Color-Combo: Blue and White

Blue and White is such a classic color combination, and it seems like lately I've been seeing it more and more.

It looks gorgeous outside! I love using blue out in the garden, and it looks great here on the outdoor rug.

And there's classic blue and white pottery. Goes with anything!

It makes a serene and beautiful bedroom.

It can be an easy and inexpensive way to decorate a wall.

Still beautiful and serene in a bedroom...

It's interesting over cabinets in the kitchen.

And it adds some color to a foyer.

I'm using blue and white as accents in our guest bedroom to go with a painting that Chris' grandmother did - as a pillow on the bed, and in some pottery around the room.

How about you? Do you like the blue and white color combination??

And in case you haven't already - don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY!

*Pictures from: PVE, Cathy Kincaid Interiors, Wisteria, Little Green Notebook, Canadian House & Home, Domino, Habitually Chic, House Beautiful

Guest Bedroom re-do: The Reveal!

So, after 2 gallons of paint, and lots of rain, here is our new and improved guest bedroom!



Because we are watching our budget, everything you see is something that we already had. At the moment, it's a little bland.... but I'm going to keep my eye out for maybe a darker blue printed pillow, or fabric I could use to make one. I also need to get another curtain panel from Pottery Barn for the window. The sheer I thought I was going to use was supposed to be "ivory" - it was more like yellow! So for now, old mini-blinds will have to make due.

I'd also love to find some more artwork, or something, to put on the walls. Below is a painting that Chris' grandmother did. It is one of his favorites, and so was included in the room. I do like how it adds a pop of color to the room.

Here is some more details of the bed, after I was finished "antiquing" (Is that even how you spell it???).

Our first "visitor"! Rascal gave it his wag of approval.

All in all, I am very pleased with how the new room looks. Is it 100% "done"?? No, but the extra "stuff" are things I can look for at my own pace. Some accessories, more artwork, a curtain.... But it is so much nicer than it was just 2 weeks ago, and I no longer feel like I'm banishing guests to the junk-room!

Total cost of this project? Less than $50 + lots of elbow grease.

Guest Bedroom re-do: the progress continues

I have a tip for you: when it's raining for over 48 hours straight, don't try to paint outside. Even if you're under your porch, with a tarp nailed up. There will be some bad results. Paint doesn't dry, wind gusts come and knock your stuff over, water starts coming down on the INSIDE of the tarp and the paint washes off your stuff..... it's an experience. I'm one of those people that seem to like to learn from experiences this. Let's just say I learned a lot.

So. I painted the armoire inside. But the headboard/footboard and the side tables all were affected. This is what the headboard looked like after it dried off and was inside. You can see where all the off-white paint has washed off, exposing the black underneath.




So, with my trusty paintbrush (Chris has previously tested out how paintsprayers work inside. Pretty much, paint goes everywhere.) I took my paint and fixed it the best I could. It's still not the best paintjob - it's kind of globby in some places - but it's all one color now.

The side tables weren't as bad off as the headboard. We had them upside down, so the tops didn't get covered with paint, so there was nothing to "wash away" there. And the legs didn't get as much water on them as the bed (which was laying down in the water) did. I painted the tops and touched up the legs.

The next step was deciding that I wanted to "antique" the furniture so that it didn't look too juvenile in the room. Also, it saved me from doing a second coat on the armoire! So, I took some light sandpaper and went to work on the edges of the furniture.

Here is the armoire before:

And here we are after:

You can see the "distressed" finish a little better here:

All that's left to do is put it all back in the room together and hang some art!

Guest Bedroom re-do: In Progress

Halfway done! The walls are painted.

Here are some "in progress" shots:


You can really see the difference between the old color and the new here. It's more green than it appears in these photos, but it does have a lot of gray in it too. It's very pretty - I'm pleased with how it all turned out!

All done!

It's a little darker "in person" than it appears here.

All I have left to do now is paint the furniture... which of course I was going to start on tonight until it started RAINING!! I was planning on having a little fun with the paint sprayer out in the backyard, but it was not meant to be. However... there is the weekend!

Once all is finished, I'll show you how it turns out!