Did I do it in 2010?

Now that 2010 is officially coming to a close.  I want to take a look back and see if I accomplished what I set out to do.

Here is my 2010 to do list...

1. The kitchen- obviously (since it is started). Complete the small makeover, including curtains, rugs and faucet.

2. Remove carpet and paint the stairs

3. Paint and dress the Guest room

4. Curtains for windows (Master, Bath, Dining room)

5. Paint floor in Dining Room

So lets see.
1. The Kitchen- Yes I got most of the kitchen done.  I am still waiting for a rug, but I am waiting for the right rug (at least that's what I tell myself).

 2. Remove carpet and paint the stairs- Yep done.

 3. Paint and Dress the Guest Room- Hmmm, I am not sure what to say.  I guess I can officially mark it off the list, as I have painted the room and done some things to it.  However, I am not happy with it and it is not done. In fact as we speak I am running ideas in my head on what I will be doing with the room.

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4. Curtains for Windows (Master, Bath, Dining room)-  I am going to say no to this one.  I made some curtains for the Master, but I don't like them.  I still need to make some for the bath and I am not sure what I am doing in the dining room.

I have finally gotten my interest in window coverings back.   I am hoping that 2011 will allow me to do some more work on them.

5. Paint floor in Dining room- YES and then some.  Not only did I get the floor in the dining room painted, I got the Living room floor done as well.

So my score would be 3.5 out of 5, but with extra credit.  So I will give myself a solid B for 2010.

Lets see what I think I should do for 2011.

Happy New Years!!!

-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Basement

I can't believe I am going to show you my basement.  It is the space that has had the least amount of work done to it.  I am talking nothing. Nothing has been done to it. 
It is the space that my kids use and abuse. 

It is the space that I need to conquer. 

I will warn you, it is ugly with a capital U.

It has absolutely no windows and every square inch of wall is coated in paneling. 

blah

blah

 BLAH!

And I am not even going to show you what is behind this door.

Really, I am not.  It is just too sad.

So there you go.  My shame filled basement.  I am hoping to fix this in 2011 (maybe).

Thank you for stopping in and taking a look around my house.

I hope you come back and see what happens in 2011.

-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Living Room

Hello again, glad you decided to stop back in.  On deck today is the Living Room.

It is the room I spend the most time in.  I am sure you have noticed, that I have not truly completed any one space in my home.  I am OK with that, and I am OK with sharing my spaces as they stand today.  I mean after all, we can't all live in a show house.

So my living room is still "in progress".  I have the vision, just not the cash.  But I think it has come a fair bit.  What do you think?

I have been working on altering my chair.  Again, not complete, but coming along.  The green is just not working. 

And probably the most important spot in the living room (my couch)....

Again, I am loving the floor, I am just waiting to put the area rug down to complete the look.  I guess that means I have to buy an area rug....

I am dying to get rid of that large TV cabinet.
 
My Kitchen, Dining Room, Master Suite, Guest Room, Son's Room, Daughter's room and the Upstairs Bath.

-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Dining Room

Last time we took a look at the Kitchen.  Today we can move on to the dining room.

I have chosen to forgo a formal dining room in favor of a very casual spot to enjoy diners with the family.

The main feature of the room is the giant art wall I am creating from all the wonderful art my young children are busy creating.

This feature wall was very important for me.  I wanted to make sure the kids had a place to display their work, and I knew I didn't want it on my fridge.  The art wall is finally coming together.  I had a vision on layers and layers of all their wonderful creations.  It simply makes me smile.

Here is another angle.

I am not in love with my chairs.  There I have said it.  I am in the process of working on them, in hopes of making them more to my liking (that is why they look a little odd).  Hopefully they will be done in January for me to share.

I am still in love with the naked, carpet free floor.   No more hauling out the vacuum cleaner 3 times a day!  Can I get a woop-woop?

I guess this is as good of a place as any to show how the room looked last year...

Not horrible, but not me either.  I just wanted to make some changes.

Another small change made to the light fixture...

I have decided to ditch the dusty shades on the chandelier.  I am replacing them with some glass shades.  I am not thrilled with the bulbs.  I am still working on those.

Now taking a look from the dining room into the living room, I have our desk.  Or should I call it the Command Center.

It is there, tucked behind the sofa.

There it is.

And my desk would not be complete with out a basket of color chips.  Everyone has one of these, right?


Well, there you go.  The rest of the house can be seen here...Master Suite, Guest Room, Son's Room, Daughter's room and the Upstairs Bath.

Next week we will complete the tour with the Living room and maybe a peek at the basement.

I hope everyone is a stress-free week.

-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Kitchen

Welcome to the second half of my house tour.  So come in a take a look around.

 I know it has been a while, so if you need to, please re-visit our Master Suite, Guest Room, Son's Room, Daughter's room and the Upstairs Bath.

To start off, here is the general floor plan of the main floor (not to scale of course).

I have said it before...This floor plan is very odd to work with.

Once you enter the front door you are greeted with the kitchen sink, so why don't we start in the kitchen.

(off to the right you will see the stairs I have recently unearthed.  I won't take the time to go into here, but you can read about Painting the Stairs here.)

I started this blog with my kitchen, and if you have been a visitor here you will know a lot of work has been done in this room.  It is my favorite room in the house and probably the most completed (but not complete. Yay, more to do in 2011).

As a reminder, I started here...

The window really is the focal point of the room, and I love my cheery curtains.  This sweet little bird that rests on the sill, is a tradition from my husbands family.

I am not an overtly whimsical person, but if you look around you will find things lurking here and there.

Hello, Mr Gnome.  I see you.

Thank you for stopping by my kitchen.  Please visit the official Kitchen post for more.
Next time we can take a peak at the dining room.

-Laurie

Christmas Tree 2010

Things around my house have been busy, like CRAZY BUSY.  Since my husband is away, my parents have decided to stop in a nest for a couple of months.  And add to that, my sister has also decided to fly in for a week.  I love my family.  I love having them together, it just adds an additional level of busy to an already busy time of year.

I did, however, find time to drag out my Christmas decorations and get things feeling a bit festive.


Now before I show you any pictures, I feel I must state a few facts.

1. We have had our sad little tree since 1999.  We picked it up for $20.  So even new it was a sad little tree.
2. Every year I say it is the last year we are going to use this tree, and last year was no exception.  But again I pulled it out and put it up.  I think this year I have to actually put it out to the curb.
3. It is starting to lose its "needles" and "branches".  I think my poor little tree is also trying to tell me to give it up...He is done!

So without further ado, here is our little Christmas tree for 2010

See I told you it was a sad little tree.

Now that I have dogged on my tree, I should also show you what I love about my tree.

My ornaments.

Every year I add some new ones.  Or should I say I make some new ones.  Here is this years addition.

I went very simple and rustic this year.  In the past I have been a bit more ambitious.

My little village made it out of the boxes as well...

My mantle got some attention, but maybe not as much as I could have done.  Mostly it is my daughter's Snow baby collection, and some other things that needed a home. 

Oops, I think I need to wash that mirror.


Thank you for stopping in and seeing my little tree.  Merry Christmas!

-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Upstairs Hall and Bath

Welcome back to the End of the Year House Tour here at Little Blue Chairs.  Today I want to wrap up all the remaining spaces on our upper floor.  So far we have seen the Master Suite, the Guestroom, and our Son and Daughter's rooms.  What is left is the hallway and upstairs bath.  I have put together a very crude floor plan, just to give you an idea how things fit together.

Lets go ahead and start in the bathroom. 

 I am just going to put it out there.  This is not my finest work.  I love the wall color, but I am not feeling the curtains, in fact I have already purchased more fabric to make new ones.

Speaking of wall colors, this one is Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (SW 6204).  Another great, simple color that is not too out there.

In my baths, I do tend to stick to white linens and curtains.  I think they look crisp and clean.   I also love using hooks versus towel bars, it just makes it so much easier to use.

 I just recently painted the walls in this room, before they were more of a minty green.  And do we even need to talk about those tab top curtains? Ugh.

 If we go back just a bit further, we will see what it looked like when we bought the house.

If we move onto the hallway, you will notice I have a lot of work to still do in this area.  I love the color, which is Behr Whisper Yellow (300A-2), but I have big expanses that have NO visual interest.

Here is a shot of the hallway looking over the stairs.  Blah, Blah...boring.

And here is a partial shoet of the "gallery wall" that really needs more frames and photos.

I don't really have any before pictures, because, well I just had no real reason to take any pictures of the empty space.

So to make up for the lack of interest on this stop on the tour I am going to share with you a song from one of my favorite artists, Andrew Bird.  I find I listen to him a lot when working on the blog.  I hope you enjoy him.





-Laurie

End of Year House Tour- Daughter's Room

Most of the rooms you've seen so far on my End of the Year House Tour have been fairly close to being finished, or at least presentable.  However, today we are going to be visiting my daughter's room, and believe me when I say this room is far from being finished.  In fact, we are in the process of a remodel in her room.

And needless to say, it is in a state of chaos...

 If you have been following along, you know that earlier this year we switched the kids rooms.  So that would mean that at some point this was our son's room.  Back then it looked like this....

When my daughter (my budding decorator) took over the room, I allowed her some say in her wall color.  she did good, she chose Sherwin Williams Shagreen (SW 6422).  It is a very pretty green, I would recommend it.

 I added petals to the circles that were already on the closet doors to help make them more girly, this is for a 6 year old little girl after all.

 

The window treatments are  from an old Ikea Bed canopy like this one...

I've been digging on it ever since I put it up.  It was one of the easiest thing too.  I just cut it off from the hoop, folded over the top to make a rod pocket and hemmed to the length I needed.  I love the skirt-like shape it makes.  And the green matches perfectly to the wall.  I am still planning on making an over curtain, but for now it helps soften the window.

Anyways, the room no longer looks like this, it is torn apart and is waiting for a new life.   It is going to be a few months before I am even close to revealing what is happening in her room, but it is going to be worth the wait.  I promise.

Thank you for your patience.
-Laurie

End of Year Tour:

Master Suite

Guest Room

Son's room