dandelion living

2009 update #1

2010-01-17T14:33:00.012-05:00

so, we were making so much progress over the summer... & then we just kind of puttered out. we lost the enthusiasm & motivation of the early renovation days - oh, & we spent all of our $ too. but we've been saving our cash, recently found our mojo & are now working on our biggest house project to date! but before we share anything new... i need to post a few new (er... much belated) progress updates on the projects we completed in 2009. so here's the 1st!

update #1: wood floors + new wall colors = still makes me swoon...even after 6 months

i think our wood floors turned out fantastic - & look especially lovely with the new wall colors. once we put the floors in we realized the chocolate walls in the living room had to go - the color just didn't look right. good choice too, because the pale grey really brightens things up & makes the room look twice as big. the lavender in the dining room is also pretty subdued. i don't usually gravitate towards light wall colors, but now, well.. i think i'm in love :D

oh.... also new in the living room:

rug (anthropologie) - so colorful, pretty & a great deal @ 50% off online. i wish our anthropology carried rugs & curtains in the store.
petrie sofa (crate & barrel) - the most beautiful blue grey color, durable fabric & such a gorgeous shape... but a word of warning: it took 4 months to make & we now know to never buy a sofa with buttons on the seat cushions - umm... because they pop off. ugh
stow leather ottomans (also crate & barrel) - awesome bc they're movable & the lids flip over & become trays. super handy when you don't have a dining room table.

as you can see, we're still working on accessorizing, so please ignore the towels nailed above the windows. if you're wondering why we need towels & blinds, it's because our blinds don't provide adequate shade for playing video games

note: both room colors are martha stewart: rock oyster & party dress. i'll let you figure out which one is which ;) i had the paper swatches matched at sherwin williams (bc i really like the duration paint & they do a fantastic job matching colors).

things to keep

2009-06-14T15:27:00.011-04:00

i don't know if you can tell in previous pics, but we've really procrastinated in pulling together a nice living room (& any dining area whatsoever). the excuse is that "we should start from the bottom up" - meaning we need to get the wood floors down before we can really think about doing anything else. well... since we've made quite a bit of progress with the wood floors, i guess the time to pull it together is fast approaching - eek!

it's not that we err i haven't been thinking about it... in fact, i have all kinds of ideas jotted down, pictures saved & websites bookmarked - hello designsponge. it's just... making a final decision on what approach to take it so difficult! i definitely have commitment issues ;D

so yesterday i made a list of 'things to keep' - which are things we already have (that will go in either the living or dining room) & 'thing's i'd love to own' - which are things that i'd like to incorporate or use as inspiration.

on the list of 'things to keep':

yellow chair. i reupholstered this chair last year & - as dj constantly reminds me - it still needs a cushion

fancy chair. another reupholstery project from last year that is a couple hours shy of being finished...

the credenza we built (project courtesy of the fantastic ReadyMade magazine)

ah... sophia - so beautiful. she will always be my favorite. the breakfast sign i found in the scary basement of a diner i worked at in college.

this beauty may be introduced to a can of spray paint in the near future. we bought it at Grandview Mercantile for a steal. it surprisingly gives off a lot of light & is just lovely to look at overall.

next up... 'things i'd love to own' ;)

1 room down...

2009-06-12T21:31:00.009-04:00

wow.... check out the progress on our new living room floor below :D

floors prepped & ready to go...

my job was to stack all the wood slats...

starting to get an idea of what it will look like...

dj hard at work...

& taking a much deserved rest ;)

hello new living room floor... only 3 more rooms to go!

oh - & our make-shift couch - haha

the start of our hardwood floors!

2009-05-26T20:10:00.006-04:00

can you believe dj did this in 1 afternoon! i think it looks freakin' fantastic. it gives us a good idea of what the rest of the rooms will look like. of course... this means i'll have to hustle on my part - which is painting walls/trim & figuring out how to decorate the living & dining rooms :D

less destruction, more building

2009-05-23T19:04:00.000-04:00

the walls are all down now. so... we have a much better view of our junk room ;D

our temporary stairs...

& our newly built permanent ones :)

check out the awesome ceiling support... courtesy of my resident handyman, dj ;D

the ceiling from another view...

oh... & this is our 2nd bathroom (or was)

tearing stuff down is the most fun

2009-05-21T21:44:00.001-04:00

& the destruction begins....

here's a decent picture of most of the wall.. as you can see, some of it is already missing. oh, & please ignore the mess behind it. since that room has no specific function right now, it's kind of become our biggest junk drawer :)

a picture of the wall from the other side...

the biggest piece is now gone...

as you can see, the living room side of the house is a couple of feet higher than the entryway. those steps... we'll need to tear out & rebuild to be as deep as the new entryway. they'll be hardwood too. actually, when we're ready to put down the hardwood floors, we'll start with the steps!

our 2nd bathroom (behind the wall)... probably won't be able to use this much longer

the wall on the 'living room side' is a load bearing wall, so dj built this huge beam/header to support it. it's great for pull ups (or it would be if i could actually pull myself up) ;D

look for more to come soon!

reprioritizing

2009-05-15T21:14:00.000-04:00

click on image to view larger

i know i said we were going to have hardwood floors down by now... but we decided - after careful contemplation - if we wanted to do it the "right" way, we'd need to do one more thing on our list first... tear down & rebuild the wall in the entryway.

a little history on our house... back in the day it was a smaller house with a little general store attached (which i think is kind of cool). one of the previous owners turned the side that was once the general store into an efficiency apartment to rent out. when we bought the house it was separated into 2 living spaces. So when you opened the front door, you were immediately greeted by a wall (right in your face) - with a door to your left & a door to your right. it was horrible & awkward & really difficult to maneuver if we were carrying bags into the house (or even if more than 1 person wanted to come into the house at a time). *sighs with frustration*

but we have vision :D all along we've been planning to push the wall back a few feet to open up our layout & create more space... & we're finally to the point where we get to do that! i'm super excited. you can check out the changes in the picture above.

ps. yes we realize this also means we'll be renovating the bathroom behind the wall (eventually). it's a good thing we have this really nice other one to use in the meantime ;D

closet overhaul

2009-04-28T19:12:00.000-04:00

wow… it was an uncharacteristic 85 degrees on sunday. combine that with a super messy room & no clean clothes & you have the perfect day for swapping out sweaters for sundresses. here’s the result of my endeavor. my ‘rainbow’ makes me smile every time i change my clothes. i’m hoping it also motivates me to stay tidy :D

what happens when dj gets bored...

2009-04-22T21:05:00.002-04:00

so i came home from my pilates class on monday to this (see below). the good news is that the prep work for the dining room floors is complete. the not so good news… it will be about 2 weeks before we can lay the new floors - oh, & we have family staying with us this weekend. we’ll have to be careful to keep our shoes on. sweet.

bedroom curtains

2009-03-02T21:47:00.006-05:00

i meant to post this a while back. i would say this is my first successful independent sewing project! yeah.. i know. how difficult is it to sew 4 straight lines? it doesn't matter... i sewed a pair of curtains from scratch!!! it's very exciting for me. i think they're so beautiful. they're in our 2nd bedroom, which we call the green room - mostly bc it's the room i get ready in & also because it's green :)

ps... i can't remember who the fabric designer is, but i got it at my favorite local fabric shop, sew to speak. i sure love that place!

still working on the bathroom...

2009-02-27T21:00:00.002-05:00

we're so close! sometimes i get so excited to complete a project, that i exaggerate - or over simplify - how little is left. in this case, when i said "all we have left to do is hang the doors", what i really meant was "all we have left to do is: hang the doors, select the molding that goes around the doors, put up the molding, prime & paint the molding, finish tiling around the door (to the molding), finish grouting the tile around the door, paint the ceiling, purchase/make the accessories & move everything else in!

whew... so, although we're still working on the bathroom, we're finally to the point where we just have to finish decorating, yay!!

here's the molding around the door...

also...a super cute catchall i picked up in berlin, ohio (amish country). i'm thinking it will be a nice place to drop my rings when i'm washing my face + the orange is a nice pop against the blue-green walls :)

oh... & we finally picked out a shower curtain!! personally i could have easily continued vacillating on the perfect shower curtain for months. i really like this one though... the grey flowers are the same color as our pigeon grey towels :)

wood floors

2009-02-22T19:28:00.001-05:00

one of our upcoming projects – as you may remember from the 2009 resolution list – is installing hardwood floors in the dining & living rooms. i’m super psyched for this one. i feel like it will give the house much more charm, character & warmth… plus, we’ll have to move the horrible in-your-face wall back in the process!!

although i love the idea of reclaimed wood floors, our budget just won’t allow that. lucky for us, we have a backup J i remember last summer - when we were remodeling our kitchen - finding a local distributor with really reasonably priced beautiful hard wood floors. ironically it was the same place we ended up getting our granite countertops from (also very reasonably priced). dj recently stopped in to pick up flooring samples... all the samples below are acacia walnut (with different stains). Although they’re all beautiful, we’re leaning towards the "natural". we like the contrast of light & dark + think it's more traditional & characteristic of the time period our house was built in (1920s).

(port)

(natural)

(royal)

drafty doors

2009-02-01T10:52:00.006-05:00

wow it's been cold outside! cold enough to freeze our kitchen pipes ;) a couple of weeks ago, as i sat on the floor trying to thaw the pipes with my hairdryer, i noticed we had a major draft under the back door. i don't know how we missed this last winter.

it reminded me of this project (posted on the paper pony last year). filled with the motivation of not only a new project, but one i actually had a chance of completing, i decided to make a "draft blocker" of my own.

although the paper pony version is so lovely with it's mismatch of beautiful fabrics, since mine would be laying on a dirty floor (where people constantly track in snow & mush), i thought i should use a more substantial (& less dirt revealing) fabric. i found a really pretty soft grey corduroy & went to work. below is the end product.

it was so easy, i ended up making another for the front door. at the end of the day i was beaming with pride (mostly because i finished a 1-day project in 1 day - & dj mentioned he was impressed with my sewing craftiness) - hahaha

note:

afterward i realized i could have used an old pair of corduroys (either a crazy color via jcrew clearance or a thrift store score).
our doors are 35 inches wide so my fabric measured 37 inches long x 8 inches wide, which gave me a 1 inch seam allowance.
each pillow used about 3 lbs of rice - fyi, the rice cost more than the fabric!
i feel the need to mention that we are planning to paint the back door the same color as the trim (once a final trim color is picked) :D

new bathroom pics

2009-01-28T17:58:00.008-05:00

check out the bathroom! isn't it beautiful?? i'm so proud of the work dj did (you know... building the walls, dry walling, tiling, grouting, etc). of course, i'm proud of my own work & assistance too. i don't think the pictures do it justice. for some reason i had difficulty getting the lighting to look right.

also- it's still missing a door. after we fix up the new door, we'll have it professionally framed & hung. next time we post pics, it will be decorated & ready to use (eeks with excitement)!

(this wall is where we'll put our cheddar silhouette)

bathroom doors

2009-01-24T23:43:00.006-05:00

we bought doors for the bathroom (& closet) today!! old ones from columbus architectural salvage. i'm in love with these doors!

dj & i are perpetually in a state of give & take between the old & the new. i love the idea of vintage, salvaged or re-purposed goods, while dj is more keen on being the first owner ;) so... we agreed to used salvaged doors inside the house and buy a new exterior door when we re-do the front of the house. a smart exchange in my opinion :D

bathroom design board

2009-01-17T19:44:00.008-05:00

(click on image to enlarge)

so this is my amateur attempt at creating a design board for the bathroom :) i thought it would be a nice way to "picture" what all the different design elements will look like once complete... & in the process, be a good test for mixing styles, patterns, colors, shapes, & what-not.

obviously we already have the floor & sink. we also have a pottery barn light fixture similar to the mercer style shown (& i bought the floral hand towels from basic french months ago when the co. was featured on design sponge).

it's really exciting to be at the point where we get to decorate the room... plus i think it will be really fun to make silhouettes of cheddar, dj & i - maybe use printed paper - & put in ornate thrift frames painted glossy black. all-in-all it's nice to be this close to being finished. the only renovation part left is to buy & frame a door (which we're working on). yay!!

bathroom progression!

2009-01-08T20:31:00.000-05:00

the last time i posted bathroom pics we had just finished framing the walls. look how far we have come! here's a look at our progression. you'll see my husband has mad skills in the tiling department (regardless of how much he hates it) :D

(bathtub is in)

(walls are up)

(how cute is this floor?)

(tiling begins - how cute is my husband?)

(tiling is finished!)

(dj's fancy grout manicure)

(a snapshot of the paint color - i'll get a better shot of it once we get some more light in this room - haha)

bathroom color

2009-01-04T12:27:00.000-05:00

below is the color we chose for the bathroom (vintage map blue - martha stewart for valspar). it's a more muted version of the teal wallpaper in the kitchen (right off the bathroom - see layout). i'm super excited... i think it will look great against the off-white subway tile.

i usually like to use sherwin williams duration interior paint (due to it's low voc content, clean-ability, coverage & awesome pour spout - not shown online), but the last person i know to have them match a color went through some terrible ordeals... so we'll give martha a try :)

you'll get to see the results soon, because i'm painting today!

(vintage map blue - martha stewart for valspar)

(wall paper in the kitchen)

2009 new year's resolution

2009-01-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

wow. so keeping up with a blog is harder than i thought! (as evident by the lack of postings). well no worries... one of my new year's resolutions is to get back to it. specifically, to update dandelion living with at least 2 posts per week. i want this goal to be attainable ;D

not surprisingly, we've made quite the progress on the bathroom. especially with the extra time we had over christmas break. look for a bathroom update soon!

in the meantime, here is the agenda for 2009:

finish remodeling & decorating the bathroom
install wood floors in dining room & living room
create a real dining room (right now it's just a room full of drywall dust, tools & an old couch - see below. in it's defense, it is right outside of the work-in-progress bathroom)
turn the 2nd bedroom into a functioning guest bedroom/craft room/computer area (this is already in the works)
push back the wall you run smack dab into when you walk in the house (the intention is to create a more open layout)
tear out the horrible cement wall in front of the house & replace with a stone or brick retaining wall. at the same time, create steps leading straight up to the front door (you'll understand when you see the front of the house)
replace the front door
build a wood fence for the back yard
lay a foundation for a garage (& hopefully build a garage - fingers crossed)

well, when you write it all out like that it seems like a lot of work (haha)... but we are up for the challenge :)

(our soon to be dining room - & you thought i was exaggerating)

anthropology fun

2008-09-18T21:18:00.000-04:00

last weekend i was running errands and made a quick pop into anthropology & boy was i glad i did!! check out the cuteness below! as if it couldn't be better... the vases were only $8 each! (the other 2 items were on clearance for $3.95). so here is the plan....

i don't know exactly what i will do with the yellow & blue vases. right now they are on the credenza we built over the summer. they look really good there though... so that may end up being their new home.

the other items are going to be accessories for the new bathroom. the green vase is for our toothbrushes, the cream & yellow dish is for my hair ties/barrettes & well... i'll just have to start wearing perfume ;)

more bathroom decisions

2008-09-17T01:24:00.000-04:00

so we went to lindeys this year for our anniversary... & what do you think we talked about most over dinner? their bathroom tile - haha!! we actually went back later & dj took a picture of the of it (see below). we both like the black & white hexagon look & agree that black grout is the way to go... (i like it because i'm hoping it will show less dirt & grime + it is a very classic look that will go really well with white subway tile). the only problem is we can't find find this exact pattern :(

lately we've been talking about different black & white hexagon tile options & came across this design (see below). the flower tile is not glazed though (boo)... so we're going to duplicate it by purchasing the all white design & replacing the pattern tiles with black ones - & then have every other tile be a flower pattern. cute huh?

upholstery class #3

2008-09-14T17:18:00.000-04:00

i can't believe i'm already on upholstery class #3. i'm very excited to finally work on leggy chair! this one will be all about learning how to make buttons, diamond backs & cleanly folding fabric around arms & legs. the fabric i'm using is a japanese print by kokka that i got at sew to speak (my favorite fabric shop ever). it's so pretty! this is a tiny sneak peak of just how adorable this chair will look... i will update later when it's complete. (i'm confident that there will be no tears this time - haha)

i am going to make this quilt...

2008-09-11T21:27:00.000-04:00

i've just added it to my list of sewing projects. reasons: it's super cute, it will be great sewing practice with my new bernina, we need a new bedcover, & the pattern is free on amy buttler's website!! now i just have to pick out 11 different fabric patterns :D

ps... amy buttler has all kinds of great patterns on her website. click here to see them all (free pattern link is at bottom right)

bernina = awesome

2008-09-10T20:32:00.000-04:00

saturday i had my monthly craft day with mom & bev - we have it the first saturday of every month. of course, as always, it was lots of fun & i promise i will post my crafty endeavors from it later - hint hint... there may be a gift in it for a lucky someone.

anywho... as some of you know, i've been saving up my pennies for a new sewing machine, specifically a bernina sewing machine, & i finally bought one on saturday... and it is awesome (see photo above). i don't have it yet... i'll get it this saturday - yay! bring on the sewing fun!!

framing progress

2008-09-09T01:15:00.000-04:00

dj worked alot this weekend on the bathroom framing... & it shows!! check out the progress below. it's starting to come together more (or at least it seems that way to us). it's neat to see where the doors & bathtub will be. yay!!

fun times at the ReStore

2008-09-09T01:05:00.000-04:00

well... it was a fun filled weekend in the brant-mangas household. friday night we checked out the local habitat for humanity ReStore & although we didn't find what we were looking for (2 identical hardwood interior doors sized 30" by 80")... we did score a couple of other great finds (see below).

the tile is 2x2 inch ceramic & just the prettiest shade of grey. we found 48 square feet for $20! we're thinking about using it in the bathroom that we're not renovating right now. i know that's a whole other project, but i'm already thinking a bold pink & grey would be such a lovely combination :)

the other item we picked up is a gold chandelier i plan on painting white or cream - to go in the 2nd bedroom upstairs. i'm also thinking of possibly painting the little "cups" that hold the faux candles a contrasting color. i don't know which color it would be though... the room is mint green with grey & yellow accents right now. i know.... grey is my new chocolate brown - haha :D

sorry!!

2008-09-03T18:06:00.001-04:00

hello to anyone who is reading this (i.e. mom & dad - haha). i promise i am not giving up the blog. we've just been crazy busy with work, vacations & other obligations. we're still making progress on the bathroom, i have a craft day on saturday & another upholstery class starting on monday (we'll call this one filthy chair due to all the dirt that fell out when I was stripping it). so... please keep checking up on us. there's lots to come :D

ikea list

2008-07-19T00:58:00.000-04:00

we'll be in cincinnati visiting family this weekend... which means we'll be stopping at ikea on the way home. yay! i heart ikea. on the ikea list:

bookshelves (for upstairs project)
potential overhead lighting (for almost any room... we have so many ceiling fans to replace)*

*so... a little backstory: when we purchased our house we didn't have central air conditioning... what we did have was this ceiling fan in almost every room - i know :) so far we've replaced 2... so only 4 more to go!

symmetrical doorways

2008-07-16T01:04:00.000-04:00

we realized the other day that the bathroom remodel is a great opportunity to make the 2 entry ways on either side of the tv the same height! (one goes upstairs & the other goes into the undefined space). this is great because that was one of the little things that i think eventually would have driven me batty. the entry way into the undefined space is right beside the new wall we will be building. perfect right? we thought so. this is what it looks like now...

new fun fabric

2008-07-12T19:18:00.000-04:00

last weekend i went fabric shopping with my mom (so much fun!). we visited my favorite fabric shop in columbus - sew to speak. not only is it chocked full of beautiful, unique, affordable fabrics, but the woman who owns it is genuinely nice & super knowledgeable. our purpose for visiting was to grab some fabric samples for another project i'll be sharing in the near future. in the meantime i got these great prints!

ps... this is also where i got the awesome leo fabric for the fancy chair

upholstery class #2 (part 2)

2008-07-11T23:51:00.000-04:00

here are pics from my first week of class (which was only 2 nights). believe it or not, i'm a lot further along than i was at this point in upholstery class #1. hahaha

i did think i would remember more from the first class. oh well... as a friend of mine says, repetition is the mother of all learning :)

for more pictures click here

hip hip hooray for sub-flooring!

2008-07-10T20:50:00.000-04:00

the sub-flooring for the bathroom is now down, so no more risk of falling in the hole on the way to the kitchen! things to be grateful for #29: neither dj, cheddar or i are sleepwalkers :)

bathroom shopping

2008-07-08T23:35:00.000-04:00

dj & i took a trip to lowes over the weekend to look at bathtubs, toilets & sinks... and it was one of the best shopping times we've ever had together! it's reassuring to know we share similar tastes in at least 1 area, even if that area is toilets :)

seriously... we like the straight, clean, classic lines of the pieces below... & pretty soon i'll have enough compiled to share our "vision" of what the new bathroom will look like.

memoirs toilet (kohler)

i like the idea of having a flat top on the tank. i think a nice tray on the back will provide a place to keep pretty things while keeping the bathroom looking tidy & organized.

memoirs pedestal sink (kohler)

this sink comes in a 24, 27 & 30 inch version. the 27 inch has the 3 extra inches added directly to the basin - which is nice & deep. originally we thought about getting the 30 inch, but decided it was unnecessary & might look out of proportion in our larger - but still small by most standards - bathroom :)

archer bathtub (kohler)

honestly... there are not a lot of great tubs to choose from out there. we like this tub's simplicity

oh... & all of these items will be white

fancy chair is now black!

2008-07-06T22:58:00.000-04:00

woo hoo! the fancy chair is now black and glossy (after 2 days & about 7 or 8 coats). i must say, he's looking mighty fine :)

i imagine there will be a couple of spots to touch up (after transporting to & from class + my skills with a staple remover have yet to be honed) but i can do that with a tiny brush (& left over spray paint maybe?) yay!

updating wood frame with glossy black paint

2008-07-04T13:05:00.000-04:00

so... for a plan with only 3 steps there is much work to be done. on the agenda for this weekend:

sand. the wood on fancy chair is covered by a really thick coat of polyurethane or lacquer. ugh. it will need to be roughed up a bit so the new finish will really stick. this is my least favorite part. it is also the most time consuming as i'm only able to focus on sanding for about 10 minutes at a time (before getting bored, whiny or distracted).

spray. because i've only given myself one weekend to do this (haha), i've decided to use all spray materials. the positive - spray paint will help ensure thin coats. the negative - if it rains all weekend i will cry :(

1. primer = 2 coats

2. black gloss paint = 2 coats

3. poly-acrylic top coat = 3 coats

upholstery class #2 (part 1)

2008-07-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

i start my 2nd upholstery class at fabric farms on monday (before & after photos from my 1st upholstery class can be found here). i'm super excited to revamp what i've dubbed the "fancy chair", which was given to us by dj's great aunt helen. when i removed the fabric i found a card stapled to the arm that said the frame was made in 1959. i find that kind of stuff really cool.

so here is the plan:

update the wood frame with glossy black paint
update the fabric with super cute & whimsical "leo" fabric (by Alexander Henry - below)
scotch guard the hell out of the chair when complete

this is where i really wish i was a photoshop pro... then i could "recreate" the chair with it's new look. fyi... if anyone knows how to do this, please share :)

seriously... how great is this fabric?!? i think it's going to look quite lovely. :)

pile of trash

2008-07-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

this is the pile of trash formally known as our bathroom... & this is AFTER craiglisters raided the salvageable wood. i have no idea what we will do with this stuff. maybe host a bonfire party? yummm..... smores :)

bathroom hole smells

2008-07-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

there is a horrible horrible odor that hits you when you walk past the bathroom hole (like a mixture of mildew & dead animals rotting). i think it is the smell of our basement (which is directly under the hole). but i don’t understand why we haven’t noticed this incredibly offensive smell when IN the basement. weird.

more bathroom destruction

2008-06-30T21:20:00.000-04:00

just when you think you can’t have any less bathroom... we now have a big gaping hole where our bathroom once was (the demolition is 90% done - yay!). big thanks to dj’s brother cory for helping us get this far so quickly … & for helping us figure out what to do next :)

bathroom destruction

2008-06-29T17:37:00.000-04:00

so... shortly after i gave dj the "go ahead" (to start bathroom demolition), our bathroom disappeared (like magic). i'm amazed at his speed of destruction!

floor plans for new bathroom

2008-06-28T15:52:00.000-04:00

we are starting our bathroom renovation project this weekend (big yay)!! above are our "before" and "after" floor plans. we are basically making the bathroom bigger so we can replace the standing shower with a bathtub shower (& rearranging the layout of the bathtub, toilet & sink in the process). more to come on how pretty it will all look when complete :)

ps.. click on each image for a larger view