Guest Room/ Guest Bathroom:: Before Pictures

I'm almost embarrassed to show you these pictures. Almost. I would be embarrassed if I would have chosen this paint color or put this wallpaper on the walls. Sorry was that harsh? I have to keep reminding myself that this house and this decor and paint colors were all chosen over two decades ago. Maybe they were like the cool kids back in the day. Is that possible?

The guest room is painted a purplish gray. At first glance you think "Oh that's not so bad" but then you realize it's not so much gray as it is purple. And yes I still have boxes from our move in our guest room. Don't judge. 

Now, moving on to the guest bathroom...Well, it just needs a total transformation: rip down the wallpaper, new flooring, new cabinets, new faucets, new lighting, the works!
But for now we're just starting with fresh paint and oh what a difference it makes. I can't wait to show y'all the after painting pics.

Buie's Office: Before Pics

Check out this wallpaper, y'all! I was NOT at all sad to see this room go. This room was a sad mix of nautical print, sad lighting and beige trim. My husband said he could "deal with it" but I, however, could not. 

This room needed an intervention and we gave it one. Stay tuned for the AFTER pics. :)

Dining Room: Before Pics

I went back and forth on whether to use the dining room as an actual dining room. In our old home in Arkansas we probably used our dining room a total of 5 times in the 4 years we lived there. We have a breakfast table that seats 8 so most of the time when we had company over, we would just sit at the breakfast table. If you'll remember I had plans to convert our dining room into a studio in our old home. I hate having a room that we don't utilize so we put some serious thought into making this into something else: a studio, a sitting room (which sounds silly and less useful than a dining room), my office... But when it came down to it, we thought with family living so close we will probably get more use out of our dining room. So our dining room is going to be a dining room but a much prettier one than the pictures you see below. 

Once again, I just wanted to document our home with BEFORE pictures so we could see the transformation that took place over the next few weeks, months and even years! We wanted to remember how our house looked when we moved in. So here it is. The dining room is painted a dark red, almost a burgundy color, but what makes it so unappealing is the WAY it was painted. Like our living room area, it was painted with some sort of sponge paint technique. It almost makes the walls look dirty. So we knew the red paint must go and soon. Like the yellow paint in the living room, breakfast room and kitchen, this red color was driving me mad. 

This room did come with some great built-ins which holds extra dishes, serving pieces and pitchers. These will be painted white and the rest of the room gray. The painters are finishing up things in this room today so stay tuned for the AFTER pictures! It's amazing what a couple coats of paint can do for a room!

Living Room Pictures: Before

Right now the painters are here and the house is CA-RAZY! I debated for weeks whether or not we should do our own painting. I really do love painting but after a few days my back starts hating me and I really start regretting my decision to be the DIY Queen. So yes, we are hiring out any and all painting and I'm trying not to regret this decision. I really do love painting. I like picking out colors, even though I am the most indecisive person I know.

I know I will be SO thankful when it is all said and done but for now I am a little jealous of the painters. I secretly want to paint...just a little bit. I don't think they would mind if I stole their paint rollers on their lunch break do you? ;) They might just look at me like I'm a total weirdo. 

So this is what our living room looks like these days: mismatched pillows, yellow walls, no rug and one really small looking DVD case on a huge ugly yellow wall. Did I mention the walls are ugly yellow? Blotchy. Yellow and blotchy are a deadly combination. It sounds like the symptoms of a bad rash and this is one rash I can't WAIT to get rid of!

After buying about a dozen color samples, I think we finally settled on a grey paint color we like. But you never know. I could change my mind again before tomorrow. 

I'll be back soon with more BEFORE pics of the house! Happy Wednesday!

One Room at a Time.

So for the most part we are moved in and getting settled. Is our garage still full of boxes? Well, yes but we're working on that. ;)  The fun part to me is decorating. I think it's the best job in the world...only I don't get paid to do it. Maybe I should have been an interior designer. The only problem I have with decorating is making decisions. I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to paint colors and home decor, so naturally Pinterest is like an extension of my right arm. I find it's the perfect place to organize all the craziness that's floating around in this head of mine. 

I wanted to document the way our home looks now, just as we are getting settled and calling this place our own. It is bare with nothing on the walls. The paint colors are not our own choices but we are so looking forward to the next phase - the making it our own phase. 

This little breakfast nook has much potential. When I look at it I see cafe curtains... 

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 a round wool rug maybe similar to one of these...

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Months ago I saw images of a coffee bar on Pinterest and loved the idea. We have less counter space in this home than in our previous home, so a little coffee nook has been the perfect solution for us! We just used our old dresser than was in our closet and put it right in our breakfast room. One day I plan to paint it a fun color, but for now it will work.

My inspiration for our coffee bar: I plan to put some shelves up and hang a few favorite pieces of artwork. So much to do!

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Hope you've enjoyed this brief tour around our little breakfast nook. Hopefully next time you stop by, it'll look quite different. We had a meeting with our painter guy today and he has big plans for our breakfast nook, as well as our living room, foyer, dining room, master bath....oh wow, there's a lot to paint in this house!

Stay tuned for another room soon! I'll try to share all the rooms as what they look like before they see the likes of a paint brush and of course after, so stick around! :) And if you're on Pinterest, be sure to follow me at cbbuie. See you there!