Decisions, Decisions

At the end of last week's post about our new "wood planked wall" in the master bedroom, I asked for your suggestions with regard to whether to paint or stain the wood.

I have to say that I am not surprised that most of you voted to paint it white.  The reason I wasn't surprised is because that was my first intent as well.  A nice creamy white, much like this...

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But then, I headed to Pinterest, and found many examples of stained wood that I just LOVED!!

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On a trip with McG to Home Depot to buy some supplies for his garage project, I picked up a small can of Weathered Grey stain, hoping that would help me to solidify my choice.

I grabbed one of the extra boards that we had in the garage and tried it out.

The piece I chose had some knots and some variation in the colour of the wood, much like most of the boards we used on the wall.

I did not use wood conditioner prior to the stain because the look I was hoping for was more mottled and not uniform.

I love how the wood grain shows and some of the natural colour of the woods shows through.

I'm really leaning toward this look and I think that the other walls will look great painted a creamy white along with the trim and closet doors.

Have I won you over...or are you still voting for white??

Cheryl

Getting Back to Work!!

HELLO!!!

I can't believe that I have been away from this blog for so long!!  I'm sure that some of you thought that we had fallen off the planet..and I feel that way too!

This little part time job turned into almost full time hours for the last three months.  That, together with McG taking the last six weekends to go duck hunting, has really put a damper on our project list.

BUT - this weekend, we seemed to get ourselves in gear.  The weather here was amazing at 60+ degrees. I think that helped to get us into the mood to work.

Back in the spring a co-worker of McG's offered him over 200 square feet of pine flooring for free. He was doing some work on his house and ripping it out and replacing it.  McG took it, knowing that I was bound to find a use for it.

I, like everyone else, LOVE the look of shiplap walls and I knew that I wanted to try it somewhere in the house.  And with 200 square feet of it, we could do a few projects!! (wink, wink!!)

McG cleaned it up by cutting off the tongue pieces which were pretty damaged up when it was taken out.  It had a vanished finish on one side, so we turned it around and used the unfinished side.

Before we began, we found the studs behind the drywall with a stud finder and marked them with a chalk line.  We started at the ceiling and checked our work with a level and measuring tape as we worked our way down the wall, making sure to stagger the joints.

The wall we covered was 12 feet long.  The project took us just a couple of hours to complete.

McG secured it with his cordless Ryobi trim nailer using 2 inch nails because we had to go through 3/4 inch boards and 1/2 inch drywall.  My job was to sort through the pile of boards and select which boards would go where.

I am loving the look of the shiplap, but now am torn as to whether to leave it natural, to stain it, or to paint it white.

I'm headed to Pinterest to search out some inspiration to help me make my decision.

I'd LOVE to hear what you would do!!

Cheryl

No Cost Changes in the Master Bedroom!

Earlier this week I told you about my "Hate My House Syndrome" - and I had thought that it was just a result of returning home from vacation.  I do believe that was what was behind my feelings - that and the cold temperatures that I returned to.  I will be the first to tell you that I feel I suffer from seasonal affective disorder.  I really hate winter and cold temperatures like those we live with here in Ontario.

In an effort to get rid of those feelings this week, I have taken on a few small projects this week.  Nothing major, just some re-arranging and bringing some spring into my home.  The first was to re-arrange our master bedroom.

I moved the bed under the window and off the long back wall.

I put McG's marble-topped bedside table at the far end of the room near the ensuite door to the bathroom.

My armoire was moved to the long wall where the bed used to be, while my dressing table was left in its original position.

Here's a closer look at the new arrangement on top of the armoire, including a new owl I found at the Dollar store this week!

Just some small changes - that cost NOTHING - but made a big impact in making me feel a little better about my home this week!

Hope you enjoyed them!

Cheryl

Master Bedroom Mini Makeover

I'm sorry I've been MIA this week...I feel like I haven't posted in soooooo long...

It's been kind of crazy here this week - lots of things to get done during the day and then working on the laundry room with McG in the evenings...we are almost to the painting stage!!!

We did go shopping in Michigan this past weekend...those of you who follow on Facebook got a sneak peek of something I purchased...

I'm sure you all guessed that it was new bedding!!  When I posted the tour of our Master Bedroom, our bedding looked like this...

A lovely quilt of soft blues, greens and white.  I love this bedding and won't be getting rid of it by any means, but I wanted something a bit warmer in colour for the winter because this is definitely more of a spring and summer print.  I wasn't looking to do a big makeover and definitely wanted to keep it under $50 which is kind of hard to do when it comes to bedding.

HOWEVER...

When we were in Michigan last weekend we went to The Christmas Tree Shop...Have you ever been there??  A lovely store with much more than Christmas decorations...that's where I spotted my new LOVELY...for just $29...that's right a queen size quilt with 2 shams that came in a matching tote bag for that low price.  It had the blues in it that I wanted but also some gold and rust and a darker green - great colours for winter!

I folded the other quilt and laid it at the end of the bed and topped it with a teal coloured throw I had in the living room.  It really brings out the darker blue in the quilt.  Here's another closer look...

I also picked up 2 gold tablecloths to use as new curtains in the room...they help to bring in the gold colour from the quilt as well...and I got them for a steal!!

Can you believe that price - $2.99!!!  They were 60 inches wide so they took extra curtain rings - I used 9 on each panel.  They can easily be pulled closed at night to add some extra darkness to the room.

Our old panels were a creamy beige and will go back up when the summer bedding comes back out.  Here's a side by side look of both of the quilts.

The new quilt really brings out the "cherry" on the headboard and warms up the room.

Do you have "summer" and "winter" bedding for your room?  I think it's nice to have something different in there - especially if you can find it on a budget like I did!

Cheryl
Linking up @:
The DIY Show Off
Savvy Southern Style
Beyond The Picket Fence
Embracing Change
5 Days 5 Ways

HOME TOUR - Our Master Bedroom

Well, since McG is out of town this week, and we really aren't working on the living room/dining room renovation this week...WAIT - let me re-phrase that...I am working on stuff - but its just painting baseboards and we all know how to do that...I thought since I really didn't have any productive posts for this week - I should start to show you around Our House!

I've decided the Master bedroom was the place to start...since - it was the cleanest room and I really didn't need to do any styling to get the pictures done...I know L-A-Z-Y!!! So here we go....

This is the view from the double door entry.  The room is about 15 x 16 feet and has double closets...not a huge room by any means but just enough to hold everything we need.  The queen sleigh bed we bought on clearance a number of years ago...the antique trunk I received as a gift for my 16th birthday (oh so many years ago!!! please don't ask how many!!)  The dresser in the back is McG's - it was his grandmother's but it was in sad shape when we got it and painted green.  I had my Dad build new drawers for it and re-stain it back in the 80's (before we knew what DIY was).  The telephone table under the window belonged to my Grandmother - it might just become my first chalk paint project - YES, MY NAME IS CHERYL AND I AM A CHALK PAINT VIRGIN!

Here's a closer view of the bed and it gives you a better look at McG's dresser...The quilt I purchased at Quilts and More here in Canada last boxing day.  The sweater pillows I purchased at The Great Canadian Superstore last spring on clearance for $3.00 each - they were a steal and I should have bought more!  The striped pillow covers I purchased at Fabricland - they are outdoor sunbrella fabric but they matched the bedding perfectly.

Here's closer look at the bedding - I can't remember the name of the print, but again, I purchased it at Quilts and More.

This armoire McG made when we lived in our previous home...it was a small 2 bedroom and I needed something to keep all the kids clothes in since they shared a room...when we moved here, they each had their own room and their own dressers, so I acquired this.

You will notice, that the trim and closet doors are stained in this room...Our whole home was made like this...we have changed the trim and doors to a white painted finish in the main living areas of our home...we have yet to get to the bedrooms or bathrooms, but that is on the long list of things to do!

I hope you liked the tour of our Master Bedroom...I'm looking forward to sharing more of our home with you in the coming days...I love the colours in our room...you will see that these beachy colours of blue, sand, green and brown are a continuous thread throughout our home.  It makes decorating much easier, because I am able to move things room to room without having to change or re-upholster the furniture...

Thanks for coming by... please feel free to leave a comment - I LOVE to hear from you!!

Cheryl