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Second Floor Photo Tour

OUR 1st HOUSE

Before we divulge all the new updates on the new house, let’s take a moment and remember our current abode, shall we? 

We already gave you the first floor photo tour – it was funner than a flash mob doing a Glee song…that may be a bit of an understatement….and now we are ready to share the rest of the upper floor. 

First up is the master bedroom.

It’s the one with the draped wall…that hides an offcenter window. (here’s a link to an old post where we got our inspiration!)  We also configured that header that helps tie in the drapery and makes it look built in.  When we move the bed, I’ll post how we created the entire thing, mmkay?

You may notice that we switched up the bedding.  SIKE!  We really didn’t switch anything – instead we just turned the coverlet over so that the cottage-inspired quilted looking side is underneath and the fun graphic medallion takes center stage.  You gotta switch things up in the bedroom sometimes 🙂

Also – that chair in the corner?  That one with the curvy back and the yummy leather seat?  Yeah – it was $5 at Goodwill.  All it needed was a little leather polish and some polystain on the frame and it perked right up. 

I’ve been getting emails lately about the bed Jeremy built.  Honestly – I can’t answer a single one of them darn questions because my darling boytoy was the one that figured it all out.  Here’s the link to this original post where we showed how we did stuff.  Sorry if all you get is a photo….but that’s all I got for ya.  Bad blogger I know.  Consider my bootie officially spanked. 

Also – I did get a new artwork piece for this bedroom that hangs in the corner.  All I did was paint the frame – and I love the vintage look of the blue flowers that match our walls (which are Valspar’s Sage Bud).  Isn’t it crazy how only a few bucks can add art that ties in so perfectly with a room? 

The other side of the room has this offcenter mirror and dresser….

…the dresser is full of Jeremy’s clothing…he’s such a clothes horse – which I have no idea what that means….and the dresser is topped with an oversized glass lamp from Pottery Barn Outlet and a stack of wooden storage boxes (they hold all our ultrasound photos and other sentimental mementos) and a vintage fan (my boyfriend nicknamed it “the finger chopper”….and yes, now I am scared to turn it on). 

To the right of the dresser is the doorway to the master bathroom…also known as the crackerjack bathroom. 

You can also see the paintchip artwork next to that door. 

The crackerjack box bathroom is very small but we tried to utilize the space to the max. 

The amount of storage we have in such a small space is really outstanding.  It’s so much that I even considered removing the entire vanity at one point to add a pedastal sink (which take up a lot less space but are only great if you have storage options in that loo!).  Looking back, I am glad we didn’t go that route.  Not only would that mean retiling the floor…but also, the space under the window would have been lost since there is nothing that we really could have added there except another cabinet.  Plus, the new butcherblock countertop is so easy and pretty, so it makes perfect sense.

Oh and just so you know…I didn’t end up painting the caulk.  I thought about it…came thisclose to doing it…and then decided that if the next homeowners wanted to do it, they can.  Why didn’t I take the plunge?  Well, I figured that the caulk would probably get wet…this is a bathroom afterall….and wet painted caulk equals wet peeling-paint on caulk.  Not only would it peel off but it probably would look messy and just plain dirty.  So no paint it is.

So where is this so-called-storage?  It’s across from the vanity in the bathroom closet.  Originally this closet had a door but in the first few months of living in this house, I ripped it out (it didn’t allow for me to open all the way anyway) and added the drywall to box in the bottom of the closet floor…making it look more built-in and it hides the actual slanted floor.  The floor is slanted because this closet is directly over the stairs from the first floor to the second. 

We added brown paint and a brown Ikea curtain to make it look very vast and still be able to pull to cover up any messy towels or when my hair products go on safari.

Enough about that room – let’s share a room that doesn’t get a lot of blog press…my dressing room. 

It’s actually just another bedroom with a daybed.  But it also has a small desk and some Ikea wardrobes in there (thus the label “dressing room”). 

The paint color is not known to me…the bucket was an oops color for $5 and we threw it away ages ago…so I don’t have the color numbers…sorry girls.  The light was a West Elm purchase of yore (and yes, it is coming with us to the new house).  I especially love the ledge over the bed…I have a thing for ledges.  They are just so darn handy.

 

This room is actually the smallest of the four bedrooms in the upstairs part of the house – and I have spent many an hour flinging clothing from the shelves onto the bed in a fit of trying to find something to wear….something that doesn’t give my muffin top it’s own little muffin top. 

We always planned on buying doors for the wardrobers – but looking back, I’m glad we didn’t.  Those things are like $100 a piece!  And with five doors, that is like one heckova lot of double bacon cheeseburgers, if you know what I mean.

The desk was really something that I never used.  That’s kinda sad.  I sat there once but then five minutes later I was sprawled out on the daybed.  I like to sprawl. 

 

I adore little bride and groom statues.  This one is a music box from my mom.  She gave it to me as an engagement present…and it makes me wish I had Jeremy wear tails.  The mini little tray is actually a picture frame that I removed the back of to display little collectibles.  The wooden letter stamps used to be my mom’s.  She had the full name Hughes (my maiden name)…but it seemed cuter to just spell what the little newleyweds were doing. 

  

The guest room is finally complete…just in time for disassembly and moving. 

The thing I like the most about this room is the fact that we spent very little out of pocket money on this thing.

 

The sidetables were luggage stands that I draped with some Ikea curtains (from a past apartment, I never throw things away) and then topped them with a mirror.  The mirrors really help reflect some light into the space.  And you know I still love the splashes of red in this room….they are like the lipstick. 

We also incorporated more red over the bed with this hand-me-down artwork.  I love photos with equestrian themes.  I have a serious fixation on them.  Serious.  Like I am considering making Will’s new nursery totally horsey.  And not in a cowboy way – but in a refined, gentlemanly, “let’s-discuss-show-jumping-while-sitting-in-our-ralph-lauren-riding-pants” kinda way.   

Anyhoo…the mats weren’t working for this space – and I wanted a little more red, so we took strips of red fabric and some spray adhesive and covered those bad boys. 

The chair my grandmother owned made it’s way into this space.  I didn’t really have the heart to recover the red velvet anyway – so it’s a good thing it worked out.  Plus, the well-worn bits of wood on it help tie in all the browns in this room. 

Some of the artwork in this room. 

Talk about cheap.  I clipped from my favorite Hooker book for the strawberry pictures.  The keys were a gift from my mom.  And that last one?  Yeah – its two people in a foggy meadow…another thing about me: obsessed with fog….is actually an ad I tore out of a magazine.

 

 The last room (well besides the haven’t changed a thing guest bathroom) in the upstairs is the nursery.  Nothing new here either…so I won’t describe everything over again…just share some of my favorite memories in this space. 

A couple times early on, Will peed all over the mirror.  He’s got super aim.  He also tagged me 13 times in a row….once I wasn’t even changing his diaper.  Jeremy had peeled back the old and got the new one in place, was just about to tighten it shut and the stream richotched off the diaper and hit me in the shirt three feet away.  Not kidding.

Will knows that the deer is his room.  I usually face the mirror while holding him and singing off key…and I see him looking up to see if the deer is still there….knowing that if it is, then it is really naptime. 

Since Will has been ill, we have put the ottoman to good use…we slide it over to the bed and put a towel and a humidifier on it.  Who knew that nursery design should incorporate a humidifier?! 

The other great thing about the ottoman is that it provides great storage for transitioning out too small clothing.  If I pull something out of his wardrober and it looks way too small on the big guy, I just toss it in the ottoman.  Then when the ottoman is full, I pull out our baby-storage bins to slip away for (fingerscrossednoI’mnotpregnant) baby boy #2.

The shelves are still exactly like this – well with a bit more dust. 

But I will say this…you see that little silver bear piggybank?  Yeah…it was a gift from my Uncle Bob to my brother Tim…who didn’t want it so my mother was going to sell it at a yard sale before I snatched it up.  I loved it…and thought that it tied in perfectly with his outdoorsy room.  Well….wouldn’t ya know it, my Uncle Bob sent a silver plated train piggy bank to Will for Christmas. 

It was incredibly thoughtful…especially since Uncle Bob hasn’t even met Will yet!  Plus, his name is engraved on it…and I kinda stole it for Christmas…for some reason it reminded me of the holiday and Polar Express….so anyhoo…I love it and it totally inspires me to redecorate Will’s new nursery in some kinda train theme.  I know…I have too many themes.

 So that is the final upstairs tour.  And I won’t be going over the basement – since nothing really changed down there either.  And as I type this I remember I do have one little makeover I did want to share in the basement….nothing fancy…just something I did while we were playing the waiting-game for selling our house. 

And I might just put all the old basmenet photos together to have it in one post…that’ll make it easier to remember what it was like…cause I know that as soon as we move, it’ll be like “what? we had a basement in the other house?  what?!”

okay – so I gotta go pack…and nurse my sick baby back to health…and try to photo edit (my newborn sessions lately have been sooo fun….can’t wait to share them!)….and to do many more important things….like watch the recorded episode of Biggest Loser on the DVR….hopefully Jillian will yell at someone and make them cry….see ya!

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Comments

  1. Does the bedspread have a seam running through it where the medallions overlap, or is it photoshop? Just curios…

    The house looks inviting and cozy!

  3. Oooh i love the big armchair in the guest bedroom, its so antiquey and curvy.

    I have a antique furniture addiction at the moment… its scary i think i need help… :o) ha!

  4. Love every room! I just bought my first house so I’m definitely picking up some ideas. I’m curious though – where did you get the dressers in your master and guest bedrooms?

  5. Thank you Katie Bower for brightening my day and making me smile. I so look forward to reading your posts and living vicariously through all of your exciting life changes. Thank you!

  7. I love that guest room. Red used to be my favorite color, and its sort of fallen out of the radar for a while, but your guest room is inspiring me to bring it back! I am totally with you on the equestrian/horse/Ralph Lauren obsession. I’ve rode a horse maybe twice in my life but I still want an equestrian, British, tartan themed room in my house.

    Hope Will feels better soon, poor baby!

  8. I noticed that your bedroom furniture is the Canopy line. We’ve got the bookshelves, TV stand, secretary desk, and dining set, but I was wondering how the bedroom furniture has held up. I’m thinking of getting it, but the only problem is they don’t have the tall chest of drawers in that color anymore. Thoughts?

  9. Hi Liz, the dressers in the master are from Walmart – the Canopy line. And the guest bedroom furniture is antique and given to me by my mother.
    xo – kb

  11. Hi D – it’s not really a seam where two pieces of fabric are sewn together…its more of a printers overlap if that makes any sense. Like the printing block that created the medallion was that big and then they moved the fabric over and started printing again.
    xo – kb

  14. Huh, I assumed you were kidding when you said maybe you’d leave the bathroom caulk white. For future reference in the Dream House, painted caulk doesn’t peel when it gets wet, or look messy or dirty. Of course, it is a pain to have to paint — that’s why clear caulk and colored (non-white) caulks are there. (What does look messy and disgusting is when you do what we did and grab the wrong, non-paintable caulk, then try to paint it. BIG, ugly mistake.)

    Thank you for sharing all these updated photos of the soon-to-be-former house. Best of luck in all your cleaning/packing/moving — it will all be worth it in the end. (Sort of like childbirth — too bad there’s not an epidural for moving!)

  15. I built that bed myself – for anyone considering it, just go for it!! If you can use a power drill you are golden. If you can use a chop saw, even better, but the big home improvement stores will cut the boards for you if you don’t have one. It’s sooo worth it – every time we have guests over and they happen to see it (of course, I conveniently leave the bedroom door open, lol) I get so many compliments.

    Such a beautiful house!

  16. I have that same seashell ball on my dresser! I love it, it reminds me of being at the beach.

    p.s. i love your house, and am so looking forward to seeing all the exciting stuff you do to the new one 🙂

  17. Katie,
    Love your house! Great idea with the closet in the bathroom…the curtain is so much easier/looks better than just a door. Question: what type of camera do you use? Your pictures are amazing!
    Thanks!

  18. Duuuuuuude – are you preggers? If you crossed your fingers before stating “No, I’m not pregnant,” then you ARE?! Help a girl out!

  21. Hey Katie,

    Hopefully you will check this before your people sign their lease to move in. My mom rents one of her houses and a few things she has run into:

    1. Have it in writing no flushing tampons down the toilet and you will not be responsible for plumbing issues if they result from that. My mom ran into a HUGE problem because of that. If they sign it that they are aware they can’t do that then you will never have to worry about plumbing issues and if it happens won’t be at your expense.
    2. Outline what is expected of them for outside duties if you can, because many people, at least here in California, are used to landscaping being down by hired people and my mom lives in PA where she got fined A TON for her tenant not shoveling the sidewalk(which is a city issue.)
    3. Have something in writing regarding that when they move out they are to change their name immediately out of the bills(because she ran into A HUGE problem. Her people didn’t pay their utilities, but when she called the utility companies they wouldn’t tell her how much they owed because it wasn’t in her name(even though it was her house.) So it was HELL for her to get access to the utilities for her house so she could move forward with a new tenant.

    Those are things I can remember right now. I would also DEFINITELY have a lease and have it very specific. I assume you will be doing that. Also take pictures of every nook and cranny(even things like screens etc.) Also, the best thing to do is get warranty for your appliances, because as a landlord you are responsible for working appliances, and if things go wrong and you have insurance on them, you will only have to pay like 60.00. ALSO, make sure they are told they are responsible for changing out all filter(air/heat) so your air conditioner won’t have any problems, and they are responsible for changing out light bulbs and the like and they are responsible for at least one professional carpet cleaning. I am renting a house here in CALI and they make us do that. It helps keep up with the carpet. If I think of anything else will let you know. 🙂

  25. KB, I love your house/style. A. Lot. I seriously can’t wait for you to start moving into your new house so that I can drool over your new house, too. Is it weird that your house strikes me as J. Crew-meets-Anthro-meets-Pottery-Barn?

  27. This post makes me half sad that you worked so hard recently on your master and guest room only to pack it up and move, but then also happy because we get to see all new inspiration in your new house! I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

  29. I love your house and style! Your blog is so fun!!

    I have been having trouble the past few days loading your blog and getting a 500 internal server error, I just wanted you to be aware.

    I look forward to your new house posts!! 🙂

  30. Am I dreaming this? Didn’t you have pretty little white tables in the guest room with cute little knobs (heeeeheee)? I like what you have, but I swear you had little tables!

  31. oh how i love your house! Seriously how are you going to leave it? i am drooling over your dressing room, i think i need one of those!

  33. Hi Katie!
    I’ve been stalking your blog at work for about a month now. Love it! Keep up the good work. You guys are such a cute family and Will is absolutely adorable….but you already know that!! 😉
    -Taylor

  37. Love the pictures! I know this is kind of a late comment, but I love the white candlesticks in the guest bedroom. Where are they from? LOVE LOVE LOVE!

  38. Goodwill 🙂 But keep your eyes peeled online – sometimes the oddest places (or the most normal like Target) have similar ones!
    xo – kb

  39. Hi Katie,

    I know I am also a late commenter but I love the desk in your dressing room and it doesn’t seem to be noted on your source list. Can you tell me where you got it?

  41. I’m enjoying exploring your site – I came from the Petersiks’ Place. I love your taste and style, and can’t wait to see what you do with your new place. Glad you’re working on Will’s room first!

    Can I give you a tip about the peeing? (You mentioned it being um… impressive in this post.) I got this from DOS for Dummies, long before I had a boy to try it out on, but I was so astonished to read about such a thing in a computer book (of all places) that I’ve never forgotten…. Lay the boy on the changing table, and remove sufficient clothing to get at his diaper. Do not undo the diaper! Pull the front of it up about an inch, and gently blow on his tummy, so that a little breeze goes into his diaper. Count slowly to about 5 while he pees (it’s the air that does it!). Then take of his diaper and change him with impunity. Tada! I’ve tested it on two boys, and it absolutely works. Good luck!

    Can’t wait to see the new nursery!!

  42. Hello! I love the wood wall in the nursery, how did you do that? Was that there when you purchased the home?

    Thanks!

    Valerie

  46. Katie Im just curious… You call yourself a hoarder and say you never throw anything out, but where is all that clutter?!?! (I know this is your old house, but you ust have been a hoarder there too!!!) How do you store all your stuff? Thats a post I would LOVE to see! How you organize/store everything…and where….

  47. Hi Katie,

    Just checked out your blog for the first time by cross-referencing from YHL. I’m not finding a way to search for something specific on your blog, but what wondering if you did any specific posts about the wood paneling in your son’s first bedroom? I love it & would like to recreate something along those lines in my new home.

    Thanks!
    Courtney

  50. Hi Katie…sorry I am only reading this now, but your bedroom (and all the other rooms) came out GREAT! I have the same issue in my master bedroom that you had. I will be doing a blogpost on my redo when I am finished (that is – if I ever decide on how I will tackle the problem!).

    My husband does not want to add another window – he thinks it will be too expensive. But – I will get a price from my contractor. Your idea of draping the entire wall with fabric is one that I had considered. I have thought about other ways to tackle it – and it all involves lots of fabric. My husband only wants to do a fake window and do the window treatments equally on either side of the bed and always keep the shades down – we currently have some nice bamboo shades on the off center window. We don’t get much light from it – so I would not care at all if it was gone completely – another idea I had. Husband hates this idea!

    Your plan is great in that if you ever decide you want to add a window you can. So, I have some thinking and planning to do.

    Thanks so much for this post. If and when I do the post – can I use your photos as an inspiration (linked up of course!!)

    Thanks…Linda

  51. Oooh tough decision Linda….but I’m sure it’ll come out great when you finally release that parking brake 🙂 Make sure you tell me when you do post!
    xo – kb

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