the secret room

if you frequent our blog and happened to catch our little feature in ink magazine earlier this month, (the same one that reappeared sunday in the kansas city star), you may have noticed several projects around the house that we have yet to highlight.  because of the timing of things, the reveal on many of these projects happened before we had a chance to detail them for you... so we thought we would go back in time a little and talk about a few of them.

first up:   alex's secret room.  we started talking about the facelift that was happening in this post, but didn't go into a lot of details.  if you caught that post and guessed that we were working on the little closet under the stairs - you were correct!

now, let's get one thing out of the way:  we feel really bad about how long it took us to get to this project.  mainly because we eyed this little nook as the perfect playroom/secret hideaway nearly three years ago when we bought the house and alex was quite a bit shorter.  we knew that with a few hours work we could turn it into a pretty kick-ass clubhouse for people under 4 foot tall.

since then, it has mainly served as the space in the house where all vacuums, outdoor toys, winter coats and other cold weather paraphernalia go to hibernate.  but we finally got our act together and made something happen in this virtually unused-for-anything-awesome space.

here is a quick look at the before:

and the difference a little paint, some fluffy carpet, some repurposed paper decor and a few adorbs details can make:

i mean, winter coats and roller skates, you're cool and all, but you do not deserve a space this rad.  i would have eaten every last vegetable on my plate and thought twice about cutting down the neighbor's rose bush to make a parade float - had there been any chance of attaining a secret hideout like this when i was seven. 

it's the perfect spot for reading, chalk-boarding and dreaming up all the things we want to be when we grow up.  it's also another testament to the simplicity and power of a little paint.  paint people - you gotta try it.  it is the easiest and most affordable way to transform a room, a space or a piece of furniture.  

the secret is out.  she loves it.  we love it.  and we're glad we finally got around to making it complete.

did you have a secret hideout when you were a kid?  tell us about it...

2011: The Year In Review

It's that time of year when organizations begin releasing their annual reports; a look back at the previous year in an effort to discuss how things went down.  So today, we give you Twenty Six East: The Year In Review.  No boring pie charts here.  Just a few highlights from 2011 and how it looked on our end...

Total Number of States Visited: 11

Farthest Distance Traveled: 4883 miles
In July, the hubs and I hit Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to honeymoon.  I don't know that we have actually shared the photos from our adventure, but here are a few.  We had an amazing time.  All you can eat buffets and endless fruity cocktails.  What else do you need to know?

Best Family Va-cay: Southern Cali
Mickey Mouse makes me cry.  There. I said it.  I visited Walt Disney World for the first time in 2007 for a business trip and I cried like a baby when I met him.  I took Alex back in 2008 and we watched him dance on Main Street and we cried together.  In October we took a family vacation to the LA area and Disneyland  and yep, more tears.
 

Favorite New Retailer: Warby Parker
Two out of three of us can't see very well and that minor issue can be expensive.  So imagine our delight when we discovered not only could we find seriously cool eyewear for us both, but we could own 3 pairs for the price of 1.  No insurance required. Add on the fact that every time you buy a pair a child in a less-developed country gets a free pair and you've just gained better vision and a bigger heart.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you should.  Visit WarbyParker.com and tell them we sent you.  (ok you can but that doesn't really mean anything).

Favorite Local Spot to Get Our Grub On: Westside Local

Favorite Local Spot For Flapper-Style/Hand-Crafted Cocktails: Manifesto

Most Bittersweet Occasion: Saying Goodbye
When our amazing/awesome/so-attractive-it's-not-fair friends Vikas & Sindhu relocated to Michigan, we threw them a dinner party to congratulate them and say goodbye.  

Favorite Accessory: The Pink Phone
It's a handset.  For your cell phone. And a birthday gift I picked up for myself last March.  And pinky made the rounds this past year.  Seriously, everyone loves the pink phone and a photo opp.

Friends We Hung Out With The Most: Stacey & Erik
After getting mildly involved with the AMC series Mad Men in late 2010, we upgraded to the full-blown obsession in 2011.  Convening in our living room every Wednesday night over 1960s-era cocktails, we made 2011 the year of good friends and mad men.  We even threw Erik a giant birthday party to show our love for both.  Check that out HERE.

Biggest DIY Repeat Offender: Painting
We changed the look of our living room, dining room & the entire 3rd floor.  Yes, yes we know-  we've been promising 3rd floor before & after pics for a million years.  They are coming.  Soon.  I promise.

Most Calendar Worthy Moment: Oooolala
Oh yeah, Mr. December, re-tiling my sister's shower on New Year's Eve.

Biggest WTF Moment: This... 

Biggest "This-is-not-gonna-end-well-moment":  Meatball & Andre

Most Creative Philanthropic Endeavor:  Copywriting For A Cause
This year I had the honor of helping Alex's School with their new marketing campaign.  See the finished product HERE.

Biggest Benjamin Splurge: Our Wedding
That little party we threw over Fourth of July Weekend was A-MAZ-ING.  Although we kept things to a pretty tight budget, DIYing just about every aspect possible, this was still an area where we spent some cheddar.

Biggest Diva: The Reigning Queen

It was a pretty amazing year.  And these are just a few of the highlights of 2011.  Hard to imagine that 2012 can top it...but we shall see!

Black Out

If you were paying close attention to the shots from our Fabulous Mad Men Themed Birthday Extravaganza of the Year (that's what the associated press are calling it I bet) then you may have caught a glimpse of  our latest project.

After much debate and countless hours of staring at the walls and trying to decide what that room was missing, we went for it.  We painted the dining room black.  Why you ask?  Well, no one really knows for sure, but it seemed like a good idea.

It was a heavily debated decision, especially because I initially thought the room needed black and white horizontal stripes.

I now realize that was more than likely a slight error in judgement.

It took a while but we (and when I say "we" I mean "Evan") got started and painted the entire room white.  We (I was involved in this) taped up some paper stripes.  We stared at them.  Took them down and rearranged them.  I wasn't convinced.  For a moment I thought the room could just stay white.

But that moment was fleeting.

In the end, we had the black paint and we decided to just go for it.

We started with one wall...

Then added another...

And then a lot more staring ensued.

The weekend of the party sneaked up on us and we decided to put the room back together.  We figured we could decide what to do with the remaining two walls later on.  But once everything was in place, we were kind of digging the half&half look and so for now, it stays.

(the view from the living room) 

(the other white wall)

A little crazy.  A little cool.  But a lot of fun for sure.

To Paint Or Not To Paint

When we last left you we had just put a new paint color on our living room walls.  That project is still in progress, but we've already moved on to other ideas.  The funniest thing about all this paint madness is that yesterday marked our 1 month wedding anniversary.  Why is that funny you ask?  Well, while we were chillin' (sweating) on the beach in Curacao on our honeymoon, we talked about how we were taking a break from house projects for at least 3 months.  You know, take some time to relax after all our hard work planning our primarily DIY wedding and lots of home projecting for guests.  We do, after all, still have about 15 projects to update you on both wedding and house-related.  So, taking a few months to regroup seemed like a good plan.

Well, you see how long that lasted. :)

Back to the walls.  The plan is to cover the entire room in Sherwin-Williams "Requisite Gray" (which we will be color matching at HomeDepot for a more affordable option).  This color passed the daytime into nighttime test on all four walls unlike some previous contenders.  It still looked gray everywhere...not even a hint of purple.  Phew!   But then during testing we got the crazy idea to take our painting a little bit further....and we did this....

Cue dramatic music!  Bum! Bum! Bum!

And now for the buzzkill...

That's actually just paper from our Stendig Calendar that we taped to the fireplace as a way to test the concept.  It still really looks like this:

But we're torn.  Should we take the plunge?  The white definitely looks more modern, but we love a good brick accent.  The wall we knocked out in our kitchen for our beer tap is one of our favorite projects in the house:

But something about the fireplace brick just doesn't look as cool.  The good news is the white calendar paper is pretty convincing and so we feel like we already know exactly how it will look.  Plus, we took the liberty of asking our pretend friends John & Sherry Petersik of Young House Love what they think and Sherry says:

We're not ones to argue with two people who have made blogging about their decorating sense a full time job.  And clearly we are also not above a little shameless self-promotion over the fact that they answered our email (!!!), so basically - its all but a done deal.  But we're still open to opinions.

Do you have one?

The Porpoise and the Hair

The title of this post is awry.  Much like something in this photograph is awry.  Can you tell what it is?

Can't find it?  What if we take a closer look.....

AW----YEAH!!  That's right, your eyes do not deceive you!  That my friends, is a paint swatch, or as we like to call it:  A wild hair!  And its very presence might be a true representation of just how patient and level-headed we really are.

You might recall a day (okay maybe 45 days) when our living room looked a little like this:

And I, at the time, looked like this:

The agony of choosing a universal paint color was entirely too problematic for this girl.  You see originally, we had grand plans of each room having its own signature color.  We're not talking about a rainbow collection of living spaces, but a few tones that complimented each other and set each room apart.

We loved gray.

Gray was supposed to be the color of choice for the majority of our home, but we could never get it just right.  We tried at least 10 different shades and brands of gray, but in the end, it was a warm lavender in some rooms and cold silver in others.  With no furniture yet in the house and the old trim still shining through, we really couldn't tell what would compliment each room best and what the color would really look like once everything moved in.

The biggest problem?

We were short on time.  Had we had an eternity to think about it, I am sure we could've come up with a color we liked, but as you may recall, our goal was to have the entire house painted prior to moving in.  That left us a little over 15 days to come up with a winner.  Which might sound like ample time for normal folks.  But we ain't normal!  With those limitations, we went the safe route, a color we could live with and looked the same in every room:

Sherwin Williams - Kilim Beige.

Now before I go and hurt its feelings, let me just say that Kilim Beige is a delightful color...er....shade.  And in the world of beige-s, it is the great equalizer.  It's crisp.  It's clean.  It's beige.  We agreed it was the safest and decided to live with it until we had a better idea of what each space wanted. No rush judgments.  No crazy colors.  No regret.

So very level-headed and so very patient of us indeed.

And now?  We're back to gray.  A year and a half later we have lived with beige and enjoyed beige and even decided to keep beige in several areas, but at long last the living room is getting a facelift!   The swatching has begun and after a single color visited a tiny portion of our walls, we actually think we may have found a winner already!  It's either Behr - Dolphin (porpoise - get it?) or Requisite Gray.  Believe me - nobody is more shocked to have front runners than us. So in this tale of the Porpoise and the Hair, we are proving once and for all that when choosing paint colors, slow and steady still wins the race!

Sneak Peek of the Week...

We couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek of our master bedroom with painted trim and primer on the walls. Check out the difference from that nasty yellow color the trim used to be. Grrr-oss!

The painting should wrap this week, and we are thrilled! Its a miracle we ever got to this day! Choosing paint colors was equally as challenging as choosing a house! After much debate, and changing our minds 100 times (Kelly changing her mind 100 times) then second guessing and experiencing some major painters remorse, we settled on some pretty neutral pairings and neither of us have seen any of the real color on the walls---yet!

Check out the difference some fresh paint makes and stay tuned for the big reveal....

More to come....