn't have any paint bleed.
I love these reader question posts! And yes, I have some help, too, and have the same pangs of guilt. There is just nothing like coming home after your house has been cleaned from top to bottom — it's heavenly!
I still love that couch of yours. So fabulous! And it was so fun reading the answers.
Our cleaning "style" sounds very similar. I too have to make sure my house is picked up every night before I go to bed. I am lucky enough to work full time during the school year at my local elementary school and have school vacations and summers off. During the school year I have someone that comes and cleans for us every other week. This really takes a lot of stress off of me and I would gladly give something else up to keep her if I had to cut something out of our budget!
I love everything you've done so far! It really inspires me to keep going with all our room makeovers. We've done the porch and dining room, and are midway through the bedroom and living room. The kitchen I just can't think about yet. LOL Oh well, little by little. . . . 🙂
Just got through with my nightly walk through! Have to agree that waking up to a tidy house is worth the extra effort. I love your rocking chair and I'm looking for one for our nursery. Do you know if that is a certain style of rocking chair? I've never seen one like that!