Hello all. It's been a good few days since my last post as things around this place seem to get busier and busier. Mr H.L and myself both have at least 3 or 4 projects on the go and it's getting harder to drag ourselves away from the work that is needed to be done. I'd love to say otherwise, but all the things we have been doing are fairly run of the mill, not very pretty or inspiring DIY tasks...hence no pics!!!
To give you an example- I've just finished Master Home Love's bedroom- remember I mentioned earlier that his room needed ALOT of paint? Well I finally completed the walls so he could move back into his new room. Mr Home Love also completed building a box of sorts in his room that I will explain later with photos?
Did I mention that I had primed the walls in our kitchen area the other day? Well I've just finished painting the walls with another lovely shade of WHITE (hahaha you couldn't imagine that)! The colour of the paint is called MILK WHITE by Crown. It's a really nice shade and well..milky looking. It's specially formulated for kitchens with moisture and greece resistance included somewhere along the way. The reason I chose that shade of white instead of Brilliant White by Dulux which we've been using in our living areas, is because another project that I'm starting as we speak is painting my kitchen units. Actually I'm only at the sanding back the door stage to be fair! However I have already chosen the shade of pale French grey called Antique Grey. I love the colour but am yet to sample a patch on the kitchen doors. I didn't want the walls to be ultra glare white so I toned it down a little in there in keeping with the rest of the look I want to achieve.
I'm also in the process of planting up our front garden beds...a few little shrubs have gone in already and I promise pictures will follow as soon as I'm satisfied with the results- ha, that will be never!! Along with that we bought a lawn mower and a blower vac for our street tree that loses it's leaves by the truck load this time of year. I can't wait to play!! hehe
Mr Home Love has also been installing insulation and then flooring in our roof. Our house didn't have much insulation in it when we bought it so before the days turn too cold here we wanted to get that sorted. That means we will have some great storage now up in the attic, so after Christmas don't you know where all the decorations will be heading?
We have had our electrics looked at, our boiler system serviced, quotes to paint the exterior of the house and our gutters looked at. All things that aren't very glamorous I'm afraid.
One last job that Mr H.l and I managed to get done this past week was wall mounting our large flat screen television in the lounge room. It was another job on our list but very important as Mini Home Love is at that crawling stage where anything in his line of fire gets pulled at, pushed or squashed. We were worried that he may grab at the TV stand or knock off it and we couldn't bare the thought of it coming tumbling down on him. That would have devastating results.
So all in all I can't believe it's Friday already. The week has just flown past again...well I guess we've been too busy to notice!
Here is our 'to do' list for this coming week-
1. Sand, prime & paint kitchen cupboards
2. Sand & paint stairs & landing
3. Paint bathroom floors
4. Make progress with choosing carpet for our bedrooms
5. Paint interior doors downstairs
and a million other 'little' jobs that will still at least take half a day each to complete, as well as doing all those 'daily' jobs such as washing, ironing, cooking, dusting, oh and minding and loving an 10 & a half month old Mini Mr Home Love.
Ah yeah, I'm just a stay at home mum. LOL
Jane xx
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Well we really have been ploughing on here at Home Love. I wanted to show you photos today of our lounge room and meals/dining room that we painted straight after we completed our entrance hall/landing. As I've mentioned before, the cream coloured paint on the walls wasn't that horrible but we just needed to brighten the place up. Mr Home Love already ripped down the old curtains that were here when we moved in- if you really want to check the out again, take a look at my previous post of 'existing house photos'.
The photo below is taken of the double doors that lead into our dining area. I had already done the 'cutting in' (or edges) when I realised I hadn't taken a 'before' photo. You can see through to the kitchen area from here which is on the right side of the dining area. The walls in there really are hideous- a deep wine red that makes the kitchen look very small. I've now undercoated those walls too- well primed them because if I just jumped straight in and painted them with top coat then the under colour would show through in areas. Anyway, that is another post altogether!
Showing the door from the lounge into the hallway with those glass panels.
Mr Home Love hard at it with the roller.
The existing mantle piece and fire surround.
Originally we painted most of the lounge with the same chalky white paint that we used in the entrance hall. The fire breast is painted in a beautiful Dulux colour called 'potters clay'. It's a warm grey shade. I love it! In this photo you can see I was cutting in on either side of the chimney breast with a bright but smooth raspberry/watermelon shade called 'summer pudding'- this colour is from the Crown paints Indulgence range. These are a small range of paints that are so creamy and claim to glide onto the walls. Even though we actually decided against going ahead with this colour, from what I did manage to use, it was a gorgeous texture. However the colour just wasn't what we had in mind. We both love the thought of grey and pink, but when the raspberry was applied to the walls, even in the tiny amount we used, we could see it wasn't going to achieve the feel we wanted. So out with that paint and in with...you guessed it, Brilliant White!
Keep in mind we have quite a dominant rust coloured lounge so the new colour scheme looks quite sophisticated. None of these photos have been styled so I can't wait till all the work has been done throughout the house and I can get down to the part I love the most- interior styling!!!
Very simple, alot still needs to be added such as 
Above the rad cover the previous owner had his plasma t.v wall mounted...which left lovely big holes in the wall that you can see for yourself below.
The photo below is taken of the double doors that lead into our dining area. I had already done the 'cutting in' (or edges) when I realised I hadn't taken a 'before' photo. You can see through to the kitchen area from here which is on the right side of the dining area. The walls in there really are hideous- a deep wine red that makes the kitchen look very small. I've now undercoated those walls too- well primed them because if I just jumped straight in and painted them with top coat then the under colour would show through in areas. Anyway, that is another post altogether!
Showing the door from the lounge into the hallway with those glass panels.
Mr Home Love hard at it with the roller. 
The existing mantle piece and fire surround.
Originally we painted most of the lounge with the same chalky white paint that we used in the entrance hall. The fire breast is painted in a beautiful Dulux colour called 'potters clay'. It's a warm grey shade. I love it! In this photo you can see I was cutting in on either side of the chimney breast with a bright but smooth raspberry/watermelon shade called 'summer pudding'- this colour is from the Crown paints Indulgence range. These are a small range of paints that are so creamy and claim to glide onto the walls. Even though we actually decided against going ahead with this colour, from what I did manage to use, it was a gorgeous texture. However the colour just wasn't what we had in mind. We both love the thought of grey and pink, but when the raspberry was applied to the walls, even in the tiny amount we used, we could see it wasn't going to achieve the feel we wanted. So out with that paint and in with...you guessed it, Brilliant White!
This looks really crisp and clean next to the newly painted mantle piece!
Keep in mind we have quite a dominant rust coloured lounge so the new colour scheme looks quite sophisticated. None of these photos have been styled so I can't wait till all the work has been done throughout the house and I can get down to the part I love the most- interior styling!!!
Very simple, alot still needs to be added such as1- a couple of single arm chairs (I'm thinking tub chairs by the fire)
2- a large floor rug
3- new blinds and curtains
4- photos and artworks
I also need to
1-rearrange our furniture, possibly bring in a couple of other pieces
2- take out our ottoman and replace with a coffee table
3- wall mount our television next to the chimney breast.
And many many more jobs on my to do list!
Hope you think it looks a little cleaner and more chic?
Did I mention we've also stripped Baby Home Love's room out and have undercoated and primed the walls. It looks as though we are going to need at least 3 coats of paint in his room as the existing wall colour was quite deep. As we speak Mr Home Love is attempting some DIY in there...oh boy, that really is another post!
Moving onto the dining area, again it was the same existing wall colour. The owner had left this extra large radiator cover here so I painted the wood panels white so it didn't stand out as much. Here you can see I had just started to paint the panels when I remembered I needed to take a 'before' photo.
Above the rad cover the previous owner had his plasma t.v wall mounted...which left lovely big holes in the wall that you can see for yourself below.
These photos were taken a week or so after we had moved in when none of our belongings had a home...half of them still don't!!
Even our fridge is homeless until we get our kitchen revamped! Until then it looks like it will stay at the end of our dining area.
I've managed to re-house my treadmill into the garage extension- hopefully this is temporary...ie I hope I find the motivation to start using it again?????
Two very simple 'after' photos of the same area. Lucky I already had in my mind that one of my many large mirrors would go up onto this wall at the end of the table. It covers the power point perfectly, which both myself and Mr Home Love decided could be a good idea to keep, just in case. All the holes have been filled in and painted over so the only evidence of the plasma that remains is the hidden power point!
Even painting the skirting boards white really just finish off the room and make the already high ceilings appear even taller. Happy days.
Even our fridge is homeless until we get our kitchen revamped! Until then it looks like it will stay at the end of our dining area.
I've managed to re-house my treadmill into the garage extension- hopefully this is temporary...ie I hope I find the motivation to start using it again?????
Two very simple 'after' photos of the same area. Lucky I already had in my mind that one of my many large mirrors would go up onto this wall at the end of the table. It covers the power point perfectly, which both myself and Mr Home Love decided could be a good idea to keep, just in case. All the holes have been filled in and painted over so the only evidence of the plasma that remains is the hidden power point!
Even painting the skirting boards white really just finish off the room and make the already high ceilings appear even taller. Happy days.What do you think...better?
Jane xx
Monday, October 05, 2009
So I thought I better show you what we've started on here at Home Love. Like I say, we've been in just over 3 weeks now and we've managed to re-paint the entrance hallway, stairwell and landing, the front lounge room, the dining area and small sun room. Not forgetting the powder room and the upstairs bathroom too. There is still so much to do!
I thought I'd start by showing you our entrance hall. The walls were painted in a custard coloured cream, which was by no means offensive but just needed a fresh breath of air injected into it. As the house is very light and airy as it is I decided to go for a gorgeous chalky white coloured paint with a washable matt finish.
We gather from what we can see here that the previous owner was a bit of a wanna-be DIYer. Nothing has been finished or prepared correctly or for longevity so every job we tackle takes us 10 times as long to finish as we are going back over work that has already been done to a very poor standard.
So when we started with the entrance hall we had to remove a dado rail wallpaper freeze that had been painted over with the existing custard colour. It involved alot of soaking and scrapping to remove the boarder. To paint over the walls that had so many gashes and chips out of them, took a good 3 coats of paint.
Once we had the walls sorted, we went back and sanded most of the woodwork. We still have to do all the existing door frames and doors, but we did all the raw wood like the skirting boards and dado rail. The I painted them all in a the same paint that I used on the powder room wooden walls. It's a low sheen wipeable wood paint in Brilliant white. It looks really great against the chalky grey white walls.
Our lounge room comes off the main hallway- being a 70's house it has 'feature' glass panels. This is the custard colour paint the walls were to start with.
The wooden dado rail. (AND very funny light fitting, which we have since taken down).
The glass front door and wooden built in cabinet to house the phone cords and broadband modem etc.
Like with the powder room, we painted everything in site- well almost. Still have to do the stair balustrade. The little cabinet has a matching one up near the ceiling above that houses our fuse box. After painting them white I thought they needed a little something so I bought two lovely glass handles to replace the old ones.
I thought I'd start by showing you our entrance hall. The walls were painted in a custard coloured cream, which was by no means offensive but just needed a fresh breath of air injected into it. As the house is very light and airy as it is I decided to go for a gorgeous chalky white coloured paint with a washable matt finish.
We gather from what we can see here that the previous owner was a bit of a wanna-be DIYer. Nothing has been finished or prepared correctly or for longevity so every job we tackle takes us 10 times as long to finish as we are going back over work that has already been done to a very poor standard.
So when we started with the entrance hall we had to remove a dado rail wallpaper freeze that had been painted over with the existing custard colour. It involved alot of soaking and scrapping to remove the boarder. To paint over the walls that had so many gashes and chips out of them, took a good 3 coats of paint.
Once we had the walls sorted, we went back and sanded most of the woodwork. We still have to do all the existing door frames and doors, but we did all the raw wood like the skirting boards and dado rail. The I painted them all in a the same paint that I used on the powder room wooden walls. It's a low sheen wipeable wood paint in Brilliant white. It looks really great against the chalky grey white walls.
Our lounge room comes off the main hallway- being a 70's house it has 'feature' glass panels. This is the custard colour paint the walls were to start with.
The wooden dado rail. (AND very funny light fitting, which we have since taken down).
The glass front door and wooden built in cabinet to house the phone cords and broadband modem etc.
Like with the powder room, we painted everything in site- well almost. Still have to do the stair balustrade. The little cabinet has a matching one up near the ceiling above that houses our fuse box. After painting them white I thought they needed a little something so I bought two lovely glass handles to replace the old ones.Do you like my 'home sweet home' sign there on the wall? It's not even going there I was just seeing what it looked like against the freshly painted walls. It's pressed tin and I bought it at the local florist here in Cellbridge called Absolutely Fabulous Flowers. I think I may put it near my kitchen door that leads to the side of our yard. Not sure yet, but cute all the same.
The old carpet was ripped off these stairs the first chance Mr Home Love had, he was delighted with himself as the carpet had a real odour. He threw it into the skip we had out the front and was impressed at the wooded floor underneath.
View from the front door, straight through to the back kitchen window that overlooks the yard.
The old carpet was a very dark green colour. This is a 'before' photo if ever I came across one!
The underlay beneath the carpet even had large stains on it...wonder what that could have been?
The upstairs landing once all the carpet was removed. Not in that bad of a condition but needs a good sand.
The stairs before Mr Home Love removed the carpet grips off every riser!
The old carpet was ripped off these stairs the first chance Mr Home Love had, he was delighted with himself as the carpet had a real odour. He threw it into the skip we had out the front and was impressed at the wooded floor underneath.
View from the front door, straight through to the back kitchen window that overlooks the yard.
The old carpet was a very dark green colour. This is a 'before' photo if ever I came across one!
The underlay beneath the carpet even had large stains on it...wonder what that could have been?
The upstairs landing once all the carpet was removed. Not in that bad of a condition but needs a good sand.
The stairs before Mr Home Love removed the carpet grips off every riser!All in all the hallway, stairway and landing took a full weekend to paint but it was so worth it as the house feels so much fresher when you enter the front door!
Improvement? I think so!!!
Jane xxx
Powder room mirror
I came across some better 'before' photos of our powder room so I thought I would show you them as well. As you can see the woodwork was all just a bit too much. Look at it this way- walls, toilet seat, shelves, hand towel ring, loo paper holder...all wood. Very claustrophobic indeed.
I'm sure you can see the difference the white paint makes?
Better don't you think?
I'm sure you can see the difference the white paint makes?For some unknown reason I forgot to paint the shelf that sits above the hand basin- how could I? These shelves came off the walls very easy and when we were painting we took them off- I must paint it though.
There was also a very plain pine (you guessed it) wooden framed mirror above the basin. Again this wasn't the worst and I could easily have left it natural but I wanted to paint it to tie in with our new bright striped toilet seat. To prepare the surface I gave it a light hand sand using a fairly worn piece of sandpaper just to clean it up a little. Instead of painting it white like the rest of the room, I had a pot of teal blue left over from a feature wall I painted in our previous apartment. The colour was too strong for what I had in mind so I added a good bit of white paint to it to tone it down. Now it matches the lighter aqua coloured stripe on the seat and adds a pop of colour.
Better don't you think?Janexx
Saturday, October 03, 2009
The first project
For me, the first project to start in the house was the room I couldn't stand the most...the powder room (or downstairs bathroom) under the stairs. Luckily for me it was the smallest room in the house too! Great!
The walls are lined with very narrow bead board which I love, but not when it's the plain pine colour that ours was. It made me feel like every-time I went in there I was in Canada sitting in a log cabin!!?
So my husband- Mr Home Love and I got down to business sanding and preparing the wooden walls to be painted. We bought a really good quality,expensive paint from Colour Trend in my favourite 'colour' Brilliant White, haha. I really am a believer that white paint is a pot of magic- it transforms even the most dated rooms and furniture.
We coated nearly everything in the wc with paint as the entire room was wood, right down to the toilet seat, which we changed from a very dirty pine seat to a bright white, pink and aqua stripe for a bit of fun!
Here are the photos below, however keep in mind that the room is so poky that the pictures were taken in very 'close' focus!
Mr Home Love applying the first coat of paint to the gorgeous pine walls.
A photo of the toilet, which I'm sure your delighted to see! I had to flip the lid up whilst painting because I had already made Mr Home Love put on the new loo seat and didn't want paint splattering onto the new lid.
The small hand basin.
This is the 'after' photo. As you can see the new toilet seat is fun right? Although the floor tiles aren't amazing, they aren't offensive. The powder room now feels 100% larger and brighter than it did before it got whitewashed. Now it feels more like a little beach hut somewhere in the Caribbean, complete with the cutest, authentic little painting of a beautiful beach. See it there on the shelf? It was left here by the previous home owner and as it is an original I just couldn't resist in keeping it.
The walls are lined with very narrow bead board which I love, but not when it's the plain pine colour that ours was. It made me feel like every-time I went in there I was in Canada sitting in a log cabin!!?
So my husband- Mr Home Love and I got down to business sanding and preparing the wooden walls to be painted. We bought a really good quality,expensive paint from Colour Trend in my favourite 'colour' Brilliant White, haha. I really am a believer that white paint is a pot of magic- it transforms even the most dated rooms and furniture.
We coated nearly everything in the wc with paint as the entire room was wood, right down to the toilet seat, which we changed from a very dirty pine seat to a bright white, pink and aqua stripe for a bit of fun!
Here are the photos below, however keep in mind that the room is so poky that the pictures were taken in very 'close' focus!
Mr Home Love applying the first coat of paint to the gorgeous pine walls.
A photo of the toilet, which I'm sure your delighted to see! I had to flip the lid up whilst painting because I had already made Mr Home Love put on the new loo seat and didn't want paint splattering onto the new lid.
The small hand basin.
This is the 'after' photo. As you can see the new toilet seat is fun right? Although the floor tiles aren't amazing, they aren't offensive. The powder room now feels 100% larger and brighter than it did before it got whitewashed. Now it feels more like a little beach hut somewhere in the Caribbean, complete with the cutest, authentic little painting of a beautiful beach. See it there on the shelf? It was left here by the previous home owner and as it is an original I just couldn't resist in keeping it. I will add more after photos in my next post when I show you a little project I am working on for in here.
Hope you think it's an improvement...we do!
Jane xx
Hello
Front Lounge Room
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