Ohhhh my heart. You guys, this house is where everything started for Dane and I. More than just our business venture, this little house on Dresden Avenue gave us so many amazing memories I will forever cherish. It taught me to respect all things with age and to truly appreciate the character and details old pieces can have.

We've recently passed this beaut onto it's new owners and are beginning the adventure again in our new home with our new family addition, our daughter. Lots of new memories to be made! We hope you enjoy this tour and stick around to see how the next house unfolds. 

First, the Entry. Now, please know that these were the photos taken for our real estate listing. Those hooks were usually hidden by our coats and the dog leashes. Not the prettiest thing to see on a daily basis, but it's real life. Anyway, the transom window let in amazing light in the mornings, right into our dining room. You can't tell, but the door framing on the right side used to have pocket doors. They were closed in with layers and layers (and more layers) of paint, and I never got around to finding out if they were still in there or not. Shame. 

Every room in the house, both main level and upper level, had 9 foot ceilings. It made each tiny room feel SO much bigger! I tried to use certain design elements to draw your eye up to really emphasize the height of each room. In the dining room, that element was the curtains. If I had it my way, I would've made that bookshelf go floor to ceiling too, but it was built-in and was original to the home, so I left it alone. ...well, I painted over it's last paint job. So I left it alone-ish. 

The wall covering is 100% an optical illusion. Truth be told, I REALLY wanted grasscloth wallpaper for this room. It's the first room you see in the house, and I wanted to make a statement. But Dane works in Financial Management and basically said 'HELL NO!' to that idea pretty quickly. It was pretty expensive and he hates wallpaper (with no good reason). I'll be honest, it wouldn't have been my best decision anyway. While I love the look, it wasn't right for our neighborhood. A little too ...for lack of a better word...'ritzy' for the urban neighborhood we were in. So I faked it. I watched lots of youtube videos on faux wall painting and did a ton of research and studying of what grasscloth looked and felt like.

I found a few different tools to create the look, customized my paint colors (it's two-toned), and invited over my mom and sister for help while Dane was away on his annual ski trip. I learned that it was always better to do large project while he was away and then ask for forgiveness later. ​

This kitchen was pretty tiny, but perfect for just Dane and I. The white subway tile was classic in style and made for easy cleanup while I cooked. I learned my love of cooking in this kitchen, so lots of messes were made here. I am probably the messiest cook ever. 

The double ovens were original to the home too. They were painted by the previous home owners and went really well with the other stainless appliances in the kitchen. They made holiday cookie making a breeze! 

We spent a lot of time in this living room. The couch was a perfect spot to brainstorm our project ideas and dream about our future adventures. Here, I again emphasized the tall ceilings with the curtains, but also with the Billy Bookshelves we got from IKEA. 

We used them to display the items we've collected from our international travels. They reminded us of good times we were fortunate enough to have, and acted as a constant reminder to always stay curious. 

The fireplace was my favorite thing to decorate at Christmas. The fur stockings my mom made for us looked so beautiful against the white trim. I would've loved to resurfaces the fireplace surround with a pretty white marble herringbone, but never got around to it. 

Okay, before you judge me on the empty photos below, ....actually, go ahead and judge me. I can't deny it with Dane looking over my shoulder right now. It's just something i'm guilty of. I'm obsessed with frames and do a really poor job of following through with filling them. I just didn't know what to put in them, but knew I needed them in that spot, on that wall.  so there they sat. Empty. ...for like three more days, and then I printed some floral prints to hang for walk-throughs. Lol.

The photos in my stairway sat empty for about a year too. Except that first photo of a house. That's a photo the previous home owners left us of the original home. It was mostly covered in ivy, which seemed to only add to its charm. In the photo you can see a woman looking out of the upstairs bedroom window. I found it creepy at first, but after awhile she became the heart of our home and I named her Millie. ..is that equally as creepy?! 

This bathroom is my FAVORITE makeover of ALL TIME! Hands down. No competition. I absolutely fell in love with the thought of having a feature wall to make it more interesting, and actually did it all by hand. The way the geometric print compliments the curvy vintage mirror, and the way they both compliment the height of the room just makes my heart skip a beat. The wall was hours and hours of sketching out with a ruler and a pencil, and then going back over each line with a paint pen that perfectly matched the color of the tile on the floor. 

The mirror was a $20 Craigslist find. I had sketched out my dream half bath idea before finding it, and had sketched almost an exact replica. My only regret was not buying it's twin. At the time (and even now), I only needed one. But I would've loved to see them both in a Master Bath hung over dual sinks! 

You can read more about this bathroom makeover here. 

This is the view you get when you first walk up the steep curvy staircase. These shelves were SO deep! Perfect for storing extra blankets and towels! 

This was our Master Bedroom. Very simple. We found that with a house so small, minimalism was the best route to keep things from looking too cluttered. Oh, and the nightstands were another Craigslist find. We bought them only to stage the room, and have since moved onto much more attractive bedroom furniture we got from IKEA. Dane will have to share with you our process of dressing them up and link it back here for you. It turned out pretty amazing! 

You'll now find that cute little mint dresser in Lenna's room. It matched perfectly to her wallpaper, so I just couldn't help myself. Besides, it gave me a reason to get new furniture for myself. :)

This is what I referred to as the 'Awkward Hallway'. I'm really not sure why it's so big or what it was ever used for. 

The guest room often served its purpose. We had quite a few friends stay over in this cute little space. I had big dreams of turning it into a nursery, but am pretty thrilled about how the nursery in our new home turned out! You'll have to check out a sneak peak in our 'Greatest Adventure' post here.

The curtains in this bathroom were one of the first things I bought when our offer for this house was accepted. I had originally bought them for our Master Bedroom, but didn't realize the ceilings were 9 feet tall upstairs too. They just didn't look it. This was the only place these curtains could live. I just loved the texture and pattern too much to return them! 

And there you have it! Our little house on Dresden Avenue. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed our virtual tour and that you'll stick around and continue along on our journey with us. 

Don't forget to head on over to read more about our Half Bath Makeover!

Have you ever started a project, became bored of it, and then let it sit unfinished....for months? Yeah...Hi, I'm Heather and I'm a procrastinator. 

I started this bathroom makeover in December. And unfortunately there is no hiding it because the only 'before' photo I have clearly showcases my Christmas tree. After a few years of my warm and cozy bathroom, I felt it was time for something new and fresh. I was so excited for a new 'light and bright' look! So excited, in fact, that I painted this tiny bathroom in one evening after work. Screw dinner, dishes, and laundry! I had a bathroom to paint!

The color I had chosen was part of Valspar's Historical Society series. They've since dropped the historical marks (shame!) and renamed all of the colors. The new name for this color is Warm Putty (6006-1A). I was first a little disappointed my paint deck was so quickly outdated, but then SUPER thankful I lucked out and have all of the historical colors clearly marked for me. 

​Being that our house is 105 years old, I felt that the historical color was a perfect way to incorporate the age of our home into the decoration of just about every room in our house. -I'm still working on that. 

Although our rooms are all pretty small, we were blessed with 9ft ceilings. So I felt that this tiny bathroom needed an emphasis on the height since there was nothing I could do about the width or length. 

I had Dane make me simple wooden shelving for above the toilet, and hung a piece of art I had from Target up high to help draw the eye up. I also scored an ah-mazing vintage mirror from craigslist. It, amazingly, looked IDENTICAL to the mirror I had sketched when planning this bathroom makeover. That never happens! 

After everything was finished, the bathroom was still missing something. It didn't give me all the feels I was hoping for. It was missing texture and life! ​Sooo...I left the bathroom as it was until I could come up with something I loved. Eight months later....haha! 

In my defense, life happened. My work schedule picked up, and our build list for our business went crazy! I'm not AT ALL complaining about it either. Building furniture for you guys is what we love to do! 

But then it hit me! My tiny bathroom needed pattern! Something that wouldn't compete with the curves of my vintage mirror, or the tight pattern in my art piece. I was inspired by a wall paper I saw in one of Ikea's kitchen displays and decided to recreate it in a pattern size and color palette that worked for my space. 

So yeah! I hand sketched a faux wallpaper! It took two evenings, and because it isn't real wallpaper, it'll be easy to paint over if the next homeowner isn't a fan. It was SO easy! I'll write another post on how I did it in case a wall in your house needs something similar. 

I honestly couldn't be happier with how it turned out. It's the perfect pop of pattern for that space! Let us know what you think in the comments below! Do you have a wall you'd love to stencil?

I already had black paint handy, so that's the color it became. And that's the color it's been for 3.5 years.

For this update, I painted the table base a color I had on hand: Lighthouse Shadows by Valspar. My handy HomeRight Spray Gun helped me finish the job in no time! 

After the paint dried, we added a pre-made tabletop we bought at Home Depot for just $25! We applied Wood Glue to the existing table top and applied the pre-made tabletop over it to dry. To help keep the table top sturdy and guaranteed to stay for many years, we also put a few screws into the bottom to hold it in place. 

We then applied a Walnut stain to the top to give it some rusticness and color contrast. I prefer to rub my stain in with a paper towel instead of brushing it on with a brush because I feel I have more control that way.
​

After the table was completely dried, we added a few coats of wax to the base and Polyurethane to the table top to protect them from everyday wear and tear. 

For any of you who have used Poly before, you may be too familiar with the bumpy finish it can leave. I've learned the best way to sand a finished wood product down is to use a brown paper bag. It allows you to smooth the surface without leaving the chalky finish left by sanding blocks. 

We hope you enjoyed this simple DIY and hope to see you tackle your own furniture projects! We'd love to see what you've created! 

Thanks for stopping by!

​Heather