the behr paint fan

Just a little fun picture for the middle of the week. This is Katie and her infamous Behr paint fan. I was busy trying to pick out colors for the exterior fascia and trim... Oh! And those slabs of grey stone over there against the house are going to be part of the new hearth for the fireplace!

*Funny story about the acquisition of the Behr paint fan. One day this summer I was helping out a sweet lady and designing her nursery, ooh! And I was in a rush to meet her and she really wanted to look at some paint colors that day. But it was a Sunday and Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore weren't open. And you can buy the paint fans there for $30-40. So I thought in my little head, what shall I do?!?! I HAVE to have paint colors for my lady. So I went to the Home Depot up at Arbor Walk and went to the paint desk and asked this nice man if I could purchase one of the Behr paint fans. I told him I was a designer and that I would like to have one for my projects. He asked me some more questions and then finally said, "well, I'll give this to you for free if you promise to use Behr paint forever." I agreed thinking, pfhfhfhg! who knows if I'll ever use this again after today... And honestly I have! In my house, David's house... and I recommend it to everyone. There are thousands of paint colors in that thing!*

I'm off to Denton this weekend for a 3 day study session for my licensing exam... horray. So unfortunately I won't be able to play at the house this weekend. But Sunday evening I will be going to take some pictures of:

Cabinetry
All tile flooring
completed hearth
maybe some other surprises that I just don't know about!

on our way.

At the time of this post, I'm already outdated in my new information. Things are going so fast and that is a good thing!

Here are pictures of what happened this weekend.

Saturday the entire fireplace was re-mortered with a smear joint. David has been telling me about this technique FOREVER. And I had kind of realized what he was talking about, but hadn't really ever seen it. But in actuality, I think thats how my parents limestone is done on their house... and then we saw it done on the historic building that is Moonshine downtown. (By the way, we had the most amazing brunch there on Valentines Day and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes any type of food, because they have everything.)




It looks so much better now than it did in the beginning... here is a before to compare. The kicker is that this is not the final fireplace. What does a fireplace need to feel inviting and comforting... oh but a mantle and hearth indeed! David has planned a wonderful double level hearth for the fireplace. I'll leave this to be seen next post, because its already been built and clad in stone... He also has a nice piece of douglas fir that he will be using as the mantle. And, if you look closely... they wired the fireplace for power and cable! How exciting!





Here is the travertine that David purchased at our old stomping grounds, AG&M. Again, apparently the kitchen is fully tiled as of today and this post is out of date, but here is a sneak peak of what it looks like. The tiles are 18"x18" and I think its just going to open up the kitchen and dining room immensely. Plus, if we look back at the original flooring, I think we have made some what of an improvement... you?

Next I was able to see the reclaimed wood flooring, which is sitting in one of the bedrooms... but will eventually be put down and re-sanded and re-stained... Something we will have to decide upon when the time comes. The widths are varied, 3", 5", & & 7"... can't believe he scored this stuff.

And the final piece of newness that arrived this weekend was the front door! Here it is sitting in the trailor. Eventually it will be painted a pretty color to match the new accent color for the fascia and trim of the roof line... but for now it is just as pretty as it can be. David struggled with the patterning of glass. I wasn't there to help him with the decision making process, but David does pretty good on his own.

SIDE NOTE: It has become somewhat of a creepy yet serendipitous moment when we walk into Home Depot and go look at lighting or fixtures or anything with a little bit of design to it... Because after about 15 seconds of looking around without saying anything to each other, we end up picking the exact same piece. You may be rolling your eyes right now, but its just another one of those things that makes me smile.

Sidestepping the side note and onto more interesting things. This door is awesome and I think David did a great job of picking a style that matches the house, the area, and a potential buyer.

This is a picture of the new shower. Looks kind of creepy right now... thats the fiberglass liner thing that keeps all the water in one area and not be able to "sit" within the base and cause all kinds of lovely sickening things to grow... I never knew what really went into building out a shower. But its pretty intense and I'm glad they are doing it.

This is the backyard of David's house/property. Its absolutely beautiful, especially right now after a lot of rain. The creek, Bear Creek, is full and shows really what this property can look like at its best.

So there it is. Another week of marvelous happenings at the Burson House. I'll have more pictures next week and more about whats going on. In the mean time David is busy getting the tile layed, wood floors layed, the cabinets organized to come in and be installed, (of which he is doing himself, oolala) and the fireplace finished.

exciting!

Exciting things are happening this weekend and it starts now!

David just called and informed me that the new front door assembly is being delivered tomorrow and that the cabinets will be delivered next week!

So, the agenda for the weekend is to finish laying the tile, let the new wood flooring acclimate to the temperature in the house, and install the front door!

I'll be on lock-down studying all weekend for my interior design licensing exam, but will most definitely make a trip to take progress photos for an ever so monumental post on Sunday!

Happy weekend everyone!

Sneak Peak

So tonight, David and his strong man body and determination went and reclaimed 200 sf of wood flooring for his house.

This story is very interesting. The short story is: David's friend Eric found a homeowner that was giving away their hardwood oak flooring... With 5 sf of water damage and custom stained in the field, the flooring was essentially "unable to be repaired/matched". So the insurance company was willing to pay for complete new floors. They only needed someone to take away their "damaged" goods. Their issue to deal with, our marvelous gain! So, David went Tuesday night to pull up his share from these kind people's home and trucked it away this evening and so kindly brought me a smidgen sample. So here it is. (David wanted to show his boot with it... guys.)

The plan according to David is to install, sand, and re-stain to be a warmer/darker hue. I think its a splendid idea. And all for a small fee b/c David knows EVERYONE in ANY field imaginable.

The other amazing thing is that it is solid oak hardwood. Not engineered, so it can be sanded down and re-stained like, 5 more times. Which I see as a great incentive to a potential home buyer (PHB).

This week prepping for the tile floor commenced. The plan for this is that the kitchen, hallways and bathroom floors will be 18"x18" travertine tile, (a great look to make a space look bigger) with the new master fabulous shower having some nice detailing within. Stay tuned for some amazing pictures to come in the next few weeks!

Painting Done

So, painting is officially done. Well, of walls/ceilings/corners/nooks and crannies. Trim and baseboards still has to happen but as far as I'm concerned thats going to be a piece of cake.

Saturday was a day of neck strain, arm fatigue and just plain messy painting. All in all we spent 3 days; 46 man hours; and lots of calories painting.

Special thanks to Sarah Blake (David's sister) for coming out and helping. Reanie and I truly couldn't have gotten it all done in one day without you. And, special thanks to Nancy for taking care of Princess Cupcake so Sarah could get a crick in her neck and a good workout in for the day while she painted.

One contributor that I would like to give a big shout out to is Behr Premium Ultra paint. Goodness me oh my. My mom and I have done our fair share of painting. From my canvas of a room at home in highschool to her now 2 guest bedrooms at her own house and finally to my own home remodel, we know a thing or two about paint. We are used to priming then painting... Kilz has become our best friend and worst enemy. It seals and hides everything... but it DOES NOT come off your hands easily like latex paint. But this Behr Premium Ultra is a paint and primer in one. So we essentially only had to paint one coat instead of 2-3 on all surfaces of David's house. Think of the time savings! It also goes on beautifully, and instead of seeing where the paint is kind of just lightly covering the surface and you think, "Geez, im going to have to go back over that", you don't see that and you think, "Yes! I'm not going to have to do anything else to this room!". It is more expensive, but just go and price out Kilz... and about 1-2 coats of a regular paint... and you will not only reap the rewards of your weekends but also a little change in your pocket. So, if anyone is looking to do a quick or long painting job, save yourself the headache and just get the golden bucket! Behr Premium Ultra

Also, special thanks to Jim Walker who has been helping out David almost every weekend with all kinds of things.

And, special thanks to H.D. Walker for his continued dedication to all kinds of things at the house during the week!

Here are some pictures of painting... without lighting, trim, or context, they don't really say much, but its a start!

Note the fireplace. H.D. began the cleaning process of the stone while we painted and it looks 10x better. I think David has some things up his sleeve for this area, but I'll leave that for next time.

progress

This past weekend was a great weekend for the Burson Drive house! So many improvements were made and/or started. A lot of people came out and helped this weekend, and sweet Nancy brought us lunch each day ;)

Lots of helpers.

Thanks Nancy!

Lets remember back to when I talked about my trusty Behr paint fan, that I keep in my car at all times because who really knows when your going to have to match something. Well, last weekend we decided on 4 different paints to get samples of... Saturday morning I arrived at the house to try out all 4 paints on different walls of the main rooms. Super important because they look SO different in various lights around the room. Basically I put 3 up and realized I had no idea which one we should use. So I called Reanie (my mom) and had her come over and talk some sense into me. Because, even though you all think I have a good sense of design... I still need my mom to knock that sense back into me every once and awhile. So, after about an hour of deliberation on my part, and 15 minutes with mom, we decided on Belvedere Cream for the living/kitchen and Ivory Mist for the bedrooms.












After a longer than expected trip to Home Depot we returned with 10 gallons of paint (we used up about 8 in 2 days) and were ready to go. I did the trimming, mom did the rolling. All while the boys started in on the back doors!

This is door #1. David and Jim installed it on Saturday. It used to be a rickity old sliding glass aluminum frame door. Now its just pretty as can be.




This is door #2, the big bertha of them all. I wasn't around for the installation of this one because I was too busy with my arm outreached to nooks and crannies of the ceilings/walls... This opening was also an old rickity aluminum sliding glass door and now is a beautiful triple french door! The backyard/property looks awesome through these windows. The creek is so full right now and it is beautiful!

This was the 2nd large task of the day for the boys. The front entry used to be covered with terrazzo tiles. These had to be chipped away, thus leaving the gaping rectangular rough slap at the fron entry. So, the task at hand was to create a better threshold and level surface here so that eventually tile and/or wood flooring can be better installed.

So the doors were taken off (much to the dissapointment of me... it was just starting to get warm again in the house ;) and a the forms for a new edge had to be created... shown here.













Then the concrete came. I was very impressed how they were able to control it so well. If it were up to me this stuff would still be in my hair...

And here it is! pretty shiny new concrete slab! (They built a bridge over the concrete from the outside to the inside so they could put the doors back on without having to wait for the concrete to dry.) Pretty inventive guys.



So, all in all this weekend was VERY successfull. Two new french door openings in, filled in the hole in the concrete, and started painting. I can't show pictures of the paint yet... because its not done, and you would just see rooms trimmed in Belvedere Cream and wonder what I did the whole day... but my poor arm and the ability to not be able to pick up a drink can testify that I actually did do something in fact. Special thanks to Reanie K Marchand for her help both days in painting. We're a team!

p.s. There is no good way to format this blog in this tiny little area they give you... so forgive the RANDOM placement of paragraphs and spaces.

So much out there

So, I like design. I LOVE perusing through websites and magazines and finding awesome stuff that I wish I had thought of. And then I steal the idea and mix it with another and put it in my house! And of course a year of owning a house and putting the pieces together, I STILL want to do more, and change it out. Its the curse of being a designer. You KNOW too much. You have all these resources. At work for instance, we have a materials library. It is full of fabrics and wallcoverings and tile that are calling me to them. But I just can't chose.

About 3-4 years ago I chose. I chose a fabric for a mid century modern chair that my grandmother gave me. I like it... but its almost as if I didn't have enough design saviness to make the right choice because now, its not so fun/interesting to me. Its not like I'm going to go rip it off and change it, but its one of those nagging things that you think about as you go to bed.

So, as we approach the time in which we need to stage David's house for selling, my mom and I have been scheming with all these great ideas on how to use some of my existing furniture, and a lot of pieces she has that just don't "fit" her house anymore.

There will of course be the master bedroom. And then we were thinking we could stage one of the bedrooms as a study. David has this awesome desk that he made himself with a beautiful granite top. We can add to it with a nice rug and chair. Then we thought the other bedroom could be staged as a kids room. We have an extra twin bed, and can REALLY do some damage there. On to the living room where I will be offering up two lounge chairs and my mom has a nice sofa/loveseat. All neutrals, but don't you worry. I will find those accent pieces.

In our search for ideas for not only the staging of David's house, but our own endeavors, I dabble in the following website/blogs. Take a gander and enjoy! You'll regret it after an hour has gone by and you realize youre still at work ;)

Apartment Therapy

Design Public

Design Sponge

Oh Dee Doh - cutest kids/baby design website.

And to add in one more website that has become a favorite of all my girlfriends:

The Pioneer Woman

A true renaissance woman. She cooks, designs, photographs, and raises some beautiful punks all with Marlboro man by her side.

Have a great Tuesday!

1 year ago...

1 year ago David and I were doing the exact same thing we are now, but to my house...

I bought the house on February 13 and we immediately starting tearing out every 70's inspired finish we could rip off, chip away, or destroy. It only took us 5 weeks and I moved in the middle of March.

Here are some links to pictures of the Kitchen and living room if you'd like to see what we were able to do!