This year we are attempting to tackle the outside of the house and the yard.  We have made small strides toward getting the yard we really want, and putting off some things we really need.  Like, a paint job.  That one is really breaking the bank right now and has been put on hold until we can figure out how to get some needed repairs completed properly before slapping a on a new coat.  I never imagined it would be so difficult to find decent maintenance workers, but just getting a call back from an ad, a number in the phone book or even a referral has proven to be a full time job.  After a month of hanging around, waiting for people to come over and give us an estimate I am pretty much over it.  We have had bids ranging from a couple grand to new car prices.  Now you can probably understand why we have taken a step back.  This type of work seems to be priced all over the place and we have yet to find the best way to know if you are going to get quality craftsmanship.  Having used some referrals for smaller projects in the past we have learned this first hand.  You can see great work at your pal’s house, but that doesn’t mean you will get it at yours.

So, to bring this back on track, one of the items on our Yard To-Do list was to figure out a plan of attack for our shrubs and bushes out front.  We are quite aware that several are really much too large and they will soon be a hindrance for anyone attempting to correct any of the siding or window trim issues, let alone painting the house.  Rather than calling in the big guns and getting yet another estimate to have them trimmed and/or removed The Mister and I decided to trim them up ourselves.  A daunting task, even for seasoned lawn care workers.  We have very little yard work equipment, but the one thing we do have is an extension hedge trimmer and various pruning tools.  Figuring we were well armed, we decided to go for it a couple of sunny weekends ago.

These first two shots show how overgrown the bushes had become.  Not only are they far to tall and wide, but they were also sporting spikey tops.

The Mister spent some time on the ladder tackling the two larger bushes on either side of the front stoop.

And, while they look much better than they did, we had to laugh at how naked this one ended up after it’s initial “haircut”.

We actually plan to trim these way down, but realized that our little handsaw will not work for this part of the project.  So, off to Home depot we go to add a small chainsaw to the arsenal.  Hopefully this next weekend we can do a little more damage, but in a good way.

Now, for the rain to let up so the deck guys can get back out here and finish the staining process.  It took long enough to find some guys we thought we could trust to do the work, so now we are VERY ready to have the work completed.  Shoot, I have patio furniture to arrange, large ceramic pots to plant and lots of other ideas about how I want to spruce up the area. 

Patience is a virtue…they say.

Kitsch Krafts

If you are just popping in for the first time around here I will let you in on a little secret, we are expecting baby number two in July and I am just about killing myself to transition my 2.5 year old out of the nursery before that time comes.  I had already planned to update our guest bathroom during the first quarter of this year, along with our kitchen.  Unfortunately the looming due date made for a tough reno and pushed back any work on the kitchen until probably some time next year.  Wah-wuh…  In the meantime I am still working at full throttle, well as full as my big belly and lack of decent energy will allow, to get the “big boy” room together and the nursery girlied up a bit!

This post is really to let you know where we began in the process and of course to drum up any sympathy possible for my tired, aching bones.  ;o)  Being older and pregnant really kicks your butt!  So, without further ado here is the room we started with…

This lavender and cream boudoir boasts a lavish (and I’m sure early ‘90’s Waverly) floral border worked into a faux “tray” style ceiling detail.  Meaning the lavender was also painted along the edge of the ceiling and another portion of the floral border was laid along the edge of that painted line and around the ceiling.  Ooooh, lovely!  Actually, in all fairness I’m sure this was a nice look at the time and I am also sure the original owners spent some cash to have this treatment done to create this effect.  Let’s just say, it’s really not for us…especially the little boy who is about to move into the space.

Not only did this room serve as extra sleeping space for our guests, but the wall opposite the king sized bed housed my sewing and craft nook. 

You can also see the edge of the door to the little walk-in closet, known as the fabric stockyard, in the shot above.  I will fully admit this room was decorated with whatever I had on hand that I felt could make it work for the time being. In decorating the space I felt more than a little trapped by the color scheme and floral details.

Heck, even the curtain rods had gingko leaves on the ends, which are nice, but still not the look I was going for in the space.

The headboard consisted of a large piece of foam, originally purchased to create cushions for another nixed project, covered in a vintage dotted coverlet.  The large patterned barkcloth pillows, bed skirt and curtains were all vintage finds that seem to always get pulled out whenever I had a room that needs something to pull it together on zero budget.  I used extra pillows covered in vintage hand-embroidered pillow cases and another vintage coverlet to finish off an admittedly very out of character feminine look.  The side table, another vintage find, was topped with miscellaneous craft/sewing room décor from previous houses, a clock radio and some family photos.

On the other side I stored my dress form, covered in vintage clothes.

Over time, some of my creations ended up being pinned up on the walls, not only to keep them from being damaged while awaiting a buyer from my Etsy Shop, but also for my enjoyment until they left for a new home.  This room would be perfectly straightened up, as evidenced by these photos, for all of about 20 minutes before a new idea would hit and I would have piles of fabric and supplies chaotically strewn across every inch of useable bed, desk and floor space.  I enjoyed using this room, as did several guests, but it was time for a change that the Little Guy was anxiously awaiting.

Over the course of the last few months I had tested the border to see how “stuck” it really was and just like the guest bathroom wallpaper, it came down easily and within minutes.  The Mister had talked me into moving one of the twin beds that had made up the “king” sized bed for this room, into the playroom for more comfy seating and to attempt to get me off the “I want a sectional” nagging bandwagon.  I will admit it’s better than the numb buns you get from sitting on the futon, but it only delayed the sectional talk for about a day.  Sorry dear! 

In the meantime, I had made up the other twin into a day bed we could enjoy until the real work started in the “big boy” room.  As you can see above, more toys had also been moved from the playroom into this space to help keep the Little Guy occupied on the occasions when I had to do some sewing for business.  Nothing like a mini tool bench to keep a kid happy for, oh, ten minutes.  Am I right?

As of today, the room has been cleared of everything, accept this bed and the floor has been covered in protective plastic.  The band of lavender along the ceiling got a first coat of primer and tomorrow I hope to tackle priming the most dreaded piece of this room to paint – oil-based painted trim!!!!!  UGH in SEVEN LANGUAGES!!!!  I am being lazy and praying that a good oil-based primer will solve my problems, but this could be the breaking point for the timeline of this mini-makeover.  I will keep you all posted on the success of that combo as I go along.

As for the plan of attack, here goes:

-Take the lavender to light gray, with a white ceiling and white trim. 

-Add horizontal stripes in a gray just a couple of shades darker than the other walls to the main bed wall. 

-Add already purchased simple bedding in gray and newly created bed skirt in a tweedy fabric. 

-Spruce up the windows with some thrifted, but new, curtains that I plan to customize with a patterned fabric border. 

-I hope to customize the Little Guy’s IKEA desk and chair set to be placed on one wall.

-Add a magnetic chalk board above the desk area.

-Add an already purchased large, family-sized beanbag chair.

-Clean up and paint an already purchased thrifted shelving unit.

-Find a small dresser for the space- clean up and paint as necessary.

-Add artwork and pillows in fun colors (primarily orange, the Little Guy’s fav!) against all the gray.

-Working on a possible A, B, C’s letter wall.

-Add brightly colored paper lantern lighting over the bed, if possible.

-Find something to use as a nightstand.

-Change out current light fixture in the center of the room for anything that isn’t brass!

-DIY a larger rug for the desk area from some thrifted rugs.

I’m sure I will think of more things to do as I go along.  For some reason that’s how it seems to go with any project I do for my kid.  I just want to do more, add more, get everything I think is cute or that he might like.  It’s a sickness really and I’m sure it doesn’t get any better as you add to the flock.

Stick around and I will add photos as things progress.  Please wish me luck in getting all this done, too, before we end up with one more family member to love!

Kitsch Krafts

Finally!  I am ready to show off my handy work in our guest bathroom.  This one definitely felt like it took longer than it really did.  Unfortunately any time you work with stain you have to add in a lot of extra days just for drying time.  Anywhoo, the walls are no longer wrapped in striped paper, the cream door, trim and cabinet color have been obliterated and the hardware is donning a new coat of “chrome”.  Oh yeah, I removed the shower door, added a rod and curtain, and painted the lights too!  Whew! 

The space has gone from this:

And this:

And now to this:

So we now have a pretty generic box, but it does feel a lot better in this bath to us now.  It will take some time to add more personality, as in some cool art for several walls, but I like to take my time with that sort of thing.  The water damaged cabinetry has a new lease on life and the faux marble vanity top looks less reddish brown than it did with the previous color combination.  This bath ties in better now too with the guest bedroom it is attached to.  I left a sliver of the light blue wall color showing in the first before and after shots above so you could see the odd original transition from the bedroom to the bath.  Now, with modern colors the rooms don’t look like they are from such vastly different time periods.  I think (and hope!) our guests will feel more comfortable using this lighter and brighter bath.

Below is a recap of my initial concerns, wants, needs, dreams of what needed to happen in that space.  It was so fulfilling to check so many things off the list.  I added pictures of the updates along the way.  Enjoy!

From original post on February 28th

Here are some of my Concerns:

-No Natural Light

-Sconces and ceiling fan light give off nothing more than a candle flame

When removing the lights for painting I discovered that what I thought was frosted glass turned out to be dust encrusted clear fluted glass!  Insert communal eeeeewwwww!  A thorough cleaning and we now have a good bit more light coming through.  Although it’s not the best fix for the long run, it works for now.

-Extra large, overpowering mirror

-Gold mixed with chrome and white porcelain

In an attempt to make a positive change on a small budget I spray painted all the gold knobs and even traded out the porcelain cabinet hardware for some of the old brass from the kitchen.  A coat of chrome spray paint later and they look like a million bucks!  I’m still on the fence about the actual door and closet knobs, though.  I’m not in love with the finish and I’m also unsure it will hold up to regular use.

(The gold hinges will be replaced soon.  I decided not to attempt to spray paint anything else in this space.)

-Cream and white fixtures (vanity top, toilet, tub and tile surround are all different)

-No budget for new tile

-No budget for new vanitycabinet

Doesn’t matter now.  Gel stain made it look completely different.  Thank you, Minwax, Red Elm!

Here are some of my Ideas:

-Paint the vanity cabinet a fun bright color (light, beachy green maybe?)

We nixed this idea in favor of something more neutral.  Not only is this a space for guests with varying tastes, but it’s one less space to have to worry about come sales time.

Or

-Gel stain the vanity to make it look like dark wood

As Dave on Storage Wars would say, “YUUUUUPPPP!”  The dark color helps hide the years of water damage and chipping areas, making the cabinet look completely new.  Yeah!

See all the chipping paint and swollen wood above?  Not the best presentation for our guests, wouldn’t ya’ say?

-Remove the wallpaper and paint the walls a light color (pale taupe to help neutralize the vanity top?)

If we had just removed the wallpaper and done nothing else in this space it would have been a much happier place than it was prior to the changes.  Although my Home Depot, “Oops” color ended up being a bit darker than I envisioned for this room, it was actually exactly what was needed.  Between the new wall color and the darker cabinet, the vanity looks much more beige with brown streaks than cream with red streaks, as it did before.

-Frame the large mirror (it does help to reflect what little light is in there)

Framing the mirror is still on the list for the future.

-Replace or paint the sconces and switch out the shades for something more stylish

In the future we may opt to replace them completely, especially since what we have gives off so little light.  For now, a couple of coats of chrome spray paint and the really good shade scrubbing has given them an almost free new life.

Maybe I’m just too cheap, but the simple changes we made makes these sort of charming to me now.  Where before they seemed brash and old fashioned.???

-Paint all woodwork, and doors bright white

Done!

-Remove glass shelf behind toilet and replace with artwork or a more substantial shelf unit

I removed the shelf, but decided to paint it, put it back and add some different artwork to the wall above.

I have yet to find any art for any part of the bath, so I just put back some of my ceramic pieces on the shelf for now.

-Add art work or large mirror to the end wall of the room

Still on the search for something I like.

-Change cabinet hardware, door knobs and hinges

I removed the old porcelain knobs and replaced them with leftover brass knobs from the kitchen.   Since the style was identical and I did not have the heart to paint the porcelain knobs, I opted to spray the gold ones chrome, along with the hinges, so everything looks new now.

If I had a bigger budget, or one day…..

-Would love to chip out the row of pink tiles in the tub surround and replace with something more modern in a neutral color combo

-Would love to switch out the cream colored powder room toilet with the white one in here

-Would love to remove the sliding tub door and replace with an extra high bar and long custom curtain

Done!  This ended up being so much easier than I thought.  Although, adding a extra high bar did not look as nice as I thought it would.  I decided to keep a regular height rod instead, which in the end meant I could avoid the higher cost of making (or buying) a custom sized curtain and liner.

I found the shower curtain at World Market and at $29.99 I believe it was the most expensive purchase for the whole mini-remodel.  I also added the towel bar after removing the shower doors, which included nice long handles for draping wet towels.  Now we have this new chrome version, plus an additional towel bar set in the tile at the back of the shower surround.  The new bar is part of a set that I scored during one of my thrifting adventures last year.  I thought I would use it in the hall bath upstairs, but found a more immediate need in this room.  The set includes a more modern style toilet paper holder, which was relocated to the end of the vanity cabinet and out of view when looking into the space, a hand towel ring and a door hook.  All this chrome for about $3.50 at 50% off Wednesday at the Salvation Army.  Yeah budget!

-Would love to remove the large mirror and replace with smaller, individual oval mirrors

-Would love to get all new lighting

-Would love to remove vanity completely and replace with a higher cabinet (this one hits below my mid-thigh) and a Carrera marble top.  Oooooohhhh….

So, this is where we have arrived over the last month with this room mini-remodel.  I say mini because nothing structural changed aside from removing the shower doors, which was shockingly easy to accomplish.  Even though we have simply neutralized the space and did not do anything extraordinary in here, we are quite thrilled with how this room looks now compared to the circus tent of early ‘90’s Waverly wallpaper that it was before.  I think our guests will be much happier bathing in this space as well.

Here is a breakdown of our costs for the mini-remodel:

-Wall paint – Home Depot “Oops” color                             $7.00

-Cabinet Color – Minwax Gel Stain- Red Elm   Already owned $0.00

-Trim Paint – Valspar Semi-Gloss –White  Already owned       $0.00

-Ceiling Paint – Glidden Purple Tint          Already owned       $0.00

-Dry Wall Compound for repairs              Already owned        $0.00

-Primer for walls                                    Already owned        $0.00

-Chrome Spray Paint – Rustoleum                                        $5.49

-Rustoleum Auto Body Primer                                              $5.49

-Rustoleum Clear Protective Coat                                         $5.49

-Chrome Accessories- Sal. Army 50% off purchase                $3.50

-Tension Shower Rod- World Market                                     $10.99

-Shower Curtain Hooks-Chrome Ball – World Market              $10.99

-Shower Curtain- World Market                                            $29.99

-Towels and mats – on sale at Target                                   $30.00

That’s a grand total of:                                                       $97.95 

Considering I have two kid’s rooms to complete on no budget in the next month, I am pretty psyched about how low priced this mini-makeover ended up.  It’s amazing what you can accomplish by hitting up sales, keeping a lookout for those oddball, but useful things at the Salvation Army and, of course lots of elbow grease.

Did you guys make any big or little changes to your bathrooms over the last month?  I love to see what other people come up with in their own spaces!

Kitsch Krafts

Since I’m not big on lugging boxes of décor around for each and every holiday, simply because storage space does not permit it and I just don’t have it in me to go all out for every thing, I thought I would share the couple of things we did add to brighten the house over the holiday weekend.  Of course I wanted to have a door greeting for our Easter Egg Hunt guests and anyone else that happened by over the next few weeks.  So, I dug up this little thrift store find from last year.

It was a cone shaped basket lined with a galvanized container that only cost $1.99.  I used a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon with white polka dots that was left over from a sewing project I shared over here to make a hanger.  I just slipped it through those holes along the top of the backside and tied the ends into a large bow.  A $10.00 bouquet of spring flowers later and wholla!

Happy spring door décor!

Don’t you just love purple and yellow together in the spring time?  Ahhh, fresh!

Okay, so I have to chuckle a little now because we really did not do a lot of decorating around here at all.  Aside from the flowers on the door and the fun treats that I mentioned last week for the egg hunt, the only other thing I managed to do was add some cute cut-outs to the dining room table.  I was not sure if our group would end up congregating in the dining area or just in the kitchen at our smaller table, so I wanted to put something slightly festive in there as well.  I found these really sweet free downloads over at The Handmade Home.  She puts these out monthly and they are meant for framing, or I guess whatever you want to do with them for your own decorating needs.  We, yes the Little Guy helped pull them off the printer, printed out the lambs and bunnies along with the latest creation, these chickadees, pictured below. 

Photo via The Handmade Home

I carefully cut around each lamb and bunny, then from the area I cut away, I removed a long slightly curved piece keeping only the colored section and discarding the white edge of the paper.  I made two slits in the bottom of each animal and two slits along the middle of the strip of paper and slid the two together at those cut lines.  (I hope this makes sense!) 

Ta-Da!  Cute spring animal cut-outs, stand-ups, whatever you want to call them.

I just placed them around our usual candlestick display along the center of the table.  I had meant to send each child home with one, but we never really ended up using this space that morning.  Oh well, I guess I will have some cute little animals for next spring too!

We had intended to drape a piece of crepe paper along the opening between our family room and the kitchen for fun.  Then we were going to add sized down cut-outs of the chickadees along the strip, but our first guests arrived before we could even get the tape out.  Wuh-wah!  Oh well, like I said things were simple and to the point around here for the holiday.  ;o)  Hope you guys did something fun to get in the mood for spring and Easter!

Kitsch Krafts

We had a pretty packed, yet somehow relaxing Easter Sunday this year.  It started with a slight freak-out over the midnight visit from the Easter Bunny.

In fact, most of my shots were even more blurry than this because he was jumping around so much.

I tried to get him to take his loot to the kitchen table to deposit his newly gained candy in the treat bowl leftover from both his Preschool Easter Egg hunt, as well as, the one we had at the house on Friday with is friends.  Not only did he still manage to spill jelly beans all over the floor, but he also took the time to pretend nibble each piece of candy before putting it with the rest, all the while mumbling about “CAHN-DEE!” and getting more and more giddy.  Seriously, it’s like a drugs for toddlers.

After negotiating him down to eating just two medium sized pieces before breakfast I was able to feed him something decent and get him out the door for a mid-morning Easter service at church.  This also included lots of fun take-a-ways for the Sunday School Two’s group, which thrilled my son to no end.  Apparently candy is the currency of choice in more places than just my home, and second occasionally only to stickers.

This year I remembered to take some pictures of us in our nice clothes before ripping off the hose, tossing the dress and pulling the Little Guy out of his button-down shirt.

The photo session started sweet, with some questions about the Easter Bunny and then some belly love shots.

There was a moment of calm and then the crazy took over,

and things got a bit rowdy.

Lets just say someone’s cute, newly made, seersucker pants headed straight to the washer after only about an hour on his skinny little legs. 

But that was fine since egg dyeing was next on the agenda and no matter how well I plan it seems I am never prepared for the mess he is able to make.  We only had one snafu when I barely looked away and he pulled an egg out of a dye bath with his bare hand. Not horrible, but the near wipe of the bright orange dyed hand across his light green shirt would have really made the moment. I caught his arm just in time.

I love this picture because it shows the sheer determination by which he went about decorating his eggs.  I was actually trying to talk to him and get him to look at me, but he was in the zone and totally unaware that I existed in the same space.  Just look at that bottom lip jutting out.  Sticker placement is an intense art not to be interrupted.

We finished our day with a lovely dinner at a friend’s house, where we stuffed ourselves to the gills.  It was a beautiful day, filled with lot’s of low-key but fun activities. 

Hope you all had a wonderful time this holiday weekend!

Kitsch Krafts

Today was a big play date.  I should say BIG play date!  We had the Little Guy’s five main buddies over, along with their itty bitty siblings and moms.  Plus, two grandmothers.  It was a houseful and it was FUN!  A couple of us moms thought it would be fun to do an Easter Egg hunt and I offered up our place.  We have a nice sized backyard and it’s fenced in, so there was no concern about escapees. 

Here is my man all decked out for the backyard hunt.

And, here he is in action.

It was so cool to see kids running all over the backyard, excited to find each and every egg.  I think the moms had just as much fun seeing their little ones getting so into the game.  All of us have 2.5 year olds and although they have been playing together regularly for at least half of that time, they are just now getting to the point of truly playing together.  It’s just neat to see their personalities develop and take shape.  After all the eggs had been found (or so we hope), they started just running around and making up games.  Mostly “chase-me” themed games and some that only a toddler whisperer could possibly figure out.  I love to see them create their little scenarios and rules and then attempt to keep it all straight.  We only had one major head bonking as two of them collided during a rowdy romp through the vinca vine way out back, but luckily they walked it off.  Whew!  Nothing like one crying fit to start the chain reaction! 

Of course we offered up some sustenance to keep them going in the form of bunny-themed refreshments.

I used the Rabbit’s Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting recipes from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook.  This cake is always so moist and the frosting really creamy.  YUM!  I did omit the walnuts from the cake recipe since our little ones have allergies and I let them pick between chocolate and marshmallow bunnies.  Leaving the golden foil wrap on the chocolate bunnies sent most of them to pick the “purple” sparkly ones.  More chocolate for the moms!  WOOT!  ;o)

Several fun-filled hours later, after the last friend had gone home and we had some calm alone time I had to bring up the nap.  He went kicking and screaming, but was out moments after his head hit the pillow.  But, not before saying, “Mom, Liam likes hanging out with his friends.”  So sweet!

Hope you all have a fun Easter Weekend!

Kitsch Krafts

I think we are there.  We have chosen the one we are going to use, but I’m not sure about telling everyone else.  Does that mean I might not be totally sold on the idea of this particular moniker?  no.  I think it’s that fear of someone having the gall to tell me how it’s just not right.  Why is it that this woman who rarely worries what others will think, is suddenly paralyzed by the fear of the off-hand comment from a friend or family member?  The idea that the comment might wiggle it’s way into my subconscious and change my mind really does frighten me.  I am a believer in telling once the deed is done.  Then if anyone speaks up they look like the bad guy.  hee!  Passive aggression at it’s best, maybe, but the easy way out too.  With two new additions to the family this year, and possibly a third (we’re still praying for ya’ H & E!), we are now running into the question of “what if we pick the same name?”  And, since we are simply unable to come up with anything else to shake us from our original idea, we feel it would be tragic should we loose this option or at least part of it.  So, here is a teaser…Grace.  Yep, Grace is part of the name.  Okay, that’s it for now.  I guess after writing this out I feel a little less scared about keeping the secret. 

Have you ever had trouble naming your offspring?  There are two people at church right now with unnamed newborns.  That’s got to be tough!

Kitsch Krafts