My bedroom

Ah, how nice it's been having a half day today! I haven't taken any time off since I moved and it was great to get a lot done - running errands, cleaning, doing laundry. Sometimes I feel like I haven't really gotten time to enjoy my house because I'm away from it a lot. I find myself missing my apartment because it felt like home, but I know I need to give myself time to make my house feel like that too.

I had to make my bedroom feel exactly the way I wanted to - like me. Comfortable, sort of stylish, and, if I'm being honest, it's usually a little messy! The reason it took me so long to do this before & after was because I wasn't taking the time to give my room a nice cleaning. I finally folded and put away all the clean laundry and cleaned and dusted all the surfaces. It's not done-done yet, but I'm so happy with it.

Here's the before:

 

Nothing wrong with the color, just not my style!

Here's what it looks like now:

 

this picture I took with a flash so the colors look brighter - not sure where all the orbs came from. Maybe I have ghosts!

 

I LOVE my bedroom set and I'm obsessed with my bed! It's a Sealy pillowtop and I can't wait to climb in every night...and I really mean climb in, as it's really high off the ground! I looked around a bit and knew I wanted something that felt a bit more grown up than what I had before. I found this set at Raymour & Flanagan and the mattress is from there too.

 

I got the comforter at Target and the small orange pillows at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Something about blue, gray, and orange I love - I've been on an orange kick lately and I really like the color. Not so much for clothes but for bedding, it's great! 

 

I found the flower pictures at Marshall's, I believe. I thought they'd be a little small but they look perfect above the bed. I didn't want anything with color to compete with the orange accents.

 

Here's my dresser. If I'm being honest, about half of my clothes are in there. You never realize how much you have until you have to move it and have your friends unpack it :) It was really obvious then that I have a lot of clothes. But I love them all! How can I try to get rid of anything?? The rest are in the extra bedroom or in the closet. One day I'll downsize.

 

Notice the ceiling fan? That wasn't there when I moved in and it was a great addition to the room. I haven't used it much because it got cold out pretty much as soon as it was installed, but I'm looking forward to the Spring when I use it a lot.

I love, love, love my bedroom. I love navy, I love gray, and it all came together so well. My dad was wonderful and painted some floating shelves for me that we'll install in the next couple weeks. Once that's done I'll post an update to show them off.

Downstairs bathroom

This, to me, is probably the least exciting room in my house. It's definitely the smallest! Here is what it looked like before:

 

It's pretty standard for a bathroom and there was nothing much I wanted to change besides the color. The paint in my bathroom at my apartment was sort of like the red in the tile floor, so I reused my red bathroom rug (which isn't in the pictures). I have some seashell pictures with the same red in them but I haven't made the decision if I want to hang them in there or not. It's so small I don't want the bathroom to be too crowded with stuff - stuff I only put in there because I needed a place for it. 

Here is what it looks like now:

 

I got the floating shelves at Kohl's and hung them ALL BY MYSELF which was a huge deal to me :) I put some things on the shelves, which may change. The first is a jar of seashells I add to every time I go to the beach and the second is a small candle with a shell on it. I was trying to keep with the seashell theme but if I don't end up hanging those pictures, those knick knacks might go. You can't really see it but I used an old basket I had hanging around for a trash can. It matches perfectly! I always am happy when I can use something I had lying around for a practical reason, rather than running out and buying something new.

The paint color is Valspar 1002-10B Painted Desert Sand. It reminds me of a chocolate milkshake. I helped paint a friend's nursery for their little girl over the summer and this looks like one of the colors we used. No wonder I liked it so much!

Eventually I'd like to replace the vanity in here...I wish it was the width of the room instead of having the space next to it. Maybe I'll replace the towel bar and toilet paper holder, but for now I'm ok with the ones that are there.

Upstairs bathroom

Before I moved I had a few ideas for colors, decorating, organization, etc. I've tried to put as many of them into play as possible but it's not always that easy. I was pretty lucky that my house was generally move-in ready. After helping my friends tear down wallpaper in their new house, I thought slapping some paint on the walls would be a breeze. I was half right!

This is what the bathroom looked like before:

This is an in progress picture (taken on the phone) that shows the old medicine cabinet:

And this is the final result:

 

I already had the brown shower curtain from my last apartment and I didn't want to get another one. I know they don't cost THAT much but in the interest of saving some sort of money, I wanted to keep it. I'm also a big fan of brown and I didn't think I could go wrong with a brown/pink combo.

This is the wall above the toilet. I found the small dress form hangers at Bed Bath & Beyond and I loved them at first sight. I had to have them and they had to be used in place of a towel rack. I could just hang my heavy towels behind the door and these would hold hand towels and the like...or so I thought. In the end these probably couldn't hold more than a necklace, so they became decorative. The plates (I know, random, plates in the bathroom) pulled the whole thing together. I found these years ago when helping my family clean out my Aunt Marge's house. My mom reminded me of them and they really complete the theme of the bathroom.

This picture, taken without a flash, shows the truest color of the walls. I'm trying to always use my brown towels in the bathroom. I have leftover blue guys from my very first apartment (a blue and brown bathroom...you see a brown theme?!) that usually get hung behind the door :)

 

I had to replace the medicine cabinet. I thought I might keep the old one and just paint it, but this one adds to the room and makes it look more modern. It was a great finishing touch.

We used Valspar 1002-1A Very Berry. We did NOT prime the walls before we painted and looking back, it was a big mistake! Two coats barely covered evenly and it would've looked a lot nicer with primer underneath. Oh well, ya live, ya learn!

I REALLY wish I could say this room is finished, but of course, it's not. There's still one thing I need to do, and that is paint the vanity cabinet. The white is a little dingy and a fresh coat of white paint will brighten it up. Eventually, I'd love to replace the vanity countertop (I need a bigger sink! and the color that is there is...ugly) and I would love a new bathtub/shower. You can't tell, but the "tile" on the walls in the shower is gray-ish with purple flowers and really, that will not fly. Someday...

Hope you enjoyed my first before and after post!

my first house!

Welp...I'm blogging! I thought this would be a great way to show off all the work I'm (and my dad) doing on my new house. MY house - how crazy! I'll post before and after pictures of the different rooms as I get everything done and any decorating ideas I might have. Happy browsing :)