Category Archives: Office/4th Bedroom

becoming a minimalist

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This past weekend was one of those great weekends with a minimal MUST-DO list and ample time to just enjoy the weather and a good book. I’ve been reading The Happiness Project, which has motivated my desire to de-clutter. De-clutter my closets, rooms and thoughts. Friday, I finished up painting the fireplace (blog post in 3 weeks! I have to wait for the paint to dry!), then I spent the rest of the afternoon reading about de-cluttering and the satisfaction it can bring. I was motivated and wanted that high!

Since getting the carpets cleaned a few weeks ago, we had two areas in our home with some major clutter. A blanket laid out in our living room filled with junk; seriously, a blanket with all the random things on the floor from the guest room.  This blanket was also hindering us from moving forward with any decorative plans but mostly was a huge eye-sore and gave me anxiety every time I walked through the front door.

See. Scary!

The other major clutter zone was the 4th bedroom/office/catch-all. We’ll do that next.

We decided to take on the living room! We went through the boxes and bins that have made at least two moves with us. We placed the items into three piles; keep, throw, or garage sale.  To my surprise Paul was really on board, and the two of us hammered through all the bins. We finished the project with one bin of “keep” and items that we had spaces already dedicated for!

Wow, it feels so wonderful to have that space clean! Now, we can save up for our furniture selections for this space. Watch out 4th bedroom! You’re next.

P.S. No, the dog crates will not be part of the living room decor.

wood floors & baseboards

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Wow! With the holidays over we are excited to reveal some major goodness in the Snitker household! We’ve been working through the holidays and beyond to have our whole house transformed!

First we had to pick the wood – hickory or birch?

Then we had to prepare the whole house for the installers, which meant taking out all of the carpet and baseboard! Paul actually did most of this while I was in Chicago! Smart planning on my part!

Then we left it to the professionals! First, they set down plywood!

The plywood made everything feel real! We were excited to see the wood, too… but first we got a sneak peek of the wood. Hickory.

After the installers left, we were still in need of some baseboards before the big reveal… We still haven’t picked out “the one” but here are some options.

Otherwise, Here’s a mini-reveal or a “progress reveal” of the wood, because I know there have been people REALLY wanting to see these results! Okay, just my dad. It’s been a big transformation!

Entry – Before

Entry – After

Living Room – Before

Living – After

Kitchen – Before

Kitchen – After

Office – Before

Office – After  (Please disregard the mess! I wanted to get this post up and it shows I’m human.)

Hall – Before

Hall ~ After

We have both been so pleased with the results.  It really brings cohesiveness to the entire house and adds some luxury in our standard ranch style home. I’m in love with the floors and cannot wait for the baseboards to get here!

paint gods

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The paint gods have cast what seems to be their shadow of disdain over our house for a couple of weeks now, and this weekend, just as I thought we were breaking through, was no exception.

I had intensions of completing the office this weekend. Painting the shelves, organizing the books/stuff, putting up frames, etc, but it didn’t happen and I’m actually really bummed about it.

This is what I’m talking about… it needed work.  I get hives just looking at the mess.

First we picked a color. Brick Red or Olive Green?

Then on Friday, I took down all the bookshelves’ items and started the painting process… again.  I think I might start a countdown of how many rooms I have left. I got two coats of paint rolled on of Olympic No VOC paint (color matched to Benjamin Moore georgian brick HC-50).  I used Olympic because I was so impressed with the fireplace, though it didn’t coat as well. I knew I would have to put a solid three coats on to make it look good, but the price was right.  Next time I’ll stick with what I like.

This is what it looked like after two coats…

Saturday, I started the edging.  But the moment I started the edging, the rolled paint started coming up!Seriously, this is not making me happy.  All that time, all that work, and it’s peeling away.  So, I started peeling it too… which left me back at square one, defeated, and saddened that I had wasted much of my weekend.

For obvious reasons, there is no photos taken during frustrations.  

I then googled what had went wrong. I believe I found the reason. I have oil based paint on the shelves, which need to be sanded or primed with adhesive primer before I start again… it won’t be this weekend. But at least I have a reason things didn’t work out. To make the best of a no-paint weekend. (tear.) I loaded the shelves like they had the dramatic backdrop and did a little photo shoot.  It made me feel a little better to have a semi-clean office. Don’t worry a new fan’s on the list!!

Bookshelf photo shoot

In other news, Paul and I picked one of our colors for the kitchen and put bigger samples on the wall. Dun, Dun, Dun!!

And the winner is…. not this one. It’s still not the right color. I want a solid color in the kitchen… just need to find it.

Lastly, Saturday, Paul and I went to the home and garden show in Dallas to get ideas on windows, flooring, etc.  and we decided to do the unthinkable!  Unthinkable in my book.  Since getting married, we have never had cable, we never really needed it nor wanted the “idiot box” part of our daily routine. But I honestly couldn’t stand looking at those rabbit ears anymore, especially on my new fireplace, and Paul hated not being able to watch the football games.  So we bit the bullet and got cable. I’m still kind of sad in my decision as I have this vision my children or Paul or myself watching TV 24-7 instead of talking, reading, playing outside. We’ll see… we can always cancel it.

Bunny ears in the middle of my poor beautiful fireplace.

Now, NO bunny ears!! Yay!

Here’s a fun angle from our family room.  I think it’s getting there.  Just a couple photos left to mount on the wall but all-in-all we’re happy with the space.

it’s a marathon

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My generation and the ones following get looked down upon for our demands to have instant gratification. We want the goods delivered. Fast and now. I, too, want it now. I’m willing to put in some effort to get things done, but I want it done well, and I want it now. I want my house to be painted, cleaned, window treatments hung, wood floors installed, beautiful hand-picked pieces for every room, all my magazines read and finished, and all my books and movies read or watched on my “I should read/watch list”. But I have to remember this is not how it works. It takes time!! It all takes time. Unless, as Paul pointed out, I would just do crack; then, maybe I would have more time…

This comes to me in a time of despair.

I’ve been having trouble lately with colors. Making my want-it-now attitude turn sour because now I have to re-do it, again.  Here’s my problem: I have this wonderful idea in my head of the exact color I want, but I’m unable to translate that idea into reality when I get to the store to color-match the paint.  Or it looks great in a blog post or article and horrible in my house. It’s like reading a great book with all your wonderfully vivid characters in your head and then watching the movie and wondering how the director could butcher all the characters that badly. Except in this case, I am both the book reader and director. So, as I promised from the beginning, I’ll tell you about the good and the bad.

Here’s a list of my distasteful color choices, and their appropriate names, in case you would like to bring them to your home … maybe you could make them loved? In no particular order.

Laundry closet – Benjamin Moore marblehead gold HC-11 – Does anything look good with open-faced/cobbled cabinets and a fire extinguisher?? Really?

Bookshelves – Benjamin Moore providence olive HC-98

Kitchen – Benjamin Moore yarmouth blue HC-150 – It’s not bad, but it’s all wrong.  I cannot explain it.

The kitchen was so bad that I woke the next morning after it was finished with hoping it was all just a bad dream. Maybe I dreamt the hideous blue on the walls? Maybe it looks better today, in the morning sun? But it wasn’t. It was still as bright and as awful as it was before. So, I walked into the kitchen, took out all the color samples I owned and painted. Not even the morning coffee could take me away. Until, Paul with his infinite wisdom (or being of the male species) said not to waste my time. “We have to figure out our water damage situation before we paint the whole kitchen anyway, Sarah.”

So, I walked away… I’ll figure it out… later.  Here’s the samples… I want a color?  Not white or beige, a real color. Any ideas?

My favorite is the top left but we’ll see…

This idea of getting things done was emphasized when I revisited an article I read a month ago in Real Simple. It’s about this girl who always had a to-do list or numbers in her head, from her caloric intake to the day her infant would be a toddler.  This sounded familiar to my own life.  I too have deadlines: when I’m able to do something or eat something or even when I’m able to go to the bathroom.

“Fold the rest of the laundry and then you can go to the bathroom, Sarah.” Seriously?

I have countless to-do lists from books to read, movies to watch, flea markets to check out, the lists for the house, to detailed hourly schedule for a weekend, a work week.  It’s kind of crazy.

So, I vowed on this “labor day” that I would still have a to-do list BUT I won’t have them haunt me if/when I’m unable to finish everything. Maybe even scratch the list completely for a dinner out with friends, or a movie in the afternoon. Life is life and I will reference this article frequently until it becomes second nature!  As Paul says, “it’s not a crisis”.

Real Simple article Count Me Out

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/inspiration-motivation/counting-00100000062753/index.html

Otherwise, this weekend was comprised of little tasks: painting missed spots, covering holes, organizing paperwork, and one BIG monster project that was both exciting and scary.  I’ll just get to the big guy, he was sitting in our family room sucking the energy out of the space but I felt he was ready for rehab and a new look on life. ;)

He looked like this (below) before I decided the unthinkable!

Sarah, it looks like you have some good ideas but I just wanted to tell you, you know if you paint the fireplace, well, you can never paint it back. ~ A.S.

before

First, I started by taking down the bronze door and washing off all the brick with a little soap and water.  I vacuumed around the door frame because that was McNasty. Oh, the layers of dust. Which lead me to this… already an improvement! I also sanded the mantle surface so the primer would have something to stick to. The little LED tripod work light in the fireplace is a little wonder! Paul got it for Christmas a few years back, and we use it all the time!

I then started the priming process!  It was fun to see the transformation and the brick have new life.  It looked so sad and dated before! I was going to use a roller for some of it but opted for two paint brushes instead. One small, one bigger. With all the nooks and crannies, this was the best route.

Primed. Check!!  Yes, I put my estate sale find on the mantle.  Even with just the primer it looks so much cleaner and happier. My estate sale find worked out perfectly, too!  I was getting really excited for the final product!

Then I painted the whole thing (two coats and a third to the mantle and hearth) with Benjamin Moore white linen (color matched to Lowe’s Olympic no-voc semi-gloss paint).  Because my Benjamin Moore store wasn’t open on Labor Day… and that whole, I want it now attitude.  You get the idea.

I’m so happy with the results!  I loaded it up with goods so you can get a visual of what it may look like all dressed up!! With all my strike outs, I’m so happy something worked out! Now, we can load the room. It will be ready for grilling and football season! Yay! Especially with the beautiful weather we had this weekend, everyone was ready for the fall… and sometimes you need to stop the projects and play a little football.

star wars

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Did you ever have those little glow-in-the-dark stars that you promised your parents you would only put up on your ceiling, and then of course ended up on fan blades, walls, and anywhere else they would stick? Well I did, and I loved them. I think mine even incorporated designs, including the number of the soccer player I liked in junior high. Fast forward 15 years – hello, Karma. I took (what felt like millions) of those little stars off all the ceilings, walls, doors, and fan blades of our various bedrooms. I took down “Yo” from a door, several different hearts, designer brand emblems and much more.  And, of course, the only way to see all of them is to have the room pitch black. Needless to say, star wars, episode: dallas was well underway. While this took a lot of patience (and balance, it turns out), I couldn’t help but smile about my teenage years and the stars that are still on the ceiling of my childhood room at my parent’s house. Two nights later, it turns out the “force” was strong with me, and I was able to withstand the dark side and remove most of the stars, but there are still a couple lingering throughout the house that were picked up by some innocent and maybe unfortunate bystanders…

Bystander 1: If you look closely, you can see stars on his chest. He was not pleased!

So what did I learn from this exercise?  I will never allow my children to put stickers in their rooms nor put anything up that would need anchors or poster/sticky adhesive… those too, had to be dismantled from the walls. We’ll be simply hanging things the old-fashioned way, with nails. I spent Friday taking down stars, and putty/adhesive from the walls, while Paul removed metal anchors from our walls. Firing a 77 with the blisters and cuts on his hands from removing those anchors apparently gained him street cred from the white-collared country club goers. Adda boy.

My first weekend goal was to get a fresh coat of paint in the office.

Office - The family photos with all that adhesive.

Office - door view

I used goo gone on the adhesive wall, and it worked like a charm. I applied a little amount to a rag and rubbed; then, I let it sit for a couple minutes before removal. The smell was horrible!! You know it’s bad when you’re looking forward to the application of oil-based primer to mask the smell of orange scented goo gone.

Goo Gone in action!

Prime Time

I let the primer sit overnight, so I could have a fresh start the next morning… I started with the roller first. You can see my coffee cup on the desk! I start my day out right!

I must say I really like the mustard-y/tan outcome of this room.  I had Paul pick the colors for this room, and he did a great job! (Benjamin Moore Natura Wilmington Tan HC-34 in eggshell)

Oh sweet progress!  On my list of to do’s for this room:

  • new fan
  • sew a cushion for the window bench
  • paint bookshelves
  • organize the shelves
  • put up diplomas and artwork
We also had a very excited Friday with the insulation people!  They blew in more insulation, put in two additional wind turbines and weather stripped the house.  Well worth it!  I can hear our air conditioner (and the electric company) thanking us now!

Attic Insulation

Two Wind Turbines

But wait, there’s more! I still cranked out a family room reveal as well!  I was crazy-ambitious this weekend.  I guess I’m really excited to start decorating, but I really need/want to paint all the walls first before I start buying and rearranging furnishings!

Sorry, I didn’t orientate the photos the same in the family room.  I’ll have to remember to look at the originals before I get started… this blog thing is a little new.

And then I started the process again! Roller, check!

We were really looking for a warm and inviting color for our family room, and I think we nailed it. We went with Truffle AF-130 Benjamin Moore Natura in eggshell. It was a great choice for this space. I can picture us cozying up next to the fireplace watching a football game.

Family Room To Do List:

  • Paint fireplace
  • Art on walls
  • Interesting/Unique lamp light
  • Mount TV
  • New face on fireplace door
  • New window treatments
  • New light fixtures – can lights??

We ended our weekend with a couple glasses of wine (milk too!) and a household favorite:  Venison Spaghetti.  It was a wonderful, productive weekend at home. Here’s to another work week! I need to get some shut-eye because I’m going to start heading out before work to walk/run.  I love to run and it’s starting to cool down in Dallas to start back up!