So, when we moved into this house, we decided that we would work slowly at our pace and redo things until the house was done, then find our dream house! We got a pretty good deal on this house but knew that it would not be our forever home. We were both excited to work on some projects together, and we have learned a lot about each other, finances, and home ownership in the process. This little house has really strengthened our relationship. I'm not telling you to go buy a house with your boyfriend, but we have known for a while that this was one of the first steps down our path.
One of the large things that we are working on trying to find a solution for is our fireplace and built ins. Here take a look.....
We took the popcorn ceilings down, and re textured and painted. But that's a novel for another day. There is also a large wooden beam in the center of the vaulted ceiling, and that will also be another project for another day.
Here is another view of the same thing. The wood panaling in the back is about to kill me, but I found a tutorial here:
Bookcase upgrades tutorial....... I'll be working on this once everything is finished and dried. Chris will be gone this weekend on a boys weekend in Vegas with his dad, so this will be a fun project for him to come home to.
Which I will be looking into for the back of the bookcase, but I want to get a good coat of paint on it, just in case I decide to change something at the last minute.
This little Whitewash project is a wonderful idea to kinda update the red brick that is very circa 1980 when the house was built. I actually got the idea and a great tutorial from one of my favorite new blogs:
Infarrantly Creative. She gave a wonderful tutorial on just how to do this.
I laid the plastic down, and I'm kinda lazy, so I covered the ceramic logs and fireplace stand with the plastic sheeting, which we got for free from a friend.
Here are the materials that I used. I got a pack of cheap towels for $1.96 at Home Depot, a Cheap brush (the brick will tear it up, so don't worry about spending any money on it, I just got one that would help with the surface area.) It was about $0.96. Then I decided to splurge a little and get the paint bucket with the disposable drop ins, because touch ups are always a good idea. It was about $7 for the bucked and $3 for the disposable drop ins.
Don't mind the mess, I'm actually looking for a Duvet cover and will be making a cover for the dog bed that everything is resting on.
I started by mixing the paint. 1 Part paint to 2 parts of water, so as you can imagine, a little paint goes a long way. I used about 1 cup of paint and 2 cups of water for this project. Then I stirred it well, and played around with the coverage. I painted this up there, then immediately wiped it down with the rag.
I thought that the coverage was about what I wanted, then I had to step back and look at it. It really changes with perspective. So I decided to keep going. I got a little further, and stepped back, and decided that I liked it when it was quiet a bit lighter. I accoplished this by painting it on, then waiting a minute or two, then dabbing the paint off, instead of wiping it.
You can see it in the center just above the mantle, (which I could not remove. I was thinking about building another one after my shelf project a few weeks ago.)
So, I went back and re did the area that I already worked on, to bring it all to the lighter color that I accidentally made, but really liked. White washing the brick was a quick job, it took me about an hour and a half, to do it all, then I started working on the built ins.
I reposted the before picture so you could see the hopefully dramatic differece that a little This is a sneak peak photo of the finished brick, but still working on the built ins and mantle. Changed quiet a bit from the first picture. I'll post another picture in a second post with the finished picture and the shelves decorated. What do you think?
A little decoration to show our respect to fall, and give you a little close up!
