Semi-Gloss or Satin?

So my parents came into town this weekend to help us paint, put up lighting and fix up some other things ... little did they know the majority of their time would be spent painting.....

Mama Y Papa

It seemed like an easy job.... we found the perfect gray color... had the brushes, rollers etc. but we were still in for a rude awakening...  here's the conversation that started the whole ordeal: 

Man at Lowes: "What kind of finish do you want"

Me (confidently): "Semi-Gloss to match our kitchen Please" 

After spending the day painting... and repainting... We realized that we actually painted the kitchen with a Satin finish... (sigh).... Semi-Gloss was a little too shiny for us. Our walls looked like they were silver plated! The next day we had to sand, clean, re-tape and paint all over again.... my parents were good sports about it, but I'm pretty sure they're going to be hesitant to start any projects with us in the future... All in all the project probably took 12 hours... Needless to say... we're NEVER changing our wall color! But we love it, so it all worked out! You live you learn.

For those of you who don't know here is a link defining different finishes in paint.... Hopefully it will only take you 6 hours to paint your living room!

New House...New Projects

So the Hubs and I took the next "grown up" step in life a few weeks ago... We purchased our first home!

After the 3 hour closing we headed to our house with a $5 hot and ready and ate dinner with no furniture on the floor of our dining room. We immediately started a list of things we wanted to change, update, paint... etc. etc. Our house was built in 1997... so you can only imagine the  amount of brass in this house. Was this an upgrade in homes at this time?? Anyway! Over the past few weeks we have tackled some of the things on our list.... Here's the latest.... (lots of pics to follow...sorry)

1. Paint Kitchen.... We have white cabinets and I've always been in love with white and that blueish, gray, green color.... ha (real specific I know) Anyway here's the picture! 
Before

After

2. Change out the ugly Brass/Glass Light fixtures 

(can you hear them?... they're screaming 90's)

Before

   

After

 After

Here's the fixture in the formal dining room.... just needs a little love

And here's my spray paint job!

3. Hang TV (we still need to hide the cords)


Here's the Blank Canvas

And here's our messy living room.... and the cords... but the TV is hanging!!!

4. Add some creative touches (this may not have been on the list specifically, but how can I resist?)

So I bought this 6 pane window from a Classy Flea for $3.50 (One of my favorite places in Atlanta)

I taped it all off and then painted the panes with Chalkboard Paint......

THEN.... I painted the days of the week in the boxes

And Ta Da! Wall decor for by the back door... functional and cute! 

I also made these:

Perfect for "Breakfast Items"

I bought three different size jars from Ikea and then stopped by the local hardware store and picked up house numbers for $0.79... 

They actually just stick right on the jars and can come off really easy if you want to change them or if you want to wash the jars! Pretty handy! 

Anyway! There are way more things on our list... but we'll keep you update as we go!!!