Bedroom Upgrade: Tuft & Needle Mint Mattress Review (Part I)

This past week, we finally bit the bullet on a long overdue upgrade in our master bedroom: a new mattress! For the past 8+ years, we've been sleeping on an old pillow-top mattress that's not been doing us any favors lately. The more I kept waking up feeling sore and unrested (is that a word?), the more I desperately wanted to replace this thing. Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and I value my sleepy-time, mmkay?

(Before I continue, this is not a sponsored review for T&N. I just like to document things like this and wanted to share our experience in case anyone else is in a similar situation. Frankly I don't even know if we'll be keeping our new mattress yet!)

I'll spare you the details of the entire decision-making process, but essentially we decided to go with an online mattress company rather than dragging ourselves around to the multitude of mattress stores in town... blame it on the millennial in us.

Home Exterior Painting Decisions: A Gray Area (Part III)

I don't know if you've been following along with my last couple blog posts, but I have a problem and it goes by the name of "Gray." This should come as no surprise to anyone, as I've had plenty of experience with gray paint in our house. This decision feels a little more nerve-racking than usual though, since it involves painting the entire exterior of our house (and paying someone else to do it).

The latest update in the saga is that I've tried out five samples of Sherwin-Williams colors:

• Dovetail
• Classic French Gray
• Peppercorn
• Gauntlet Gray
• Westchester Gray

Home Exterior Painting Decisions: A Gray Area (Part II)

Has anyone else ever tried the Sherwin Williams ColorSnap Visualizer? (No, this isn't an ad for it... just a recent discovery.) Last week I bought a sample of Gauntlet Gray and Dovetail and painted them on the side of our house to test them out. 

The Dovetail, while a nice color in general, was way too light for what we want. So of those two samples, Gauntlet Gray won out. But I still struggled with wanting to try out some more gray colors before settling on it. 

Gauntlet Gray... winner of Round 1

Rather than making another trip to the SW store right away (where I would inevitably spend forever debating between swatches), I decided to try this Visualizer tool first to see if it would clear up any of my gray confusion. I'm not sure if it made the situation better or worse... and the more I look at these mock-ups, the more they all start to look the same. 

Home Exterior Painting Decisions: A Gray Area

Okay, February. You almost got me. You almost slipped by before I could get a blog post in. But I refuse to let that happen! Surely I can handle at least one post per month this year, right? 

Here's the thing. I have no progress to report on any of our DIY renovations (which primarily involves the kitchen). Although I'm pleased to announce that we finally got around to ordering a new KitchenAid dishwasher this past week — we've been without one ever since ours went kaput about, oh, a year ago. It'll take a few days to get here (via Lowe's free home delivery), but I'm looking forward to the end of my hand-washing days soon!

Also, the unseasonably warm weather this week is making me realize I should get the ball rolling on another project. If nothing else happens this entire year, we desperately need to get the exterior of our house painted. It's been 10 years since we moved in, and she's looking pretty shabby when you get up close (aren't we all). Plus, I'm tired of the nondescript, blah beige color. 

Having had plenty of experience with the world of grays during interior painting projects, we've picked out two Sherwin Williams colors that feel like pretty solid contenders: Dovetail (SW 7018) and Gauntlet Gray (SW 7019). These have brown undertones, so shouldn't end up looking bluish or greenish or any other -ish hue. 

Probably leaning toward the darker Gauntlet Gray for some extra "oomph" and contrast with the white trim. Either of them should hopefully look good with the red brick we have. It's supposed to be really nice this weekend, so I might end up testing these samples out on the side of the house for real-life comparison.

Since we've never had our house painted before — and I've always done my own painting when it comes to the interior — I have no idea what to expect for the cost once I start getting some quotes. All I know is this is one project I'm not DIY-ing!

Which shade of gray would you pick?? Have you used either of these colors before? Any other pointers or recommendations when it comes to hiring someone to paint your house?

NOTE: Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Guest Bedroom Revealed (and always vacant!)

Just to be clear, this isn't a reveal that I've been teasing or leading up to recently. And it's not all that impressive, to be honest. It just happens to be one of the few (or should I say only) rooms in our house that is basically done. It's not mid-renovation, and it's not used for storage like a couple of our other extra bedrooms. 

Ironically enough, this guest room also rarely gets seen. The door is generally closed, and we don't often have overnight guests. Go figure! So this is my way of proving that we do actually have a decent looking room in our house.

If you're interested in the gradual transformation of this guest room, or some of the DIY projects seen in the photos below, check out these posts:

• Painting the walls
• Painting the old furniture
• DIY ombre canvas artwork
• Shower curtain turned window curtain
• Fabric lamp revamp
• DIY mercury glass vase

There's somewhat of an intended theme as far as the calming blue/gray colors and some coastal accents, but I've also collected some miscellaneous decor pieces here that just don't have a home anywhere else.

Wall color is Valspar Metropolis

New Year, New [Old] Table: A Shabby Chic Chalk Paint Makeover

On a whim this weekend, I decided to tackle another chalk paint project, albeit a small one. That's the great thing about chalk paint -- once you make up your mind on what you want to do, you can just get right to it (as long as you have the paint and brushes, of course). No prep work required, other than maybe a little cleaning of whatever surface you want to paint! 

For those of you out there who like immediate gratification, this Before & After is just for you. Keep reading on for all the details!

So the subject of this latest transformation is a little end table we've had forever (I'm pretty sure it was a hand-me-down from my sister). In fact, it already underwent a basic black makeover several years ago. But the gloss black just wasn't doing it for me anymore, especially since most of our furniture is now matte and distressed. 

Front Door Makeover: Long Overdue, But Probably Not The Last One

I have some good news for you (and me). This is going to be one of my shorter blog posts as of late! For once I have a quick and easy project to share rather than a painfully long, drawn-out transformation.

I've been wanting to give our front door a makeover for quite some time, but just haven't gotten around to it with so many other things taking priority. In fact, in looking back through my blog history, it's been seven years since I last painted the front door. (Okay, so that's actually super depressing, but anyway...)

Above photo circa 2010... 

This was also before we installed a screen door.

Last weekend, pre-painting

With the extra couple days off this past Thanksgiving weekend, plus some unseasonably warm weather, the timing (and motivation) was finally right. After a long internal debate between a few paint swatches at Sherwin Williams, I decided on Copen Blue, which is part of their HGTV Home Rustic Refined collection. 

The prep work and taping was pretty minimal compared to other painting projects. 

I was able to do one coat in the afternoon, and then a second coat in the evening. I need more immediate gratification projects like this in my life. A bit of patience was still required since I had to wait until the next morning to see it in daylight.

This color is like a breath of fresh air for our porch, which was feeling awfully dark to me. The best way I can describe it is a pale minty/aqua color (even though it says "blue" in the name). Though I do love it, I'm still wondering if it's a touch too pale... maybe it should contrast a bit more with the white trim? Gah, this blue/green color family is almost trickier than grays! I like the more muted tone, and don't want it to get too bright or saturated. 

So Copen Blue is the color it shall remain, unless I decide to try a different shade later down the road. (I was also eyeing the SW colors Watery, Waterscape, and Tidewater... yeesh.)

What color is your front door? I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the color I chose, or any other recommendations!

NOTE: Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.