Makeover Monday – The Guest Bath

My design theory is that you should have one central piece of art that defines your entire home.  It doesn’t need to be fine art – for me, it’s a Kirkland’s painting that I bought 10ish years ago as a newlywed.  It’s one of very few things that I’ve had that long and still really love.  From that painting, I draw inspiration and the color palette of our home.  Doing this allows me to use a variety of different colors, but still have them work together in a cohesive way.

Doesn’t it just look like somewhere you’d like to be?  The colors are rich, warm, and inviting – just how I’d like our home to feel.

The before color is actually a very nice sage-y green.  It’s in our kitchen and I like it there, but somehow in a small bathroom it seemed very blah. 

(pardon the very boring picture – accidentally deleted the other ‘befores’ so this is stolen from the kitchen!)

So yes, nice color, but certainly playing it safe.  For the makeover I went a little more bold:

My husband was horrified when he saw the gallon of paint I brought home.  After it went up, though, it was a different story.  He definitely warmed to it – this color is in our bathroom now too!

I painted just a few weeks before my sister sent me this gorgeous wall hanging, which compliments the room perfectly:

While I was at it I replaced the ugly builder theater light fixture above the mirror

(The fabric in this picture is also from my sister – it’s Indian, I believe)

I’d had a gorgeous shower curtain in this room, a soft but almost metallic looking blend of deep orange, sage green, and golden tones.  It’s muted, but popped against the previous paint color.

And I think the shower curtain looks great with the new paint color as well!

So there is our newly decorated bathroom.  The mirror is still the big ugly builder mirror, and I’d like to address that at some point.  Right now I haven’t decided if I’d like to buy a frame for the existing mirror, or buy a new [smaller] mirror.  For now this one works.

Next week?  I really don’t know yet!

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Makeover Monday – Homemade Laundry Detergent

So as you now know, I got a new washer and dryer.  This prompted me to beautify my ugly laundry room, and by beautify I mean de-clutter the shelves.

See that green tub up there?  That’s one of my new favorite things.  It’s from the Dollar Tree (because I’m cheap frugal like that) and it makes me happy every time I see it.

Let me start by saying that I am not a ‘green’ person by any means, and I am not a crazy couponer.  I’m pretty middle of the road, but trying to do much better these days to stretch our pennies.  And in that vein, this idea was born.  I’m trying very hard to makeover everyday money-suckers that I don’t usually even stop to consider, and laundry detergent definitely fits that bill.

I’ve been using my homemade detergent for about 3 months now and I love it!  It smells great and it works just as well as the store-bought kind.

If you’d like to try to make your own laundry detergent, here’s my recipe.

Washing Soda and Borax can both be found in the laundry detergent aisle, usually with the stain treatments, and they are very inexpensive.  I also use a bar of Ivory soap, some oxygen cleaner, baking soda, a grater, a container, and a tablespoon.

Grate the bar of soap into your container:

Because I’m me, I bought a grater (also at Dollar Tree) that I use only for this purpose.  I know in my head that a dishwasher could clean it, but honestly I could never again grate cheese on a grater that was used for soap.  I’m weird like that.

For every one bar of soap, add 1 cup of Borax, 1 cup of Washing Soda, 1/2 cup Baking Soda, and 1/4 cup Oxygen cleaner (if desired).  Then I just stir until well combined.  I’ve read that others mix in their blender, but again, I’m me.  I just can’t do that.  Besides, the girls love to make this themselves, so who am I to deny them that pleasure?

The end result:

So easy peasy, it’s cheap, and it works.  In fact, it works really, really well.  And it only takes 2 Tablespoons per load, so it’s very economical.  And yes, I can now attest to it being just fine for front-loaders.  I actually researched this and I found several people online saying they’d been using it for a long time (1+ years) in their front-loaders and all was well, so I felt comfortable in proceeding.

Previously I was buying Arm & Hammer powdered detergent because it was the cheapest brand that I felt still did a good cleaning job.  Comparing the cost, the Arm & Hammer is about 26 cents per load, whereas my homemade batch costs just a penny per load.  I know those pennies don’t sound like much, but to live out my own little version of a Wal-Mart commercial, if your family switched to my detergent that would save you $250 (or more) per year.  I saw someone on my Facebook feed stating that it was great to make a 5-month supply of laundry detergent for $2, and I’d have to agree.

So you’re doing something green, saving some money, and giving your kids a fun project all at the same time.  Now kick back with a cup of coffee and put those little ones to work!

Oh, and the vinegar in that top picture?  My new fabric softener.  It works, no it does not make you smell like vinegar, and it also repels lice - a serious plus for any mom of school-age children who lives in fear of that dreaded note from the school nurse.

Happy laundering!

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Makeover Monday – Kitchen Cabinets

As I mentioned last week, I did some work in the kitchen recently. 

We purchased our house halfway through construction, so we I was able to make a lot of design decisions.  The kitchen was my primary area of concern, and one of the things I changed was eliminating the dust-collecting space on top in favor of extending our cabinets to the ceiling.  It’s a great use of otherwise wasted space and it makes the ceilings look higher.

However, it’s also a pain in the tush to access.  Meaning whatever I put up there, I forget about.  This allows a saver like me to hang on to my mom’s old punch bowl (used once in the 10+ years I’ve had it), my Grama’s baked bean crock (never used) and plastic luau dishes that I swear I’ve never even seen before.  Someone else must have put them there.

It was time to purge.

I was able to clear out 3 large boxes of junk really great stuff to donate to Goodwill, and I cleaned out all of the cabinets in the process.  I also decided to re-arrange, thanks to this cool article in the February issue of Family Fun.  The idea of putting the dishes in the bottom cabinets intrigued me, so we’re giving it a trial run.

Here is a lower corner cabinet before:

And after the switch to kid-friendly dishes:

(I’m using storage containers from the dollar store to hold lids, cups, straws, etc.  I didn’t buy enough, hence the mis-matched collection.  Hoping to find a couple more of the green baskets when I go back.)

The upper cabinet that used to house the kids’ dishes now holds canned goods:

The upper corner cabinet that used to hold canned goods now holds baking dishes and grown-up dishes:

Newly organized medicine cabinet:

Another lower corner cabinet, before (I know, I know – a shameful disaster.  It’s actually birthday party supplies though, not the norm):

That cabinet now holds all of the crockpots and mixing bowls, lids, etc, and the pans were relocated to an upper cabinet:

I should have taken before and after pictures of all the cabinets, to show how much I purged and organized, but I was mainly focused on the non-traditional relocation of stuff.  It’s only been a couple of weeks, but so far I’m really liking this setup.  It’s much easier for the girls to help unload the dishwasher now, and they are able to set the table themselves too.

The only thing I didn’t organize is the roll-out pantry.  I’d love to have a separate room pantry, but alas mine has roll-out shelves instead.  I thought I would love this but as it turns out, not so much.  Lesson learned – when designing a kitchen, don’t assume there is a standard size for anything.  My shelves are fixed, and they are not tall enough to allow cereal boxes to stand up.  A constant source of frustration for me.

So there it is, my kitchen re-do.  It’s nothing fancy really, but it’s turned out to be a more functional setup with 3 little kids, and as Martha would say, that is a very good thing!

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Makeover Monday – The Blog Edition

I must be crazy.

Well, more crazy than I already knew I was.

February is going to be insanely busy.

The forum I moderate is doing a big 280 challenge, and not only am I participating, I’m monitoring others’ participation as well.  280 new listings in one month – a lofty but attainable goal. 

Wanna make some extra cash this month?  Consider joining us at HCTS and earn some spending money just in time for spring break fun!

Beyond that and on top of the usual household stuff, I have several projects waiting on me.  I need to organize my work room (which in large part hinges on this challenge!), prepare our taxes, and rearrange some furniture (moving from room to room). And a certain someone I know is turning 7.

I’m also doing a little bloggy makeover.  No, I’m not changing the design.  I love the design, and I’m rather attached to it.  I’m weird like that – I hate it when a blog I love changes their design on me.  I roll with change pretty easily in the real world, but in blog land notsomuch.

So where was I?

Oh yeah, my makeover.

It’s a blogging style makeover.  And I really hope I don’t get sick of this find myself unable to fulfill my commitment.

I have three friends who have recently done the NaBloPoMo challenge and they’ve inspired me to do the same.

It’s no coincidence that I chose the shortest month of the year to do this.

I will give it my best to have a new post every day in February.

I will not promise you that they will be profound.

But they will exist, 28 days in a row.  And given my recent extended leave from the blogosphere, that’s quite a makeover.

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Makeover Monday – The ‘I did nothing’ edition

I actually have several projects lined up to show you in the future, but I did nothing to make today’s post possible.  Well, no actual work that is.  I did use my fingers whilst sitting on the sofa, for whatever that’s worth.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and started hopping from there, eventually landing on one of the most fabulous blogs I have ever seen.

Seriously.

I’m going to give you the link now because I know you’re dying of curiosity, but please don’t leave me just yet, ok?

Knock Off Wood

Now I am a DIY girl, but I’ve got nothing on Ana.  She’s a self-taught carpenter extraordinaire and she is amazing y’all.  Totally amazing.

She started like many of us, with champagne taste and a beer budget, and she decided to do it herself and save a bundle.  This bed was her first project:

photo and design by Knock Off Wood-all praise & credit to Ana

Yes.  She made that. 

Impressive, right?  And you can make it too, with a few tools, $120, and her easy-to-follow plans.

Does it look familiar?  It might, because it’s actually a knock-off of this bed from Pottery Barn.  Except it’s $1230 cheaper.

$1230.  Or as I like to think of it, 5 round-trip airplane tickets to Disney.  Not bad, right?

She has plans for knock-off furniture of all sorts, inspired by upscale stores like Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, and Restoration Hardware.  She even has a dining room table inspired by a $2750 Restoration Hardware piece – her cost? $9.98.

Nine-ninety-eight.

A dining room table.  For less than ten dollars.  And it’s gorgeous.

You’re totally sold, aren’t you? 

So was I.  Which is exactly why I fully intend to make these (complete with wall clips)

Again, all credit to Knock Off Wood (my new hero)

appear in our playroom.  How awesome is that setup?  Totally needed.

Ana’s blog has inspired me to take my garage full of tools and my DIY spirit to the next level.  Now in my case I wasn’t exactly planning on buying new furniture so she might be costing me money rather than saving it.  But we won’t be focusing on that little detail.  Instead, I’m getting excited about how beautiful my house will be when I crank out a few of Ana’s projects.

Now if she only offered a professional organizing service, I’d really be in business.

*Full disclosure – I’m getting nada for writing this.  I wasn’t asked to write it, I’m not being paid for writing it, and I have no vested interest in anything here.  I’m just all about the sharing.

Oh, and PS) I forgot one of the very best parts – her plans are free. FREE!  This girl rocks, y’all.  Check her out!

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Makeover Monday: the kids bathroom

We left off upstairs, with the only room left (that got a makeover, at least) being the kids’ bathroom.  Of course this would be more interesting had I remembered to take before pictures, but I’m just not that kind of girl.  What I do have is a picture of the junk I took out of the room, all piled up and ready to go to Craigslist.  That’s almost as good right?

So yeah, it was a fish theme.  The builder had painted the room sage green.  A lovely color, but oddly formal in a kids bathroom and it didn’t at all match the fish stuff.  And the fish stuff was really on my nerves.  I bought it all years ago and saved it in a Rubbermaid tub forever, because I just knew that I would decorate my children’s bathroom in fish one day.  I know you’re not surprised that when they came along, I was already over the fish.  But of course I couldn’t admit that, so I had to use them for a little while first.  You know, just to be polite and all.

So I knew I wanted their bathroom to be something else, I just didn’t know what that else was exactly.  And how it came to be is rather odd, really.

In doing all of these makeovers I cleaned out a lot of junk, and I just can’t bear to throw anything away.  I know someone could use this stuff, right?!?!  Enter Freecycle, a truly beautiful concept.  I listed tons of the kids clothes, toys, baby gear, furniture, and even our old treadmill, and then people came to my house and took it away!  I know, I know, we could get a tax deduction for donating it to charity, and often I do just that, but sometimes (and especially with the big stuff) it’s nice to just have someone come and take it all away so I don’t have to deal.  That is not without value of its own, my friends.  So one day as I listed Lilly’s baby gear someone else posted that they had tried 3 times to get the perfect shade of aqua/teal/turquoise paint and the shade was never quite right, so they were giving away the ‘imperfect’ gallons.  ‘What the heck?’ I figured – I didn’t have a vision in mind anyway, so I picked up a gallon of surprise! paint and a vision started to take shape.

The end result?

(Waiting for the return of beautiful black-and-white pictures of the girls to go in the frames.)

I think it’s sort of girly-chic.  I like that it’s feminine in a more sophisticated way, and I feel that it will last them for years since it doesn’t have a ‘little girl’ look.  I couldn’t be more pleased with the way this room turned out.  I think it’s actually my favorite makeover so far!  Which is a good thing, since it was also one of the most expensive.  I bought all new towels, carpets, etc. I bought all of the fabric to embellish said towels, and I made the shower curtain and the valance myself.  I painted it all and replaced the light fixtures myself, and I spent hours on the embroidery and embellishments.  I love the way it came together, but it really does not reflect the amount of time spent on it.  I’d sort of like to hang little tags on everything so it’s fully appreciated.  ‘30 minute handtowel’ or ‘4 and a 1/2 hour shower curtain’  But I digress.

So there you have it, the grand tour of my kids’ living space.  I’m not making any promises about what you’ll see next week, because I’m really not sure just yet.  It will be a surprise for all of us.

Play along?

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Makeover Monday – Lilly’s room

Finally, the saga continues.  We’re still upstairs in solid kid territory and Lilly’s room was next to get a facelift.  It was painted a nice golden camel color which I really like in our living room, but not so much in the kids rooms – it looked so dull and dreary.  You might recall that I had already done one lovely lime green room, and as luck would have it there was a whole gallon of paint left over (huge shout-out to Wal-Mart for their one-coat coverage paint which actually does cover in one coat!)  So guess what color Lilly got?

I timed her new paint job to coincide with the switchover from nursery to big girl-room, so it was very easy to pull out the crib, changing table, etc and paint in an empty room.  Definitely made the project go faster (which is awesome since I do these things all by myself) and felt like a more dramatic change.  I also replaced the basic light fixture in her room with a ceiling fan.  I know they aren’t the most attractive things in the world, but they are functional, and I’m a practical kinda gal.

If you knew me 20-odd years ago, then you have probably seen this daybed before!  It used to be back satin (wow – what a look) and fit in perfectly with my Chicago Bulls themed room.  When I moved out my mom recovered the bed with this tone-on-tone stripe.  Looks pretty good for its age, doesn’t it?  I like it because it sits nice and high so there’s plenty of storage underneath.  Though we’ve actually kept it empty because it’s a pretty cool place to play, too.

The bounce and spin zebra has been re-homed now as well.  See that huge Mickey over there?  He’s sitting in a high chair that belonged to my great-grandfather when he was a baby.  How cool is that?  I only regret not taking a picture of each of the girls in it when they were still small enough to fit.  I’m terrible about remembering things like that.

I really hate these ugly stuffed animal nets.  My kids don’t even like stuffed animals and never, ever play with them.  Unfortunately though, people keep on giving them to us, and I feel rude immediately chucking them.  I think there must be a polite waiting period before you get rid of a gift, right?

And this is the room entrance/closet door.  As you can tell from the pictures, it’s still not done.  The problem is that I can’t figure out what to hang on those bare walls!  I can’t find anything that matches the bedding nicely, so I’d love to hear your suggestions!  My sister offered to paint a mural while she was here this summer but I felt bad having her do that on her vacation.  I now wish I hadn’t been so polite.

That’s it for this edition of Makeover Monday.  Stop by next week for the girly chic makeover I did on the kids’ bathroom.  I think it might be my favorite new room upstairs!

And of course, if you’d like to play along I’d love to see what you’ve been up to!

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Makeover Monday – built-in desk

I’m deviating from the original plan.  I had intended to show you Lilly’s new room, but I got three several requests for more info on the built-in desk, so I’m going to stick with Annie & Catie’s room for another go-round.

As I said before, the dormer there was small and not terribly useful.  We used to have a small child’s table in it, but that didn’t seem like the best use of space, nor was it the most ideal location for the table.  Even before we purchased this house I thought that area would make the perfect student desk.  Two years ago my parents bought the girls a computer for Christmas, so the desk was really needed.  Lucky for me I have a dad that can do anything, so a project was born and his help was enlisted.

This is actually a pretty simple, straightforward DIY so we didn’t even strain his brain cells.  The work would be much easier with 2 sets of hands, but you honestly don’t have to have a lot of skills for this one – a great beginner project.

This is the only picture of the ‘before’ space I could find:

And here is the ‘after’:

The desk was made simply, in one day.  We used part of a 2×4 (leftover from another project), a piece of MDF (or plywood/pressboard, but you’d need to sand it very smooth), liquid nails, screws, a level, measuring tape, drill, and some decorative molding and paint to finish. 

Measurements are key, so make sure you measure at least twice.  Once you determine the size of the desk you’ll need to cut the MDF or whatever you are using for the work surface.  After that is cut to size, try it in the space to make sure it fits.  Then you’ll want to cut the 2×4.  We ripped ours in half lengthwise so there wasn’t as much bulk, but you could also buy a 1×2 if you aren’t using leftover scraps like we were.  Cut 3 sections of this 2×4, slightly shorter than the MDF, so it won’t show from the room.  You are cutting the 3 sections that will go up against the wall – there won’t be a brace in the front of the desk.

Next you’ll need to determine where your wall studs are.  This definitely MUST be attached to studs – wall anchors won’t do.  You can use a hammer to tap until you find a solid spot, or use a stud finder (relatively inexpensive at any hardware store – around $10).  Studs are typically on a 16 inch center so you should be able to space them out accordingly, but always check to make sure that’s right before drilling.  Now you’ll need to mark the exact location for the desk in heighth and make sure that mark is level all the way around.  You don’t want pencils rolling!  When you mark the wall, mark where you want the desk top to be, and measure down from there.  This will ensure that you don’t have the finished desk higher than you really wanted.

Once the studs are marked you’ll know where your screws need to go.  Measure and mark, then pre-drill holes in your 2×4s, slightly smaller than the size of your screws.  This will prevent the wood from splitting but still allow the screws to get a good grip.  After the holes are drilled in the 2×4s, I like to apply a line of liquid nails for added grip.  Put that on the back of the wood, butting up against the wall, and screw the boards to the wall tightly.  At this point you can stop and allow the liquid nails to set up overnight, if desired.  We did not.

Your next step is attaching the MDF to the 2×4s.  You should be able to lay it down on top and from there it’s a 1 person job to screw it down.  Make sure your screws are very near the edge of the MDF so they can be covered by molding.  Alternatively, if you do not want molding you would counter sink the screws and putty over them, sanding for a clean finish. 

When you’re done with this step, you should have a functional desk, if not yet beautiful.  Here is a picture of the underside of the desk, to better illustrate the bones of the project:

At this point we chose to cut a hole in the top of the desk for all of the cords.  We did this using a drill bit, as it would be nearly impossible to cut a perfectly round, clean hole with a saber saw/ jigsaw.

From there the work is only cosmetic.  I chose 2 decorative moldings; a narrower strip to edge the top of the desk and cover the screw heads, and a wider strip to face the front of the desk.  I think the moldings give the desk a nice finished, custom look.

top molding

front face molding

The angled corners of the molding are the trickiest part of the project, for which you’ll need a miter box or a miter saw to cut the corners…or you could use decorative blocks in the corner of the top molding, so no mitered corners are necessary.  Cutting mitered corners is not hard, but it does take some calculating and practice, so be patient if you choose to go that route.

We used liquid nails to attach the molding, and now you’ll have to allow this to dry overnight before moving on.  From there I did 2 coats of paint and the desk was done!  Be sure to use a roller when painting the surface of the desk, as a brush will leave unsightly streaks that detract from your project.

And since I’m back here, I’ll show you what’s on the walls as well.  On the left is a covered bulletin board I made to hold the girls’ Disney pin collection:

and on the right I have pictures of them on Cinderella’s Golden Carousel:

Annie

Catie

Lilly

Chris snapped these very casually last August, and I was so pleased with how cute they came out I wanted to showcase them a bit.  They are not award-winning photography by any means, but they’re very sweet – just like my girls.

And before anyone asks, yes, one day I will show you how to make the bulletin boards!

So that’s it, the kids built-in desk area.  Now next week I promise we’ll head into Lilly’s room.  And again, I’d love it if you’d join me in showing off a makeover!

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Makeover Monday – Kids Bedrooms, part 1

Welcome back to Makeover Monday!  I know you’re excited, right?

This week I’m showing off the older girls’ bedroom.  Some of you might remember that Annie and Catie actually prefer to share a bedroom.  Weird, right?  Anyway, the room was painted a lovely shade for a master bedroom, but not such a lovely shade for a little girls room.  It needed an overhaul, and I decided to do this while they were away so that it was a total surprise to them when they got home. 

Well, not a total surprise since they had picked the paint colors.  But they didn’t know when I was going to do it, or what all I was going to do.  And it was a very nice surprise I think!

This bedroom is actually quite large with a  H-U-G-E walk-in closet (bigger than the one in our MBR!) and it has a great layout for sharing, as there is a very large dormer in the back of the room that makes a second, semi-private area.  We bought Annie a loft bed with storage underneath and put her in the alcove area:

I also painted a picket fence and grass in that area, opposite the bed.  The flowers are little Wallies stickers (from Dollar Tree no less!) and the ladybug, bumblebee, butterfly, and dragonfly on the wall are wooden cutouts that Annie and I had painted one day.

Her bedding is also new, and appropriately enough it was named Annie’s Country Patch!  Unfortunately I couldn’t find the matching valance (still can’t!) so if you’re ever at TJ Maxx and see it please snag one for me – I’d be ever so grateful to reimburse you for the trouble.  If you read about my giveaway a few weeks ago you may have also seen the personalized name pillows that I made the girls which coordinate with their new quilts.

On the other side of the room is Catie’s bed.  Hers isn’t a loft but it does have great storage drawers underneath – 3 of them, the entire depth of the bed, and all three are stuffed to the brim with dress up clothes!

You can’t see her bedding quite as well but it’s called Fancy Frocks and it’s little dresses that are adorable and perfectly suited to my little fashionista.

In the front of the house this room also has a small dormer which we thought was a perfect spot to build in a desk:

The kids loved that as well, since they then got their own computer.  And mommy loves not having to negotiate screen time!

The wall you are seeing above has also been transformed, even since the initial makeover.  The mirror on a stand has found a new home and I mounted one on the wall behind their door instead.  I also relocated that bookcase above to Annie’s side of the room.

The reason?  Their ever-growing assortment of American Girl dolls was taking over the house!  I love these dolls also, but if you’ve ever purchased one you know what the price tag is and I’m not willing to leave that much money laying around for the puppy to chew.  We needed a safe spot and I wanted it to be beautiful to showcase their collection.  The solution I came up with is this:

The top shelf holds trophies, dance awards, soccer medals, etc.  I put a dowel rod underneath the bottom shelf so they could hang some of the doll dresses there.  I think it looks cute, but we need more hangers as most of the clothes are still in the drawers underneath Annie’s bed.  We also need more doll stands, as the brood has expanded!

So there you have it – our all-new girls room!  It’s for a younger girl and I know it won’t last for ages, but frankly we don’t intend to be in this house for ages either, and I think it will suit them as long as we plan to be here.  Surely at some point they’ll see the merit in separate bedrooms, right?

That’s it for this week!  Mr. Linky is ready and waiting if you’d like to play along (and I hope you do!)  Next week I think I’ll continue my kids room tour and show you Lilly’s new room.  I need some wall ideas there so I’ll be picking your brains…

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Reminder!

Just a quick note that Makeover Monday will still be happening, so please think about stopping by and sharing something you’ve been working on.  I’d love to see, and I can always use the inspiration!

Have a great weekend!

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