Projects, projects, projects..............

I admit it, I have a problem.  I'm a serial decorator/remodeller.  That would be great if I ever managed to finish a project before I moved on to the next.  But noooo.  I'll have an idea; mock it up, and then leave it like that for a year or two.  I obviously have a problem with either committing or closing.  Or maybe I'm just super lazy and can come up with the plans but would rather have someone else implement them.  Trouble is there isn't that someone else, so my house is full of strange vignettes of projects that may or may not happen.  And to make matters worse, I seem to come up with these ideas around Christmas time when I should be concentrating on decorating for the Holidays, not thinking about tiling a backsplash or fireplace. 

So here's some crazy pictures of the state of things in my house today.

I started stripping this fireplace last December.  Yeah, that's right, it's been a year!  I plan on painting it grey (when my 15 gallons of paint arrive).  Yes I know people will be tutting at me for painting the wood, but there's so much wood already in my house, that I think it will make the fireplace stand out more.  Plus I want to make it look less Victorian.  And that leads me onto the other part of this project.  More tutting I'm sure.  The tile, although original, is majorly cracked, as well as being a strangely mottled green/brown.  It's never really gone with anything else in the house.  So I've come up with an alternative.  I've always loved a classic carrara marble fireplace surround.  It's clean and crisp and timeless.  So when I went to Home Depot to chose my paint the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they now sold carrara marble subway tile off the shelf.  Bingo.  I could now mock-up my project without having to order a bunch of tile off a website.  I hope to tile over the tile without doing too much damage to the original, just incase someone wants to restore it one day.

And that brings me onto my next project.  More tiling.  This time it's the backsplash in the kitchen.  When I remodelled the kitchen 8 years ago, I hadn't heard of design blogs.  I didn't even look at that many design magazines, so I really had no idea what I wanted.  Luckily I still love the cabinets that I chose, but I still remember struggling with the countertop decision.  So a backsplash was even further from my mind.  We chose granite with a four inch backsplash.  If I was to do it all over again, I would chose, what else, carrara marble.  I did mock-up some of the marble tiles on the wall.  And although the countertop does have grey in it, the marble seemed to compete with the granite too much.  So it looks like the classic white subway tile is the winner.  This is also the easiest to install and super cheap. 

classic white subway tile, held on the wall with tape!

 

I've been debating about removing the 4 inch backsplash.  Most websites say that it's difficult to do, so we'll probably keep it and then just tile above.

The tile works nicely with the white cast iron butlers sink and will complement the lights that will hopefully hang over the island one day.  Have to call an electrician about that one.

The next pictures show the laundry room/mudroom.  We started this project, I think, 3 years ago!  It's hard to remember that far back.  I plan on painting the tabletop above the washing machines and installing some kind of curtain to hide the washer and dryer.  Here's the mock-up that I did today.  The curtain rod is held on with duck tape, another one of my favourite go-tos for temporary/semi permanent installations.  The fabric is a remnant I found scrunched up in the corner of a cupboard.

I've also become obsessed with wallpaper recently.  I'm determined to have some somewhere in my house.  I ordered some samples from the company and stuck them on the wall. 

This is my bedroom that won the regional finals of the Room for Color contest on Apartment Therapy

I think that the blue and the pattern will complement the bedding.

This corner of the family room is in serious need of some pizazz.  The wallpaper will tie in with the accents of red found elsewhere in the room.  I plan on repainting this room white with one wallpapered accent wall.

And finally a project that happened by accident.  Don't you love those?  I've been wanting to get some curtains for the music room to make it more cozy in there.  I've been scouring the sale section on the Anthropologie website for ages to find something that will complement but not compete with the curtains that I have in the family room.  I bought a tablecloth from target to use to hide the washer and dryer.  When I laid it out, I realized that it looked exactly like some of the curtains that you see on Anthropologie but a fifth of the price.  What do you think?  Call me crazy, but I love it.  Now I just have to convince the hubby.

Anthropologie curtains in family room.  $$$

Target tablecloth curtains $20.

Christmas tree looking woefully neglected in the corner