Upholstered Headboard

Thanks to my dad's keen eye for savings and my hesitant decision making skills - we have a large piece of extra plywood sitting in our car port just waiting for a project...!  And I'm all about project creation.  Not necessarily project completion....but project creation....ABSOLUTELY.  So - part one of said plywood has been claimed for our guest room headboard.  To date this has been a glaring hole that bugs me every time I walk in to the room so I'm pretty pumped to fill the gap.  

I was looking for a black velvet-ey look-alike or a charcoal suiting-ish fabric to look fairly tailored with three rows of tufted covered buttons across.  But after doing one...Aaron and I thought it looked finished at that.  Which I was cool with of course, being that meant I was done. :)  It's not permanently installed yet, just propped up and ideally it will sit a couple of inches higher.  But I'm diggin' it.  What do you think?

  

FAMILY vinyl art

They say that imitation is the finest form of flattery...and well....I saw this sign on Crafts by Amanda and totally loved it! So...hoping she's flattered because...COMPLETELY ripped it off! :)


Although - sad to say that I was working with small little sheets of vinyl and not one large one shot deal vinyl print-out so,...I had to squish the letters on little sheets and pick off each letter one at a time and place it on the plywood. Sucks to be me - and not every letter is 100% straight...but I'm happy with how it turned out.  So - $10 for the white vinyl sheets, some paint, my Silhouette, a sander and a piece of plywood!  Shawbang! Perdy art.

And thus, another post....and I've bought myself a few more days of guilt-free creative unproductivity! :)  

Laundry Room

My dad....not unlike...

came to town last week and we were so so so blessed to have his help in taking our laundry room reno leaps and bounds forward toward completion.  Much like every single renovation to date - the work was grossly underestimated as he and Aaron ended up spending two days moving plumbing, vents, drains, electrical and water lines to accommodate my "quick drywall job".  We were so grateful to have him and his skills here - saving us thousands in labour and filling the glaringly growing black hole between our DIY experience and dreams! :)  

Previous Owner - before cold room was taken out

Progress - In process of removing tiles

Progress - Cold room removed and peel & stick tiles removed

Progress - framing in new walls, extending teenie tiny bathroom for shower

Progress - Framed walls with new plumbing in for shower, washing machine and laundry sink

The glue that held the WHOLE operation together

Progress - Fancy new drywalled space and ceiling!

Progress - Entrance to laundry room - new laundry sink and counter will be on the left side as you enter and beautiful new pot lights down the hallway :)

Can't even tell you how happy I am with all they did!  So excited to keep working on it and get the walls all mudded and painted, new floor and cabinets in, and then a fancy schmancy new countertop for across the top of the washer/dryer cabinets and a laundry sink cabinet in.  Patience....patience....patience....and perhaps another part-time job.... :)

Media Console Inspiration

Our last two rentals have had fireplaces in the main living room - which easily served as the platform for our TV.  However - this is not the case in our new place and thus, our TV has elegantly perched on a glorified TV tray for the past eight months.  

My favorite part is the strewn melody of cables so carefully collecting across the two ft. empty span of space to the component tower.  Classy.  

The sad part is how quickly you get used to the look and really start to find little reason to find an alternate solution.  But I've decided it's time to start the homework for this project.  No immediate plans...Just dreamin'...


So here's the beginnings of my research....

Pottery Barn Map Console Cabinet

IKEA Hemnes Cabinet

Pottery Barn Rhys Cabinet

Urban Barn Whiskey Media Cabinet

I'm actually kinda leaning toward the Urban Barn option right now....kinda unique and unexpected.  What do you think??

  

Master Bedroom Refresh

So I am now but moments away from finishing decorating our master bedroom!!  Beyond excited and I am so happy with it!  We finally finished the baseboards and casings - which surprising made a huge difference and I am kinda sad that I procrastinated on it for the last six months!  I then scored a new duvet cover for $59, a few pieces of art and picture frames, a new throw and sewed up a new decorative pillow with a chunk of a canvas drop cloth I had.  LOVE it!  I also brought in the stripes from the ensuite onto the one back wall which turned out pretty fun.  


Before

After

So,....just a cheap easy refresh but I smile every time I walk into my new pretty room.


Of course I'm still dreaming about something like this.....

and one of these fancy rugs from West Elm in cream and white (although they don't actually come in cream and white quite yet,.....so i have a while to save for them... :) )

Add a few hundred feet of space, a walk-in closet, and then it will be really done...for a few months.... :)

Fireplace Re-Surround

So, the previous owners of our house, ...they built a fireplace surround for the electric insert and, well....

'nuff said.  Yes.  That's actually wallpaper.  AMAZING.


So, be it that we can't afford to replace it at this time and we like having the extra heat for the basement -  this is my quest to prettify it.

Since the wallpaper revealed a mixture of odd lumbar, drywall, and panelling - they obviously had "wallpapering" in mind - none of the sides were flat.  So, I boxed it in with some MDF for a little more interest and put solid plywood panels on the side so it was paintable.  I then primed the sides and front columns.


And my amazing husband laid ceramic tile around the insert.

The top had had been tiled and trimmed with wood baseboards.  Mmmmm.


So - we put a new top on it and just painted out the insert with black flat paint.  and now...

and this is where I'm stuck.  it looks deceiving finished from the front but the moulding is just currently tacked...cause,....turns out....I SUCK at cutting crown moulding.  thus, the sides don't line up with the front - which incidentally was cut too short - ummm,... twice - and thus is remains the view from the sides.  SO SAD.... :(

so - back to the store for yet another six foot piece of moulding - happy I picked the cheap stuff..... :)

Claire's Kindergarten Registration...

So - yesterday was the day that we registered Claire for kindergarten.  Yes - I wept.  My eyelids seem to be retaining about three pounds extra fluid today and no doubt will burst again at any moment.  Such a suck I am.  And the actual event is still eight months away!  It's hard to be to appreciate that I am NOT the first mom to go through this - and that these countless others have actually made it through.  I guess in all fairness I seem to be processing her leaving highschool and moving away at the same moment as her beginning kindergarten and in reality I will probably be blessed with a few moments in between!  It just seems like the time is going so fast and as I walked her up to the school, with her mess of curls in a ponytail on each side of her head and beaming in excitement, looking up to me for assurance and direction, it just struck me how scared I am of her drifting away - wondering how much longer I have until she stops showering me with hugs and kisses, when the day will come she no longer thoughtlessly reaches up for my hand as we walk down the street.... 

It's hard not to be selfish with our kids - to want to keep them little and dependent, try to hold on to the time where we are the center of their whole world and get to share a part of every detail of who they are, to remember that God has designed them with a bigger purpose that to remain my own little private blessings to enjoy...  

But I am also looking forward to enjoying her as the woman she is going to become - watching with pride as she walks across the stage to get her diploma, to see her as a beautiful bride, and to watch her hold her own precious baby in her arms for the first time as her heart explodes to spaces she never knew she had.