Category Archives: DIY

$2 Bulletin Board.

Last Saturday an amazing thing happened. I went to 4 garage sales in search of the perfect frame and I actually found it. For TWO DOLLARS.

Brought it home. Dusted it. Stapled Chicken Wire to the back. Dug out some clothes pin.

Then it went to live on the wall in the classroom that is made up of all the other signs and pictures that have no where else to hang in my house.

Gotta love good deals.

Taylor’s Room.

We cleaned, rearranged, bargain shopped, and Craig’s listed…here is the result.

Bedding is from Pottery Barn kids (found 75% off on clearance).

Chandelier and Audrey Hepburn Canvas are Ikea.

White feather Boa’s around the ceiling are Joanne’s.

Expedit bookcase from Ikea (found on Craigs for 1/3 of the price).

Zebra buckets are from Lowe’s.

Drapes are 7 foot panels from Target with black ribbon sewed on to tie up and be fancy.

Desk and chair are Ikea (also found on Craig’s).

Wall monogram is from Uppercase Living.

Triple Bunk for Katie, Alex, and Hattie were purchased off Ebay and we painted and sewed up some bedding.

I love 9 year olds. The combination of a Hello Kitty radio, Audrey Hepburn canvas, Tinker Bell Minnie Mouse, and crystal chandelier just all makes me happy.

We are fortunate to have all 3 kids in their own rooms right now. With baby #4 on the way, I have a feeling that this room and Emma’s room will have to be combined! AAAH!

This is my baby girl who lives here:

I am linking up to the following parties!

Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!

Chair Rail ABC’s

I have always wanted to try this type of project….I purchased these ABC cards at LakeShore for just a few bucks. They just needed a little help. It was a perfect chance to add a little moulding. I am just doing this on one wall. All the way around would be too much of a good thing in this room (for my taste anyway).

Here is the finished picture. This is our homeschool classroom.

Here are the details…

I went to Lowe’s and purchased 3 8 foot sections of this trim. It was $6.– per piece. When I got home I stained it black, then spray painted it red, then went over it with Acrylic Red paint and a paint brush. This was not some new fancy technique. It was trial and error. Now it has kind of a slightly distressed barn red color. It works. The trim I picked had a rope design on it. I would have been best off just using a brush and acrylic paint to begin with.

I used a level and nailed up the bottom pieces first. I just used small nails without a big top to them. Then I slid the cards down into the trim and staple gunned the top of the cards.

After that step was complete I was able to get the level again and complete the project by nailing the top pieces on.

Then I straightened the CHASE YOUR DREAMS plaque above it and the wall is complete! I would NOT survive as an interior design photographer…

I am linking up with

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

The DIY Show Off

My Armoire.

My first time of doing a BIG piece of furniture. I fell in love with Eddie’s delicious blue armoire and had to attempt it. You can see her fab creation here and get a tutorial. It was a bit hard for me to do because I LOVED the current piece as it was, but knew that love would be taken to a level of obsession if I could pull of the deep turquoise color with half as much skill as Eddie. I will probably be playing with the final finished look for days. Sanding, dry brushing….its kinda addicting to find just the right balance.

It lives in our classroom now and is a great addition. It is surrounded right now by other half finished projects that I need to complete. The color is so fabulous, it makes me happy.

I did not sand this piece to start with and clearly should have. So the candle technique as explained in Eddie’s post, did not really quite work out this time.  In addition, the post sanding attempt is a bit tricky as well without peeling the paint. So, I had to resort to some dark brown paint and dry brushing. Live and learn.

And p.s. I am in desperate need of photography lessons, but you get the idea. I am saving for those as we speak….I need someone to verbally teach me. I am too impatient to learn from books (and yes I am homeschooling my 3 kids, kinda scary huh?)

Here was the before,

I am linking up with:

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

My Armoire.

My first time of doing a BIG piece of furniture. I fell in love with Eddie’s delicious blue armoire and had to attempt it. You can see her fab creation here and get a tutorial. It was a bit hard for me to do because I LOVED the current piece as it was, but knew that love would be taken to a level of obsession if I could pull of the deep turquoise color with half as much skill as Eddie. I will probably be playing with the final finished look for days. Sanding, dry brushing….its kinda addicting to find just the right balance.

It lives in our classroom now and is a great addition. It is surrounded right now by other half finished projects that I need to complete. The color is so fabulous, it makes me happy.

I did not sand this piece to start with and clearly should have. So the candle technique as explained in Eddie’s post, did not really quite work out this time.  In addition, the post sanding attempt is a bit tricky as well without peeling the paint. So, I had to resort to some dark brown paint and dry brushing. Live and learn.

And p.s. I am in desperate need of photography lessons, but you get the idea. I am saving for those as we speak….I need someone to verbally teach me. I am too impatient to learn from books (and yes I am homeschooling my 3 kids, kinda scary huh?)

Here was the before,

I am linking up with 

 

My Laundry Room.

I am in a full scale clean my house operation over here. Garage, Master bedroom closet, and laundry room were the top 3 on my list. I am happy to say the laundry room was completed yesterday. With Ralph Lauren paint running $7 a gallon right now…it got a fresh new coat of Tapestry Green to go along with the unpleasant task of cleaning the room itself.
I have a question? How many of you regularly pull out your machines and clean under them? Up until this home, my husband and I had never lived in a home for longer then a year (except one home for two years), and many of those were apartments…so this whole cleaning under the machine thing escapes me. I decided to tackle it.
For the queasy stomach, you may want to avert your eyes for the remainder of this post.
Here is the before…
bye bye copper brownish color…that kinda grates on my nerves..
embarrassed to say this is four years of not cleaning underneath. um gross!
How did I paint that brown, without moving the machine? I sat on the machine and leaned down behind it of course.
yuck…and more yuck…
and the after…
ahhhh….nice and pretty.
simple and clean.
home for one puppy Brooklyn, as well…
Project completed in 4 hours.
Time well spent.
Now, off to take care of that new white curtain I hung up, without ironing….

The Pink and White Room.

One of my clients, who happens to be a dear friend of mine, asked me to do a make over on her daughter’s room. Her Ten year old and two year old share a room. Budget $300.

HERE IS THE BEFORE…
HERE IS THE AFTER….
real life design, on a real budget…
HERE IS ONE HAPPY LITTLE GIRL…
HERE IS MY FAVORITE PEICE…
this is just a big square canvas from Joann’s with multiple sheets of scrapbook paper adhered to it with Modge Podge … cupcakes, zebra, dresses, Barbie…What’s not to love.

My Completed Closet.






O.k. I’m done. Whew. THAT was a project. Everything got dusted, sorted, cleaned out…and prettied up. If you didn’t see the before pics, make sure and check out them out from a few days ago….

I want to move my bed in there. My favorite part? The chandelier without a doubt. It was a Christmas present from my hubby, from Urban Outfitters…Hard to photograph, but beyond fantastic.
Budget breakdown is more than $30. lol. I found an extra shelf from our bedroom armoire and decided to make a vanity…this made my project budget go up!
Total $54
not too shabby….
Project specifics:
Mirror came from ikea and I added some chain and tulle that I had at home. $15
Vanity table is the extra shelf from my armoire. Free
Vanity chair ~ a diy make over $5
Vanity light ~ ikea $10 (one half is broken! Still have to replace that)
Earring holder is an old frame I had in cupboard with chicken wire stapled to the back. $5
Necklace holders from ikea $6
Purse holder is a long chain from Lowes (1.00 a foot) with S hooks hung up and down to hook my purses on. $13
I added some scrap fabric around the closet pole and pinned on the back side. Free
Everything else was stolen from somewhere else in my house….
Happy New Year…

Hobbylicious.


I have been working on my closet project and tomorrow will have pictures up. I ended up building a vanity in there with some extra shelving from my armoire in my bedroom. I may skirt it tonight using my tree skirt. We’ll see.
For now here is my sneak peek chair that will sit at my vanity. I bought this chair last year off of craigs list for $5.00. I recovered it will some fabric that I had in my closet. It has been at the built in desk in our upstairs hall ever since. I stole it for my closet.
$.96 cents for spray paint and $3.25 for a yard of delicious stripe-y fabric from the Calico Corners Outlet in Sac….and Voila! A cutesy little white distressed chair for me to sit in. It was my first time to try rubbing the candle wax on the chair first, to aid in the distressed look. It rocked. My photography skills are lacking, but its fab…and seriously for less then $5.00 (o.k.$9.21, if you count the original chair purchase price)…My heart skips a beat when I see it…
What hobbies do you have that make your heart go a flutter?
and more importantly….DO YOU DO THEM????

Coming Out Of The Closet.














Mom shlumpiness has set in. I’m living in a rut. It would be nothing short of a miracle, if you found me at any given moment, in my home adorned in anything other then my black yoga pants. You might even find me venturing out in them “just for a quick errand.”
It’s hard enough to get out the door on a school day to drop the kids off “done” for the day. Try staying home all day and getting up and “done”. Hmmm. What’s a girl to do?
I am only speaking for myself, but I do have a feeling hundreds of others might agree. I feel so much better when I have some sort of a hairstyle, make up (at least the basics), and clothes that have at least one button on them and preferably a zipper as well.
A few days ago, I stood in my closet and looked around. I then came to a B R I L L I A N T revelation. I decided that it’s the closet’s fault, not mine. Nothing about it is inspiring to spend more then 2 seconds in. Why would I stay in there and try and put an outfit together? It’s clearly not my fault. The Little Tykes garden (which used to be handy while getting ready, when Emma was like 2 and would play in it), dirty mirror, and stacks of black clothes aren’t really callin’ out any kind of pretty.
I am redoing my closet….save your laughter, you may end up copying me later. I have a budget of $30 to get this done. Pictures to come….Here is the before. Bleh….
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