OPINIONS NEEDED — SUBWAY TILE

As I mentioned in the previous post, one of my plans for my tiny kitchen makeover is a beautiful dose of subway tile. Don't yawn just yet, even though subway tile is popping up all over the place, I can't seem to ever get sick of it. I've loved it for a long time now and it's my perfect tile match. However, as we've been gearing up to get it done I've had to make final decisions. Originally I was going to go with an offset pattern for sure, but since it's going to be too late to change my mind soon, I figured I should make sure that's exactly what I want. So here is where I need your opinion, option one, or option two.

Option One: The offset pattern. I love this because it's classic and streamlined.

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Option Two: The herringbone pattern. I love this because it's a little more interesting and unique and yet it doesn't feel like it's trying too hard.

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SERIOUS KITCHEN POTENTIAL

I know it's been forever since my last post, things get busy and updating doesn't seem as important. But I have had a lot of people talk to me about why I stopped posting my projects up here. So I decided I would do my best to keep a few of you guys as up to date as possible and post resources/tutorials.

Right now I'm focused on my kitchen and really trying to get it all wrapped up so that I can start enjoying my kitchen to the fullest. When we walked through our house I was thrilled that my cabinets were white. Once we moved into my house I realized that the brush strokes, drips, and off-white color weren't exactly what I had in mind. Which is why this kitchen needs a bit of an overhaul.

Here is my kitchen now... (Ignore the photoshopped faucet.)



And here are my plans for the kitchen.

All terrible photoshop jobs aside, it's adorable. 

Here is our checklist:

Install spiral faucet

Install Hardware   (We are going with the Audrey Pull for the cabinets and the Duluth Pull for the drawers. These were a big of a splurge for me, but I after a year of longing I caught them on sale for 8$ a piece and pulled the trigger. FYI if you're looking to get these, they're stunning but you'll need to order different screws. We had a few break off in our cabinet without much resistance. Annoying.)

Paint the Kitchen Benjamin Moore Gray Mist

Paint the Cabinets using Benjamin Moore Advanced Paint in White Dove

Install subway tile with a medium gray grout. (What are your thoughts on gray grout? At first I was undecided, but I am falling in loove.)

Install some kind of floating wood shelf.

Install Schoolhouse Electric semi flush mount light.

It's not a long list, but appears to have a big pay off, so I'm super excited.

OBESSION...

"Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy- but mysterious. But above all black says this; 'I don't bother you – you don't bother me."

-Yohji Yamamoto

OR GO HALFSIES...

Holy cow! I loved the response I got on Facebook to help me pick my wall! Thank you all for your opinions!

However, I'm about to let all of you down and say I'm going in a different direction. I kept looking at all those color options and wishing I absolutely loved any of them, but I just didn't. I thought some were cuter than others... but that was it.

The next day I ran into this photo... from Crate & Barrel (Selling that floating clock)

Gasp! I knew had to have a half yellow wall! So of course, I popped it into my photoshopped hallway and sure enough. That dirty yellow was the answer to all my problems; wanting a bright hallway and my lack of color commitment. Not to mention I use pops of yellow all around the house and it could help pull it all together.

Love it or hate it? 

GO BIG OR GO HOME...

The truth is... I am a girl that is perfectly content with shades ranging from white to black. As many of you have noticed I'm content right there in my gray world. Add some wood elements and some warm textures and I am happy as can be. However, I'm trying to branch out. I figured that my garage entry hallway would be the perfect place to do it. It's a short hallway, but it's wide an spacious. So, I need your help! I want to do something bold, because I know I can always paint back over it when I don't like it anymore.

Here is a shot of that hallway from my entry door. I want it to look good with the reminder of the main floor which is light gray walls. So, what are your thoughts? Remember, none of these are the exact color I would use, but give a general idea of the direction! (Please ignore my photoshop job, obviously it's sub-par. Also, my carpet doesn't actually look purple-ish in real life. Again, sub-par photoshop)

LOSING THE WAR...

Imagine my surprise last summer when I found out Jake had drawn out for a hunt, seeing that I didn't even know he put in for hunts. While dating, he had vaguely mentioned that his family hunts on occasion and I had vaguely mentioned how much I hate the idea of hunting and that was about all that was exchanged.

At first I didn't mind... But as I realized he would be gone on my birthday week (yes, I still celebrate the whole week) and the cost of this hunting business my tolerance/excitement for this hobby started to wane. But it wasn't until I realized he was planning on mounting his first deer that our battle really began. 

I am a modernist. Hopefully there is no part of my home that resembles a hunting lodge. Meaning, there was no room for that deer. I was so bugged when I realized the most expensive piece of home decor I will ever have in my house garage is going to be a deer head. Here came the threats... "If you bring that deer into my house I will _____fill in with favorite option_____"

     a. Cover it in plaster and turn it ceramic.

     b. Spray paint it bright pink with gold glitter.

     c. Cover it in floral fabric.

     d. Paint a pattern all over

     f.  Cry.

     g. Sell it on KSL, for free.

Jake had a man room at this time, but it had low walls with an attic feel, so a large deer wouldn't have fit. And it wouldn't be allowed where women would judge my taste based on that dead deer. So it was decided, above his motorcycle in the garage would have to do. I was happy and I had won. 

The mount still has not been delivered. (Did you know it takes about a year to get those back?) It bought me some time in a deer free wall environment. But it's coming, and it's coming soon.

In this new house Jake has his very own theater room yet again, but this one has walls... deer size fitting walls. Apparently that meant that the deers location was once again up for discussion. Ugh, after arguing and seeing the bummed out look on Jakes face when I threatened that deer head with a can of spray paint, I caved. I hate to disappoint that man, so I agreed to let that furry dead creature into my home. Hopefully I can come up with something to make that room look good, right?

HOPE THIS UPDATE LASTS A WHILE

Wow, I really have gotten worse and worse at writing on here. I think the more I tell myself I'm going to write, the worse I get... However, today I'm laying sick in bed and can't get myself to sleep so I decided to update this pathetic thing I once called a blog.

I feel like so much has changed and yet, nothing has changed these past few months. We still spend our nights cuddled up on the couch multi-tasking watching TV and playing on our iPads but now we're doing it in a new house.

Aww, new house. We love this house. Now, don't get me wrong, our old house was a great house. Perfectly grand for someone with taste different from mine, but, it's hard to come home to a house that feels like it was meant for someone else.

This house, even though it's not modern and scandinavian and filled with sharp corners and cement goodness everywhere, it is headed in the right direction. The white cabinets, custom lighting and lack of wrought iron really get this house on par for my decorating taste. There's actually a lot of things that we prefer about this house... So here's my list of pluses this house had.

- Open-ish floor plan. The thing that's great about this plan is that there is a single floating wall that separates the kitchen from the family room. So no matter how hard visiting teachers may try, they can't judge my dirty dishes from the family room. It's such a relief on Sunday after church when I don't feel like cleaning up in time for the lovely ladies to stop by.

- Windows, SUNSHINE, so much sunshine. Natural light, something we lacked in our cave like structure we use to live in, townhomes can do that to you I guess. It didn't help that we were on the golf course and any time you opened the windows in our living area, many creepy men would be peering into your window to see what those houses on the golf course looked like inside. I now open my windows daily and love to have the sunlight fill the house in every corner. Jake would prefer I open them a little less because sometimes he's surprised when he's not fully dressed and walks downstairs to a fishbowl, but I feel like it's all worth it.

- Paintable walls, now I know that technically all walls are paintable, but I have a strong argument against that. At our old house we had this GIANT two-story vaulted ceiling that spanned across half of our main floor, kitchen, dining and living room. This wall was GIANT and because it was all open space, you couldn't just paint some, or half, or section of part of the wall. If you were to conquer some, you must conquer all. The thought of it would make me cringe, I couldn't decide what was worse, spending a few weeks painting that space, or hanging beautiful art against the peach/gold hue someone decided to put in that house. Luckily there is no wall too large in this house. Which has been fortunate considering the previous owner preferred powder blue walls in the rooms we spend the most time in.

-Under counter mounted sink- I feel like that's all I have to say.

-Master bathroom. Ahhh, now our old floor plan was pretty well crafted for the amount of space we had, but someone completely spaced the master bathroom. Our closet was larger than our bathroom. I'm pretty sure it was one of those things that the architects thought... oops, hmm, good enough. It was a glorified closet. Shower/tub combo and a toilet stuck right between the shower and the counter. Don't even get me started on jacuzzi/shower death traps. I'm 5'1, climbing in and out of that thing when wet was a hazard I don't have to stress out about anymore. We now have a rather large master bathroom with A SEPARATE SHOWER. It seems like a sweet miracle to me. I love taking a squidgy to that shower door, because I feel like it means that I've made it in life.

-My 5 minute walk to work that I usually drive anyways.

-Last but not least, the smell of air. Now, most people don't have to worry about their house smelling like an outhouse, but we did. We lived close by the sewer treatment facility. Some days you didn't smell anything at all, those were the blessed day. But then there were those days where if any of your windows were cracked you'd wake up gagging and feeling like you had gone back a few hundred years in civilization to when they would toss their waste into the curb. There were plenty of awkward moments when you would drive past the facility with someone new in your car and they would look over at you with accusing eyes and you would glare right back at them to make them feel self-conscious. However, that's all over now. Until I lived there I had never really noticed how a home smelt, now I do. And it's nice to be able to breath deep when I pull up to mine.

Overall we're really enjoying what this place has to offer.

Day Two: Something you feel strongly about

Well, I feel strongly about a lot of thing, but truthfully, I need a little vent session. So I'm going to chose the moving process. I strongly feel that the moving process sucks.

I am sure at some point, when we actually know where we're headed that it's going to finally get exciting, but so far, it has sucked.

Here is why:

People walking through your house talking about how they could never downgrade their mansion to a town home with a small kitchen – Then why are you here... you saw the photos online. Tell your mansion to suck it. 

People walking through your house and loving it and then their parents that have a much larger home budget come through and tell them that they should live in a much larger home and this house was not appropriate for their child.

Realtors calling you 24-7 looking to list.

Having people call and say they're right outside and would like to come see it now... then scrambling to make sure everything is perfect, just to have them take about 2.5 seconds to go through the whole house before they leave.

People telling me that they could get a much larger home for the price out in Eagle Mountain... then when my sassy self tells them to move out there they say... "We just sold our house there because we didn't like the area."

People texting me an offer $60,000 less than our asking price... take it or leave it the offer lasts until tonight. Needless to say, we left it.

Packing and making a moving mess out of your house, just to have your appraisal come back mysteriously low and have to find time to get things back in order for a re-appraisal.

No offense to the in-laws, but having to move into their house until you find a lot.

Trying to find a lot...

Offering the highest price on a great lot and losing to lower offer of man who just foreclosed on the lot because the investment firm wants to "work with him."

Packing... needless to say.

CC&R's that don't allow modern homes because they would rather have a terrible looking, out of place tuscan looking home than a low-grade roofline.

This is not even a full list, but I feel a lot better so I'll save you all the pain.

Anyways... We finally found a great buyer! And we're set to close on the 18th if we can get the appraisal up. Wish us luck!

Day One - 5 Ways to Win my Heart

So, I started a 30 days blog challenge to hopefully get me back in the blogging spirit, so that I'll be better at documenting our life! Here it goes...

Day 1- 5 ways to win my heart.

1. Typography: Kern (properly adjusting the space between each letter), hate papyrus (the dreaded, awful font) and love Helvetica. Pretty simple right? ;) I always assumed it was too much for me to ask to find a normal non-designer male that would share even a hint of my passion of typography.

However, after Jake had listened to almost 1 million hundred rants about papyrus on the freeway billboards, and the poor kerning in the Macy's display banners, his interest started to peak and he too began scoffing at papyrus *swoon*, I was hooked.

2. Humor: My favorite people to be around, shoes to watch, and songs to listen too, are ones that put a smile on my face. This can generally and easily be done with humor. I love a good laugh and I'm always giggling. The president of my company says I have a good sincere laugh- similar to a toddler (yup, he literally compared me to a toddler. In front of a client nonetheless.)

3. Suits: Nothing better than a man in a good tailored suit. That's actually one of the first things I noticed about Jake. First his eyes, then that suit of his. Ironically, when Jake bought that suit he also thought he looked good. So good in fact, he told his friend he would meet his wife in that suit.

4. The Spirit: I want to be around people that add to the spirit in my life, not take away. If you can do that I will treasure my time around you.

5. Don't judge me: There is nothing worse than being around people that you know are judging your every move. It gets tiresome and I want to be who I am, doing the best that I can. If I feel that I can be myself, the good, bad and ugly around you, then you have my heart.

2013. WOOT.

My resolutions are always a bust, always. Don't get me wrong, I always start out enthusiastic, before failing miserably and making excuses for why it couldn't be done. But every new year I come in all ready to get fit, keep a perfectly clean home, made dinner EVERY night, get up at 6 EVERY morning, etc...

So this year I decided my resolution was to do better today than I did yesterday [Hence, why I am again writing on this blog]. One step at a time... At all aspects of my life. I also want to be more understanding when my best isn't as good as I wanted it to be. I've tried to not sweat it if I didn't run as far at the gym as I would like, or heck, if I wasn't able to make it to the gym at all and work harder the next day. Who cares if Jake had cereal for breakfast yesterday, I'll try and make dinner tonight.

This has seemed to be going a lot better for me. Instead of a clear cut guide line of what I can/cannot accept from myself, I wake up every morning trying to be better at something/anything than I was yesterday. Didn't get the laundry folded last week? That's fine, I'll try today.

I was inspired by this concept from this blog that I read the other day...

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

If you haven't read it, you should. It's nice to come to terms with accepting what you are capable of every day and celebrating the good that you do, instead of everything you didn't accomplish that day.

I mostly wrote this for myself, so that when I look back at this post I can remember why I am striving to improve and that it's okay if I don't.

I also just started a fitness challenge with one of my dear friends & her family. I'm excited to have someone to try and improve with. Something that's nice about this challenge is that it's sole focus is not on weight, it's on a healthy lifestyle. Exercising everyday? Check! Drinking all your water? Check! Eating fruits & veggies? Check! It has different variables that you can do to improve... so that the number on the scale loses some importance and being healthy gains some.

For this challenge we also had to give up a vice, ugh, I had so many it was hard to chose. However, I chose the cursed free soda fountain at my work. That thing is of the devil, it glows as I walk past it and I sit close enough that I can hear the "ahhh's" as people take their first sip of Dr. Pepper. Hopefully I'll be able to resist & chick my Soda habit.

What are your New Years resolutions & how are they going so far?

'TIS THE SEASON FOR BLACK WHITE & GOLD

So Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. However it seems like the first two years that we were married we never had time to do any fun decorating. (school & work can do that to a girl) And this was the first year I was really able to put forth any effort. 

So as some of you know I'm the biggest fan of black and white. I could live in a black and white world & be perfectly content. I'm a lucky girl because almost everything at my work is black and white along with everything in my house. In fact, the guy that came to deliver the mattress today said, "Wow, you guys really like black and white don't you." – I most certainly do. So what else would I do for Christmas besides black, white & gold. 

I wanted to keep it simple, yet sophisticated and just couldn't get myself to do red and green in my primarily black white and wood home. So, here are some of my favorite pieces. 

1. My "Ugly Sweater Christmas Throw": I fell in love. $25 Home Goods

2. My hot chocolate station: Apothecary- Tai Pan, 1/2 off; Gold Plate- Tai Pan $2; Small Jars- Tai Pan $2.50 for all 3. Fill jars with Hot Cocoa Mix, mini marsh mellows, chocolate chips, peppermints & anything else you may want.

3. Merry & Bright Chalkboard: Chalkboard I made a while ago. Used a projector to project design & traced with chalk and hung beaded garland scalloped around the top.

4. Advent Calendar: Advent Calendar I designed and attached to rope and hang across my mantle. I wrote little love notes to the husband for each day. 

You can download the PDF for this advent Calendar and make one here.

5. My fabulous wreath: Purchased at Home Goods for $40 dollars. After about a half hour pacing back and forth deciding on whether or not I should get it. I decided that a wreath that perfect was meant to be.

6. Christmas Card Garland: 20ft. of live garland purchased from Lowes for about $12 dollars. After securing it tightly to the banister (not swooping) I wrapped a cute natural ribbon around the garland and clipped my favorite Christmas cards on to show them off.

7. Glitter Deer: Jake about died when I walked around the corner at TJ Maxx with this in my hand and the "I have to have this" smile on my face. It was about $12.

It's not very much and we don't have a tree up yet, but, I love it. And it's the first time that our house has been festive around the holidays. So eat drink & be merry this holiday season and enjoy the feelings it brings!

BREAKING BACK.

Today is a very important day. A day that might change my life – besides deciding to try and start blogging again, today is the day that we get a new mattress. Now, to some people this may not seem like a big deal at all. But it is... it sooo is. Let me explain:

Before Jake and I were married he had a giant California King mattress. It was a few years old (I'm not exactly sure how old) and it was placed on some old "under the bed drawers" (pretty sure they were from that famous waterbed bedset. Some of you should know the exact set I'm talking about.) with some plywood connecting the drawers and the mattress plopped on top. This bachelor setup was , hilarious, ghetto, functional, but was just not working. Pretty shortly after we were married I kicked the drawers out and we slept on a mattress on the floor. Pretty quickly after we decided that wasn't going to work either. Hoping that no longer sleeping on the floor would solve all my sleeping woes and after looking at the outrageous prices of California King platform beds, we decided to build our own.

It didn't take long to realize that the mattress just wasn't working. Jake and I woke up with pain in our backs and slept tossing and turning into the night. I loved going to hotels (even the cheap ones) so that I could finally get a good nights rest on a half-decent mattress.

I have been having a really hard time sleeping with nightmares, getting sick in the night and just being uncomfortable and so Jake decided maybe it was time his irritable wife got a little sleep. So we headed over to the mattress store and picked out this beauty.

After laying on all the beds and looking for the right amount of cush vs. support and reading reviews at sleeplikethedead.com we decided to pick up a Tempur-pedic Cloud Supreme. (Which just happened to be one of Oprah's 2012 favorite things I'll have you know. http://www.oprah.com/gift/Tempur-Cloud-Supreme-Mattress?editors_pick_id=40387 which we got for much lower than the price tag shows on the website) I'm putting my trust in Oprah and hoping that I love this bed instead of returning it in search for a new one.

If I ever wake up I'll keep you updated on how we like it.

RECOMMITTING– MAYBE

The worst part of blogging is actually having to take time out of my day to blog. I'm not very good at it. As you can tell from the fact that it's been 7 months (yikes) since I last blogged. Luckily time has flown by and I have barely noticed my lack of commitment. So, I'll start off with a quick update on the last 6 months.

Ready, Go!

+ We're are selling our townhome. We've loved it while it's lasted but are looking to settle into a     more modern permanent solution.

+ I am still working at Rain and still loving it. Jake is still jealous and wishes his job was quite as cool as mine.

+ I got a brand new niece, here name is Prentice Kaye Tibbs. She is one wonderful squishy delight. (+1)

+ Since we put our house up for sale our home projects have slowed down dramatically... making me, mostly bored.

+ We've been obsessed with watching Modern Family, Grimm, Suburgatory & Revenge.

+ Jake drew out for the Elk Ridge deer hunt and took off for a week without me to be one with nature. (He smelt like nature when he got home) He shot a big innocent  deserving deer & we are now waiting a year for the mount (which will be placed in the garage) and have tons of deer steaks that I am refusing to cook. (+2)

+ I'm not pregnant. I know, I know, married and graduated what's my problem? But I thought I would clear that up since there have been some off rumors. *scowl*

+ Jake and I just celebrated our 2nd year anniversary. The best part about that is that WE STILL LIKE EACH OTHER! We took off to St. George to enjoy some relaxing golf and great shopping! (+3)

Good things are happening!

So don't judge the fact that I've been too lazy busy to post on this. But I'm excited for this post because it's filled with a lot of good things that are happening. But to kinda recap before I get to the really good stuff, a lot of fun things happened. 

My on of my best friends since elementary (Marissa) is pregnant! Which is crazy to me! But so exciting, so me and my other best friend Natalie threw her a baby shower! Heres a couple shots of the brunch food from that day. 

Next... bah bah ba! I graduated! 

I was extremely happy, as if you couldn't tell from the photograph. I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts (before you judge my artsy fartsy degree know this...) with an emphasis in Graphic Design. I love my major. I get to be creative and have an amazing job while I do it. 

In case you didn't know, I am currently working part time at a Design Agency called Rain. They're located in American Fork. It has been awesome. They focus on interactive design, like web design and iphone applications. It's pretty great! I was also working at AMP Security, I have been there for ages and last week I decided it was time to be done. So I walked into my bosses office and gave him my two weeks. It was actually a really bitter sweet feeling, I was excited to move on, but it's been great while it lasted and I will miss the people there. 

So, there was some unknown after I quit about what would happen in 2 months when my contract ended with Rain. Unknown job status makes me really nervous... fortunately about 3 hours after I quit my job I got a call from a previous co-worker and he put his boss on the phone. He offered me a job as their Graphic Designer starting as soon as possible. So, being excited about this opportunity, I took it! So, starting this week I will be a part time graphic designer for The Color Run and will move to full time status when my contract at Rain ends. And if Rain wants to renew my contract, then I'll have a choice to make. :)

Also, on this post... 

Jake and I have been dying for a dining table. We have had a small little desk with no chairs that has been sitting in the space fo where our dining table should go, so this weekend after months of searching on KSL for the perfect table, I decided that I was going to make one. I wanted it modern of course and to fit in with the rest of my industrial look going on in our house... and voila. Here is is. 

Honestly, I'm obsessed. I am so happy with how it turned out. (I found the chairs on ksl for $30 for both) and couldn't be happier with the juxtaposition of the pieces. It completes my space so well. I can't wait to find an awesome center piece for it. I also have a project coming up where I am going to be making a dining bench for the other side. 

On another great note, my sweet husband bought me this poang chair from ikea. I'm pretty sure it's the coolest, most comfortable chair I have ever had in my life. We decided we like it so much that were going to sell our red ikea couch and replace it with two poang chairs. We're excited. I'm almost completely done with my front room. I'll have to post pictures when we're all done. :D

How time flies...

Well, well. I will be the first to admit that I have slacked severely on updating this blog lately. I suppose it's because nothing to interesting has happened and I would hate to bore everyone. But, the time has come to update those that care, on the interesting events happening in our life.


First, Jake has been travelling a lot for work and has been selling like a mad man. I am so proud of him. He mostly travels back east but recently got to spend some time in Las Vegas... one of these days I'll go with him and enjoy time away from Utah Valley.


I got a new internship as a graphic designer at RAIN. It's a sweet company that focuses a lot on interactive design. I love it. They have clients like skull candy, under armor and google. It's been a lot of fun to get started there, I am adoring it. As far as school goes I have one class that I'm in right now and I applied for graduation last week. I am so excited to move on from this part of my life and dive into my the design industry. 


Okay, this was going to be a good update... however, so sleepy.


Night.

ONE BEAUTIFUL BLACK WALL

So, I have no blogged in a while.  My class got cancelled today, so instead of being productive with homework, I am going to show you the final of our black wall.

TaDa!

I am loving it so much better than the tan that we had, and the gay that we tried. (Ignore the ghetto light fixtures, I'm going to be replacing them with a black one on that wall. YAY!. Anyways, like I said, I'm super happy with it. 

We debated painting the doors black, but rumor has it that when you wipe the handprints down, a little black come off on your towel. I'm not really down for re-painting anytime soon. So we decided that black was not the color for the door. 

Anyways, I want to incorporate metallics and wood. So, i was super excited when I came across that black leader and wood chair on KSL for a whopping 5 bucks. 

Anyways... I'm going to go be productive now, but there it is, a few weeks later.

LIKE A CHILD...

I just read a post over at my friend Whitney's blog (The Nova's). Her husband is over seas and two little boys decided to send their Halloween candy to a soldier. I thought it was really sweet and that I would share.

SNEAK PEEK...

Here's a sneak peak of what we got going on in our room right now...

BEDROOM BLUES...

Okay... after writing out this title I noticed that this may sound like it's a blog post on adult subject matters referring to the bedroom... It's not. It really is about the ugly blue-hued paint in my bedroom. I thought about changing the title, but it was too fitting for my situation. 


Two weeks ago I decided to be ambitious and paint our bedroom... 


I figured that the color in this beautiful home would be perfect. Gray, warm and amazing. However, I had a hard time finding a gray at the stores that didn't look too BLUE. I didn't want it to look blue at all. 

My mother pointed me in the direction of this amazing paint color blog called Favorite Paint Colors. There, I found this lovely gray color by Martha Stewart (shown below), called Chinchilla. 

So close to the paint color I had originally set out to find, and best of all NO BLUE!

I plastered this color on my wall... I kept seeing blue, but denying it and thinking another coat would get rid of the blue from the previous coat... I kept painting frantically trying not to let Jake see the panic. We finished. I closed my eyes and opened them one last time to yell out to my husband "IT JUST LOOKS BLUE". You could see his frustration that a whole Saturday had been wasted on a color I can't stand.

. 

I turned the lights off... Less blue-- maybe I would never turn the lights on in that room? I would walk out... walk to the family room and walk back hoping that it was no longer blue. No such luck... Jake and I slept in our guest bedroom so that the paint fumes would not intoxicate us in the night and upon waking, I ran right back down again to see my no blue, only gray paint. Just to be disappointed. 

The room has sat almost lifeless for the past 2 weeks as I debate on what to do with the color. You know that saying Go Big or Go Home? Well, I am going home and settling for a clean conservative safe... WHITE. 

I know that in Utah there is some awful stigma about white walls and that everything must be Taupe, but I am throwing caution to the wind and going with white. Feeling like a coward I decided to add a punch of color by going with a big bold wall of BLACK. :) 

Here's my inspiration board so you can get the feel for what I'm going for.

So now that you have a feel for what I'm liking what do you think? Yes/no? Any feelings about black and white walls? Any tips?

Wish us luck!

A-Z ABOUT ME.

Hello! So on my wanderings in the blog world searching for inspiration I ran across a blog called Dream Book Design. I am obsessed with her style. She has an exposed wall and an industrial cart coffee table... I begged Jake for an exposed brick wall... He denied me. But, on with my story, I found this cute a-z get to know me thing and thought that I would share so that you can get to know about me. 

A. age :: twenty-two

B. bed size :: California King

C. chore you hate :: Folding Laundry. Ugh.

D. dogs :: None.

E. essential start to your day :: Chapstick. One of the first things I do.

F. favorite color :: Kelly Green? Black, Gray.

G. gold or silver :: Silver. Most the time.

H. height :: 5 foot... almost 1 inch.

I. instruments you play :: I don't...

J. job title :: Graphic Designer... one day.

K. kids :: None.

L. live :: Orem Utah!

M. maiden name :: Ellison

N. nicknames :: Ellie & Ku'Cake

O. overnight hospital stays :: Mostly with my friend Mattie.

P. pet peeve :: School.

Q. quote ::"Be the kind of woman that when your feet his the floor in the morning the devil says, "Oh no, she's up"

R. righty or lefty :: right

S. siblings :: One great older sister & two great little bro's

T. time you wake up :: Umm. Lately around 7 am.

U. university attended :: Utah Valley

V. vegetables you dislike: Onions... no doubt.

W. what makes you run late :: My husband. :)

X. x-rays you’ve had :: Holy cow, elbow, shins, wrist, nose, ankle multiple times I think.

Y. yummy food :: pizza & pasta

Z. zoo animal favorite :: Hippos.

Well all, I hope you have a great day!