Finishing our basement

We moved to Columbus fast. We sold our house in Traverse City in a day and bought our current house the first week we were in Columbus. I had never been to our new city so really hadn't a clue what area we would end up in. What I did know is - I wanted fantastic schools and an older established neighborhood with some history and walkable to amenities. When we found Bexley, our house was the only one on the market in our price range. It was small so we knew the only way to make it work for us was finishing the basement. As with everything in old houses, it was a major project, but it turned out exactly how we imagined. We now have a playroom, additional bathroom/laundry room and a 4th bedroom/guest room/office. It really functions perfectly for our family. 

Behind the door on the right is a small tool room with the coolest antique tool bench. It's covered with beat up green paint and a million little drawers with original pulls. I would have posted a photo but of course it's crammed with all the junk I don't have a spot for.

The ceilings are low so we decided to keep them open and painted them black which makes the ceilings feel taller. I feel like it gives the room more character too. 

We have a large storage area under the stairs for those Costco runs!

I love that for an old basement (1939) it has a lot of good sized windows that we gain a ton of natural from. Even our showers are sunny!

This is a double duty bath/laundry room. Nothing fancy but I like simple.

More light!

Shelves over the loo.

I love all the original beadboard doors down here. Look at how thick that sucker is! I think I've said it before on here but I have a thing about old doors! 

I haven't done much with the guest room. It gets all the reject furnishings. There's a large egress window to the left of the bed for outdoor access in an emergency. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! We took a road trip to Ikea for some chairs I've loved for awhile now. Will get a post up soon on them! XO kelly

Time to lighten up

Once I make it through the holidays and into the New Year, I'm ready to put the holiday decor away and lighten up the house a bit. It gives me hope that spring is near! I decided to start in our bedroom. Just a few simple changes really made a difference. I threw on a couple new pillows, a couple old and a cozy throw.

Still trying to decide what I want over the dresser - mirror or art. One of my favorite photos on canvas would be a fun and a personal addition. Black and white. Love that look and will lighten things up in this corner.

This cute little nightstand is on my list of spring projects. I want to paint it the same shade of white the other nightstand is.

I feel like loads of texture is key when going monochromatic.

I've had a lot of fun with light and dark paint in this house. It really compliments everything and allows objects to blend or pop. 

Love the tassles...

My next update for this room is a new rug. Maybe something with pattern. Stripes? I have a difficult time finding patterns I don't think I'll tire of.

Well that's it for today! Kelly

Silver

If you follow me on Instagram you already saw my new silver. I scored it off my neighborhood's "for sale" Facebook site for twenty bucks! All pieces were super tarnished but with a bit of scrubbing they now look amazing. I've been on the lookout for new flatware but the designs I liked were a bit of an investment. And I really haven't stumbled on anything I LOVE. Picky Virgo... Im so happy I waited for these to come along and for our family to give them new life!

Tarnished but still beautiful!

For the initial clean I decided to try a process my mom saw on YouTube. The ingredients are basic household products so it's a real money saver and the process was fun. Lots of bubbley action which made it feel like a science experiment. I actually got a bit nervous at one point! Here's a link to the tuturioral. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PH4FWCyiscA

Gorgeous! I finished each piece off with a light scrub of Bar Keepers Friend which took off any remaining tarnish. And if you don't have Bar Keepers Friend in your kitchen already, get some! It really is amazing stuff!

Well, of course I couldn't wait for another holiday or dinner party to fully set my table, so I went ahead and set it for fun! The twins were taking their nap and big kids shopping with dad. Perfect opportunity.

XO Kelly

Snow days

We had another snow day today. Im pretty sure I get more excited than the kids. Snow days were a close second to Christmas morning in my book of fun. School was closed not for snow but extreme cold. We were confined to the house but the kids stayed busy and surprisingly got along great. I have four healthy children that all played well today. Life is good! Here's a few photos from Instagram of the past few wintery days. You can follow there as well. Stay warm. Kelly

http://instagram.com/beachedbohemian/

2015

The new year is always exciting! A time to reflect on the year past and welcome the one upon us with hopes and dreams. My hope this year is do more of what makes me happy. It sounds simple enough, right? Oh, and along with all my happy stuff... to do more GOOD. In all aspects of my life. No HUGE goals or expectations, just more happy and good! I got this!

So I just put the "big" kids to bed and I'm sitting here happily blogging. I really enjoy the very little blogging I do, so I would like to do more. I hope to capture more of my passions here - motherhood, family, design and decorating to name a few. 

I snapped some photos of our bedroom this afternoon. I was waiting for a day when my room was clean and the sun was out but I don't see that happening in the near future! It is January in Ohio.

Before

After. Didn't need much really. The original floors were exposed and refinished, and walls painted. I really wanted the floors and doors to pop so I decided to paint the baseboards and door trim white and keep the rest natural. I'm waiting to stumble on the perfect piece to put over the dresser before my husband slaps a tv there. Not that I would be totally against it. Watching a movie in bed just sounds so luxiourios these days.

I love the light the window on the landing lets into the room.

Each bedroom has two good sized closets. We all share rooms so it functions perfectly.

My flee market treasure that will get some tlc this spring. One of my many projects I'm lining up...

Wishing you all the happiest new year! Kelly