{Your Questions} My House

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.

I’d love to know more about resurfacing your kitchen cabinets.

Refacing
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.

Basically, you keep the base of your cabinet, but replace the cabinet door or drawer front. The base is then covered with a
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?

{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.

{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.

{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.

{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?