The Bedroom Before and After

before:
The time has finally come my friends to show off the first almost totally made over space at the little house! I had a party on Friday night so everything was whipped into a some what acceptable shape so forty people could parade through and peek into my rooms and wonder why I can't seem to pick paint colors.

So do you remember these pictures, it seems like a million years ago that my bedroom was in this state (it was six months ago to be exact), seeing these two images takes me right back to that first time I walked through the house trying to imagine my life here around all that junk.

In progress:
First the stuff was removed.

The walls were washed and the carpet was pulled up.

This was the only room that I picked up only one possible paint color for.

My dad was very devoted to painting the room. We spent a few fun afternoons listening to the NPR weekend line up - with my fave "This American Life" and his fave "American Roots".

My brother James moved my bed for me twice, once when I bought it at our local Saturday morning charity sale and then again when the room was ready. My sister Phoebe and my dad set it up one night while I was out, again lovely family members have made the move/make over of this little house possible.

After:

So here it is my sunny room.

The dresser was one of the finds left in the mess of the house when I bought it. The drawers are a little stiff and it is a little scraped up, but that is how I like things anyway.

The only real down side to making the attic bedroom mine is the small funny closet. It just means I have to be good about hanging stuff up and not letting laundry collect at the bottom.

Here is the reading nook at the top of the stair, you can't see this but there is another window just to the side of this space that makes it a nice cozy spot to sit down with a book or some paper work and a cup of tea.

Finally the bed in all her glory. There is nothing like waking up with the sun pouring in the South facing windows reflecting off the yellow walls. The bedding is a few years old and from Anthro, the hope chest to the side was a birthday gift from my parents last year. The pictures are vintage bird pictures that my aunt found in the living room the night that I closed on the house and the crate that I am using as a night stand was another item salvaged from the junk collecting in the house.

Okay I hope you have enjoyed the before and after. My wonderful friend Beth said this weekend that the picture don't do it justice - but I think that might be because she is a loving and supportive friend and likes to feed my ego! We all need friends like that!

Happy Week!

More to come

I'm having a little party . . .

The chair in the room

If I had a little extra coin I tell you what this lovely chair would find a new home in my guest bedroom. It is the exact essence of what I am hoping for in that room - something glossy and different from anything you would have at home. My hope is to have a guest bedroom that feels like a special place to come and visit, not quite a hotel, but like the room that feels comfy, but not like your room at home. Anyway if you are in love with it as much as I am and have $400 bucks to buy yourself a new chair you can find it over on etsy and who knows maybe it will still be around when I have a little bit of extra mooola-la - you know after I buy the bistro set and paint my dinning room and tile my kitchen back splash and and and . . .

To perch on a porch

I've been thinking and pondering and thinking some more about a little bistro set for my front porch (you remember the dilapidated one). I had settled on this very basic - read boring - set from Aco of all places, when I happened upon this set at K-Mart on my lunch break today. I am smitten, they are just the right mix of practical and whimsy. Defiantly number one on my "little house wish list" that isn't little at all.

I love flower pots

I of course had a big to do list for the long weekend. A lot of it got shelved, but I did get some flowers potted to brighten up the dilapidated porch steps. Can you see how they are sinking into the ground? Uggg.
There is also a little garden of herbs growing next to the back door. Cute hu?

Think-Wink-Link

I have been busy busy busy, and not had a lot of free time that I want to spend on the computer. So this is just a short and sweet post to point you toward one of my favorite blogs Design*Sponge and one of my favorite segments that they do "Living In" where Amy pulls together design inspiration from some well known and not so well known movies. This week she has taken her inspiration from Wes Anderson's "Darjeeling Limited" (do movie title go in quotes or are they underlined, I can never remember). When I saw this movie in theaters a few summers ago I had a total design crush on it, don't get me wrong I loved the story, but the sets the rich colors and quirky luggage just called to me, so I am happy to see it high lighted here.
P.S. will someone tell the weather that it is May not August and I do not like these sticky hot days, thanks!

Teardrop Dreams

Still no charger so we continue in our detour from house stuff to talk about a long time dream of mine. This post is inspired by Lucy I could not glance through the lovely images that she had of caravans over at her blog with out thinking about my own trailer dreams. I have been wishing for one of these little Teardrop trailers for so long I can't remember when I first saw one.
I love how cozy they seem with a little bed and a few shelves in the main compartment and a little kitchen off the back, they are just the slightest bit above tent camping on the terms of comfort and convenience. I grew up camping in a pop-up camper so these seem like the small scale little sister of those campers to me. I imagine my to have yellow gingham sheets and a fluffy floral comforter. And a kitchen stocked with mismatched cups and silverware. Now that spring is here, I have a bit of the camping bug and day dreams of sunny days and campfires!

Random Goodness

Dear blog readership (ummm Hi Lydia!),
Long time no post!
This has nothing to do with house stuff. I have no new pictures as my camera charges has not been unearthed. In the mess of boxes that are living in my basement. There have been many thrilling things happening around the little house though, I will not gross you out with the details, but lets just say that I have added a sewer and drain guy to my ever growing list service people. If you are ever in need of Sewer work I highly recommend Reed's Sewer and Drain in Ypsilanti!
Other than still finding homes for all my belongings and spray painting picture frames and not mowing my lawn to my shame. I have been doing a lot of crocheting and watching netflix. Crocheting is my true crafting love, I have been mostly working on baby sweaters these days (sorry no pictures see camera problem stated above), but I thought I'd show off some blanket from days gone by. I made both of these for babies born last fall, the top image is of a pattern I made up (and didn't right down so I now have know idea what I did) and was for my cousin Maggie's son Topher. The second is a slightly modified version of a pattern from Vintage Crochet a wonderfully inspiring book for anyone who enjoys yarn craft, it was a gift for my darling niece Evie. So just a little note to say hello and I am looking forward to more posts soon.
xoxo,
Libby

weekend wonder

Oh hello there, even though I haven't been the best little blogger this past week I have been working away on little projects to make the house more livable. I arranged the living room after a week of up turned chairs. It is looking good, if I do say so myself, of course I haven't picked a room color yet, but I'm getting there.

There are dishes in the cupboards! (after having them for almost a year I still can't get enough of those green bowls - love them!) There are rugs on the floors! There are towels in the cupboards! There are even curtains on the bedroom windows!

Now of course this weekend also was full of time spent with family. Here you see my sister in-law and me in our matching Easter sweaters (she is the tall one with the cute hair, I am the short one who should really start wearing more makeup) - we just showed up in the same thing not even knowing we both had it. It is a great sweater - so great in fact that at least two of my cousins now have it. We'll just have to check before we show up at church all dressed the same. I also took the afternoon of of work on Thursday and drove down to Toledo to see the touring company of Wicked with my mom, sister and brother James. It was wonderful. I had never seen the show and was impressed with both the performances and the over all look of the show. I loved the set and the costumes were fantastic! When I have a little more time I will wax on about the monochromatic green costumes for the Emerald City.

Proof that something has happened

Do you see that! That is a bed with bedding and a nightstand yes can you see someone might be able to in fact sleep in that room.
The living room doesn't look so good, but we will be working on that one tomorrow. Anyway the walls need to be painted and lamps need to be added.
I just love seeing my little belongings starting to fill up the corners of this little house. This is the office/craft room, ahhh it is just going to be so cute!

Labeled

I have been thinking about mail today. I have a little project that I am going to be starting that will involve sending letters among other things and realizing that I after almost a year I know what my address will be for what I hope is a good while.

So address labels are surely needed - see how my mind works I must have cute address labels (all of these labels are from tiny prints). I think that I am kinda in love with the sweet silhouette stamp at top. So cute!

I guess I am just letting myself be distracted after my very long week that I am still recovering from three days later. Oh well I'm off to line dresser drawers with pretty flowered wrapping paper. Small joys!

Give me Liberty

Gosh sorry about all the bad puns and cheesy ripoffs I've been using lately, but I always have loved puns!

Now the real subject of the post the much anticipated, by me anyway, Liberty of London line has arrived at Target. And sadly from what I can tell most has also departed. When I stumbled on it Sunday I ran into women with carts full of patterned goodness. Then when another shopper told me they were already totally sold out of most of the home goods online, I just had to snag a few things. I picked up the small frame at the top of the post as well as the shade on the lamp below.

I think it will find a home in my living room. I only wish that curtains, rugs or sheets had made it into the collection, I have been longing for living room curtains sewn out of this Liberty print for a long time now. Sigh someday!

You light up my life

Now that the dust is settling and it is starting to feel like a real live human could live inside these walls I have turned my thoughts to a new fixture for the kitchen. I think we (and by we I mean my mother and me) have weeded it down to one of the following:This one is from Schoolhouse Electric I love the interest that the black adds.

This one is from Rejuvenation and reminds me of one of my favorite things vintage Pyrex!

And yes of course they are both yellow, are you picking up on a theme?

Moving right along

Things have been going very well over at the little house. This is a shot of the nice clean basement it is the same space as this one:

Worlds of difference isn't it. And that is just the tip of the ice burg. My family was actually able to have our weekly get together for Sunday dinner at my house! (even if someone had to sit on a step ladder) It is really starting to feel like a place I might live and not just spend a great deal of time/energy/money on. Hey by next weekend there might even be a bed and a couch there, isn't that going to be great!

There wil be packing

I have a confession to make:
I hate packing. I hate packing for a trip, I hate packing my stuff up for the day and I really hate packing to move. I have been "working" on packing for two months now and I am in no way ready to actually move. Last night I though I'd get so much done, but then I packed a whole box of books and had to look high and low for my packing tape and then I lost steam. Isn't it bad. Uggg I hate packing.

All about the yellow

Even with the snow a coming down I have sunny yellow on my mind. If you were to tell me a few years ago that I was going to be so drawn to yellow when decorating my own little home I wouldn't have believed it, but then aren't we all glad that we don't have to live in the world that an 18 year old version of ourselves dreamed up. The first coat of Sherwin-Williams Midday yellow paint went on in my bedroom last night and I am now dreaming of lazy mornings with the sun coming in and shinning off the yellow walls.

I also have winding my way a few yards of this fabric to make kitchen curtains. I am planning on painting my kitchen white with just a hint of yellow here and there. I first saw the fabric many months before I had ever seen my little house and while I loved it I had no reason to buy it, and then as they so often do things came together and and it is to find a home in a slightly revamped 1940's kitchen!

Edited to add this fabric is Summer Soiree by Paula Prass in Yellow Houndstooth

Proof that something is happening

Things have been getting done over at the house, and crunch time is really upon us. I need to be moved by March 7th. Okay I am the one who came up with that date, my landlords would keep me forever.

But you see, I'm looking forward to this room being painted yellow with my yet to be used by me brass bed and the sun streaming through. And just think someone had those wood floors covered all these years.
Remember the horrid bathroom, came out okay hu?
Look the kitchen even has a new counter top. Progress is good.

There will be pictures!

I promise I have been doing work and there will be pictures when I find my cord to up load them. I am still living in the apartment and am fair behind on packing. Lots of before and afters have already happened and everything is inprocess. I can't wait to share all the work with you!

The Big Before Post!

Hello! I know you've just been on pins and needles to see the before pictures of the house. Now you will know why I keep saying that it is a: disaster zone/work site/mess. So here is a jam packed tour of my little home sweet home. Lets start with the street view, these pictures were all taken at the beginning of December before we had snow. From the front we can see the dinning nook where the bay windows are, the door into the little front entry and a window on the far right in the living room.

Next stop is the kitchen. The door leads in from the side door and the basement stairs. Notice the nasty kitchen counter top the the floor that has never met a mop (and is gross press and stick tile anyway) also note the yucky off white stove and fridge.

Moving along we come to what I am calling the dinning nook, even though it is its own room it opens up to both the kitchen and living rooms and also acts as a walkway. Not seen is the sweet little built in cupboards opposite the random panelled wall.

You can enter the living room from both the front entry and the dinning area and it leads through to the bathroom, bedrooms and second floor stair.

This is the smallest of the bedrooms, that was being used as you can see has a storage space for window air conditioners. Fear not they have found a new home. Soon this room will have a fresh coat of pink paint and be transformed into my craft room/office (mostly craft room!).

The second downstairs bedroom is currently a very deep red and will be a blast to paint over! This room will become my guest bedroom.

Here we are coming off the stairs and heading into the second floor bedroom. The second floor is one open room with a few cubbies and a closet (without doors)

Standing in the second floor bedroom. This will be my bedroom I'm looking forward to pulling up the carpet to reveal the almost perfect wood floor.

My dad has promised to be the one to deep clean the bathroom and I will be holding him to it.

The last stop on our little tour will be the basement. As you can kinda see the basement was finished in the early 50s and needs a little help. The good news about this room is that it is almost empty at this point and ready to become the painting/redoing epicenter of the house until I get around to refinishing it.

Thanks for looking! Bye!

Taking Steps

I have never been one for sticking with the changes I promise myself I'll make every year. It just isn't my way. I think one of the problems I have is how many resolutions I make. This year I have goals, but only one set in stone must do promise to make. In 2010 I will get and stay and be forever organized!
I figure this will actually take me the better part of the year to accomplish, in part this is because I will be moving and expanding into twice the space! And because I want to do this right and in a way that will work and I'll be able to keep up with.
My January goal is to be organized at work. I've make a post-it note to do list and thinks it will be possible! Next month the home front.

Out with the old

Today is the end of the line for this bad boy. I am very happy to say that today the heating and cooling guys are over at the house replacing this with much more efficient and smaller furnace. it may not seem like much but after two weeks of working without heat it is going to make a big difference. Next week I hope to have the starts of some actual complete projects. Yea!

Sign on the dotted line

Well it is official! We closed on the house yesterday. Yesterday also brought the arrival of the dumpster and the first few hours of clean out. My mom, dad, sister and a few other family members joined me in a little bit of dejunking and a celebration dinner from The Chick-Inn!

Okay for a few before shots, these came from the home inspection and the listing agents site, but are almost exactly how the house looked at closing.

The top two shots are the kitchen and the bottom one a little corner of the basement. As you can see there is a multitude of objects in this home. I am very hopeful that I can get things cleared out by the end of next week and can be ready to have floors refinished, kitchen counter replaced, bathroom floor tiled and paint paint paint as soon as the furnace is replaced after the fist of the year.

Lighting up the night sky

Not a very good shot (it was taken with my dad's phone) but there are Christmas light up at the house and I have just the weekend before I get my grubby little hands on the thing and can really start getting work done. But getting the lights up does make it seem like someone cares about that little place.