Part 2: the great paint debate

In my last post, I told you that last year we had our entire house repainted. Every square inch, all 5 bedrooms, top to bottom, even the ceilings! It was quite the task. Hence the reason we paid professionals. But before any of that could happen we had to pick paint colors.

Oh.my.lord. I hate picking out paint colors! Seriously, my eyes cross just thinking about it. I just wanted someone to tell me what colors to pick! Who doesn’t?!

The painters we hired, exclusively used Sherwin Williams paint only. I had no prior experience with the brand, so I had to trust their professional opinion. Before picking colors, I googled “most popular Sherwin Williams paint colors”…about a million websites popped up. I came across a real estate home staging website, and on their message board a few realtors were discussing the most popular colors found in model homes. Ding, Ding, Ding! That’s exactly what I wanted!

The two most discussed colors were SW Kilim Beige & SW Latte. I used Kilim Beige in all of my common areas such as the entryway, stairway, hallway, etc. I was looking for a neutral color to match any accent wall or any type of decor and this color was perfect for me! Then I used Latte for my kitchen and kitchen island. Latte & Kilim Beige transition perfectly together! I love, love, LOVE these two colors.

Here are some photo examples {brace yourself for the “before” pics, they are horrifying}

the BEFORE:

the AFTER {SW Kilim Beige}

 

 

Formal Dining room BEFORE

 

         

AFTER {Kilim Beige next to burgundy accent wall}

   

View from and into the formal living room

 

Kitchen BEFORE

Up-close of SW Latte in kitchen

Kitchen walls & island are in Latte

 

After looking at all of our BEFORE pictures it really makes me want to blog about all of the other rooms that received a face lift! But I’ll stick with this for now ;)

FYI: All of the paint we used was in an eggshell finish. This may offend you, so I apologize in advance, but I really dislike glossy or semi-gloss paint! I do not like my walls to have “shine” or “glare”. So everything has a flat or velvety finish to it.

I was extremely impressed with the quality of SW. It was affordable and so far I love the richness of the colors. Also – SW did a great job matching colors. In our master bedroom & master bath, we wanted specific Restoration Hardware brand colors {love RH!} so we provided swatches and WAH-LAH!! Perfect match!!

So there you have it! Hopefully this post helped a few people out there that are paint color challenged like myself! Happy painting :)

oh for the love of paint

I hate to paint. I loathe it. I have vowed to never.ever.paint.again.

When we bought our house last year, we had to have every square inch repainted. Oy. Prior foreclosure, nuff said. {So we hired professionals to get the job done}

I recently came across a home decorator blog trying to gain inspiration for some holiday ideas, and I noticed they did an entire post on why you should never ever paint over oak wood. And several people commented about how it repulses them to see people paint oak and it’s a “no-no” in the wood/paint world. Hmm…I disagree.

Case in point:

Check out our OAK kitchen cabinets when we first closed escrow on our house.

Blah. This pictures makes me want to vomit. In my opinion, the oak makes the kitchen look so outdated. The house is just barley 6 years old, and the kitchen looks 20 years old! Yikes.

So we decided to give them a little makeover with some white paint….cheap & easy {well, easy for me since I didn’t lift one paint brush}.

 

I think this AFTER picture trumps the blog post that says never to paint over Oak. I don’t regret this makeover for a split second. Gives so much life to the kitchen.

So there you have it…if you’re in need of some home improvement inspiration, here you go.

Stay tuned for my follow up post on some popular paint colors that will eliminate the painful process of picking out that perfect shade…just thinking about picking out paint colors makes my skin crawl. So if you feel the same way, check back later this week ;)

it’s a shoe thang

Head over to Nordstrom.com and you can get free shipping on all shoes if you purchase before 10/25/10 and use the promo code SHOES at checkout.

They also have some good sales going on….I have been looking high & low for some sandal-type shoes for my son since he grew from a size 4 to 6 literally overnight. And even though it’s raining here all week, it undoubtedly will be back to 85 degrees shortly. NO stores have any sandals in stock…I’ve looked everywhere.

Well lo & behold, I found that Nordstrom has some GREAT sale prices on kids Stride Rite shoes. I got my son the below pair for $25.90 {40% off the original price of $43.95}.

 

If you’re interested in Stride Rite’s, check out Amazon first. They actually have this exact shoe for $4 cheaper with free shipping, however they didn’t have my son’s size.

Happy shopping!

It’s tough

So I’m not exactly a domestic goddess when it comes to laundry. Oh lord do I hate doing laundry. Biggest pet peeve ever. Especially since the boys in my family are stain magnets. My hubby comes home with practically an entire football field smeared on his clothes and my son, well, he’s just a walking mess.

I have always used Shout stain remover. Why I have never tried anything else, I have no idea. In my personal opinion, Shout sucks. It just doesn’t do a good job, especially for the stains a 16 month old can acquire.

So I finally decided to try something else and picked up this OxiClean stain remover:

 

 

This stuff just confirms my love for all OxiClean products. This stuff rocks! Completely removed the evidence of an entire oreo cookie all over my son’s white polo shirt! yahoo! Oh and it smells really good too! I also used it on my carpeted stairs after our cat got sick all over them the other night…it worked like a charm!

If you go to the OxiClean website you can print a $0.75 off coupon for this product! Happy laundry goddess day ;)

#1,987,653 reason why I love Amazon

Just another reason why I love, love, LOVE Amazon. If you are a mom, dad, grandparent, aunt, uncle…pretty much if you know how to online shop, you must sign up for the new Amazon Mom program.

 

 

When you sign up for Amazon Mom you’ll receive:

• Free 2-Day Shipping + Amazon Prime Benefits {for 3 months!}
• 30% Off Diapers & Wipes with Subscribe & Save Delivery
• Exclusive Email Discounts & Offers
• Automatic Cancellation: in the Third Month of your membership, Amazon will send you an email letting you know the automatic end date of the Free Amazon Prime Free 2-Day Shipping.
• If you already have Amazon Prime… you can cancel your existing subscription and receive a prorated refund for the remaining unused months left on your subscription! You will receive an email notifying you of the cancellation and refund amount.

Awhile back, Amazon offered me 3 months free of the Amazon Prime and it was AMAZING! I got free 2 day shipping on everything, no minimum purchase needed! Heaven! It expired just a couple of weeks ago, and I quickly signed up for Amazon Mom and now I get free 2 day shipping all through the holidays! Yesss!! *Remember: ANYONE can sign up! You don’t need to be a mom :)

Also – I am signed up for the Subscribe & Save delivery program for my son’s Huggies Diapers and it rocks! Lowest prices & you have complete control over how often you want a box sent! {you can also cancel at anytime} Loves it!

#5 is a winner!

I apologize that this post is so late. Long story short…Verizon sucks and we’ve been without internet for 2 days.

But I’m happy to announce that commenter #5 has won the giveaway!

 

Congrats to McCall @ Lee, Me, and the girls!

 

Please contact me with your email address so that I can send you details about your gift certificate!

Giveaway Friday!

I don’t know about you, but I love Friday’s! And I have another giveaway to sweeten the day! CSN is giving away a $35 gift certificate to one lucky reader!! CSN is one of my most favorite online stores…they sell everything from coffee tables to coffee makers!

So who wouldn’t want some free shopping money right before the holiday’s hit?! I know you do! So enter my giveaway…I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday the 21st.

Here’s how to enter…{leave a separate entry for each}

1. Tell me your favorite upcoming holiday tradition that you can’t wait for

2. Become a follower of my blog! If you already follow, leave a comment reminding me :)

3. Tweet or Facebook this giveaway and leave me the link

4. Post this giveaway on your own blog linking back to mine!

Good luck!

 

*Do you want to hear about the latest & greatest giveaways on a regular basis? Sign up with the Giveaway Scout and you can be notified via email so you’ll never miss a giveaway!