Painting Our House

So in case you hadn't heard, Jeremy and I are in the process of buying a house in Lebanon. We are totally excited about owning our own home and desperately need the extra space with a new baby on the way. It is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home with a huge backyard, that is already fenced! Unfortunately the kitchen was painted this horrid turquoise color. So we got permission to go in and start our painting even though we haven't technically closed yet. (That is a whole other, long, story!)

I didn't realize that I haven't taken a full room shot since painting, but here you can see some of the improvement. I will post another blog with completed photos, when I get that far! Jeremy and I painted these bright walls with a primer first. Then Mom and Julie helped me add the new colors. It is hard to tell in these pics but the main color is actually a pale green, Mountain Haze to be exact!

This is the other side of the kitchen/dining room.

My sister had the great idea of painting that half wall the beautiful dark green that I loved so much, but knew would be too dark to paint the whole kitchen with. We also painted the garage door and the 3rd bedroom and bathroom door frames with it. Oh yeah, and the blades of the ceiling fan! Every room has a ceiling fan.

Baby's room was a real dingy looking white with woodsy stickers on it. Jeremy scraped the stickers off for me!

Jeremy, Mom and I painted the wainscoting a warm brown and the ceiling and upper walls a creamy tan. It looks so much cleaner and cozy now. You can't really tell what I did in this picture, but every other panel is painted flat or glossy. It is still the same color, but it adds just a little bit more interest to the room. I saw this technique at a friend of Jeremy's once and fell in love with it. I couldn't wait to buy a house so I could try it for myself. The ceiling fan blades are also the glossy brown.

On to Kaden's room! I was so excited to do this room and you will see why in just a moment!

Jeremy and I started off by painting the whole room, walls, ceiling, doors, frames and ceiling fan blades, a happy 'Tropical Pool' blue.

Then the fun began! I am making Kaden a quilt for either his birthday or Christmas (Probably Christmas because I probably won't be done before his birthday!) that has cute frogs on it. So we turned his room into a whimsical froggy play land! Mom and Tiffany came and spent a day with me to create this amazing transformation.

Kaden was quite impressed and was full of smiles and 'Oooohhhh' s!

First we drew the scenes on the walls then we started painting. Tiffany and I learned a lot that day! Mom is a wonderful artist and had lots to teach us. Tiffany was much braver than I, she jumped right in and you would never know that she hadn't painted before! She has a wonderful natural talent. I on the other hand have always been timid about doing things like this, that I don't know I can do well, but I also jumped in and didn't do too bad!

Oh, I forgot one of the most important parts! I don't draw... So I had a some help! My cousin Brittany is a wonderful artist and she drew this sweet frog who looks like he is having the time of his life! She also drew some frog eyes and a tree which we put on a transparency and projected onto the wall so we could trace them! They might not have turned out exactly as she had imagined as unfortunately the day I chose to paint was her sister's birthday so she was unable to come help. But I love the finished product and am VERY thankful for her help!

Tiffany painted this sweet frog.

The other wonderfully talented artist that helped me out was a student of Jeremy's. Pearl drew this frog on the lily pad, the one Kaden is sitting next too, and another leaning against a couple of palm trees. I don't know what I would have done without these ladies help!

Mom painted most of the frogs ( and a whole lot more!) while Tiffany and I did filler stuff like water, sand and plants!

These two frogs hiding behind the door, I traced straight from the fabric that will be on Kaden's quilt. I was even brave enough to attempt my hand at painting the frog jumping into the water. And looking at this picture it even looks like I did a decent job!

Mom added the clouds in as a finishing touch.

Here are the last two frogs. The frog eyes are peeking up at the 'cool frog' leaning against the trees. Of course these pictures aren't exactly taken to scale!

When we get everything set up this will be the view as you sit in the living room! I am excited that people will get a glimpse of the froggy paradise when they come to visit! I can't wait to show it all off, it just makes me happy to walk in and look.

We will be putting carpet in both of the kids' rooms too. So those pictures will have to go on the next blog.

Thanks to Dion (a friend of Jeremy's) for the use of his painting drop cloths!