Before & After of Our Master Bedroom

For our Master bedroom, we painted the walls Valspar's Notre Dame, added new carpet, installed new moldings around the windows, and changed out the window treatments and light fixtures.

Before: 

After: 

Stay tuned for the sitting room that is off to the left of our bed...

Before & After of Our Boy's Newest Bedroom

Since our move this past March, we have been slowly changing our "new to us" home to make it our own.  You can see our other transformations here: living room, office, kitchen nook, and mud room.

Before: 

(seller's photo)

 After:

Christmas Projects, Check! New Barn and Bunk Beds...

This elf is finally DONE! 

 Nothing like waiting until the last couple weeks before Christmas to finish the projects my girls asked for. You might remember the Barn Stable and Bunk bed my girls asked me to make for them for their birthdays earlier this year; well, they each wanted their own of each and asked that I make them what the other received. I wanted them to be different from each other's so they each thought theirs was unique and special. 

 My youngest wanted the barn; however, she wanted hers red. At first I cringed, red just doesn't go with her room decor. :) After shopping and getting ideas with my friend, I am SO glad she requested red.

As for the other daughter who wanted a bunk bed, we chose a different style from Ana White's site, and also made her quilt different.

I hope these girls enjoy them as much as I did making them!

Now on to wrapping EVERYTHING else. :)

Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Before & After Eating Nook

Here is the before and after eating area in our kitchen.  Please excuse the terrible after picture.  I LOVE all the windows in this house; however, I can't for the life of me get a decent picture because of them.  At least you get an idea about the space. :)

Before:

We painted the walls Repose Gray by Sherwin Willams.  The light fixture is from Ethan Allen, many thanks to my family for getting it to us!!

After:

Thrift Store Metal/Wood End Table Redo

For a while now I have been eyeing all the wood and metal end tables thinking they would be a perfect addition to our new family room.  Here are a couple that caught my eye:

($350)

 ($219)

It's always about price though isn't it?  

Recently, my friend and I went to our local thrift store when I spied this beauty below.  I wasn't thinking of trying to make one similar to the ones above, but as soon as I saw this I knew I could beautify it and make it look like the ones I was drooling over. 

The best part?  It was only $6.  :)

I loved the metal crisscrossed sides.  

To freshen them up, I applied Grecian Gold Rub n Buff - 

The piece on the right shows the difference all spruced up!

I wanted the table tops to have planked wood, so I started by purchasing a sheet of this thin wood for $6.  Then I purchased poplar boards that were 2.5 inches wide, and 3/4 inches thick.

I cut the thin wood into the dimensions I needed with a jigsaw, which ended up being 15 inches wide, by 2 feet long.

After cutting my poplar boards, I attached them to the wood square with wood glue and 1/2 wire brad nails from underneath.

After staining with both "Provincial" AND "Dark Walnut" stains, I reattached the metal legs and ended up with this - 

Total cost ended up being around $50.

Built-in Home Organizer Tutorial

Once we moved into our new home, I found we were really in need of an organized space for my kids to keep their shoes, and hang up their coats and backpacks.  

Something along the lines of this from Pottery Barn -

We had something similar in our previous home, yet I wanted it to have more of a permanent built-in look without the Pottery Barn price tag.

Here is my version and the completed project! Total cost $100!! (price not including hooks and baskets) - 

Here is how I did it -

Entering our house from the garage, there is a square area that houses the doors to a 1/2 bath, the laundry room, and the pantry.  Their is one wall that I thought would work for hooks and shoe cubbies; however, the space is 57 inches long, and only 2 feet deep. 

(kitchen view)

(laundry room view)

I didn't want a bench sticking out so far that it was in the way of our walking path to the other doors.  I figured I would need to custom build something to get the exact dimensions I needed.

I started out by purchasing this shelving unit from Ikea and assembling it.  I can't for the life of me find it online, but I found it on display by the Expedit units.  It was the perfect size, 11 inches deep and 53 inches long.  The best part was that is only $20!

To get the unit flush against the wall, I needed to rip off the existing baseboards -

Wanting it to look built in, I created a base to raise the shelving unit so it was the right height to attach baseboards back on to - 

You can see in the photo above that there was still spaces between the unit and the wall when it was up against it.  The unit didn't come with a back, so I purchased a smooth white backing for $12 at Lowes (it was by the sheets of bead board).  

I cut it to fit with my jigsaw and nailed it on - 

For a more finished look, I wanted wider molding on the front sides of the unit and wanted to avoid showing the screws and 2x4 base that were exposed on the sides.  I purchased 1/2 inch mdf boards and cut pieces to fit against the unit sides, including the 2x4 base.  I cut poplar boards and nailed them on to create the correct spacing for the wider molding I would attach to the fronts.  

I attached the 2x4 to studs in the wall with "L" brackets, and screwed the mdf side board into studs on the wall with wood screws.  Then I screwed the 2x4 base into the mdf board.

After setting the cubby unit on top of the 2x4 base, I screwed the unit and base together with more wood screws.  Next, I used small brad nails and hammered the other mdf board (with the poplar board spacers as well) onto the left side of the unit.

Here is a close up of the left side:

(laundry room view)

I cut new baseboards to the entire section, then added 1 1/2 poplar boards to the front sides (blue arrows), and quarter round molding to the back left to close in the wall (red arrow).

For the top of the unit I cut a pine board using my jig saw to fit, including covering the added quarter round and poplar front pieces.  I first stained it "dark walnut", then sanded it a little and added a little of "provincial"...both stains by Minwax.  I found the dark walnut too dark and missing the warmer tones from the provincial stain.

I attached the stained pine top by nailing in with 1 1/4 wire brad nails, and then filled in with stainable wood filler. 

Here is where my perfect easy going project turns into a mess. (literally)

I wanted to install a board above the organizer with hooks in it for coats and backpacks.  I pulled out my dandy (now, not so reliable) stud finder and marked my studs.  Everything is going smooth until I nail in my last nail.  Immediately, I heard a whistling sound and water started leaking from my wall. 

That was not a stud I hit, it was our copper water pipe. Boo. :(

Thank goodness for amazing friends and neighbors!  I made sure to mark the correct stud while the wall was open, and here is the board finally up. -

Till help with the organization part of it, I found all my baskets and hooks at Hobby Lobby.  I waited until they had both items on their 50% off sale, making the baskets $8.99 each, and the hooks at $1.99 a piece.  

We are now ready for school to start and have a place to store it all!!

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