Bedroom Reveal

Our master bedroom redo is done! And by done, I mean it’s mostly done, but we’ll probably keep tweaking it for months because that is our idea of fun. This past weekend, we hung up some art, dyed a blanket, and installed the cellular shades. As I sit here and edit the photos, I realize how not great they are. It’s quite likely because SOMEONE kept photo bombing despite my best efforts to keep her in the background (see last photo). One day soon I will take the time to do a proper house tour, and that will most definitely include better bedroom photos. I just knew all twenty of our readers were sitting at home biting their nails waiting for the final photos of our bedroom, so I couldn’t keep you all waiting.

A view of the head board shelf

 

 

See that nice clean brown blanket I dyed? Yeah, Lola gave us a hairball on it that same night. Thanks, cat!

 

 

Check out those new shades, no more paper on the windows!

 

 

A little detail of Granby Bullseye without his glaring light…the Amsterdam bike garage photo is by David.

 

Here is a final look at our to-do list, and an estimated price breakdown for each completed task:

• Fill screw holes and sand the headboard – Headboard wood and supplies were $130
• Install baseboard at wall patch area, install quarter round throughout the room – We already had these
• PAINT – headboard will be white, walls will be white and Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue, trim will be white,touch up paint on trim and at edges – Benjamin Moore Natura in Palladian Blue was $60, Primer and roller pads $20, We already had the white semi-gloss trim paint by Mythic
• Find an attractive extension cord/power strip for our lamp, it will be hidden behind the headboard
• Buy the FJELLSE pine bed from Ikea, chop off the head board, sand, paint it white, spray paint screws – $50
• Buy plastic bins for headboard storage
• Move the two file cabinets down to the basement – Free man labor, thanks David
• New window treatments, probably some inconspicuous white cellular shades – $100 for off-the-shelf blackout cellular shades by Allen + Roth at Lowes
• Rework existing wall art and restyle the headboard contents – $10 for gesso and posterboard
• Maybe a new duvet cover, and dye existing off-white duvet covers and blankets – idye packs are $3 each
• We need to do something about the Ikea Poang, new cushion cover?
• Find a couple of decorative pillows – the orange chinoiserie pillow was a gift from my Mom, but I’d like one more pillow
• Maybe a neutral jute or striped rug, eventually

Total spent so far, $375 (rounded up) – Not too shabby for a new bed, window treatments, and paint job

BONUS PRIZE! You also get to see what else we hung up this weekend. There are no more frames on our floors upstairs, it’s a good feeling after a year of nothing on the walls. We actually had too much to hang, so some is stashed away for future switches. Not that diplomas are wall art, but they are funny when hung in bathrooms. I credit our Chicago friends, Matt and Joey, with the diploma in bathroom idea. Maybe in our next house.

 

Our upstairs hallway gained a gallery wall

 

 

Estelle’s big girl room is inching toward completion, next project is a cool headboard for her…

 

 

The animal prints were found at the Golden Nugget Flea Market in July.

 

The photo bomber seems pretty pooped, and so am I! We have fun plans for Labor Day weekend, and I hope you all do too. We will surely have good material for a blog post next week, or you can stay tuned via Instagram @southfeasterdelphia for more instant gratification.

Stephanie

 

 

Phillies 2012

We hope everyone had a good weekend. Ours was productive in that low key way where you stay in pajamas all day, yay! Clarification, David and Estelle got dressed for both days, I did not.

Although David had been to a Phillies game this season, all three of us finally made it to a game on Saturday night. The weather was slightly wet at first, but very pleasant once we got to our seats. We got there very early, and had to wait at the gates, but that allowed us to beat the crowds and eat at Harry the K’s for the first time ever. Estelle did great, despite missing a nap earlier in the day. We made it through all 9 innings, and to top if off, the Phillies won! Estelle was no match for the walk to the subway…she was pretty much out until 7 am the next morning.

 

 

I’m going to make this a quick little post because I need to get to bed. Enjoy these handful of pictures, and stay tuned for more finished photos of our bedroom and other rooms in the house. We actually got around to hanging art this weekend, finally!

Stephanie

 

We Have Color!

Our bedroom makeover is very nearly done! We just have a few minor things to tackle before Labor Day weekend. David was our awesome painter this weekend, and I was mostly on Estelle duty. I did finish up the trim paint, but that was all of 2 ft. of help. Check out the progress!

Before:

In Progress:

 

 

 

 

After, but still in progress:

 

 

 

Well, what else do we have to do?! I copied our to-do list from previous posts, and added some little odd and ends.

• Fill screw holes and sand the headboard
• Install baseboard at wall patch area, install quarter round throughout the room
• PAINT – headboard will be white, walls will be white and Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue, trim will be white, touch up paint on trim and at edges
• Find an attractive extension cord/power strip for our lamp, it will be hidden behind the headboard
• Buy the FJELLSE pine bed from Ikea, chop off the head board, sand, paint it white, spray paint screws
• Buy plastic bins for headboard storage
• Move the two file cabinets down to the basement
• New window treatments, probably some inconspicuous white cellular shades, these blackout shades were purchased a few minutes ago
• Rework existing wall art and restyle the headboard contents, the harmonica framing is as far as I got today
• Maybe a new duvet cover, and dye existing off-white duvet covers and blankets, idye packs are in hand
• We need to do something about the Ikea Poang, new cushion cover?
• Find a couple of decorative pillows
• Maybe a neutral jute rug, eventually

David is already getting excited about his next project…updating/finishing the bathroom trim, which would include wood panel wainscoting. The wood you see is an old gym floor, it would probably be sanded down, much like the wood wall just outside the bathroom.

 

But wait! It was not all work and no play this weekend. We helped some friends celebrate their daughter’s third birthday. They hosted a very fun South Philadelphia block party! Too bad we can’t do this every weekend. Estelle did not want to leave, and she nearly fell asleep in her stroller on the short walk home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How’s that for one well-documented weekend?! The weather was perfect…you can tell September is near. Have a good week, everyone.

Stephanie

Grocery List: A Less Dreadful Chore

We spent years of making dinner pretty much on the fly, and stopping by the grocery store as needed. Then we threw a kid into the mix with working parents, and things just got messy. Somehow, about a year ago, David became the primary grocery shopper. I think it started when Estelle turned two, and she was impossible to take the grocery store for more than 3 minutes. One of us had to stay home while the other person did the shopping, and that eventually evolved into me staying home doing chores and minding the little one while David did his best to navigate my list and the store. We are now to the point where dad and daughter can actually go shopping together, usually in the morning before the store gets crowded.

Making a weekly dinner menu and grocery list ranks pretty high on my list of most hated things to do. It has taken a while, but I think I finally have this list thing figured out! I really had an “a-ha” moment last weekend when I had the idea to use an extra envelope for my weekly list. I added some fun hand writing to make it look a little more special. Bonus: the envelope is perfect for holding coupons and recipes!

 

After the grocery trip, the menu can be put some place handy. In our case it’s above the kitchen sink.

 

I really cannot say enough about how much this helps our daily lives. A little bit of effort up front really pays off. If you can, give it a try. No worries if not. I have also been known to use the iPhone Notepad Ap to email the list to David. This is equally as helpful since I always have my list with me for more perishable or last minute purchases.

My Type A Tip of the Day is to organize your grocery list by where things appear in your store. This requires a draft list, which I probably shouldn’t admit to doing, but I like nice looking final lists. I’m just keeping it real and embracing my Type A tendencies over here!

I promise to include a cute kid and cat post next, but it may also include paint…that’s just how we roll these days. Pun intended, paint, roll, get it?

Two days until the weekend, hey-o!

Stephanie

Bedroom Progress

And by progress, I mean…we’re still not finished! Trim painting in unglamorous work, and there’s not much to show for it, aside from crisp white trim. It’s a welcome change from the crusty state it was in before. Wall paint is on the schedule for next weekend.

Estelle was playing by the pool with Dave’s parents while we hunched over priming and painting the bed, headboard, and trim. We also locked Lola downstairs since it was extremely likely that she’d want to rub up on some wet paint. The long stints of whining meowing let us know she was not pleased to be locked out of her boudoir.

David took down the dark and dusty curtains and blinds, and check out all that light! The curtains are washed and ready for a new home if anyone is interested! We are replacing them with white blackout cellular shades. I like curtains, just not in our house, the radiators tend to get in the way and the plaster walls don’t hold a screw very well. We still have one little corner of trim to finish, thanks to some significant patching that had to take place.

 

 

The headboard and bed are now white. The screws heads on the bed will be spray painted white next weekend.

The plaster on this wall was primed, in case you didn’t notice the change from white to white…

Stay tuned for painted wall progress next week. I will be back later this week with a post about tackling one of my least favorite chores…meal planning and grocery lists. Exciting stuff, right? Nope, but a girl’s gotta eat.

Stephanie

Domino Instagram Randomness

Domino Magazine! Who else terrible misses this home decorating publication? My heart just about broke when I got the notice of my last Domino magazine a few years back. I have a weird thing about magazines. I love reading them, but hate keeping and storing them. David loves to keep them. I have to pin him down and force him to part with his back issues of GQ, Sports Illustrated, and various architecture-related stuff. Poor guy! I used to tear out my favorite pages of Domino, and put them in a big binder. Now, I just use Pinterest…

Anyways, back to my original topic, Domino. It is back on newstands, but not monthly. They have a Domino Quick Fixes publication out now, on paper and available digitally via iPads, Kindles, and Nooks. I ordered one for the iPad, and am slowly savoring it. You can even shop straight from the pages, not that I can afford much of anything! If you also miss this magazine, I highly suggest getting your hands on a copy. It was about $7 via iTunes.

Now, on to other random stuff. I’m actually home today. I have a cold, and really needed a day to just lay around, rest, and watch old episodes of Doc Martin. I thought I would create a little gallery of Instagram photos that may or may not have been shared on this blog or on Facebook. Enjoy!

This weekend brings a nighttime trip to Longwood Gardens’ light installation by Bruce Munro and lots of painting. Here’s hoping you have a fun, relaxing, and productive weekend!

Stephanie

Baby Steps

We had a fairly full social calendar for a working weekend at home, so it may seem like we didn’t accomplish much this weekend, but a little progress is better than no progress! We utilized Saturday morning to pick up some supplies at Lowe’s and Ikea. David finished off the baseboard trim of the wall patch, and used wood filler to patch holes in the headboard and a select portion of our baseboards. I cleaned, laundered, and together we kept Estelle safe from harm. Sunday brought an early morning car share reservation to cheer on Dave’s mom in the SheRox Triathalon. Yes, she’s one amazing Grannie Annie (pictured here, in between her triathlete buddies)!

It was hot, and horribly humid on Sunday. I was worn out just watching these gals. We ate a lot when everyone was done, so we all sat comatose for a couple hours. Anyways, we didn’t really get a chance to tackle our room until the late afternoon, but look what we did! We purchased a new FJELLSE pine bed, from Ikea. Then, David sawed off the headboard, we ditched the old Ikea Malm bed, put the new bed together, and reused our old slats (saving us $50).

Before:

 

After:

 

Just a subtle change for now, but eventually (next weekend) the bed and head board will all be white. While we were assembling the bed, Estelle was “helping” by hoarding the instructions. She was looking them over, and noticed that the instruction illustrations were missing a kid. Noted, but I’m quite sure Ikea would be held liable if their instructions included children. Toe amputations, screw swallowing…those are just two possible scenarios that come to mind.

Look, no kids!

 

But wait! That wasn’t all that we accomplished this weekend. I nearly forgot about the custom blocks David decorated with gold alphabet stencils. I call it industrial glam.

 

 

 

We’re really hopeful that next weekend will be very productive. We haven’t purchased our Palladian Blue paint yet. We’re going to do the white half of the wall first to see if we like the faux wainscoting look, so we know if we need one or more gallons of color. Here is an updated to-do list copied from last week’s post.

• Fill screw holes and sand the headboard
• Install baseboard at wall patch area, install quarter round throughout the room
• PAINT – headboard will be white, walls will be white and Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue (top swatch), trim will be white
• Find an attractive extension cord/power strip for our lamp, it will be hidden behind the headboard
• Buy the FJELLSE pine bed from Ikea, chop off the head board, sand, paint it white
• Buy plastic bins for headboard storage
• Move the two file cabinets down to the basement
• New window treatments, probably some inconspicuous white cellular shades
• Rework existing wall art and restyle the headboard contents
• Maybe a new duvet cover, and dye existing off-white duvet covers and blankets

Is anyone else looking forward to fall? We most definitely are. This humidity is challenging…I say this as my arms stick to the desk.

Stay cool, and have a great week. Hopefully, I will be inspired by something fun this week to report back to you!

Stephanie