Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
We've been doing a lot of fixes here at the house, now that wedding planning and execution are over.
But a little part of me hesitates in showing you here, because, well, you know. This isn't a decorating blog.
So while my “befores” are rather convincing, if I say so myself, my “afters” are more like “in permanent transition” than actual “afters.”
But if you understand that I can't stage things or make them perfect, I will show you some things that have been going on.
Before:
If you're wondering how we could live with this for so long, I have two things to say.
One is that we were working on the house little by little, and just hadn't gotten here to this room, which, after all, was inhabited by young boys for a long time. (I know, I know, lots of people decorate or even merely make reasonable by fixing, painting, etc. their boys' rooms. I don't know what to say, except, life.)
The other is the Mary Bailey defense.
The Mary Bailey defense seeks to explain the mental state that was first brought to my attention by my friend Sue (“Auntie Sue”). She claims that the character of Mary of It's a Wonderful Life did more than anything else in the popular culture to instill in us unsuspecting girls the misguided idea that we could have children and a big drafty old house.
We all just watched that movie and then thought that we too would have no problem wallpapering (as if her house simply needed wallpaper for starters — have you seen that monstrosity recently; I mean, as an adult with all your faculties) while having kids and helping the war effort and rescuing our basically good but nevertheless conflicted husbands from, well, whatever they were conflicted about.
Snort.
So go lightly on me. I am a victim of Hollywood.
I am so happy and delighted and proud that our Will redid this room.
He can do what needs to be done. He's strong and ripped out that filthy old carpet, the color of which I can't even describe and defies even the camera to capture its ugliness, like it was so much tissue paper. At least, that's how it seemed to me. An insurmountable, unthinkable job, just *snap, taken care of.
And then he painted the floor. And fixed the cracks and moldings. And painted.
Another day maybe I will have better light and nicer pillowcases, but for now, I just thought you'd like a peek at this “progress.”
Now that the boys are not in bunks, this can be a guest room for all those married couples we have around here. Let me tell you about all the stuff.
Old rocker that Habou found in some thrift store about 40 years ago, repaired many times. Vase made by my aunt. (Holey) lace runner from my MIL's things. Ditto silver. Thrifted mirror. |
Crib given to me by a friend. I spray painted it red. |
Here is the crib, Before:
Not terrible, but just not my style. |
Here I attempt to show you the floor color. It's the darkest, blackest green. I love it.
Can you see that it's green?
This is a {real} as well. Almost all my floors are this wide pine. They are quite distressed, but I really love them. |
You can see that I need curtains and a rug, at least. The dresser is something Habou saw on the side of the road. The lady gave it to me for $10. |
The bed is from Salvation Army. I know. I really lucked out — I'd been looking for ever so long, and then, there it was!
The quilt is from Marshall's clearance. |
The lamp is from a thrift store. The flower painting is by Habou. The Chinese drawer front is from, yes! a thrift store. |
Obviously I also need some more things for the walls, here and over the bed. In this house, you just do your best with the plaster and throw some things on the wall to distract the eye! I don't mind, though, because as you've guessed, I am good with imperfection.
Further proof that this isn't a decorating blog: I don't know the paint colors, but I will hunt them down for you if you're interested. Other than that, I think I covered everything, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments. What do you think?
Mary (Owlhaven) says
The room is just lovely! A wall or two in our house has holes from (our) boys with darts– def understand how a bedroom used for boys might not be super high on the spruce-up list. Main living spaces always get more of my attention than bedrooms anyway. Love your floors too. We just put in a new kitchen floor and I requested knots and wide planks and imperfection. Made to withstand real life, you know?
Mary, momma to many
Kelley says
I love it! It is cozy and light. Beautiful in simplicity. I especially love the way you hung everything over the dresser. Well done!
Sonja says
The room looks lovely – it makes me want to come for a visit! 🙂
Mary says
This room looks wonderful. I LOVE the floors. I actually envy the floors. Simple, rustic, beautiful. The colors you have chose for the room are peaceful and calming. Perfect. So happy your feeling better my friend.
Lucy says
That is like a dream room to me: real wooden floor, real wooden furniture, vintage/antique/memory-filled items, lots of light, room for a crib and double bed and rocking chair. It is beautiful! I'd come to stay!
Tracy says
One of the reasons why I love your blog is because you are REAL and things do not have to be perfectly matched in decorating for it to be beautiful and cozy. Love the makeover!!
Dawn says
I love it! What a fantastic room. The red crib ~ WOW! You inspire us all.
Blessings, Dawn
Lindsey says
Looks great! I never would have thought of that colour for a floor, but I like how it looks! Do you have problems with wide gaps between your floorboards? We have narrower pine planks upstairs in our old house, and are trying to figure out what to do with the gaps. I love that quilt,it really makes the whole room so inviting.
_Leila says
Lindsey, what kind of problems with wide gaps in floorboards? There are gaps in places, but they don't seem to make a difference one way or another. Someone has tried putting putty in some of them, long ago. I bet you could find some answers if you googled it, but for us, it's not an issue.
Lindsey says
I guess the problem is all the junk that collects in them! Some of them are so wide that you could slide something down into the empty space beneath the boards. And where they have been painted, the paint sort of covers the gaps in some places, and in others is noticeably absent.
Sara says
I like your decorating style much better than some of the decorating blogs I read! I like the “making do” and making it work on a thrifty budget. It's homey rather than perfect, and that means a lot!
Laura says
Everything is coming together beautifully. My favorite part is the red crib. What would the world be without spray paint?! Drab indeed 🙂
dweej {houseunseen} says
The Mary Bailey defense is about the funniest thing I've read all week….and TRUE! I constantly feel that my house is not big enough or drafty enough and if only it were, then wallpaper would be the answers to all the problems. Hah!
Oh, that room. Your house. I love it. Your floors, the crib, the doors, the windows, your side-of-the-road finds. I'm wondering if there's a way for me to find a reason to visit….in a non-creepy totally not-stalkerish way of course!
Kathy says
I love your style. Can you come do my house? =)
Liz says
It's SO beautiful! I love it all, but most especially the floors. Those are gorgeous.
BTW, Mary Bailey never homescooled. I always think that about a lot of people when I feel bad that I can't get everything finished. It makes a huge difference. Not that I would have it any other way. It's just really hard. 🙂
_Leila says
Liz, not only did Mary not homeschool, she isn't real!! 🙂
Cheryl Z says
I love it! I still have never seen all of It's a Wonderful Life – and I'm 45 years old. Not sure how that happened. But somehow I still have that syndrome. I have a 99-year-old drafty old farmhouse that is still being worked on after living here for 14 years. Not sure we'll ever finish! We have 8 children (3 are now grown – first wedding coming in the spring), some farm animals, garden, homeschooling. The whole crazy thing. Why do I think I can keep it all in perfect order?? But we love it here.
We've always felt blessed that no one EVER painted the wood, but I'm really liking that painted floor of yours. We gutted the kitchen and dining room 8 years ago. It's not like the original, but still old-farmhousey. The bathroom was redone our first winter here. The den was paneled in the 70's, (actually everything on the first floor was paneled, the living room still is too, but we painted it, which helped some) but is now 60% floor-to-ceiling bookshelves my husband built to accommodate our homeschooling materials. Then there are 2 doors, 2 windows a desk and a 4-drawer filing cabinet. I KNOW what you mean about actually having some wall space for furniture. It's one of my frustrations now and then. That we CAN'T rearrange furniture, really, because every room is all windows and doors. But, back to the painted floor. The living room is the only room that's not been really worked on. We pulled out the 70's carpet within a year, exposing a very narrow-plank wood floor with 3 different colors of splattered paint everywhere. In the past 13 years all those splatters have been worn off. The floor is stained, but has no other finish. It stopped giving my children slivers 12 years ago. We've discussed on and off what to do with that floor. Maybe paint….
Lisa says
Too cute. I love the dark floor, the sweet wall color, the quilt AND the dresser. It's awesome.
Good job. So cozy.
Kimberlee says
Fabulous room! Yes, my daughters and I all had a good laugh with your Mary Bailey comments – oh how she can swish that wallpaper right up so fast all while wearing a mini dress and balancing on a ladder…
We also appreciate things more when they are thrifty finds – is that the New England in me? Beautiful transformation you have there.
Margo says
how kind of you to let us into this room! It's lovely, serene, and yet not boring (dark green, plus coral plus all those interesting things at the dresser and the red crib!). I think you are refining too much on its imperfections. We don't live in magazines and it's easy to compare ourselves to those interiors to our incredible shame and disbelief. I have been living in a partially renovated house for years now. It does drive us crazy, but there are so many urgent things on the to-do list that it's hard to get to the trim, you know? Of course you do.
I love your house. I would be unhappy with a perfect, new house with all drywall and wall-to-wall carpet.
Sue says
This is so lovely, and practical, and welcoming. I seem to keep adding kids around here, but one day I too will have a guest room to complete. It's really something grand to look forward to.
Amy Caroline says
It is so romantic! I love it. I still wish I could live in a big drafty old house. Hollywood dreams of our youth are hard to conquer. 🙂
April says
I'm not even kidding…we watched “It's A Wonderful Life” this Christmas, and for the first time (now that I am both a wife and a mother), Mary Bailey made me feel so inferior! How silly! Of course I know not to compare myself to today's Hollywood starlets, but I felt there was something more noble and true about the Hollywood of yesteryear. I felt a little better when my husband pointed out that in order to do all those things she did, her children would have had to be in playpens more often than not. But thank YOU for letting me know that I'm not the only one to get caught up in Mary Bailey syndrome! Henceforth, I shall only apply, “if she can do it, so can I,” to real people…like yourself. 🙂
Speaking of which, I am so inspired by this room makeover! When I first got married, I got caught up in registering for all the new, flashy, matchy-matchy stuff. Five years later, many of those things have not lasted, and I find myself much happier with a look that is sort of thrown together from this and that (mostly hand-me-downs). This is exactly the type of room I love to stay in when I visit friends and family. And love the red crib!
Haus Frau says
Come to think on it, wasn't one of her kids in a playpen while she was wallpapering? Or was that the next scene? 😉
April says
Having watched it recently, I *think* it was the next scene…older child in the playpen while she's tending to the baby. Not that I'm anti-playpen–how I wish my little one would tolerate one! She will only scream indefinitely when confined. But seriously, those kids would have had to raise themselves in the playpen in order for her to fix up the house and go out volunteering and such!
Terri says
It's very pretty and inviting. I am impressed with your son's skills. I think your floors are fabulous, but I confess that just looking at the floor, without any rugs, makes my feet cold. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Mamabearjd says
I prefer this to anything on Apartment Therapy or the like! I miss living in an old house, in a romantic way, until I remember the reality of not being able to “fix up” because we were always “fixing.”
My first child's crib was in the middle of the room because there were windows, French doors and a small closet – no wall for furniture.
Mary Bailey. So funny. It all makes so much sense now.
melaniebett says
What a beautiful guest room! So cozy and welcoming.
The Mary Bailey defense. I love it. Oh I got the bug but I was foiled. When we were house hunting I did my best but somehow I just could not talk Dom into buying a drafty old house no matter how cute they were. We ended up in a much more practical circa 1950s house that I just can't bring myself to love. The windows are all too small, the plumbing atrocious, all the floors need to be redone. So much that needs to be done and even if it was all done I still wouldn't love this house. But I'm trying to be grateful that we have a house at all.
priest's wife says
I'd love the name of the blackest green floor color…
I've been lamenting my (awful to me although I realize I should be grateful….) 1974 townhouse with asbestos and termites and who knows what all else…I think Mary Bailey had it right….
question: with all those kids- HOW did you go thrifting? With a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old, imagining a store without shopping carts makes me quake in my boots
_Leila says
priest's wife, of course, I don't have little kids to tow around anymore. But when I did, my strategy was either leave them with the Chief — seems like a fair trade-off — I'm happy to “make do” but it requires a little help, dear 🙂 — or figure out when they were fed and contented and would sit in a corner with a book for a few minutes while I speed-shopped.
Sometimes they have to come so you can get them boots! Read them their rights before you go in, make sure they are not too warmly dressed for inside, and pray to your guardian angel 🙂
Working on the paint colors…
JRo says
I adore your sense of style. When I first started reading your blog I thought, eh, nice but SO not my style. But the more I read your blog and enjoy the beauty of your home.. the more I want my house to say the same things yours does. Your home speaks of warmth, tradition, family, and sentiment by the items that are slowly and specifically chosen for your home. I love it. I am realizing that the new home fashion of today lacks this. No wonder I have been drawn in by your blog and the pictures of your home. I am so grateful that you have shown me a more meaningful way to express the love of my family through how I keep, and dress, our home. Please please keep sprinkling things like this among your blog posts. Those of us that were shortchanged by the feminist movement find your blog invaluable in our quest to go back to the loving way God created us.
Lisa G. says
Your room looks much nicer than you seem to think it does – it fits into an older New England home perfectly. Your whole house is so inviting and appealing. Don't make apologies! I always love these homey posts. 🙂
paulaayn says
Love the bedroom. You are lucky your walls are paint-able. Our walls look bad even when covered in wallpaper 🙂
Jennifer says
Methinks you need to write a post on what makes a good guest room. I'm sure you have thoughts on it since you have so many guests, now and in the years to come, as adult children come home to visit with boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, grandchildren and college friends. Not many houses have a designated “guest room” when the children are all small and living at home. But as they head off into the world, we want them to feel welcome to come home… and having a nicely appointed guest room is part of that welcome, I think. Not fancy, expensive, but comfortable, with a table, chair, side lamp, and yes, even a crib for our children! Thank you for the lovely post!
Katherine says
I think we had that same gross colored carpet in our living room. Our living room is very large, the carpet was probably 70's vintage and the previous owners had 6 boys so you can imagine the unappealing state of my living room. I lived with it for 8 years and then one summer my two teenage boys and I ripped it out (after transferring boxes and boxes of once shelved books to the porch). Underneath was a thin brown carpet and underneath that the padding was almost dust. It was such a disgusting, time consuming job to clean up – I'm glad teenage boys enjoy creative destruction. We unfortunately did not have nice wood floors underneath; only a plywood subfloor. We laid down faux wood, vinyl planks (long-term temporary until we can afford wood and get more pressing repairs done). It looks so much better, but I would love to have your drafty old house, instead of our drafty ranch house.
RubberChickenGirl says
Another “perfect” makeover by you. Well done!
Nope, cannot see the green hue. But would like to know your paint colours. ;O)
In Mary Bailey's Defense, all I took away from that movie was the comfort that her stupid ball thingy always came off her bannister. It made me feel better about living in a Money Pit (you have seen that movie, haven't you?) I thought that was the point of the movie….he was supposed to love his life, dumpy house and all. Now I'll have to watch again and see her float through remodeling in style. We are presently trimming out our childrens' bathroom that has been sitting unfinished for 2 stinking years due to lack of money and time. My dh was talking on the phone to an architect whom he told what we were doing. The guy just said, ” I HATE remodeling.” *That* made me feel better as all of blogland acts like it's a joy and delight and it stresses us out to no end.
BTW people go to great lengths and expense to do the reclaimed lumber flooring you already have in place.
Off topic: is it safe to say you are no fan of Rod and Staff English and never-ending sentence diagramming?
RCG
_Leila says
RCG, don't know that particular text. I am in favor of learning to diagram sentences in about 6th grade, or whenever the child is able to learn the parts of speech without too much agony. But choose the workbook/textbook with an eye to avoiding endless drills, of course. Warriner's has good diagramming interspersed throughout.
chatteutile says
The room is beautiful and worthy of being featured on any decorating blog. Love the dark green floor.
Jennifer G. Miller says
Mary Bailey didn't homeschool, either. I love Auntie Sue's view on this!
The room is lovely. I love your style and taste.
kenzieandcoy says
Beautiful room! I love the floors.
Laura Jeanne says
How beautiful! I love everything about this room. It is so inspiring how you can create such beauty on a budget!
I am a bit envious of the floor. We live in a 100 year old red brick farmhouse. When we moved in this past summer, we ripped out all the carpet, expecting to find lovely hardwood beneath. Yes, it is there, but several rooms had had asbestos tiles glued directly to the wood – we had to scrape and melt the glue off, it was awful. Our bedroom still has tile because the first few tiles we pulled up were pulling up huge splinters of wood. I don't believe that floor is salvageable. And on our main floor, the original wood has big rectangles cut out of it everywhere where there were vents for the old coal furnace (why they needed so many vents, I'll never know!) It was a big disappointment for us since one of the reasons we bought an old house was to have a lovely old, distressed wood floor. We are thinking of just laying a new pine floor over the whole house, when we can save up for it. However, I will keep in mind now that painting is an option – if we can fill in those stupid holes.
What kind of paint do you recommend for wood flooring? Do you need to strip the old finish off? How do you then clean it?
I know about old plaster too. Our whole house, except for the bathrooms, has been covered in 1970s panelling and then painted. I know this was to cover the cracked and chipping plaster. The few places where we can see the plaster it is just a mess after all these years!
_Leila says
Laura Jeanne, it might be better to cover the bad floors. I recommend a fir or good grade pine (heart pine, which withstands wear). It may well be cheaper than stripping, repairing, etc. Check with a local lumber yard to price it out per square foot. You might be surprised. That's what we did in the kitchen, using the cheapest soft pine. It's not super sturdy, but it's what we could afford and it really does look just fine.
Also, asbestos shouldn't ever be sanded or heated! Scary.
If you paint a floor, it has to be sanded well enough to be smooth for the paint (that bedroom floor had been painted but was messy). Then you just clean it with a damp mop to get any dust or what have you out of there.
Use floor paint — ideally, alkyd (oil-based), but that takes long drying times and curing. For a bedroom, latex is fine — just let it cure for at least a week before putting furniture on it.
Rebekah Es says
So beautiful, how could you not be at peace in that room? The floors (and their color) make it for me. Well done!
Donna L. says
Auntie Leila,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful post!
I am *OH, so glad* my tea had cooled off for a few minutes because your “Mary Bailey” comment caused me to spew it out through my nose–and now I can breathe more clearly Thank you!! Oh, my! But I really laughed…it's so true! I do have some of her “starry-eyed optimism” and try to make the best of what we have…I think that being happy and content “right where you are” is a goal, and I find myself working on that daily…
Our first home was a beautiful old brick home with glorious ballroom oak flooring. I still dream about that house with the leaded glass windows, and ivy growing all around. But I most certainly do NOT miss the heating bills, the drafts and the huge old furnace that took up a good chunk of the basement crawl-space!
I love you ideas and I am inspired to do a project….once I have caught up with dishes and laundry!
mel says
ha! Mary Bailey, love it! That's the truth. My dining room walls are plaster covered with newsprint. I have no idea what to do with them,,,they need some repairs. Then I guess primer and paint and hope for the best!
Rachel says
I'm with the others. I never know what you are talking about when you say, “My house is not a magazine” or some such thing because your house is 10x BETTER than a magazine! I never want to go sit in magazine rooms…they're fine for looking at but I never want to BE in it. But YOUR rooms! I absolutely want to get lost in a book in every single one of your rooms, a glass of iced tea at my side, my nine children occupied productively elsewhere (maybe happily diagramming sentences or writing a family newsletter or practicing four-part harmony).
“victim of Hollywood” **tee-hee**
You, and your room, are lovely.
Nancy says
Bedroom so peaceful and calm…love the red crib!
Lori says
You may not make it always the down to my comment — oh, yes, you will — aren't the comments the best part of my blog??? Anyway, I have two suggestions/comments about your lovely “new” guest room:
1. I totally see some kind of very lightweight lacy or dotted Swiss-y fabric for your curtains. I see you have blinds for privacy, but imagine the breeze gently blowing the curtains in there and the patterns of light on the dark green/black floor!
2. I would go slow with the wall art. Personally, I think the big expanse of imperfect/non-flat plastered wall is great. It is a memory of lying in bed, lost in half-wake-ness, and gazing at patterns of light on the plain wall. And, I say this as a fan of both colorful paint and art. I just think guest rooms are at their best in houses like ours when they are almost monastic — what is extremely peaceful for a few days might be too spare for one's permanent bedroom. Plus, add in a few suitcases and diaper bags and all the other extras visitors tend to have, and you need as restful a backdrop as possible.
_Leila says
Lori, I always read all the comments!
joyfilledfamily says
very serene. i'm trying to clean up my master bedroom turned storage room for my upcoming homebirth. i'm not sure i can purge enough to get the simplicty that your room oozes but i'll do my best.
i love the red crib. i've never been brave enough to paint my crib.
pax, lena
Elizabeth says
Beautiful! I always love your redecorating projects.
María Gutiérrez says
Dear auntie, your home is just beautiful. I love the room. It reminds me of my room at Ironbridge (England) when I was an student there, back in the 90s. But… it seems you are spray-painting something quite frequently. I suppose you take care but I just need to say: please, protect you eyes, skin and respiratory tract…
Maria in Alicante
Emily says
I've been meaning to ask you a question, and your talk of spray painting furniture made me remember!
We are about to move into a new-to-us house. It has lovely old hardwood floors that we are refinishing. I absolutely adore the “look” of dark walnut stained floors with lots of white furniture/bookcases. However, since we've mostly lived in “basic beige” apartments and a condo thus far in our life, all our furniture is a mish-mash of honey-color-ish fake wood. Which really has worked just fine, but since we're putting so much work into the new house I'm leaning toward at least trying to make it lean closer to the style I dream of. So my question is: am I utterly mad to consider spray painting all our not-real-wood (and a couple of real wood) bookshelves and desk a lovely creamy white?? Will the paint even stick to veneer? I have this beautiful dream in my head of what it could look like, but I've only done it once before (a tiny bookshelf for my son – which we turned from black to dark red on his request) and so I thought it might be a good idea to ask a “pro”! 🙂 Would love to know your opinion!
Oh, and I laughed out loud at the thought that you, of all people, are a “product of Hollywood”. 🙂
_Leila says
Emily, Yes! Spray paint WILL adhere to whatever, pretty much. Bookcases take a lot of spray paint, so it could be worth it to prime first with the color you are aiming for. Just lightly sand, dust down, and paint. Then spray — outside, of course, b/c you will be using a lot, as I say.
Or aim for a darker color that will cover the color you have more easily.
But don't let that dumb brown color rule your life.
momco3 says
So many of my problems are because of Mary Bailey… Love the room.
Sue says
This post cracked me up. I was just noticing that scene with Mary wallpapering this year when I watched It's a Wonderful Life for the hundredth time. After a few years of trying to fix up our old cabin that scene jumped out at me and I snorted “yeah, right!” at my TV screen. Now I know that I'm not alone in my incredulity. :o)
The room looks really lovely. I love dark wood floors with the bright new walls! Great job, Will!
Sharon says
I wonder when Will has some free time would he come and renovate my house? He would really love Australia and I just know he would love to pay his fare! lol
I second what JRo said.
Kathy says
I love the term using Mary Bailey – perfect! We love that movie so I certainly appreciate the humor in that! The room looks fantastic! We use other people's cast offs as well, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The room is working, *smile*!
Anitra says
Charming!
I think the key for fixing up a “children's” room is… do it before you have children, or after they're grown! Haha. Of all the major (and pre-planned) projects we've done in our house, the kids room is the ONLY one that was completely done before we had kids – it was the first room we tackled because it was so awful when we bought the house. It was our office for about a year, and then, surprise! We needed to get it ready for a crib and dresser (it still held some office stuff for a while, until we could get another room done to be the office). As it is, the kids room, the now-office, and the master bathroom are the only rooms we've had time to properly overhaul, since having kids (especially having more than one) makes home improvement projects take a lot longer. We keep talking about doing the kitchen or the master bedroom, but we'd have to live in the midst of renovation for months… so we haven't done it.
Your posts apologizing for how long it takes to get around to this stuff makes me feel better. When it comes to our house, I usually compare myself to friends with NO kids or friends with GROWN kids… which is silly. They have so much more time (and flexibility) to work on their houses and decorating.
Brenda says
What do I think? Well, frankly, I love it, Leila. Anyone would feel very comfortable staying in your spiffed up guest room! :o) Yes, your son did a very, very nice job of things…you have good reason to feel proud of him!
Sarah says
Your room looks so cozy and inviting. I hope that one day I will develop an ability to see a cool new room in the things I already have.
bethinthecity says
I love it! I love it because it's real, and sensible, and beautiful. You did not spend a fortune, you did not go crazy with a theme, you stayed true to your house and you created a lovely space.
Patty says
Hahaha. “The Mary Bailey Defense”! This was the first year I watched that movie and truly realized that she had a little too much going on. I can barely dust the walls let alone wallpaper them!
Bethany says
It's wonderful! How old is your house? It reminds me so much of mine (c.1827) but I'm thinking yours is probably older? I have never heard of the Mary Bailey defense, but I LOVE it and will definitely use that again.
Maggie says
Quite a transformation! I'd be very happy with a room like that.
Haus Frau says
That is one of the most gorgeous rooms. Wow. Makes me wish we lived in a big house. I totally appreciated the Mary Bailey comment. It made me laugh. Thanks, as previous commenters said, for showing us how to bring little touches to our home instead of settling for the consumer “coordination” big box sets.
RubberChickenGirl says
Couple more things. Just to let you know I pinned you twice today. Once on decor and once on signage / quotes for the The Mary Bailey Defense. I hope more people do the same and spread the word about your blog. I really am cheering you all on and wanting to see you succeed. You are so needed in this day and age!
And if you wanna get really crazy with your floor painting, have you seen stenciling? http://pinterest.com/rbbrchickengrl/stenciling-st…
I painted and stenciled our office floor. It was a tedious process mostly because you can never beat the pet fur and dust AND I kept messing up like using waterbased primer over a laminate floor. No can do. Oil based over Plasticky stuff is a recipe for instant peeling. I don't remember all the setbacks, but I kept on plowing ahead 1 step and jumping back 3. Take your time and think it through. It took me like 4 weeks of working on it, not daily, but nearly.
RCG
RubberChickenGirl says
I misspoke on the last comment I sent. It was supposed to read Waterbased over plasticky stuff is a no go. MUST use oil based primer such as BIN over laminate flooring.
Thx,
Shellie / RCG
Rebecca says
It looks absolutely gorgeous, Leila! I need to hire Will to help me with our downstairs!!!!!!! Is he looking for more work?
Valerie says
I cannot decide what my favorite part is (in this post)…the details, that gorgeous floor, the overall style…the bargains! Everything is delightful…
Joy says
The last page of the “This Old House” magazine always features an old house in need of saving. I received my issue yesterday, and the featured house in need of rescuing has the same fireplace as your guest room.
Jaimie says
I agree that the best time to do a child's room is before you have any kids at all, or after they have left the house! Before we had our first child, we decorated a small bedroom (cute wallpaper, repainted vintage dresser, comfortable armchair, etc.) We didn't find out the baby's sex in advance, so we decorated it in a unisex way. While we had someone in doing the wallpaper for the baby's room, we had them paint and wallpaper our master bedroom and paint our then-guest room in a neutral colour. And thank goodness we did, because four years later, our second child is now in that prettily decorated baby's room, my eldest child now occupies the guest room, and we have done pretty much zero bedroom decorating since then and don't see any happening in the foreseeable future.
Leila, the bones of your home are so beautiful that a simple style is all the embellishment it needs.
Helene says
I hope you continue the decorating posts. You have such a lovely way with it and it is very inspiring for those of us who have to “make do.” If you are ever on the fence about posting a decorating article or not, PLEASE POST IT! I think the way you make your house a home is a very important part of family life and homemaking in general and should not be left out. Besides your results are always so spectacular! I love to see what you come up with!
Alea says
I agree it's hard to do anything with lots of doors in a room. And after building a new house that doesn't have plaster walls – let me tell you – I almost wish I had them! That stuff is so much tougher than sheetrock! We had no knicks or holes in the old walls (yes – some cracks like you have too), and less than 6 months here – there are lots of knicks & holes!
Beatrice says
Love the room's new look! Well done! That bed's a keeper. 🙂