Friday, April 29, 2011

Guest Post: Newcomb Home!

I’m so happy to be here at The Adventures of Ordy and Joon! While Joon is studying for finals and becoming even more smarty pants, I’m excited to introduce myself and share the work I’ve been doing in my guest room.
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Hi! I’m Katie. You can usually find me blogging over at Newcomb Home.
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I live in Portland, Oregon with my husband and our two furry roommates, Carl and Diego. We bought our house about a year ago and have been ever so slowly updating and decorating each room. We’ve been working on a complete bathroom remodel, and I just finished the guest room (or, I made a lot of progress. Is any room ever really finished?).
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Diego thinks he’s the star of my blog.
I wish I had a true ‘Before’ picture for you, but I got in there with a can of paint so fast we forgot to take pictures. The walls used to be bright yellow and the carpet was navy blue. The drywall on the ceiling had been textured but never primed or painted. There was crown molding and trim that had never been caulked. It was not a pretty sight. But it is now!
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The first step to transform this room was to paint stripes on the wall. It was by far the most time consuming painting project I’ve completed, but well worth it.
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Can you see the stripes? The paint is Valspar’s coconut milk, in a flat and semi-gloss finish.
After our new carpet was installed we started filling the room with second hand furniture. The bed was my grandparents. I slept on it during my childhood and was lucky to inherit it when my parents downsized to a condo. The nightstand was also a hand-me-down, from a friend in Maryland. I’m happy to continue to use both pieces of furniture. They remind me of past homes and both had good bones but just needed a facelift. So, I busted out the spray paint.
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The bed went from a reddish stain to white and the nightstand when from a peeling beige paint to bright green. I love the calming blue of the comforter with the wild green of the dresser.
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After the major pieces of furniture were finished, I got to the fun part – accessories!
When deciding on the decor, I was thinking of people that have visited from all corners of the country and how we hope to have many more guests in the future (Portland is beautiful in the summer everyone!). So I decided to use travel as my inspiration by including things from trips Matt and I have taken, or Portland-themed decor. But no, I didn’t put a bird on it (Portlandia reference anyone?).
The turtle picture is from the first trip Matt and I took together, to Hawaii. The blue tray on the nightstand is from our recent trip to Japan and the photo on the bookshelf is from our trip to Prague.
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Next to the bookshelf is a painting of Mt. Hood, a must-see if you’re visiting Oregon. My mom bought it for me at a great outdoor market downtown, which is also a fun destination for visitors (can’t go wrong with a market that sells elephant ears!).
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Yes those are Twilight books and no, I’m not embarrassed :) Everyone has a guilty pleasure, right? The bookshelf was fun to decorate with books, photos, and vases, but I also tried to keep with the travel theme.
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On the top shelf I put our Portland-related books. Most importantly, a guidebook for happy hour hotspots :)
For the rest of the decor, I looked to the blogosphere for inspiration. I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a new lamp, so I bought just the base at Target ($12.99!) and jumped on the bandwagon, using coffee filters to transform the red lamp shade.
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I was inspired by another creative idea and made a sunburst mirror using shims and wood stain from Home Depot.
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I love the bold color of the dark wood, and think both the wood of the mirror and the soft lamp shade are good contrasting textures compared to the shiny spray paint on the bed and nightstand.
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I’d still like to get some curtains for the window and put a small chair next to the bookshelf for a reading nook, but overall I’d be proud to have guests in this room!
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I’d love for you to head over to Newcomb Home to check out some of the other projects I’ve been avoiding housework with working on.
Thanks again to Joon for having me over to share my room reveal on her wonderful blog!


No, no... thank YOU for guest posting! Go check out her blog! And look at HER version 


of MY lemon wreath!


Love the purple door! 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Guest Post: Thrifty Finds & Redesigns!

Hello Ordy & Joon readers! I’m Katie, your guest blogger today from Thrifty Finds and Redesigns!
Thrifty Finds and Redesigns is my collection of DIY projects and decorating ideas!

Today I am going to share a furniture redo with you! A few weekends ago, I found this little telephone table at our local flea market. One of my favorite vendors was selling it, she had another one that she had refinished but she encouraged me to go for the cheaper one, "It will be such a fun project for you!" and it has been such a fun project! I still hesitated though, because I couldn't think of where it would go in our home, I feel like we are maxing out our space already! I decided that it didn't matter where it went, I NEEDED IT! She only charged me $20 for it, and her finished one was $50. I thought the savings were worth it to just do the work myself!
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AFTER:

I am in LOVE! It was sooo simple to fix up, it took me no time to do it! I started by painting the entire thing gray....



I then sanded it down to distress the edges, and rubbed wood stain on it to further "antique" it....



I covered the seat with drop cloth. The original seat back was missing so, I traced out the shape onto thick cardboard, cut it out, and also covered it in drop cloth. I then decided to paint it....I used a stencil and acrylic paint to add the design...


Once the paint dried on the table and seat backing, I put it back together! I then added a crate, that I have had for a while, from Home Goods...I made a little tag out of cork to give it a little something extra...


My ball jar lamp also found a new home on the table and I think it goes well with the old style telephone table...


As you can see, it found a home in our home! I moved some stuff around to make it work and couldn't be happier with it.
Hope this inspires you to take home an old piece of furniture and give it a makeover! Thanks for having me Joon! Feel free to stop by and check out my other projects!


Thanks, Katie! You guys should DEFINITELY check out Katie's adorable blog! I spend way too much time going over all of her cute projects! Thank you so much for guest posting for me while I bury my head in these books! 

Friday, April 22, 2011

Feature Friday + Birthday Pics!

You can find me {and my office} at Remodelaholic for their Friday Feature!! WHOOP WHOOP! Go stop by and see today at 5!






In other news, here are some pics of birthday dinner last night :) I had so much fun with the boys! 

Bobo and I

Ordy & I

Two Amazing Men! 



Enjoying the amazing patio weather! 


After a lovely dinner and then ice cream (of course!)- I came home to someone who was just dying to wish me a Happy Birthday and love up on me! 

Bandit!
We had a fun time comparing who had a bigger head. I think it's obvious B does. It.is.huge.


 


I love my little mutt-mutt! I also love the boys who made tonight's birthday dinner a huge success! Ordy has tomorrow off for Good Friday and we will of course be using it as an extension of birthday celebration. I may be 25, but I'm still taking at least 2 days for celebrations (better than the entire month when I was 21!!) 

Speaking of, I thought I'd leave y'all with a flash back of pictures throughout the years (from what I have on my harddrive- sorry no 5-13 year old pics of me with my buzz cut!) 

20 years old and being a diva... Yikes. Love you, bff.

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20- Party THREE

Whoever had the creepy idea to make me eat my face on my cake should be punished. 

21- Party ONE

21-Party TWO

21- Party THREE

21- Party FOUR


22- Party ONE

22- Party TWO

22- Party THREE
me, mom, baby KIAN!
23- Party ONE

23- Party TWO




23- Party THREE

More...

And of course, who can forget the amazing surprise party Ordy threw for me- having everyone there without me having a clue (trust me, if I knew I wouldn't have repeated a birthday dress! Um, hello 22 and 24... haha!) 


Well, I hope you had as much fun as I did going down Birthday Brat Memory Lane!!! It was a blast for me to relive these moments!!! Until next year!