art assistant

He's not the most helpful assistant, and he tends to make a bigger mess than I do, but he sure can charm me with his smile.

xo

nessa dee

The Banquette

My daughter asked me if these pictures were going to be for a post about breakfast. Not quite, even though it kind of looks like I'm trying to promote Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Really, I was just trying to get some pics of the banquette before we started school work. These pictures aren't the best, and I'm still needing to finish it off with cushions and pillows, but here's a quick look for now.

As for the BIG news I keep hinting at sharing, well I'm trying to figure out the best way to share it, but here's a little hint:

Ok, that's not the best hint. Here's another one:

"B"

xo

nessa dee

Wooooo Hooooo!

I can finally move back into my studio!

I'm so excited that I just had to share!

xo

nessa dee

Studio Progress

*** I am very frustrated with Blogger right now. I haven't been able to post things from Live Writer for a week now, and even my techie husband can't figure out what's going on. I tried posting this last Wednesday, and since then I've finished installing the floor. We've also been crafting and getting ready for Valentine's Day, but haven't been able to post any of that either. I am posting directly from Blogger, now until I can get the problem figured out. Until then, I'll have to settle for small fuzzy pictures and wonky layouts.***

My studio floor is coming right along. I should be done in an hour or so if I can tear myself away from the computer. I went with Allure resilient floor for it’s durability, ease of installation, and the fact that it’s waterproof. It’s been super easy to put in except when it comes to cutting around trim. That is a huge pain. Sure, cutting a straight line with a box cutter is easy enough, but when it comes to cutting curves, forget it. Let’s just say that there’s going to be some creative solutions with quarter round trim.
I chose an ash grey for two reasons, the first being that I wanted to keep the studio light and bright. The second reason was a result of my ability to overthink everything. We have beautiful dark hand-scraped wood floors which were installed on the entire first floor last year. While cosmetically, getting the same flooring for the studio would have unified the look of the house, the functionality of the wood floor wouldn’t hold up to my many messes. So, I turned to laminate.

When I found the resilient flooring I spent months agonizing over what color to choose. They had some beautiful dark wood-look choices that would have mimicked the downstairs flooring, but here’s where my thoughts got in the way. If in the future we put our house on the market, someone walks in to the studio, sees the similar flooring, notes that it’s not real wood but a cheaper solution, therefore thinks we cut corners. And if we cut corners there, they might think that we’ve opted for cheaper solutions elsewhere in the house. I wanted to make sure that the flooring choice looked deliberate if such a situation might occur. Really, what it boils down to is that I didn’t want someone thinking I was cheap.

That being said, I love the look and can’t wait to move back into my studio with a floor that I can wipe clean with a damp cloth. Hallelujah!
xo
nessa dee

Kitchen Progress

I’ve had big plans for this kitchen ever since we moved into this house. I was never a fan of the blonde cabinets, I didn’t care for the flooring, and the backsplash was kind of mauve colored…not my favorite. Well, we have replaced the flooring, and now we’re moving onto the backsplash.

This tile was my original choice:

That is, until I realized how much of it we actually needed. Once costs were figured [double what we had expected],a new plan of action was needed. 

But I really, really loved that tile. Sniff.

So, a compromise was made. I convinced Jonathan to go with a 3x6” brick style travertine seen here:

I’m going to use this over the majority of the backsplash area in a brick pattern. Above the stove, I’m going to use my beloved original choice and frame it with matching trim pieces. And since the 3x6” tiles are half the cost of the others, I’ll be saving $$.

Now, as I’m typing this, I’m still wrestling with the decision. You see, as of now, my kitchen looks like this:

 

The guys that will be installing the tile are scheduled to come today, which means I still have time to run to the store and pick up my ever-so-perfect original choice. But while I know that kitchen and baths offer the greatest return on investment, we do run the risk of overspending for the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood ranges from cheaper tract homes to expensive custom estates. We live in a section that is somewhere in between. I think we have a very nice home, but from my window I can see two houses that have the exact same floor plan. I’m trying to strike a balance between making our home feel more custom without pricing it out of the area. I think the improvements we’ve done thus far will give us some return on our investment, but we still have a long list of to-dos, some of which are necessary [i.e. replacing carpet, fixing the roof, replacing the fence] and some of which are for personal enjoyment [i.e. painting the cabinets, turning a bedroom into a studio, building a banquette in the breakfast room], which means I have to make smarter, more budget conscious choices.

And since the doorbell just rang, I guess I am forced to make the smart choice.

xo

nessa dee

Plans

We’re about to start some more projects in our house, and I’m eager to get them all done…at once…in one day. BUT…that’s not going to happen, so instead I’m trying to figure out where to start. We’ll be having tile put in the upstairs bathrooms next week, as well as new flooring put in my studio, so I should probably start with painting those walls first. However, my brain doesn’t always think of the practical. It wants to focus on the fun. That’s why I’ve been perusing the internet for ideas for our gameroom.

Since we moved into the house, I’ve wanted to lighten up the dark brown walls, and make the space fun and kid friendly. Not that having a big open space to do with what you will is not kid friendly, it just doesn’t look like a space for a child’s imagination to soar to the very ends of the universe. So, imagine, if you will this tent, surrounded by bright yellow stripes and colorful accents, board and batten, and lit with a red chandelier:

Yeah, I had a hard time picturing it, too, so I drew out several ideas [please note, that these were hand drawn last night in very dim light, so be impressed]:

::This first plan has an accent wall of yellow and white stripes, flanked on either side by a faux board and batten treatment. The hallway that leads to the kids’ rooms will be painted a spring green and have bead board. 

:: Design # 2 has the same yellow and white stripes, but this time they’re flanked with grey walls to pull the grey in from other rooms in our house. I might add bead board, I might not.

:: The third design has the yellow and white stripes flanking the board and batten focal wall. The hallway is painted the same yellow as the stripes.

All of the designs have a blue ceiling which will pull in the blue from the kids’ rooms and our office nook upstairs, and all have a red chandelier. I found a chandelier at a garage sale for $3 that has always wanted to be red [it told me]. I want to figure out how to add some wooden beads to the fixture for a different look, but I’m not sure how just yet.

I have several more combinations of stripes and colors, but I had to quit somewhere. And I just realized that I forgot the arched opening on the third design. Oh well.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

xo

nessa dee

Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the work we’ve had done to the house recently:

We had these little columns beefed up with some moulding and trim to give them more character. As with the other trim work I will be showing you, these need to be painted, but aren’t they pretty?  Here’s a reminder of what they looked like before:

We also had our staircase lined with bead board, as well as the wall under the bar. This makes for easier cleanup when it comes to wiping hand and foot prints off  of the wall.

And did you notice those gorgeous things lining the bottoms of the walls? Here let me give you a closer look.

Here they are with my new rug from Marshalls:

Here they are with my fabulous Craigslist find:

[I bought four of those slipcovered Crate & Barrell chairs for $25 each. I was ecstatic. I still am ecstatic.]

Aren’t they purty, though? The baseboards, I mean. I didn’t know I could be so happy about baseboards, but they certainly add even more character to the house. And when you have a house that is the exact replica of the one across the street, adding unique touches make it stand out, and make it our own. I’ll post more pictures, hopefully better quality pictures of the final products once they’re all spiffy.

xo

nessa dee

Pleasant Surprise

I discovered these growing in my new backyard:

Aren’t they pretty?

They make me happy.

I love surprises.

xo

nessa dee

Help…

…we’re buried in boxes and we can’t get up!

Well, we’re all moved into our new house, though not unpacked. I will show you all pictures when I get to them, but it might be a while before they’re posted. We’re heading off to sunny Florida tomorrow and will be back next week. I’ll try to blog while I’m gone and keep you all updated on our trip, but I can’t make any promises.

I’ll see you when I see you!

nessa dee

Lasts

The last thing in our freezer before we pulled the plug:

Our last meal in the dining room:

My last threat to make someone sit in “that” corner:

[Okay, that might not be accurate. I’m not sure what we were doing, but I do have that “Do you want to sit in timeout?” look on my face.]

The last of our furniture being loaded onto the truck:

We had a good 7 years in our first home; lots of laughter and some tears, a lot of joy and some pain, many firsts and some lasts; all memories that we’ll hold onto for a lifetime.

Goodbye old friend. We sure will miss you.

xo

Jonathan, Nessa, Audrie, Finn and Trixie

My life at the moment…

Pretty much every room in my house looks like this. I’m not a fan of living amongst chaos and mess. It stresses me out , and I get irritable. However, if I can see an end in mind, it helps me to keep calm and carry on. Wednesday night marks the end of this chaos, and the beginning of a different kind of chaos: 5 adults and 2 kids living together in a small, 3 bedroom house 30 minutes away from J’s work, my church, and A’s extracurricular activities. But if all goes as planned, we’ll be out in three weeks, long before we have the opportunity to really get on each others’ nerves.

I’m actually looking forward to the short time we’ll be living with my mom and grandparents. The last few visits we’ve been watching the ongoing saga of Wendy and Wesley, a woodpecker couple building their home.

We’ve also enjoyed watching my grandparents’ beautiful garden flourish and have enjoyed several of the spoils. Every time we’re there, life seems to slow down, and instead of frantically hurrying from one activity to another, we enjoy simpler pleasures like sitting on the front porch listening to the birds sing while we talk.

So, yes, I’d say I’m looking forward to relaxing for a few weeks before the craziness begins again.

xo

nessa dee

The Blues

That was an unintended blog break. I guess I was recovering after revisiting DC with everyone. Well, I've currently come down with a case of the blues. It's not because my dog chewed up two of my paintings and I had to delete them from my Etsy store. (Does anyone want a dog, by the way?) And it's not because we're already into April and I've yet to come up with specific New Years resolutions. (Now I am depressed.) Nope, I'm in the process of redecorating my kid's bathroom/guest bath and the walls are now, you guessed it, blue. A light, bright blue to be exact. Not unlike this picture:

(Pottery Barn)

It wasn't the first shade of blue, though. The bathroom started off more like this:

(Pottery Barn Kids)

See the difference? The idea was to lighten the small, dark bathroom, which I have dubbed the cave. It started off a deep shade of ochre with a night sky, the whole Tuscany villa type thing, something I was into five years ago. But, my tastes have changed, and I wanted something lighter, fresher, more airy; something that could be paired with fun, bright colors for the kids (like this rug that I bought from Target ),or be paired with neutral accessories for a more sophisticated look. (Black and white toile maybe?) Well, the first color was nice....on my skin out in natural light, but since I couldn't drag my windowless bathroom out into the sun, the glowing electric blue had to go. The second color, custom mixed by me, well, it was definitely toned down when painted right next to the first. Once the bathroom was completely done, though, it was hard to tell the difference. (I can, but my husband thinks I'm crazy.) Oh well, I'm not repainting it for at least another week. I'm hoping once it's accessorized, it will be less shocking. In the meantime, I'll just have to live with the fact that anytime you walk past the bathroom, you look something like this:

Nessa Dee