Don't Faint, it's Time for Paint!!

We did it! We painted! It only took us the weekend, and that was with birthday parties, church, and getting some chairs in the middle of it all. We didn't get off to an early start like we planned on. We started actually rolling and cutting around 10:30. One amazing thing about my husband is he is an excellent cutter...meaning we didn't have to tape! If paint nicked the trim we'd quickly clean it up and if we missed a spot, I went through with white paint and touched up some spots. I rolled everything but the super high spots. And I got a little out of control and have some spots on the ceiling I need to touch up..oops!

We only had to do one coat...yes you read that right, ONE COAT!! We ended up getting the good stuff, primer and paint in one...that stuff is wonderful! I will admit that we had to do a quick roll over on a few spots but hey that's a lot better than having to do two coats! That saved us SO much time! The colors look amazing. We love that the grays are just slightly different. The darker gray isn't screaming "Look at me! I'm way darker than my friend over there!" And the blue/teal color is amazing too. We decided to continue on with it into the laundry room. It was a great idea until we were running out of paint. Thankfully I had our sample can, I used that back behind the washer and dryer so you can't tell if it's different. We have some plans to organize that room and I can't wait for that day!


This isn't the best picture of the different grays but it does show you that they are close in color!


Now about the scary parts. Who knew there would be scary parts to painting! But there was. We have high ceilings. And to get to those areas, we had to put the ladder in some unsafe spots. At one point, I was under the ladder holding it and Auntie B was on the other side holding it and spotting Tim. Auntie B came over to keep the wild boys out of our way. Thanks B!! Tim was very happy we only did one coat..as was I.




We are so happy we are done, and that it isn't beige anymore! When we think about painting the other rooms, we know it's going to be like a cake walk since we did the biggest area of the house. I guess I should mention, we also painted our railings. It was all white except the top part. It was wood and we weren't fond of it. So it's all white and beautiful now! I finished my no sew curtains too! Just real quick I'll tell you what I did. I found the fabric at JoAnn's. It's perfect..it has yellow, gray, and that blue/teal color. We had to have it pretty high up on the wall since the fire place is right there, so we ended up getting about 5 yards (the whole roll). I cut them the length we wanted and then cut it down the center. The curtains didn't need to be too thick so I got lucky there. I wasn't going to hem the length of the curtain, but after seeing how bad the fraying was and my awesome cut job..I went back to JoAnn's for more hem tape. All together I think it took me less than an hour to make. We got the curtain rod and ring/clips at Target in black. They look great!!





Lastly I'll leave you with ideas and upcoming projects! As we were painting we kept throwing out different ideas and finally narrowed down how we are going to decorate these rooms. The wall to the right of the fire place ( which isn't pictured, sorry) is very bare. It only has a lonely buffet. We decided we are going to put white floating shelves all over that wall. There will probably be 5 to 7 of them and fun different things all over them. Old books, mason jars, pictures, candle sticks, my owls and maybe some more creatures to keep them company. And I found some amazing chairs on craigslist that need some paint and new fabric. They may be going to an upholster :( Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will have a lot of this done! I'm hoping to find a small cupboard for the corner in the dining room. So we can put all the colored glass we got and other little different things in there. We also decided we will be painting our kitchen cabinets white. They are this odd, off white, beige color that looks alright with the paint colors, but we think white would look A LOT better. The hardware on their now was spray painted and the more we use them the more they chip. So we're getting black hardware but we have a fun twist involved with those..you'll have to wait to see that! Also the top cabinets by the sink will have glass doors and we will put matching plates and what not in there. We are working on a cool light for above the sink..that will come very soon! And sometime soon we will be getting a new sink, faucet, counter tops, and back splash. Maybe Late spring or summer that will happen!

jo

Oh...Paint!

Well that time is slowly creeping up on us Fleenor's...Painting!! I have to say I'm pretty excited to get rid of all the beige! Every inch of this house is beige and I'm ready to bring some color into our lives! Since before the house was ours we knew we wanted to do grays and a blueish, greenish color. I'm not really sure what you'd call that color. We went to Nebraska Furniture Mart a few months ago and found an amazing couch in this mystery blue color we love. I think the color was called "sea foam green" at NFM but it doesn't look too green.



We took our cue from there. The walls will be two shades of gray. A light and then a little darker gray. Since it's such an open space we decided to change up the grays so it isn't one note all the way around. The colors will be not just in the living/dining area but the walls continue down the hall and down the stairs and that little hallway. Lots of gray! At first we were going to do a chair rail around the main area and through the upstairs hallway. The top being gray and the bottom being white, with white squares...like so.



But thankfully we had to wait to start this big project and we figured out it'd be a waste of money. After looking at the area over and over again, we noticed that you wouldn't see the squares. The walls are kind of choppy..we have 4 big windows, our back door and a fire place that take up a lot of wall and the areas that are wall, are pretty small. Also we have a few pieces of furniture that cover the areas that have a lot of wall space! That sounds really confusing, but you'll understand soon! We've had some more ideas of what to do to make that room not so gray, but their always seem to be a "but" and we are back to square one. Kind of frustrating!! One of our solutions is to paint the walls in the kitchen that wonderful blue color. I found some hand towels at Target that are ridiculously close to the couch and my wonderful husband bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday in that color, so why not throw it on the walls! I'm pretty freaking excited!

We headed to Lowes last week to start the agonizing task of choosing colors. Grays are so sticking hard! They can be too blue, too brown, or too green and you won't know until it's on your walls mocking you because you just jumped in and painted every wall already! So after sifting through a crap load of grays, we found two light grays and two dark grays that we liked. And a blue that we loved. (it matches my mixer perfectly!) We bought them all in sample sizes, spending $2.94 for the little cans. That's a lot better than buying 2 cans in each color and praying the color is right and it end up not being right at all! We did 2 coats on each square and patiently waited for them to dry and for some sunlight. Sadly we were never home when it was sunny and it's winter here in KC, so it's vary rare to have a sunny day! But Saturday we woke up and got to see what they looked like during the day.




We picked the two grays but had second thoughts on the blue. It's bright and cheery but maybe a little too bright for our liking. I ran back up to Lowes, with a second choice I had hiding in our junk drawer and bought a sample. And thank the Lord it's perfect!!





We decided that this weekend is the weekend we paint! I think we can get it all done if we start Friday after work and work every second we can. Tim thinks I'm a nut but I guess we will see what happens! I can't wait to see how it's going to look! We aren't done decorating and what not but I'll still give you a sneak peak!

I had to add this of our boys. It's the first big snow of the season and they couldn't be more excited for it!!



jo

I'm back!!

Wow it's been awhile since I've been on here!! A lot has gone on in the past month and sadly that doesn't include anything getting done in the house!! Well I guess I should take that back because a few things have happened. Right after Thanksgiving and after family left, I got pretty sick!! I didn't leave the house for a few weeks. Then the holidays snuck up on me and we had family in town! So now we can get the ball rolling again! Tim started sanding the kitchen table and chairs. There are a few chairs who still need some sanding but we should be able to paint and recover the seats sometime this week..I hope. He did get the table done and I love it! Once we get it all done I'll put up all the pictures up. I also started our no sew curtains! Thanks to my obsession with reading blogs I found out how to do it. Not like it's hard or anything, it's just that I didn't think to do it! I'm not the best sewer in the world so I was excited to start them! I'll be using this fun trick for the rest of the house! I love buying fabric and making curtains or pillows out of them that no one else have in their house. I'm not sure if I saved any money doing it myself but I like them better!

We are in the process of getting our paint colors all narrowed down. We decided this time around to buy a few sample cans that were in the colors we are wanting and testing those first. We have some pretty high ceilings and I don't want to paint twice! At the last house we were at we bought all the paint and went to town. We had to paint the living room a few times because the beige turned out pink. And we also bought paint that people returned and threw it on some walls...we ran out before finishing and had some crazy things going on. We want to make sure that these are the colors we love and stick to it! I hope that we paint soon...I'm tired of every ounce of that house being beige!! Wish us luck!!

The House!!

Now that we finally have internet i can show you all our house! I'll just show a few of my favorite rooms so I don't bore you with all the empty beige rooms! When we work on a room I'll be posting pics, so you'll end up seeing them all eventually!

Before I start posting I'll fill you in with whats been going on these past 2 weeks. We got all moved in and had our first guest! My brother and sister-in-law came in town for Thanksgiving and stayed with us for a few nights! We held Thanksgiving here for my sister and her kids, and my brother and sis-in-law! It was amazing, I loved having people over and not worrying about there not being enough room! Thankfully we haven't painted, my youngest nephew decided he wanted to decorate the walls! He's wild. We've also found out that home owning isn't the easiest thing...I kind of miss being able to call maintenance! Tim is a handy guy so thankfully the little random hiccups have been fixed! Other than that we absolutely love the house!

This is the front...nothing special. Eventually we will be painting, adding new numbers and shutters (modern ones), and getting a new front door that'll be painted as well!

Oh the living room..our first project. This room and the nest 3 will look very different after the first of the year! I'm so excited to get started on it!

I love the dining room! Real hardwood floors and lots of light! i just love it!

And the kitchen. Sometime we will be making a trip up to ikea to get new counter tops and a farmhouse sink. I can't wait for that day!!

There it is, well parts of it! We've already started fixing up some of our furniture, those will come soon!!

jo

All moved in!

We are finally in our first house! Well we have been since Sunday but this has been my first chance to get on here and share that with everyone! It has been stressful! A few months ago we booked a vacation for a week in November, who knew it'd be a few days after we closed. We packed all we could before we left and pretty much the whole kitchen, thanks to one of my wonderful sister-in-laws. We landed Saturday night, did some last minute shove everything in a box and were ready. Nothing like getting up at 7 after a very relaxing vacation to move! We had some amazing helpers come and either watch our wild dogs or help us load the truck. It was an all day event. I still can't get over how much stuff we had in that small loft! Tim's parents came and helped us unload (thanks again!!). We took the truck back and went to get some little things that wouldn't fit. On my last trip out to the car I was taking our bikes, I had a can of black paint in my bike basket...needless to say the bike fell over and black paint was everywhere!! I felt awful! Cleaning that up sucked but thankfully the floors at the loft are concrete. Whoops!

For the past 3 nights we have been unpacking like crazy! And for the most part, we are done! There are a few boxes here and there that are lying around but they don't have anything important in it, I hope. The dogs absolutely love the place! Winston is having troubles with the stairs but he'll get the hang of it soon, and Gus seems a million times happier! I'll post pictures once we have Internet. It's pretty bare since we have so many projects that we need to start!

Jo

Meet the Fleenors!

First, I guess I should introduce ourselves! I'm Jodi and my amazing husband is Tim, and we've been married for about 2 in a half years! We have 2 dogs-Gus a 3 year old mini poodle, and Winston a 1 year old Golden Retriever. They are like our children! Tim is an amazing photographer and I'm a nanny to an amazing little boy!

Since we got married, we have been moving place to place and trying to buy our first house. It all started about a month or so after we got married. But it wasn't as easy as we thought it was going to be. Who knew there would be so many obstacles for us to go through! We would think we would have everything we needed and then they would throw something else at us. In February I lost my job and we decided to put all the house buying stuff on the back burner and move to the Rivermarket. We figured we should do something like that before we started having kids. It's been a lot of fun, only problem was...WE WERE NEVER HOME!! Our lives and family we still back in the suburbs. I got my job and we decided just to see what was out there house wise and if we finally had everything we needed. We narrowed our search to "old houses." Basically if it was 50 years or older, we wanted it. We wanted something that had a lot charm and that has some history! People who own these houses, we learned, they don't like to sell them! I surprisingly found one that fit everything we could ever dream of. It was a classic two-story with a sun room and a porch that was screened in. It was adorable! We were serious about buying that sucker, then reality slapped us in the face! It was a HUD house (government owned) and they have a lot of guidelines for you to go by. Needless to say we had to walk sadly away from that house.

After that, we decided to not limit ourselves or else we will never find a house. We noticed in our search that these houses weren't starter houses, they were what you bought after having a starter house. Funny how the market is. I think I looked at close to 60 houses and Tim was lucky enough to only see the ones I really liked. We found one that was incredible, and HUGE! It was a 3 bed 2 bath and had a 3 car garage. But who knew investors would try to scheme us. Yet again we had to walk away from a great house. (That house is still on the market and this was about 2 1/2 months ago..suckers!) Then we found ANOTHER house. Even more amazing than the first. 3 bed 3 bath 3 car garage. An actual dining room and the master had super high ceilings and a great master bath! Basement was finished (with some mold), all we had to do was fence it in. We decided to put an offer in and learned that we had to put our best offer in by noon Monday. So we thought of a clever offer and off it went. Our offer was accepted but they wanted us to close in 2 weeks! HAHAHA!!! We would of had to had our appraisal before our inspection and that would of left us with dealing with the mold issue...no thanks!

We were getting a little tired of all the waiting and then nothing happening for us. In our long search we fell upon our now new house! It's a 3 bed 2 bath 2 car garage with a big yard and finished basement. My absolute favorite part is the living/dining/kitchen area. It's so light and airy and just awesome! It was right at the top of our max and we never thought we'd get it. So we threw them a low offer and figured it would get countered, which it did...like 5 times. We FINALLY agreed on a price and after some more obstacles, we closed on it...like 3 hours ago. Of course we don't have the keys yet so it doesn't feel real. The house is what you'd find in the dictionary under "typical suburban house" not at all what we were wanting at first. But then we thought, we can make it exactly like we want...so we are! That is going to be the whole point of this blog. My favorite thing to do is look online and get ideas from other people and make it my own. I love looking on etsy, and my new obsession is craigslist. I have a big pile of stuff i got on there sitting at Tim's work, just waiting for me and my sander. I also am in love with a blog called dreambookdesign.com. They are pretty much amazing and i want their house! Tim met her through friends and he sent me her blog and now I can't stop reading it.

Tim and I have so many projects lined up, it's not even funny. As the process goes on, we are going to document it and put it up here and who knows, maybe someone will draw some inspiration from it. I might even add some random things about us if the projects are taking longer than we think. It's going to be long process so stick with us!! Thanks for taking the time to read, here are some pictures of us, our dogs and the new house. (We will be painting the outside hopefully this summer or next..)

Jo