I'm Back!

After a wedding, honeymoon, and moving I'm back and ready to blog--hopefully more frequently. We've been doing more work to the house in our master bedroom and have also been decorating for the holidays. And we adopted a kitten and a puppy!

One morning last week I was laying and bed and started picking at a tiny piece of wallpaper next to our bed. Before I knew it, I was taking down large sections. Anyone that has taken down wallpaper before knows that once you start, you can't really stop until it's all down. Otherwise, you've got a mess. So I took down 2 walls worth of paper and then we called in the troops--Stuart's family! We worked all day the day after Thanksgiving to de-wallpaper and prep the walls for paint. The term Black Friday has now taken on an entirely new meaning for us.






After taking down the wallpaper, we had to remove the glue adhesive that was on the walls. This involves mixing a solution, spraying it to a small section of wall, scrubbing the section with steel wool, rinsing, and repeating over and over. It took 6 of us about 2.5 hours, so it would have taken Stuart and me a very long time to do had we not had help!







And now the walls are clean and ready for primer.



So far, we've primed the walls. Still need to prime the trim and moulding, paint the moulding in high gloss white, and paint the walls a final color. We're on hold and sleeping in twin beds until I can decide on a paint color.




More to come from the master bedroom!

I've also been working to recover the sconce shades in one of our guestrooms. Remember these little beauties from a previous post?



Well, I bought some burlap and trim for a grand total of about $3. I traced the shade on the burlap, cut, and hot glued. Then, I glued trim around the top and bottom of each shade.

Before and after:



I am very pleased with the final result!




I also made this little lamp for a kitchen or bathroom.




Isn't she a cutie?

And finally, we've been decking the halls of the Mull Mansion for Christmas! This past Sunday Stuart and I went to pick out our first Christmas tree.



Then, we went to good old Wal-Mart and bought some lights and hot chocolate. My mom said she and my dad had their first fight about which type of Christmas tree to get and what type of lights to put on it. Stuart and I were both in full agreement--Fraser fur, large colored lights.



Louise meets Christmass tree for first time:




Smyth meets Christmas tree for first time:



We've since added ornaments and gifts. The pets are into everything.

Here's some of our other decor.




Our dining room fireplace--please ignore the tin and duct tape...Stuart was trying to resolve a wasp infestation that he thought was coming from within.




My family will be with us for Christmas this year, hence 5 stockings!



Even Smyth is ready for the holidays.



So that's it for now--more posts coming soon!

Guest Room

For the past two weekends we have been working to patch, prime, and paint one of the guest rooms. Originally, we thought the cracks in the walls were too much for our limited reno know-how. However, Stuart got very brave and patched them himself--and it turned out well! Here are some pictures of the patching---lots of cracks. Not as bad as the dining room, but still...



And then we primed...Hunter and Erin came to help!



Here is an after picture w/ painted walls ("Pirate Coast" paint color) and high gloss white on the moulding and windows.

And here is a picture after the room was cleaned up and the twin beds were placed back against the wall.

And with paintings (courtesy of The Chicken Man in Columbia) hung and a new rug that Stuart and I had a hard time agreeing on...in the end, I won but he says it's growing on him.



And the twin beds with paintings that my parents gave us from Mobile, AL.

And here is a space in the room that will eventually have a desk and serve as our office area (big plans for that project!).


Aren't the little sconces precious? For now, we painted them in the high gloss but will eventually order or make some new shades for them. Here are some from Ballard Designs that might work:


We'll see...might just cover the existing shades in burlap.
No bed linens yet...waiting until after the wedding to deal with that.
So that's it for now! I leave you with a before and after of the room...
Before:




After: