Operation Home

Wow, guys. Just holy wow. I have so many (fun) projects going on right now that I’m not sure what to give you first. That’s what’s so crazy about these first months after a move. Everything’s a little schizophrenic. I want everything to be done all at once, so it’s an explosion of projects started in all corners of the house. No rhyme or reason. And what’s funny is, yes… I painted Lucas’s room this weekend. But, no. It totally wasn’t the plan. It was a whim decision. As in, I went for a jog, got back, saw Joey working in the yard (with Lucas “assisting”). And said, “Hey! I think I’ll paint Lucas’s room (rightnow)! “. I. Am. SUCH. A. Weirdo. Several hours later it was done. But not without a lone, sad pride casualty. I give you my Facebook status from that day….

Oh, Lucas. (sigh!)

Anyways, the paint-fest actually came as a side-effect of Lucas’s new bed. Ya see, my uncle gave us this great cargo bed that used to be my cousin Bryan’s. Here’s the foot-board…

You intrigued? 😉

I’ll have a separate post about the bed later, but the short of it was that after I refinished it darker, we started to move the bed into Lucas’s room. And then I changed my mind. I decided that I didn’t want to move the bed into the room before painting the walls and risk splatter drops violating the nice, new finish. Thus, the room needed to be painted sometime soon so we could get the bed out of the garage. At the time, I didn’t realize that “sometime soon” would be that very day, but it totally worked out. So, we’re good.

When it came to wall color, I’d initially thought that I wanted to paint the walls a punchy green. But, after throwing some green paint swatches on the wall to get a general idea, I wasn’t sold. It clashed with some of accessories that I wanted to use in the space. Then, I remembered that I had almost a full gallon of the gorgeous grey paint from the master bedroom leftover, so I threw that up there too…

And I loved it. It took on much more of a khaki color in this space due to the difference in lighting. It was perfect and would be a great backdrop for all of the bright colors I’m planning to bring into the space. So, I did it. And here’s where we are now….

Now, keep in mind that I haven’t even BEGUN to style the joint. This is literally just move-furniture-back-post-painting mode. I did, however, rearrange the furniture in the space which completely opened it up (aaaaand I’m now realizing that this means nothing to you since I neglected to take a before picture). Just take my word for it. Moving furniture around (FOR FREE) is one of the most crazy, game-changing moves to make a space feel so much more welcoming. This is the layout that this room always wanted. There’s plenty of floorspace for Lucas to play and yet, it doesn’t feel cramped in the slightest. I just can’t wait to get his new bed in here (we realized that we need to purchase a few more bolts to fully assemble it first). But, this is a really great start for his room.

And here’s the ninja-turtle-donning man of the hour pulling off yet another Chandler-Bing-Smile (the towels on his shoulder are his “back-up nunchucks”)…

So, still up…. curtains (once the windows are replaced next week), a little special treatment for the built in desk area (not shown), new chairs for his little white table, wall art, styling. Lots to do, but we’re on our way!! 🙂

I kid, I kid. It’s not portable. But, it is a tiny room with a toilet …

Literally. They call it a “half bath”. But, I’d like to know where the rest of it is. Oh wait, it’s in the laundry room. The bathroom itself is only big enough for a commode. You have to wash your hands in the work sink in the laundry room. Small price to pay for a decent pool bath, though. I think it’ll function really well for this purpose when it warms up again. It’s close to two of the entrances to the backyard and is wholly surrounded by tile which pretty much quadruples it’s useful-quotient. But still… a room with a toilet only. Iiinteresting (taps fingers together)….

When it comes to decor, it’s a total blank slate. Last year a pipe froze and burst in the attic above, requiring the previous owners to basically rebuild this portion of the house. They simply sheet-rocked this little toilet room and (muchtomydismay) painted it the same dark purple tone as the master bedroom (before I painted it grey). While purple isn’t exactly my cup o’ tea, I thought I’d at least try to make it work before taking the plunge and painting it myself. I mean, it’s a teeny room that I don’t spent much time in, so I figured that maybe the color would be more tolerable in this setting. I decided to accessorize the space and then objectively reevaluate the color.

Among other things, the room is desperately lacking in storage. Up to this point, we’d just been stacking toilet paper on top of the precariously rounded toilet lid… not the best of plans, especially being that the flush buttons are also on the lid. It made for a toilet tissue Slip-n-Slide of epic proportions. So, being the “use what I got” person that I am, I took stock and realized that the shelves that were in Lucas’s old room would fit perfectly above the toilet. Thus, I proceeded to install both shelves (ALLBYMYSELF! WOOT!)…

…then I tossed around some accessories that I already had.

I liked having a mirror up there to bounce light around, but wasn’t digging the dark frame. In person, it felt very heavy. So, I taped that sucker up with painters tape (we’re friends now, remember?) and plastic wrap and gave it several thin and even coats of spray paint in matte white…

And I ended up here….

In hindsight, I probably should’ve restocked the toilet paper in the basket before snapping pics. But, that’s okay. The shelving now allows space to PUT toilet paper, which is a vast improvement from the previous situation. So, that’s enough to make up for it in my eyes. I’m really liking the mix of white, black, green, and natural wood… not to mention, the stainless/gold mixed metals. I still need to get an actual toilet paper dispenser for the wall so that that awful toilet bracket can hit the road (P.S. that isn’t ours… it was left by the sellers. So, uh, yeah. It’s gotta go. Something about using somebody elses attached-to-the-toilet-paraphernalia gives me the heebie jeebies.).

As for the paint color… Seriously, ya’ll. I’m trying. I’m REALLY trying. But, I just can’t do it. I really can’t. It needs to change. So, I’ll be changing it. It feels way too traditional for my taste. I need a lighter, brighter, more modern-feeling hue to blow my skirt up. So, now this room is definitely on my “to paint” list. I was tossing around the idea of a soft aqua-blue tone. I thought it might feel nice and beachy given that this is a pool bath. What color do y’all think I should paint it?