Fun Sheds

I'm so excited:  Last weekend, Dave & his dad put together a new shed to replace this one:

I really wanted to save this thing but it just wasn't happening:  It was rusted out, full of holes, dark & dirty and I'm pretty sure some animals lived in it because our dog Ashby would sniff around in there like a mad dog every chance she got.  Anyway, we got this little 6 x 8 shed from Lowes to replace it:

(Shed here)

...And they were able to save the mass of honeysuckle that grew up it.  We also got another larger shed (12 x 10 I think) that now houses all of Dave's tools & is actually a workshop inside.  (We don't have a garage.)  Because we already had a concrete slab for the falling-apart shed on our property, we decided to put up a new shed on the slab that will be sort of a hangout place/ playhouse for us & the kids...  a "fun shed" if you will ;) 

Repurposed sheds have always intrigued me.  The first one I really fell for was designer Ann Nicholson's shed featured in Country Living a few years back:

She had carpenters trick out (I really can't think of any other work for it right now :)  a standard shed:

{photos by Keith Scott Morton}

I'm also crazy about the beautiful little playhouse Linda MacDonald of Restyled Home and her husband built for their daughter Sophie:

(Click here for the full tour.)

And this "guest house" shed by Kate Humphrey:

{photo by Lucas Allen for Country Living}

I went nutty for this 18 Century pigeonnaire featured in Cottage Living back in 2008.  Do you remember it??!!

Perfection!!

{images via Apartment Therapy... click here for the full tour}

And last year when we found our house, Heather Cameron's shed (below) really got me thinking that we could actually have a fun shed one day...

{Photo by Janis Nicolay for Country Living}

Michael Devine's shed - a reworked harftord shed from Lowe's - shows how beautiful you can make a standard shed & we actually purchased this same shed for the workshop shed:

And I also wanted to share with you a bunch of beautiful sheds I found on the Better HOmes & Gardens Website in an article on sheds:

{Seriously???  Better than my house!}

{Love this...}

{So gorgeous..}

{I want this.. the floors?!!! wow.}

{And this one is just so sweet.}

So...  I'm not expecting anything as crazy beautiful as what's going on in the above pics...  We're going to keep the front standard so it looks just like a normal shed... 

...But we are going after the inside to make it a "fun shed."  Here is is now below with a tarp over it because the shingles are going on this week...

...And here's the first coat of no VOC primer going on:

I cannot WAIT to get this place feeling special.  This has been one of the best projects ever to plan: part hangout spot, part playhouse.  (I am in no way pretending this is soley for my children...  I know i'm gonna love this thing!) 

Hope everyone had a great weekend & happy mother's day to all the mothers!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps-  We don't have cable so I haven't been able to check it out yet, but Tuesday's episode of 9 By Design ( May 11 at 10PM on Bravo)  features a really special fundraising event for Jasmina Anema. Jasmina was a "spunky 6- year-old" who lost her battle with Leukemia this past January. Jasmina was a very close friend of the Novogratz family. They are trying to get as many people as possible to tune in to this week's episode

in an effort to help spread Jasmina and Thea's (Jasmina's mother) message, which is to raise leukemia awareness and make people more aware of the need to register to become a bone marrow donor. (http://oneforjasmina.com/)

Bye Bye Roses :(

So after my post yesterday about the wild roses (above), Connie from Hartwood Roses informed me about a disease called Rose Rosette Disease infecting the wild rose population all over.  She described the reddish contorted growth that's a symptom of the disease and yep, a few of our wild rose bushes have it.  So I'm just in from hacking away at them.  (A far cry from cutting roses and frolicking with my 2 year old.  haha)  We're going to have to take out all of the infected bushes.  There are still a ton of unifected ones but I'm thinking chances are slim they won't be infected eventually.  Oh so sad.  (Good news - it's not on that huge group of buches that goes 20 or so feet high into the trees!  And I'm not hacking 'till they get it.)

Thoughts in my mind as I tried to untangle a particularly huge-won't-let-go-rose vine from a tree reminded me of the priest's from The Exorcist:

  "Release him!"

"Foul beast!"

"I command you to leave!!"

...or maybe some type of pandemic outbreak movie:

to Christian:  "The roses are sick."

"Don't touch."

"We can't let it spread"

 oh well.  never dull.  ;)

xoxo,

lauren 

May & the Wild Roses

As I've mentioned before, some of my favorite types of flowers are the uncultivated kind...  wild flowers & "weeds."  May is one of the best times of the year at our house because the wild roses that litter our yard & climb up the surrounding trees have gone crazy!!!  Below is a picture of a huge patch of roses behind our property that goes 20+ feet high.  (Sorry, bad pic but they're the little white things all over the green  ;)

The wild roses smell so perfect:  sweet & the teensiest bit tangy...  I seriously can't get enough. 

I love having this untamed beauty that I don't have to take care of.  My only job is cutting the roses to bring inside with my little helper... 

He loves the smell too...

I love the simple relaxed feeling they bring to our table...

And, although I know we all have different beliefs & different religions, I thought anyone could appreciate the beauty of the wild roses next to the antique Madonna on our mantle.  I found her at an antiques shop in Leesburg, Virginia.  For Catholics, May is "Mary's Month" and many of the Churches have "May Crowning" Ceremonies.  It was one of my favorite times in gradeschool because the 8th grade girls would all get to wear pretty dresses and one of them would put a crown of roses on a Mary statue in our Church.  (Sadly, when I finally got to 8th grade after 8 years of waiting, we didn't get to do it... they switched it to 2nd graders- go figure! :)  But now my family has its own Madonna, and Christian & I had so much fun carrying out the tradition yesterday morning:

...I've been moving the kitchen table roses from room to room with me because they smell so good.  I need to get back out there & cut more!

Hope everyone's having an awesome week & enjoying spring!!!  Any special Springtime traditions in your family?

xoxo,

lauren

Before & After Guest Blogger: Ally of From the Right Bank

Please welcome Ally of From the Right Bank.  Her style is amazing & she moves often, so lucky for us readers!! :)
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Hello, I'm Ally of From the Right Bank  and I can't believe it's been four months since Lauren asked me to be guest blog here. Let's see . . . back then, cutie pie Justin was still on the way and I was in the middle of moving across the country from Seattle to Atlanta. Lauren asked for a "Before and After" post and I thought, "Sure, no problem. By April, I'll have lots of Before and After's to choose from."

Well, I clearly overestimated my abilities. Or rather, underestimated my slacker tendencies. In any case, I have yet to "finish" a single room in our house. And of course, this just makes how much Lauren has done in her new home that much more mind-boggling! And oh yeah, let's not forget that little business of giving birth
somewhere in there too! I tell you, I would hate her if I didn't love her so much(!)

Well, the closest to a finished project I have to share with you is our kitchen.  Here are a few photos of the kitchen just before we moved in:

As you can see, it was a perfectly fine kitchen. Pretty marble, farmhouse sink, custom cabinets . . . nothing offensive. But my issue with it was that everything was a cream/ivory color. While I didn't hate it, I've always preferred pure white to off-white. And for a couple of years now, I've been on a gray kick and I especially wanted gray kitchen cabinets so I thought now was my chance. So after agonizing over paint colors for

weeks, looking at hundreds of swatches and lying awake at night contemplating just how many shades of gray exist in this world (Doesn't everyone?), I finally decided on Benjamin Moore's "Trout Gray." I wanted a true gray - one that wasn't too blue, too green, or too purple and Trout Gray fit that bill.

The painters removed all of the doors, drawers, shelves and hardware and then sprayed. They also painted the walls (Benjamin Moore White #1). It took days (and days) and this was the state of things during the process:

And here is how it turned out:

I'm still looking for the perfect sconces to go over the sink and I'll be replacing the faucet as well as the lights over the island but it's close. Now as for the rest of my house, that's another story!

Thank you so much for having me today, Lauren! You're a real inspiration to so many of us

and it's been an honor to be your guest!
 
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Ally it's so beautiful!!!  The gray is perfect and I am seriously jealous!!  Thanks for sharing the process with us & can't wait to see the rest of your new house!!!!
xoxo,
lauren
 
ps- Ally- what are you doing with the faucet you're ditching??  ;) ;)

Guest Blogger Before & After: Trina from A Country Farmhouse

Please welcome Trina of A Country Farmhouse!!!
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I am so happy to be a guest blogger for Lauren at Pure Style Home. From the first day I discovered her blog, I've been a devoted follower as she continually inspires me with her fresh, beautiful designs.

In keeping with the before and after theme of her guest bloggers, I thought I'd share with you a few snippets from our farmhouse renovation. Just to give a little background, my husband and I purchased a 1923 farmhouse about four years ago. We hadn't anticipated buying a place that would become a whole house remodel, but it was in our price range and the property had everything we were looking for in a country home...land, privacy, peace and quiet, and scenic views of the surrounding farmland.

Exterior: Before

Exterior: After

Exterior Side: After

The farmhouse was built back in the early 1920's, but over time had gone through 1950's, 1960's and 1970's era remodels which stripped the home of much of its original charm. Our goals were to restore the charm and to create a home reflective of its surroundings...calm, quiet and relaxing.

Working from the original structure you see in the before photo, we added a wraparound porch, a shed dormer to the half story, and a dining room, replaced the roof, siding, windows and doors, and gave the house a fresh coat of paint.

We used an array of inspiration photos of historic homes in our area and from magazines to guide our design decisions.

Kitchen: Before

Kitchen: After

Kitchen: Before

Kitchen: After

Kitchen: Before

Kitchen: After

We wanted all of our renovations to look appropriate to the era of the house. This goal inspired us to do a simple farmhouse-style kitchen with painted custom wood cabinets, a farmhouse sink, restored wood fir floors, and open shelving.

Living Room: Before

Living Room: After

Living Room: Before

Living Room: After

We stripped the paneling off the walls and mantle, removed the stove insert and the pea green carpeting, covered both bookcases, and restored the fireplace with a new custom mantle. We also replaced the single-paned picture window with three large casement windows, replaced the door with a french door, and added new crown moulding throughout.

Entry: Before

Entry: After

The entry was lined with plastic shelving and parquet flooring when we bought the place. We decided to create a more inviting entry by restoring the original wood flooring, and adding a new casement window, a replacement french door, new crown and base mouldings, and an antique hall tree.

Downstairs Bathroom: Before

Downstairs Bathroom: After

This room has one of my favorite before photos as it pretty much sums up the tone of the house when we bought it. We ended up completely gutting this room in order to update plumbing and electrical. We also used this time to plumb in lines for a new upstairs bathroom.

We put down historic tile floors, replaced the double hung window, installed new drywall, crown and base mouldings, and added a new claw foot bathtub, sink and toilet.

The Den: Before

The Den: After

This room was covered in paneling as well. We removed it, removed the gray carpeting, installed base moulding, and added new double hung windows. It's a small room and serves us well as a den. All furnishings, besides the jute rug and the armchair, were things we had on hand thus helping with our budget.

Bedroom: Before

Bedroom: After

The addition of a shed dormer on the existing half story offered us the ability to expand our living space upwards. Before the dormer, the space was used seasonally and was very dark and cramped. With the dormer, we turned the seasonal half-story space into an entire master suite, including master bedroom and bath, walk-in closet and home office.

Bath: Before

Bath: After

I hope you've enjoyed our renovation story! The blogging community has been such an inspiration and provided us with that extra motivation to keep plugging away at our projects!

Trina
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Trina- thank you so much for sharing your perfect home with us!!!  I love how light & airy you've made it and you've got such a restrained touch.  Everything isjust beautiful and your photos belong in a magazine.  Thanks for the tour!!!
xoxo,
lauren

ps-  Hope everyone had a grrrrrrreat weekend!! ;)