Why don't we continue our conversation about the design we have for our sun porch.

While we were away, I had a bit of down time. I decided to pick up an inexpensive drawing pad and a pencil and do a bit of sketching. I really wanted to get some ideas down on paper. The whole process really helped me visualize various possibilities for our sun porch. I was able to get a feel for a potential layout and I also was able to figure out what I wanted to do as far as storage goes.



As you can see from the sketches, there will be plenty of built in shelving and a lot of space for lounging. Like I mentioned before, this space will act as a library and possible guest room, so function and storage are key. To give you an even better idea of the layout, here is a not-to-scale floor plan.

The door at the bottom of the room leads into our dining room. The one on the left is an outside door that we never use. Eventually we plan on putting a window in instead. The room measures , just so you can get an idea of size. All of the little rectangles on the outside of the room represent windows. They are everywhere. I think the space will really turn out nicely. I just hope that my vision comes together. Sometimes I have a great idea that doesn't end up working at all. I guess we will find out won't we?

I also decided to draw up a design board so that I have a better idea of the look that I'm going for as well. I love doing all of this stuff! I enjoy planning things and visualizing the future space and how we will use it. Without further ado, here is our sun porch's decorative plan!

Based on our first floor color scheme, that I talk about here, I would like to paint the porch a beautiful gray-blue color. This one, used as the backdrop to the mood board, is Palladian blue by Benjamin Moore. We aren't going to be using this color exactly. Rather, we are going to be using some leftover paint that my parents gave us.

They had some paint leftover from their living room and decided to have it mixed with some white paint. Their plan was to use in their upstairs hallway. Well, they ended up going with a different color and asked if we wanted the paint. When I saw what color it was, I jumped at the chance and grabbed the whole 5 gallon bucket for myself politely said, "Yes." So, starting from that color, here is what we came up with.

          1. We want to build a pallet bed. I have mentioned this before, but I am happy to say that we already have most of the supplies. My parents had a leftover twin mattress that they gave to us and Jonathan found some pallets at a local lumber yard. Free = the best thing ever. Now all we need are some kind of caster. I'm thinking something like this.

          2. On the pallet bed, I would like to use tons of pillows. I'm thinking a very neutral fitted sheet combined with neutral euro pillows and fun/colorful accent pillows would be perfect. The beautifully textured euro pillows can be found here and the accent pillows can be found here.

          3. As you can see in the floor plan, I would also like to have a chair in the corner. The pallet bed will provide a bunch of seating, but I like the idea of having a lime green-grellow colored chair in the corner. A fun accent to the corner by the old door. We actually already have our chairs (an early birthday gift from my parents--I will be sharing more on Friday), but I also liked this one found at CB2.

          4. Lighting is always a must in a space. I really wanted something airy for accent lighting because the bookshelves and pallet bed will probably weigh down the space enough. I felt that a glass lamp would be perfect. Also, we need some overhead lighting. When I typed in "barn light" in Google, I found this beauty. Not exactly overhead lighting and at a cost of over $200 I'm not a fan of the price either. BUT I really like the whole bucket idea and it started my creative juices flowing. I have a great idea :)

          5. Our little porch has a radiator in it. We would love to build in the shelving around the radiator that incorporates some kind of cover for the radiator itself.

          6. Finally, we need to anchor the space with a bit of color on the floor. I'm really liking the thought of incorporating the color from the kitchen and bathroom by using a gray rug. I'm especially loving the price tag on this one from Ikea.

So, that is our sun porch in a nutshell. What do you think? I cannot wait to start this room next week--yup! My goal is to get it painted next week and then I can at least start the process of filling it with fun things. I will have to wait until the carpenter has time to build the shelving and pallet bed though. Do you think I could try the whole 'its-my-birthday-so-you-should-make-me-shelves" thing?

Yea...I doubt it will work too :)

The Revenge of the Evil Bathroom!

At first glance our bathroom looked like a hole in the wall:

It was dark, dated, and involved a lot of brown. Oh and you definitely couldn't ignore the Marlboro yellow that had taken to the pull down shade, ceiling, and walls. It was a disaster and let's just say that we wanted it gone ASAP!!

So when we left the bathroom last (which makes it sound like an evil villain), it was contemplating its revenge on us. Our original plans were to spruce it up for the time being, but alas, it attacked. The end result was this:

Bathroom: 0; Wife and Carpenter: 1 

We ended up completely gutting the bathroom that had seen better days. Unfortunately, while Jonathan was pulling off the sink, he realized that the wall was collapsing behind it. A bit more on that here. And that is why we gutted the darn thing. We weren't going to take its threat of overtaking us any more! And again, the above picture is the end result.

I can't say I was horribly disappointed with the idea of a brand new bathroom. Our bank account was surely depressed though, we still don't think she (she?) has recovered. But we have been comforting her and coddling her hoping that she will forgive us....echm...moving on!

ANYWAYS, you know I love a good excuse to do some design magic, so I began to brainstorm. I began pinning bathrooms that I liked on Pinterest and my crafty side began to form an idea of what I wanted our new bathroom to look like. The goal was to make it as inexpensive, practical, and beautiful as possible. Here were some of my inspiration bathrooms:

 {source}

{I couldn't find the original source}

 {source}

{source}

I loved the combination of gray, white, and accents of yellow. This definitely seems to be a color trend lately, but I think it's still pretty safe. My plan is to make all of the accents of yellow easily removable. That way, if I get tired of the combination, I have a neutral background that I can use with a wealth of different colors! 

I looked at a cornucopia (how's that for thesaurus use?) of color combinations, but I just kept coming back to gray and yellow.  Plus, to make the deal even sweeter, I already had a few things I could use for yellow accents! More on that to come :)

So here is my design board:

This is the starting point. The walls will become a dark, elegant shade of gray. All of the white in the bathroom will balance the dark color nicely. We have already purchased the wainscoting and floor tile. Jonathan will be building a custom linen cabinet and it will look somewhat like the one above but with one door. The cute little handle will be used on the cabinet. Then, we also plan on putting two open shelves above it for some open decorating space. 

As for the accents of yellow, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I plan on DIYing the cute little print (but if someone is interested in paying for it, you can find it here). The towels and the shower curtain may take awhile. I am not the type to go and buy towels just because my old ones don't match the colors in our new bathroom and same goes for the shower curtain. Though, I do have a tentative plan of revamping our white shower curtain to look something like the one above. Finally, I have some yellow baskets that will look great on the open shelving and I am thinking of taking some yellow spray paint to a few accessories that I own. Sherry does this all the time:

We were given a claw foot tub (thank you Isaac and Mary!) and we purchased a vintage sink at an area reuse center. Both of which will end up looking something like the picture below, but in yellow of course. 

{couldn't find original source}

Overall, I think our bathroom is going to be very cheery! I can't wait to get started! Now, its on to tackle the cast iron tub and sink. This should be interesting...I am determined to win!