Project Diary #14 – Entryway, Stairs & Landing Before & After

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Posted on August 5, 2019 by Roeshel

I’ve been sharing teasers for so long, it’s ABOUT THYME I got to the good stuff! Right?Time for a reveal, room by room of the project I’ve been working on. The main floor is my wellness studio, the upstairs – finally: A luxury AirBnB apartment I’ve nicknamed “Suite Thyme”. Ready? Let’s go! Here’s the before and after when we walk in the door and up the stairs.

The Reveal

Before when you entered, it was old industrial blue carpet, dirty dingy walls and a 2nd floor landing without personality. Now it’s a welcoming, inviting entryway with a place to sit and remove/put on shoes, doors with keypads for guest self check in and keeping the wellness studio off limits, a bookshelf with information on the services offered by the wellness studio as well as information on local attractions. That back door, we call it the “hobbit door”…seriously watch your head, tall people! It’s locked from the inside (it’s access to the wellness studio/back door).

before – the banister and railing is original, probably at least 100 years old (beautiful!)

Good bye blue carpet.

after – the original pine floors are very scratched, marked up with paint and scuffs too. We’ll add that to the project list for another day and embrace the imperfections for now, okay? It adds character, my friends. lol

before:

after:

before: It seemed that this space and the entire upstairs was used for storage only in the recent past. It feels SO good to give it new life and purpose!

after: The stair landing is now an indoor porch area/comfy and relaxing reading nook for guests with a huge cozy egg chair, lots of pillows, a salt lamp and water fountain. The perfect spot to ‘getaway’ with a good book, to catch up on social media with friends or to take a little cat nap. There might even be room for two in that chair. 🙂 The electrical/light switch has since been updated. Oops! Just seeing that I didn’t cut that out of the shot. There’s a new wood beaded flush mount light fixture not shown. It has a very boho vibe and it’s one of my favorite spots in the apartment. Well, to be honest…wait ’til you see the rest. The entire apartment is my favorite spot!

before:

after: so cozy, so fun! A small thrifted basket gallery wall,

before:

after: clean and simple!

Share your thoughts!

What do you think? Notice the wallpaper on the back window wall of the landing?Wallpaper fan? Not your thing? Not your style? Know what I mean when I say I sure loathe the removal? Willing to change your mind and take a risk when you fall in love with a print/pattern and it’s just want you and in mind for adding interest? I felt like this print was less trendy, the design is traditional. How about carpet on the stairs? I partnered with Shaw (see the info HERE) to replace what was there. I love the subtle design and features for it to be a long lasting investment.

Let’s talk about that chair! It’s the OpalHouse Southport chair from Target. Something I really wanted but outside of the budget. And my entire family knew I wanted that chair. So when Mr. DIY asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day, he immediately knew the answer before I got the words past my lips. lol Then at our Mother’s Day dinner, I said to my girls “guess what I got for Mother’s Day?” and Evangeline “did you get THE chair?”, Alainee: “did he buy you the chair?!” Me: “I got the chair!” It was just like a “He went to Jared’s” tv commercial. Moral of the story: I got the chair. ::love:: And guests renting the AirBnB just might find me hanging out in it! (Just kidding!)

Next up:

One room combination living room/dining area/kitchen with a BIG WOW factor! AHHH! I can’t wait to show you!

Upstairs apartment door…

Sneak peek looking the other direction from inside of the apartment:

More about #helloredreno

The building has so much historical charm. It’s about one block from our town’s Main Street. The bus stop is literally steps away. There’s a gorgeous Butler, PA Bed & Biscotti across the street called Suite Retreat (how cute is that?!) and an antique shop nearby. There are breweries, the YMCA, shops, restaurants, salons, florists, candy/coffee shop, holiday parades and festivals within walking distance. So fun! If renovation from blah to ahhhhh is your thing, stay tuned!

So subscribe and be reminded of updates as the renovations progress! I’ll share before and after photos, projects underway and updates, plans and design boards, sources and links as they relate as well as fun events going on in and around the downtown area. I’ll be using a specific hashtag on social media to keep things all neat and tidy and organized.

#helloredreno and #suitethyme

I welcome your thoughts and ideas! And as always, thanks for your encouragement and support and for sharing in my joy and vision!

The #helloredreno project diary:

Project Diary Entry #1 – Hello Red Reno!

Project Diary Entry #2 – Efficiency Apartment

Project Diary Entry #3 Color Passive Paint

Project Diary Entry #4 – Full Bathroom Demo Day

Project Diary Entry #5 – Sealing A Wood Plank / Shiplap Wall

Project Diary Entry #6: Bathroom Flooring

Project Diary Entry #7: Sealing Brick

Project Diary #8: Hardwood Floors

Project Diary #9: Carpeted Stairs

Project Diary #10 Vinyl Floor Tiles

Project Diary #11 – Living Room Before & After

Project Diary #12 – Christmas at the Studio

Project Diary #13 – Wallpaper Mural

Project Diary #14 – Entryway, Stairs & Landing Before & After

Project Diary #13 – Floral Wallpaper Mural

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Posted on May 16, 2019 by Roeshel

Woo hooo! Work on the #helloredreno series continues and is back with motivation to get the renovations completed by {hopefully} July 1st, 2019! That might be a tad ambitious but that’s the plan! This past week I installed a beautiful – stunning! – floral wallpaper mural! And you guys, I love the look of wallpaper. There are so many fun patterns/colors/designs – I could (and have) looked for days! But after lots of not-so-fun wallpaper removal in my past, I swore I’d never ever install wallpaper again. Well, the lasted all of a decade or two. I just couldn’t resist this. It’s just a small space, right?

I LOVE that I have creative freedom in this little slice of apartment oasis space to be bold and dramatic! Be still my heart. So many beautiful details and an inspired vision. The plan is for an airbnb rental but oh man, I want to live here. Think guests would mind? lol

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

• how it looked when I took ownership…

• good-bye blue carpet…

• hello gorgeous hardwood floors…

• before (and still a work in progress)…

• current photo…

(notice any other decorative changes?)

What’s new?

So, this isn’t a sponsored post. Just a review of what I purchased and a little overview on my installation experience. I ordered the wallpaper mural from MuralsWallpaper and the entire experience from start to finish was so easy that it’s something anyone can DIY! (Do you use “DIY” as a verb too?)

This specific design is called Vase of Flowers by de Heem. This Vase of Flowers by de Heem Wallpaper Mural from 1645 is a beautiful design that will completely reinvent your interior with minimal effort, a wonderfully striking piece of classic art that will be sure to impress. This wallpaper will be particularly eye catching as dining room wallpaper, but the stylish floral design will work well in most rooms. It was love at first sight for me.

The best part? It’s a custom! This mural was made to be the exact size of the wall space where I wanted to place it (with a little extra thank goodness, because old house = not square!). They send a mock up with quote for my approval BEFORE I paid for it. And because I wanted more of the colors on the left hand side, I responded with a request to ‘mirror image’ the design. No problem! The entire process was friendly, quick and easy.

Ordering in three steps:

1) Select your image. Choose from the extensive collection of mural designs and photo wallpapers.

2) Specify your dimensions. Measure up your wall full height and width.

3) Produced and shipped within 3-5 days. For a custom order, it arrived quickly! Yay!

It comes in one continuous roll (with awesome packaging to ensure no damage) with printed instructions to use a straight edge and box-cutter/X-acto knife to split it up into pieces. My design size was divided up into 4 vertical pieces.

I originally was looking for a removable peel and stick type wallpaper and shopped EVERYWHERE so when I finally decided on this, I completely forgot and overlooked that I was looking for a self-sticking adhesive backing. But, this actually was a lot easier than I thought!

What I did:

I picked up a wallpaper paste and brush from the hardware store along with some other recommended tools: a seam roller and wallpaper smoother tool. Other tools: level and utility knife.

The installation probably took around 1- 1.5 hours. I unrolled the wallpaper on the floor, used a piece of cardboard underneath to protect the floor and using a straight edge, I cut along each dotted line to divide the roll up into 4 pieces. It has a nice durable thickness and the pieces were labeled.

Next, I brushed the wallpaper paste onto the wall, picked up my piece and starting from the top left, smoothed the wallpaper down the wall over the wet paste. I used the smoother to remove air bubbles and to smooth the wallpaper into place. I had a wet rag on hand for cleaning up excess glue. So much easier than I anticipated. Hurray! The key is making sure that first piece is nice and level!

There is no overlapping. Each piece butts up against the other, lining up the design. There is a little extra wallpaper to trim away on the top and bottom. I used the seam roller on seams, wiped away any excess wallpaper paste. Top and bottom of the wallpaper was trimmed using a straight edge and X-acto knife where wallpaper meets trim.

The last piece was a little trickier because it was wider and a lot of the right hand side had to be cut off. Again, I just used a straight edge and trimmed away the excess.

Ta-da! The result:

STUNNING! I am SO in love! It’s exactly what I wanted. Maybe even better!

Photoshoot:

And makes for a beautiful photography backdrop, doesn’t it? lol I told you it was love at first sight! Seeing it ON my wall makes me so happy! The vision for this space is happening!

This specific print is so interesting too. Each time you have a relaxing seat and gaze at it’s loveliness, there’s something new to discover. An ant or butterfly, a spider. The photos don’t do it justice.

I can’t wait for the entire room reveal! Stay tuned!

Share your thoughts!

What do you think? Wallpaper fan? Not your thing? Not your style? Know what I mean when I say I sure loathe the removal? Willing to change your mind and take a risk when you fall in love with a print/pattern and it’s just want you and in mind for making a dramatic statement? I felt like this print was less trendy, the design is traditional. I absolutely love that it’s an art print mirror image. I can’t wait to design the rest of the room!

Next up:

More details on the fireplace and finishing the feature wall!

More about #helloredreno

The building has so much historical charm. It’s about one block from our town’s Main Street. The bus stop is literally steps away. There’s a gorgeous Butler, PA Bed & Breakfast across the street called Suite Retreat (how cute is that?!) and an antique shop nearby. There are breweries, the YMCA, shops, restaurants, salons, florists, candy/coffee shop, holiday parades and festivals within walking distance. So fun! If renovation from blah to ahhhhh is your thing, stay tuned!

#helloredreno

I welcome your thoughts and ideas! And as always, thanks for your encouragement and support and for sharing in my joy and vision! Watch for #helloredreno!

The #helloredreno project diary:

Project Diary Entry #1 – Hello Red Reno!

Project Diary Entry #2 – Efficiency Apartment

Project Diary Entry #3 Color Passive Paint

Project Diary Entry #4 – Full Bathroom Demo Day

Project Diary Entry #5 – Sealing A Wood Plank / Shiplap Wall

Project Diary Entry #6: Bathroom Flooring

Project Diary Entry #7: Sealing Brick

Project Diary #8: Hardwood Floors

Project Diary #9: Carpeted Stairs

Project Diary #10 Vinyl Floor Tiles

Project Diary #11 – Living Room Before & After

Project Diary #12 – Christmas at the Studio

Project Diary #13 – Wallpaper Mural

Project Diary #12 Christmas at the Studio

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Roeshel

It’s Christmas as the studio! Since we can’t put life on hold, let’s ignore the unfinished projects and enjoy a festive look at the holiday cheer in a mostly finished space. A place where we share DIY home ideas and creating a beautiful home begins with a healthy environment.

Remember that Succulents & Spruce Christmas tree? It’s a beautiful focal point to the studio living room area. I love the colors and rustic nature vibe in this space. A grapevine star against a window in the daytime is hard to photograph but trust me, it makes for a perfect topper! And I love the pop of color from these coppery-orange ornaments. Gold glitter feathers! My favorite sparkle accent for this nature themed tree. There’s lots of extra leafy garlands to give it a fuller look too. Did you notice? And there’s Northern Lights Black Spruce essential oil in the diffuser ornament giving it a beautiful pine scent! When you can’t have fresh pine, this is a great option! Smells amazing! A fluffy comfy throw as a tree skirt makes me want to curl up under there to enjoy the starry-night glow! The mantel is all decorated for celebrating Happy Holidays! Isn’t it gorgeous? Those fairy lights in glass ornaments are my favorite tucked into lush pine forest garland is just so magical!

And the porch and stairs are on the ‘to-do’ list but a grapevine wreath with holly berries and red velvet bow with poinsettias greets our guests at the door. Oh! The first sneak peek! There is now vinyl decal lettering on the windows to share with our community what’s going on! Wellness Inspired Living is what it’s all about, creating a home that promotes a better you and a healthy home environment for your family. Well-being. You can learn more about my story and what that means to me HERE. The entryway still needs painted (or maybe even a pretty wallpaper accent wall with a bench and decor – so many ideas!) but I used what I have on hand to give it a welcoming atmosphere. The studio is a place in our downtown where we gather for discussing living above the wellness line, to get together to support one another, for education and fun times. It’s also an available meeting space for small/home business//women in business. My 4-year-old grandson took this next photo. I think he did a pretty good job! I love the antique door knob from a little one’s perspective. With lots of holiday events on the calendar, a “Selfies with Santa”//holiday photo backdrop and props is getting lots of use and laughs! So fun! Before the photo backdrop…this wall featured the quote scroll but was moved to the entryway. Aroma Freedom Technique happens in this room (although via video chat too) – achieve your goals! xo Time for entertaining my friends! Some photos, ideas and settings from some recent events: Wine and chocolate. This photo might represent entertaining AND for personal use as well. hahaha!

Yay! Another sneak peek. You saw them from the outside above and I haven’t revealed the workshop area yet but this grid of windows is amazing for it’s natural light! The shelving area above a hot beverage station…this room has no natural light but I love it’s function. Beverage center, back door, coat room, hallway. Mantel deer…did I mention I can’t get enough of GOLD lately. How about you? Okay, friends! THIS IS THE BEST SNEAK PEEK….I am in LOVE with how the workshop area is coming along. This table gathers friends for DIY craft time, make & takes, wellness education, iTOVI scans and small parties! Those dark moody walls paired with the barn wood walls (not shown below) and that grid of 9 beautiful windows that sold me on this studio and tempt me to want to LIVE in this room! I’ll share more specific details in the upcoming before/after reveal but wow, right? So so pretty! Or maybe you need to see the before to appreciate it like I do. You’ll have to stop back soon. ::wink wink:: This Desert Mist diffuser is amazing! I absolutely love the candle flicker mode and diffusing settings. You can get it HERE. You need it! You’ll LOVE it! I don’t miss burning candles one bit. That’s saying a lot! I was a brand name candle junkie! I love that I can easily and frequently change up the scent, mood, health benefits…just take a look at more info. I’m so grateful a friend shared with me and feel compelled to pass it on. You control what you bring into your home and a diffuser and essential oils was that first baby step towards a healthier me, family and home. Another photo from a 4-year-old’s perspective. Setting up for an essential oil make & take party and there’s a glimpse of that gorgeous barn wood. I love handmade gifts and making them so pretty and festive with all the trimmings. See more about essential oil infused gift ideas HERE. What’s an event without some light refreshments? I love making up a tray with fresh fruit, cheese and crackers and some essential oil infused goodies. fresh fruits, crackers and cheese ketogenic pumpkin muffins with Cinnamon Bark Vitality infused cream cheese frosting Rosemary Vitality and Lemon Vitality essential oil infused roasted cashews

So, what do you think? Isn’t it cute? So cozy and comfy. C’mon over and we’ll catch up over a glass of hot cocoa or mulled wine! I’ll save a mini-muffin for you! love spending time here with friends!

Next up:

The workshop transformation. It’s my favorite!

#helloredreno

I welcome your thoughts and ideas! And as always, thanks for your encouragement and support and for sharing in my joy and vision! Watch for #helloredreno!