Den Makeover: The Couch

Whew... this post has been a long time coming...

When we purchased our house we knew almost immediately the sectional from our previous home would not work in here.

We made it work from July until one glorious day back in November. 

I had been eyeing this couch for months and months in the Pottery Barn Catalog. 

The Carslisle

not skirted, not chenille, and only linen if it was extra soft... 

Then we thought we would order it if  I could find the perfect fabric.... 

Then the 2,000.00 sticker to have it custom upholstered held me up... 

Ugh, alas....

Until one glorious friday morning.

I was perusing our local Pottery Barn Outlet.

There she was.... in all her splendor. 

Not in the ideal fabric but the price was RIGHT yall..

SOO RIGHT.

Called hubby and he wanted to see it, sit on it... I rounded the corner in the store while we talked and I saw the red sign. 

"THE" Red sign.

All upholstry an additional 20% off.

I seriously squealed. Then... while waiting on him to allow me to pull the trigger... I opened my email.

To a glorious 10% off your purchase in store or online, catalog, or outlet.

NO WAY!!!!

So put it on hold to pick up after dinner. 

On the way to the outlet I did this....

I was so mad. 

I kenw it was totalled but I did NOT want this to prevent me from getting the couch!!!

My very sweet friend Lauren picked me up first thing the next morning and we were there waiting as they opened!

Elated yall. 

This was the first iphone picture with the couch in. 

Trying to decide which panel we liked better.

Ended up being neither! 

Next up is paint, accessories and furniture layout!

Living Room Style Board

Hello friends!

Can I just say thank you from the bottom of my heart??

Ya'll have blessed me beyond measure with all your kind words regarding a piece of our story. 

Thank you for trusting me with yours and your outpouring of support. Means the world!

Now that my head is clear, I have been thinking its about time to nail down some elements of this room. 

Here is what we are working with. 

Contemplating a cowhide rug....

there will be a treatment like in the picture over the fireplace!

and hoping for some ah ha moment on where my pop of color is going to come from!

This is obviously my rough draft board but this is sort of the direction the room is headed in. 

getting quotes this week on having the builtins made.

wrapping up switching out the electrical.

and picking out a roller shade for the back door.

Once the roller shade is installed and the outlets switched out I will be sharing pictures!

Update in the Entry and A Plan

When we moved into our home back in July I had an awesome vision for our entry.

Here are some of the ideas I was thinking about for this space. 

Still strongly considering painting the walls a cream white and doing high gloss white trim. 

 image via houzz.com

The banister is not just exceedingly sturdy so we have contimplated ripping it all out and installing more of a modern railing. 

Our layout is this exactly in the two rooms shown. 

I like both of these styles therefore I am torn. 

image via house beautiful

image via gretchenopgenorthdesigns.blogspot.com

We are planning to rip up the carpet on the stairs, install wooden stained treads and install a carpet runner. 

The likelihood we get to this before next fall is pretty slim. 

We have hit some major obstacles in this home and soooo many things were missed on the inspection report/discovered once we moved in that we will be fixing alot of behind the scenes things first. 

BUT..... one thing we CAN do in the meantime is update some lighting.

I fell in love with this fixture back in the spring.

We saw duplicates at places like Home Depot and Lowe's but I knew this was the one the space needed.

The entry is so small and needed some charm. 

We found it for a steal of a deal at the local Pottery Barn Outlet!

And just in the few weeks it has been hanging we have gotten quite a few compliments on it! 

The shadows it casts are Soo pretty!!

So glad I held out for the one I was really wanting!

Grey Skies Clearing Up! Kitchen Happy Face

SO... when you find out bad news what does any anxious new homeowner do???

Spruce up your 1978 kitchen!!!!

With Black Friday come and gone, we decided to take full advantage of some of the deals on appliances.

There is SOOOOO much out there and sooooo many reviews to read and determine what you want. 

We looked at Sears, HH Gregg, Home Depot, and Lowe's. 

After reading about 2 weeks of reviews and examining pieces we decided to start with the back wall of kitchen appliances first and move out from there!

The first appliance we decided to start with was the dishwasher.

I knew I wanted a flat panel dishwasher, (to keep connor's pesky fingers from starting the dishwasher 15 times a day, UGH, haha)  it needed to be a tall tub to accomodate pots and pans, and the silverware holder in the door.
(picky i know)

We love it!
It is Whisper Quiet and we found a great deal on it at Lowe's the week before thanksgiving.

Now that we have an established "name brand" if you will; we went ahead and purchased the Whirlpool Gold over the range microwave.

We do not plan to use the microwave over the range for long. 

We will need to rebuild the cabinet containting the double oven to accomodate this appliance and add in a warming drawer. 

Trying to find cabinet builders who can build what we are needing. 

(if you are local please leave a comment if you have a person so i can contact them)

The next thing we went ahead and selected was a Beverage Refridgerator.

All three of these appliances have been installed and the beverage cooler is loaded up with my pellegrino and la croix waters!!! 

I told this fridge was only for when mommy and daddy's friends come over so they don't go and indulge themselves in my grapefruit waters (ie ruthie get over here for some la croix!)

Okay.... next up is fridge, backsplash and hardware.

Need your help and input...

side by side fridge?

french door fridge? (this is what I think I want)

Cabinet guys (local people)

Thank yall in advance!

What I am loving now....

Can I just say thank you, thank you, thank you????

All your words of encouragement have meant so much!

We are loving the (almost finished) bathroom!!!

Already planning my next room for the one room challenge this coming April!

So... want to see what I have on the brain?

All images are courtesy of houzz.com

See if you see a reoccuring theme here??

THIS IS MY DREAM KITCHEN... the end.

So, we just found out we are having to likely rip out the entire master bathroom... due to a leak we were unaware of when purchasing the home. Fan-freaking-tabulous.

but.... i am thinking this is pretty amazing!

What do you think???

Need your Input

I am doing my best to push myself out of my über traditional comfort zone in small ways. 

One being lighting in the new house. 

In the picture #1 is the trendy ooh I want, 2 is the transitional "fun" light but I am thinking about stretching myself to #3. 

Please weigh in. I want to get at least one installed by the weekend to see if I like it! 

Home Depot is not endorsing this post but I would love if they would! 😜