Backyard Makeover Plans + Before Photos

Here lies the decrepit, soggy backyard of the Ivy League House. May she rest in peace.

Okay, so maybe she isn't dead yet...but she will be soon. At the end of December, Nate and I were feverishly tugging on our dry, dying Christmas tree stuck in the doorway leading out to the backyard deck so we could leave it on our tree lawn for pick-up... As helpful as I thought I was being acting as a pseudo-air traffic controller for Nate's tree trajectory, I unknowingly stepped backwards on what we both knew was a rotting deck plank and fell straight through it. Nate had to run inside to get a hammer and a chisel to get my leg out of the rotting wood plank. Luckily, I wasn't hurt except for a few bruises and scrapes, but the deck and the rest of the backyard signed its death warrant in that instance. 

Although I have despised our deck since the first time we laid eyes on the house, I probably would have tried to push our backyard transformation to 2020 if it weren't for that particular sequence of events. Our backyard isn't really something that we've been able to take advantage of and enjoy for several reasons: For one, it's unsafe, clearly. Secondly, it's ugly. When we first moved in, I had resolved to strip the awful barn red color from the wood to something that would match the rest of the exterior a little better--but when we realized that we had some rotting boards and wanted to demolish it altogether in the future, it didn't really seem like a priority any longer. Not to mention, the grass is overwrought with weeds, several dips in the soil that collect miniature lakes when it rains, and  the gardens are ripe with poison ivy. 

It's safe to say that I've spent the better part of the last 1.5 years being in our house thinking of different layouts, materials, features that I want for our backyard-- but even more now that I've set my sights on this year being THE YEAR of yard transformation. The  "before" pictures don't even fully encapsulate the current state of the space to really understand the dire circumstances of this project, but here you go... 

We really have a limited amount of space to work with, which tearing down the deck in favor of a much smaller deck staircase leading down from the back door and a ground-level brick patio will really help the yard seem bigger visually. The deck being so large and high off of the ground really cuts the rest of the yard off. I've always compared it to a play pen or a wrestling ring, haha! 

Depending on our ability to stay within a reasonable budget for the stairs and the patio, we also really want to replace the chain-link fence with something prettier and allows us a little more privacy.

I don't really have the layout or materials picked out completely, though I know I want composite decking for the stairs (for durability and avoiding further PTSD!) and a darker charcoal brick for the patio. 

Here are a few spaces that have been serving as muses recently-- 

Photo via A Beautiful Mess

Photo via Yellow Brick Home

Photo via NY Times

Photo via Vogue

Anyway, I'll leave you with that inspiration. Nate and I have our work cut out for us, as we hope to do as much as we can ourselves to stay budget friendly. I'm anxious to get started once the weather is nicer, and share everything with you all. Let me know if you've used local businesses or design resources that I should know about in the comments below!

2019 Goals for the Ivy League House

Happy New Year, friends!

'Tis the season for resolutions- they get a bad rap, don't they? I typically try to avoid them at all costs. If I can share a moment of honesty here, I definitely had plans of writing out all of my house-related goals at the beginning of 2018 with the intention of posting them on this blog. It's probably for the best that I never finished and published it-- I have a tendency to create astronomical, lofty goals for myself and it truly would have been embarrassing to look back at all the things that didn't get done.

Despite not publicly proclaiming my goals last year, I still was able to look back on all of the things I accomplished-- all through interviewing for/starting a new job, having awful poison ivy twice, etc.-- Reminding myself of all the projects I did do in 2018 without setting any goals has me feeling incredibly motivated for 2019!

With that said, I'm creating goals (or intentions, if you will) for myself this year and trying to tiptoe around the precipice of high self-inflicted expectations. I had a horrible habit in high school and college of procrastinating and then stressing out over everything I had put off, and my mom always preached the gospel of "manageable chunks" and list-making. That's exactly the kind of foundation I'm using this year for the goals I'm setting!

If you're anything like me and easily set yourself up for failure, here are some ways that I am approaching renovation & redecorating goals to allow for more flexibility and less disappointment:

1) Make a list of everything you want to accomplish this year- and then makes cuts & prioritize. 
When I started jotting every project I want to tackle in 2019, I quickly realized that it wasn't realistic. Nate and I both work traditional 40 hour weeks and a lot of our weekends are spoken for before we even have the chance to block it for projects or even our own sanity's sake. I continued to write everything down, but once I was done- I prioritized things that were most important to me to get done. Make your main goals the priority, and everything else not qualifying can go on the docket for 2020 or can be a bonus goal if everything else is accomplished

2) Allow for financial balance!
Unless you hit the mega millions this year or just have exorbitant amounts of liquid cash to throw around- you need to balance your expectations of how much you want to spend this year on projects. If you have three goals - make two of them low-budget or cost free if possible, and the third should be your attainable splurge for the year. For example, my big ticket goal this year is to totally overhaul our backyard so we can actually spend time back there and not feel embarrassed to invite friends over to hang out during the summer. With that in mind, I had to scale some other things back- like coming up with more frugal ways I can update my kitchen back splash instead of paying $300 or more to install new tile.

3) Not everything you accomplish has to be a firm goal. 
If you don't tackle a goal you set for yourself by the end of the year, don't beat yourself up! Chances are you accomplished a lot that wasn't necessarily set as an intention. Reorganized your kitchen cabinets in January? That's an accomplishment! Downsized the contents of your closet in September? Um, yes! Let everything else fall to the wayside so your mental health could flourish? That counts too.  It's not the end of the world if you didn't end up completing a resolution for the year.

Even though this post is a bit late in terms of New Years resolutions, I hope this helps you set your intentions for the year and create a home that makes you happy. Go forth and kick some ass in 2019!

Dining Room Makeover Plans

Most of the first floor has come together in the last year, which has only made my agony about what to do with my formal dining room worse. The dining room is sandwiched between our living room and the TV room in an open concept-like manner, so it's been really hard to decide on colors and themes that won't be a carbon copy of the other rooms but still work seamlessly in transitioning from room to room.

The overall feel of the room hasn't changed much since we moved in last summer. We used the same paint shade from our living room, "Marshmallow" by Sherwin Williams (our favorite shade of warmish white!),  and replaced the chandelier with a more modern, playful brass fixture from Kichler.

The furniture aspect has caused a lot less stress than the color palettes and design plans thus far, but still a fair amount of stress, all things considered. My current dining set (not the same as the picture above) and I have been together since my junior year of college- while being pretty utilitarian with its self-storing table leaf and surviving living with a handful of artists, I've decided it's time we part ways. It's just too traditional for my taste- why keep something around that you don't fully love?

I took a trip to Main Street Modern (a 40,000 square foot warehouse full of mid-century modern goodies in Canton, OH) at the beginning of last month with my mom primarily to shop around for dining sets. We came out physically empty-handed BUT apparently all I needed was a trip through this warehouse to find the inspiration for EXACTLY what I wanted my dining room to be-- because, figuratively, i was scrambling to handle all of the ideas I had.

While wandering the space, we came across this MASSIVE fiber art triptych. The panels were probably 12 feet high, maybe 3 feet wide, and I was mesmerized. I still can't get over the colors, which inspired me the most.

Mustard yellow is super en vogue right now, but even if it weren't-- it's been my power color for a few years now. Combined with a very light millennial pink, I knew I had landed the perfect palette to tie in the pink from the kitchen and the mustard that I've used in both the living room and TV room. It was definitely a "light bulb" moment.

I've already found a new-to-me dining set, fabric to recover the chair seats, and if you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, I finally pulled the trigger on the rug that I've been lusting over. RIP, bank account. I still have a few things I need want to source-- like a matching Broyhill Brasilia credenza and some appropriate art-- but I finally feel like my agony is over and things are falling into place.

Check out my mood board below and let me know what you think!

Kitchen Refresh Part 2 - It's done! (sort of)

Before you start reading this post, I want you to take a deep breath- the following will leave you incredulous. (too dramatic, maybe?)

The kitchen is DONE! (ish)

When I last checked in over a year ago, I recapped our kitchen painting debacle- to which I fondly refer as "The Great Wallpaper Discovery of 2017." They'll be teaching that tale in U.S. history classes someday. From when we first saw the house, to having the walls scraped and professionally skim coated, to being PAINTED almost two months after we moved in-- it's quite a transformation and was well worth the sweat, tears, and dermatitis from the plaster dust.

Our kitchen isn't exactly how I imagined it to be-- which is a good thing. I had plans of painting everything white to give it a fresh feel and filling in with colorful accents. Looking back, I think it would have felt way too sterile and devoid of personality. I collected so many "cutesy" dessert-like trinkets when we lived in our duplex that it only made sense to lean into that theme in the new house. I'm so happy we did!

We painted the wainscoting a bright pure white and the newly smoothed walls above "Lotus Petal" by Behr. It ended up being the perfect hue! And before you ask how I got my partner to agree to so much pink- Nate took some convincing. It is kind of intense shade of pink after dark, but in the mornings with the light pouring in, it's perfect.

We ended up landing on our paint shade after we requested a sample from Big Chill (the retro refrigerator company) for their pink and mint colors to see if we could find a match-- the pink fridge is actually perfect match with Behr's Peppermint Stick, but we went a shade lighter with Lotus Petal.  I dream that someday we'll order a Big Chill fridge (though I'm leaning more toward a white fridge these days) and it will be marvelously cute. Unrelated- anyone have a spare $3000 lying around?

Our kitchen dining set is vintage- my mom and I found it on craigslist and drove over an hour to pick it up. The chairs were originally a mustard yellow floral before we recovered them-- I wish I had taken a before picture of them! This set is definitely the "showstopper" of the space and I'm so happy we stumbled across it.

Another one of my favorite parts of the kitchen is our pendant light! If I could link to it, I would but it's actually a family heirloom of sorts. This fixture is actually from my parents' first house. My mom ended up holding onto it after they sold their house but never hanging it in the home I grew up in, so they gave it to me! It's honestly perfect for the space and so sweetly sentimental.

As far as the kitchen goes- we're done with sprucing for a little while. I have a list of things I'd like to tackle that I'll get into in another post, but most of that can wait for now-- We're content for the time-being and mainly occupied by trying to keep the kitchen clean. Wish us luck with that!

Follow along on instagram for more #ivyleaguehouse updates!

Materials & Products Used
Wall Paint - Behr's Lotus Petal 
Dinette Set - Vintage, Craigslist
White Pendant Light - Vintage, similar here
Retro Microwave - Amazon
Automatic Trash & Recycling Cans - Amazon
Ice Cream and Popsicle Prints - Jodi Lynn Doodles
Ice Cream Hands Print - Sami Wideberg, Society 6
Donut Plaque - Everyday is a Holiday
Donut Neon - Urban Outfitters, similar here
Ice Cream Cookie Jar - Vintage
LuRay Pastel Dishes - Vintage, eBay
Felt Letter Board - Vintage Revivals, similar here
Floral Recipe Box, Rifle Paper Co.
Cake Cone planters - Target dollar spot, closest dupe i can find here 

A year later...

Well, hey! Long time, no see!

It's been a minute since I've posted on here- by definition (my own), a minute is about a full 365 days. Lots of things have happened since then- honestly, it feels like that year has gone by in a blink of an eye. I have quite a bit of catching up to do on here!

In the past year, I've spent A LOT of my time prepping the house, curating spaces as best I can on a budget (you feel me?), I started a new job way closer to home than my last one (!!!!!!!) , and spent a lot of time with family & friends. It's been a good one, but the end of this year and going forward, I'll be posting more consistently here. Fingers crossed.

Anyway- let's catch up a bit! We had a ton of fun last year after I left you on my unintentional blog sabbatical-

We went gallivanting in our favorite orchard with our friends Sam and Lara and baked a loooooot of pies from the apples we brought home 

 

 We had a lot of visitors come to christen our house and explore our city with us

 

And we decorated and celebrated holidays, which was arguably my favorite!!!

 

I can't wait to do more of all of the above this fall & winter and maybe I'll blog about it in real time this time around-- how crazy a concept is that? 

Most of January through now, I have been working like an absolute HOG to brighten up some spaces and bring our house to life, so I'll follow-up with some posts very soon to show you all of the THRILLING things we've accomplished in the last year! It's very exciting and I'm very proud of how everything looks so far. 

 Stay tuned.

southwestern guest room inspiration

The past two months of settling into our new house has been fueled by impending visits from Nate's mom and step-dad from Arizona and some college friends traveling from Dayton. We have been running ourselves ragged trying to get most things tucked away and ready-- painting the living and dining rooms, finishing off the kitchen, unpacking boxes, etc. It's been nice to have some motivation to finish projects and let some rooms take shape!

One of the rooms that we've been working on most recently is the main guest room. I didn't really have a fully-fleshed out idea of what this room should look like until Nate suggested a southwestern-theme. Most of our decor is pretty eclectic, melding many styles together to put out a very collected vibe, which led me to give our southwestern guest room a retro twist--  almost Route 66 inspired. While we aren't doing anything major in this room quite yet like painting (I need a break) or switching out fixtures, we have a nice little refresh planned to make this space feel cozy, inviting, and well-traveled for our future guests.

Take a peek at some things that have majorly inspired me for this room---

sources: 1. bison skull 2. retro desert print 3. wigwam hotel print 

4. leather fringe pillow 5. potted cactus 6. woven pom pom pillow

Okay, that Wigwam Hotel Photo by Kevin Russ was preeeeetty much the cornerstone of our color scheme in this room. Ugh, it's so cool.

@meganjbailey

I love that kilim-style lumbar pillow! 

@collectivco

@kristanmiranda

Have any suggestions or comments on what I should add to our guest room? Let me know in the comments below!

Cheers.   --Julie

Kitchen Refresh Part 1 - There's a special place in hell for people who paint over wallpaper

If you peruse through the last few years of any design or DIY blog, Instagram, or Pinterest account, there is no doubt that wallpaper has made a comeback-- and for good reason! Your grandma's gaudy florals have stepped aside for more modern, contemporary patterns that seem truly endless.


Before I moved into my house in July, I incessantly brainstormed ways I could incorporate Instagram-worthy wallpaper patterns in different rooms. I dreamt about a completely pattern-clad papered bathroom that would somehow withstand the steam of the shower, and an accent wall in every guest room.


My fantasy didn't last long.


Only two days after Nate and I got possession of the house, we started prepping for our DIY overhaul. We had grandiose plans to paint every single room (save one or two) in two weeks before our boxed belongings consumed the space.  We started in the kitchen with washing walls and scraping little bumps off to prepare for painting, which is where things spiraled out of control. The kitchen was one of the rooms that we definitely wanted to paint since it was slathered in an ugly beige. Otherwise, there wasn't much to be done in that room compared to some of the other homes we looked at that needed complete kitchen renovations. As I began scraping the walls in the kitchen, I gouged a huge hole in the paint- I only wish that was where my nightmare ended. For a split second, I thought "Oh well, I'll just spackle it and it will be fine."


Nope.





I pulled an edge of the paint that was separated from the wall in an attempt to smooth the spot that I had mangled, and it just kept peeling and ripping off. It kind of felt like that scene from The Poltergeist where the man is standing over the sink in front of the mirror, ripping his skin off his face piece by piece. Sorry, is that too graphic? We then realized that the prior owners or the owners before them had gotten lazy and painted over wallpaper. It was crazy to find out that way. Usually it's so obvious that you can see the seams of the wallpaper through the paint, but they must have put at least 4 coats of paint over it.


Some of it came off really easily with the edge of the spackle knife, and some took a little more elbow grease, hot water, and vinegar. My mom, Nate and I spent a good two weeks - the two weeks we had planned to paint every single room- getting the kitchen walls down to the plaster (and in some places, dry wall where the addition was added). Whichever devil had put the wallpaper up had also put the hot pink textured sizing to help the wallpaper adhere to the wall, which ended up showing through our paint.





I felt manic. It was so incredibly frustrating and draining to work on making the kitchen walls look good and then when it came down to it- it still looked horrible. Normally, I would have preferred to try a DIY technique, but we were all so tired of looking at these walls that we opted to have a professional come in and skim coat the walls to perfection.

It was so so so worth it.


Now we have our walls smooth and painted. It looks much better and brighter, it almost doesn't seem like the same space. We still have a bit to do in the kitchen- finish painting the window trim, eventually replace the back splash, hang art and style the space. Once that is all done, I'll post a big reveal of how our kitchen turned out!