ATH: Rapids Upstairs?!

I am so thrilled to be bringing back my Around The House posts in 2016.  In case you weren't aware this was my hot and heavy blog topic for two tumultuous years.  We decided to rennovate our house in 2013 and did with much success.  Then in 2014 the house literally collapsed.  I chronicled it here on the blog.

You may or may not know that I'm a construction freak, decorating nut job, and well....life just doesn't seem like it is exactly right unless we have a project to attend to around the house.  Is it a passion? An addiction? Obviously.

On Monday I shared my Spring 2016 Bucket List.  I can tell you it was ALL house & home inspired ideas.  Since the bucket list fits my ATH theme so incredibly well I have decided to overlap the two this season.

And yes, I'm aware it is currently still winter.

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Our Little Man is 3 1/2 years old. As of last month he became 90% potty trained.  That 10% that isn't too hot is at night when he has to wear a Pull Up.  Guys, I am honestly just fine with that!  The fact I'm done buying diapers and more than one pack of Pull Ups a month is phenomenal to me.

($9.00 can buy me a bottle of my favorite wine! Bahahahaha!)

In celebration of this momentous occassion of my son seguing into big boyhood we have decided to totally redecorate his room.

And maybe it needed to be completed anyway...

After the last renovation/restoration of our home we had new duct work ran through the house.  The upstairs rooms were outfitted with Mitsubishi  12,000 BTU Ductless Wall Mounted Air Handlers.


These little machines are fabulous and extremely efficient.  It was a perfect option as opposed to having two traditional heat pumps for our home.

When we had that these units installed we had to cut into the walls to mount them.  We also had to have the plaster patched and thus we had a wall that was a disaster aesthetically. To add salt to the wound: I had thought I remembered the color paint we had used two years prior on the walls in our son's room and was sadly mistaken.

In the middle of the north facing wall was a HUGE yellow green splotch of paint.  It really looked horrible.

Eighteen months later we're righting that wrong and celebrating with updating the room.

I see RAPIDS!

It took about three days to get to this point.  The walls were sanded and caulked first.  Notice the old green color - actually accents that blue nicely in this photo but in real life - no way!

The walls are going from a fun and funky spring green to Valspar's Rapids!  This is a turquoise hue that accents beautifully with my son's favorite color - orange.

I am not being paid by Valspar (though I should be because my house is a Valspar work of art) so this is honest to God feelings I have about this paint.  Every time we have painted it has been with Valspar's Paint & Primer in one.  I tend to always buy the satin finish and am always 1000000% satisfied with the product.  It goes on walls (I have used it on plaster and dry wall) with great efficiency and cleanliness.  We have never ever had an issue with this paint.

In this shot the walls were completed but the ceilings were getting their makeover!

So buy Valspar.



Also this house was constructed in the 1930's and the ceiling has acoustic tiles in it.  I'm not sure how familiar you are with ceiling tiles of the early to mid part of the 20th century but they are asbestos based.  It is best to not disturb asbestos materials so we will be sealing and painting them.  Wait, my husband will... not I.  He is superman.

On Saturday evening around 11pm the room was completed.  

There were a set of what we thought to be built in organizers in our little guy's room but it turned out that they weren't built ins.  After pulling them up and out we decided they would stay up and out to open the room up.

For the furniture in this room we have inherited a bed from my mom (yay no more twin bed!) Our daughter's old chest of drawers she inherited from her dad and I will now go to our son.  My husband painted the room so I will be changing up the look of the chest of drawers.  This is something I totally enjoy doing - refinishing furniture.  I will either give them a vintage feel with a near neon green or add in more orange.  I'm thinking orange...

I look forward to bringing you updates as they become relevant to the blog!

Oh and guess who else is crazy about that Rapids paint color?  Our daughter.  Yep, it is going to be all rapids upstairs.  See ya next week for more bedroom updates.

Bye bye pink!

House Reveal: Flooring & Living Room

Hey guys!  Well the day has finally arrived to start showing off some of the house.  I am really excited to do this.  As you know this house has been a labor of love and source of serious tension headaches!

Back in October/November I posted about flooring options we were weighing out.  (You can click here to read that post.)

In December I was able to go check out flooring and also fall in love with a certain laminate available at Lowes.

I wanted something different from the run of the mill blonde and or walnut style finishes.  My love for gray is evident to most readers.  I also like eclectic and rustic looks.  Well ladies and gentlemen it just so happened Lowes had what I was looking for.

I took this shot from the landing on the half story.  I think it does the floor the most justice.  LOVE THIS!  PS We had to repaint our hall way during the lovely events of the fall.  Can I tell you how awesome our friends Josh & Heather are for helping us tackle the WHOLE bottom level including the hall?!  Awesome!  (Walls are Totter Island by Valspar)

This flooring is called Tavern Oak by Style Selections and has a beautiful rustic and worn look.  It also has hints of all different wood coloring in it.  I absolutely adore this floor!  A great break from traditional and perfect fit for my style choice.

Before our little issue in September we had a living room and a play room.  After the event and while planning out the changes in the house we decided to eliminate the play room and have a living room for adults and a family room we could all hang out in.  The play room was scratched.

I love this room.  Its cozy and welcoming.  We kept the original wall color of Gravity by Valspar.

Our new living room is one of my favorite rooms and is very comfy and welcoming.  We were able to purchase new furniture at a local warehouse (Furniture Mattress Warehouse in Clemmons).  This purchase included the leather couch, love seat and the entertainment stand seen in the second picture.
As you may be aware of, I was all about getting rugs for each room. Target to the rescue!  I purchased all three of the rugs I wanted at Target (thanks to Cartwheel for additional savings).  I absolutely adore this rug in the living room.

The end tables were the subject of a blog post from May 2013 - click here to check it out - I had painted them with left over samples from Sherwin Williams.  In early December I decided to re finish these guys again.  I was so pleased with the way it turned out.  I sanded them down, base coated them with a sample can of Valspar paint and primer in one (terracota), sanded again, and used a rag to add finish them out with some walnut colored Minwax.

When I can make an old piece of furniture new for less than $13 I am a happy camper.

I made the room complete with hanging our old canvas and photos of the family.  I also brought in an antique table we've had in my family for ages and used it to showcase some larger pictures.

No the television screen isn't broken...that's a camera thing.  And yes it may seem barren to some but I'm into minimalist and don't like things cramped or a lot of items in rooms.  I did debate a coffee table but quickly decided against it....for now.

If you're wondering - we do use this room to entertain but it has turned into a space for the family to hang out in too.  That's life right?

I look forward to finding some valences for the windows.  However, this is a tedious task since I'm a bit critical on window treatments.

Until next time!  Have a good day!