Basement TV Room Progress

Slowly but surely, things are starting to come together around here. I really can't believe how slowly. But one drawer or box at a time, we're making mini steps toward progress. 

I have absolutely nothing even close to finished to show you in the basement, but I thought I'd share a sneak peek at how the rec/main TV room is looking down there. Be warned that these photos are very un-staged and -- as anyone who has ever moved can probably relate to -- full of clutter. You might wonder why I'm showing you such an unfinished space, but the truth is most of our house feels half-finsihed, so any room I show you would have much the same look. I'm just going with it, and hope seeing the process will be fun. The room needs a lot of work, but we have also come a long way and have some ideas about where we want to go.

Before I go on, shall we reminisce about how this space started out?

Here it is with the sellers' belongings on the day of our home inspection.

And on the day we took possession.

Electrical issues led to the ceiling being cut open in a bunch of spots, and we had to dig a trench in the floor to create our new laundry room (read all about that here), so at one point the room looking like this (the photo below is of the far wall above, with the trench leading to that door on the left):

Anyway, I hope those before/during photos help explain why we are psyched about having this cozy TV room to hang out in, despite all the work that is still to be done to decorate it and make it feel like us. I think in the winter it will be especially nice to have the extra room. 

Here's some more photos of the space. 

The light is the same one as we put up in our bedroom (see it here) - a cheapie from Ikea that we love.  The dressers are the Brimnes series from Ikea. I can hardly believe how much storage we have down here now. Only 6 of the 16 drawers are being used so far. Originally I'd planned for a cute pair of chairs here, but the storage is more practical for our family. 

We had the TV mounted on the wall, which makes such a difference in the narrow space. A piece of furniture there would have totally changed the room (in a bad way). We had to invest in two long HDMI cables to make it work so that our cable box and DVD player could sit atop the dresser on the other side of the room, but we think they were well worth it. 

We plan to make them look a little nicer up there. For now, they're sitting next to frames waiting to be hung -- we need to pick up two more so we can have four on either side of the windows. Hopefully we'll make it to Ikea soon (i.e. before baby girl arrives!). 

You might recognize the framed photos from this post when I talked about hanging them on either side of our china cabinet back in the condo. They looked like this:

Anyway, we're liking how they look and think the dark frames echo help balance out the dark TV. We plan to put a few big pieces of art above the couch and when we do the whole thing will probably look a lot more cohesive. Plus, we LOVE family photos and although not what a real designer would probably choose like to display our nearest and dearests' smiles around the house. 

Here's a glance at our throw pillows, in case you're like me and weirdly like to see how people combine them. We aren't 100% sure if they're staying here (it's been like a game of musical pillows around here) but we are using what we've got and think we like this combo. 

We try to use fun pillows to distract ourselves from how beat up the old sofa is. Since this room will mainly be a kids' TV zone, replacing it at this point makes no sense (well that and the fact that we can't afford to anyway). At least it is super comfy!

Here is the view from the other side of the room (standing by those white dressers) looking back down the hallway toward the guest room/playroom/office/bathroom/staircase. Don't mind little Benjamin or the random junk hanging out. 

I recently bought a rug to put by the couch on one of those wayfair sales. It was a great deal, and I think it will ground the space, bring in some much needed colour and pattern, and make it a cozier spot for little ones to hang out while watching Finding Nemo. (We watch that one a lot lately). 

I'd also like to find a small coffee table, but for now with kids it is just as practical not to have one. We'll see where we go with that once the rug is in place. Should be here in a week or so, hope I like it as much in person as I did online. A DIY roman shade (or faux roman) is also on my to do list, but that probably won't happen for a little while. 

Alright, well I'm off to sort out a few more things and hang out in the backyard. Thank goodness it is a long weekend and the sun is shining!  

Thank you for visiting :)

Jenny xo

Dining Room Progress

 I'm continuing house updates with a tour of the dining room. 

You can also see nursery progress, Ben's room progress, and master bedroom progress if you missed them. 

Here is the dining room at 7:30 this morning.

Benjamin slept in (yay!) so I snapped a few photos of the dining room to share with you. I didn't clean it up for the photos -- there are still boxes around and the table sees more use for stickers and colouring than actual dining, which is evident. Also, ignore the random things stashed in here for now (like the outdoor cushions -- those will have a spot to be stored in the shed, but I haven't assembled the shelves yet in there). Nonetheless, the room is coming together, slowly, and I thought a progress post was in order. 

7:30 isn't ideal time, light-wise, but you do see how big and bright the windows are. 

The room also looks especially blue in the morning, and smokier/greyer at the end of the day day. I love that about the colour (Benjamin Moore's Smoke).

 Some flowers I received for mother's day are on the table. So sweet.

 And our high chair fits nicely in the corner. For any expectant or new moms, I have to tell you that I really really don't recommend this high chair. 

 Next to the sliding glass door (that leads out to the back deck) is this little wall space. Eventually, we think a cool antique bar cart would be perfect here. But that doesn't fit with our toddler/baby lifestyle at the moment, so we used this shelf that we already had (it used to be in the living room in the condo) and use it to store cookbooks and a few other odds and ends. Use what you've got, right? Need to find art or photos for those frames! Thinking one of Ben and one of the baby could be just the thing. 

 I love having all my cookbooks in easy reach and right next to the kitchen, without cluttering up my countertop in the actual kitchen.

 I need to figure out a good way to utilize some space in here for outdoor stuff too. We haven't done a lot with the yard yet, so the stuff is just stashed here waiting to be set up. 

 Our china cabinet fits perfectly in a little recessed nook in here. Well, almost. We had to do a little sawing (removing some of the decorative moulding at the top) so it could fit in. We saved the pieces so we can always pop 'em back on in a different home if we need to, and plan to patch things up with some paint -- but that is low down on our loooong to do list for the house. 

Here is how that nook looked before, with the sellers' belongings:

Our cabinet looks great in person, though hard to tell in these photos with so much junk around and such a bad angle. I'll retake them after this room is really cleaned out. But at least this shows you how it kind of tucks away -- a lucky coincidence, since it is such a big, tall piece. 

I'll give you a peek at our stuff inside. It is a mix of our wedding china, crystal, and some inexpensive thrifted silver pieces. 

This one below is Benjamin's Christening cup from his godmother.

 We store extras - dessert plates, napkin rings, etc, in the cupboards and drawers below. 

We are loving the blue in here, as well as how much storage we've managed to pack in without making the room feel closed off or cluttered. Of course, it feels super cluttered right now because there are still lots of random things sitting in there. 

Better than this, though, just a few weeks ago:

Short term, I'm on the lookout for window treatments, fabric to reupholster our very old (but still functional) chairs, and possibly two fun new chairs for the ends of the table. One day we'd like to add a rug, too, and change out the light fixture -- but those are further down the line. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Jenny xo

My Romantic Home, Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday

Nursery Progress

Hello and happy Monday!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and a fantastic mother's day!

Last week I gave you updates on our master bedroom (which is barely started) and Ben's room (which is getting closer to feeling complete). Today I thought I'd give you an update on the nursery. 

If you missed it, you can see before pictures of this space here, and check out previous progress updates here and here. 

Unfortunately, I'm really not loving this room so far. Hopefully it will come together before baby girl arrives. It is suddenly very high on my priority list and I think I'll try to find some time to work on the space this week. 

The good thing is we have managed to shape up the bones of the room well with new flooring, paint, a new light fixture (which I love), and by the small finishing things like replacing gross old electrical outlet covers and light switches with clean new ones. Remember how it started out?

We have also managed to furnish the space without spending a penny (we have used Benjamin's old furniture and my sister's old bed, and even odds and ends like our old bedroom lamps). We still need to buy a missing part for the bed (we have the headboard and footboard, but no rails or frame to attach them to, so the headboard is just leaning here and the mattress/boxspring are still sitting on the floor). 

But now it needs some style. It needs some things to pull it together, freshen up the old stuff, and make it feel like a special place for our little lady. It needs to be softened, needs art (which is tricky with these slopey ceilings) and linens and organization and all of those other details that make you fall in love with a space. So, though we aren't anywhere near to a room we're loving, here is a glimpse at where we're at.

I've decided to add some blue to the pink/white/grey we have going on. The blue blanket on the bed is a temporary stand-in until I find bedding I like at a price I can afford. The blue pillow on the chair is new and is staying (you can buy it here at 30% off-- the details are really pretty in person). 

The blue will be a softer shade than this one, and there will be less of it, but I think it helps keep the pink from feeling too disconnected from the rest of our house. We have blue in basically every room, even if just little pops of it. 

The blue extends in small doses into the closet too, where I've so far added these two big baskets (one holds long sleeved sleepers, one holds rompers). 

And while we're in here, take a peek at the sweet little dresses all hanging up. 

I've done so much baby laundry and can't get enough of all the cute clothing. We were lucky to get loads of hand me downs from my aunt, and have some of my younger sister's old clothes too - amazing how well those dresses have held up over the last 18 years!

 Anyway, here's a shot of her built-in bookcase. Man, does this room ever need work.

 Eventually, I'll try to style this and bought these cute little chevron bins to hold hats, wash cloths, swaddling blankets, and other odds and ends. 

I'm also on the hunt for a cute basket for holding necessities on the change table. For now I'm just using this old Ikea drawer organizer dressed up with an old piece of ribbon. 

 And we will be trying to fit both function (storage) and style into the little bookcase behind the door. So far the only part I'm loving is the little blue bunny book end (a recent HomeSense purchase). Since the bed is adorned with tiny bunnies, I'd love to have a few of them throughout the room -- a very, very loose theme. 

And that's about all I have to show you so far in here. I can't wait to be more excited about this room -- I'm feeling guilty about how it feels at this point. All in good time though, I suppose. 

As for ideas -- I'm planning on a nice soft cream/white/ivory rug, fun artwork, lots of organization, and some much needed personalization. I haven't figured out what exactly that will look like yet, but I will keep you posted!

Jenny xo

Coastal Charm, Trendy Tuesday, Sugar Bee Crafts, My Romantic Home
Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday

Benjamin's Toddler Room - An Almost Finished Update & Tour

Gosh, have I ever found myself sloooooowing down lately. 

Given my lack of posting, I'm guessing that's no surprise to you. But time to heal and rest and all that have been a priority, and I'm starting to feel better. I'm also getting super excited for our baby girl to arrive -- well under a month to go now until her due date! I've been washing and folding tons of tiny pink outfits, getting my hospital bag packed up, and trying my best to prepare Benjamin for what is to come. It is all starting to feel very real and very, very exciting. 

Anyway, parts of the house are coming together and parts aren't. I'm trying not to rush it. I'm also working on sharing the progress room by room, whatever stage it's in. Today I thought I'd give you a rather comprehensive tour of how Ben's room is looking. This room has a few things left for us to do, but is getting close to being finished. We managed to do a quick clean up after breakfast this morning and to keep it tidy enough for me to spend 5 minutes snapping photos. 

(If you missed the before photos of the space, check 'em out here).

Gosh, I took a lot of photos. I guess after no blogging or anything since Monday I was camera-happy.

To see a more detail shots and a few more full room pics, click "read more."