callie test

basement {before and afters}

First, I have to remind you of where we started... 4 years ago we got a hankering to redo our "retro" brown bathroom downstairs.

I know, I know... why would you ever want to remove a brown shell sink from anywhere?!?!?!

I suppose this is just like white vs wood trim and we can all agree to disagree. :)

There's not much more to say about the rest of the basement, these pics where taken after we'd already replaced the carpet and started on the bathroom, but you get the feel... dark & brown.

Oooo, good guess! Our house was built in the 70's!!

Now for the real purpose of this post - all the AFTER pics!

I'm not completely done down here... is anyone ever "done" with their home improvements?

But it was clean... so now's the time to take photos and show it off, haha!

We painted the paneling Honeymilk (color matched by Sherwin Williams)

and the top walls are Wood Smoke by Glidden (also color matched by SW)

Both the couches are from Martin's Home furniture, the coffee table is from Pottery Barn

& the rug is from target.

Kevin replaced all the interior doors and trim (baseboards, windows, doors and crown molding) and we put new oil rubbed bronze hardware on as well.

Kevin also updated all the light switches and electrical outlets.

I painted the door to the garage with chalk paint and "chalked" my first artwork,

largely inspired by this chalk design found via pinterest.

The other side of the basement got some great storage thanks to IKEA wardrobes that we "built in".

It's a very functional area with our large work desk and piano as well.

I just love this easy storage access!!!

  

The new windows were done by Feldco, the burlap curtains are from Hancok Fabircs 

and the blinds are from www.blindster.com.

Kevin also installed some a great molding solution to hide all our wires! I love love how this looks so seamless and no ugly orange/blank/yellow... cords and wires are visible!!!

(See in the below pic it's right up under the shelf and looks like molding!)

 I haven't forgotten about the bathroom that started this whole DIY remodel process!!

The stripes were painted Wishes & Honeymilk just like YHL's first house's bathroom.

Per usual, I did the painting & caulking and Kevin did all the outlets, flooring, trim, plumbing...

I love the texture the baskets storage on the wall gives the room to contrast with all the sophisticated finishes!

Here are some of the pretty little details

 Here are a few side-by-sides to recap the big changes

 

I think we're pretty happy with all the changes, we spend waaaaay more time down on this level now!

It's functional and bright and there are so many details that I love!

preppy puppy {baby shower}

My friend, Katie, just had her first baby, an absolutely beautiful little girl!!

Almost as soon as I found out Katie was preggo I had an idea for her shower. Katie has a great big heart when it come to dogs. I don't think she's ever met a pup she didn't like. I love how passionate she is about dogs, I think it's an outward expression of how much love she has to give!

This is the inspiration picture from pinterest that led the direction of the shower "theme".

Our main decoration was sewing many paper garlands inspired by this pin and refined a little by this pin. Neither pin really had directions so I simply cut pieces that fit well together size/shape wise. I used a dog bone cookie cutter I had on hand to trace the dog bone paper strand - that was by far the most time consuming strand, but luckily I was watching lots of the Olympics at the same time so Yay for multi-tasking!

We made a variety of puppy chow to munch on and they were all fantastic!

We had some berries and dog shaped cookies too!

  

These cute little "chip bags" held our puppy chow so we could walk around and visit while still munching at the same time! I found the instructions to make the "bags" here.

 For our drinks we had bottles of coke, water & coffee

 We did more decorating downstairs where Katie opened her gifts.

The jars on the left have milk bones and rawhide bones (both bought at Wal-Mart). The puppy print and invitation on the right (along with the food & drink lables and the to-go bag tags) were done by my very talented friend, Samantha. Please contact me if you want to contact her for her fantastic design skills!

 We made enough puppy chow so that guests could take a "doggie bag" home!

I got the paper bags at Hobby Lobby and then ended up painting stripes on them using removable Scotch tape & craft paint. I tried printing the stripes, but the bags were too thick and it wasn't working for me so I switched to Plan B.

 One of the activities we did was to have guests color ABC pages that we had printed as 4x6 cards from here. Then we put all the pages into an album and created Baby's first ABC book! I love how fun/easy this was for guests and all kids love to read so I think it'll get lots of use!

And here's the party planning committee with Katie!

I say, "Great success", Ladies!

P.S. Thanks Annie, for taking all the pictures!