Keeping Things Private

I'm not the most modest person you'll ever meet.  If there is a load of clean laundry on top of the dryer and I need a pair of jeans, a shirt, etc, I've been known to dart quickly through the house half naked to get them.  You can ask my college roomies.  Some of them were not too fond of this maneuver.  That being said, I am not an exhibitionist.  So after Seth and I removed the plantation shutters on the windows in our master bathroom, we needed to figure out a new way to maintain our privacy.  The neighbors behind us aren't that close, but I can definitely see their windows so I'm sure they can see ours.

I'm not a plantation shutter hater.  When they are made of quality materials, they can be very classy. I do not like the fake plastic ones (we had those in our old house and they were promptly removed). The problem with these in our master bathroom was twofold.  One - they had been improperly painted and were no longer functional.  In fact, the slats were stuck at various angles (you can kind of tell in the photo above - I'm sorry I don't have a better pic).  Two - they were painted cream and when we had all of our trim painted white, there was really no way to salvage them.  

We deliberated options like 1) new plantation shutters, 2) cafe curtains (they cover the bottom half of the window only letting in light from above), and 3) frosting the windows.  Number three was the winner.  We used this tutorial and this window film (it can also be found at Home Depot).  

before

We started this at night and so my before picture is horrible.  I will be a better blogger during the next project.  

progress

After completing only four panes we were tired and frustrated so we called it quits for the night.  FYI - applying the film is much easier with two people.  I was able to get you better pictures in the daylight though.

after

We fully intended to cover all of the panes, but I was sad that I wasn't going to be able to see the trees in our backyard anymore so we left it like this for now.  Don't worry - only my head is visible above the frosted part.  And if the neighbors glimpse the top few inches of Seth's manly chest, that's okay.

  

I spent some time today using our new toy (an awesome compound miter saw) for a living room furniture project...stay tuned.  Why I decided to do this on the hottest day of the week I'm not sure. It was a steamy 97 degrees and I was sweating for sure.  That's DIY commitment, right?  Have a great weekend everyone!

Bathroom Love Notes

Ah, communication.  Supposedly one of the most difficult things to master in a marriage.  With Seth working days and me working nights, it can definitely be a challenge.  Inspired by these projects on Pinterest, I created our own dry erase "love notes" board for the master bathroom.

I just printed "[love notes]" onto the bottom of a piece of white card stock and popped it into a cute navy blue frame that I found at Home Goods.  

Seth and I use it pretty frequently to jot down notes to one another.  Sometimes they are lovey and sometimes they are just practical.

This was a quick, easy, cheap project that could be customized in so many different ways.  I've seen it used on Pinterest as a weekly menu, a calendar, a grocery list, and a to do list.  The possibilities are endless!

A Styled Dining Room Buffet

After about 10 months, I have finally styled the dining room buffet.  While unpacking, our CD player ended up on top of the buffet and stayed there for months mostly due to a lack of a better place.  We knew eventually the CD player would have a spot in the living room built-ins, but it took a bit of time for us to get those built-ins sanded, primed, painted, and ready for filling.  Since those are now painted and mostly styled (post to come when they are finished), I was able to move the CD player and get started on the buffet.  Finally.

Here is what we lived with for 10 months.  Boring.  I cleared it off and used some baskets to fill the wall space above the buffet.

I picked up these baskets from Hobby Lobby a few years ago and we used them in our dining room at the old house.  

I then placed a silver tray from my good friend Anna opposite the lamp and added a couple of vases from Target and a white ceramic cow creamer on top.

I placed a new votive holder from West Elm and a sand timer from Hobby Lobby around the lamp.

And I'm calling that done for now.

Much better than an empty wall and a CD player.  I also changed the bookcase on the opposite side of the dining room...

before

after

...and the dining room hutch.

 before

after

I put our fine china on display and decluttered.  A lot.  We are having a yard sale in July and are tying to purge a lot of stuff.  I realize that now it is a bit too sparse, but I will fix that in time.  

It makes me much happier to walk into the dining room now and see these areas looking more styled and closer to complete.