Let there be light! In Progress

The builders/designers of my house seem to be smoking something when it came to the kitchen, since there were only 3 full-size upper cabinets but there was clearly space for another cabinet to the right of the sink (above the dishwasher). See what I mean:

(We have made a few changes since this picture- I will take a full kitchen picture once our current project is due).

Dining room success!!

Since my kitchen is super small (no where to store the larger of my small appliances, ie- electric griddle, electric skillet, etc.) I have been hunting for a cabinet/sideboard/hutch thingy that was large enough to store these items. But of course keeping with my mission it couldn't cost a ton of money.

During my most recent trip thrifting I finally found the illusive beast that would occupy my dining room. It was a bit more than I would normally pay for an item that I wan't to redo but it was too perfect to walk away from just because of price, not to mention it was in fantastic condition.

I paid $200 +a $20 delivery fee for this:

The only problem is I don't need the top (its going under a window). So here is the end result:

Dining table update

My hubby's grandparents handed down their dining set to him, it was nice quality furniture but was super dated (60's). So of course I had to modernize it. Unfortunately I don't have the before pics (i did this before I started the before after thing).

I removed all of the foo-foo dated stuff on the China cabinet and primed and painted the cabinet black. I replaced all of the hardware with simple brushed nickel pieces and I think it turned out great.
The table was stripped of dated materials and strain, then I primed it and painted it black. The original chairs were heavily damaged do we just decided to replace them. We originally purchased some cheapy chairs from wal-mart but they aren't holding up well.

Here is what we had before, excuse my craft stuff on the half wall (I am in the middle of painting my Christmas Village):

My best craigslist find to date- dresser

Ok, so looking for a dresser on craigslist and I lucked out and found this beauty for $25...what, what???

Yes, yes she needs some work and a lot of TLC but I love a challenge. But even more than a challenge I love a bargain. Can't wait to get started and see how this turns out. I will post more shots as I make some progress.

Gettin' Gussied Up!- Side table to makeup table

My previous project to create an awesome tv cabinet out of a china cabinet has led to my poor, cutesy side table (turned tv stand) being homeless.

She is much cuter in person

A new focal point-tv stand

***Since I have added this to my living room and proudly sharing the pics with people I am so happy that everyone raves about it! One person thought that I bought it for....thousands! WHAT???

All decorators seem obsessed with making something other than the tv a focal point in a living space, but let's face it the tv is a focal point in most homes today. And with all of the additional components it can become an unruly mess quickly!

That is exactly what happened to me. My idea for our main living room (my room) was to keep it simple, nice and simple. So here is what ended up happening to my nice and simple tv area :(

Sit a Spell

Hmmm, what is with this chair? Did someone actually think it was comfortable? Well it will be comfortable...not just to sit in but to look at.

Provocative Pinterest

If you are anything like me, you jump on the Pinterest website with all intentions of only perusing the pages for a few minutes, then suddenly realized that it is far passed your bedtime and your butt cheeks are sore from sitting for so long. Oh well, I checked my boards and other info yesterday and was amazed that I have 24 boards and 3438 pins, most of which desperately need cleaning and organizing. Sadly as I browse through my numerous posts I realized that I have only completed a few of the ideas that I definitely wanted to do.

Let's recap shall we:

• Tried and failed at making my own wood stain with vinegar and pennies- never came close to turning green
• Painted my kitchen countertop
• Antiqued furniture
• Made wood furniture look like barn wood, well sort of
• Made homemade laminate wood floor cleaner
• Created the shadowbox piggy bank (this one I really loved, you can't really screw it up)
• Mod Podged and glittered stuff
• We are in the process of collecting pennies from year of birth for me, hubby and our girls (4 sets) so that we can make keychains- everyone is on board with this one, they love the idea and I love that my little family is soooo close!
• Put solar lights into mason jars for backyard table lights
• My girls have cut up countless t-shirts to refashion them
• Painted countless pieces of furniture
• Removed mildew stank from my towels
• Already knew how to find the best deals at Target...read this in a magazine years ago
• Made the candy cane/marshmallow/chocolate cocoa stir sticks, if that is what you want to call it, they weren't too pretty
• Created an emergency and family info binder

Ok, ok, you get the point. I have actually tried quite a bit but this doesn't even put a dent in all of the pins that I want to try. So maybe I need to take a break from perusing the picturesque pages of Pinterest and passionately partake in producing some perishables and pretty projects from Pinterest...see what I did there ;)

What projects did you find on Pinterest (or elsewhere) that you are dying to try??

Bold Statement-Laundry Room

Although I love the outcome of my laundry room, I felt the dinky little, cutesy signs above the shelf were to small. So time for a cheap, quick fix.

The fix...1' x 6" wood letters from Hobby Lobby and paint.
The letters cost about $3/ea and I bought 4. Already had the paint so total project cost $12.

The original idea was to paint the letters white and hang them right on the wall...but had to change that a bit (a new idea popped into my head)

So new plan, glue the letters to a piece of scrap wood I had lying around (happened to be the right size- how perfect) and paint the whole thing. To get the spacing right (it was going to be a tight fit) I just laid the letters on the board as best as I could fit and traced parts of each letter so I knew where it was supposed to go. 

The "S" looks a bit crazy but I realized during this step that it is a touch smaller, but no biggie. The left edge of the "W" and the right edges of the "H" were hanging off the board so I sanded them flush to the edge.

 Then I got the crazy idea to paint this whole thing black, then paint over and rough up the edges to show some black here and there...

But I didn't like it and decided to paint the whole thing white...

First coat...

Second coat...

Now just need hubby to hang it up, stay tuned...

Out of Hand DVD Collection-Organize

So my husband is a big movie freak, he pretty much buys every (and I mean EVERY movie he likes- or thinks he might like) and we often pick up movies from the $5 bin. Unfortunately out-of-the blue our DVD Collection grew from roughly 50 to over 400 in less than a year (In know, crazy right??).



Not our collection just wanted to give you an idea (I know some of you do not buy a lot of DVDs). This is roughly 1100 DVDs- if you figure about 30 movies per shelf. That is a lot of space I would rather use for something pretty!

 So hubby decided to build a cabinet specifically made to hold these gems. It was huge, 7' tall x 4' wide x 6" deep. It actually was a good way to go until our movie collection out grew this monster cabinet.

So our solution...CD Binders

They come in various sizes, and as long as you don't care about the case they are great! We removed the sleeve from each case and put it in the slot where the disc goes and the disc goes behind it (so it doesn't get scratched). We keep them in alphabetic order and we reorganize it about 2ce a year (to add in new purchases) and we try to leave at least one empty page between each letter to allow for newbies. Our collection is up to about 650 (not to mention the 40 or so video games we have as well) and we have 4 of these books (1 is used for the video games). We use a silver sharpie to mark on the outside of the book which letter range it contains to make things even easier.

**Added bonus if we go on a road trip the kids can easily just grab these books instead of choosing just a few movies to take with them!

As Miss Golightly was saying...

A few months back I introduced my 17 year-old daughter, Cydnii to 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' (she wasn't into older movies before so she wouldn't have really "got it" before). She was instantly in love with Audrey and Holly! Up until this point she was undecided about bedroom decor, Audrey/Holly changed all of that! 


As part of this transformation, I sooo wish I had before pictures to share, we HAD to paint the walls- as Cydnii had turned her walls into a giant yearbook for all visitors to sign.


The wall color: Urban Sunset (Valspar), we even painted the ceilings.

The "theme": Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn Inspired

The accent colors: Pink, Black and of course Tiffany Blue

We already had her bed (I bought it on craigslist.com for $50, just had to buy a mattress) we were going to paint the bed but decided not to, since it fits in ok. The bedding took some time, she had to find just the right thing. She said that she would know it when she saw it...it would scream "Holly Golightly". I think she made a great choice: Hot pink, black and gray strips with this great pattern and pink sheets with white polka dots (sorry the pattern on the comforter doesn't photograph very well).

I even lucked out at Christmas and found this great Holly-esque sleep mask at Claire's

*POP* the Canisters

Over the weekend I began working on some "blingy" art for this room, I wanted something that would add some POP, since the color pallete is really muted.

I started with these cutesy little canisters (I have 3) that were a pretty close match to the colors and patterns in the bathroom before the redo. I picked them up at a yardsale for $2 (for all three)

Choose To Shine- Lamp Redo

Holly Golightly would probably be bored out of her skull with this lamp...

What lovely pallets you have

One of my favorite things to check out on Pinterest is all of the creative ways that people use pallets. I think it fantastic that you can take scrap/throw away wood (which is what most people do) and make something really extraordinary.

My company receives items on pallets quite often and we usually have a few lying around. Once I started to develop my pallet fetish I quickly told everyone I work with NOT to throw them out (oh how my hubby likes this, not)!

Now to just figure out some creative ways to use these awesome little trasures around my home. The tricky thing is that pallet wood is rarely a uniform size (length and/or width) but I am sure I can improvise.

Wash the boring away

I hate, hate, HATE doing laundry. Mainly because of all the folding, hanging,, ironing and putting away once it is done. But I also get that laundry is a necessary evil, blah, blah, blah! So if I have to spend time in the laundry room, and because our laundry room is a pass through space from the house to the garage I want a pretty room. Despite the size I knew I could make it pretty and pleasant.

Our new washer /dryer was on the way so we had to rush and get the riser built and painted, as well as the shelf (this could have waited but it was much easier to do without the big monsters in the way). So while hubby and his buddy were cutting wood and framing the riser in the garage I got busy painting. I know its not ideal but we literally had one day (the washer/dryer purchase was kind of a spur of the moment "our set is about dead and this is a fantastic can miss it price" kind of deal).

The starting room was creme walls, creme vinyl flooring and a single wire shelf above where the washer and dryer sit. 

Pre-paint, building the riser. 

Painted room with anchor boards for shelf in place. 

Riser in place...and a big paint spill (the cost of doing rushed work in a small room with 3 people),
and check out that oh-so pretty creme vinyl flooring...ick! I opted for a fairly short riser (it is only about 6 inches tall). We wanted height but still wanted to be able to reach the items on the shelf and use the top of the w/d to fold, etc.

The riser is a simple design of a frame (around the walls) and 4 brace boards (1 every 2 ft or so) covered with thick plywood. We put more braces than we might use in other projects simply because of the weight of the w/d. Before I painted to riser I primed it with a water resistant sealer. This was also the second paint, I was not a huge fan of the first color I chose once it was on the wall, it made the room feel even smaller than it is. So had to make a flying trip to Lowe's to get another color. This one is much better and I even painted the ceiling.

As you can see we didn't manage to get the shelf up before they were delivered but we managed to work around them :)

Shelf in place. Basic shelf with box frame with several braces (to accommodate the weight of laundry soap, etc). We used a piece of the baseboard that we purchased for this room for the shelf face (just turned it upside down). Thought this looked better, more finished than no frilly face.

We thought about installing the shelf lower in the beginning but wanted to keep it up a bit since it was built in and we need to be able to hook up (and possibly unhook) the machines.

I had the black baskets that are each end of the shelf. I keep smaller items in these baskets, such as extra boxes of dryer sheets, woolite bottles, stain remover, small sewing kit, etc.

Linen/cleaning storage

I purchased this armoire (on craigslist for $75) to provide a central location for the kids to do their homework and use the computer...but it didn't really work out after awhile since we replaced their old desktop with a laptop.

Now that sucker (the laptop) spends more time in the rest of the house than where it belongs.

Don't be afraid to ask- framed posters

While crusing around on ebay for some wall art for my rustic/southwest/cotton room I came across these great prints ($6/each):

But of course I needed frames. After noting the size of the prints I searched tirelessly through the ebay listing for barn wood frames that were a match to the size...no luck :(

Plant ledge redo

Of course I have no before picture, but I can best describe the before as a hodge podge of various things I have collected over the years.

This ledge is in my rustic/southwest/cotton room so it needed to go with that vibe. 

• Before the "makeover" the large grapevine wreath on the left had fall leaves on it
• The details of this change can be found in a previous post on this blog (Cotton Wreath)

Ahh new floors!!

We always knew flooring was pricey but WOW!! Unfortunately our budget didn't allow for wood laminate in the entire house, so we opted for all common rooms (minus the water rooms) so we covered the living, family room, and 2 hallways...the bedrooms will have to wait their turn. I have to admit now that we have been living with the new floors for a bit love not having carpet, but we are HATING this product. Takes some getting used to, we even had to learn to walk a bit different on them (slippery).

Before the wood laminate decision was made I had resigned myself to changing the ugly flooring in the front entry and all of the water rooms. The existing flooring was basic ugly cream that was probably original to our pre-owned home, so it was stained and dingy. SO off to Lowe's to spend a little money (about $90) to buy a few boxes of peel and stick tile. I know, I know, but most people don't even notice (swear!!). It was super easy to install, and it only took me a few hours, and the best part...it looks really great (this stuff has come a long way)!

The not-so-wonderfully wet Christmas of 2011

All the stockings were hung...well um, laying pretty around the tree since there is no fireplace (who needs it when the average winter temps in southern AZ are around 56.) Any-who what a surprise we received that year, as we noticed a box in the garage that showed signs of water damage. GREAT!! Just what everyone wants this time of year. So after weeks of remediation, dry time, insurance squabbling and bare concrete...oh and let's not forget the field mouse that made it into the house, then the repairs...ah finally we could get back to normal. I have to admit it was odd to me that the whole thing seemed to take so incredibly long. 

Here was the big trouble maker

(I guess we should have paid attention to that, you can bet it won't ever happen again!)

No rest for the restroom!

Our small little hall bathroom is definitely one of the biggest work horses in the house, two teenage daughters will destroy any 5x8 space with a mirror in .6 seconds.Not only does this poor little guy get over used he is a bit blah (despite the cherry bright color). I have realized that I think it is was to severe in color and doesn't really fit with the rest of the house (except maybe Hannah's room which is hot pink/light pink and black. But I have to be patient, I am notorious for starting new projects before I finish the current one(s).

But I can start planning, no harm in that!

Current, non-conforming workhorse bathroom (image this colors 10 times brighter- the flash and the light took away a lot of the intensity of this color- a very vibrant aqua marine-ish color)

From the hallway

Cotton Wreath

A few weeks ago I stopped in to one of my towns fabulous flower shops to get some Scentsy bulbs from my Scentsy lady Courtney (LOVE her), and I saw an awesome cotton boll wreath. I HAD to have it, not only is cotton huge here but my grandpa was a cotton farmer.

The wreath was rather small (about 12 in diameter), wish I had taken a "before" pic, but I decided to deconstruct the wreath and use the cotton bolls on a large (3 ft diameter) grapevine wreath that I had on my over head ledge. I attached the individual cotton bolls (they already had floral wire), then attached my grandpa's old farming hat.

Love how it turned out, it goes perfectly in my, "rustic, western" living room.

Giani granite counter tops

So sick of my ugly creme colored kitchen counter tops...so I have been eyeing a kit at Lowe's that has everything needed to paint the counter tops. I just don't like the price ($299), so I was so excited when I found Giani!
It is reasonably priced ($69.95 for a kit that covers counters in a typical sized kitchen) so I bought it.

The goods arrived on Friday and I started my project today (Saturday). Sooooo easy to do. Now I am just waiting the 4 hours I need to so that I can do the light sanding and top coat. Only down side is the top coat has to cure for 14 days, but totally worth it to have a more attractive counter top.

*Ugly counter tops

*Step 1- Primer- already looks better

* Step 2- Beginning painting

* Island finished

*Another view of the island

*View of the rest of the counters finished painting

* Now just waiting for it to dry so I can top coat...only 2 more hours to wait, blah!
**YAY!! 1st layer of top coat applied, just have to wait 4 more hours for the 2nd.

So many changes, so little money

When we moved into our house it was a Plain Jane spec house. And by plain...I mean P.L.A.I.N. Creme colored walls (albeit freshly painted), beige carpet (albeit new), creme/yellow vinyl in the water room and honey oak cabinets in the kitchen and baths. Don't get me wrong I know I loved that the carpet was brand new and the house still have a slit aroma of paint, and I know many would LOVE that so clean and fresh, but me...no way! I LOVE color! I, for some unknown reason have crazy strong aversion to white and/or tan walls. I want COLOR! Maybe it is some weird thing I have or maybe it stems from years and years of living in apartments with plain white walls. 

I love experimenting with different colors, I would definitely say I am NOT scared of color. Unfortunately this can also be my downfall, because I so quick to buy the paint and not test it first. Nope I wait until the room is complete and then I realized, ugh...hate this color.

Anyhow, two years later and every room (except the garage) has had a color makeover.

Paint is not the only change we have made. Throughout our 2 years in this house we have had our financial ups and downs (like most people in today's economy) so I had to get creative! I try to get creative with decorating for a few reason: (1) lack of budget and (2) lack of desire to tie up a great deal of money in things that serve no other purpose than to sit there and look pretty.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to pay for things when warranted, but I don't see the point in spending $100 for something that I can create myself for a fraction of that price.

There are a few changes that we have made that cost quite a bit (like the flooring) but most of what has been done has been on a small budget.

Here are some changes we have made a long the way:

*This is the view from our front door (left is the day we moved in). This is still a work in progress as our electronics are to vast for my cutesy table under the tv.

* Same room just looking more to the left.

This house was designed with the concept of living/dining room in the front room. I HATE that! I hate seeing my dining table the minute you walk in the door and this room is far to small for a living space (you will see the intended living space in the next picture). So I changed it up by removing the chandelier and putting up a ceiling fan (I know most designers hate them, but I think they are a must- especially in AZ). I was lucky to have the opportunity to get some hand-me-down items, umm actually all the furniture in this view. Then I purchased the posters over the love seat and found some barnwood frames on ebay.

*This is the living area as seen from the arch in the previous pictures. This small area in front of the window was intended for the living space. Instead I opted for 2 great reading chairs (also hand-me-down, but I LOVE them). Total out of pocket = $550 (not counting tv or flooring) 

* Back to the arch, the room ahead is my family (I gave my husband this room to do with what he wanted, except I picked the colors, and I basically veto anything crazy he wants to do).

*Family room from sliding door in back. The china cabinet/dining table set was another hand-me-down that was very dated. So I removed the"dated" finishes (hardware, etc). Sanded it down and painted it. All the brass hardware was replaced with with brushed nickel contemporary pieces. The couch and love seat I found on craiglist for less than $300. Total for this room= $650 (not counting tv and flooring)

*This is a view from the back door into my kitchen. One of the first things that we did in the house (besides paint) is the arch on the half wall.

We hated the half wall before, it seemed like an after thought. So it was tear it out or build it to make it look like it had a purpose (even if the purpose was just to look pretty). We were lucky enough to have a friend staying with us that is a framer by trade so he jumped at the challenge to build this arch for us. I let him pretty much have free reign, my only stipulation is that the arch had to be shallow like the one between the kitchen and living room. He was happy to do it (since we were letting him stay with us) all we had to do was buy the supplies. Another thing he helped with was the kitchen cabinets. These cabinets, as you can see, are basic builder grade and there was no way we were going to be able to replace them. So I painted them and took a trick from the decorators on all the shows on tv, and added moulding to the top of the cabinets.

The black cabinet in front of the half wall was something that from this angle doesn't look so great, but my hubby built for me. My idea was to have a cabinet that house our DVD books, board games, video games, etc.

As for appliances, we started with basic junk and a hand-me-down fridge from my in-laws. The dishwasher didn't work and the oven only worked the first year we were in the house.

Thank goodness for Black Friday, we were able to pick up the OTR microwave and new stove for super cheap. And thankfully a few months ago, thanks to all the sales, we were able get the fridge we had been eyeing and a new dishwasher.

The flooring in the kitchen was cheap, ugly, cream colored vinyl and was blah. So, I went to Lowe's and purchased 4 boxes of peal and stick floor tiles (which are much better than they used to be) and I was able to do the entire kitchen, laundry and both bathrooms with just 4 boxes at about $30/box. Total for this area= $ 750 (not counting appliances).

* And our hallway. Only changes to this area are the paint, flooring, the wall sconce, picture frames and the foo-foo stuff on top of the armoire (which I purchased on craigslist for $100). Total this room= $150

*Laundry room (in case you were wondering). No before pic, it was just your basic box laundry room with white wire shelf and nothing more. So when we were waiting for the new washer/dryer to be delivered we prepared our room.

Of course the first thing was paint (I know designers sometimes say pick the paint last but I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS pic the paint first). This was actually the second color, I painted my first choice and hated it, this is much better.

We also didn't want to purchase the expensive pedestals that go with the W/D so my hubby and his buddy built this riser for me once I decided how high I wanted the units to sit and they built the shelf above as well (super easy). To make it look nicer they used the baseboard (extra from replacing the baseboards in the rest of the laundry room), flipped it upside down and attached it to the front of the shelf. Total for this room= $200 (peel and stick tile, riser build, shelf build, baseboards, decorative hooks, funny signs, paint, ironing board hanger).

There is still so much to be done, or at least that I want to do. Thank goodness that we don't mind doing some things ourselves :)