Recently in Renovations Category

You might remember back when I was pregnant (almost 2 yrs ago!) I got busy and painted the upstairs bathroom so that it would be nice when my mother came for a visit. All these months later I had been biding my time, absolutely sure the furnishings I really wanted would fall into my hands. A couple of months ago we went to an estate auction. An older gentleman was selling off everything in his outbuildings. Some of it had been around since his grandfather was a boy. Some of it had been collected over the years and then cast aside. Up for auction came this old beat up bureau that had been in an open barn for over 20 years. I was once deep dark almost black in its finish but now was so weather worn that it was greyish white. I knew that piece of furniture. It most definitely was not a bureau. I was a buffet to a long forgotten dining set otherwise called a sideboard. I knew this because I have one almost exactly like it, twice as big, inherited from my stepfathers estate. The large buffet is in my bathroom used as a dressing table and linen storage. I knew that removing the top piece with the small mirror it would fit perfectly in the upstairs bathroom. I really wanted it. Someone else bid on it but at $50 they quit and I won. It has been sitting upstairs for about two months aclimating itself to the temperature and humidity of our house. Look at the grain of that wood!Wednesday night I set about cleaning and began oiling it. Colby was mad to the point of tears that I was putting that "nasty old thing" in their bathroom. I told her to get over it. When she paid the mortgage she could decorate the house. She got madder. Stomped and huffed. Told me how it was too big to fit in the door. It was too big for the room. It was disgusting and ugly. I ignored her. Put it in place. Rearranged the linen storage and all of the upstairs toiletries. It is not too big!I think it looks pefect in there. It is the look I wanted to achieve. It certainly sets off the clawfoot tub. The only thing left that I would like to do in this room is to have hardwood floors put in - but they have to match my existing pine floors and to have crown molding put up. I have some glass shelves I am going to have Steve put up tonight tomorrow night. Matching pink soap!Heaven help me. He will certainly gripe about it. The flower arrangement is there to help take the eye away from the pipes that come up from the floor. The type of tubs I have the pipes are exposed and do not run inside the walls. Colby now loves the look. I knew she would.

I did! What I had planned to do before my mother came at Christmas has been done in this past month. I painted the baseboards and the window frames in my kitchen. Finally! Sometimes I cook on the woodstove. Why waste electricity?
Look at those pretty white baseboards! Not only did I do the painting but I have managed to also complete one set of curtains for my windows. See the unpainted things that never got painted at Christmas?
Looky there! Curtains! These curtains are a project I have worried over for almost two years. Yes, two entire years. I flipped flopped on the curtain/no curtain issue many times not wanting to put up a curtain that would close in the room and block out the wonderful sunlight this room gets all day long. I purchased this fabric online a month or two after we moved into this house. It was always earmarked for curtains. Either in my kitchen or my bedroom. The kitchen won. It is a great toile print of a barnyard scene with an old red bard and rooster. Although I had ordered 10 yards of the fabric there was not enough for two windows of this size and the smaller window at the end of the kitchen. Nice. Because this print is out of stock. It is a two year old print that has long been gone. I have wanted in some way to have gingham in the kitchen but I didn't want to go overboard and look like a barn dance in here. So I thought about it alot. I looked through thousands of patterns for curtains and draperies. It wasn't until recently that I was inspired by a designer kitchen advertisement to make the curtains you now see. Not too much gingham. The perfect matching crimson. Nice fabric for draperies. The first set I made I lined them. The lining blocked out too much of the sunlight. I do not want this kitchen to be dim. I like it flooded in natural sunlight. So I ripped out the lining and remade the curtains without it. I like the look of the yellow walls, red accents and white trim in this room. The appliances are stainless steel with black trim. I have begun to add black and cast iron things to the room to flesh it out. The heavy black cast iron is a great contrast to the more feminine white ceramic pieces and china in the room. I never planned to paint those cabinets white. It was sort of a last chance to have a nice looking kitchen without the expense of new cabinets. These are just too good of shape to toss for the sake of cosmetic wants. I never planned to paint the walls yellow. I never had a color in mind but yellow just wasn't one of my choices. One day I saw a yellow cloth given as a gift in something when Steven was born. My brain said paint the kitchen that color. And so we did. Last July. The black granite of the countertops was simply what was available without a special order. The price was right. The white cabinets and black countertops deemed the black hardware the wiser choice. I chose them online based solely on price. I think they work. With the brick red floors I already had a lot of red accents. The rugs and towels, the wall plates, the roosters and painted sign. As things began to come together I realized the little sofa was red with yellow(ish) and black plaid stripes. It just works without any conscious effort on my part. Eveything is really beginning to come together after alot of hard work. I am really beginning to see and feel the room as a part of the house and not as an addition without much thought to the rest of the house. This has been a long time in coming. I started painting the cabinets (3 coats of primer 2 coats of paint) and continued on when Steven was just a newborn. I have progressed over the past year slowly. Very slow. My infant grew into a giggly baby and then into a busy toddler and now a non-stop very active little boy. Meaning it took me this long because instead of painting from the bottom up I painted from the top down. Little people under three feet tall do not listen to you when you tell them not to touch the wet paint on the baseboards. I suppose you already knew that. I should have. Speaking of which ... Steven, 14 months old His smile pretty much says it all.

Those rains we had last month? Did more damage than we thought. This is what my dining room ceiling looks like this morning. This is part of the original house. Lathe and plaster ceiling. Very cool. This baby has been doing this since we came back from Georgia. He turned 8 months over the weekend. I suspect he may be walking before the month is out. He is very brave and lets go without having his balance. He is very cool, also. I am not so sure I am ready for him to grow up so fast but I am excited to be in his presence and able to witness every single one of his success to date. I pray I am always blessed to do so.

We left off with this lone red cabinet hanging on the wall. We raised this cabinet so that my microwave could be hung over the stove. I did not paint it then because it made no sense to ruin the paint finish in the taking down, putting back up and installment of the microwave. Steve wired the outlet and changed out some of the other kitchen outlets for GFCI's. After another trip to Lowe's for longer bolts the microwave finally took its longed for proper place on the wall above the stove. Decorative moldings were put on the upper and lower trims of the cabinets. Dressing up the cabinets with the trim and hardware really makes them look like new cabinets. The walls were then painted with a beautiful yellow. The morning sun makes the kitchen glow and feel so warm and welcoming. The next project was to install crown molding. Holy Hell! This was one heck of a job. I don't think the purchase of a new compound miter saw made the task any better for Steve. After much frustration, flashes of anger and me pulling over half of it back off the walls things settled down, he listened to me and we got the crown modlings up in a weekend. Notice the shiney new saw? He has no excuse for sooooooo many other projects now. But I haven't told him that yet. Caulk, putty, touchup paint and this is were we pick up next time with more kitchen remodeling. Psssst ... I am getting tired. I am ready to be finished. I push on daily knowing soon it will be complete and I can sit back and rest while admiring our handiwork. Colby has helped so much with the baby and older girls. Without her there is no way we could be this far along. Thanks, Colby! Momma loves you! Steven is enjoying the new sink as well.

When I started the kitchen I had a couple of things in mind. 1. Never rip out more than can be replaced in the same day. 2. Tackle the largest job (cabinets) first. 3. Do not spend a fortune. I think we have done well and kept to these guidelines. My dream kitchen causes me to salivate when I wishfully think about it. It also comes with a $92k price tag. This kitchen is not my dream kitchen. I am skittish and my chest begins to hurt when I come to the point of writing a check for the dream kitchen. The current kitchen is an updated kitchen that has eye appeal, is functional and adds to the value of my house.

The kitchen as it appeared when we first came to look at the house before making an offer. The cabinets had been painted with barn red enamel paint.

We have done the work ourselves and used the budget that would have gone to a contractor to purchase Steve new tools. So this is a two fold success story. I get a lovely new kitchen and Steve has reason to buy many tools. It has made us both happy. I do not like to live in mess. That has been the major consideration in the makeover project. When I began reworking the cabinets I did the repairs first. I began a method to the madness. I worked on one cabinet at a time and only one cabinet. Starting at one end the cabinet was empty, primed ( 2- 3 coats), painted, allowed to dry over night, the contents put back, then doors primed and painted, hardware replaced and felt tabs put in the corners to protect the new paint.

Steve has LOVED getting to make a mess in my house!

It is a system that has worked extremely well. With a baby to tend one cabinet is a not too much to accomplish in the passing of the day and often times I would be able to work on two cabinets. It was the drawers and doors that are more time consuming that any other project.

I have never in my heart dreamed of a white kitchen but the only way to undo the barn red disaster of the previous owner was to paint them white. So I did. I like them white better than I thought I would.

At the end of the work day I cleaned everything up and put things back on the counters to keep from having piles of stuff and boxes strown through the house.

I searched the internet for new cabinet hardware determined NOT to pay $6 for one drawer pull. Seriously who in their right mind would pay 4 times that for one drawer pull? Whomever it is has far more money than sense.

I really like this sink. It is 91/2" deep. The goosenecked faucet also allows for filling deep stock pots.

When the wall paper was stripped it was obvious that the former owners had no true love for this house. The wallpaper was put up on the wallboard that had never been primed or skimcoated. As the wallpaper pulled away so did did pieces of the paper on the drywall. It was such a horrendous mess with chunks of caulking and mess at the countertop level. There was no way I was cutting out all of that drywall and replacing it so instead we repaired what was damaged and used a beadboard panel for the backsplash. I chose beadboard to keep the time frame of the house. It is coated and is washable. (My dream kitchen would have tin ceiling tiles.)

We raised the cabinet to be able to install my microwave.

The countertops are laborador granite. I did not purchase expensive countertops. These sort of just fell into my lap. They were damaged and sold to me at a big discount. Lucky for me the countertop was more than we needed and the damaged pieces at the end of the lengths were not used. We took our time, followed MUCH expert advise and were able to install the countertops ourselves. It took the better part of an entire weekend but we did it.

Today I have a pediatrician appointment for Steven who will be getting his next round of vaccinations. I also will be choosing crown moldings. :-) I will up date again very soon with all the other changes and updates we have done since the last photo. I am so very sorry I have neglected you all for so long. Steve is on vacation and I am trying to get this finished while he is here to help do the really big stuff. I have learned how to do so many things! I have even wired and installed my own undercabinet lighting!

Kitchen makeover = damn lot of work. I'll be back soon. I promise.

Make sure you visit us over at Mamarazzi. Updates daily. ****** Yesterday I got nothing done. Nothing. Not one thing. After a busy week, busy weekend, and not enough sleep the grey morning and cool air left me lazy beyond lazy. I napped a few times yesterday, nursed the baby, visited a few of you and not much else beyond preparing supper. Last week was a flurry of activity as the pool was finished. Now we are just waiting for the builders to schedule the cover fitting and the concrete work needed to anchor said cover. Which reminds me I need to buy chlorine tabs. Mother's day was busy. I recieved lovely cards from everyone. But even on Mother's Day there is much to be done and one is still Momma, the great be all wonder that makes everything function properly. My kitchen project is kind of in a holding pattern. I haven't gotten much done than where I stopped in the middle of last week. But I do plan to plow ahead quickly this week and get things moving again. because next week I have a summer class at the community college I am really looking forward to taking. It involves local history and a field tip or two involving some very old and historic homes I am nashing my teeth at to get to see. This is how it is going so far - This is a photo of how the kitchen looked when we came to see the house before purchasing. I am posting it because I can't find my folder of photos that I have taken. On the far right of the photo is a double glass door and a bank of windows. Completely unseen and hidden. They had put a hutch and a refrigerator in front of those areas and completely blocked them out. We didn't know there was a double door nor the window until much later. These lights are flourescent. They are blindingly bright except when you are at the counter working. Then you are standing in your own shadow and cannot see a thing. Here on the right you can see the tops of the window. We did not know that was a bank of windows until our third visit. We replaced those lights and added a ceiling fan. This part of the house was not air conditioned at the time. It has nine and a half foot ceilings and the heat just hangs in the air in the dead summer. Also we added some task lighting and plan to install some under the cabinet lighting when the painting is finished. I really want to replace those cabinets with something nicer and in the color of a nice dark cognac. For now that part of the budget for the kitchen was spent on living during the 5 months Steven spent working for his company for no pay :( . I had to find a suitable way to brighten and enhance the look of the kitchen without buying new cabinets. I have taken to painting them. The color is everard chamber white. It is a kitchen and trim enamel paint in the Williamsburg collection of historic colors. On the left where there is paint smeared on the blue strip on the wall. That is where a room divider was on both sides. With these built in shelve things that were detracting and annoying. I took a sledge hammer to those shelves and posts and took them down opening the room up into a full length 27 foot room. It will be a kitchen/dining/den area for the family. -When I ever finish, that is. Instead of dumping everything out and having a gigantic mess everywhere I have been emptying one cabinet at a time. The cabinets have to be vacuumed, then cleaned, allowed to dry before 2 (sometimes3) coats of primer/sealer goes on (I am using Kilz) and then 2 nice coats of this luscious paint that is soooo very sexy to paint with! Once everything has had 24 hours to cure the cabinets are arranged and everything put back in its place. It makes for slow going but at the end of the day we are able to move around in the kitchen and there is very little by way of debris to have to clean up or stumble over. It has been raining part of the last several days so the painting of the cabinet doors has stalled. I like to paint them outside in the bright heat of the sun. They dry MUCH quicker and can go back up at the end of the day. That wallpaper is nasty. It was put up over the drywall BEFORE the drywall was primed or painted. Oh what fun that crap is to remove. I am looking at tin ceiling tiles to replace it with. First I have to find the perfect ceiling tile! I have managed to keep Steven entertained and get one coat of primer and paint on at a time usually though while he is napping. Colby is home from school now so it will be a huge blessing to have her to lend a hand both with the painting and keeping the baby happy. I have been hesitant to brag on what a good baby he is for the fear the powers that be might hear and knock me down a notch or two. But he is. I have never had a baby that would sit in a swing for 30 minutes or so or even one who would nap during the day. He swings, he naps and is generally happy. Which makes doing things around the house much easier than I ever dreamed. I am watching him now as he naps in the morning sun. He is the most delicious looking baby! How did I get to be so lucky?

On New Year's Day Steven and I spent 6 hours in the truck. We took a little trip south to the other side of Lynchburg to look at an old clawfoot tub. We arrived to find the tub sitting on the ground behind a horse trailer. It was beat up, rusty, filled with leaves and the interior was badly stained. It appeared with some elbow grease the tub would clean up nicely. We made the purchase for the price of $40. I figured if it turned out the tub could not be repaired I was out $40 and a tank of gas. Not a big loss. If the tub turned out to be in restorable then I had just saved myself the purchase price of $1500 - $2000 for a period clawfoot tub for my downstairs bathroom. The tub is an American Standard cast iron clawfoot tub, #10, 5 foot in length, 30 inches in width. It is the exact sister model of the tub in our upstairs bathroom. The only difference being the upstairs tub is the 6 1/2 foot model which I am told is rather hard to come by these days. Nearly two weeks later I managed to catch up with a man in Ashland who restores tubs. Lady luck was with me. The guy was surprised I picked up such a nice tub for only $40. The restored tub was delivered back to us today just before lunch. I am so excited! Have a look at the before and after photos. Now if this baby will come on and get here I can start planning on the demolition and restoration of my bathroom and get this beauty in the house. Clawfoot tubs are a luxury. They are made for soaking and relaxing. That was in the intent when they were first marketed. The tub is deep with a rolled edge. The only thing that could make it better were to have found not just a clawfoot but a slipper tub. That would be pushing it. I am happy to have the tub as is. I did flip flop a few times before I contacted the seller and asked questions about the tub. I kept wondering if I should hold out and look for a maybe a slipper tub but I realized the area we have for a tub is small. In fact the downstairs bathroom is two storage pantries that were converted to a bathroom in 1960. With the current electrical panels, the plumbing, issues with wiring, we really can't do too much changing to the layout of the floorplan. We really have to work with what we have with limited change. The smaller tub makes more sense. Seeing the stain in the bottom of the tub I was skeptical but willing to take a chance. The inside of the tub as it sits now is the original finish. It did clean up well. I was instructed by the restorer to only clean the tub with dish soap, no abrasives. The repair work came with a lifetime written warranty, too.

The rust appeared to be only surface rust. The tub seemed to be rock solid.

Again I was willing to take a chance.

We had driven all the way there and it would have been dumb to not buy the tub and decide later we wanted it and have to drive back for it.

He did a beautiful job on the feet. Those are eagle talons. This model tub also came with lion feet.

How lucky we got the original chain and stopper, too! The stopper has to be replaced but still I will have the original. The plumbing pieces can be replated and are in good working order.

The tub for my downstairs bathroom all spiffy and like new. The larger model companion tub in my upstairs bathroom. Oh, did I tell you where I found the tub? I didn't? Hmmm. I found it on ebay.

I am not a person who trusts the "As Seen On TV" products. I am VERY skeptical about things that appear to be too good to be true through the magic of television. So when I saw this product in my trusted and true local paint store I decided that it must be a good product because they don't sell crap that wastes your money. I have watched the infomercials several times and secretly hoped this product would be everything it says it is. I wanted so badly to go against my instincts and order one of the starter kits. But I held out. Stubborn to the end. The reason this product has interested me is because my staircases (front and back), 3 upstairs bedrooms floors and 1 downstairs floor was painted by the previous owners. Not just any paint mind you. They are painted with chocolate brown enamel porch and floor paint. Why would someone fathom to do such a thing? It would have been less work to lightly sand them and mop on a coat of clear varnish. The nature and size of this project of stripping floors has haunted me since we moved in. It is one of those things I want done so badly but know it will take an amazing amount of time, effort and elbow grease on my part. Not to mention money for supplies and possibly having to have a professional come in and sand all the floors at one time before they are stained and varnished in the end. When I look at all the little grooves in the wood between the floor planks I become overwhelmingly tired thinking about how much work it will be to scrape out all of that paint that is caked up along the entire length of each board and joint. It is a daunting task. It is also a task that may never get done if I don't do it. So, I stood in the paint store going back and forth in my head and finally reach down and picked up a tub of the very safe and environmentally friendly paint and stain stripper. I walked to the counter and plunked down $34.50 plus tax and headed home. Sunday night after finishing the baby's room and a bowl of ice cream I gave in to temptation in a hurry to see if the product really worked like they advertised in the infomercial. Steven opened the bucket for me and I promptly sloshed liquid on my feet and the dog bed. Liquid? The stuff on tv looked like a green paste! Why was liquid sloshing out? Steven cleaned up the mess on the dogbed and put the cover out to wash and I ran to the bathroom to scrub my feet. Not because it burned like normal stripper would have done but because I have a fear of absorbing something through my skin that could harm my baby. With clean feet, paint stick in hand I stirred the goopy mess in the bucket. Just as it was mixing well the stick broke and I finished stirring with a paint brush. Seated at the foot of the front staircase I painted on a nice thick coating of green snot. I made sure it was a good thick coat across the entire tred. The container reads that the product will dissolve up to 7 layers of paint. I believe there is only 2 layers of paint on stairs but I heeded the warning of not applying too thin. I was very liberal. I then blocked off the staircase to keep the dog from walking through it in the middle of the night. Monday, mid morning, when everyone was gone, about 12 hours after I applied the stripper, I sat down again at the foot of the stairs with scraper in hand. The green goop had turned white indicating it was finished working and was ready to be removed. Scrape. Scrape. Is that wood I see? Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Nope no wood. Just the bottom layer of the paint. And most certainly only 2 layers of paint, no where near 7. Just primer and the floor paint. A bit peeved, ok alot of cussing later, I once again glopped on a thick layer of the very expensive stripper, blocked off the staircase and went about my business not happy at all. Another 12 hours later I sat and began to scrape away the newly turned white mess. Underneath it I found the wood of the staircase. I scraped, picked with toothpicks and skewers, scrubbed with a bucket of hot water and a brush. Wiped with old towels and paper towels over and over. This is the result: Look what is under all of that nasty paint. Why would someone hide this under chocolate brown paint? Look how beautiful the grain of the wood is. That my dear friends is 100 year old wood. That is hand hewn stair treds. That is beauty to behold! That is also not finished and needs another coat of stripper because there is still a fine layer of paint in some of the worn grooves and along the edges. Now, about the product -

Pros No smell No burns Easy to apply Biodegradable Cleans up with only water

Cons Is NOT fast Is NOT cost effective Is NOT time efficient

I used almost 1/3 of the bucket to do 1 step. That is $11.50 and 24 hours per step. With 15 treds on this staircase to continue with this product will cost me an estimated $172.50 in stripper and 360 waiting hours of time for it to work. and that would be just the treds. It would take even more for the banister, newel posts and the detailed wood work along the outside and inside of the staircase. I will not be buying this product again after I use up what is left. I'll wait for warmer weather, open the doors and windows, and apply the old school stripper. If you have a delicate project that might be ruined by harsh chemicals by all means invest the time and money in this product. Otherwise, for a larger project, it really isn't that great of a deal considering how expensive it is and how long it takes to actually do the job. One other thing that is VERY important!!! I have found this no where except on the bucket itself - Known to cause "reproductive toxicity" according to the lable Which makes it not very safe in my opinion!!!! If you love your ovaries and plan to use them I would be very cautious with this product making sure to wear gloves and other protective gear.

Ready Strip is safe for your family, it works like no other paint stripper and it is so easy to use. Ready Strip is biodegradable, safe to touch, virtually odorless, fast, easy and we could go on and on.

I am afraid someone did not read the lable and wouldn't this be a bit of false advertising as to the safety of this product? I do not plan to get pregnant again. I also do not plan to purchase this product again either. Updated to add: Today is exactly 1 year that we moved into this house. We signed the papers at 6:30 pm and the moving trucks were here and unloading from 7pm until 2am. I really expected to accomplish much more then I have at this point in My Old House.

... I do not know how to rest. Or "How To Decorate For Under $200" After Christmas I was exhausted. The holidays kicked my butt big time. But then after a couple days I got bored, then sick, then better and then I got this burst of energy that had to be unleashed. I figured I should get on the ball and finish the upstairs bedrooms that have been waiting for almost a year for me to decide what to do with them. New Year's Day we spent 6 hours in the truck on the road to collect a $40 clawfoot tub. The same tub that the restorer will be returning to me FRIDAY looking like brand new. I am so completely excited!!! So on our return last Sunday afternoon I was sitting on the couch while Steven took J. back to her mother's and I was bored. I went upstairs, looked around her room, grabbed a paintbrush and roller and in 2 hours had primed her entire room. The next day I painted. The next day I hung the curtains and put everything back. Then I took a couple days to recoup and think and plan. Friday morning I attacked Colby's room and finished it this morning. In one week I have completely made over 2 bedrooms, top to bottom. I spent less than $200 each for materials, supplies, furnishings, and accessories. The pink room I did for Gracie back in the summer/fall can be seen here. MommaK can vouch for the complete change of these rooms since I have no idea which CD the before photos are on to show you. This room is paneled. I don't know why someone would do this but I am not pulling it down. I don't have the energy or the will power to rip it out right now and have the room drywalled.
I had Steven put up moldings to imitate the look of old rooms with the high ceilings and plate rails. Everything below the molding was then painted in a Williamsburg reproduction paint. The paint is cabinet grade and will be durable and won't scratch eaily.
The bedding was purchased back in the summer. The girls love their featherbeds and down comforters. We searched a long time and found the duvet covers online and on clearance. This bedding retailed at $399.00. I purchased it for $59 through Smartbargains.
The curtains are embroidered sheers with an attached valance. I found these at the dollar store and paid $10 a pair for them. I have seen these same sheers in a department store for $30 a panel. So take this as a lesson, don't be afraid to be seen in a cheap dollar store and keep your eyes out for bargains. These curtains are part of a misrun and are seconds but the flaw is not noticable. There is a pink thread trapped in the embroidery that cannot be seen. I hunted for the second and found it only because my mother was a weaver and taught me how to look for the flaws.
This little desk is solid pine. It was hideous. I found it in a thrift store and paid $30 for it. Using the same cabinet paint it was given a face lift. The hardware was on clearance at the local hardware store. I paid $1 for each china knob. I have less than $40 invested in this cute desk.
The pictures over the bed and desk came from a dollar store. They are not pictures I will keep. I bought them because the frames are solid wood and they have glass inserts. I paid $10 for them. I could not buy the empty frame anywhere for $10. We will be keeping our eyes open for artwork to replace the current prints.
I started on Colby's room Friday. I wanted her room to reflect a grown up taste and be a lovely restful haven for her to come home to after long days of classes. School starts back for her tomorrow. This room was builder's beige and all the trim was turquoise when we moved in. Colby took the time in the week after we moved in to paint the trims and doors. It was hideous.
The shade of paint I chose for the top of the wall I had the guy at the paint center mix at half formula to get the same hue but a lighter shade. Choosing yellows is so very hard for me. I really like this shade.
The lower portion of the wall is a reproduction Williamsburg paint. The doors and moldings are a Duron bright white for contrast. I chose the least expensive chair rail avalable at Lowe's and Steven put it up as well as finished the base boards with quarter round. The molding added the most expense to this room.
The curtains I found on ebay this summer. They are some overstock from Ikea someone was selling. I paid next to nothing for them and they add a softness to the room.
The wallpaper border is a stock paper from Lowe's that was on clearance. It was chosen not because I loved the pattern but because it contains the exact shade of yellow as the paint I had chosen. I was considering adding crown molding to this room but when I found the wallpaper I opted out for the lesser expense.
The most expensive part of this room is this rug. I have searched for 6 months for a proper rug that I could live with and found this one last week at a furniture store. It was 3/4 of my room budget but I think I did well over all. The upstairs is turning into a rainbow of color. Gracie's room is pink and white. J's room is blue and white. Colby's room is yellow and white. The baby's room will be green and white. Each room is different. The colors compliment one another. The upstairs is beginning to flow. This afternoon I am headed to Lowe's for paint rollers and a few supplies. Tomorrow I attack the nursery and attempt to pull it together before I go into labor. I am so ready to be finished with this pregnancy but I am willing to wait a little longer if this baby will just let me get his room finished first. Please. Since my bathtub will be back Friday I am thinking Saturday I can start papering and painting in there. I am thinking red -deep rich wine reds.