Nothing But Blue Skies...: Post Reno House Tour

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Post Reno House Tour

Hi Friends!

I am so excited to be back with you after a longer than anticipated absence!

I took a lot of time off, but I am back, and ready to share the BIG changes that have been happening in our home in the last 12 months.

Some of you may have noticed that I've decided to change the name of the blog from Budget Design Girl, to the new name, Nothing But Blue Skies...

I was never fully satisfied with the original name, and though I am a thrifty girl, I just wanted something that made me SMILE, and didn't pigeon hole me quite as much.

One day, not too long ago, it just hit me that my new blog name should be Nothing But Blue Skies, so here we go...new name, new inspiration, and a whole lotta new things to show you in our home!

As you may recall, we had a little leak in our kitchen wall that turned out to be a bigger deal than we originally thought. As a result, we wound up replacing our flooring throughout the entire first floor. We also put in new appliances, new kitchen sink and faucet, and repainted the cabinets. This led to the need to repaint the walls and ceiling in the better part of the first floor as well.

I am so happy with the results! There are just some tiny things that need to be tweaked, but it really is 99% finished.

Enough yammering on, lets take a look...

Our Living Room, and Dining Room.

We decided on engineered hard wood throughout the entire first floor, and honestly, I really love how it warmed everything up. Prior to this, we had a combination of very large (I think it was 24") travertine tile, in the entry, kitchen, family room, bath, laundry and hall. The living room and dining room were carpeted. I always knew I wanted to ditch the carpet and have continuous flow through the whole first floor. I think it's such a nice improvement!

This is standing in the dining room, facing the living room and entry.

This is the view of our staircase looking up to the second floor. I recently got a wild hair, and decided to paint the banister and newel posts the same grey brown as the kitchen island. (Um...this still needs to be completed, but it's hopefully not showing too much in the pics!) ;-) Shhh... don't tell anyone.

This is looking back toward the entry, and into the living room. (Ahem... I still need to get the sofa and ottoman re upholstered. The sofa was stripped of it's slip cover quite some time ago, and I intend to use a very neutral creamy fabric, much like the current muslin underpinning she is currently sporting. The poor ottoman has just been covered with an unused faux fur throw. I do think I like the color, but I will not be choosing faux fur for it's final upholstery.)

In the dining room I used a sisal rug under the table, and I am loving it!

The family room and kitchen are where we spend most of our time, and I am thrilled with how this area came out.

(P.S. I am standing right beside/in front of my son's train table-turned Lego table. Please don't get the idea that this room doesn't get messy! I'm just not showing you!)

I also bought a new kitchen table at a local antique store, that a friend of mine owns. I still need to get new chairs. (-So much harder than I thought to find exactly what I want. The hunt continues!)

The walls actually look lighter, and more taupe/greige in person. I am happy to be rid of our former carmel-y tan.

Looking into the kitchen, Just peeking into the photo on the right is my new granite composite sink, which I LOVE! It would have been fantastic to have it under mounted, but that was not possible, since I elected to keep the old granite countertops. I would have loved to change them out for something lighter, like carera, but that was simply not in the budget.

We had the pantry wall on the right custom built, as this was the location of the leak, and the former pantry and cabinets had to go. Although it was unfortunately not built to my original specifications, I decided to pick my battles, and let it be. It seems to be working out fine for us. I will do a post on the inside coming soon!

I still have a little custom trim coming for around the microwave. The trim kit that arrived for it when it was installed was just awful! I made them take it off right after they drilled the holes to put it up.
It reminded me of the sides of a chicken truck! (You know those aluminum clad, slatted semi truck- trailers that haul chickens?! Um, yeah,...farm to table never held less appeal! All I saw when I looked at my shiny new microwave with it's icky trim kit, was a CHICKEN TRUCK!) So, we will finish it off with a little idea I had.

View of the kitchen and family room from the entrance to the dining room.

Our downstairs guest room. It's still a work in progress. I would like to find an upholstered headboard in a cream linen, and replace the current dresser with a vintage chest or small dresser. Look for more changes to come.

The laundry room wallpaper was stripped and repainted (by me to save more money). This was quite a big job, and I regret not letting someone else do it for me!

I am still looking for knobs for the laundry room cabinets, but I think I may have found some that will work. Stay tuned!

This is the downstairs bath, and the last room that still needs some updating. It's on the list, people!

I have tried to work with the green marble and polished brass fixtures, but I think the time has come to get rid of them. We are planning to get to that very soon.

On the way up the stairs is this little reading nook it the living room. It is a work in progress. I am planning to upholster the chair in a brown and cream buffalo check, and I am still looking for the right piece of furniture for against the wall. Then the wall hangings that are what I had, will be changed out to suit whatever I find.

This is the master bedroom. It has an adjacent sitting room that is currently being used as my office. The hubby's man cave is down the hall, and I will be sharing pics at a later date.

The dog wants to sneak into my pics! See him in the hall?

I am working on an idea for the wall behind the bed...and I would love a button tufted headboard in here someday soon.

Looking into my office.

I decided to have a little fun, and display some of my evening bags and shoes in the corner.

Looking back towards the bedroom and bath to the left.

Master ensuite bath.

I painted the old oak cabinets about 6 years ago, and then recently changed the wall color to a deep brown, and doors to black. It is such a big space, and gets so much light during the day that it doesn't feel dark. These pics were taken at night.

This is the little guy's room, and I think we are getting ready to change it slightly.

Well, I can't seem to find the photos of the upstairs hall bathroom, and I need to also share photos of the hubby's man cave. I am going to save that for another day. I am pooped from all the work!

...And so is the dog! This is our one year old German Shepard/Yellow Lab rescue, Romeo. He's a great addition to the family, and a total love!