The Beach Guest Room Day #4… a little late.

All the trim, the windows and door were painted, the wall paint was cut in and then I painted the walls. At this point, I was already in love with the color, Behr’s Ozone, but once it was on the walls? I was MADLY in love. It is the perfect color for this room and with the Ultra Pure White Trim by Behr and the dark wood floors it was fabulous.

I picked up simple curtain rods from Wal-Mart, and hung sheer’s that my mom had given me. Using some satin silver ribbon I tied them back and Viola! It looks great.

There is still a lot to do… refinish some pieces of furniture, move some around, pick up some night stands, iron the bed skirt, paint the closet and closet doors but otherwise we are in good shape!

The Beach Guest Room Day #2!

On the first night of my boredom, I removed the first layer of the wallpaper, simply by peeling it off. I pushed all the furniture into the middle of the room and emptied out what I could. What was left on the walls was the paper wallpaper backing, which ironically looked better than the wallpaper itself.

The next day I grabbed my 5 gallon bucket, rubber gloves, gallon of vinegar, plastic floor covering, and scrapper. Using a 50/50 mixture of warm water and vinegar I sponged the walls down with it, let it sit for 10-15 minutes and began removing the sheets of the paper backing. As luck would have it, they came off with ease and the job didn’t take nearly as long as I anticipated.

But I smelled like vinegar. Yum.

At this point in the renovation, I have removed enough wallpaper that I think I can call myself a pro. And oddly I find it almost cathartic. There is one full wall of wallpaper in the office left and then 2 bathrooms with some wallpaper. I’m almost sad that I will most likely have no wallpaper left to remove by the time we have been in the house a year.

I may have to offer my services to some friends down the road just to enjoy what has become a favorite past time of mine. NOT.

The Beach Guest Room Day #1

Last weekend I was bored and decided that the wallpaper in this room just HAD to go. It is the only remaining room with four full walls of wallpaper and while not completely obnoxious, I was over it. Plus I have a really great plan for this room.

The wallpaper was a wonderful fabric damask in an ivory (read: dirt) color. The pictures do not do it justice, or maybe they do. I will leave you to decide that. The floors in this room are some of the nicest in the house with a nice deep, dark stain that is in really good condition save a few spots. My plan was to do something that would highlight the wonderful floors and use the fact that there are three windows (2 north facing and one west facing) that get great afternoon sun.
I tried two different paint samples from Behr. I already had the color picked out in my mind and on a paint chip, but figured I would try another color as well. Well my original paint color won. The room will be painted “Ozone” by Behr (color on the right) and this will be the “Beach” Guest Room.

In case you didn’t know, I am a beachaholic. I lived at or near a beach for most of my life. Having acquired a collection of beach theme décor, I figure this is a great place to put it to use.

So, join me in my boredom as I show you how I redid this room from start to finish!

Oh and just for fun, check out the current light fixture. I kid you not, this is exactly as it was when we arrived. No comment.

The Dining Room

That is powder blue trim around the windows, as well as the wall trim and oh yes, the doors and windows were painted that lovely shade as well. The walls themselves were white. They are no longer. Meet our dining room. It's actually completely open to the living room and is the whole back half of our house on the first floor. The dining "area" is a wonderful little set up. It is partially open to the kitchen, has that lovely bay window (which isn't so lovely and rotting up close, so don't look when you come over). It's hardwood floors, and well, it's got some personality.

This is what it looked like almost a year ago from today... when we did our home inspection.

Below, as you can see I was just not sure what color (hence the red splotches everywhere), and we were still in the midst of unpacking, cleaning etc. So excuse the disaster.

And POOF! this picture is from just before our housewarming party in November 2010. As you can see it is looking MUCH MUCH better.


The Paint:

Walls - Behr's Tea Bag

Trim - Behr's Ultra Pure White



Rug- pottery barn (hand me down)

Buffet - 1920's piece from craigslist

Dining room table & chairs - Harden (this was my parents table and they gifted it to us!).



The floors still need to be refinished throughout the entire house, and I think these will look amazing when that happens. We kept the light fixture the same, but eventually I would like to change it, but no rush. I have not yet put anything on the window (except Christmas lights) and not sure if I will in this part of the room. As I said above the window itself needs to be replaced sooner than later, so I may just enjoy the natural setting look for awhile.



I still don't have much on the walls, and hopefully the right pieces will find their way there, somehow. While it isn't a room we utilize often, we do look at it and walk through it everyday. I do love it, but it's far from finished. It is just another shining example of what a little paint can do to spruce up a space.

You can read more about some of the pieces and ideas in this post.