Small Bathroom Reveal and Free Artwork

Wow it is hard to photograph a small bathroom!!! Especially with a dark wall and a bright window and a reflective mirror.... 

Immediately I knew that I had to paint our small main floor powder room. And it didn't take me long to make the bold move and paint the whole thing a dark navy! I am so glad I did, I love this room!!! (A side note, it too forever to paint this room navy, it took so many coats and with it being a small room with unmovable items in it, it just took a long time!!!)

I knew I would need some fabulous artwork in this room, I gave my kids paper and a couple colors of paint in the colors I wanted, and yeah instant FREE artwork!!!

Being a small powder room, there is not any storage, so I thought this Ikea shelf would not only complement the navy wall color but be a perfect small storage space!

I also didn't want a basic builder grade mirror in all of my bathrooms, so I found this pretty mirror which works perfectly with the dark navy walls!

I love my small little navy bathroom!

Industrial Laundry Room Make Over

I give you my new and fabulous Laundry Room!!! 

I am so excited about this room!!! First off, in my past two houses, our laundry room has always been way down in the unfinished part of the basement. I hated carrying big laundry baskets down two full flights of stairs just to do laundry. So when we built our house, I was so excited for our laundry room to be upstairs on the same floor as our bedrooms!!!! This has made my life so much easier!

I give you my before, this is what it looked like when we moved in. "Standard" according to the builder would have been a wire shelf across the wall, I asked the builder to not add that, which gave us a nice little credit and a blank space to work with.

 I thought and procrastinated about this space for a long time. Cabinets would have been nice, but cost money. As you may remember last year I made Industrial Shelves for our basement using galvanized pipes. I was not completely happy with how my shelves turned out, and we currently have an unfinished, chaotic basement. So I decided to tear apart my Industrial shelves and hang them up for FREE laundry room shelves!!!! (Free because I already had the stuff!!)

I was so NERVOUS about attempting this project. It would either turn out AMAZING or be a huge huge fail.

It was actually fairly simple project once I got the nerve to do it!!

I used

• 8 floor flanges which I had previously spray painted bronze
• 8 - 12 in pipes which I had previously spray painted bronze
• 6 foot board which I previously stained
• screw
• level
• drill and screw driver

Assembly is easy, find a stud (each floor flange has at least 2 screws into a stud) and attach the floor flange to the wall, and then screw in a pipe. Using a level repeat until you are done!!! See, so easy, why was I nervous about this project????

It is amazing how much different this room looks now!

I am so glad I tore apart my shelves that I wasn't feeling and created something I love and is VERY useful!!

 I love this photo! It was taken by my grandma :)

The laundry room is right between my kids bedrooms, so a lot of times they just throw their dirty laundry right into the washing machine!  And I love that I have a window!! It is such a fun place to do laundry, and so convenient that I do at least one load of laundry a day!!

We Moved! Finally!

Well we have been in our new house two and a half months..... so I guess we didn't just move. But lets be honest, moving is horrible! And I never want to move again!!

Some how I can't find a "done" picture of the outside of the house. Oh well! The side of the house is as pretty.... sort of!

We closed on the house at 9 am, by 10 am we were back at the house painting! Day one we painted 3 rooms!!!! Both of the kids bedrooms and the playroom!

The kids had a great time playing around in an empty house!

Day two we had movers move our stuff from storage! It was like Christmas getting our stuff out of storage after over 4 months!

My very inspiring craftroom (and a room that is still not even close to being done!!)

 Moving is not fun at all!

The main floor is almost "done." Well let's be honest, there is never such thing as a done house! The main floor is livable, which is all you can ask for! Since day one I have gone on to paint two more rooms. The main floor powder room and the formal sitting area.

I still have a whole long list of things to do. Mostly upstairs! My son and I can't agree on an accent wall in his room (5 year olds are so opinionated!!) I need to do something in my daughters room (she had a nursery but now gets a big girl room!! Her room is currently a toddler bed and nothing else) Our bedroom needs a lot of work! (because that's just how it works right? Kids first, parents last!) And the poor craft room will be a mess for a long while!!

Epic Room Makeover

I desperately need to win the Epic Room Makeover and Mandi's  help to make our living room an awesome functional room in our house!!! We have lived in our house for almost two years and its been pretty much empty the entire time.... AND of course it's the first room you see when you walk into our house, talk about embarrassing!!! I took the week off that we bought our house and the Monday I went back to work, I lost my job. Talk about stressful with a new mortgage, so it's left little in the budget for major decorating... or FURNITURE!!

The room is a blank slate for creativity!!! Look at this:

• No window coverings what so ever!
• A train table is pretty much the only piece of furniture in the room (not that my two year old minds that) 
• No over head lighting makes for a pretty dark room
• A confused lamp shade
• Seating is two ottomans.... that were moved from the family room because someone thought they were good for jumping on

Two comfy seating options!!

For my son's birthday party (in April) I painted clouds on the wall. They are still there with gray spots and red lines..... (I thought I would paint the wall right away, so it wasn't going to be a big deal)

My big clock and entry table. But again more messed up painting!!!

One of the BIG reason's this room has stayed empty since we moved in, is that it is right next to our "Family Room"(they are connected) and so this room is the room where we have our small couch and chair, and the TV. AND MORE TOYS.... if you can't tell my son has taken over the house!!! So because of the two rooms being right next to each other, I am not sure how to decorate the first room.... a "formal" living room??? (And by formal I think only a room with out a TV :) ) Some day I would not mind tearing down more of the wall that sepeates the two rooms and making more of a single room.

Our Family Room is not without problems though..... We had friends over stay with us for the weekend and our small couch and soon to be broken chair are not enough to sit 4 people, let alone when it's just my husband and I we can't both recline and lay down for TV watching.....

Too small of a couch...... and as our main couch it's really getting abused..... AND it's a sleeper sofa.... I am tempted to be really classy and use it as a sleeper in our Family room.... classy, right?

Tears in the leather that I try and cover with a blanket.....

I REALLY need this makeover!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE projects and know I would have tons of fun with Mandi and learn a lot from her!!!! We are hosting a Christmas party this Christmas and I would LOVE to not have an incomplete first floor this time around!!

Pluses to why I should be picked:

1. It's a blank slate!!!! Besides the train table, there is NOTHING in this room!!! = no prep work!!!
2. I am in desperate need to figure out what to do with this room and need the motivation to get it done!
3. I love color and patterns and love Mandi's style and would love to learn from the best!!! AND I WANT IT IN MY LIVING ROOM!!!
4. Without help it's going to take me at least five years to turn this into a living space
5. I NEVER win anything and this would make my YEAR!!! 
6. Living with two "boys" I need some alone time where I can relax... and let's face it the boys won't leave the TV so this would be my quiet space!!!!

My Current TO-DO list

To try and keep myself honest and ACTUALLY get things DONE, I thought I would post my TO-DO LIST to be completed by April 1. And cross them off as I do them!!! Why April 1, well we have a big birthday in April so I figure that's a nice time frame. It also gives me time before my sister's wedding in May and then doesn't put the pressure on to have a million projects to do over the summer!

1. Finish Little Man's room - DONE - just need to blog it someday

This was done before, but I made some changes, so its no longer "done" I don't have too much left in this project. Just some new art work and things for the wall. Super EASY! I should be able to cross this off of my list in a week.... right??

2. Re-Do Wall of Guest Bedroom - DONE - sort of.... its a fix for now....  again need to blog it

I love my guest bedroom, but I don't love this wall of the room. It just doesn't quite cut it. So I have plans to re-do it. Not 100% sure yet what it will look like, but it will include the Red Envelope "You make me happy when skies are Grey" artwork.

3. Organize Craft Room - DONE

OMG this room is a disaster!! Trust me it's a mess and is in desperate need of organization! Some days it looks better than others... but most of the time its a stressful place to work on projects. I have started a gallery wall in this room, which I love, but need a few additions.

Update: This room is done!!! Check it out!

4. Add Some Style to the Master Bedroom - Working on it

I love our end tables, headboard, the lamps, the sconces above the bed... BUT this room just needs MORE. Besides what you can see in this picture, there is one photo on the wall, which is directly opposite of the bed. To the left is a big blank wall, to the right is a nice big wall of windows with white curtains. I love the start of this room, but it just needs MORE! Like another gallery wall, and maybe a stenciled wall behind the bed. We will see! Check out my Master Bedroom Pinterest Board...

5. The Living Room - Still a hot mess!!

We have lived in this house for six months and I still have not gotten around to this room. And of course it's the first room you see as you enter the house! When we moved in I put those black shelves up but I don't like them. The empty room has been a 4th playroom for my son... and worked out well for our Christmas tree... and currently holds Little Man's train table... but it's time for this room to at least have a place to sit! A while back I bought 2 chairs on Craig's List that need to be refinished, so I have to tackle that project! A while back I started pulling staples... I didn't get very far because it was hard work! ... and I have upholstered easy chairs before like these and this... but never a big chair... Then of course I want to paint and curtains, artwork... oh the possibilities.... check out my Pinterest living room board...

6. Paint Guest Bathroom Vanity - NOTHING.....

Just because I have the paint and I want too... and I think it would look fabulous with the Dr. Seuss decor of the bathroom!

7. Paint the Main Floor Bathroom - NOTHING

It's a pale green, and its fine, but I don't like fine in my house! I am thinking white and turquoise!

8. Finish Little Man's Photobooks - ONE DOWN.....

When Little Man was born I had the brilliant... crazy... something... idea that I should make one photobook PER month for him... Little man was born in April and I think I did the first month pretty quickly... and then things slowed down. As of 2 weeks ago I had only finished the first 6 months (which is PRETTY good considering my insane idea) then 2 weeks ago I completed 2 more books. So I am ONLY a year behind and need to complete January of 2011 until April 2011. THEN I need to figure out how I am going to do year 1... Obviously I should NOT keep doing this insane idea of one photobook per month for the rest of his life... too insane, plus any additional kids we have. I am debating either one for the entire year or maybe 2 for the year... we will deal with that when it happens... hopefully before his second birthday!!

9. Lose like 40 pounds - NOPE DIDN'T DO

I ordered my bridesmaid dress 2 sizes too small so I need to make sure it fits!! Even though my son is almost 2 years old, I still have not lost the baby weight... but that's a whole other story... so it's time to lose it and get on with my life!!!

So there we have 9 super easy projects that I can easily get done in 2 months... right?? Time to get off the computer and get doing... something...

Update: So as of April 1, I had 3 things done. I picked April 1 because I knew we were going to be on vacation for a week and it was Little Man's birthday.... and my sister's wedding... so yeah not all that great.... oh well, on to the next goal list... 

There is no thing as a "finished" room...

There is no thing as a "finished" room in my house (and pretty much every other DIYer)!

A few months ago I said Little Man's nursery was done and finished! Conveniently right before our house warming party... well then I had to go and buy a new glider (we had one in our Michigan house, but I didn't LOVE it and when packing decided to sell it on Craigs List... then when Little Man was sick with croup I REALLY wished we had one again... ANYWAYS.... I bought a new glider) SO I had to re-arrange his room to make it fit... which meant this weekend I had to move shelves, cover holes, re-think artwork.... etc... so we are on to version 2 of Little Man's room at this house...


Shelves down... and a big hole where I painted around the shelf... OPPs!

Then I had to start re-working the guest room... a room no one has slept in during the 6 months we have lived in this house ... even though its one of my favorite rooms...

I am working on some new artwork for the new rooms and then I will show the new versions!

We've Moved!

We are 11 days into our new house!! It's coming along slowly! We actually got the most done the first week and very little has been completed since that first week!

Little Man's room was the first room to be completed! But we wanted him to feel comfortable with the new house and so that was a priority! I still am planning out an accent wall for his bedroom; I have done 2 versions of an accent wall at our old apartment and at my parents, so I am not sure if I will do a new version or one of the old versions!

I also quit my job, so I should have a lot more free time, but playing and keeping a 15 month old entertained takes up a lot of time!! And I am still getting used to being a stay at home mom :)! We are not 100% sure if I will look for full time work or a part time job!

I am not sure how other mom's find time to get their to-do list done and play with their kids!! But I have a long to-do list!! And I keep adding more and more things to it!! My first to-do item is to finish organizing and put together all of the rooms. I also need to finish re-finishing our dinning room table and get some new chairs for it.

My counter has old coffee tins of bolts, and screws and a tool box; I can't wait until things are put away!!!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

We just had an offer accepted on our second home, and so now I am very excited about the thought of decorating and making it our home!

This blog will be dedicated to making our new house a home!