Laundry Room/Bathroom Refresh

Hey guys!

Guys?

Anybody out there??

Um yeah.  I haven't been the best blogger here lately...

 Forgive me?

I guess I was low on inspiration or something.

But we've been kicking it in gear and getting a few things done around here, and I'm excited to show you some new things! First up...the laundry room/second bathroom.

 If you'll remember, the laundry room was all frenchy, toile, and apple green. I really liked it at first, but that bathroom kinda ended up being the boys bathroom. So, yeah, we needed to lose a few frills, and make it a bit more guy friendly.

 Here's what I came up with, for a cheap weekend project...

I painted the walls Waterscape by Sherwin Williams - LOVE that color!! Then we swapped out all the florals, toiles, and damasks, for bold black and whites. Not much work or expense, but it made a BIG difference. 

 I needed something to hang on the wall, so I took a bathtime pic of Weston, put it in a black frame - perfect! And of course, I went to Pinterest for some fun free printables.

I couldn't find a solid white roll up curtain for the window, ok, so I couldn't find one that was cheap enough for me... ;)   So I used one plain white panel, attached the tie backs that came with it to the top with a few buttons, and voila - just what I was looking for but much more budget friendly. 

I love that it looks fresh and clean, and the little guys are all happy with it too. Win win!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From our house to yours, 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and Blessings for the New Year!

More Christmas at the Parsonage...

As promised, here's the rest of the Christmas tour! The baking is all done, the crafts are all made, the gifts are all wrapped, and I'm enjoying a nice clean Christmas house :)

 I always enjoy the little kitchen tree.

I got real industrious about a month ago, and made white vinyl slipcovers for the dining room chairs. SO much easier to keep clean with 3 little boys, all I have to do is wipe them with a wet wash cloth. Wonderful. It was pretty tricky to sew that thick stuff, so they're definitely not perfect, but as long as you don't look real close, they're alright  ;)

 My sweetie brought in a pile of fresh greens from the trees in the backyard - they look pretty in my box, and they make the whole room smell wonderful.

Happy Christmas Eve to all of You!

Remember the Reason for the Season! =)

Christmas at the Parsonage

Merry Christmas from the Painted Parsonage!

 Some of you will be quite bored with my photo heavy post, as a lot of our decor is the same as it was last year, and the year before that... but I just can't leave everything the same, I have to change up some things, so maybe you'll see a few new things, too :)

The living room is pretty simple and natural. 

I used an old wash tub instead of a tree skirt this year, and I am HOOKED. Most of the tree mess falls right down into the bucket, and I don't have to wrestle with a skirt getting all wrinkled up. Besides, it's just plain cute!

The centerpiece on the coffee table keeps getting rearranged by a certain 2 year old... I've been finding birds and nests in strange places around the house.

I got inspired to add a romantic touch to our bedroom this year, and put some little trees with lights on our mantle. I've enjoyed the pretty lights in the evenings! Yeah, it's the little things...

Once again, the boys stockings are hung on the staircase, along with some fun and whimsical garland. 

I filled some old mason jars in the hallway with faux snow and some vintage snowmen. I love them!

The front door is all happy and festive, too.

I'm really enjoying the season, and having all my pretties out. I'm not going to be ready to take it all down when Christmas is over :(  

I'll have to share pics of the dining room and kitchen a little later, as the Christmas crafting operation has completely overtaken my dining room table, and Christmas baking and candy making has overtaken my kitchen. Tis the Season!

 I love it!

The Coffee Table Gets a Makeover

So my original plan was to find a large square upholstered ottoman to replace our dark and very scratched up coffee table. But....the more I looked at them, the less I wanted to spend the money. Yeah, I'm kind of a tightwad like that. I figured the least I could do was to paint the old one until I decide what to do about getting something new. 

 Here's what she looked like before I attacked her with spray paint...

Funny how changing just a few little things changes the whole look of a place! The whole room feels brighter.  I  like it so much, I may just keep it. 

 

(Honestly, I never saw the toys under the sofa till I posted these pics. Now it's BUGGING me to pieces! Just some extra random decor, compliments of Weston...)

 We recently found a chunkier white cabinet to replace the dark, small table that we had in there. It fits the space much better, and matches my "new" coffee table perfectly. I was also craving some more punchy color, so I threw together some coral pillow covers, and that was just the punch I was looking for!

Now if I could just find a smallish table for the other lamp - so far I haven't had any luck. It would have to be pretty small to fit in that space, but I'd like for it to kinda match the other table. Oh, and it has to be cheap, too. ;)  The search goes on...

I found the summer chalkboard printable on pinterest - I just love it! Ya can't beat free decor! 

In other news, this little guy turned 2 years old this past week.

Where has the time gone???  It doesn't seem like my BABY should be 2 already.

There's a Thomas the Train party in the plans for this weekend. Wish me luck as I try to make a Thomas cake... I may wish I had just ordered one!

Vintage Cupboard Redo

A dear friend of ours recently gave me the sweetest little china cabinet! It had been in her family for years, it belonged to her grandmother. I pretty much did a happy dance when I saw it and realized it is very similar to the one my own granny had. (I've always loved granny's cabinet and wished I could have gotten it!) 

 Forgive me, but the only before pic I took was from my iPhone, so it's not real stellar. At least you can get an idea...

Somebody put some country decals on it - I'm guessing in the 80's, when country blue and ducks were all the rage. And they didn't get them all exactly straight...  This pic was taken after we'd already scraped some decals off the glass. 

 I had a grand ole time painting her up in a pretty aqua blue! 

I just love it! 

Happy happy happy =) 

The paint color is "Watery" from Sherwin Williams. After I painted it, I distressed it a touch and rubbed some coffee colored glaze all over it. 

It was during the glazing process that I had to explain to my 7 year old, just exactly why I *wanted* it to look old and dirty. And that I only liked certain things to look slightly worn and dirty, and that no, his room was not one of those things... He still doesn't get it. He wandered off shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Huh. And I thought you wanted to make our house look *nice*." Bless his little heart...

I knew as soon as I brought it home that I wanted to paint it blue and fill it with white dishes - I think they're just perfect for each other ;)  I put them in there pretty quick and willy nilly, so they may get rearranged a few times before it's all said and done. 

It's such a bright spot in the dining room!

The little guys have finished their last day of school, so we're only too happy to get our summer started!
Linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday!

Living Room Refresh

So it's not *totally* there yet, but it's veeery close. 

I'll show you what we've done so far on the living room project.

Here is the before...

And this is where we are now!

The only 2 things we would like to do is swap out the (very abused and scratched up) coffee table for a large comfy square ottoman. Still looking for a deal...

And replace the carpet.  I'm SOOO wanting to rip it out and refinish the hardwoods that are under it, but we're a little nervous about what we might find under there - it may be too far gone. It will probably be a while before we get to that part of the project!

I sold my old living room suit on craigslist (Good ole Craig!) and then we found this neutral sectional here at a local furniture shop. I recovered all of the hideous throw pillows that came with the sofa in fun bright colors. (The floral one on the left was from Hobby Lobby.)

So much brighter! I really like the cottage/coastal feel. 

The white curtain panels I made from plain white flat sheets from Walmart ($4.88 apiece!), and the yellow ottoman was a clearance purchase from Target - well worth the $24 I paid for it!

The mantel looks all bright and springy, too. Love those free printables!

I got this sweet little recliner for Christmas last year, as well as the cable knit throw. It's cozy!

We also moved Weston's nursery rocker to the living room - it matches the sofa perfectly! 

The yellow chevron throw was a gift from my sis in law - I call it my happy blanket! It's so cheery. 

So that's it - our living room refresh, on a shoestring budget! It's much more family friendly and casual now - the gang hangs out in here all the time. And now we have more seating for our church get-togethers that we have here, so everybody's happy!

I'm linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday! Ok, so it's not exactly Friday. Lets' just say I've been very busy  =)