foyer Archives - white house black shutters

40 BAGS 40 DAYS Week One Progress

posted on: February 16, 2013 8 Comments

This past Wednesday, we kicked off our third annual 40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS decluttering challenge. Want to join in? It’s not too late! Check out this post, get our printable calendar, and join the closed facebook group for support. Are you already joining us or want to see blogs who are? Link up at the bottom of this post! This week, I wanted to start small and tackle the places that were out in the open and had collected clutter. Papers, junk, stuff that was staring me in the face and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 40 BAGS 40 DAYS 2013, 40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS, cleaning, family room, foyer, ORGANIZATION

Spice up Your Home with World Market!

posted on: December 5, 2012 18 Comments

I have been wanting to create a photo wall in our home for a while, but have been lacking inspiration. Bland frames, bland colors, all from a garage sale, none I truly love, and a whole lot of blah. This space when you first enter our home was equally bland, and I needed to create an impression. I wanted to spice up my home a bit so I headed to World Market last weekend to check out their new Life of Pi collection, inspired by the movie of the same name. Life of Pi is the story of an Indian … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christmas, decor, family room, foyer, giveaways, reviews, SPONSORED

Antique Desk Put to Work

posted on: July 31, 2012 6 Comments

In local desk news, an antique variety has been my saving grace the last two weeks. I finally have a spot! It was Doug’s grandma’s desk growing up. She gave it to my mother-in-law, who gave it to us. It fits perfectly next to the fridge, it isn’t too deep, it doesn’t have a lot of storage, which is perfect. I can’t have a desk that has a lot of space. I have trouble with restraint. And stuffing crap into desks. This desk is the perfect size cause I can’t do that. It holds a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: foyer, furniture, hand-me-down, ORGANIZATION

Foyer Reveal

posted on: June 11, 2012 11 Comments

It’s been a long and hectic last few months, especially this past week. Just after he had finished hanging new doors, and I was finishing up the caulking, Doug broke his foot Saturday night while starting to clean up the tools. Sigh. Maybe this is a sign from God that we need to stop with the rush! rush rush! –ing, and slooooow down. So instead of telling you what I still need to do, I’m going to show you how AMAZING this new foyer looks. This was the first real project we’ve done that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: foyer, projects, renovation

The “Before the After” Pictures

posted on: June 6, 2012 13 Comments

I’m not going to just lead ya into the after (although that would be fancy). We are 95% of the way done! Foyer rebuilt, old floors up, heat registers moved, new floor down, walls painted, doors replaced, trim painted, trim hung, stairs, railing, and floor registers stained (as of last night). We still have to caulk the trim, touch it up, throw a coat of poly on the stain, and move the furniture back, and that’s it! And plant our garden. OOPS. Foyer: We are also replacing the doors … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2012 goals, family room, foyer, kitchen, renovation

Foyer of the Future

posted on: May 10, 2012 23 Comments

I’m sorry I’ve held back. I’m super in love with the floors. I clean my kitchen and vacuum every night so it looks all shiny. I don’t have to dodge doors while walking in and out of the house (I never even knew I did that). But things have been a little nutso around here. I’m not gonna act like I’m the first person living through a renovation, or the first person with three kids living through renovation. And I’m NOT COMPLAINING. But it’s tough! Doug took a week off and is now … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2012 goals, family room, foyer, kitchen, renovation

Foyer Progress–Redesign and Building

posted on: April 11, 2012 14 Comments

A quick recap for ya: our entry way was too small, we’re getting wood floors, so while we’re ripping up flooring, why not tear out some of the floor and redesign it? Sounds like a walk in the park right? I had to leave to do some tests on Saturday and of course right as I was leaving, Lowe’s delivery man decided to show up. GAH! I didn’t want to miss it! But I did, he delivered it with his fancy fork lift, my mom and dad (a carpenter) came over, the guys got to work, and I came home to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2012 goals, family room, foyer, renovation

Out with the Carpet, In with the Wood

posted on: April 9, 2012 7 Comments

The day has come. Last Saturday, we started ripping out our 30 year old, nasty carpet and tile to replace it with wood! We went to Lumber Liquidators (who had decent prices, a great selection), local flooring places, Home Depot, Menard’s, but went with Lowe’s. They had what we were looking for, which was: cheap Haha, okay kidding! While we’d love to go with bamboo, or something dark and wide, we wanted something similar to what is in the rest of the house. It turns out that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: foyer, renovation

Wine Crate Shoe Storage

posted on: March 26, 2012 15 Comments

Do you ever find something while thrifting or garage sale-ing, you have no idea what you’re going to use it for, but you just have to get it? That kinda goes against my rule: if you want to cut down on the stuff, don’t buy stuff you don’t need. But another rule I have is to buy only the stuff you love. And sometimes if something is that good, you don’t want to wait, and then kick yourself (over, and over, and over again...) because you didn’t get an idea on the spot. That was the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: foyer, garage saling, ORGANIZATION, repurposing

40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS – Week 5!

posted on: March 23, 2012 3 Comments

Can you believe we only have two weeks left? I can’t. This week I didn’t go back up in the attic, but instead wanted to finish everything off on the first floor. The junk drawers in our foyer, the shoe storage there, all the shoes in our house, the kitchen cabinets (I did up one day and down the other), and the hutches in my dining room. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS, dining room, foyer, kitchen, ORGANIZATION