Questions Answered and a New Thing.

Happy Monday bloggy friends. I hope you had a good weekend. Summer has arrived but it apparently has brought no signs of life slowing down. [smile] So busy we stay.

I wanted to take a minute this morning and answer some of your questions from the painting of the stairs project and share some other things with you.

First, I just want to say this. While I am not a trained professional or profess to be an expert at decorating -I enjoy making things look pretty. For next to nothing.

But I think sometimes we get caught up with the “right” or “wrong” way to do things…not just decorating. If it works for you…then it works. If it makes you crazy…it’s not working. But don’t be afraid to think outside of a picture in a magazine. Beauty can be found in all things…even your house.

I really believe that having a beautiful house makes you feel good. My house is a work in progress. I have a list of projects three pages long that I want to do. But because of time and money I can only accomplish one thing at a time. Sometimes it makes me feel crazy because I want it all done…now! But then I have to step back and just break things down one at a time.

Because I am challenged to doing things very inexpensively, it takes a lot longer to “finish” a room. If I find a project/piece of furniture or whatever that is a frugal find…then that’s what I do. Whether or not it’s apart of the room I want to be “finished” or not. This could drive some people nuts.

But…for me, it works.

Ok, so questions from you about the stairs.

1. What color are the stairs?

Answer: I know in the picture it looks black but they are actually a dark chocolate brown. We have a lot of dark wood pieces in our home so I really wanted to paint the stairs black but knew that overall that would not fit with the rest of our house, especially the downstairs.

2. What type of paint did you use?

Answer: I used this:

Word of caution, I would highly recommend wearing gloves while painting with this. But it goes on very nicely and has held up very well over the past couple of weeks. I did not prime but it did take a good two coats. You could prime if you wanted to. The banister I didn’t sand too much and I also used the same paint to paint it. Not sure if you are supposed to but…it worked. 🙂

3. How much sanding did you do?

Answer: A lot! But not so much on the banister. I lightly sanded it and then just put two coats on. The white spindals took about three coats.

4. Did you have to use a lot of wood putty?

Answer: Not really. We were very blessed to find what we did under our carpet. So there were a few spots that needed it but it wasn’t really bad. If you do have rough wood under there, don’t be afraid. It just make take a little more “love” to get it smooth and looking right.

I think that answered most of the questions. If I missed one please let me know and I will get that answered right away. 🙂

So, I share that up next was my laundry room makeover but it’s going to have to wait another week. But I’m SO excited to share with you why.

Meet Stephanie and Cindy:

These two sisters have been through a lot together. Their love for each other is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Many of you know Cindy from her blog. Cindy has some exciting things coming up that hopefully I will be able to share with you soon. But while she is waiting for her house to sell in Greenville, NC their family has been staying with Stephanie.

Five kids in one house. I do believe they get a “have mercy”. [ha!]

So anyway, Cindy asked me if I would be willing to help Stephanie with some projects around her house. Hello, she totally spoke my love language when she asked this. Not only do I love these girls but I LOVE decorating projects.

For the past few days we have been coming up with a plan for this room:

There are a few things I LOVE about this area.

1. It gets lot’s of light.
2. It has GREAT molding.
3. We are removing everything from the room. Nothing has to stay…except the TV/TV stand.

Stephanie’s style is what I would consider contemporary/modern with a little bit of a traditional feel. Did I just make that style category up? Yep.

She was open to pretty much anything. So I’ve been playing around with a few ideas and have come up with a plan.

The purpose of this room is a playroom/tv room. Her kids are getting a little older so we are going to be able to make it more of a sophisticated space. She loves the idea of having a spot for them to do homework/draw and yet still have the option for her husband to
hang out and watch TV in.

A few “minor” things though…we have a little over a week to get this done, hopefully I will be able to tell you why soon. We have a budget of $500 which will include new furniture, paint, fabrics and accessories. And we are doing all the work ourselves.

Impossible?

Whatever! I’m totally up for the challenge.

So I thought it would be fun this week for you to journey with us through this process. I will blog each day and show pictures of the progress that we make. Sound like fun? Yes, I think so too. See you back tomorrow with a design plan and updates with pictures. 🙂