My Pinterest inspired bathroom and laundry room makeover!

Back in January, I decided to repaint our guest bathroom. I needed a project, and since it was the brightest turquoise you have ever seen, it seemed like the right room to work on. I totally shocked everyone when I decided to paint it a neutral color, but I wanted to try something new. And guess what, I like it!

I call this my Pinterest inspired bathroom because it looks like every other bathroom posted on Pinterest--neutral "greige" wall color, ruffle shower curtain, shelves over the toilet, you get the picture. I mostly took all my favorite elements from my "hall bathroom" board on Pinterest and copied them.

I got the shelves from Target. The jute covered container is a #10 food storage can that I hot glued jute on. It took forever and I got major rope burn on my finger, but I love how it turned out and it's great storage. The little yellow frame is a cross-stitch that I got at DI. It says "Dearest Daughter, God is near you". I thought that was appropriate, since this is my three daughter's bathroom. The other frame is Tempe's earring holder. 

Instead of a towel bar, I got four decorative hooks from Hobby Lobby and screwed them into wall anchors for the girls to hang their towels on. Don't mind the old wall anchors that I just painted over. I couldn't get them out of the wall and I stopped caring. Also, the wall color--I spent $3 on this. It's a funny story, actually. I found it in the Oops paint at Wal-Mart, but it was from Home Depot (had a tag and everything). I suppose I could have just walked out with it, but I took it to customer service and they agreed to let me buy it for $3. It's a great color, but flat, which isn't great for a bathroom. So far it's been ok and I figure I can afford to paint over it if I have to!

This bird cage is something I did years ago and it never "went" in our bathroom. Now it does!!

The cabinet in here used to be kind of light pine (I'm not sure what you would call the finish). I painted them white and put textured wallpaper on the door front and added some cut glass owl knobs.

I saw this on Pinterest and really wanted it, but those things are like $40 on Amazon. But after I started looking for one online, I found this one at DI for $4!

Ruffled shower curtain!
And now on to the laundry room. My laundry room is just a closet in the hall bathroom with some folding doors on it. It used to have three shelves that were barely hanging out of the walls and the walls themselves were all scuffed up and gross. And the lowest shelf was hung too low, so I couldn't open my washing machine all the way! 

I put up beadboard wallpaper on two of the three walls and painted the third the same color as that metal star (also as my garage door--another $5 Oops paint find!) Instead of three shelves, I just put two back up--high enough to open the washing machine fully. I wanted nicer brackets, but they are kind of pricey, so I just spray painted the metal ones. I LOVE how they turned out!!

 The top shelf has my girls' "special" boxes. I also keep gift wrapping supplies in here, but besides that, I keep it decluttered. It makes me so happy to open this closet and do laundry now!

My house needed more gray and white

My little house has a lot of personality. 

I like it that way.

I just did two little projects this week to add even more personality.

Our living room has never had curtains--I've never really thought it needed them--but when I saw these birch tree curtains at Ikea for only $14/pair this weekend, I knew they would be perfect in the living room.

And instead of a curtain rod, I thought hanging the curtains on a tree branch would be awesome. So I did.

Too much?

Project #2. We bought our table and four chairs for $150 at K-Mart when we got married. Yeah, K-Mart. I actually love this table a lot and I've been sad thinking that the time was coming for us to upgrade to something bigger.

Juno just outgrew her Bumbo seat (yes, she is almost two) so I've been on the lookout for something at DI for the last month or so. I finally stumbled across this awesome bench and knew it was perfect for us!

My three munchkins fit perfectly!

The seat had blue silk (nasty, stained blue silk) so I switched it for some gray and white chevron. I was going to spraypaint the legs of the bench white, but it matches the finish on my table and chairs perfectly and I kind of love the contrast between the more formal cherry stain and the funky chevron.
So now at dinner, all five of us can crowd around our little table instead of Juno sitting in her Bumbo on the counter. I love having a crowded dinner table!

Dresser into desk!

Back when I did my first bedroom mini-makeover (accent wall, new quilt, etc), I got a little dresser from DI for our clothes. It had a nice shape, but wasn't very functional. Too small, no runners on the drawers so it was hard to open, you get the picture.

Well, I've had this idea in my head for quite a while, and a few weeks ago, I pulled out my handy jigsaw (which I love--used it here and here and for a couple other things) and went to work.

The result?

My non-functional dresser (no idea why I took the picture from only the drawers up) is now the hub of my mom command station!

I took out the bottom two drawers, cut the supports off, and gave the whole thing a new paint job. Voila! New desk. I put it where the kids old art table was, next to our red couch in the family room. I was worried it would look too crowded, but it fits in just perfectly and doesn't feel crowded at all.
I've had the chair in my garage for over a year, just waiting for a makeover, and I really love how it turned out. This picture was taken before I really "moved in" to my new desk, so I added the captions so my lovely readers could get the whole idea. I'm excited to have a space of my own that I can use to keep our family organized--especially with Tempe starting school soon!
What are your best organization tips for all the paperwork that keeps a household running smoothly?

a thrifting tragedy

When your primary shopping destination is a thrift store, you get used to making snap decisions.
Do you really need another ceramic piggy bank? Wooden doll-sized chair? Globe? 
{For me, the answer to those things is always YES, because I collect them. But I'm cooler than I sound}
You have to decide on the spot because if you hesitate, it's gone. There's no thinking it over or sleeping on it. There's also no returns if you change your mind.
I've had my share of regrets from shopping at DI, but none even comes close to a thrifting tragedy that happened last spring.
The whole family was out for our Saturday afternoon DI run. We went straight into the yard area (my favorite part of the store) and then I saw it.
The most amazing frame I have ever seen.

 

{Image from Etsy} 

Yes, that one.

Well, basically.

It was huge and baroque and only $10. My jaw dropped.

I turned to Jason. He was already shaking his head.

"What on earth would you do with it?"

hmmm. Good question. We were trying to cut back on clutter and expenses, so I knew if I couldn't think of something on the spot, Jason was right.

I reluctantly left the mirror.

We went home, where I immediately thought of at least three things to do with the giant frame.

1) Hang it on the wall just inside our front door with coat hooks in it for people to hang their coats on.

2) Cut off the bottom edge of the frame and mount it over the inside of our front doorframe.

3) Paint an awesome color and hang on our striped wall (which wasn't striped yet, but whatevs) with family pictures inside.

So I got right back in the car and rushed to DI.

Raced into the yard area. 

Looked frantically for the giant baroque mirror.

It was gone. 

Finally, I had to accept it--go home and move on.

It's been well over a year now, but I still think of that old mirror and look for it every time I go to DI. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be redonated again soon.

Ever had a thrifting tragedy of your own?

Bedroom hell(p) part II

Thanks for all the comments/ideas/input on my last blog post!

Unfortunately, I am still having some trouble finding my vision. I just don't know what the heck to do with this room.

1)That giant ugly mirror alcove over our bed? Yeah, that's going to be completely covered by a reclaimed wood headboard (umm, that's a hipster way of saying a section of my next door neighbor's ratty old wood fence that I got for FREE). The fence section is weathered wood and I really don't want to paint it or do anything to it, but I also DO NOT want a shabby chic bedroom. So I'm hoping once I get it mounted on the wall, it doesn't look too country/shabby chic because if it does, I will just cry. If you follow me on Pinterest, check out my master bedroom board and you'll see a couple inspiration photos.

2) Ugly wall sconces. Ugly, ugly, ugly. '80s. Builder grade. Yuck. I have two semi-ok light fixtures that I got at DI a while ago, but they are very blah and unextraordinary. Not really what I want, but better than nothing. They are kind of fake oil-rubbed bronze, so I'm trying to decide what color to spray paint them: white? gold? white with a gold patina? white but glazed?

3) Speaking of the wall sconces, they are currently on the wall with our brown dresser. Brown as in painted brown because it was so ugly, not nice stained wood brown. Do I paint it white? Coral like the bedside tables? Do I just get rid of it all together? We can fit all our clothes in our closet, so we really don't need it. But if I do that, what do I put there? I would love a pair of awesome chairs, but our budget for new furniture is $the cost of the furniture from DI + $the cost of the spraypaint to refinish it = not realistic.

4) Curtains. The window is so tall that I don't know where to find CHEAP curtains that will still give me a nice puddle. I just want sheer white curtains!!

5) The windowseat. It has a super nice cushion with a really nice velvet cover on it--but it's forest green. Ugh. It would cost about $25 to recover, I think, which is not too bad, but what fabric do I choose???? I'm seriously considering taking the cushion off and stenciling the windowseat instead of a wall. We NEVER sit on it. Ever.

6) I just want some nice white bedding with colored sheets and fun throw pillows. We already have a down comforter but I can't find a duvet cover I like in my price range. I know I could just sew one together from 2 sheets, but do I really have to? Since the down comforter is white and I want a white bedspread, can't we just use that?

#startingtoreallyregretjumpingrightinwithoutaplan

DI lamp makeover

So now that we have 8 1/2 foot by 12 foot bookcases in our living room, I needed to find enough things to fill them up. Honestly, we could have lined each shelf with books and filled every one (we have a lot of books), but I wanted to break it up just a little bit. The living room also needed major help with the lighting situation. Our house has really weird electrical--like two lights controlled by two different switches in the very, very small hall bath, but only two small recessed lights in the large, vaulted ceiling living room.

I've been hanging on to this lamp from DI for a while. It fits so nicely on the photo-album-shelf, right next to the couch. I really like the shape and the color, but it's really nothing special.

I decided to do something so cheap and so simple to make this lamp a little bit more exciting!

Hi!

I bought skeleton keys from the $1 section at Michael's and hot glued them to the inside of the shade. When the lamp is off, it just looks like a plain white shade. But when it's on...

Isn't that more fun??? I just love that it's a little surprise every time I turn it on.

Also going on in this room: vintage globe collection. manual typewriter. still looking for new throw pillow/windowseat/curtain fabric.
I wish I had more keys (there are actually 4, spaced equally around the shade), but I got all the keys my Michael's had and they haven't made a reappearance :(

adventures in thrifting

It's no secret that I love going to D.I. I find a lot of great stuff there--like my most favorite piece of furniture ever. I know that whenever I'm looking for something specific for my house or a party, all I have to do is go to D.I. often enough and I am bound to find it!

So my latest "thing" is globes. I have this vision of filling the top shelves of our new gigantic bookshelves with globes. Globes of all different sizes, conditions, and eras. So far I have two and I'm hoping to find seven more.

I know I have seen globes at my local D.I. Lots of globes, all the time! But now that I am looking for so many, they have all disappeared. Have you ever noticed how that happens???

Today I got a feeling. That "Get to the D.I. quick, it's there!!" feeling. So Helena and I rushed over. As soon as I walked to the back of the store, to the books and collectibles section, I saw it. A perfect, beat-up, completely outdated globe.

In someone else's shopping cart.

But I am pretty bold when it comes to thrifting, so I asked the elderly man near by if that was his cart.

"Yes, why?"

"Oh, I've just been looking for a globe for months..."

"Take it! I like the older ones better, anyway."

I was ecstatic. Thanks, old man! You really made my day.

Then at the checkstand, the cashier noticed there was no price tag. She called her manager over, who said it was $5.

I jokingly said "That sounds about right--I'm here a lot and I have a pretty good feel for your prices."

Her response?

"You do come here a lot. I recognized you and your daughter."

Tempe's Mermaid Nature Party

My sweet oldest daughter turned 5 today!

To celebrate, we invited 7 of her friends (and her best friend and sister, Helena, of course!) to a Mermaid Nature party.

The birthday girl in mid-blow!

For the cake, I just made a white two layer cake with swirly white frosting and sprinkled the top liberally with edible golden glitter. Don't you love those tall curvy candles??

Gorgeous "treasure" box is from D.I.

I made mermaid dolls for all the little girls to take home--my wonderful mother-in-law embroidered the faces for me. They weren't the most fun thing I've ever made, but they turned out cute, and they were a hit when I handed them out!

I know treat tables are soooo cute and trendy, but as a mother, I just can't bring myself to serve a whole array of treats at a party. So instead we had lunch:

Sandy shells and pearls: seashell pasta with peas and toasted breadcrumbs

Mermaid fruit kabobs

Blue Jell-O with Swedish Fish

Crescent rolls (Tempe';s favorite food in the whole world)

Mermaid juice (Strawberry Kiwi)

My sisters-in-law Katelyn and Corinne came over to help with the activities. Katelyn was on Mermaid Manicure duty, complete with shimmery lotion and "Mermaid Mist" (scented glitter spray).

Corinne helped out at the ocean sensory bin, which was the nature component of the party. I filled a large, shallow plastic bin with water, blue glitter, seashells, driftwood, and pearls. I also provided a table with a conch shell, magnifying glasses, tongs, and a brush to dust off the glitter. The girls examined the seashells and then picked pearls out of the "ocean" to make their own mermaid bracelets. It was a hit! The table was always crowded with little girls looking at shells through magnifying glasses or feeling around in the glittery water for pearls.

I also had a small bubble machine that I got at Wal-Mart for $6 going while the girls ate lunch. It sprays out hundreds of bubbles every minute, so it was like being surrounded by bubbles in the ocean. The girls loved playing in the bubbles!

As always, I tried to get the maximum amount of cuteness for the minimum amount of money when I was planning this party. I estimate that I spent $35-$40 on this party, a big chunk of that going towards the dolls. Luckily, I already had a lot of the decorative items and I was able to find some more at D.I. Things like the bubble machine and nail polish will be used many, many more times at our house, so I don't count them in my party budget.

spraypaint makes everything new

So a few months ago I got this pair of barstools at DI for $8 each. They're super nice construction, solid wood, and I love the curvy legs. They were a little banged up, but they looked ok. Then I got another bar stool (also from DI) that is similar but a different finish. I thought it would match my table and chairs, but it didn't quite match that either.

I left them like that for a while, but recently I got sick of having 3 different wood finishes in the same small area.

So of course, I went to the spraypaint aisle at Wal-Mart. I was reaching for my favorite (Krylon Cherry Red) but I decided I should branch out and try something new. I went with Krylon Global Blue instead.

Here's the chair after a coat of paint. It was way too bright blue. It was like a fluorescent marker.

But I still had some glaze leftover from this project, so I decided to glaze the chairs. I didn't take after pictures of the curvy bar stools, but here is the other one. I love how they turned out!

Since these chairs don't have a lot nooks and crannies for the glaze, I glazed them a little differently. I brushed the glaze on really thick and then carefully wiped it off with a dry rag. I went over the same area 3-4 times to get it how I wanted it. The great thing about glaze is it's very forgiving--if you don't like it, you can wipe it off with a wet rag before it dries, and if you want more, you can add more.

It's a grand old flag...

{happy 4th of July!}

Our family normally goes to Idaho to celebrate Independence Day with extended family, but this year we are headed up for a wedding a week later. We didn't want to make two trips, so we decided to stay home for the 4th. It was strange celebrating here! I invited my husband's two brothers and their families over for dinner and sparklers. I really, really tried to limit myself to just making dinner, but you know I can't pass up a chance to have a party!

For dinner, I made Carolina pulled pork sandwiches, Memphis-style coleslaw, Boston baked beans, Nebraska corn on the cob, New York cheesecake, fruit kabobs, and cherry pie. Our party theme was supposed to be "A Tour of the States" or something like that. I also printed off an unlabeled map of the United States and the adults had to fill them in. It took me three tries to find Michigan... I was also going to have a matching game with fun/interesting facts about each state and make really cute invitations using an outline of the country, but like I said, I was trying to limit myself!

This table was a perfect example of how easy it is to find serving pieces and decorations at a thrift store. Everything on this table (except the red and blue bowls with the coleslaw and baked beans) are from my local thrift store. The sandwiches (already assembled) are in a big blue roasting pan (which I can reuse, score!)

This ugly little house display shelf is currently my proudest D.I. find! It was perfect as a mini cheesecake display for our "homespun" 4th of July table.

I took a red berry wreath that I got at D.I. a year or two ago and put it around the cherry pie dish. Super easy way to dress up any pie! Can I say how much I love how it looks? Wreaths are so easy to find at thrift stores (at least in Utah) or to make for any occasion. I also got that cute little red dish at D.I. Oh, how I wish there had been more of them!

Uncle Sean lighting super sparklers from his fairly recent wedding for cousins Maddy and Libby and Helena and Tempe.

Helena was so scared of the very loud illegal firework that Sean shot off. She insisted on sitting behind Dad and covering her ears before he lit the second one--then she was sad that there weren't any more!

an enchanted treehouse

We built a treehouse!!!!

I've had this plan floating around in my head for at least a year and I finally acted on it last week after I found a cheap used slide.

It's not very big--in fact, it's more like a platform with a slide coming down. Still, it's perfect for two little girls to climb all over.

There's a slide coming from the platform and a swing hanging from a branch over to the side.

It's the perfect little leafy getaway for eating lunch or reading!

I have a vision of turning this corner of the yard into an enchanted hideaway for the girls, filled with fairies and gnomes and butterflies to keep them company, and old stumps, rocks, and toadstools to sit on and entertain their guests. I was inspired in part by this darling fairy garden. And someday we might need an outdoor mud pie kitchen like this one.

And to start us off is this little toadstool, inspired by these. I made it out of a stump that we had to cut down when we built the treehouse and an old wooden salad bowl from DI that I spraypainted. I looooooove it. Isn't it darling?

Goodbye, coffee table

So last year when I finally caved and told Jason he could get a flat screen HDTV, we had a little organization dilemma. That coffee table was supposed to be my temporary fix--well--I guess it was temporary, just not as temporary as I thought it would be.

Last week I found a gem at DI, in my favorite part of the store--the yard area. They keep the crappier furniture back there, but it's where I always find the best stuff. In my opinion, the furniture kept inside the store is way overpriced, but the stuff out back is juuuuuuust right. I picked up this funky old table for $15, spraypainted it with my favorite Krylon Cherry Red, and glazed it with a black glaze from Valspar (I couldn't find Ralph Lauren glaze anywhere, grrrr). I really love how it turned out!

Our Blu-Ray, satellite box, and Wii are in the middle compartment. The little door slides along a track so we can access them easily when we need to, but hide all the clutter when we have company. And we finally have enough storage space to get out the rest of our movies! Well, some of them at least.

The shapely legs and the intricate carvings are what sold me this table. Man, I am really not a great photographer, even with the help of Picnik, because the glaze totally accentuates all those details. It looks so great in real life!

Plus I have a thrifting tragedy to share with you in the coming weeks, so look forward to that!

Play kitchen tips and tricks

Last summer my big Christmas project was creating a wooden play kitchen for my girls.

I started with this sad old tv stand from DI....

... and turned it into this!

Lately I've gotten a couple requests for information on how I made the kitchen and where I found parts, so I thought I would do a post on it. It's only September, but I think a lot of people already have Christmas on their minds (myself included)!

This really is an easy project. I have no experience with anything like this, and I managed it, so... yeah. Pretty easy.

There are a lot of these kitchens floating around blogworld--here are two of the kitchens I've seen all over the place. The second kitchen is the one that I modeled mine after.

• I took both doors off the lower part of the tv stand. I used one of them as the oven door by putting it on hinges on the bottom. I used a magnet on the inside of the door and another one hanging down from the lower shelf inside the oven to keep the oven door closed. I used the other door to divide the bottom area in half by screwing it in place (through the bottom of the tv stand--turn it upside down).
• The curtain is threaded onto a dowel, which hangs on those little gold hooks you screw into pilot holes.
• DO NOT cut the hole for the sink like I did. I don't have a jigsaw, so I drilled holes with the largest drill bit I had as close together as possible in a circle, then hammered out the area inside the circle. It worked, but it's really rough and really jagged and not a nice tight fit. Buy a jigsaw, borrow a jigsaw, but you should definitely use a jigsaw to cut the hole.
• I didn't do a great job on the faucet, either. Because of the way the storage shelf is positioned, it was really hard to screw it in place from the bottom and when I tried to do it through the top, it splintered the faucet. I would recommend using Gorilla Glue to glue it in place instead of trying to screw it in place.
• I searched long and hard for the right accessories. The sink is a bowl from DI with a nice, wide lip. The faucet is a wooden letter J, painted silver and turned upside down. The knobs are corks painted silver. The burners are unfinished wooden spirals painted silver from either Michael's or Robert's--look in the bins of wooden flowers, ladybugs, trains, etc.
• I primed the tv stand after taking it apart, then spraypainted each piece before putting it back together.

My kitchen is not perfect, but it's held up well over the last year and the girls love playing with it. So start looking at yard sales and thrift stores and get started on your own play kitchen project!