It's Eclectic: Julie Petunia

Happy Thursday!  We've had a pretty exciting week here at Casa Bustamante, and I can't wait to tell you all about it, but for now I am exhausted, so it will have to wait.  But in the meantime, I have an AMAZING art filled home to share with you.  I came across Julie's blog, Julie Petunia, through seeing a bit of her home at Better After.  I popped over from there, and was immediately smitten with her style and sweet self.  This home is one filled with creativity and soul.  Julie has gorgeous moody walls that allow vibrant colors to really shine.  Without further ado, I will let her tell you her home's story....

I'm thrilled and honored to be here sharing a little piece of my new old home today on this fabulous blog. Thanks so much for welcoming me, Cassie!

My husband and I bought our fixer upper nine months ago, but it feels like nine years ago! Oh, the stories I could tell. This house. Over the years it has seen several foreclosures, flips, lots of neglect, squatters (yes squatters), you name it. Even though many problems didn't reveal themselves until after we bought the house, we knew it was a project. I saw and still see tons of potential. Shortly after moving in we met the woman who lived in the house back when it was a beautiful showplace in the neighborhood. She brought us a whole album of amazing pictures, and we feel excited to try to bring back some of the home's former glory. Our new neighbors are also thrilled, as you can imagine!

Even though we have years of work ahead of us, I'm proud of what we have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. A fair amount of damage control and a little bit of decorating have gone a long way toward making this quirky 1940's house feel a lot more like us. But, really, the stories I could tell...

First I'll show you the real reason we bought this house. We've been city dwellers for the last six years, and I couldn't be more excited to finally have a yard again!

 








My husband and I put in that flagstone walkway this Spring. We found about half the pieces buried under bushes in the back yard! Probably left over from this...

 

The yard and its gardens were completely overgrown and neglected when we bought the place. Secret Garden anyone? We've cleaned it up alot.



Thankfully our view from the front yard is sublime. Hopefully one day our neighbors will be able to say the same ;)

Now onto the inside...

Well, a portion of the inside. I'm going to show you about half the house. The rest hasn't been touched yet. Check back with me in another nine months. Oh dear, that sounds ambitious.

When we bought our house, everything was very dark- dark brown, tan, dirty, and broken. Are dirty and broken colors? They should be. For my sanity, I needed to go in the opposite direction- cheerful, clean, and colorful. I've painted every surface that you are going to see, not to mention most of the things on the walls!


 













Nearly every old window in the house was painted shut when we moved in, so it feels amazing to actually have a breeze in here when I wasn't sure we'd be able to. (Who paints windows shut???)

 










 The house has a pretty open floor plan which I thought was unusual for the time period.

 













Office/Art/Random room. Still in progress and evolving (like the rest of the house) but one of my favorite places to be.

 

 We have three bedrooms upstairs, but the largest is still being used as storage so we are occupying the smaller of the two. Our current "master bedroom" is pretty much a temporary set up, so I didn't want to spend any money when I put it together. That being said, there is still a lot I would like to do to it! We spent the first two months in this house camped out on couches in the living room, so I'll never take having an actual bedroom for granted again!

 
















 Our daughter Ada's room remains one of my favorite spaces in the whole house. If you can't tell yet, I love color, and I wanted to create a really happy space for Ada. The walls were previously dark blue. It took me about a million coats of primer and paint to get this really pale pink.

 










 Her bedside table recently got a paint job and switched sides.

 







 Such a character and the reason I do everything I do! It was so much fun to show everyone around my ever-changing home today. Thanks, Cassie, for inviting me!

Be sure to visit Julie Petunia for so much more inspiration!  She is a creative and sweet soul, and I know you will love her blog!  And guess what?!?!  If you love her art like I do, you can buy it in her etsy shop!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and checking out this fabulous home!  I will be back tomorrow to fill you in on some excitement and share some things I've seen and loved this week!