Dreams Dashed.

As I previously noted, I'm still looking for the perfect shower curtain for the guest bathroom. I actually had the perfect one thought up in my head once my husband suggested a solid blue curtain. Rather than solid (because let's be honest, that's just boring), I imagined a ruffled curtain that beautifully ombred from lighter to darker blue. I then googled it to see if it existed and I actually found it!! From Anthropologie of course. BUT -- it was from last year and is now literally sold out everywhere including ebay, amazon, or any other sites available. I'm so sad now...it's PERFECT!

I also read on several people's blog that they didn't want to pay over $100 on it so they made their own DIY versions of the curtain. Example:

Anthropologie ruffle in yellow

Anthropologie ruffle in blue

The latter one the person actually individually dyed the strips. Don't think I'll have the patience or skill to do that. The former yellow version she just bought 9 varying yellow strips of fabric. Maybe I can do that. I'll have to wipe the thick layer of dust off my sewing machine and relearn how to use it first. 

Another item of desire that I most likely won't buy is Restoration Hardware's Cloche with Babies. Man I want that cloche!! But it's $400!!! So ridiculous...

Fresh Paint.

It has been a long time coming, but I finally was able to finish the painting of our living/dining room with the help of some wonderful friends. It's the perfect taupe (technically, Cheyenne Rock). Here are the pictures of the living room from the process to the finished look:

We just pushed everything into the middle of the room and covered it all up.

And completed with everything moved back into place!

This is going to be our art wall. We've already collected many photos we want to put up, 

but just have to find the right frames. 

I haven't decided if I want to go simple and classic with all the same frames and thick matting,

or if I a more eclectic collection of frames.

Now just for fun, let's look at some OLD pictures of the space:

Wow the place looked awful before. But to be fair, I was only 19 years old and had no idea what I was doing. I'm so glad I finally have been able to redo the place. It even feels bigger even though I have more furniture in this room now!

One of the ladder shelves is in the family room and the other one I put in the entry way. I've been wanting a ladder for shoes for awhile now anyway, so this was perfect!

I also rearranged our master bedroom a bit and have been slowly bringing new elements to it. Now that the dining/living room is complete, it's just down to the bedrooms. It's been much easier to redo the guest bedroom, so our room will likely have to wait. However, below is an evolution of my books and that corner of the room behind the door:

 And this is the couch across from the armchair.

I also got new cushion covers for the other loveseat in the room:

I bought this shower curtain from West Elm (on the left) to replace the other one (on the right), but it's still now quite right. Sigh, looks like I'll have to keep looking. There seems to be too much white, says my husband. I'll start looking for a more blue dominant pattern.

At least the guest bedroom bed and table are finally set up and usable! 

Now I'm just looking for better bed sheet and duvet cover set. I'm figuring out the wall decor as well, in term of framed art and wall of bookshelves lining up to the ceiling.

Last quick note. Finally used this espresso maker and made a delicious iced cafe au lait. My new summer treat.

Guest Room in Progress.

We finally painted our guest bedroom/Matt's office space. We also finally got our corner desk and more from Pottery Barn. However, the rest of the bedroom furniture and bedding accessories are still a work in progress. Here are some pictures of the process and what we have so far:

What the room looked like before painting. Unfortunately I don't have an actual before picture.

Basically piled everything onto the bed in the middle of the room in preparation for painting.

My wonderful husband painting with me after work.

After just two long nights, we completed the room. Painting with a partner is so much better!

Still trying to figure out how to configure the room. I think the is the best option for the bed placement.

I also painted the side table I had in that room the same color as the wall. I forgot to take a before picture, but it used to be pale yellow. I bought for a mere $25 while antiquing.

I set it up in the small alcove right next to the door as you enter the room.

The desk and its pieces. Unfortunately, the person at pottery barn failed to realize we also needed another top for the two extra cabinets in order to make the top flush with the corner desk set. Thus, we still can't set it up completely yet. Hopefully soon.

This is similar to what I eventually want to do with that room. I'm going to buy long white wall shelves above the desk, but probably not in the corner since the actual desk part on ours is in the corner and not on the side like the room below.

So far that's what I have. It's also been nearly impossible finding the right office chair. I'm considering this one from West Elm, but not sure yet.

So many things left to do still!

Guest Bathroom 90% Complete.

The wallpaper hanger came this morning and finished up our guest bathroom. I'm thrilled by how amazing and different the space looks now. The only thing left is finding the perfect old-timey accessories and amenities for it.

I'm a little unsure of the shower curtain now because the colors are so different. However, I can't decide if I like the color disparity with coordinating designs or if I should find a shower curtain with similar blue hue and a different design pattern. I'll keep the curtain for now and see how I feel later.

On a side note, we got furniture for our living room patio. I don't have before pictures because it was pretty sparse and horrible, but here's how it looks now. It still needs a lot of work, but it's fun for summer dinners.

We filled a terrarium with dirt and wooden figures for the coffee tabletop. I'm currently looking for curtains and/or other decor pieces for the walls.

Guest Bathroom Phase I.

I finally motivated myself to continue with the redecorations. Rather than taking on the daunting task of painting our large living/dining room and hallway, I decided to focus on the much more manageable space of our guest bathroom. For now, I'm generally done except for the wallpaper and small accessories here and there. Below are before and after pictures:

Before. 

After.

I really don't know what I was thinking. I loved that room, but I don't even like pink! It was far too girly for me so I'm very excited about my changes.

You can see that I painted my cabinets a dark grey (same shade as the cabinets in my kitchen Kitchen Completed). I also bought a new grey rug (it used to be a pink rug) and  new grey towels to replace the pink toile towels.

The flower Anthropologie rug I already had, and kept since it still goes with the colors and I love it.

The two ikat wallpaper patterns I was debating between were:

In the end, I had to go with the one below even though Matt liked the first one more and I like the darkness of the first one. The reason we went with the lighter one below, though, is because it's vinyl and washable which is important for a room with moisture. I'm not sure what the other one's material is and didn't want to take the risk. I just ordered it so it should be here in a couple of weeks! Exciting!

I also bought different knobs for my cabinets. I originally bought the ones below from Anthropologie, but when I put them on, they were too large and protruded too much for my cabinets.

So I exchanged them for these. I like these, but not nearly as much as the original ones, which is quite a shame. At least the colors on these ones go better with the ikat shower curtains.

I also plan on accessorizing the restroom with vintage inspired bath products such as:

I purchased both of them online from Anthropologie as well, and I plan on getting Marvis toothpaste and wooden toothbrushes. I'm also looking for an oblong antique mirrored tray for my accessories. Can't wait for this room to be finished!