Keep Calm, It's Okay To Be Out Of Style

See that little blue sign in my old kitchen window? It's a "Keep Calm and Carry On" plaque. I bought it in 2010, three years after I first saw the poster, and two years after the image jumped the shark and was appearing on rugs and key chains. (Check the comments on this Apartment Therapy thread about the poster to get an idea of the vitriol this image inspires.)

The original "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster, Barter Books

You know what? I don't care. I have liked the image since the first time I saw it. It resonates with me. As an anxious person, I need the message. When I see my little plaque, I remind myself to just breathe. It also reminds me to stick with what I like, and not be influenced by what anyone else says is "in" or "out". Here's a graphic with some history of the poster, and some figures on exactly how (overly-)popular it's become:

Keep Calm and Carry On infographic by forevermelody.

I did think about scrawling on the back of the plaque my back-up plan for when "Keep Calm and Carry On" fails. That would be "Freak Out and Call Your Mom!" I wouldn't be the first to make a parody:

The Evolution of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" Meme Tree (The One) infographic

I picked up my plaque for $5.99 at HomeGoods. It's not even a good reproduction. The typeface isn't right and the crown is different. Seriously! Stuff like that usually drives me crazy, but in this case the plaque is less a design statement and more a life affirmation.

Keep Calm plaque in my current kitchen. Note the wrong crown and wrong typeface.

Right now I have a big dilemma about what colors to paint the big, main room(s) of my house. I painted my last house gray, in mid-2011. No one around me had gray on their walls yet. I loved how it turned out, but then gray started to be EVERYWHERE! If I were still in that house, I probably wouldn't be considering repainting. Not for another three years. But in this new house, even though I still like gray, I'm not sure I can commit to it, because it seems like it's "over". Which is silly, because very few people here even have gray. What's the next neutral? Has Jenna Lyons repainted her living room yet? What color?

Besides the trend aspect, there are practical concerns with the gray. The living room is vaulted, and the windows face north and west, so it's not the warmest light. I'm afraid such a huge expanse of gray will be too cold. Also, it's the only painting project in the house we aren't going to tackle ourselves. We have decided to hire painters because of the 20 foot ceilings. We NEED to get the color right the first time, because we sure don't want to pay twice!

Here's the listing photo of the room, and loft, in question. These are the previous tenant's furnishings. I know, a lot of ooooooooaak! The paint is light tan, with a darker clay accent wall, and a rag-roll faux paint treatment of both colors on the balcony wall. It reads mauve-y pink in some light, which is blech! It all feels very fleshy to me. The entire upstairs hallway, including all doors and trim, are painted the dark clay color. It's very dark in that area, and I just don't understand why the trim is the same color. Standing in that hall feels like being trapped in a legume of some sort. That makes no sense. Neither does the paint.

Anyone have any great ideas? I know, I know...keep calm and carry on. :-)

Lessons Learned As A First-Time Home Buyer (My Experience)

Since we're house-hunting right now (sort of), I find myself thinking back on our first homebuying experience and trying to decide what I've learned. I also want to post a few of the more in-depth DIY projects we did during our remodel here, so I thought it might be good to introduce how we ended up purchasing good old 1521. Here's what happened. I'm curious to know whether others' home buying processes were as drawn-out and circuitous, or whether that was just us.

We Asked Ourselves, "Should We Buy?"

Back in the summer of 2009 we waffled and waffled about whether the time was right for us to purchase our first home. Tyson had his first "real" job, with a more decent salary than we had anticipated. The $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers had been created. We were expecting our second child and living in a two-bedroom basement apartment - another bedroom would be nice. Interest rates were low (well, they seemed low at the time...now they're loooooooooooowww!). Likewise, prices had fallen, putting more properties within our price range.

But still, we weren't sure buying was the right thing for us at the time. Though only a two-bedroom, our daylight basement apartment was almost 1500 square feet. It was in a house that was only about five years old, and it had a walkout entrance to a huge fenced backyard. We were renting from a friend, and our rent was low. So low, in fact, that the rent vs. buy calculators pretty much told us it was financial sixes between renting and buying. Because of that, it ended up being the $8000 tax credit that swayed us. We figured the $8000 would be our "profit" from the house, since we thought if we bought a house we would only stay in it for three years before selling. We knew it was likely that home prices would continue to drop in that time (and look, they did!). Besides the tax credit, the only real driving force behind deciding to buy a home was wanting three bedrooms -- hopefully a master bathroom, a garage, and some enclosed yard space (but those things were negotiable).

Looking back, I wish I hadn't let myself be so influenced by outside factors and incentives like the $8000 tax credit. For those of you who don't know the end of the story, I'll clue you in. We bought a home and took the credit, but we ended up moving out of the home after less than a year to take a promotion in another state. Because the credit required the home owners to occupy the home for the next three consecutive years, we had to pay back the entirety of the $8000 credit. Ironically, we moved back into the home 17 months later, so at the end of the three years we are here again, but that doesn't mean we get the money (or even half of it for spending half of three years here).

As I was thinking about this I realized that I am letting the current market conditions (low prices and low interest rates) heavily influence my decision to sell our home and buy another right now. The numbers make trading up attractive (mixed with the fact that we really are outgrowing our place), but I shouldn't let myself feel rushed because of those factors. In truth we could wait another year (or more), save up more money, and see where things shake out with our income and desire to stay in this area. If prices change, so be it. They won't change THAT dramatically. If interest rates go up, so be it. Our current loan is at 5%, which seemed really low at the time we got it. The same interest rate (if rates go up that much) wouldn't be the end of the world.


We Took Time To Educate Ourselves About the Market and the Process


I attended a first-time home buyer workshop offered by our local college. That's where I first found our agent, who was also a member of our family (or had been). I spent hours on the MLS getting a feel for the market and figuring out what properties were a good value. I peppered my agent with questions.



We Made a List of Must Haves and Would-Be-Nices.

As I mentioned, one of our only "must haves" was a third bedroom. Another was a good location. We also wanted something that would put is in a good equity position. Maybe a house with an unfinished basement we could complete ourselves to raise the property value? Maybe a fixer-upper? Maybe something with an accessory apartment we could rent out? Maybe something priced below market by a motivated seller?

On our list of "would-be-nices" were things like a master bathroom, covered parking/garage, air conditioning, and a fenced yard or patio.



We Found Out What We Could Qualify For, Then We Set Our Budget Realistically Below That Amount.

With only a few "must haves" on our list, we found it very difficult to narrow down potential properties. The first step, which helped a lot, was to talk to a loan officer and find out how much loan we could qualify for. Then, knowing the bank will give you more than will really be financially comfortable to pay back monthly, we set our budget significantly under that amount. Now we knew we should look at properties up to $160,000. Perhaps slightly above that, in case we could put in a lower offer on a higher-listed property to bring it within our range.

We Looked at Properties. LOTS of properties.


Because our list of must-haves was so small, and because it was our first time looking at properties with a view to buying, we started out looking at one or two each of various types of properties: a couple big old single-family fixers (needed way more work than we could handle/afford), a couple duplexes (the locations were bad), a few reasonably priced small older homes in the heart of town (some places were nice and a couple places were awful, but Tyson decided he didn't want the maintenance issues and headaches of an old house, plus, the locations weren't that great), a newer bank-owned property (it was trashed and it didn't seem like a very good deal for the work it needed), a brand new townhouse in the town where Tyson worked (we liked it a lot but worried that the announced amenities would never be built and that the developer would later lower the prices on the new units, leaving us upside-down {which ended up happening to the people who bought there - good call, us}), and a single-family home in that same town (on which we decided to make an offer, see next section).

We Made Some Offers. We Made Some Mistakes.


At the time, Tyson was working in a town called Hyrum, a sleeply little rural community about ten miles outside of our main city of Logan. We thought living there would be nice because of the non-existent commute. We could also get more house for our money out there.

A four-lane highway connects Hyrum to Logan. We looked at a corner house that faced into a nice neighborhood but had a side facing the highway, right where the speed limit slows as the road comes into town. It was a three bedroom, two-bath rambler on a nice-sized .30 acre lot. Built in the late '80s, it had the same color of brick and siding as the house I grew up in. Maybe that seemed comforting to me? It was single-level and had been updated and well taken care of.


A few of the upsides were the nice cul-de-sac neighborhood, the convenient location, the single-level living, the two-car garage, the large fenced yard with sliding doors from the master and dining rooms, and, most of all, the master suite. The master bedroom was very spacious and had a walk-in closet and a huge bathroom with a jetted tub and separate shower. I fell for the idea of that master bedroom.

You see, by that time in our marriage we had lived in five apartments and had never had the luxury of a big tub, let alone the luxury of a master bathroom. Heck, one of our apartments didn't even have a tub (just the tiniest shower ever), and our trailer had a tub that was only 10 inches deep!

"A" marks the house. The busy highway is beyond the stop sign.

The downsides of the house were the price (at the top of our range), the location (side facing the busy highway), and the fact that it had no air conditioning (not even a swamp cooler). We decided to put in an offer anyway. We offered $4000 less than the asking price, which had already been reduced. We were met with a counter-offer. They countered with the same asking price. Deterred by their unwillingness to negotiate and the downsides of the house, we decided not to counter back. We moved on.


Someone else bought the home a couple months later. I've always wondered what the final selling price was. We pass the house at least once a week, since it is on the way to my in-laws' house. I still kind of picture our life there. What it might have been. Would we still have decided to take the promotion and move to Pennsylvania? Would we be kicking ourselves for not having air conditioning? Would we have a swing set and a garden? Would we be thinking of adding on a family room? The new owners haven't taken very good care of the house. The fence is broken, the grass in overgrown, weeds are everywhere, and they often park a couple of motorcycles right on the front lawn. I feel sad for that little house, the first house I wanted enough to ask it to be mine.

To Be Continued...(In which a canal breaks above a home on the day we were going to put in an offer on it.)

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I think that's probably enough words for one day. I'm curious, what year did you buy your first home? Did you offer on any homes besides the one you ended up in? Do you ever wonder what might have been?

Colorful Kitchen Art (Plus How NOT To Style Shelves)

We're really starting to get somewhere on our kitchen stuff. The open shelving is almost done (we're waiting for one final bracket to arrive from Home Depot), and soon it will be time to style things up. Not that they don't look great already. I walked in the door after being out with the kids last night to find the previously empty shelves filled like this:

It isn't like Tyson to put dishes on shelves - not in the context of housework and certainly not in the context of design - so I was confused. I wanted to thank him for putting things on the shelves...but it looked AWFUL! I said, "Oh, thanks for putting the dishes on there, but I might want to, um, move things around a little bit, okay?"

He said, "I just put the plates were I needed them to help weigh the shelves down so the glue can set."

Oh, okay. Good.

An Unanticipated Blank Space

Tyson and I did have a difference of opinion about these shelves, which are to the left of the sink. I wanted three, and chose the placement of the shelves to accommodate three. He drilled the holes for the bottom two and then said he was done, and wouldn't do the top shelf. He only wants two (because he only wants to pay for and build and paint two? not because of looks, exactly?). Since he is the one putting in all the labor while I sit tippy-tapping away on my computer, I am acquiescing, and he will be doing things his way. I just hope I can make it look nice.

I will need to use some art for height and balance, so I've been looking around a little. I don't know if art is the best idea, though, because of the height, so I'm also considering just a decorative wall accent of some sort. Well Tyson, either way I'll be spending some money on the blank spot where I thought a shelf would go, but I guess it's a good thing that now I can spend it on something I can take with me when we move.

Local Color

I'd love to add some local art to my home, so I've been keeping my eye out for art relating to the place where I live. These colorful prints are from a couple of local foodie places here in Logan, Utah. The rooster on the left is from Caffe Ibis, a maker and distributor of organic coffee (artist unknown, print available for purchase here). The depiction of a bountiful basket of produce on the right was created by local artist Robert Bissland for the Cache Valley Gardeners' Market, and is available for purchase at the weekly market. The Garderners' Market print, particularly, fits in well with the other colors in the kitchen and adjoining rooms (yellow, turquoise, a bit of orange), while the rooster has some of the same colors but introduces some new ones. I only wish the border weren't brown.

Kitchen Specific Prints

This next one has a color palette that would be great in my open kitchen/dining/living area. The quote, from Julia Child, pretty well describes my family's attitude on things :). This one is available at the Etsy shop of blimpcat.

Just a few days ago I found these cute FREE kitchen-themed printables on Pinterest. You can download them here on overthebigmoon.com, and can even adjust the colors!

Which would you choose? If I know me, and if I know my current situation, I will go cheap and cheerful by having the printables printed at Sam's Club and popping them in simple white frames. But first I'll "shop" the rather extensive collection of art that's gathering dust in my garage and see if I can find anything there that works.

P.S.: You can check out my kitchen inspiration pics on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/venusv/kitchen/

My Bathtub Is In My Bedroom. The Open Concept Master Suite

For how much I made fun of the heart-shaped bathtub in the bedroom of my 1977 dream home, you might be surprised to learn that I *currently* have a bathtub in my bedroom. Known as an "open concept" or "resort style" master bathroom and bedroom suite, this is something you don't see very often outside of honeymoon hotels with jungle-themed rooms.

In the case of my bedroom, which is very small, I think the bathroom was kept open to the bedroom so a large jetted tub and separate shower could be included. While I appreciate having these amenities, it is kind of weird the way the tub juts out into the room. I really got a laugh when one of the carpet installers who came last fall walked into the room (which didn't have any flooring in it at the time) and said, "Wow! This is the biggest bathroom I've ever seen!" as he looked around confusedly. I didn't really have the heart or patience to explain that this was my bedroom AND my bathroom. This "before" photo from the listing when we bought the house shows the problem to its absolute worst advantage. The picture was taken at an odd angle and with a weird lens, because the space under the window is 9' wide, but in the photo it looks the same as the bathtub, which is less than 6' long. We have our queen bed under that window, with regular sized nightstands on either side, if that explains just how "off" this picture is. In reality the tub juts out about 18" into the space that "should" be the bedroom's.

See, this next photo was taken from the doorway and you can't even see the tub.

But yes, the tub is back there, hanging out in the bedroom. Here's my floor plan again, to orient you.

Again with the making the tub look extra long. But at least you can see that the wall next to the vanity more than halfway on the bedroom side of the tub. (P.S., Stop being so jealous of those curtains.)

All the upgrades you see above (wood floors, tile, painting), we did ourselves, cheapskate DIY style. We really deliberated about what to do with the flooring, because of the ambiguity of the line dividing the bedroom and the bathroom. It used to have carpet all the way through, as seen above. I wanted to do wood all the way through, but we were worried about water damage and we also couldn't get enough of our chosen wood. We decided to do wood and tile, and to keep the dividing line where it would have been if the tub weren't there. I devised a plan for dividing the two rooms, yet to be implemented.

In the meantime I looked for inspiration pics for open concept master suites. Was there a way to make this look luxurious and spa-like rather than tacky and tiny? In a word, NO. Not without a lot more space. One famous open plan master bathroom out there is that of Jenna Lyons of J. Crew. 

Well, at least my toilet isn't visible from my bed, I'll give it that much.

So, tell me honestly...if you were looking at houses, how bad would this weird you out? I'll tell you that  we thought it was weird at first, but we've been completely happy with it. Maybe part of that is just happiness at being able to have the luxuries of an oversize jetted tub and a stand-up shower at the low price point of our condo. What do you think...open concept master bathroom: luxurious or ludicrous?

Do The Wave (The Microwave)

We've been living with a gaping hole where the microwave should be for almost nine months now. Since I'm the Queen of Cheapskates, I've kept my eye out from time to time on KSL Classifieds (our punched-up local version of Craigslist) for a decent over-the-range microwave at a decent price. I just don't want to spend more on the microwave alone than we've spent on the entire rest of the kitchen remodel, ya know? I had pretty much gotten used to this awesome look, though...

But I was looking for a change. You know, something new (used). Something other than a couple of holes in the wall. Something other than a microwave with a digital clock that runs fast. How does that even happen?!? I have no idea, but it does. That microwave sitting on the counter progressively gets more and more ahead of the correct time. I have to reset it constantly.

In the end, though, it was Tyson the KSL addict who found the microwave deal. Local, gently used, and fairly priced. We picked it up on Sunday night and he installed it Monday.

Ahhhh, much better. It's a nice GE Adora microwave, originally installed in 2010. The lady we bought it from had remodeled and gone with the same make and model in stainless steel. It's nice that it's a GE, because the rest of our appliances are, too, so it kind of goes along with them (other than being nicer and newer). To purchase this model and color at Home Depot right now would be $298. We bought the used one for $100.

The kitchen has been pretty torn up since Monday as we have been working on putting up the open shelves next to the sink and under the cabinets. They are currently awaiting further coats of paint before installation. Here's the before photo for the area left of the sink. Hang tight for an after. I know, I know...how could it be improved upon?

And just for good measure, here is the BEFORE before. We've come a long way, but there's still more to do!

I'm curious, are you "pro" or "con" open shelving? Do you have it in your house? Or would you? What about over-the-range microwaves? Some people *hate* them!

How To Update Builder Brass Light Fixtures On The Cheap

A couple weeks ago I took our master bathroom light fixtures from brassy to classy for mere pennies. If you've ever wondered how to update builder brass light fixtures to oil rubbed bronze or another finish without running out and buying new ones, keep reading. But first, witness pretty much the best "before" picture ever. I promise we don't live in a crack den, but yes, this is what our fixtures have looked like for the past several months:

Brass PLUS Chrome!? Not In My Home!

Yes, we lived with bare bulbs in our combination brass/chrome master bathroom vanity light fixtures for the past six months while waiting for the weather here to get warm enough for spray painting. It was really even worse-looking than pictured; the fixture wasn't really attached to the wall. It was just dangling by its wiring (a big no-no, as I'm sure you realize). I didn't have a closeup before photo of the actual light, so I took one of the as-yet-unpainted light from our hall bath so you could see in detail how lovely the shiny chrome-brass combo really was.

Brass vs. Brass

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against brass. I have a sweet little collection of vintage miniature brass bells, for instance. I even considered brass hardware for my kitchen cabinets, and would have used it if I didn't think it would scare future buyers away. I bought a huge amount of ornate custom cast brass light switch plates and outlet covers at an estate sale - I'm hoarding them in my garage just waiting for the perfect place to use them. (Say, like, this li'l old house right here?) But those items would all be nice, real, heavy brass with some age and patina. Not these GOLD brass fixtures that were so popular in days gone fairly recently by.

(Note: I'm pretty sure oil-rubbed bronze is going to face the same fate eventually - we'll all be on to the next thing and scorning ORB as sooooooo 2000s. So be it. For now, it is a pleasant update from shiny brass. I also considered re-doing these fixtures in straight black, but I decided I liked the subtle shimmer and metallic look of the ORB.)

There's a genuine before photo of what they looked like in place. This is our master bathroom as it looked when we moved back from Pennsylvania last September. We've since repainted the walls and trim and put in new flooring. And now the vanity lights. You'll notice the lights also used to have the glass shades pointing down like bells, and when we put the fixtures back up we switched their orientation so the glass shades now point up like goblets. That wasn't really on purpose, FYI, but I think I like the change.

How To Update Brass Light Fixtures With Spray Paint: The Details

At first I wasn't sure how to spray paint my light fixrtures or if it would work, but then I remembered my sister had done it to hers years ago and that gave me the confidence to jump on in. With a little Googling I came up with some product recommendations and tutorials.

The standard recommendation was Rust-Oleum Universal Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze.

From the Rust-Oleum website

I simply took the fixture down, removed the bulbs, taped off any parts I didn't want painted, and followed the directions on the can. I put the fixtures down on pieces of cardboard and/or tarps, tucking the wires underneath so they wouldn't get sprayed. The screws I punched through pieces of cardboard  (styrofoam also works if you have any on hand), so I could have all the necessary parts exposed at once for spraying. If you were spraying something that was going to be touched and used a lot, like doorknobs, you would also want to sand first and possibly do a clear coat after, but since these fixtures will never be touched I just went straight to the spray paint.

Three Important Tips For Spray Painting

1- Wear socks or shoes that you don't mind getting overspray on.
2- For the best finish (both in looks and durability) do multiple thin, even coats with dry time between coats as directed on the can. Your first coat will look pretty ratty. Avoid the urge to keep spraying for better coverage. Let it dry and then go again.
3- Spray gently back and forth across your item at an even distance, keeping your hand moving. As Sherry from Young House Love once said, "If you're a-sprayin', your arm better be a'swayin'" Now try to ever, ever get that rhyme out of your head! Sorry, it's stuck there forever. But you should thank me, because it's good advice.

I'll add a bonus one: do multiple thin, even coats. Oh, did I already say that? Good. It's very, very important if you want your spray painted item to have a professional-looking finish.

My spray painting results may have been profesh, but my photography skills are not. Oh well, just keep swimming. I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially for the money ($5 bottle of spray paint that will still spray many more items). Speaking of many more items, the rest of the brass to be painted includes the vanity lights from the other two bathrooms, the hardware from the stair banister, the dining and living room light fixtures (if we decide not to buy new ones), and the door hardware throughout the house (if we decide we are that ambitious).

Next on the list, though, is installing the new microwave we just got for over the range, and finally installing the open shelving in our kitchen. I'll show you some of that later this week.

I'll also be back to show you the photos of another house I love. This one doesn't need any explanation and will all be in one post. Tyson doesn't really like to listen to my house-hunting talk, so I'll just blab to you all, okay?

So, I'm curious, what metal finishes do you have in your house, and how do you like them? Any mixed finishes within one room? Anyone else have a good spray-paint transformation story - light fixture or otherwise? Or perhaps a spray paint blooper? Do tell!

Make A Floor Plan Online - Here's Mine

I have always loved looking at house plans. My friend Alice and I used to create our own when we were in junior high, and occasionally we bought the house plan magazines in the check-out line at the grocery store. I still like to look at those magazines and at house plans online. Kind of funny, because I haven't really seriously considered building a home -- I like the character and landscaping of existing homes too much! I guess it's just fun to picture myself and my family living each home. How would we use the rooms? Where would I put my card catalog? Could we buy a piano? Can I look out the kitchen window and see the kids playing in the backyard? It's fun to imagine...

But let's get back to reality. My own little townhouse is 1320 square feet. I made up a little floor plan on Floorplanner.com to help me figure out possible furniture arrangements. This keeps me from pushing my furniture around quite as often, which is a good thing because dang, that beloved card catalog is heavy!

I thought these Floorplans (which I'll admit aren't perfect in their scale or dimensions) might be helpful to look at to give you a sense of context for the other pictures I post of my house. On the plan of the main floor do you see that white space on the floor next to the yellow circle that represents our yellow beanbag? That white space represents the wall we removed during our remodel.

First floor

Second floor

Floorplanner is pretty easy to use and has lots of different types of furniture. You can save several variations of your design on there for free. I have five different versions of my main floor, but have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the traffic flow will be difficult no matter what. That's the biggest challenge in my floor plan. That and the kids' tiny bedrooms upstairs.

What's the biggest challenge in your floor plan? What would you like to add to your floor plan if you could? I'd like to have a formal dining room.