The Wren's Nest: Our Last Visit of the Year

Hello to all!

On our last day of being at The Wren's Nest for this year, I did manage to snap a few photos while we were packing to leave. These will give you a better idea of the colors that we used than what you saw on my post about the completed bathroom, since those photos were taken on a very cloudy day. All of the walls throughout, except for the master bathroom, hallway, and kitchen, were painted in Simply White, a Benjamin Moore color which we had mixed in Glidden to save money. About half the price and covers quite well, so you can't go wrong. (No, I don't advertise, sponsor, get sponsored, or any of the same.) We used the BM version of this color when we remodeled our master bathroom at home, and it is simply (pun intended!) my favorite go-to color. Clean and pure, not too stark, not too creamy, and looks good with just about any grey, taupe, or greige color. (As a matter of fact, we will be using it throughout Plum Tree whenever we get around to painting it!)  For the walls we used an eggshell finish, and for the trim-work and cabinets we used semi gloss. For the hallway and kitchen, the walls were done in Glidden's Smooth Stone, eggshell finish, and the walls in the bathroom above the chair rail were done in Smooth Stone, semi-gloss, with the bottom portion being done in Simply White, semi-gloss. Smooth Stone is a very pretty light grey, not too Taupe-ish, but not too cold either.

We hung these little pretties in the 

guest room. 

Purchased at Target, they are

flowers made of newspaper print.
To the left is the large bay window that
faces the front of the unit.
Though we did hang white shades
on all of the windows,
the one thing that I did NOT do is paint
any of the window trim since we will be
replacing all of the windows and
constructing new trim next year.
Until then I won't hang any curtains either.
To the left you can see the ugly window trim
as it looks now...

We also hung this piece in the guest room.

I fell in love with it when I saw it in,

of all places, a Cracker Barrel!...

Another view of the guest room.

And yes, the vanity still sits in the middle

of it!

We got this pretty vanity for the guest bathroom

as a close-out in Lowes,

but we ran out of time and couldn't

do a thing in this room.

By the way, did you know that what when 

one Lowes considers something as old

stock and marks it down,

another Lowes up the road might

consider the same item as new stock,

and charge 30% or so more for it?...

A new fan in the master bedroom.

The one that came with the unit had no light on it 

and we hated walking into a dark room.

So we bought a light kit for it, but it wouldn't work on the fan.

We gave up and just bought a whole new fan.

A clear case of throwing good money after bad.

Probably why there wasn't a light on it in the first place.

Perhaps I can create some marvelous piece of

mixed media art with it! 

Did you know that you can buy a whole new fan with a light

for not much more money than you would pay for just a light kit?

The hutch that you may remember being

in the bathroom at Birdsong is now

in the master bedroom.

In this photo you can also see the

laminate flooring, and 4-inch baseboards

that we installed throughout...

The same master bedroom furniture

that we used at Birdsong...

In the kitchen we loved the original hutches.

Here you can see the Smooth Stone color

on the walls.

The hutches, and all cabinets in the unit,

were painted Simply White.

We retained all hinges and knobs.

They were originally a tarnished

brass color, but I sprayed them with

an oil-rubbed bronze color,

which is also called Metallic 

depending on where you buy your

spray paint...

Since I knew I wanted to store pretty 

whites, blacks and greys inside the built-ins,

the insides were painted in a darker grey

for contrast. 

I used Glidden's Wood Smoke for this,

and I also used it for the door in the 

hallway that opens to the garage.

Not that Mr. Perch ever leaves fingerprints

or anything...

OK. So the hutches you see above look kind

of crisp and clean, don't they?

Well, below is what I was up against 

when I started out.

My favorite thing in the world was the contact

paper that lined most of the shelves.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Using contact paper on shelves should be 

a capital offense.

Removing it is a pain, but did you know

that if you apply a heat gun to it in small sections

at a time, it will come up fairly easily?

So imagine my great joy 

when it started to come up...

...and underneath it I discovered an ancient 

burial ground!

Ants, long dead, stuck in the glue backing.

After I painted the cabinets inside and out, 

I lined every cabinet

and the bathroom vanity with a nice padded 

white shelf liner that doesn't stick!

Now, isn't this much better?...

Well, I have to hand it to them.

At least the old contact paper matched 

the counter-tops!...

We felt like we got a lot accomplished this year, in spite of the infected wound issues on Bob's foot. Next year we want to replace the windows. The ones that are in there now are the old fashioned aluminum crank awning type that require you to manually change out the screens and storm windows, both of which sit on the inside and are attached with these funky little clips, most of which we had to replace. Not to mention that out of 16 windows, only four still had the screens. The condensation builds up between the outer windows and the storm windows, and then it drips down on what should be a window sill, thereby rotting it out. We will also replace the sills. The windows will be nice double hung vinyl ones, which will look and act so much nicer!.

After the costly and time-consuming job of replacing the windows, the next to be done is to replace the counter top in the kitchen, add a new sink and faucet, rework the plumbing under the sink, and add a back-splash. I will also paint the ceilings at some point, since all I had time for was the one in the bathroom. Until then we will live with a bumble bee decor and shiny ceilings!

Thanks for coming by. The good news for you is that you won't hear much more about this place until next spring!!