The time has come for Brian and I to venture away from our condo unit.  The past two months we’ve been hard at work preparing our place for the market.  I wish I had photos of the place when Brian purchased it in 2007.  Just imagine floral wallpaper, blue carpet, and plastic blinds.  Through the past few years we came across unfortunate events that forced us to purchase a hot water heater, an AC unit, a furnace, and a washer and dryer… not things that necessarily look pretty to attract buyers.  So, we recently spent a lot of time painting every room, installing wood floors, and adding little touches.  I’ll be sharing what I think you can each use yourselves: paint color.  However, if you see something else you’re wondering about, feel free to ask!  All the paint is Benjamin Moore.  I used Aura paint for every room.  It’s the most expensive, but I only had to do one coat and zero priming.  It’s well worth the extra couple bucks!

Master Bedroom: Portland gray 2109-60

Guest Bedroom: Camouflage 2143-40

Living/dining Room: Bleeker beige HC-80

Hallway: Classic gray OC-24

Kitchen and office: Pismo dunes AC-32

We now realize it’s more likely the Cubs win the world series than we sell our place.  So wish us luck on being landlords!  Yikes!

I am a frequent HGTV viewer.  I wish I had the money for Candice Olsen to design my whole house, I imagine I’m the person buying exotic homes on House Hunters International, and I fantasize what I would do if I ran into Alison at Home Depot (I desperately need a Kitchen crash!).  Since I don’t have the cash to hire a designer or buy a vacation home in Italy, and I don’t have the best of luck of meeting any of the crashers at a hardware store, I have to stick to the inexpensive route.

Everyone on HGTV preaches about having a focal point in a room.  I’m lucky enough to have a house with a built in focal point in my living room.  My fireplace!

This past summer I decided to give my fireplace a facelift.  The original color of the fireplace was white.  I love white.  But I wanted to make it pop more and create more of a focal point.  So I took a few hours out of my day to paint it a glossy bright white!

Halfway through I could tell a difference already.

I painted one coat, let it dry for two hours, then did a second coat. I wrapped the paint brush in cling wrap in between coats so the paint wouldn't harden on the brush.

Before

After

Before

After

See, a little paint can make a big difference.  In the meantime I guess I’ll just have to get used to dreaming about hiring Candice.