Turning old furniture into something new!

Okay, so when you combine 2 adults fully furnished homes into one, it makes for a LOT of furniture. Not all of ours could fit into the house.....some is in the garage, some in closets, etc. Coincidentally, we both had the very same TV Stand. Since there is only one big screen TV in the house for the stand, the other was going to waste. It is actually a pretty nice piece of furniture, so instead of giving it away, I came up with a little idea of my own :)

Here is the TV stand before...Our guest room was lacking furniture. It only had a bed and a couple chairs in there. SO, I figured I could transform this stand into a guest bench/storage area since it was so low to the ground. All I did was purchase some foam padding and cream colored fabric from the fabric store for about $25, and I sewed a cushion for the top. Then, I took out the drawer in the middle and used that space to stack guest towels. I put magazines on the top rack for guests to browse, and then put two storage baskets (that were already in my bathroom vanity) on either side with lotions, aspirin, qtips, extra toothbrushes, etc. Lastly, I just bought a $4 wooden tray from Michael's and painted it black and put a bud vase, some books and a candle on it. Here is the tray before and after....

And here is the final product!

Kitchen Night Light Idea

I made this a few weeks ago and forgot to post it! I saw this on a craft blog once and had to try it out. All you do is take an empty wine bottle, put Christmas Lights in it, and get some plastic grapes and glue them onto the bottle as well. Wrap it in some twine, ribbon, or whatever you like and you will have a cute little kitchen nightlight (for $4) instead of using your hood light above the stove. Pretty clever idea if you ask me! Excuse the cell phone and hair dryer cords in the pic :)

Just your typical Wednesday Night...

Ok, so I know I take on a lot of projects and people think I'm crazy. What drives Jeff nuts is that I do them all after work, running, and cooking dinner on weeknights. I just can't sit still....I save my relaxing for the weekends! For example, here is what my dining room table looked like when Jeff got home last night. Haha....

I had a lot to do! I finished the wine charms for the shower on Saturday finally....here it is on my wine glass :) Pretty cute huh?

I also made my buddy Brandon's new baby a gift! He is due to arrive in May, but I wanted to make sure that he got this before little Cameron arrives. When we were kids, we always had our names in wooden blocks on our door, so I wanted to do the same for him- but with a twist. All I did was buy a wood plaque at Michaels (obviously my favorite store) and cover it with some cute blue gingham fabric. Then, I painted wood letters to spell his name, and while that dried, we ate dinner. Gotta multi-task....

Then, I just attached the letters (and these little wooden blue birdies) to the fabric covered plaque with my hot glue gun. I stapled some cute blue ribbon on the back so he can hang it and that was it! All in all, it took an hour...look how cute!

MORE Spring Cleaning (but in my favorite room!)

I have been without a coffee pot for almost 2 months (I know!), and a microwave for 2 years. Jeff's parents have been staying with us, so we have been using their coffee pot, and Tiay left her microwave at the house, so it has been in the LAUNDRY room so it doesn't crowd up the kitchen. Well, Patty and Joel left yesterday, and Tiay is moving in May. It was finally time to give in and purchase these two appliances. We never use a microwave because I usually cook every night, but I realized that boys need one no matter what. I had to do some counter top reorganizing (and consolidate spices so I could move my spice rack to the pantry instead), but Jeff finally got his wish and now we two matching appliances BOTH on the counter top, and BOTH that still go with our kitchen decor. Now I'm a happy camper too. We also cleaned out the fridge and went through every dressing, condiment, etc, and tossed what we don't use. We even washed the shelves! It makes such a difference to cook in an organized kitchen...

Before shots:

Lots of spices, cookbooks and olive oil to the left of the stovetop

So, I moved all the spices and oils to the pantry and the knives and cooking utensils to the left to make room for the microwave. Then had extra room for my cookbook holder. MUCH better.

AFTER shots.

Homemade Wine Charms (because anything you can buy, you can make yourself)

This weekend, I am helping to throw a "Wine and Cheese" Wedding Shower for Kristina and Toby. I am in charge of food, wine charms, and my own little touch- a replica of their wedding cake (another thing on my "to-do list"). So far, I have almost completed the wine charms. These guys can be expensive when you have to buy 50 of them! So, I figured I could make some and personalize them a little bit.

Kristina is having "Nectar" as her Bridal Party color, and is also having green accents- so I chose 3 colors of shiny card stock to reflect that. I also bought a Martha Stewart Craft Punch (in the shape of a little wedding cake) at Michael's and crystal beads and wire rings. Then the process began. Sure it will take longer to make them myself, but it's cheaper ($15 for all 50!) and more thoughtful and personalized :)

Here were my supplies from Michael's:

I used my nifty craft punch (thank you Martha!) to make all these little wedding cakes, and then used needle nose pliers to feed a wire charm link through the top of each.

After adding the charm links to the card stock: Then, I fed a crystal bead on either side of the link onto the wire ring. TA DA!

I know this pic is light (I was making them in my bed while watching my HGTV I can't watch in the living room)....but I will take more tonight when I have them on the wine glasses to test them out!

Time to Reupholster this Chair FINALLY!

So, Mom and Farah were about to throw away this old chair that had definitely seen better days. I never pass up a hand-me-down (because paint and fabric can make anything better!), so I took it home to reupholster and make it look new and fresh. Right now it is a fake leathery material and spots of it are worn and peeling...so that wouldn't cut it!

I picked up some faux suede fabric (at $7/yard) in a warmer beige color, and then started my project. But, I realized I only got 2 instead of 3 yards- so I have to go back and get 1 more so I can finish! I've only completed the arms and the foot stool. All I did was unscrew the cushion from the steel frame, flip it over, pull the fabric tight and staple. It's kind like wrapping a present....you do the corners last. So for $20- I will have a brand new slider. YAY.

Here is the chair before...

The lovely arm rests..
After removing the cushions and reupholstering the arms...

The close up of the fabric after the foot stool is completed- BETTER!What do you think? Stay tuned because I am definitely finishing this puppy in the next month. I have SOO many projects to do before summer- AHHH! I still have to make a bench and headboard for the guest room, paint and clean the laundry room, AND plant my veggie garden! Lots to come in the next couple of months!

Master Closet Spring Cleaning....

I knew I wanted to do this after winter, so we could get a little more organized and remove coats and sweaters in our walk-in in the Master. Not to mention we needed to do something about the HORRENDOUS pink carpet that was in there! It was matted down and beyond dirty (despite many shampooing attempts). So Joel pulled up the carpet and laid down some of the leftover floors, and we will just have to buy another $50 worth of flooring to finish the project. It looks so great and SO much cleaner! Here is once side the has been completed so far....

BEFORE:

AFTER!!

AHHH.....Spring Cleaning.

I personally love Spring Cleaning because I take on soo many crafts, home improvement projects and parties that I tend to accumulate so much stuff! Yesterday, I tackled the hallway closet, my fabric collection and the junk drawer in the kitchen. It feels so good to get it all done! I used 2 HUGE black trash bags and filled them up with junk to throw away. Then, I picked up a bunch of plastic storage bins and threw all my fabric from the office in them. SO now, I have cleared room in the office, and have consolidated all my things (including the vacuum which never fit before) into ONE closet! YAY! Next Spring Cleaning project for the week is our Master Closet (which we will also be putting the leftover hardwood floors in).

AND AFTER!!

10 Ways to Enjoy your Home!!

I found "20 ways to enjoy your home" on a great website, but I narrowed it down to my 10 favorites. These are soo true...ENJOY!

1. Take a good bath once a week, and read a good book.

2. Clear out as much clutter as possible, clean off the counter tops, open the curtains and let some light in!

3. Surround yourself with things you love - Things that make you feel good.

4. Display things that have been passed down from family members.

5. Always keep a scented candle burning. (We do this in our living area and bedroom every night)

6. Work at wanting what you have rather than having what you want. (I need to work on this!)

7. Turn off the TV and put your favorite music on.

8. Stop resenting your house for what it isn't and start appreciating what it is. There is always something to be thankful for!

9. Keep fresh flowers on your kitchen windowsill in little bud vases or glass jars. (See my windowsill below, the bud vases were $.88 a Walmart!)

10. Don't replicate the look of a model home. Strive to create spaces that exude warmth, comfort, and peace.

More floors

Here are the finished floors through the entryway. The quarter round molding still needs to be installed, but it is looking SO good! Joel did the best job with the entryway....it was really tricky!

VIEW FROM BACK DOOR:

VIEW FROM FRONT DOOR:

Also, here are the two silhouette paintings of the pups....they turned out pretty cute!

CRAFTS (for Auntie)

Auntie loves to see my paintings and crafts, so I figured I post my latest from last night. I fell in love with these great dog silhouette prints on http://www.thisyounghouse.com (my favorite website). You can pick your dog breed and color for the background to match your decor. Only problem is, they were $20 each....and just a flimsy print. I thought it would be better to make them myself.

I bought 2 canvases at Michael's, and one tube of chocolate colored acrylic paint. I then printed out pics of a lab, and one of a boxer (these are what I used as a reference since my dogs don't sit still). I drew the outline in pencil, and now tonight I'll use the brown paint to trace and fill in the background. It should match our bedroom perfect. Lets hope they turn out ok. Here is a preview of what I've done so far...

COOPER (BEFORE)

STELLA (BEFORE)

Another thing I did last night was organize my jewelry. I got this idea from a friend, and it's a cheap way to display jewelry and fits perfectly in a standard vanity drawer. I bought a plastic organizer for nails and screws at Lowe's for $4. It has little compartments to store different hardware. See below...

So then all I had to do was untangle my jewelry, cut the separators and insert them to make small or large sections. I purged some of my old jewelry, and then divided my earrings, rings and bracelets throughout. And, since I can't sit still through an entire show...I did all this while watching American Idol- sweet!

HARDWOODS!!!!!!

I am so happy to finally have hardwood floors! I have wanting these since the day I first looked at the house with my realtor. The carpet was old and bland. Off white, dirty, dusty and just BLAH. We have 2 dogs that have been potty trained in the house too- so that didn't help at all.

We went to Home Depot Clearance Outlet (yep, they have those!) and bought these great engineered hardwood floors. It is a "floating" floor, so there was no nailing or stapling. Patty and Joel once again came to the rescue and ripped up all our carpets, cleaned the floors and prepped them for the hardwoods. Last Saturday Jeff, his Dad, and his brother worked ALL DAY LONG while Patty and I did yard work. They came across a few rough areas, but in the end, it was done and it looks amazing! I can't believe the difference. They are not totally complete, but I will update as we go along. Here are some 'before and afters' to give you a sense of what we were dealing with. The before pics are from the first month in the house, so the furniture has changed along the way, not just with the floors. ENJOY!

GREAT ROOM BEFORE:

GREAT ROOM AFTER!

DINING ROOM BEFORE:

DINING ROOM AFTER!

Front Porch Makeover!

Now this is a little trick that everyone should keep in their arsenal. You know how I think a little paint can do anything- well, this is proof! My front porch is ROUGH to say the least. 35 years of wear and tear on this puppy were starting to show, and instead of replacing it, we needed a quick fix. So this past weekend, after a trip to the paint department at Lowe's and Depot and a day of painting by Patty and I, we have a brand new (looking) front porch!! We did the "color match" through Valspar paint with a piece of siding from our house, so we have the exact color as the siding (for the railing) and were able to use that extra paint to cover blemishes and re-paint the door frame to brighten it up. I think it looks so much cleaner...

FRONT PORCH (TOP) BEFORE:

FRONT PORCH (TOP) AFTER!

FULL VIEW BEFORE:

FULL VIEW AFTER:

My First Attempt at Tiling....

Before Jeff moved in, I lived upstairs in the Bonus Room (pics still to come). It has an adjoining bathroom upstairs which was part of the new addition to the house in the 90s, and actually has a fairly new vanity! Shocker! However, it also had a horrible plastic bath/shower combo that just HAD to go. I have always wanted a jetted tub, so I found one cheapo at Depot, and had a contractor install it and hook up the electrical. Here is what we were left with after the install:

UPSTAIRS BATH BEFORE:

Now the hard part, TILING! It was pretty rough, and I made it harder on myself than it needed to be. My Mom started it off and told me what to do, then I finished it and added the grout.....and left it on overnight- OOPS! So, Jeff and I spent our Friday night chipping away hardened grout off the tiles. In the end it looked great, but it could have been much easier. Word to the wise, always sponge off the grout after you apply. I've learned my lesson.

TILING THE SHOWER:

The walls were a mess afterwards, so I decided to install beadboard and found an easy click and lock plastic version that is stain resistant and not hard to install. I also painted the walls to make it a little happier and brighter in there. Here is the before and the final after shot!

BEADBOARD APPLICATION AND FINISHED PRODUCT!