Quick Fix

Did you notice any other changes in the last post? Between our flooring consultation and the carpet appointment, I decided to do a quick fix and paint the rails on our banister. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I still need to do one more coat to touch up, but I think it looks cleaner and more polished with the pop of white on the stairs. I've been debating whether or not to paint the railing a deeper black-brown, but I'm content with it for now.

The project cost me $0 (leftover paint, sandpaper, brushes and painters tape were all I needed) and just a few hours to complete.

Hardwood install is this Saturday! Can't wait to see the finished product. 

New Floor: Part I

We had our Empire estimate last Saturday for our carpeting and hardwood. As I mentioned before, we are ripping out the carpet in the living room and replacing it with nice hardwood and accent rugs. Since we were having them come out anyway, we decided to tackle a few other areas in the house that we weren't happy with.  About two years ago we had the carpet in our master bedroom, upstairs hallways and stairs ripped out and replaced. When we bought the house 3 years ago, the master bedroom was covered in a dark, cranberry carpet. The upstairs hallway, down the steps, and into the living room was a light berber. We aren't sure how long either had been in the house, but they were both showing signs of wear and tear.

Figuring it was low maintenance and easy to clean, we opted for a light, tight berber carpet. Here are a few shots of that carpet.

It looks nice, right?

When we first had it done, we were thrilled with the result. But in less than two years, the berber quickly wore and began to show signs of distress. Having animals has proven a bad combo when mixed with berber carpet. That and the fact that unfortunately the quality of installation seemed to be lost. 

Needless to say, we were very disappointed within a few months. Seams began to show, corners and edges were fraying, and it began to look just as bad, if not worse than the original berber we replaced. 

Once we decided we were ready to rip out the living room carpet, Jordan said he wanted to do everything at once: living room, steps, hallway and bedroom. We had our estimate last weekend and picked our new flooring. Since we were doing both carpeting and hardwood, we had to schedule separate installations. The hardwood needed to be special ordered, so the carpet was done first. This past Friday, Empire came out and our crappy berber was replaced with pretty, fluffy carpet.

(Excuse our unmade bed. Keeping it real.)

Ahh - we love it! It's so pretty and soft. We keep commenting to each other how great it feels to walk on in bare feet. Also the room immediately feels warmer and more finished. The berber was so low and hard that we didn't realize until we replaced it just how unfinished it made the space feel. 

Not a single seam shows and every edge is clean and perfectly installed. 

We couldn't be happier with the result.

Once the hardwood comes in we will schedule that appointment. I cannot wait to replace that flooring. 

Just for fun, here's a sneak peek at the area rug we chose for the floor in the living room.

Zulily

I made my first purchase from Zulily tonight. 

What is Zulily? 

It's an online shop that has daily deals up to 70% off infant, children and mom clothes, accessories and gear. Each day they roll out a dozen new deals for a limited time. 

I purchased this adorable infant aqua pettiskirt. 

Originally $40.00, today's deal was for $19.99.

I signed up for Zulily a few months ago but this is my first purchase. I can't wait to receive it! If you're a mom or even a mom-to-be like I am, be sure to check out Zulily. 

How To: DIY Subway Sign

In order to do this project you need:

- canvas

- acrylic paint

- sponge brush

- 8.5x11" label paper

- basics: ruler, pencil, scissors

I purchased my supplies from Michaels. The canvas was $29.99, plus I had a 40% off coupon = $18.00. The acrylic paints were on sale from $3.99 to $1.99. I purchased two, although I ended up only needing one tube. I also grabbed two brushes for $.79 each (but again only used one). I already owned the label paper from a previous project so that didn't cost me anything.

As I mentioned before, I let Jordan choose the train stops for the sign. Since he's such a huge Red Sox fan and we've taken a number of trips to Boston over the years, he chose the Region Rail like that runs from Union Station in DC to South Station in Boston.

I played around with my layout on Photoshop. I knew I wanted to mix and match the sizes of each line, depending on the length and number of words. Once I was satisfied with how everything looked, I took note of the fonts from each line and moved everything into Microsoft Word so I could print sheets of letters on white label paper. (Font I used was "Milford Condensed Bold.")

I played around with my layout to make sure things fit how I wanted. Once I was satisfied, I proceeded to cut out each letter. I'm quickly learning that I have a tendency to take on projects that contain a lot of tedious detailed work like this. But I honestly don't mind plopping on the couch and cutting out letters or fabric circles while I watch a movie. 

Using a level I made guide lines for each train stop and began the long peel and stick process. Even with the pencil lines I had a hard time keeping all of the letters straight. 

Since I used a basic sticky paper that would be easy to peel back off, we placed the canvas face down over night and put some heavy books on the back to secure the letters for painting. 

After the letters set overnight, it was time to paint the canvas. One tube and two coats of black acrylic paint did the trick.

I got a little nervous when my first paint stroke resulted in a letter peeling off. I had to switch my paint technique and go very slowly in order to avoid this happening on the rest of the sign.

After a few hours of drying, the last step was peeling off the letters and hanging the sign.

Below you can see a part of the sign where the paint bled underneath the letter decal. Jordan and I both agreed we liked the imperfections on the sign.

In the end, I spent half as much money to create this sign as the Homegoods version I saw. I spent about $26 and didn't even use all the supplies I purchased. I'm even happier with my sign than the store-bought version. Because Jordan chose the train stops that represented our trips to Boston, this version has more of a sentimental value to us. 

 

EDIT: I made a second sign. Check it out here.

Sitting Pretty

Look what arrived! I mentioned in my window sill post that I was looking for an ottoman to put in this corner.

I decided on the Estelle Ottoman from Urban Outfitters in Robin's Egg Blue. Funny enough when I went to link to the product, UO's website said it is no longer available. Good thing I snagged it when I did!

I love, love the color and the fabric is so soft and comfy. The ottoman is actually much prettier in person than UO's website shows. It's the perfect pop of color that we need in the master bedroom. (Please ignore the eyesore of an outlet behind it.)

We haven't decided if this is the permanent spot for the ottoman, but it's doing the trick for now.