Master Bathroom Update

We have been working on updating our master bathroom for about two months, and it is finally starting to get there. We finished painting, and there is no longer even a hint of that hideous red we used to have.
When we first started planning for what we wanted to do I made up a mood board, so we would have a solid plan, and something to reference. My rooms never turn out exactly as planned, but it's a great way to get started. Here's the original mood board.

See, the two lights at the top? The stripe one is our dream light, but I just wasn't able to swallow the $200 price tag, no matter how cute it is. Especially for something so simple. The other light is from cb2, and was priced a lot more reasonably at $50. We were planning on buying that one, but life got busy, and it just didn't happen, then...


I was browsing ebay when I found this light.

It's from Good Earth Lighting and usually costs about $90. Here's the kicker, I got it for $8.50!!! With shipping it came in just a little bit under $20, which is unbelievable. 

I was really excited, but a little apprehensive about whether or not it would have all it's parts and function properly. When it arrived this past Wednesday, I took everything out of the box, and checked for missing or broken parts, and it was all there, and in excellent condition. WOO-HOO! 

Mike started installing it on Friday, but because of the shotty way our house was constructed he had to do some improvisation. Just so happens our junction box was installed so that it was recessed about two inches,

properly installed junction box

 and it wasn't going to be as simple as it should have been, so he took a break from it, and last night he figured out some way to make it work. (have I ever mentioned how grateful I am for my handy husband!)

I am ecstatic about the way it looks installed. It changes the look and feel of the whole bathroom dramatically. I don't think I've ever seen a light fixture do so much for a space before. It took the bathroom from ehhh-  functional and efficient, to my soon to be spa haven. I LOVE IT!

Here are some before and afters of the room so far. We have some more projects that we're still working, on, but it's finally starting to come together!

Please excuse the not so great photos this bathroom has zero natural light!

I really wish I had taken better photos of the light before. 

We spray painted the old frame with a hammered metallic to hold us over until we got a new one.

Here's the view from our "sink nook" which is just outside the bathroom.

 It's SO much better already! This light definitely has some serious "bang for it's buck" I still just can not get over how huge of a difference it made. 

Where do you find amazing deals?

A place for Jewelry to Shine

So, I am still in the middle of a ton of bigger projects, but that doesn't mean I have forgotten all about the little guys. Here's a quick idea to add some sparkle to your closet, dressing room or anywhere that you like to get yourself ready for the day!
I was looking through some of my sample knobs, in search of some inspiration for my little loves dresser makeover when I realized that I have an abundance of small crystal and glass knobs. What can I say, I love how they add just the littlest touch of bling. "Hmmm, what can I do with these fab little gems?" So I snatched them up, grabbed my drill and into my closet I went.
This is what I ended up with. I am thinking of adding one or two more knobs, but for now these two are making me quite happy.

To give you some kind of idea where these are here's a shot of my closet from when we first toured the house. They are right on the side of the tall shelving unit.

To the left of the taller shelves is a shorter area with lots of tiny shelves where I keep all my tiny clothes, socks, underwear, shoes, and anything else that fits in a three inch high shelf. I use the top of it as a "vanity."

If you want to add some jewelry storage/ display to your space all you need to do is drill a hole big enough for the screw of the knob, slide it through and tighten it up. I'm totally loving it! My closet is the one place where I am taking out all the stops. It is in the process of being "girlified" as we speak, and that's why I am showing you pictures cropped tightly and from before we moved in. I am slowly getting there, and can't wait to show you my little "retreat" when it's finished. 

Here's a shot of one of the knobs from the reflection in my mirror. LOVE IT!!!

Speaking of Girly Spaces. I am taking my little munchkin for a hair cut today at Sweet & Sassy. So much fun, and it doesn't get much girlier than that. Maybe I'll find some more inspiration!

In the Mood for a Bath

Our Master Bath is in SERIOUS need of a makeover. I have some photos of it, but I'll save those for the end because I don't want to scare you away. 

Here's the moodboard for the Bathroom and Sink Nook.

Sources-
1. Paint by Mythic. I won't be to picky when it comes to the paint color as long as it's in the tan/khaki/greige family. I can't be because I am hoping Mike can snag a gallon from his boss for very little cost.
2. Inspiration Lamp from Layla Grace, though at 200 smackers we'll have to improvise.
3. Our improvisation. I am going to paint or use fabric to add some stripes to this baby from CB2.
4. The Champaign Bath Bar from Savoy House is something I don't know that I will be able to cut costs on. I love it in a million ways, and I think it will look totally fab!
5. This "Compacted Canvas" from Home Decorators Collection would look amazing in our bath. I'm hoping that I will be able to achieve a very similar look myself. Time to get out my paint brush!
6. I am head over heels for these Antique Tile mirrors from West Elm are A-MA-ZING, but at $150 each I think this will have to be another DIY for me. I already have three similar sized mirrors, now I just need to transform them.
7. The shower head and knob are the Telford Line by Moen. They were purchased at Home Depot.
8. We plan on staining some trim and using it to frame the builder's grade mirror in our sink nook.
9. We have a space saver for over our toilet. We've had it forever and I don't know where we bought it.
10. Some nice New Towels! The ones pictured are from Target. I purchased some from JCPenney last fall, but they were misplaced during our move. I really hate to buy new ones, when I already did!

11. I found a very similar garden stool at Ross for only $25! WOO-HOO!

12. I actually was so lucky to find this shower curtain at Big-Lots for $15! YAY! I don't think they have it anymore, but $39.99 on amazon is still a pretty decent price.

13, 16, 17, 18. The towel bar, hook and rings are the Crestfield line by Moen. We got them at Home Depot
14. We ordered our Moen- Belden faucets from overstock when they were having a big sale on bath fixtures.
15. I added this double sink vanity from Home Decorator's Collection because I really like the color. I think for now we are just going to refinish our existing vanity with a dark stain, but a girl can dream, right?

We are using the colors from this basket and it's liner as our inspiration and starting point.

Now, that you have an idea of where we are trying to go, I'll show you what we are currently dealing with.

WARNING: These photos may cause you extreme nausea and eye pain!

what were they thinking! why red?!? why not a nice tan!?!

I played with it in photoshop for a minute to give you an idea of what we want the walls to look like. They came out a little greener than they will be in real life, but they are still WAY better than the current red/orangey mess!

This is a shot looking from our bedroom into our sink nook, the bathroom is behind the curtain.

We have all the fixtures taken care of now, and most of the accessories, now we just need to patch the million holes, go crazy with the sander and get those walls painted!

Our other bathrooms aren't much better. They are full of some crazy wall paper!

Do you have any rooms in your home that you have no clue what the previous owner was thinking?

What We Worked On - Early February 2012

As usual we have been very busy trying to get things done around the house while still tending to our everyday life responsibilities. Here's a post to catch you up on all that we've been working on these past two weeks.


Wall Lamps
Before we even found this house I knew I wanted to do wall mounted lights in the Master. When I found these Pivoting Swing-Arm Pin-up Lamp for only $33 I had to snatch them right up. There were a few others we had our eye on, but the prices for ones this size were much higher. So, I showed them to Mike, and we snatched them up right away. I was tempted to buy some matching cord covers for $8 a pop, but I'm going to try to rig something up myself before we do that. I added one onto this photo to show you what they'll look like once we add the covers on.

just in case you were wondering. yes, that is a pink plastic elephant. i got him for $2 at target. we sprayed him pink, then I covered him with the pink Martha glitter paint from Home Depot. I LOVE HIM!

Here's the shot without the cord cover, this photo also gives you an idea of our progress in the master bedroom. I am pretty happy with how it's coming along. I think I'm going to take down the capiz shells on the ceiling, it's a little too repetitive now that the lamps are hung on the walls. You can also see where I was testing out my technique for the painted wallpaper that I mentioned wanting to do before.

The Frame is Painted and Art is Hung!
this is one of those things that I really should have took a before picture of.  This print has been in my grandparents house for for.eeevvvv.er, my whole life, probably much longer than that. anyway, I really like the art, in fact it makes me happy, the picture is nice, but there are also lots of grandparent memories that go along with it. 

so, to get to the point of it. I would've loved to get it matted and framed, and made it really beautiful, but that's not at all practical on our budget. The frame was originally a poopy brown color and the inner part of it was a velvety texture. 

Before we started painting we put a few brads in the corners to reinforce the originals and reduce some of the wobbliness. Mike also filled in all the nail holes and the corner cracks with shrink free.

I first attempted to paint it with a brush, I used a deep maroonish brown, but that wasn't working very well, the wood looked very brushed and the velvety part was just soaking it up, so much so that you couldn't even see the paint. 

Mike and I both decided that it needed something to make it really pop, so we got a can of spray paint and he got to work. He started by spray priming it first and then 24 hours later he did a coat of the blue followed by another about an hour after the first. 

Chevron Stripes in the Entry
I have been drooling over these stripes for a few weeks now, and we finally got started on some stripes of our own over the weekend. In case you forgot this is our inspiration photo from apartment therapy.

This is our wall and our current progress on it. Mike painted the wall with a white semi-gloss over the weekend, after waiting a few days we marked for our chalk lines. We still need to do the vertical lines and tape off the stripes, hopefully we get a lot done over the weekend. I will be doing a step by step post once the whole project is complete. 

Flower Arrangements

some hydrangeas for the living and dining room

some roses for the master bedroom

some more roses for the kitchen
(i thought i bought a dozen, but actually got about 30)

New Curtains and Tablecloth

I found some fabulous deals in the Target clearance section. Here are some of them! We had some really nice grey cotton duck curtains with grommets on this window before, but when I saw these I knew they would be perfect! Then I found the tablecloth a few minutes later, and I was a pretty happy camper. 

I purposely framed this picture with the walls of the Living Room to show the look I was going for. I love how it ties the two rooms together. The fact that they're one of my favorite colors doesn't hurt much either. This photo also clearly displays the fact that we have a LOT more painting to do.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing our progress, and will be 

inspired to get started on one of your own dream projects! 

What have we been up to?

I have been working on a timeline over the past couple of days to see just how much progress we have achieved since purchasing our house two months ago. It's interesting to me how differently my brain processes data when it's presented in another way. Before we actually owned the home we put together a timeline of what we thought we would be able to get down in the first two weeks. WOW! those two weeks went by fast, and we still haven't gotten everything done that we thought we would right off the bat. I think that is a prime example of what HGTV has done to my mind as well as the minds of other innocent viewers. You see these dramatic transformations completed over a few days, and it makes it hard to be realistic when scheduling work on your own home. I suppose it would be possible if I had a staff of 30 plus people and some of that TV "magic" but alas I do not. We are just two average homeowners putting all we've got into our poor beat up house trying to love it back into a home. So far, so good. I am quite happy with what we've accomplished.

If you want to have a look at what we've been up to just check out our timeline and you'll be up to speed in no time. (hint: it'll be much easier to read if you click on  it and open it in a new window)

I hope you enjoyed checking out our progress. We have sure enjoyed the process. We still have a to do list that is 3 pages long, and always growing so check back soon to see what we're up to!

Lots of Love,

The Barkanics

Busy Busy Bees!

So it has been forever since I've been able to sit down and write a new post, and until last night we didn't have our computer here at the house, or even hooked up. Today is a new day, a day filled with Internet access and a day in which my office is functioning much better (doesn't function very well at all without a computer or any Internet access.) So my sincerest apologies, and a promise of some wonderful and meaty posts in the very near future. We have been quite busy, painting, hanging, changing and rearranging around our new home, and I cant wait to share all of it! Here are some photos of the progress!

blinds and curtains hung up in the kitchen

the rug is laid down, and the sofa and chair have been delivered

I've been having some fun decorating the mantel, it certainly is not anywhere near how I want it in this shot, but at least it's clean and I am loving my candle holder and the fact that we successfully mounted the TV above the fireplace

Our master bedroom is starting to come along, I finally took the time to hang up the rods and draperies this week, and I am SO glad I did. The fabric tacked up ala college dorm was really starting to grate on my nerves.

I'm not sure if this is the permanent solution for the window dressings, but its working well for now. I am keeping my eye on all things drapery clearance in search of the perfect patterned drapery in a 96' length for under $15 a panel, but I may decide that the mismatched look works just fine for us. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the New Year!

Mood Board Master

Here it is! A basic mood board for our soon to be Master Bedroom. As you can see it is very light, bright and white. After living in a basement for 3 years we are very excited to be above ground, and we plan to make the most of it.

1. I plan on using the amazing birdie  and  zig zag fabrics to make a reversible duvet cover and matching pillows and shams. At $7.48 a yard I should be able to make all of it for about $90. I am very excited! I have been going backand forth over bedding choices for a few months now, and I just hadn't been able to find anything that I was completely sold on. When I saw this fabric I knew it was perfect, when I saw the price I was 110% sold!
2. I am hoping to find a great deal on some art prints similar to this one for above our bed [or on the non-windowed wall if we put our bed under one of the windows]
3. I just love this allen + roth wall sconce for each side of the bed. It will save space on our night stands and I am quite fond of the idea of being able to move them into convenient positions. Get this - they only cost $39.97 a piece. Lowe's is great for affordable lighting.
4. The curtains pictured are from Pottery Barn, and unfortunately they have been discontinued. I will be keeping my eye out for a great bargain on curtains that are the same color and a similar weight because I think they will look fabulous in our bedroom.
5. These X Benches are the Parker X Bench - White with Brown Trim from: serenaandlily.com for $650 [a little out of our range] and the Toscane Linen Nailhead Bench is on Special for $325 at Restoration Hardware, but even on special it is definitely a stretch especially since this piece of furniture is more for looks than actual function. I think that the Powder Blue Suzani would look great on top of this X Bench from amazon. It looks like it will be pretty easy to reupholster and at just $10 for the fabric and $80 for the bench it still is a lot more reasonable than the other two. I might just end up getting a little help from Mike to make one that is perfect for us and costs even less. I guess you'll have to wait and see!

6. The rug in the mood board is unfortunately another discontinued item from Pottery Barn, it is woven seagrass, but you never know what can be found at the outlet [don't you love my wishful thinking] in the event that this one can't be found I will probably opt for something like the one pictured here which is the Chunky Wool and Natural Jute Rug from Pottery Barn and on sale I can get the 5x8' for $250. The 8x10' is $450, until we actually close on the house I'm not sure which size will work better, but I am hoping that with my mad crazy bargain shopping skills I will be able to keep the cost under $300.
7. This is our current bed, and the quilt that I am growing quite tired of. We bought the head and footboard when we bought our mattress at Sleepy's. It was the floor model and with the sale they had going on we ended up getting it for $300, which was quite the deal considering it originally had been marked at $1000. This is one of the first "big" purchases that Mike and I made together, and I love it!
8. I like the basic style of this five drawer dresser from Crate and Barrel, but I am not very into the $1199 price tag. We will look for a somewhat wide dresser with legs, and will probably end up painting it white to brighten up the space even more. I will look at craigslist, garage sales and thrift shops until I find something that is more in our price range [which means it shouldn't be much more than $200].

I hope you enjoyed the chance to see what we are dreaming of and working on creating.I can't wait for the follow up post to this one with the after photos of our renovated room! FUN FUN FUN!

Just so you have a reference point of what we are going to be working with here are some before photos of the Master Bedroom [these pictures are from the MLS and when we first walked through the house. Also, this is the previous owners furniture]