The Week in Review | November 18-22

The holidays start earlier and earlier every year but this year I couldn’t be more excited. I guess it’s because we’ve been spinning since we moved here. It was a mad dash out of Richmond last holiday season and then house hunting and then spending the entire spring and summer renovating. We really lost the entire summer to plaster & paint, tiles & trim. Seriously, I never even put a swimsuit on all year! But I’m not complaining (well maybe a little) because the fact is the holidays have come around yet again and we have this lovely home to spend them in. So bring on the cookies and candy canes, Bing Crosby and the bustle in the stores! I am ready!

And apparently, I’m not the only one. The blogs are brimming with gift ideas, decorating tips, and crafting galore! Here are some of my favorites!

Week in Review

  1. When not writing her Little House Blog, Lindsay runs a sweet stationery shop called The Penney Paper Co. These  pretty packages are from a recent trade show. Just my style. Simple, rustic, chic.
  2. Heather from WhipperBerry made a guest appearance on I Heart Nap Time this week and showed off some savory homemade treats to gift. A welcomed change when receiving every cookie under the sun at this time of year!
  3. Design Mom made these simple etched birch ornaments with help from Lowes this week. Perfect for hanging on the tree or on gifts!
  4. Casey Leigh shared the sweetest pics from her family tree decorating evening. Balsam Hill provided them with a gorgeous artificial tree. I’m a hardcore real tree believer but this one could make me convert!
  5. Natalie at Style at Home blog debated which cozy holiday pillow to add to the mix. I vote for this cutie from Pottery Barn.

Trim & Grout

Progress on the mudroom is moving right along. We finally have trim!

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We’ll spend the weekend on final coats of paint, changing out hinges, making sure all electrical outlets have plate covers, and cleaning that sun porch. Ick! But I can’t have our lovely french doors look out onto a recycling bin, grout buckets, and trowels!

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And speaking of grout… ta da! We used the same pewter grout we’ve used in both bathrooms. The slate looks stunning with the grout in place. I’d say our resident tiler has outdone himself! Great job Jared!

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Mudroom Cabinetry

Once the housewarming and holidays are over we want to actually create a useful mudroom with cabinetry, hooks for coats, bins for mittens and scarves, and a bench for putting on shoes and boots. We’ve had such great luck with IKEA, I’m sure some of the elements will come from there but embellished upon with trim or knobs that give it a more custom feel. Here are some elements that we must include.

A bench and hooks. The most basic components of a mudroom. Even without an entire room to devote, most homes at least have a place to crash and hang your hat.

Mudroom Benches & Hooks

Proper closets. Not everything should be on display. Especially in the summer months, we will want to store bulky coats and boats out of sight and out of mind.

Mudroom Closets

I am especially excited about a cleaning closet. I am one of the few who loves to clean so I can’t be expected to be content with under the sink storage for all my tools and scrubbing potions. No no. A cleaning closet is ideal.

Mudroom Cleaning Closets

And finally color! It is a mud room after all so my whites and ivories may not fly here. A creamy grey is what I’m thinking for all cabinetry in our mudroom. It will go nicely with the slate tiles, white trim, black bathroom door, and Revere Pewter walls.

Mudroom Color

Slating the Obvious

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Jared has done a fantastic job with this beautiful slate tile in our mudroom! And with all the slate down, we’ve turned our attention to the trim. Our mudroom is really the last of the raw rooms. That is, it’s the last place we can see traces of plaster and reminds us daily of our summer long renovation. So trimming out this room and putting on final coats of paint is a really, really big deal.

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Especially the trim around the half bath door and the french doors that lead out to the sun porch since we can see those clearly from the living room, kitchen, and dining room.

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Ignore the hideous mess on the sun porch! It’s kind of a dump zone at the moment. Our tools and construction materials have slowly gotten pushed back from the built ins in the dining room, to the nook in the kitchen, to the mudroom, and now to the porch! Looking forward to the day where they are properly stored in our basement but loving more and more usable space in our house right now!

Orange is the New Black

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What do you think of our mudroom floor?

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Now don’t panic. As much as I love traffic cone orange, this is not our new floor but rather the Schluter Ditra that gets put down before tile. Ditra is a thick waffled plastic that protects the substrate from moisture penetration and supports the tile.

Our resident tiler, Jared took care of this project too. Using this maximum strength adhesive, he applied an even layer to our mudroom to install the Ditra.

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We chose a handsome slate tile to cover this space but natural stone means no tile is the same thickness. So to lay a floor without places you could trip over, meant a jigsaw puzzle for Jared. But as more tiles went down and we saw less and less prison jumpsuit orange, we were more and more pleased with our choice!

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The floor is essentially dark blacks, greys, and blues but there are so many natural variations that I find to be works of art! I call this one above our very own Monet. And butting up against our kitchen floor and the black door on the half bath, the tile seems to be a perfect fit.

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Much more mudroom updates this week. Stay tuned.