Basement games area before & after

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I went waaaay back in the archives to start writing this post, and wow, that all feels like a lifetime ago. In some ways, I guess it is.

There is one space left in the basement that I still have not shared in its final finished version. Mostly because it was not finally finished. Oh those last little details can drag on.

In the 14th post that I published on this blog (#14! Just a month after we moved in! This post is #1,043!), I shared my plans for the basement renovation. I included this picture and wrote: “Sarah Richardson is known for putting a full size table in her family rooms as a spot for games, work, crafts or dining. I think that’s a great idea and we’ve got the space for one, so that’s on the list too.”

Sarah Richardson Sarah's House Season 1 basement

Source: Sarah’s House Season 1

And here’s how our version turned out.

Games area in the basement

But before we jump into the details of the finished space, here’s how this spot looked when we first bought the house (after we’d cleared out a lot of the previous owners’ stuff).

The basement before

We knew we didn’t want the cabinets and work stations (I have no idea what they were used for). And with them gone, this became a big open area, right at the base of the stairs.

If you’ve been around here for awhile, you may recall that we not only removed the cabinets. We also removed the carpet and all of the drywall.

The exterior drywall came down so that we could reframe, rewire and reinsulate.

Spray foam insulation

The ceiling drywall came down so that we could find all of the hidden junction boxes and fix the electrical.

Sorry for the bad early days photo. This junction box was actually burned inside, hence the black.

Then we drywalled, painted, trimmed and carpeted. We eventually moved in some furniture and added a light fixture. Then, over the last year, I finally tackled the bare walls.

Hanging the playing card posters was Matt’s last DIY in this house. We did it almost exactly a year ago. And a couple of weeks ago, I hung the tic-tac-toe game and styled the top of the cabinet.

Games area in the basement

With that the games (crafting, work, etc.) area is officially done.

I’ll be sharing more details on this space next week. You know everything has a story with me.

Do you have an extra table space somewhere in your house? What’s your longest running DIY? Where do you usually stall in room makeovers? If you don’t stall, what’s your secret, please?

Dining room reveal – One Room Challenge Week 6

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I love our dining room. It’s where we start our day and watch the sun come up over the fields. We have a great view across the farm and can watch whatever wildlife is around. At the end of the day, we come together again to share dinner with the dog under the table and the cat on the window sill.

Whether it’s everyday meals or occasions with extended family, this room gives us lots of special moments. And now, the space measures up to what happens in it, and I love it even more.

Welcome to the final week of the One Room Challenge and the reveal of our new dining room.

Bright and fresh dining room

If you’re new here, welcome to our farm. My name is Julia, and I live on a 129-acre farm in Ontario with my husband, Matt, our one year old daughter, Ellie, our rescue dog, Baxter, and #theworldsbestbarncat, Ralph (who loves sitting on the dining room window sill).

We moved here 7 years ago and have been fixing up our 1970s era ranch style house ever since. Our style is a bit traditional, a bit country, with lots of personal elements, thrifting and DIY.

Which brings us to the dining room. You can get caught up on this project with all the dining room ORC posts: the plans (week 1), sanding and patching (week 2), the start of painting (week 3), more painting (week 4), beginning the china cabinet makeover (week 5).

Six weeks ago this room was dark. The brown walls were rough, cracked and scuffed. The thrifted shelving unit that is our china cabinet was all kinds of brown and dated.

Vaulted ceiling in the dining room

Now the walls are smooth and light thanks to a lot of sanding and two coats of Abalone by Benjamin Moore (mixed at 75%). All of the trim also got a fresh coat of paint (Cloud White by Benjamin Moore).

My go-to Cloud White was also the solution for the china cabinet. Painting this was not fun–especially when I decided I needed to do a third coat–but it was absolutely worth it. This cabinet gives us so much storage and now it’s no longer a black (brown) hole in the room.

I feel like all of our special dishes and family heirlooms look so much nicer in the white cabinet than in the wood (and yes, I desperately need to polish my silver).

Vintage shelving unit used as a china cabinet

China cabinet

You may notice that the cabinets are lacking hardware. This is my second ORC reveal without hardware. There’s another unfinished part of the china cabinet. I plan to build glass doors for the upper sections, as I don’t believe in dusting. Those will come in the next couple of weeks.

Vintage shelving unit used as a china cabinet

The wall opposite the china cabinet holds Matt’s grandmother’s piano. Ellie and I play on it occasionally already, and I hope one day to teach her to actually play it properly. I love the beautiful heritage from her Great-Grandma, her Daddy’s family and her Mama.

The Coonley Playhouse-style stained glass (inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright) was made for us by Matt’s uncle.

Bright and fresh dining room

The picture was a gift from Matt’s parents. The barns look very much like our two barns–although we’ve never seen that many deer that close to the house.

Deer painting above a piano

There are a few more things I want to do in here, but I’m really happy with where we are after these 6 weeks. Finishing another room is a big accomplishment. More importantly, every time we sit down for another meal together, it feels so nice to be in a bright, beautiful space.

Interested in seeing other beautiful makeovers? Visit the One Room Challenge to check out all of the other participants’ reveals.

Thanks for following along on the dining room makeover.

Office befores and afters, plus a video tour

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’m loving my newly decorated office so much. There has been sewing, crafting and working–it’s such a fun inspiring space. Even better, everything is still tidy and organized. I’ve been wanting to do a video tour for a little while, so I thought the office would be a good place to start.

Usually in my room makeovers I post a before and after. However, the office was such a blank slate that the before is pretty basic and blah. As well, I didn’t make any major changes so the layout–the window, the doors, the closet–are all the same. Comparing a before and after doesn’t seem very dramatic in my opinion.

However, there were befores and afters for some of the elements in the room, so I thought today I’d share some of those as well as the video.

The nook

The video tour gives you a good look at the weird little nook just inside the office doorway. This spot’s makeover started a few years ago when I removed the weirdly high shelving, built a little dresser and hung a bulletin board. What could have been a really awkward part of the office has become a really functional command centre.

Little dresser

The search for furniture that fit the little nook was long and challenging. I wanted something tall, but it had to be narrow and not too deep. Plus, as usual, it had to be cheap. I ended up finding a pair of nightstands that fit the space perfectly. And when stacked on top of each other, they made a tall narrow dresser that holds everything from tools to notepads.

Desk

I’m going waaaaay back in the archives for this before picture. This was what the office looked like when we first bought the farm. The green desk (along with a lot of trash) was left by the previous owners, and I drafted it into serving as my sewing desk. When it came time to makeover the office, it was more than time to makeover the desk too. With fresh white paint, rich dark stain on the top and sparkly hardware on the drawers, it’s become a bright, feminine piece of furniture.

China cabinet

The hardest working piece of furniture in the office is the china cabinet. It holds so much stuff while keeping it all nicely organized and allowing space for display.

Slipper chair

The slipper chair was the most complex reupholstery project I’ve tackled. I love that I’ve been able to give this family heirloom a new life in our home.

The office ended up taking awhile–five years since we moved to the farm. I tackled little projects here and there before finally diving into the big makeover at the start of this year. I’m so happy that everything has finally come together in one finished, functional and pretty space.

Basement TV area before and after

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This reveal has been a loooooong time coming. The seventh post I ever wrote for this blog was “Basement reno begins” –that was more than five years ago. A few weeks after writing that post I shared a to-do list, the plans and then celebrated when we finished demo. Five years ago this week, we had fixed the wiring, reframed the exterior walls and received new spray foam insulation.

Now, I’m finally ready to share with you the TV area. You’ve seen snippets of this along the way, and we’ve been using this room for the past four and a half years. But there were a few missing elements that have finally come together, so I’m ready to show it off.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane first, shall we?

This is what we saw the first time we visited the house. A gross cluttered basement with a random dude sitting in a chair (just kidding, that’s our real estate agent taking a break with one of the books that was left behind). Please note the ceiling fixture that was installed as a wall sconce (there’s a matching one just out of the picture on the right) and the giant woodstove.

Somehow, we saw past all of this and bought the place. After several trips to the dump, we ended up with a cleared, if not clean slate. This angle shows you the half wall leading into the laundry room (which we removed) and the doorway to Matt’s office (which we moved).

On the other side of the room, we have the woodstove, the matching pair to the ceiling sconce and you can get a glimpse of the ceiling fan, which was recessed into the ceiling so that it didn’t decapitate anyone. In my caption on this photo originally, I wrote “Picture a large, comfy sectional couch where the woodstove is and a big TV on the wall opposite the staircase.”

Uh-huh. It’s a good thing I had a clear vision. We needed something to get us through the next six plus months of work.

We started demo. Byebye half wall. Hello new doorway. Byebye exterior drywall. Why are you still there ceiling sconces?

Then we reframed the walls so that they were deep enough for more insulation, removed the ceiling drywall so that we could fix bad wiring and finally got rid of those ceiling sconces. I’m still proud that I was able to replace the ceiling fan with a fifth potlight and put them all on the same switch. Me! I did that.

We hauled the woodstove up the stairs with a rope tied to the back of my Dad’s truck, our mason patched the hole from the chimney, and we left a little message on the concrete.

With spray foam insulation complete, we started to approach the putting it back together stage. What followed were six months of drywall. So much drywall.

Then finally paint.

Trim and carpet. (The crush to get the trim installed before the carpet arrived was tight).

Our new couch arrived just before Christmas 2012, and the basement was habitable.

We’ve made tweaks (obviously) since then. Want to see what it looks like now?

I have another post coming up that goes into all of the details on the finished space. But until then, here are a couple more before and afters for you.

This is by far our most significant renovation. I love that we saw the potential of the space, stuck with it through all of the hard work and created a hangout area that works perfectly for us. The fact that we did almost all of it by ourselves makes me very proud.

Basement bathroom before & after

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This post has been a long time coming. Loooooooong.

I first posted befores of the basement bathroom on April 12, 2012. We had owned the farm for a month.

We have now owned the farm for 56 months. That’s four years and eight months.

And we’ve finally finished the bathroom.

It’s been pretty much done for most of those 56 months. Matt’s been using it quite happily.

However, I had three pieces of trim to install, one cabinet door to rehang and I still hadn’t found the perfect shower curtain. Those niggly finishing details that dog you for four years. Ugh.

The perfect shower curtain was found this summer when Jen at Rambling Renovators posted her mood board for a modern farmhouse bathroom. That was the impetus to finally finish the rest of the bathroom.

Are you ready for our most dramatic before and after yet?

Who am I kidding? This isn’t the most dramatic before and after yet. This is the most dramatic before and after we’re going to have at the farm.

Before:

After:

We called this the psycho shower.

It was tiny, orange, and for some reason built up on a platform. Everything was just all around gross.

But no more. This is definitely not a psycho shower.

Gross was also the theme for the sink and vanity.

But with a good cleaning and a new faucet, they were redeemed.

Above the sink we started with a small mirror, an off centre light and a random vent. If I’m recalling correctly, I think the vent was an access panel for either plumbing or electrical. It was not actually acting as a vent.

After reframing and reinsulating the whole exterior wall, we held our breath and hung a huge mirror. The light fixture, which is centred over the vanity, sits on top of the mirror.

Along the way we fixed our exhaust fan issues, including evicting the snake my Dad discovered in the vent.

Disposed of the old toilet including its cushy illustrated toilet seat.

And added all kinds of storage by bumping out a small shelving area.

Aside from the bumpout, we kept the layout the same. But what a change.

Looking back at those before pictures I can’t believe we bought this house.

I’m so proud of what we were able to do with this bathroom, though. This was a huge DIY for us, and really pushed us–tiling that shower was a daunting task that still has me questioning whether I ever will tile again.

The design was a stretch for me too. Four years ago, dark colours weren’t as popular as they are now. Taking the plunge to paint a small windowless room black was a bit daunting. I love the black and white design so much and how it and all of the other little touches came together.

I’ll be back soon to share all of the details on this little bathroom.

Is there anything you’d like to know more about? Feel free to leave a comment, and I’ll do my best to answer it in the next post.

Country style guest room before and after

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The day is finally here. You’ve seen sneak peaks already, but today you see the whole thing–the brand new guest room.

Let’s start with the before. Going way back into the archives, here’s what the room looked like on day 1 when the farm became ours. A herd of dust bunnies all over the floor and dirty valances on the windows.

Guest room before

Look closer at the windows and you’ll see the extent of the decorating in this space–sparkly butterfly stickers. Unfortunately, no more my style than the curtains.

Stickers on the window in the guest room

We cleaned up the dust bunnies, removed the valances, kept the stickers and called this our master bedroom for our first three years. When we moved our master bedroom across the hall, this became a guest bedroom. But it wasn’t the most welcoming space.

Guestroom before

I found this photo for my inspiration.

Source: Southern Living

And I came up with a pretty simple to-do list:

Scrape the stippled ceiling
Paint the ceiling, walls and trim
Replace the light fixture
Make window treatments
Refinish the desk chair
Strip the paint off the metal bedframe (and maybe repaint)
Decorate and personalize

Ready to see where we ended up?

Robin's egg blue country guest room

What do you think? Want to come for a visit? I confess, I’m in love with the way this turned out.

Next week I’ll share the details of what’s in the room. Hint, the sparkly stickers didn’t make it.

One Room Challenge Week 6 – Master bedroom reveal

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Cross the master bedroom makeover off my Home Goals 2015 list. Thanks to the One Room Challenge, this room is D-O-N-E.

Want to catch up on how we got here? Here are all of the previous posts:

It was hard for me to stay motivated in this makeover. The ORC was the push I needed to finally finish it off. I have to admit that I’m glad the room is done. Even better, I’m glad that it’s pretty… if I do say so myself.

I think you’ll agree it’s definitely more stylish than where we started.

The best descriptors for this makeover are three words: simple, DIY and personal.

Simple

We kept things simple by working with what we already had.

First up was fresh paint for everything: ceiling, walls, trim, the door and even the old garage sale dresser we bought when we moved into our first house. After going round and round on paint colour, I love the deep navy blue I chose for the walls (Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore).

Paint took care of most of the transformation, but it only went so far.

For those that have been following along, you know the finish on the sliding closet doors was in pretty rough shape. I didn’t want to replace the doors though (remember, we were working with what we had), so I tried wallpaper for the first time. With a bit of help from my parents and two rolls of beadboard wallpaper, we added a nice country touch to the bedroom.

Where we didn’t go country was the lighting. Matt’s reaction when he first saw the chandelier was one word: “Liberace.”

Hello, sparkles.

Even with this light, we were still able to work with what we had (although not that awful ceiling fan, thank goodness) thanks to one of my co-workers. She invited me over to see her new (to her) house, and as we were eating dinner in the dining room she mentioned that they were going to replace the lighting. I said, “I’ll take it!” (Yes, I’m that dinner guest).

I wasn’t sure where I was going to use such a sparkly, brassy, glassy, shiny chandelier–we do live on a farm, after all–but it’s a perfect fit for this bedroom. Navy, brass, sparkle, white, wood… yes, please.

I love this view when I’m lying in bed. Also lovely is the smooth unstippled ceiling above it.

Which brings us to the DIY stage of this makeover (not that painting and lighting aren’t DIY).

DIY

Scraping the stipple ceiling was definitely the most involved DIY in this room. The other DIYs were much easier, but, given my lack of motivation throughout this makeover, tedious.

Well, not completely tedious. I knocked out a couple of hookboards really quickly. Having lots of hooks behind the door helps to corral the piles of clothes that appear so regularly in our bedroom. And if I’m being honest, these hooks are usually smothered in pyjamas and dog-walking clothes, not a pretty scarf and handbag–although Matt’s baseball cap is genuine.

The headboard was a difficult DIY just because I couldn’t decide what to do. Should it be upholstered? Painted? Curved? Square? It couldn’t stick up too high because it was going in front of the window. I didn’t want to spend too much money because some day post-whole house reno I hope to have a new master bedroom where I can build the wing chair style headboard of my dreams.

I finally decided on a simple wood headboard in an interesting shape. A leftover sheet of plywood and some careful cutting with my jigsaw fulfilled my vision.

After mixing a few cans of stain together, I was able to get a finish that’s a pretty close match to the nightstands from Matt’s childhood bedroom–although I had a really hard time photographing the headboard in front of the window, so I realize it’s kind of hard to tell.

I love the accents of the warm wood against the deep blue and bright white.

The other DIYs in this room involved a less typical power tool–my sewing machine. Although the fabric I sewed is a DIY staple–canvas drop cloths. I love the weight and the colour of these drop cloths. I used them for both the curtains and the bedskirt, and I will definitely be using them in future projects.

The window treatments will get their own post soon. They’re super simple, yet we have everything we could ever want: blackout blinds, bamboo blinds for style and full length pinch-pleated curtains–style and function

Personal

The final guiding principle of this makeover–of my overall decorating philosophy–is to make it personal.

First up is the quilt on the bed. The quilt is from Walmart, but its patchwork pattern is special to me.

My grandmother was a quilter, so I’ve been exposed to this intricate handcraft my whole life. The double wedding ring pattern has been my favourite for years. I love the symbolism of having this pattern on Matt’s and my bed.

I admit, I wasn’t sure about the patterned quilt as this makeover progressed. So many rooms I see online are all about white or neutral bedding. I think that the quilt works in the room though, and it’s a lesson for me to use what I love, not what’s trendy or stylish.

The other really personal element is the art that I chose.

The two pictures on either side of the bed are beautiful Audubon posters. On my side is a Great Blue Heron, an elusive bird that visits the pond occasionally. It’s always really special when I catch a glimpse of one. On Matt’s side is his favourite bird to see at the farm, the wild turkey.

The final art can’t get much more personal, a family tree. I made each of my sisters a family tree like this when they got married with their wedding date in the middle circle. Now Matt and I have one of our own. (If you want one of your own, Martha–who else?–has a free template).

So simple + DIY + personal. Plus six weeks (okay, a little bit more). Plus a whole lot of motivation from all of you reading along and all of the other participants in the One Room Challenge. Equals one beautiful master bedroom. Thanks so much for following along.

Visit Calling it Home to check out all of the other amazing reveals.

Laundry room before and after

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s time for the reveal in the One Room Challenge. Back in September, I was really excited to start making over the laundry room. At the beginning of October, I was really excited when I joined the One Room Challenge to help keep me on track. Today, you’re going to see how far the laundry room has come. (And, yes, I’m still really excited).

This makeover was all about simple upgrades.

I converted the cabinets to a shaker style by adding strips around the border. A black and white paint scheme freshened them the rest of the way. We’re still missing the hardware on our cabinets. They’re special orders and are taking their time coming in. So just imagine sparkly chrome knobs and cup pulls, would you? (I’ll post an update when the hardware finally arrives).

Fresh paint on the walls, ceiling and trim–and fresh baseboard all the way around–brought the laundry room up to the same standard as the rest of the basement.

Then it was on to a few fun projects.

A light fixture made out of clothespins.

Look at the great pattern it makes on the ceiling when it’s all lit up.

To keep the wood tone accents going, I added a few baskets to the top of the free-standing cabinet Matt and I found a few months ago. I also made a simple hook board to hang the ironing board on the side.

To save electricity, we hang dry most of our laundry. (Yes, we’re just that green… and cheap). Only sheets, towels and dog beds get the privilege of the dryer. The white metal drying rack is a key feature of the laundry room. I made an additional hanging rack out of pipe fittings to help with the drying.

I also made a small towel bar out of some more pipe fittings.

The picture above also gives you a glimpse of one of the main decorations in the laundry room. When it came to art, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to put on the walls. Then I found this little enamel pot at Value Village.

It holds packets of washing machine cleaner, and it also reminded me that I had a small collection of enamel basins. My sisters, brother and I played with these dishes all the time at my grandparents’ cottage. When my grandmother sold the cottage, the basins were going to be thrown out. I was feeling sentimental, so I took them, although I wasn’t sure when I’d ever use them. Well, it turns out they work perfectly as decorations in the laundry room. They may have crossed over from rustic to rusty, but I still think they add a nice touch.

Hanging the basins facing out took a couple of tricks. First I needed a really long nail. I found some 5-inch spikes. The nails were too big to drive with just a hammer, so I drilled a pilot hole into the studs before I hammered in my nails. Once I hooked the basins on the nails, it turned out that their centres of gravity were a bit crooked. Some adhesive strips on the back stuck them to the wall and straightened them right up. For the rectangle basin, a couple of L brackets made a discreet and secure shelf.

The other item decorating the wall is also both sentimental and non-traditional art. These are the sleepers that newborn Matt wore when he came home from the hospital the first time. (I know, awwwwwwww). His Mom gave them to us years ago. Again, I had no idea what I was going to do with them. Then I realized that the red and navy stripes picked up some of the colours I was using elsewhere in the laundry room. I’ll likely end up building a proper shadow box for them, but the mini hanger works for now.

On the counter under the window, I have a few appropriately laundry decorations: an old washboard from my parents and a small red toy iron that my Mom had when she was a little girl.

It may have been a simple makeover, but the results feel dramatic to me. It’s a pretty, personal, fun and functional space.

Thanks to Linda at Calling it Home for organizing the One Room Challenge. I’ve now crossed another room off my Home Goals 2014 list. Thanks to all of you reading along for all of your support and encouragement throughout. Be sure to pop by Calling it Home to see all the other rooms.

How many people dream of a pretty laundry room? Does anyone else collect enamel ware? Have you ever made anything out of clothespins or pipe fittings? Who else air dries their clothes? What’s the most unusual thing you’ve hung on a wall?

Linking to: Happy Housie Get Your DIY On: Wall Decor

Office nook before and after

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

My office is a room of many issues, but there’s one corner that gets the award for most-improved.

It’s a wee tiny alcove just inside the door. The space measures 16 inches deep by 24 inches wide. When we moved in, and for the first year and a half of living here, this space was fitted with some ridiculous built in shelving. The fact that it started at about five feet in the air and went up to the ceiling made it basically unusable.

Not that you’d want to use it anyway. It was filthy.

Can I just ask why things in this house have to be both weird and gross? I mean, shelving that’s over your head out of reach isn’t enough? It also has to be disgusting?

One night, I snapped and decided that the shelving had to come down. Of course, it turned out it wasn’t that simple. The shelving had been installed all in one piece before the door casing was put on, and even once I unscrewed it from the wall, it wasn’t going anywhere. Smushing the shelving into a parallelogram allowed me to slide it past the casing and get it out of the nook. Then a set of Allen keys allowed me to take it apart into its composite melamine pieces. There were a few dings in the wall, but otherwise it was a victory. The nook was empty.

Painting the office will happen all at once sometime in the future. So for now I wasn’t worried about patching the drywall or dealing with the two tone paint that removing the shelf had uncovered. I did want to make the space more functional, though, and I didn’t want to wait.

The office is right off the kitchen, so I decided that this was a perfect spot to build a bit of a command centre. A place for the grocery list, a calendar, important numbers, even a spot to put my purse and keys when I come home at the end of the day.

I needed some storage, some display and lots of organization. Here’s what I came up with.

It may be a weird tiny space, but I’ve packed a lot of function into this little corner. In the next post, I’ll share the details of exactly what went into my organized nook.

Has anyone else transformed a very small area? Do you have a command centre at your house? What are your tips for dealing with a small space?

February goals wrap up report (and a reveal)

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s the last day of February and time for the final report on how we did on our goal for the month of painting the main floor hallway, foyer and kitchen.

Want a sneak peak?

Yup. We have light fixtures, art and fresh paint. Hallelujah.

Just for a reminder, here’s a look back at how this project unfolded over the month:

Heading into last weekend, the final task on our list was installing light fixtures. I chose school-house type fixtures from Home Depot (a complete source list is below). There were lots of options through their web site, and these were about the cheapest. I love how the dark oil-rubbed bronze contrasts with the light coloured walls, our pristine white ceilings and echoes the dark tones of our picture frames.

The light fixtures came in both a semi-flush mount, which I used in the hall, and in a pendant, which I used over the island. I love these lights and have wanted to use them for awhile. They have so much more personality than the boob lights that were there before, and I think they work very well with our casual country setting.

The final task on our to-do list was also where we fell off schedule a little bit. If I zoom out a little bit you’ll see that we’re still missing one light fixture in the foyer. I’m DIYing this one and need just a bit more time to pull it together. This angle also gives you a glimpse of the kitchen, hallway and foyer all together.

This one miss aside, I’m declaring February’s project a success.

For us, a month was a realistic timeline to completely transform these spaces. My schedule worked really well to keep us on track. I kept a rough tally and for just the painting, we spent about 25 hours. We worked steadily but didn’t stress ourselves out trying to get it all done too quickly. I’ll definitely be mapping out monthly goals again.

The main floor feels fresh and new. Having Matt’s grandpa’s paintings on the walls really makes the space feel like ours. I’ve fallen even more in love with my house.

Anyone else go through a transformation this month? What did you accomplish in February?

Source list:
Wall paint: Abalone from Benjamin Moore (75% intensity)
Trim paint: Cloud White from Benjamin Moore
Light fixtures: Luray Collection Oil Rubbed Bronze 1-Light Semi Flush mount (this one doesn’t seem to be available online anymore) and Luray Collection 1-Light 34-5/8 in. Hanging Oil-Rubbed Bronze Pendant both by World Imports through the Home Depot
Paintings: Family heirlooms painted by Matt’s grandfather