Wallpaper!!

If you would have told me even a few years ago that I would have wallpaper in my house I would have called you crazy. Maybe it was the image I had of all the terrible old flowery wallpaper I had seen from looking at old houses in my neighborhood or quite possibly the mental damage of removing wallpaper and putting up borders with my Mom back in the day. The reality of it is though that I was really wanting some wallpaper in this old house. I thought the entry area would be a perfect spot. It's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door and it's a small enough area so I could make it something bright and bold! 

The lighting in both of these areas was also terrible so that had to be changed as well. There is a very small vestibule when you walk in that has a coat closet. It has the white hexagon flooring that we carried through in the new bathroom upstairs and in the powder room off the kitchen. This is a terrible picture, but when we moved in the vestibule had this lovely paper on the wall…

With the lime green door and the beige trim (only in this room) it was all sorts of wrong.

I took all of the paper off and picked out a grasscloth. I went back and forth with this decision and am so glad I decided to go with it! I love the texture of grasscloths and the earthy calm vibe you get before the bright contrast that follows it in the small foyer. We (errrr, I) also painted all of the trim and back of the door 

white. 

You can't see in this picture but we added this light from Lamps Plus with the Edison bulb to the room. I really heart this light :)

Turns out it's not super easy to find someone to hang wallpaper for you. I found a guy through a local paint and wallpaper store and he told me it would be 4-6 weeks before he could get to me (insert large sigh!) How could I wait this long? haha

I did, and it turns out it was well worth it. Tom, my wallpaper man, was so wonderful! He's probably in his late 60's and is such a chatter. He did an excellent job and was really affordable compared to others I got quotes from. He told me "I'm running around like a crazy man hanging wallpaper for a bunch of kids your age." Kid, I love it! 

The foyer looked nice when we moved in, but I just really envisioned that room with some super fun wallpaper. Here is a before picture of the room. As you can see on the floor is my mess trying to remove the old wallpaper from the vestibule…no bueno.

I had my heart set on this wallpaper and went to order it only to find out it had been discontinued. Yep, those are birds and I was going to put them on my wall. Surprisingly, Stefano liked them too. 

Julia Rothman 'Daydream' (Almost White & Green) for Hygge & West

It must have been a sign though because I then decided on this GORG green and white fretwork pattern found at Spoonflower and couldn't imagine anything else. Spoonflower is a great site. The patterns are really versatile and they offer them in fabric and wallpaper. They send you samples and can make a pattern smaller or larger based on your needs. I will say that my wallpaper guy, Tom did not care too much for this wallpaper. It had an overlay built into it which made it really hard for him to work with and took quite a bit longer because he had to trim it all off. None the less, it was a stunner!

My mom and I are planning to recover the bench in a textured gray fabric and I hope to put a large mirror on the main wall. This room still needs some TLC but I JUST LOVE IT! Totally worth the wait for good ol Tom the wallpaper guy :)

The light is from Ikea and so much better than the boob light that was up there.

If you have always thought about doing wallpaper but didn't have the courage, seriously just do it! I'm so glad I did and I don't even care that I may have to take it down before we move someday (I hope I remember saying this!) Even though these two little areas are small, they're what you see when you first walk in the door and I think they're equally as important as bigger rooms such as the living room. 

Thanks again to Abby M. Interiors for all of her help and patience with this! She rocks! If you haven't started following her blog, just do that too! She just completed the One Room Challenge and her bathroom is a show stopper!

I was fortunate enough to have a long visit from my Mom this past weekend. One day while my hubby was recovering from having his wisdom teeth pulled and my son was napping, we snuck some shopping in! It was one of those impromptu, no expectations, super fun trips! We were seriously Homegoods happy and finding so many little gems in there. I found this and felt like it was meant to be, so I bought it :)

Thanks for reading. Hope you all have a great week and have a little more sunshine than we do here in Grand Rapids. 

Heat registers…my nemesis

Since we saw the house these heat registers that are in every room have been bothering Stefano. It's so funny to me how different people see different things that bother them. To me it was the lighting, the wall colors and the floor (in my mind, BIG things). For Stefano it was the light switches and the heat registers…weird? I looked into replacing the registers but it was going to cost roughly $150-$250 per register! Considering we have 7 of them this was not an option. 

Last weekend we were enjoying an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day outside after we put Lucca down for his nap. I had visions of some yard work, Stefano had envisions of me cleaning and paining these grates…apparently, because before I knew it they were in front of me with gloves, scrub brushes and spray paint (insert PAINFUL sigh!)

Here is a before picture of some of them

I scrubbed them with a small brush for brass, which is what i believe they are. The grates had paint, rust, hair, food and tons of grime packed into them. It was NOT a fun job at all and essentially took me all of nap time to complete. I was irritated and wanted to quit. I told Stefano that this project definitely called for a beer to finish the job! It was just what I needed. At this point my sweet little neighbor Aiden came over and asked "Whatcha doin Ms. Kari?" Ahhhhh his little 3 year old voice is too cute for words! I should write a post just about how lucky we are to have such awesome neighbors :)

This is one of the brushes I used 

Similar to these found at Home Depot

This is the spray paint that Stefano chose and it looks awesome! I was hesitant to use it at first because I thought something matte would look better but this looked great!

And here is the final product, just like new! It really makes a big difference in their appearance. Once I finished I gave myself a little pat on the back…and had another beer :)

Settling In

Ayyyyyy, I have totally fallen off the blogging bandwagon. I was doing so good…but I'm back! We moved in, correction…my husband moved us in the first weekend in April while Lucca and I were in Madison. Since then we have slowly been unpacking. It proves to be quite difficult with a busy toddler at your feet most of the day. Our basement is still being finished, which is where a majority of our storage and Lucca's playroom will be so we have lots of stuff in the garage and attic still. 

My parents and brother came over Easter and we have a great weekend together. The weather was beautiful and we got lots of stuff done while my mom entertained Lucca, they're two peas in a pod those two. 

While my parents were here I also had some special fabric deliveries courtesy of my Mom. They are BEAUTIES!!! So I have to share :)

My mom made the bench cushion, roman shade and navy links pillow. Isn't she awesome?!?! Fabric is from Tonic Living

The "L" pillow is from Serena and Lily. I ordered the hardware for the drawers off of Etsy. We are hoping to get some shelving in on the right (there's a little nook back in there) for a bunch of books :)

The living room is coming together too! There have been a few updates since this picture…a new light has replaced the ceiling fan! Hello LIGHT! I've changed the pillows around some, etc. The fabric for the drapery is also from Tonic Living (SUCH an awesome site!) 

2 of these gorgeous green chairs arrive to make their home in my living room tomorrow and I cannot wait to see how they look. My favorite color is green, but these are quite outside the box for me as far as furniture purchasing goes. I tend to go with neutrals and stick to things that are more "safe." I thought long and hard about these two and decided to go for it, hopefully I won't regret my decision!

Bryce Chair @Crate and Barrel

I also found this beauty at Target to go between the two chairs and it was exactly what I was looking for. It's somewhat similar in structure to the coffee table and I LOVE the look of it. Not to mention I got it for $50! 

Thanks for taking some time to look at our progress. Tomorrow I'll share a DIY project I tackled over the weekend. 

FUN, FUN, FUN!

With all of this stuff going on with our house, the most fun weekend of my year has quickly approached! If you haven't heard me say it before, I have the GREATEST friends in the world! We have all been friends since varying stages of grade school and I love them all like family. Some I talk/communicate with nearly everyday and some only a few times a year, but when we all get together…WATCH OUT! 

Missing a few here but this some some of the crew at Kate's wedding

The rest of us in Asheville a few years ago

This weekend our "Mom" of the group, Abbey is getting married in Chicago. Abbey and I moved to Chicago together after college and were roommates for 3 years before I moved in with Stefano. I think of her like I imagine a sister would be if I had one. She is marrying an awesome guy whom we all absolutely love and this weekend is going to be crazy fun! 

Abbey and I on her 30th birthday in Chi

Another awesome part about it is that we are still super great friends with all of the guys we went to high school with, hung out with…and even dated. They have all found some great ladies who we have been lucky enough to add to our group. So every time someone gets married it's one big weekend of laughing over the dumbest, but yet most hilarious jokes ever! We've added a few kids to the mix, we've got a few pregnant in the group currently, but I can assure you of two things:

1)this mama ain't pregnant!

2)this kiddo ain't gonna slow me down this weekend!

Luckily my hubby will step in and my parents are coming down for the wedding as well. If anyone wants to volunteer to take Lucca when he wakes up at 630 am that would be highly appreciated!

Abbey and DJ have so many fun festivities planned I can hardly contain myself!

We have a bridal luncheon at Spiaggia on Friday. Abbey's family owned Pizzeria Uno in Wisconsin growing up and the rehearsal dinner will be there followed by a welcome party…FUN!

OH WAIT HAVE I MENTIONED OUR BESTIE FROM AUSTRALIA IS HERE FOR THE WEDDING?!?!?!?!

Saturday we are all getting our hair and makeup done and pretty much hanging out drinking mimosas like it's our job (don't worry Abs I won't have that many). They are getting married at one of the most beautiful churches in Chicago, Old St. Pat's  and the celebration will continue at The Drake. It will certainly be a weekend to remember as are all of the times we get together. 

With all of this being said I am feeling particularly emotional as of lately when I think of how blessed we all are. For the most part we have all been fortunate enough to have good health along with our spouses and families. I have had 3 Facebook friends as of recent whom are younger than me and recently been battling cancer. It is when things like this happen that you really realize how much these weekends mean that you get to spend celebrating together. So with that, I plan on enjoying myself to the fullest and taking lots of pictures to remember the wonderful weekend that lies ahead celebrating the start of Abbey and DJ's amazing life together.

Little bit of this, little bit of that...

The end of last week was a big one for the bathroom! The vanity, countertops, plumbing and lights were all installed. It's a fully functioning bathroom! It's looking great and I can't wait to share pictures once we get a few more things done in there :) I wanted to share a few of the selections I made with you. 

I had seen ads for wayfair.com and one came up on my Facebook page for 20% off and free shipping…SOLD! I really, really, really dislike to pay for shipping. Call me cheap, but it drives me cuckoo! I saw these made by Vaxcel and liked them. I had seen some similar in more expensive brand names but thought the frost of the light cover would help draw together the countertop on the vanity. 

http://www.wayfair.com/Vaxcel-Carlisle-3-Light-Vanity-Light-VXL2205.html

I had been eyeing up these mirrors at Ikea for some time and wanted to find a good place for them. I wasn't sure if the bathroom was going to work, but once we went with the bold wall color I thought these walnut mirrors from Ikea would help soften the colors in there. I love how big they are and the little ledge at the bottom too. Not to mention they were only $99 each! Ikea is an awesome place to stop and take a break for Lucca on our way to/from Madison when it's just the two of us. He can run around a bunch, we eat some lunch, get some good Ikea finds and take off!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60249960/

I decided to try something different for our bath towels. We currently have some from Pottery Barn which are very nice, but I hate how much room they take up. Abby M had pinned some to my Pinterest board that were on Etsy. They were Turkish bath towels. They hang much better and look really light weight. I'm interested to see how they absorb. Everything I read about them was great! Anthropologie has some as well, but theres were sold out when I went to make the purchase. 

The ones I went with are sent from an Etsy store out of Turkey, I'm sure they cost about $1 to make, but oh well they look beautiful! I decided on soft gray…

https://www.etsy.com/listing/156083915/bathstyle-turkish-bath-towel-peshtemal?ref=related-1

I hope you like some of my choices! I can't wait for our friends and family to come visit and see them in person! We had a weekend full of painting and basketball. I'm currently first in a friends bracket and I watched a total of about 3 basketball games this year, so that's exciting. It's amazing what help the Vegas odds can give you! We picked a color for our kitchen and are trying to get it painted before the countertops go in on WEDNESDAY!!!! Here's a sneak peak, it's screaming Spring to me, which is what I've been dreaming of…

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/lidogreen

Countertops

Early last week I was on a mission to pick out a countertop for our kitchen. We decided late in the game to do work in the kitchen so in order to get things ready for our install date I needed to make some decisions. We are working with Great Lakes Granite Works to find something. The two women that work there are super helpful. I originally fell in love with this piece of granite called "Fantasy Brown," I have to show you a picture of it because it's gorgeous!

http://hgstones.com/shop/fantasy-brown/

Well as luck would have it, that was completely out of my budget! Marcy at Great Lakes showed me a piece of granite that was really cool and the finish was "suede" instead of the typical shiny finish that granite has. It almost looked like a matte finish. It reminded me of my dream concrete countertops (Someday!) and so I considered that. The piece that they had available in our time frame just wasn't what I was looking for, a little too busy for my style. 

White Persia in suede finish

After looking through Great Lakes options, they suggested I go to the suppliers and take a look. There are 3 in Grand Rapids: Mont, American and Pascucci. It turned out to be a really fun experience! I went to each place and looked at their selections. I could see the entire stone and hand pick the one I wanted. If you get new countertops I totally recommend this! It's so much better than a picture on a computer or a small 1'x1' sample. 

I walked up and down many aisles in a warehouse full of lots of different stones. In GR, Pascucci definitely has the best selection. It was cool to learn about the stones. For instance, "Fantasy Brown" at one location may look very different from "Fantasy Brown" at another because it came from a different lot and/or quarry.  If you are looking to do a small area I would recommend going here and trying to buy a remnant. You can get them for really good prices and then just pay for the fabrication. I needed an entire slab, so unfortunately that wasn't going to work for me.

I ended up going with a "River White" stone from Pascucci. Our appliances are going to be stainless and our cabinets are a dark wood so I wanted to make it light to brighten up the room some and also incorporate both colors. Tomorrow I am meeting with Abby to pick out a paint color for the kitchen!

I've spent two full days at the house this week painting. Things are looking awesome! We got our bathroom vanity, countertops and plumbing today so it is almost a fully functioning bathroom! Tomorrow the electrician comes and we'll have light! Our contractor is slowly moving out of each room in the upstairs and we are hoping to start getting things cleaned up next week. So.much.dust.ugh. 

Weekend Warriors

I spent the weekend painting with my Dad. My parents were gracious enough to come back for the weekend and help. I think Lucca plays a little factor into the equation too ;) Stefano was on call and our bathroom had to be painted by Tuesday to get ready for the vanity install. Parents to the rescue!

As I had previously posted we chose Benjamin Moore's Calypso Blue. I wanted a bold fun color for the bathroom. For everything else in the room I tried to stay pretty neutral. Since we don't plan on this being a forever home, we have to keep resale in mind. I had seen this picture and loved the look!

 Here are a few pics of our progress this weekend. I love how the color turned out. It looks really rich and totally gives character to the bathroom. 

The only thing left to paint in the bathroom is this built in. I envisioned it with the back being painted in Calypso Blue and the rest in white trim paint. Both my Dad and Stefano told me I was crazy and they wanted no part in doing that…So I then turned to Abby M to ask her opinion, guess what she said the same thing! So after my Dad had relaxed and had a few glasses of his favorite red wine last night, I sprung this on him again. NO LUCK! Jimbo's response to me was "You might as well hire Michelangelo for that one." I was crying I was laughing so hard! We'll see if I can find a taker to paint the built in :)

Is it normal to love your shower niche as much as I do? 

Stefano was at work all night and trying to sleep this morning so Lucca and I ventured out to go shopping. I was looking for towel hooks for the bathroom and drawer pulls for Lucca's built in bench in his bedroom. I decided to for go towel bars. Do people really use towel bars to dry towels? I never have. I always have towels on there for show. It's a waste of space I think and therefor, no towel bars for me….ahhhh crazy! haha. I hit Anthroplogie, and for anyone that knows me even a little knows this is my FAVORITE store. It has got to be the absolutely least kid-friendly store I have ever been in! Imagine a 15 month old running from table to table of waist level stacked bowls, glasses, candles, etc. It was a nightmare. He thought the trays of all different knobs were hilarious. It was a disaster waiting to happen, so I'll have to head back another time. I found these gems and plan to use them for the towel hooks. 

We had a great weekend with my parents. Lucca and my Mom are two peas in a pod. He calls her "Ga" and I think is working his way towards his version of Grandma. We didn't see much of Stefano this weekend which was a bummer. We went to a couple restaurants nearby and had some great dinners, and got a lot of painting done. My Mom brought Lucca's blackout Roman shades and two bags full of pillows that she and I have made. These pillows are going to have to be their own post! I think I worked my Dad too hard though, one night he was asleep on the couch before it was even dark out! In all reality they helped us out a ton, and I am so grateful. I am one lucky lady! Happy St Patrick's Day!!