Boys’ Bedroom

Close(t) Encounters

Published on May 2, 2012May 2, 2012 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

I mentioned the lack of organization in the new house. Not only in the form of unpacked clutter, but a lack of storage space. Sure, the mountain house is larger than our first house, but the current storage is inefficient at best. Take our entry closet for example.

On the top shelf are two floating store-bought shoe racks. Neither are wide enough for the closet, nor tall enough for Ben’s work shoes. So we’ve got a pile of shoes on the floor. I did add a large hook for my purse and a hanging Ikea organizer to corral the most used shoes from the pit below.

The boys’ bedroom closet is rocking a similar look. A heap of clothes and bins of diapers at the bottom, crammed clothes on one rod (we’ll add a second rod soon) and two shelves above.

The linen closet is my best friend right now. It’s huge and holds the usual linen-y stuff; towels, blankets, and pillows. But, it’s large enough to pull double duty as our vacuüm and toy closet. Supervision required board games on top:

Bins of toys (which lived in our entertainment centers at the first house) on the bottom. And a chair so I can reach the top shelf.

Of all the existing storage, the master closet is the most useful for us. Plenty of shelves to hold my purses, pajamas, and such.

Ben’s side is similar, holding his t-shirts, socks, underwear, and shorts. Plenty of hanging space for each of us, including hooks for belts and hats.

In fact, we’ve got room to spare. This center shelving is bare, as is most of that top shelf.

I can hang all my clothes on one rod, leaving room for hangers and a huge pile of laundry on the floor. Gotta get a new outlet to get the dryer hooked up. Overall, we love the house. We’re just missing our built ins and organization. Did you notice I finished the paint? I love the color, Ben said. “It’s okay…for a closet.” He said he hated it at first, but I think it’s growing on him. Maybe not enough to paint the bedroom walls though.

How do you organize closets? Do you prefer built-in shoe racks? Hanging systems? Do you sort your clothes by color and sleeve length like I do? Have to have matching hangers? Share your secrets!

Move In Ready

Published on April 30, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode21 Comments

On Friday, I mentioned we moved in to the mountain house, as Ben calls it. I think a moment like that deserves a celebration of pictures. So, here’s the mountain house, filled with our crap, I mean furniture.

The entry isn’t huge, but we have a rug and storage bench for putting on shoes.

Our old sectional, which lived in the theater room at the first house, fits in the new living room with plenty of space.

We arranged the furniture to face the television about 2 1/2 feet from the window wall. I have high hopes for bookshelves on either side of the window and a window seat between.

Small end tables and a bookshelf turned entertainment center work for now.

Ben built that bookshelf for V’s nursery and we’ve had it in the basement for the past few years. It is the only piece of furniture that can serve this purpose until we get a chance to build a proper entertainment center. This also means Ben’s kick butt surround sound system is tucked away for the too small shelf. Once we finish the bathroom, we’ve got this on our to do list.

Okay, enough of my whining. Here’s our empty dining room. The stool and lantern are for the deck and the chairs are there as additional seating.

Some day we’ll buy or build a large table to go in here, but that’s not a priority. Right around the corner is my office. I’ve got my craft and shop supplies in the lower cabinets and lots of electronics on the desk top, but it’s totally functional.

Jack has deemed this her spot, so I tossed a few towels down to keep her cozy until I can make her a little dog bed.

Then there’s the kitchen. Oh, the kitchen. Even though this kitchen is at least twice the size of our other kitchen, we’re quickly learning the main cabinets are poorly laid out. Not as much storage as it appears to have.

So we’ve been stashing most kitchen stuff in the giant pantries.

That pretty French door fridge above? I hate it. Ben packed up all the food from the fridge and freezer at the first house on Friday. The fridge contents fit without a problem. However, the two drawer freezer couldn’t hold an entire box of frozen foods. As I tried to cram everything in, getting more and more frustrated while cursing the LG designer I started crying out of annoyance. The stress from packing while watching two little boys and unpacking had gotten the best of me. Luckily, we have space in the utility room for a chest freezer, so Ben bought one yesterday. Rant over. Check out the breakfast nook we’re using as the dining room.

That large window is a great place to watch the wild life in the back yard.

Friday night we had five deer visitors, right off the back patio.

It was chilly over the weekend, so Ben built a fire and we roasted marshmallows right in the family room.

Figuring out a layout for this room was tricky. We have several traffic patterns; one from the stairs, another from the hall, and a third to the sliding door. This works best, keeping everything centered on the fireplace and windows. Too bad we don’t have close enough outlets to plug-in the lamps.

I’ve moved my books from the old office into the guest bedroom. The pile on the bed is my sewing machine and 20 yards of fabric for curtains.

We’re still working on the main bathroom, so we’ll share pictures soon. Floor tile has been delayed and should be here tomorrow. The boys’ bedroom layout is very similar to their old room, just a few feet wider. Here’s V’s side, complete with a dresser due to the lack of organization systems in this house.

E’s side is so bare right now, but he does have a faux Jack to keep him company.

The last bedroom, our bedroom. We sold our bed to the buyer and we’re using the old guest bed for a while. Ben hates the headboard covering the window.

I finished painting the closet over the weekend and put our clothes away. Instead of a pile of clothes, we’ve got a stack of empty bins. Wahoo!

Ugly master bathroom with an awesome steam shower. Still ugly despite a few accessories. I guess putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t make it pretty.

You want to see something that really isn’t pretty (and kind of stresses me out)? The basement.

It’s funny because we’ve gained square footage over the last house, but we’re desperately lacking built-in storage. Not to mention we’ve lost two bedrooms (hence the mattresses) and practically two bathrooms. The main bath is under construction and the basement bath is just gross, leaving us with the master bath. Eventually we’ll get there, but I think the basement will look like this for a while.

Ben and Handy Sammy hauled over the washer and dryer, too. The plug for the dryer isn’t the same as the outlet though.

So that’s how we’re living in the new house. I’ve off to pack up the few remaining things at the old house and then I’ve got some sewing to do. Mama needs black out curtains in hopes of getting the boys to sleep past 6:30.

What did you do over the weekend? Do you have a sewing project in your near future? How about a move?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Chasing Alila & Design Samples

Published on April 20, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

Last Friday we asked what you were ‘chasing’ or planning. Until last week, we were chasing our new house. Not that we’ve closed, we’re chasing moving into it and closing on our first house. The winner of the Chasing Alila giveaway, Wendy, is chasing after a new job and house. Good luck, Wendy!

Now, let’s talk design samples. I borrowed the sample board from the tile shop to see which colors looked best in our bathroom. Like I thought, I want Cebu Aqua on the floors with charcoal gray grout (to hide dirt from little feet) and Cebu Moka with white grout for the shower surround. While I think the Silver is pretty, it’s just too dark for dim our space.

I haven’t landed on a paint color for the bathroom yet. Maybe a pale gray? Perhaps a very light tint of the vanity color? What I do know is the color I want for the main areas. Wood Smoke by Glidden.

It was my second choice for the living room at our first house. And it looks perfect in here, on the sample.

Not terribly dark, but not pale. I grabbed a few dark gray swatches too, to see what I thought of those. Seal Gray (also Glidden) is no darker than the red accent wall, but it’s too dark to paint the entire living and dining rooms with. No accent walls either.

However, I do want a dark color for the master bedroom. The current blue is both dark and ugly, but I don’t mind the dark. The room is bright enough with sunlight streaming in through those south and east windows. Especially once we add a king bed with white bedding, pale floor to ceiling curtains (maybe white with detailing? maybe a different light color?), and white trim and doors.

Dragonfly by Ben Moore (left) is my first choice for the moody blue-green. If we’re playing it safe, I’d choose Caribbean Teal (the middle color on the right strip). Basically it’s a darker version of the color we have in the kitchen and dining rooms at our first house.

In this house, I don’t want to play it safe. I want to go with my first choice, even if it might look terrible on four walls. It’s only paint and can easily be changed, so why not take a chance, right?

And really, anything is better than the current poor coverage blue. Eek to those sconces, too.

When I ask V what color he wants his new room, half of the time he’ll say green. The other half he says yellow. Green is his favorite color, but I think he wants yellow because that’s what his other room is. I think I’ll split the difference with a yellow-green. I prefer Refined Tan, an Ace Hardware color (on the bottom left). It might be a tad bright, but I like the general color.

Perhaps I’ll get a 75% tint. Or maybe I’ll get full color and temper it with other neutrals. I already have a plan for curtains.

All I know is I like it and so does V. Ben said he doesn’t care either way. Sadly, we can’t paint either of these bedrooms right away because we (ahh hem, Ben) has popcorn ceiling to scrape off. I’m sure the walls will get dirty in that process and I’m too lazy to paint the walls twice. So not looking forward to painting those heavily textured walls in our bedroom.

What do you all think? Do you have a favorite yellow-green color? Which blue would you choose? Do you prefer light or dark colors in a bedroom?