Big Plans, People, Big Plans

A while back I posted about J and I possibly moving to a nicer place closer to Coffee Buzz. After looking at a couple of places and really weighing the options we've decided to stay put. We figure with a deposit, 1st month's rent, a pet deposit and the general cost of moving it will be at least $3,000 to move! It seems silly to spend all that money when the place we have is pretty great. We have a pool, we're close to our families, we're not too far from work but far enough to keep life and work separate. We made the decision that we'll stay in this townhouse until we're able to buy a house. It seems pointless to move from townhouse to apartment to townhouse when all we really want is a house. So, until we can afford to make that happen---we'll be staying at our current place.

BUT, in order to make myself feel better about staying I've gotten the go ahead to spruce up the pad!!! I figure I might as well make it as cute as I can because we may be here for a while and I have some major plans! I pretty much want to upgrade every room in the house. I thought I'd walk you through each room, show you what it currently looks like and share some of my plans and ideas for each space. And PLEASE, let me know what you think, if you have ideas or completely hate what I'm doing! I've seen some of your places and some of your re-decoration skills so I KNOW you know what you're doing!

KITCHEN:

OK, so my biggest beef about our place is the kitchen. It's tiny and has very limited cupboard space. I've been browsing some online stores looking for a hutch or buffet or something to add to our little kitchen nook. Well, my amazingly awesome BB came across an amazing piece while perusing Craigslist and without even knowing I was in the market sent me the link saying "I feel like this is something you'd love." SHE WAS RIGHT! 24 hours, only $140 (!!!!!!) and a helping muscle from J's dad and this beauty was in our nook.

 My plans for the rest of the space are the following:
-Paint the area pale yellow!
-Paint hutch (it's a little dirty and has some nicks and scratches...just needs to be freshened up!)
-Find wall decor for wall opposite of hutch (I have a few ideas...we'll discuss later)
-Stock and organize the hutch giving me tons more cabinet space in the kitchen! YAY! :o)
-Get decor for the counter tops (I'm thinking pasta jars, or cool bottles for olive oil. ya know, something kitchen-y)

DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM:

I don't want to change too much in this bathroom, because I love the blue and brown and I LOVE my turtle wall hangings! I would like to paint in here though. My good friend, Jessi, recently gave her Master Bedroom a makeover and I LOVE what she did with the walls (check it out here). I was thinking of doing that same wall treatment to this bathroom, only with a pale blue paint color! Thoughts?

FAMILY/LIVING ROOM:

I don't think I need to do too much to this area....just decorate. I don't want to paint in here just because it's a huge area and the walls go up the stairs, into the downstairs hall and into the kitchen. If I paint this room I'd pretty much be painting the whole place, and I'm just not willing to spend that much time on it, right now at least.

J and I bought this awesome print of the Twin's new stadium, Target Field, and the rest of the Minneapolis skyline by Michael Birawer! I love it! We're going to have it framed and I'm thinking of hanging it over the couch.

Because this is the totally opposite of the the colors in the other painting over the fireplace, I'm thinking I want to bring that upstairs (it's the colors of our bedroom) and find something else in this color scheme for the fireplace. I also want to get some pillows for the couch, some new lamp shades for the wall lamps and I'm thinking of staining or painting the end tables black and getting a new coffee table.

 Then there's this console table. I cannot decide what I want to do with this. One idea was putting a tall table lamp and a cool sculpture, or do artwork above the table. I desperately need your ideas on this one! 

GUEST ROOM:

This room is huge so we use it as a guest room and an office. I have big plans for this room.
Here's my checklist:
-Paint the room gray, with a darker gray accent wall behind the desk (I want to try and give the space the feeling of two separate areas)
-Paint the bedroom furniture white
-Get new bedding (I want THIS)
-Redo/Organize "entertainment area" (get a new TV stand)
-Get THESE for above the bed!
-Use my favorite Black & White landmark pictures from NYC for wall art

OUR BEDROOM:

I love our bedroom furniture so I definitely won't be changing that and our bedding is pretty new, so that will be staying too. I think for this room it's just a matter of decorating and eating up some of the massive wall space. I am contemplating painting it a light blue, but depending on what I find for wall art, we'll just have to wait and see.

Then, there are a couple of things I have already done and am really happy with!

These art pieces were made for us by J's step-mom, Judye. I absolutely love them. They are so unique and mean a ton because they were handmade just for us. I love them in this space because they fit perfectly, are super interesting and liven up the dreary stairway!

I just recently upgraded our entry way as well. Here's a Before and After of the space (sorry for the blurry phone pics):

BEFORE

AFTER

I got everything from Target! The cube shelving was on sale! The baskets fit in the cubbies perfectly, so I got three of those for scarves, hats, mittens, etc. The got a smaller matching basket for the top for keys! Then the wall art hanging above says, "Live Well. Love Much. Laugh Often." I love it! I may need to hang it a little lower though. Now we have a place to throw our shoes, key and my purse which has been keeping the kitchen counters cleared and the shoes out of the way!

Alright, so you've seen every room of my place and heard my ideas! Now, lay it on me. What's great? What sucks? What ideas do you have?