old ladder dreams

hello everyone!

I wanted to write a quick post about a project that my Dad and I finished up a while back!

My Dad was at Owensboro Trading Post and found an old wooden ladder...that was rotting, of course!

He got it for $20. He had seen a show where they hung pictures from a ladder.  I was shocked. I'm pretty sure had I brought a rotting ladder to his garage, he would have given me that "you're crazy" look. But I loved the idea so I let it go :)

He had to cut the very ends off to get rid of some of the rot. Then we tried a couple of different stains on it. I didn't want it to look super shiny and finished. We decided on a "white wash" stain, a light "satin" sealer, and then lightly sanding it to rough it up a little.

After looking several places for frames, we were at an impasse. He wanted nice, traditional frames. I wanted nothing. I actually just wanted to hang them up without frames.  We ended up with a little bit of compromise.

He found a few pieces of old wood at the Trading Post and handmade frames for them. They look old and very simple. I also didn't want them to match the ladder and leave things looking too "match matchy". Though I reminded my idea would have required much less work, he couldn't stand the thought of "bare pictures".

This is the end product!

We filled the frames with black and white wedding pictures that our wonderful wedding photographer Erin Trimble took!

I love the texture of the worn, old wood. It's so perfectly imperfect.

I think it would look great, and add even more texture and more interest, to add a couple of blankets or a plant...even if it meant covering up a couple of the pictures. I love this one I found at the blog A Beautiful Mess, where she gives five ways to style a ladder. 

And this blanket one from RueMag:

What do you all think?

-katie

dining room

Getting our dining room looking good has been a priority for a long time.  For months, all we had in our dining area was a plastic folding table and some chairs from my dads house that he lent us. Dining tables and chairs are expensive and I had to get creative.

Almost a year ago, I found an old table at Owensboro Trading Post for $50. It was square, with old newspaper stuck to it and peeling paint. It had several leafs laying underneath it in an old box. I passed it so many times when I walked through the store but never did anything, even though I loved it. It needed a LOT of work. 

Finally, I went one day with my Dad and we passed it and I pointed it out to him. He laughed at me and told me I was crazy. It was it terrible shape and not worth anything. But guess what we left with? After all, there's a reason I'm "crazy" and he might have had something to do with it...

The original plan was to strip the paint, because it was cracked and peeling, and repaint it white. But once it was stripped, I couldn't bear the thought of painting it. My dad agreed, so we decided to stain it instead. Then he had to take the top apart completely, lengthen it, reattach the boards and sand it down quite a bit. At some point someone had nailed the boards down, so he took those out and filled in the holes. The wood was extremely dry and cracking. Here are some pictures taken during the process.

Once the table was done, the hunt for chairs got serious...and depressing. I thought for sure I could find some cute, old chairs for a good price. But chairs are expensive and we needed eight. I wanted something different and eclectic, and not too traditional. I checked thrift stores regularly, hunted for deals online, and even went to the Nashville flea market at the fairgrounds that is the fourth Saturday of each month (it is glorious). 

Of course I found things that I loved, just nothing in my price range. I wanted chairs for less than $50 a piece (still $400 total!!!) but ideally $25-$30 (still $200-$240). I know in the most of the blog and interior design world that is a ridiculous expectation. I was easily finding chairs for $200-$400 a piece. A piece. My mind was having trouble comprehending ever wanting to lay down that much cash PER chair, but kudos to those who can afford that! 

Anyway, I decided I was either getting metal chairs or wood ones and painting them. I really felt they would have to be painted since the table and floors were both wood, it would just be too much wood. And honestly, the thought of sanding down and painting 8 chairs after a year-and-a-half-long full house renovation had me cringing. 

I ended up finding some metal bistro chairs at Kohl's during a sale. After the sale and an additional 30% off I was able to get each chair for about $45. I then received $75 in Kohl's cash and my dad gave me his $15 from another purchase. With that I went to Kohl's on Cyber Monday and ordered two upholstered dining chairs and after the sale, an additional 20% off and the Kohl's cash, ended up paying $25 a piece. They were not my first choice because they were very straight, high-backed chairs and my bistro chairs are very short. But it was the only style left in a color I liked, so I pulled the trigger. For $25 a piece, I won't feel bad if I replace them in a couple years. 

Kohl's is a great place to hunt for deals when you are on a budget, but it takes a lot of time and "strategy". Timing is very important. Also, quality is hit and miss. I ordered a club chair online a few months ago and I've never seen such a poorly made upholstered chair. I was so disappointed but the return was fairly easy.  So far, I have been happy with the quality of these chairs. 

Here is the space now!

We were incredibly lucky to find this chandelier up in the attic. It was pretty dirty and I cleaned it a little before it was hung but I just now finished thoroughly cleaning it...six months later :)

I love the mix of formal and casual. I'm glad we decided to stain the whole table, rather than painting the legs. We also put the small little wheels back on the legs as it was originally. My Dad did a great job basically rebuilding us a table from what I will now admit was in pretty awful shape. He is still worried about it but I think it will hold up!

Since it isn't Christmas anymore, but still winter, I just put a simple centerpiece using a Target clearance bottle, a candle leftover from our wedding, and some sprigs of mistletoe that were super cheap at Hobby Lobby.

I tried to use traditional rectangular placemats but they were too big for 8 place settings, so I bought some burlap at hobby lobby, made a circular template and cut out these round placemats. They aren't perfect and unravel slightly when you cut them but for $8, I consider the project a success!

                                        

                                                            

I am currently working on putting together a gallery wall for the space. I can't wait to finish and hang it because I know it will add some interest to the space! 

-katie

master bath

Our master bathroom was our last big project. It was also so hard to make choices about because it was my 3rd bathroom to put together in less than a year. I wanted it to still look cohesive with the rest of the house and still use subway tile, but not be carbon copies of either of the other two bathrooms. And still on a small budget.

So I used subway tile in the shower like in the rest of the house. I wanted the grout to still have some contrast, but not as much as downstairs. I wanted to add some warmth with wood but keeping the original pine wood floors wasn't an option. Even with the best sealer, over time water will always get to wood and I didn't want to have to worry about it. So we went with a ceramic wood-patterned tile. For cabinet hardware and bathroom fixtures, I really wanted to use brushed brass, but it was way out of budget. So that was nixed early on. I wanted it to be slightly "minimalist" (clean lines, neutral colors, no clutter), but not too modern and "sterile", with a faint touch of eclectic farmhouse vintage....andddd go. 

1. The Doctor's Closet (Monika Hibbs) as seen on Style Me Pretty 2. Subway Tile, Amazon 3.  Exotica Cherry Wood Plank Porcelain Tile, Kentucky Tile 4. Farmwood Shelves as seen on Kristy Dickerson's Blog 5. Moen Kingsley Faucet, Lowe's 5. Kilim Run, Urban Outfitters.

With these images in mind, we started working on the bathroom. This space was originally a fifth bedroom (fourth one for the upstairs) and it had been graffitied when the house was broken into during foreclosure. 

We decided the space, rather than a fifth bedroom, could be better used as a closet/bathroom to create a true master suite. So we closed up the door to the hallway and opened two into the master bedroom, while also closing a third that went into a small bathroom that also led to the hallway. In this house's past life as a duplex, this room served as the kitchen, hence the rad 60's brick vinyl. Here are the before pictures.

Can't you just see all of the potential?? I just get so excited when I see spaces like this...and Leo just rolls his eyes at me. But he puts his faith in us, or at least feigns it which, hey, I'll take it.

Here it is today!

We love our double vanity- it is the perfect amount of space. We used the tiniest pedestal sink you've ever seen the first 3 months and functioned fine with it. I think a bigger vanity would be a waste of space and encourage clutter, which I am a little ridiculous about. I try to always keep the contact solution and cases put away, hair gel, make up, everything. To me, clutter just messes up a perfectly good space. That's what cabinets are for. We had Cabinet Doors & More in Fordsville make this vanity and linen cabinet set. They did a wonderful job, once again. They even use soft-close drawers and all!

Leo was the one who insisted on just have one big shower, instead of having a tub/shower combo. I was hesitant but guess how many times I've taken baths in the other two bathrooms that do in fact have tubs? Zero. I love the floor to ceiling subway tile and the glass walls. I actually have a love/hate relationship with the glass. I love the look of them. I would have hated actual tiled walls, which would have really made the space look dark and small, but man can that glass get a lot of soap scum and hard water build up. It's ridiculous. Turns out that most of the counties in Kentucky have "very hard" water, which can leave spots and film on glass. I have tried glass cleaner, Vinegar and warm water, even dryer sheets which I read about on a blog and actually worked pretty well...which kind of makes you wonder about what kind of chemicals we are using to clean our clothes with.

If I don't clean it every single weekend, it's terrible. Even when I do regular cleanings, it can take at least 30 minutes, if not an hour. But, I love the look of it so much I wouldn't change it. Call me crazy. I also have a great husband who is pretty good at cleaning the other two bathrooms so it's not like I spend hours a week cleaning bathrooms. Plus, the other choices we made (the subway tile, wood tile floors) actually have to be cleaned minimally and are quite easy to clean. We put in three marble accent shelves to hold our shampoos and soap which is more than enough. He just uses whatever shampoo, conditioner, and bar of soap I place in the shower! I try to keep them pretty 'gender neutral' as far as the scents, which helps keeps things simple.

We also went with the Moen faucet, which we were able to get at a better price through our plumber. I found this ginger jar at St. Vincent DePaul for $1! No lid, but it is perfect for what I wanted to use it for. I put cotton balls in the bottom and then used a glass candle holder I got at Hobby Lobby for $2 to put q-tips in and it fits in the opening perfectly. 

Im pretty proud of how it turned out since we did the majority of work ourselves and on a relatively tight budget. We did splurge a little when we found a remnant of marble at Unique Granite, but it really sets everything else off and ties in with the accents of marble in the shower, which also weren't very expensive but gives some contrast to the subway tile.

I still have a to-do list for this room (and pretty much every room!) I haven't gotten a Kilim rug yet. The one from my "inspiration board" is from Urban Outfitters, is too big, and is $100. I know I will have to eventually pay a little for a Kilim rug, as they aren't cheap, but I don't have $50-$150 to throw down on a bathmat right now! I found one that I like enough at target for $18 from the Nate Berkus collection. I also still don't have any farmwood and pipe shelves up, which I want to go in the blank area in the corner to use for towels and such. 

The last thing may seem silly, but I don't love the mirrors either. I don't hate them, but I wanted mirrors framed with something other than chrome to give the room some more texture and interest, but it is hard to find unique, matching mirrors at a reasonable price. So I found those at Lowe's for about $45 each. They even came with anti-theft hardware which means I found me some classy mirrors :)

-katie

the louvre

The Louvre Museum was the first major attraction we went to see in our whirlwind four day trip. The Louvre was a palace before Louis XIV built Versailles and the royal family made Versailles their main home. The place is huge. The Louvre of course is filled with art- paintings upon paintings, sketches, sculptures, old artifacts from past kings, etc.

My favorite part of course was the building itself. The architecture was amazing and to think of all the kings and queens who had walked the halls before us was awe-inspiring. I loved finding new staircases and seeing different types of marble with beautiful, detailed carvings. And to think it all was built before modern technology. Now that we have modern technology, we are producing some of the flimsiest, plain jane buildings out there.

And all the French doors...be still my heart! My favorite piece of art that was not part of the actual building itself was the sculpture of Nike. My friend Christine and I were able to get a picture with her :)

One of the most disappointing things on my list to see was the Mona Lisa. It is so incredibly tiny compared to what I had always thought it was. I knew it wasn't huge, but it seemed almost comically small for such a famous painting.

And it does NOT help that they put her right across from literally the largest painting in the whole museum! Who planned that??

You could spend at least a couple of days at the Louvre really exploring everything. But unless your an art fanatic, you only want to spend a morning or afternoon here. Honestly, after about 3 hours of taking in all of the art, my brain started to get overloaded with paintings! It probably didn't help that I had been up for about 36 hours at that point...

-katie

paris: the hotel & palais royal

As you all may have noticed on my Facebook and Instagram, over Labor Day weekend I got the opportunity to go to Paris, France---it was an amazing experience! Exhausting, but amazing.

We left Louisville, KY on a Thursday afternoon and flew to the Atlanta airport. From there, we took an overnight flight to Paris, and arrived there early Friday morning. We got on our coach bus and headed to the hotel, which ended up taking over an hour because someone rented a stick shift car but had obviously never driven a stick shift and got his car stuck on the exit ramp blocking everyone behind him, in the Paris International airport! It was a mess, but it happens. I felt so bad for the guy, he had to be so embarrassed. Someone got out and showed him how to shift the gears but then he got back in...and got stuck again. He finally got over to the side enough to let people pass. Moral of the story: just get a cab.

The first place we went to was our hotel, but just to drop our stuff of in a "safe keeping" room. Our rooms weren't ready yet but they had a room for baggage so that you could go out to Paris and enjoy your day. I had never had that luxury when traveling elsewhere, and ended up carrying my things around with me, so I really appreciated it!

I'll be honest, I was disappointed when we drove up. It was in a new part of Paris with lots of concrete and zero charm. I was expecting quaint streets of paris in some old, historic building (you know me!) but this place was new, and in the "suburbs" of Paris. Here is what it looks like driving up to it.

But we spent so little time there, it didn't even matter. It was actually kind of nice to come back to a hotel that was newly renovated, and you won't find much of that in the center of Paris unless you pay a lot of money. The bathroom was super modern and clean, and the beds were basic but so comfortable. Honestly, I was so tired at the end of the day I could have slept on a cold, hard cave floor. They also had an elevator, which I never once saw in any of the nice, quaint, 'center-of-the action' places I stayed in Spain. It's hard to retro-fit elevators into century-old buildings. Plus, it was a one minute walk to the RER, Paris' express trains from the suburbs to the center of the city (basically a subway).

We first went to the center of Paris to visit the Louvre (no time for sleeping here!). We had a couple of hours of free time before we were to go in, so we were able to roam a little bit around the area. Upon the advice of our awesome tour guide, We walked to a small garden and courtyard, le jardin du Palais Royal. It was a beautiful, quirky, and surprisingly quiet spot in the middle of Paris. It is peaceful and not over-run with tourists. An artist, Daniel Buren, designed and constructed black and white columns of various sizes in the middle of the Palais Royal courtyard. This modern art addition in the middle of architectural history is supposedly quite controversial with the French...I liked it :)

A cute Parisian couple enjoying their lunch. 

Of course, I just had to climb atop one (hope that's okay) and snap a picture!

I would definitely recommend stopped at the palais royal while in Paris! It's less tourist-y and beautiful--and it is literally across the street from the Louvre! Getting a bite to eat at one of the local cafes near-by and taking it there to eat on one of the many benches or columns, (heck even the ground) would be a wonderful way to enjoy a part of Paris that is off the beaten-path of constant tourists. Plus, it's free. Beautiful, peaceful, quirky, with minimal tourists and free? Doesn't get much better than that.

-katie

decorating with memories

Hello everyone!

I figured it's time to do an update...it's been a while! You may have noticed, but I also made some changes to the layout of the blog.

None of the rooms are completely finished as far as decorating goes, but I guess I can still show you the progress! So today I wanted to show you what our living room looks like so far. Well, one side of the living room. The big front room is divided into two smaller spaces with columns like you see in this picture. I'm standing in the other side, or the "foyerentrywaysecondlivingroomidontknowwhattocallit" space. It is completely empty at this point. I have plans for a love seat, chairs and some unique thrifted pieces but those plans cost money, and we are on a tight budget! But that is life. So different than the beautiful, completely done renovations on HGTV.

Here is our couch! The couch is from Ashley Home Furniture. I heard good and bad things about them in the past. Overall, we had a really great experience and were able to get it at a good price (number one concern at this point). Obviously we haven't had the couch very long so I can't review its durability, but it's very comfortable! I also love the coral pillows, which are from Target. Also, my one ode to the fact that it is now fall are the pumpkins on the coffee table...we got a great deal on them and I may have gotten a little pumpkin happy while picking them out.  Leo was a trooper, nodded okay, and loaded them up. Well, it may have been more of a head shake as in "What is she doing??" but I'll take it! The rest of the pumpkins are on our steps, which I can't wait to show you all!

If you are in Owensboro, we got them from a "stand" on 60 East that is behind an old bank near Dairy Queen and the Flea Market. They have great prices -$3 for medium/large ones, $2 for small and 50 cents for the little mini pumpkins, or squashes. They also have a great selection.

Here is a closer picture of the shelves. I love all of the built-ins but man was the thought of decorating them head-spinning. And I might add with basically no money. So I made a call to one of the best "vignette" creators I know-my mom. I knew she could take my thrift store and clearance rack finds from the past two years and make something out of it all. And I think she did an amazing job! She even donated a few items from her "collection".

I also always want to try to incorporate things with memories--not just stuff bought off of a shelf (although those things are beautiful!) The blue glass is from Spain-it is a major brand of mineral spring water "Solán de Cabras" there that comes in glass bottles at restaurants instead of plastic.

The black and white drawing in the corner is from Madrid. An old man sits outside the Prado Museum and makes these paintings just by moving around black paint with small metal piece. He's been doing it for decades and was quite proud of it. He was adorable so of course I bought one :)

The faceted glass box is from an estate sale (50 cents!!), but I placed shells that we collected from our Honeymoon inside. Leo was also a trooper about my hour-long seashell hunts!

The wooden box was my grandmother's...her father was in the thrifting business and traded the box for something else. I swear thrifting is in my blood so I really can't help it...at least that's what I tell Leo when I yet again bring something else else "old" home.

It's not perfect by any means, but I still love looking at it and adding things to the shelves as I find them. What I don't love is dusting everything, however it's totally worth it.

The last thing, which is normally on the coffee table but got booted for the pumpkins, is the copper cup. I love it! I got it from Hobby Lobby when they had 70% off spring/garden section for about $3. I then bought the (fake) succulents from the floral department with my 40% coupon and voila. The white book is thrifted but is a collection of works printed in Madrid from Tirso de Molina, a Spanish author.

I would always encourage people to try to collect and use things from their travels while decorating their home. That's what makes it your home, instead of just a pretty house. It's all about the memories.

-katie

kitchen reveal

Hi everyone!

So the kitchen is finished! We are just working on the dining table that I found at Owensboro Trading Post, so I won't show that just yet!

The kitchen, especially when you look at these pictures, wasn't awful. And you could tell it definitely used to be nice. However, the past couple of tenants weren't the gentlest by any means. The tile was cracking and beginning to come up in some places. The cabinets, which were once very nice and I hated taking out, were actually quite filthy and some were very hard to open and close. And it just wasn't really my style.

Here are some before and afters (I really, really am not good at working with lighting-a lot of these look dark, sorry!)

 

So part of the wall had been taken down in a previous renovation and we just took down the rest of it to really open up the kitchen. And took the bathroom out and put it in the downstairs guest area. This is what the bathroom looked like before we took it out. It had quite a lot of damage to the ceiling and plumbing in general.

I love my kitchen. Especially that I was able to re-create a look that I love on a budget. We installed the floors ourselves (but had someone finish them), installed the cabinets ourselves that we got on sale at Lowes, did all the tile work, and used laminate instead of real marble. I was also able to get a pretty good deal on the appliances and shop local (they are from Murphy's!). 

I cannot say enough for these laminate countertops. These things stressed me out so much and I ended up loving them. My stress level after the fact is literally zero. Everything wipes up and if I forget about it or don't see it when it happens, it doesn't matter. It will come up, unlike Marble. They have made some strides in sealants but even the companies that sell marble admit it's not perfect and you have to wipe it up as soon as possible because many things will quickly permeate the sealant. The very first meal we ever had in the kitchen was one that Leo's cousins brought over and there were shrimps, red shrimp sauce, and hot sauce all over the place by the time it was all said and done. I loved that I wasn't constantly wiping up after everyone, stressing myself out and making them feel uncomfortable. I feel like real marble is for those people who barely use their kitchen, or who are very neat in their cooking and food prep (please teach me your ways).

Plus, there's the cost. The laminate was less than half of what the marble would have cost. There was really no question for us since we are redoing a whole house and on a budget. However, I'm definitely not bashing marble. I mean I chose something that mimics it. The real thing is undeniably beautiful and if I had the money and could easily replace marble if it started looking horrible or started driving me crazy, I would do it. 

I also love my subway tile. Subway tile is cheap and classic. I mean really, where can you go wrong? The recessed shelves were my Dad's idea and I'm so glad he thought of them! They save a lot of space and are very handy. I added the wooden shelves to add some warmth back to a very modern look. Which the floors also help. I love they way they turned out and I'm so proud that my Dad and I laid them together. 

I'm honestly proud of the whole thing. We planned and did so much of it ourselves, getting to see the the finished product and loving it feels so awesome. But man, I am so glad that it's over. I loved getting the opportunity to design and work on this house but living in it is so, so much more. 

And kudos to my husband for not only putting up with it but being awesome at it!

-katie