Ice Box

A new item that I'd been hunting for years to add to our Butler's Pantry...

It fits perfectly between the cabinets and the doorway.  

We had previously had a little wine fridge sitting on a side table in this space, but it stopped cooling and it really didn't match in here anyway!

I'm using it for storage... 

bread, rolls & bagels in the top; bottles in the bottom (the metal shelf is removable).

As I posted that link above to the Butler's Pantry post, I realized that I never posted any final/finished photos.  I'll have to take some and update that!

Backyard Decorating

A few little items that we added in the backyard!

A Butterfly house that we got as a Christmas gift:

We re-used one of the old fence posts to stand it on.  

We still have to paint it the gray of the privacy fence.

The butterfly bush is going to be re-planted from the side of the house (where it was moved before construction on the backyard began) to a spot nearby.

I've been going back and forth on what to do around the sundial.  Putting in plants would mean digging up the leveled foundation underneath- which would cause a hassle if I decide to go with the blue stone that I think I really want.  So I don't want to do anything too permanent for the time being.

I found these rocks in the craft section of the store and bought a bunch.  

They reminded me of the rocks on the beach we always went to when I was growing up!  

The boys picked out a few rocks that they liked on a recent trip to California and added them to it too.  

I think we will make this our little memory rock garden for the time being, adding a few from each trip we take!

Finding a Decorative Fix

There was one imperfection with the Butler's Pantry cabinetry... It had a hole that had once been cut for an outlet to go.  Since our space was longer than the space the cabinetry was originally built for, this was now exposed.  I thought about patching it, but decided that would draw more attention to it, and if we re-finished the sides to blend it in, we'd lose that rustic patina.

I figured that hanging something over it would be the easiest fix, but it's sort of in an awkward spot though. I decided to just wait and see if I could find something to cover it up that would make sense at that height.



At a tag sale over the summer, I found the fix!  This cute little rectangle basket was just .25!  I took a yellow ribbon that I had up with my sewing stuff and just hung it over the hole.  Then I put some of our family recipes in it.  Now those are kept handy too!

Cleaning up! (The Laundry Room)

I can't believe the last blog post on the laundry room was when it got painted.  For quite a while, we had it functioning, but not looking so pretty.

I had lots of decorating plans for in here though!

Here's where we are now!

Well, that's with everything put away.  It's usually more like this... (I will admit I did remove several laundry baskets filled with dirty clothes out to the hallway for the pics!)

Having the laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms/bathrooms has been a game changer!  No more baskets of laundry waiting to be folded, or piles of folded clothes waiting to go upstairs, on the first floor. It truly saves time & effort.

I like that there's enough room for me to leave the iron board up.  I use it to sort clothes when I'm folding.  I'm also wearing more items from my closet because the decision isn't based on what doesn't need to be ironed!  It's not such a hassle to quickly press off a blouse that needs it, rather than pass right by it.

The shelves above the washer & drier were from the local home improvement store.

The old wringer was strategically placed on the washer to hide the hose connections in the back.

I still am annoyed with the plumber for placing them so high up.  Speaking of the plumber... he never did get the laundry room sink installed.  That's still sitting on the floor.

Can you tell the plumber was the one part of the project that I completely disliked?

After fighting to get him to fix the upstairs heat from November until June ('cause who needs heat all winter!?!) we're just glad to be rid of him. In addition to poor workmanship, he gave me the creeps.

Anyway, enough of that- back to the happiness of the finished laundry room!

This little guy is a clothes line...

On the wall above the ironing board, I hung up some cross stitching and sewing items.

On the wall behind the door, the blue cabinet fits nicely.   It holds all of the laundry detergent, drier sheets, etc.

I put some hooks on the wall to store extra hangers.
I still need to figure out something for the wall above the blue cabinet.

When the door is open, you don't even see that stuff.  

View from the hallway

Some detail shots:

Master Closet- FINISHED!

As I posted about the accent wall stencil, I was looking back and realized that I hadn't put up any photos of the finished master closet!

Here's the view when you enter (from the master bathroom)...  details on the print & stockings hanging there can be found here.

Looking back towards the doorway from inside the closet...

we hung a cabinet for holding perfume & cologne behind the door.

Once inside, Mike's section has been organized.  We placed a couple of baskets up top for hats & small items.

The vintage shoe shine kit (wooden box on bottom left) was a find at an annual rummage sale!






If you were to spin around the room, you'd next come to the vanity that I fixed up a few months ago.  And then my clothes.
























When you stand over in front of the mirror, and look back... you can see the other blank wall that I had to work with in here.  (To the right is the doorway into the master bathroom).

We decided to put the hooks I found at a recent yard sale here!

I also picked up the clothes hamper that mimics the accent wall pattern.

Accent Wall in Master Closet

From the master bathroom, you look into the master closet at a blank wall.  I considered filling this with hooks and hanging my scarves & chunky necklaces there, but was worried this would look messy & cluttered after a while.

This before photo is quite a bit before... the moldings & doors weren't installed yet!
But it's the best shot I had that shows the view of the closet wall from the bathroom.

I decided to do the same stencil that I did in the little hallway off the other side of the bedroom.
Instead of metallic purple on gray, I decided on silver over the purple wall.  But I used the same method, so feel free to check that post for more details.

This project was on the back burner, so to speak... so it took months to complete.  I had the stencil drawn out before Thanksgiving.

The wall is 4 feet wide, and just under 8 feet tall.

I bought 6 little bottles of the paint, but only ended up using 3 of them!  I found success using the little paint brushes- easy to control and stay in the lines.

Over the last 4 months, I squeezed this project in between work, kids' sports practices and other house projects (usually getting just 1-2 hours in at a time).  

The pattern took three coats of the silver to look really solid.
The first coat was the most tedious, but it got easier & faster with each additional coat.

The print was a yard sale find from two years ago!  I paired it with a brass hook & hanger that my mom gave me, and a vintage pair of stockings that were my grandmothers and were packed away, new in their tissue paper.

Here's the new view from the master bath...