If You Wanna Be Startin’ Something.

I’m always roping Dave into house projects. 

It usually goes something like, “Oh hey, I just went and bought 3 gallons of paint, guess what we’re doing?”

I’m a changer.  I like change. 

So, we have had a bit of a busy month including Halloween costume making, Oma’s 91st birthday dinner, a trip to Mexico, parent/teacher conferences, dinners with friends, crafting for Maker’s Mart, blog projects, and loads of holiday prep in the works.  The plan was to rip out the carpet in the living room three weekends ago because we had a rare ‘free’ weekend.  Why not screw that all up and do something fun, like ripping up carpet? 

The carpet is 15 years old and has survived a dog, cat, two kids, and lots of traffic and is in desperate need of replacement.  I wanted a little time to scrub the floors under and then get the new carpet installed.  So up came the carpet and what I really mean by that is, I grabbed a box cutter and went to town on a Saturday morning before Dave even had his coffee.  It’s harder for him to protest that way. 

No turning back now, new carpet here we come!  Right?

But then we pulled the pad up and I fell in love a little with the wood floors in there.  An hour later, everything was rolled up and taped and Dave started on the fun task of ripping out tack strips.  The original floors are much darker than the lighter color on the floors in the dining room that were refinished about twelve years ago.  Maybe we should go with the original floors instead of carpeting over them again? 

Only… that would mean having ALL of the flooring sanded and re-stained in all of the main living areas of the house. The floors are all are continuous boards from room to room from the living room to the dining room hall to the bedrooms which will remain {thankfully} carpeted, and the kitchen is laminate.  Did I mention figuring out where to put all of the furniture while this happens?  And while our house is teeny tiny and won’t take very long, it is a gargantuan project.

One that we’re leaving to the professionals… the guys arrive this morning.

I am certifiable and that husband of mine is a good sport, but we value our marriage enough not to test it with refinishing floors.

The Dish.

I have a house ‘to do’ list a mile long.  Please tell me I am not the only one this happens to, you make a list and then life gets in the way and you just stop seeing the glaring mess in front of your eyes.  Desensitized to the fact that you have twelve sippy lids that no longer have cups.  Dave and I are making our way through the list and one particularly nagging item was to re-arrange our everyday dishes cabinet.  Another project I eventually want to tackle is painting the inside of the cabinets like Megan did, though I am definitely not brave enough to take the doors off.

Our kitchen is small and we both love to cook, so that we let this go for so long is absurd because we are aware that space is at a premium.  It had become a catch all for all kinds of miscellaneous items that didn’t belong.  I’m super short so it’s hard for me to reach the things on the top shelf which is exactly where things like Tate’s plastic dishes and the coffee cups are stored.  Things we use daily.  If that wasn’t enough of a reason, do you see those shelves bowing in the middle?  The middle supports had broken off, oh ten years ago?  It was a porcelain accident just waiting to happen.

Worst housekeeper ever.

So Dave and I took everything out and started over.  I lined the back of the cabinet with a thick, matte wrapping paper I bought at Old Navy years and years ago, just because it makes me happy.  It was a good compromise to wanting to paint the cabinets and knowing that wasn’t in the cards at the moment.  Dave replaced the center brackets and we re-configured shelves to be a better fit for smaller items.  We moved everything that we use daily to the lower shelves and all of the less frequently used items to the top.  All of my bigger entertaining pieces, cake stands, platters and such are stored on shelves in the basement.

I keep going in there and taking a peek, wondering why we put this off for so long.

Dresser Before & After

I wanted a tall dresser to replace Finn's changing table in his room and to give him more storage as he starts growing.  Specifically, I wanted this awesome Edland dresser from IKEA.  I love the gray color, the white porcelin drawer pulls, the legs.  What I didn't like?  The $299 price tag for a three year old {who could potentially have an incident with metallic permanent marker on a wood dresser like his mother did...} and the fact that in reality the dresser wouldn't hold much more than what he had in his changing table.

Enter this lovely piece from Craigslist for a whopping $35.  Isn't it a beauty with it's hideous blackish paint faux finish that did nothing but make it look like it was covered in a layer of filth distressed finish, three missing handles, & beautiful yellowy white paint job that was poorly applied?

Yes people... this was painted to look like this.  I am pretty sure that when Dave's friend Doug helped him move this, he was sure that I had lost my mind completely.  It was NOT a pretty sight.

But now?

How we did it {aka: the wholly amature way to refinish furniture}:

1.  Sanded everything completely with an orbital sander, then hand sanded the detail work.

2.  Two coats of gray primer spray paint.

3.  Allow to dry for 24 hours.

4.  One coat of Rustoleum Granite spray paint.**

5.  Allow to dry for 24 hours.

6.  Two coats of Rustoleum Granite spray paint.

7.  Allow to dry for 48 hours.

8.  Add drawer pulls*  

*We may have also run around like idiots looking everywhere for drawer pulls that we liked. 

**Oh and possibly there may have been a dripping incident with my sprayer so I might have had to re-sand the top of the dresser and start over.  Just saying that my impatience sometimes gets the best of me.

Silhouette Tutorial.

I knew when I did the big re-do of Finnegan's room I wanted to include a silhouette, mostly for me to remember he really was little at one time.

I'm terrible at Photoshop {see? #14}, so most of the tutorials that I found were too complicated for me.  Instead, I went old school. 

I made Finn sit on the table with the window behind him {I shot into the light so he would appear darker} and took a series of photos.  He sat perfectly still for about two and then notsomuch.

Then, using Microsoft Word, I pasted the picture into a document and made it as big as the page. 

Then, I made it into greyscale, reversed the image, and printed it onto bright orange paper.

Then I cut it out carefully & pasted it onto grey scrapbook paper.  You could even use a fun pattern if you'd like.

It took all of 10 minutes from start to finish and it looks super cute.  I may even do one of Monty if I can get him to sit still for a minute.

Linked to: Today's Creative Blog

Big Boy Room

Heart wrenching and happy.  That is this post.  I am excited to share with you Finnegan's transition from toddler bed to twin and his bedroom re-do.  I am not so excited that my little munchkin is growing into a young man before my very eyes.

We didn't do a whole lot when Finn transitioned from nursery to toddler room other than changing the crib to a toddler bed, adding a toddler sized duvet & cover, and getting some organizers for his plethora of little toys.  His room is tiny with really tall ceilings, so we tried to go vertical as much as possible.  Organization, something that would grow with him, and a space he could enjoy were all priorities.  We didn’t want a particular theme that he might get tired of either.

The first thing you see is a wall of art.  We kept {and still love} the Beach Glass wall color.  The blue frames were in the same spot in the nursery, so we left them there and changed the pictures out.  I added a DIY silhouette of Finn {tutorial} and lots of fun brightly colored pictures.  The "F" I picked up at Michaels and decoupaged some red paper to the front.

We also added a table and two kid sized Ikea stools so that he could play with play-dough or mood sand or color in his room.

  

We also added a cute cars/road rug for him to play with his matchbox cars + parking garage.  He is currently obsessed with cars, so this is a favorite.

orite

His daybed was a steal at Ikea!  We opted for the blocks to loft it a bit {he needs a stool to climb in there} and found some great cubes that fit under the bed perfectly.  It solved the organization problem perfectly!  He has one pull out bin of art supplies, two big bins full of books, and four little ones with trains and other toys with small pieces. 

 

I absolutely love his bright orange sheets + all of the fun pillows.  The mattress is a Sealy that we bought at Costco for $149.  The coverlet is really a much darker grey color than is appearing in the photos.  I was looking for a duvet instead but after searching everywhere, the grey/green combo + texture fit perfectly.  We will likely just put some warm blankets on for winter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the $35 Craigslist steal of a dresser.  AKA the crazy ass project that took forever between sanding and painting and searching all over for drawer pulls.  Check out these before and afters!

 

We were able to re-use the peel + stick vinyl dots.  {Dottilicious by Wallcandy Arts, we gave the pink + yellow to a friend.} The were all over the walls of his nursery, on top of each other in different configurations.  After almost 4 years of being on the walls, they peeled right off with zero problem, we stuck them on the armoire while we figured out what to do with the walls, and they still peeled and stuck on his wall just as great as the first day we used them.  I wanted them to look like they were exploding from his lamp.  Mission accomplished.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like it as much as Finn does.  I'm thinking about moving in there and saying to heck with Dave.  Next week I will have for you a tutorial on the cheater way to do the silhouette + the transformation of that hideous Craigslist dresser!

Sources {Some are Amazon Affiliate Links, other than that I was not compensated in any way to mention these}:
Room Color - Beach Glass, I can't remember which paint line
Red Stool - Target
Room Essentials Persimmon Sheets - Target
Tromso Day Bed - Ikea
Grey + Green Coverlet - Kohl's
Lack Blue Table - Ikea
Turquoise Mammut Stools - Ikea
Melissa + Doug Parking Garage - Amazon
Armoire - Ikea
Dresser - Craigslist, Drawer Pulls - Lowes, Color: Granite by Rustoleum
ITSO Storage Cubes + Boxes - Target
Car Play Rug - Ikea
White Frames - Ikea
Blue Frames - Homegoods
Baseball Canvas - Homegoods
Blue Curtains - Ikea
Dottilicious - Wallcandy Arts
Mirror Strands - Swan Creek Candle Company
Pillows + Forms - Ikea
Letter "F" Pillow Tutorial

Anything I didn't cover, just ask!

How To Make a Letter Pillow

Part of Finnegan's room reveal {which I will hopefully get to this week} includes this DIY initial pillow.

I thought that you might like to see how I did it, so here is the SUPER EASY tutorial.

First, take your pillow cover, wash it and dry it {without fabric softener} and then iron flat.  Now, if you're super crafty {way more than I can handle} you can make your pillow cover.  I bought mine at Ikea.  Ahem.  I am not a seamstress, therefore I buy.

Then, I went to Microsoft Word and made my letter in Word Art.  My pillow cover was 20" square so I made my paper legal size and filled it with the F.  Then I cut out a piece of freezer paper {buy at the grocery store} to legal size and loaded that into my printer, making sure that I printed on the non-shiny side.

Once you have it printed, make sure the sizing is a correct fit for your pillow cover.

Then, start cutting your template.  I used an x-acto to cut the straight lines and scissors to cut the curves.  The only thing you have to be careful of is a clean line on the white parts, you will throw away anything that is printed on which is a bit counter-intiuative to cutting something out normally.

Next up is the ironing!  Per the recommendations of some of the tutorials I consulted, I ironed on a full sheet of freezer paper to the inside of the cover first, then I ironed on the cut out f to the outside of the cover.  I used a hot iron on the non-steam setting.  I used a lift and press method {rather than ironing it regularly side to side} so it didn't mess up the freezer paper where it was cut.  When the ironing was done, I slipped a cutting mat on the inside of the cover as an extra precaution against the paint bleeding through.

 

Here it is ready to go.  Paint carefully using a stamping technique rather than a swiping technique with the paintbrush.  Especially near the edges so they don't lift.

Allow to dry flat for 72 hours {or whatever the back of your paint bottle says and stuff with a pillow! 

EASY!!

This tutorial is linked to:  The Girl Creative, Made By You Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, MMM, Get Your Craft On Tuesday, Show & Share Day

F is For Facebook + Fertility + Free Printable

Happy Thursday y'all. 

I have lots to tell you, but first...

Want to join?  I promise not to annoy the hell out of you with Farmville {who DOES that?} and/or share my addiction of Family Feud.  It'll only be quality annoyances like updates on the blog and/or fun things I come across and want to share with you.  Click here.  Come sit at my lunch table.  It's just me over there and I'm lonely.  All the cool kids are doing it.

Next up, a sneak peek at Finn's big boy room...

I am *thisclose* to finishing it up.  The wall color stayed the same because we love it, which also means easy.  The last item, a fantastic $35 Craigslist find that needed a lot of attention.  I'll have it for you in detail next week.  I can't wait!  It is such a cool space now even though I cried packing up all of Finn's baby things.

See the cute little number picture?  I made it {and I use that term lightly} in 2.4 seconds and you can download it from my Scribd account in the classic colors seen above or a little bit of a girlie version as well.

Also next week?  My family arrives for it's yearly pilgrimage to the Ann Arbor Art Fair.  I have a big family dinner planned for Wednesday, I'll share the menu + recipes with you, of course.

My appointment with the Reproductive Endo was awesome.  He recommended a different drug and had high hopes that numero dos will indeed at some point make his or her appearance and that all is not lost in the hope department.  If you click to the wiki article, skip right on past the breast cancer stuff to the off label uses, bonus is that the side effects are supposed to be a lot easier to handle.  Fingers crossed peeps.  Fingers crossed.

Oh, and the bathroom?  You know the one we started in March?  Yep, that one.  It's finally getting wrapped up as well.  Why is it that my husband can tear out walls, have them back up, things tiled, and installed all in a week, yet the trim pieces take three months?  I do not know the answer to that, but if you do, let me in on the secret.  I'm practicing patience.

What else do I need to do in the next few days?  Finish up my book club reading, get to the gym, and clean this wreck of a house.

I hope your Thursday is fabulous.

A Little Remodel Update

Dave has been finding some interesting stuff! 

A light box that was original to the house, see the 1915 patent?  Also pictured is the knob & tube electrical {also original to the house} that I captured before they took it out.  It was the last bit in the house to be updated.  

Finn is enjoying peeking his little head through the access panel {in the hallway} to the shower.  He also has been telling Dave regularly that all of the work in the bathroom is cool.  And asking him if he 'broked' the walls.

Aside from the big mess in my house, things have been moving smoothly.  I'm not quite sure if there is ever a solution to the freaking film of dust that comes from ripping out plaster.  Demo & clean up took half a day, which included capping the plumbing before they started ripping it all out, so I really shouldn't complain.

OK, I lied.  Dave also put his foot through my ceiling, but thankfully it was over the stairs, so we'll get it fixed when we do some more drywall repairs in the hallway later this summer.

Peeing in the middle of the night is also REALLY cold.  The walls are down to the studs & the window molding is also gone and that means a drafty, freezing bathroom.  Plus, it's pretty creepy since, ya know, there are no walls or ceiling or umm anything in there.   

So, there we are.

Demo - Check
Electrical - Check
Plumbing - Tomorrow
Finish stripping the trim - Sunday

Monday the drywall guys arrive and then we should have some more progress to share!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Stripping.

Tonight, the window got stripped with a heat gun, yay for lead paint.  We Dave found that out by letting Finn gnaw on the windowsill with a handy dandy lead paint testing kit.  Tomorrow morning, our last showers in the old bathroom.  We should have everything down to the studs by tomorrow evening.  {Please send some good juju that we don't run into anything too terribly screwy.  Like lead paint.  Um, yeah.}

The shelves have been pulled out, the medicine cabinet emptied, one last decision on a paint color for the new drywall needs to be made.  The UPS man has been leaving pretty packages at our door.  The dumpster is arriving tomorrow at noon.  Dave has been reading tiling books like it's his job.  {<-- Sarah, I totally used the right it's/its just for you!}  The drop cloths should *fingers crossed* keep out the assinine amount of dust and grime that comes with tearing out almost 100 year old plaster. 

And the point is, I'm terrifyingly nervous ready for it to begin.  I might need to psych myself up a bit more & find a place to take myself, a toddler, and a dog tomorrow afternoon for naptime, which we just now figured out.  At 11:47 pm. We are awesome parents like that.

Anything exciting going on in your house?  Need something to do?  Go on over to the Bloggy BFF's {not only is Sarah the grammar police, she introduced Ash and me.} house and knock on her door, flood her comments like I know you can, and tell her she needs to be here for my birthday random acts of kindness craziness. 

Tell her I'll even let her hang out in my fancy new bathroom.

Keeping Wood Floors Clean - WFMW

Welcome to the cleaning tip version of Works For Me Wednesday.  To view all of the FABULOUS cleaning tips this week, head over to The Cleaning Edition at We Are THAT Family!

{image via Windex}

My secret to keeping my 92 year old wood floors sparkling?  I use a soft cloth dustmop {I have a Libeman} on them at least once a week and/or vacuum {make sure to turn off the brush!}  Then,  once a month I wash them with a solution of windex and warm water.  I think the best way to do it is on hands and knees with a soft cloth, but I've been known to use a mop from time to time too.  I just put maybe a cup in with 3-4 gallons of warm water.  I can't take credit for this tip though... my step-mom has her own cleaning company and she was the one that taught me this one!  This solution also works on my kitchen floors which are the snap in place engineered stuff.

Want some more crazy cleaning fun?  See the garage clean out before and after.  Visit my Monica closet.

And in keeping with full disclosure, I am quite sure that Windex doesn't know who I am or that I am blogging about their product, so no, this isn't a paid gig. 

Laundry Room Before & After... aka: making the basement less scary.

It is amazing what some paint and some elbow grease can do.  I can't tell you how happy I am with our new laundry space, Dave did an amazing job with the painting and plumbing.  We added a utility sink {thanks to the inlaws} and used Dryloc oil based paint on the basement walls.  It is stinky, but after two coats the walls look amazing you can't even tell they are 92 years old.  I know you can't tell from the photos, but Dave also added a new light fixture {yay for non-fire hazard fixtures} and it has a plug in the fixture which is a great addition because we sort of had an extension cord all rigged weird to the other one.  We took down the wood nailed into the 1st floor beams and the scary pipe that served as a clothes rod.  The rickety old table {more on that to come!} was replaced with a Broder laundry table system that we created ourselves from IKEA.  It also has a large hook on the side that I can use to hang stuff that needs to air dry.  And the cheapie art that is on the table still needs to be hung on the wall and the second shelf will be hung where the hangers are now when IKEA has their brackets restocked.  It will hold my large collection of glass vases that are currently housed in just about every nook and cranny of the kitchen and hall bookshelf.  I am also trying to sell Dave on a colorful outdoor {because it can get damp from time to time} rug for the space to make it even brighter. 

There you have it!