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Showing posts with label grand rapids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grand rapids. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Movin On Up-Date

So I mentioned we're moving. Did I mention how much painting needs to be done? This is what all weekends in November are likely to look like around here - tape, prime, paint, repeat, repeat, repeat.





































At least this gives me an excuse to go to the hardware store regularly. Admission: I have strong feelings for my local ACE hardware store. I'm pretty indecisive sometimes, so let's just say picking paint colors was tough. I spent a couple minutes in front of the color wall like a deer in headlights - no idea where to start. Thankfully the friendly people at Ace are super-helpful and answered all my questions. Within an hour we were off with four gallons of paint and all the supplies we needed.
























Let's take a tour of the 'before' shall we?


































This is the front entry - the hallway pictured has one wall sponge painted and the other is full of holes and desperate for a fresh coat of paint.

The entry hall leads into the living room and dining room. Here's the living room.

Nice and dark, right? But check out this fireplace! It makes the thought of the next 5 months of cold and snow slightly more bearable.

The guest room is off of the living room. It has one Spartan-green wall and the rest are white with the need for a new coat.


This living room leads into the formal dining room, complete with wallpaper (not much we can do about that, unfortunately) and heavy floral drapes in tones of taupe and mauve (unpictured to the left).






































Around the corner from the living room is the master bedroom, with all sorts of teal going on. I love the original lighting fixtures all over this place! They don't do much for lighting, I'll be honest, but they're so unique I don't even mind the fact that we need to buy a lot of lamps.

There is a sunroom off of the master bedroom - we're hoping to turn it into a closet/sitting area. I can't wait to enjoy a cup of tea there while looking out into our backyard next spring (we have a backyard - WAHOO!).

The bathroom looks like it was painted twelve coats of the darkest, most vibrant blue you've ever seen. And the top half only got one of the coats, because it's a hot mess - you can see every single brush stroke. Yikes! The only good part is the cool antique corner bathtub...that isn't pictured very well, my bad!

pictures coming soon: backyard, front foyer, outside and fun details!




































Last up in the pictures, for now, is the kitchen. It's absolutely huge in comparison to our current one. There's so much storage I don't even know what to do with myself. See that glass-pane door? It leads into the butler's pantry. YEAH!

Whew, so that's all for now! I apologize about the photo-quality. I took all of these with my cell phone the day we toured the apartment. We were so anxious to paint that they're the only 'before' pictures we have!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Movin on Up

You guys! We have found a new place to move! It feels so good to know where we're going, after months of searching and ambiguity - knowing that we needed to move very soon (our landlord was selling the house and the new owners were moving in) but not knowing where to. Apartment-hunting is the pits, but it's finally done!

We are going to rent out the first floor of a gorgeous home that was built in 1880, located in the historic Heritage Hill neighborhood, just blocks from downtown Grand Rapids.

SO LONG teeny tiny apartment with the hideous blue office carpeting! It's been real. I loved your charm and character, but I'm over it. I'm ready for more space, a backyard, and luxuries like a garage, dishwasher, and garbage disposal. This is big, people. The fact that we have so much space to fill and virtually no furniture means that I can finally try my hand at redoing some furniture, something I've been wanting to attempt for a while but literally had no room for.

Let's just say I am pumped to be scouring Craigslist for something other than apartments - and I've found a couple potential pieces already! I've always loved mid-century modern furniture, so my first quest is to find a MC dresser to rehab. There's going to be a lot of trial and error with this whole decorating thing, but first things first...finding the right piece. This is my inspiration, from Reeves, blogger at The Weathered Door.


Half the battle for me is seeing the potential of a piece while it's still in its 'before' stages. I've found that looking at a good variety of before/after pictures (like these from The Weathered Door) prior to thrifting helps give me some inspiration and get that creative juju going.

See what a little love can do:

image sources: The Weathered Door

Wish me luck!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Chili Cook-Off

This past Saturday was a day I've been looking forward to all year: beautiful fall-like weather, the beginning of ArtPrize, and chili…oh so much chili. It has become an annual tradition of mine to attend the Cottage Bar Chili Cookoff each year, and now my boyfriend loves it as much as I do! And how could you not? There are 40+ chili samples to choose from as well as live music all afternoon and Bell’s beer on tap.. BONUS!


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We went, we gorged, we napped. Weekends at their finest! I'm ready to do it all over again already and maybe next year I'll even try the possum chili! Okay maybe not, but who knows and hey - watch possum become the next big thing: Free-range Organic Possum, mmm