Major Nursery Redo!

Happy Friday!!

As much as I looove the month of October, I cannot wait for this particular weekend to be over with. As a young girl, I was shown the movie "The Entity" at a sleepover (I'm asking the same thing... where were the parents?). That movie scarred me for life. I hate scary movies. Hate. And I am not one that uses that word often. Now, every night when I am seeking some down time and turning on the TV, what is showing? Scary movies. UGH! Can we hurry up and zip past Halloween already? 

On a happier note...

WE ARE DONE WITH THE NURSERY!

sorta

This is what our nursery looked like when we moved in...

please excuse all my notes. This is what I do when I take the "before" pic. If I write it on a paper, I will lose it. haha.

Anyway, the room, which is small, needed a paint job and flooring redo. We painted the walls "Italian Villa" by Behr which I love, love, LOVE! It is the palest pink without looking white or pepto-bismaly. I am new to color on the walls so this was a safe choice for me and it ended up being such a precious, gentle pink. love.

When you're painting a room, you need to remove all the switch plates and socket plates. This is what they looked like before:

These plates are sold at Home Depot for cheap, but since I have to change every single one in our home, the price was going to add up. So, to save money (!) this is what we did. You lightly sand all the plates, just enough to get rid of the sheen. Then spray two coats of this guy:

and voila...

"new" plates!

So, after we painted the walls (ceiling update is further down on our list), we removed the carpet, tackboard, and baseboards to install our tile.

Here in the desert, where summers reach triple digits, tile in the home is a plus! There isn't any step-by-step I can explain for laying tile. It would be too overwhelming.

Basically what we did is had people give us quotes, and we found that the price to lay the tile was double the cost of what we paid for it. So, we found a friend who has experience in doing tile herself and she showed us the ropes. She had us do most of the work ourselves and that was the best way to learn. Nothing online can prepare you to tackle this on your own. My advice... seek assistance for the first room and then you can do it on your own for the next room. We picked a small room that would be covered with toys most of the time (i.e. hide imperfections). I am amazed at how well it turned out!

Like I said, small room. I was standing on a ladder to take this pic. We installed the tile, which took 7 hours, and put the grout in the next day, which took 2 hours. Word of advice: stick with a light color of grout.. it makes the job so much easier.

I painted the baseboards and windowsill white to update the room and have yet to nail the boards back in. I had a little problem with the board splitting, which I think is because my nails are too thick. Hopefully I will have a completely finished room by next week, with white baseboards and toys and a TODDLER BED! Goodbye crib!

Before:

After:

I am linking this to:

Show and Share Day, Flaunt it Friday, Feathered Nest Friday, Show and Tell Friday

Lovin Behr's paint samples!

So, I know I promised to post my mini-bathroom redo by this weekend, but that's just not gonna happen anymore.

:(

I fell in love with this color on card stock. It was a beautiful gray (or is it grey? I don't know). I wanted to just dive in and buy the entire gallon of paint, but this little voice in my head kept saying, "try the sample first! Just to be safe!" So, the safe, perfectionist in me went and bought a sample.

THANK YOU, VOICE IN MY HEAD!

The color was waaaaayyy too dark and looked like dry sludge. It was U-glee (ugly to the max power). What followed the rest of the week were 5 more trips to Home Depot and 4 more paint testers.

(I know I said painting the bathroom would be easy.... trust me, I am thisclose to deleting my last post)

I was ready to give up and just paint the bathroom white. Then, a friend who was helping me with my major weekend project (which will be revealed later this week) went into the bathroom, saw the strips of paints, and exclaimed her love for one of the colors. She further pointed out how the color matched exactly with our shower curtain. Long story short, I'm trusting her and going for it. We will be painting this week.

Anyhow, bottom line is, never paint a room until you sample it on the wall! The samples are around $3 and both Behr and Glidden offer them. IT WILL SAVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY! You can also use some of the samples for other projects in the home...

Exhibit A:

I found this cute tray at Goodwill for $5.99. It had wooden circles glued on each side and was probably, at one point, in a nursery.

I have been wanting a tray for our entry table for our bills, keys, and other small items we need to throw down as we walk in the door. So, I took it home, ripped off those pain-in-the-butt-wooden circles, sanded it down, primed it, and painted it with a sample of Behr's "Suede Black."

To put a finishing touch on it, I printed out a large "R" (for our family name), cut it out with an exacto knife, and painted the "stencil" onto the tray...

This is what I ended up with...

Beautiful, monogrammed tray for less than $10!

HOLLA!

It's almost too pretty to throw bills and keys on top of! When guests come over, I can display this tray on our fireplace.

You can buy stencils at Michaels, but to save money (!) printing out the letter means more money in your pocket. I did the same "stencil" technique for this project.

I am linking this to:
Made By You Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Make It for Monday

Sneak Peak

Aaaaaah, bathrooms ... probably one of the best rooms to start with when updating a home you have moved into. They are (usually) small and so you're able to test your skills in painting, tiling, and upgrading hardware. Even if you butcher it, the room is still small enough that nobody will ever notice it. And if they do, you can give them the 'ol stink eye and kick them out.

This is what our guest bath looked like the day we moved in.

Please excuse the sweet baby. She was mesmerized by the skylight...

Spacious, but in need of a paint job.

We finally found the shower curtain I wanted after hunting at 6 different stores and now that the fabric has been purchased, we will be painting for the next couple of days. If all goes well, we will have our "before and after" posting by this weekend! But... here is a little sneak peak at what we're doing.

Black, metal basket turned toilet paper roll holder. $1.99 at Savers.

Sorry for the bad lighting but I really didn't want to use the flash and drown out the details. This is my purty curtain from Target. We are using some of those colors for our walls...  :)

eeee! I cannot wait to be "done" with a room. My 9 year old has been begging me to finish hers since we moved in 33 days ago. Off to paint!

Burlap Table Runner

Fall is creeping up all over our home and my husband and I are loving it!

I had been wanting to do this project the moment I saw it done by this lovely lady, but figured it would get lost/ruined/damaged with the "big move." Now that things are settled and we're down to 2, count 'em, 2 moving boxes that need unpacking, I was finally able to tackle this super cute and inexpensive project.

Wait for it....

Be Still, My Heart!

Here is what you will need to make your own burlap table runner:

Scissors

Glue gun

Charcoal pencil OR exacto knife (I'll explain)

word or phrase printed in a font you like

burlap

For this project, I needed 6 feet of burlap from Joann's Fabrics, which came out to $1.50. I kept the length at 6 ft. to allow the table runner to hang off each end of our table. Width wise, I trimmed it down to about 16 inches. Next, I glued down the sides to make a nice, neat trim. You don't have to do this but my husband didn't like the sides looking "messy." I don't know, go figure, so I glued the sides down. Next, I printed out the word "blessings" because it reminds me of all the people in my life who have been such a blessing. Usually, those people are gathered around the table, so I printed that word in a font I loved. Here is where things get kind of tricky....

The lovely lady I stole this from was inspired by, traced the back part of her word and filled it in using a charcoal pencil. Then, she pressed the paper down firmly onto the burlap and rubbed across her word so that it became imprinted on the burlap. Well, when I tried this... nothing showed up. I tried rubbing with my hand, then a hard object, and then the edge of a glass... and only then did I see the faintest hint of a word.

Plan B: I cut out the letters with an exacto knife, placed the word onto the burlap, and colored it in using my charcoal pencil. Once I was done, I traced over that with a permanent marker to make it, well, more permanent.

I did the same thing to the other side. It was an easy project, minus the one hiccup, and I spent a total of $5.50. I already had the scissors, glue gun, and permanent marker, so other than buying the burlap, I had to also buy the charcoal pencil ($3.99 at Hobby Lobby).

Since we haven't unpacked our vases and other breakables, I threw together this centerpiece using small pumpkins (cuz I love 'em so stinkin much) and a large vine pumpkin from Target's dollar bins.

I am linking this to Allison's Link Party and Somewhat Simple







Goodwill Hunting

Happy Columbus Day!

I am celebrating this holiday by relaxing and recovering from my busy weekend. I took part in a neighborhood yard sale and attacked my out-of-control oleanders. The transformation of our yard is going to be a slow project, I'm afraid, and I hope it will be ready for reveal by next summer (because you can't really do much planting in winter months, even in the desert).

Speaking of yard sales though... I have found some great items that are perfect for warming up a home for the colder months.

mmmm. Cozy.

Nothing like some blankets in a basket by the fireplace to embrace autumn.

This particular basket, made of sea grass, was for $1.50. I like it better than my wicker baskets because those tend to break off tiny pieces. Stores are always selling these baskets, and you can usually purchase them for a couple of dollars at the end of season sales.

I also grabbed this beauty from a thrift store...

First, let me share that some of the things I love about autumn are the colors! The warm browns, reds, oranges just remind me of warm nights, cuddling up next to the ones you love. This ceramic vase ($10) is a beautiful warm red and I love the "aged" look it has around the top. I love how it goes with my pillows and brick fireplace.

Note:

Until we are fully unpacked, I'm sure most of my photos will be close-ups. That vase would look pretty silly if I showed you a full picture, complete with our bare (and smoke stained) fireplace. Which, by the way, does anyone know how to remove???

Another recent find was this tea light holder.

I am not one for tea lights (what's the point?) so I knew it wasn't going to be used for that. I was going to spray it with some ORB (oil rubbed bronze), but the black was just too pretty and perfect for some Halloween fun.

I removed the 4 hooks around the rim, gave it a cleaning, and...

added a cute pumpkin on top. I know... tough project. I think it took me a total of 4.2 minutes (and $1). *sigh* How do I ever find the time?

Anyway, I think it is adorable and super easy to pull together. Savers and Goodwill are always selling these tea light holders. I usually see them in a brass finish, but a quick spray paint can have them looking new again. Pumpkins are about as "Halloweeny" as we get. With two small girly girls kids, hanging ghosts, spiders and cobwebs isn't such a great idea.

The candle in the background was $4 from Michaels. They're getting rid of their autumn stuff and I grabbed my favorite pumpkin scent.

I snipped off a leaf from the garland I used for this project and tied it to the candle using some jute. This is my small cluster of autumn that sits in our guest bath.



New Uses for Old Things

Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday, the hubby and I took a break from unpacking and I was finally able to work on some of my projects.

Here is a random fact. I looove shopping at thrift stores. Sometimes I walk away empty-handed, while other times I find some great items that I can use in my decor. My daughter gets a kick out of them too because I always let her buy a toy. It's the one store she knows I won't turn her down for another doll. Seriously, at $1 for another Barbie... knock yourself out child.


Recently, I found a glass jar at my local Goodwill.

Nothing fancy, but for $2.99, it was exactly what I wanted for our bathroom! Target sells bathroom jars just like this one for $7.99. So, I couldn't give it up. I came home, washed it, and behold...

A simple Q-tip jar. I could have copied my favorite catalogs and filled the jar with some cotton balls, but seriously, I don't use cotton balls enough that they need to be easily accessible.


I also found this...

Ah! First, I need to apologize for the poor photo quality. I am praying for a new camera. *cough cough* My birthday *cough* is this month by the way.

This bronze metal tub was $3.99 and I knew I wanted it, but couldn't figure out what to do with it.

First, I thought I could fill it with magazines and stick it next to the couch in our living room. Then visions of my 1 year old pulling out the magazines and ripping out all the pages killed that idea.

Next, I thought, "this would make a really cool tub to store drinks for get-togethers." I was going to paint a pretty monogram on the front..... and then toss it in the garage for whenever we throw a party?

Nope. I wanted it to be used everyday. So, with some beady things and ribbon I already had, it became this:

Love it!! It's autumn, and warm, and orange, and pumpkiny, and all the things I love about October. Swoon.

I filled the tub with some floral foam I had and randomly stuck in the beady twigs. Then, I placed a foam pumpkin from Walmart inside and scattered some leaves around. The leaves were from an autumn garland I had and I just snipped off a few leaves. I think it needs a couple of pine cones in there as well. Easy peasy.

The pumpkin was $5, the tub was $3.99, the ribbon was from Jo-Ann Fabrics, and the beads I already had from Hobby Lobby. Total project cost: $8.99!

I am linking this post to Sarah's Before and After Party. Check out her blog.

Our First (simple) DIY Project

It's official! My husband and I own a home!

It's a cozy, ranchstyle home with an open floor plan, nestled in a quiet neighborhood. After reading that description, can you tell I have been around realtors for the last 26 months (the amount of time it took my husband and I to find the one)?

Once we had the keys to our home, we got started on our first project... ripping out the carpet from the garage.

I think at some point, this garage was used as an extra living space, but being renters of homes with 1 car garages for years, we were dying to finally be able to park a car in the garage. So, orangey carpet, out you go!

First, we found a loose corner and began to pull the carpet from the tack board. We cut the carpet into four sections so that when we rolled it up, it wouldn't be so heavy to carry. Next, we started picking away at the tack board and rusty nails began to fly everywhere. We used a hammer and a doo-dad tool that I have no idea what it's called and neither does my husband.

This was the worst part of the project because when you scoop all the wood and nails into the trash bag, it just rips right through. Annoying. However, after about four hours of work, we finally have a garage we can use for its intended purpose.

Voila!

Total Project Cost: Free

Score!