Playroom Phase 1

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

What started out as an unused, catch all room is well on it’s way to becoming a playroom for the girls. I’m super excited about this project. I never wanted to make this room a playroom, but I really wanted the living room back. And really this room was not being used. It held my desk and all my Thirty-One stuff, but it mostly just collected odds and ends. Oh, and I hated the color.

Hold on to your hats people, here comes the mess!

Oh, so dark! And cluttered! My desk was always a mess. This was the landing area for all my reusable shopping bags. The bag of stuff that I removed from the CR-V before we traded it in. Leftover wood from the bathroom shelves.

Cake stand anyone? Photography props. Sorority project supplies.

The pile o’ things to be donated in the corner. The room things went to die. Not a functional use of space.

Just with the room cleared out and a fresh coat of paint it makes a world of difference!

The view from the dining room. The color on the walls is Going Gray by Olympic. I love me some Olympic paint. Great coverage, no stink. We picked up an Expedit at IKEA over the weekend for toy storage. I liked the glossy while Expedit, but I didn’t $20 more like the glossy one, so we just went with the regular white. And while I would have loved to find a fun piece of furniture to refinish for toy storage I don’t think I could have found a piece as functional as the Expedit. Seriously, this piece of furniture is awesome. It’s great for a craft room, play room, living room…..any room!

I still need to touch up some paint inside the window seat area, recover the cushions, figure out what I want to do for curtains, put up a light switch cover, hang some art work, clear out the construction mess.

As you can see Cupcake has already taken to playing in here. That girl loves to sit at her table. And she made me some cupcakes in her kitchen. She didn’t finish the dishes before she went to bed, though. I’ll have to get on her about that.

See what I mean about functional? These Your Way Cubes from Thirty-One fit perfectly in the Expedit and I love the colors in the print. I can’t wait to bring in some more of these colors throughout the room. Each of the cubes has toys in it, but there’s still room for more (which is good since Cupcake has a birthday coming up!).

So that’s how far I’ve come in the last week with this room. We have a ways to go, yet, but I’m excited about how light and bright the room is. And there’s plenty of floor space for the girls to play. I’ve got a pile of boxes on the front porch being picked up this morning and we got our living room back!

What do you think so far?

Life in Progress

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

I have a lot of in progress going on around here. Such is life. I bounce back and forth between projects. I’ve got project ADD. OK, not really. I have “I’m a mom of two kids who can only do so much at once and can’t drop everything to run to IKEA to buy a large piece of furniture whenever I feel like it” syndrome. So projects don’t come together as quickly as they used to.

Bathroom update – I restyled the shelves. Once I hang some art on the wall I will declare the room done. Though I’m still on the hunt for a small bowl to hold some potpourri I picked up at IKEA.

Playroom – Yeah, I’m working on a playroom. I’m so tired of seeing the mass of toys in the living room. And we have a mostly unused family room, so it’s going to be our new playroom. I’m happy to finally get rid of the BLUE!!!!!

This room has gotten on my nerves since I painted it years ago. I originally envisioned a lighter blue in the room. I bought some paint, painted one wall, hated it. (this was after I dropped the full can of light blue paint in Home Depot splashing the register, myself (luckily I was in painting clothes) and my designer handbag with it and having to get a whole new can of it made) I made the mistake of taking hubby back to the hardware store with me and he picked this color. Anywho, see those bins on the window seat? Those are my playroom inspiration. And here is my wall color now.

Much more mellow. I love the gray with the white trim! And it’s just begging for some fun colors!!! And fun colors it will get! I’m way excited to plan this room around a girly theme! I’ve got a long to do list………..

The yard – Oh, the poor neglected yard. Other than mowing grass and the occasional weed pulling the yard has seen no love. We had gladioli growing out of control, a spot where a dead tree was removed and nothing put in it’s place, ugly bushes, half dead bushes, more ugly bushes and flower beds with no flowers. I thought the to do list for the playroom was long, but the yard tops it. And it’s not all getting done this year. Gladioli have been attacked, though.

That’s out of the small. There were at least 3 times as many bulbs in the bigger bed. And I was back at it this afternoon after a few sprouted, making themselves known.

I’ve made 6 hardware store trips in a week. That might be my new record. I’m presume there will be a few more trips here soon. I know there will be. I’ve got flowers to buy.

Birthday Party – Cupcake turns 3 next month!!! I’ve got a massive amount of birthday party supplies piled up on the dining room table and fabric running through both sewing machines at lightening speed. I can’t wait to share the details with you! Cupcake has a laundry list of wishes for her party.

What project(s) do you have going on?

DIY Ombre Art

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

I have an easy art project for you today. Even if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body you can handle this art project! DIY Ombre Art.

I whipped up this ombre art in 5 minutes and it was cheap! Actually free since I used stuff that’s just been hanging out in my craft room for who knows how long just collecting dust.

Gather up 3 or 4 paints in varying shades of the same color, a paint brush (a cheap foam brush works best) and a blank canvas. I have 4 shades of brown. Pacifiers, stuffed moose, assorted beer coasters and big glass of water are all optional. (Keeping it real, people!)

You can divide your canvas by how many colors you are using or you can just eyeball it. I chose to eyeball it. So starting with my darkest brown I painted long strokes across the bottom of the canvas.

Once I got to where I thought I should end that color, without washing my brush I dipped it into the next color and ran long strokes across the canvas, slightly overlapping the darker color.

Continue in this manner working your way up the canvas, using all your colors. Again, do not wash your brush between colors and overlap to blend.

And you really don’t need much paint at all. See this paint? This is way too much paint. This is what was left over after I was finished.

Let it dry!

Place it on a sparsely decorated shelf.

I felt like Picasso or something when I was done. Hubby wasn’t nearly as impressed. Whatever! I like it. I’ll like it even more once I sort through all the fun stuff I picked up at IKEA this morning and really stage those shelves!

What do you think of my fancy artwork?

This is where I link up.

Not So Floating Shelves

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

Progress is slow as molasses in the half bathroom. Such is life with two kids and a constantly traveling for work hubby I suppose. I had visions of floating shelves above the toilet in there, but after doing some measuring I discovered that my walls were not square (not surprised), but not just not square, like an inch + difference not square. I know that I could figure out the measurements and cut my boards at an angle to get them to fit and float, but I really didn’t want to deal with that! I took the easy way out. I picked out a pre-primed board at Home Depot and had them cut it for me. My walls measure 36″ in the corner, so I decided on 32″ shelves.

Since I scrapped the floating plans I needed a bracket of some sort. After perusing the aisles of Home Depot I found these pelican brackets.

They were the most “modern” looking bracket I found and I thought they looked kind of neat. And they’re not that big, so it was a good compromise.

And then I had to paint my shelves. Which took way longer than I expected because I kept forgetting about them. And that whole waiting for one side to dry before painting the other business.

Finally I was ready to install. I just eyeballed where I thought the brackets would look good and settled on 6″ inches from the ends. So I marked my center point on the wall and measured out. I drilled some holes, put in some anchors and hung my brackets. They were really easy to install.

You just loosen the screw on the bottom to open the clamp. Put your screw through the back brace piece. Put your shelf in between the two pieces and tighten the bracket on the shelf by tightening the screw on the bottom. So it fits any depth shelf.

I was facing the wall installing the brackets and my handy helper came to well, you know, help…..

That’s pencil marks on my freshly painted white shelf. She found my marking pencil and decided to leave her mark on it. Gotta love 2 year olds!

See how it just sandwiches the shelf in there? Pretty cool!

That’s level enough for me!!!

So now I have two shelves just chilling above the toilet! Two mostly naked shelves!! I painted that vase at one of those paint your own pottery places back before Pumpkin was born. That was when I started thinking I wanted to redo this bathroom, but hugely pregnant me wasn’t about to start the project then. There was no way my big belly was getting paint on the wall behind the toilet or over the sink. The owl is from West Elm. Purchased with a gift card.

I went to Marshall’s with Joanna in the hopes of finding some accessories, but all I ended up with was this.

Yeah, that’s not going in the bathroom.

I had purchased a clearance basket from Target (Nate Berkus line) before I bought the shelves, but it’s too wide so it’s chilling on the floor, except when the 2 year old carries it around the house.

So progress, but not complete. I still need to style the shelves a bit more and I’d also like to hang something on the wall that the towel and toilet paper holders are on. It’s big and blank and it’s the first thing you see when you walk in the room.

I think I’m going to hit up IKEA tomorrow and see if I can find anything that tickles my fancy!

Ugly Frame Facelift

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

I’m sure you’ve seen the ever popular “buy inexpensive awesome frames at the thrift store and spray paint them until they’re awesomer” pins right? Yeah, people, stop buying all the awesome frames at the thrift store. I want one. I’ve found a few interesting ones, but none of the really awesome ones. I picked up this little number back in the fall.

It’s not super awesome (though the picture inside is, right?) but it would do. Bonus points because it was easy to unassemble.

And then it sat unassembled waiting for spray painting weather. Seriously, Midwest, give me more spray painting days in the winter!!!

The frame is plastic, so I picked up plastic spray paint.

And I sprayed it. And I hated it. So again it sat around waiting for more spray painting weather. A month later……..

I went silver with it.

Finally happy with the frame I got to work on the glass with some chalkboard paint. And strangely I was hungry for a shake and some tots when I was done.

And since my roller was covered in paint and the top of my desk was looking a bit beat up I put a few coats of chalkboard paint on it, too.

After a little chalkboard priming I made my to do list on my new framed chalkboard.

Two of the 3 things on my to do list got done that day. Can you guess which two?

I like it! I’m going to miss that hazy lake scene, though………..

Check out the Link Parties page to see where this post may have been linked up!

You Better Accessorize!

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

That’s all I need to do now. Is to accessorize the half bathroom and I’m done!

Waiting for paint to cure is not my favorite past time. It makes an easy project take forever. Especially when you’re painting two sides of an object. The vanity was the time suck!

So at last update I had finished painting and was replacing outlets, hanging a light fixture and mirror and working on the vanity. A refresher of the “before” for you.

*Again, I lost the real before pictures, so you’re stuck with some progress pictures. And it’s really hard to take pictures in such a small bathroom!!

And here’s where I’m at today.

From this view it looks done! For me the most drastic change is the vanity. The fresh white paint is taking some getting used to, but I love it! It’s much better than that old oak! And here I thought the updated drawer pulls were a big change when I replaced them a few years ago. They used to be frilly and brass. I love these sleek brushed nickel ones!

I would have loved to change the vanity top, but it’s just not in the budget. And beige is part of the color scheme anyway. You can see my crisp, new white light switches and outlet and the new brushed nickel plates. I hung a new light fixture, a new mirror, and a new towel holder.

This isn’t the first towel ring I bought. I decided the first one (and matching toilet paper holder) were too traditional for my liking. I wanted something simpler, so I went with these IKEA ones (which I also have in my master bathroom). The unfortunate part being I purchased the other ones at Home Goods and I’m past the return date. The towel was a TJ Maxx find and the inspiration for the room. The vase was hand painted by me at one of those paint your own pottery places.

I changed the toilet seat lid out a while back and hubby recently replaced the handle. It’s the third handle we’ve put on. The last one was sleeker, but it broke. Bummer.

And this is the wall that needs some work. It’s too empty. I’m thinking of hanging some shelves and dressing them up. I’m hoping some white shelves will brighten things up and I can find some brown, beige and blue accessories to put on them. But that’s a project that won’t start until at least next week as we are celebrating Pumpkin’s baptism this weekend and we will have 11 guests staying with us. Until then I will be trying to maintain a tidy house, which is quite difficult to do with a toddler tornado running around!

Updated to do list:

~~Remove light fixture~~
~~Remove towel bar and toilet paper holder and repair~~
~~Remove mirror and patch holes~~
~~Paint walls~~
~~Paint vanity~~
~~Touch up trim paint~~
~~Install new light fixture~~
~~Install new towel bar and toilet paper holder~~
~~Replace light switch and outlet and covers~~
~~Install new mirror~~
Hang shelves
Accessorize

Only Got $20 In My Pocket

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

I’m always the last one to hear about things. I never see movie previews and when people ask if I’ve seen that funny commercial I never have (we don’t have TV service), I hardly listen to the radio (though I do listen to Pandora), and I don’t really read the news either. And I’m not hip and cool enough to know the cool new thing on the internet either (I had NO idea what the space jump was all about until my Twitter feed blew up with how awesome it was). So I was really not surprised that all these people were talking about Macklemore’s Thrift Shop and I was in the dark.

But when John and Sherry of Young House Love decided to host a Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge I wanted to play along. Like I need a reason to go to the thrift store?

I removed the behemoth of a stroller from the CR-V just in case…..

…….not the potty seat, though. The potty seat stays in case of toddler potty emergencies.

The rules:

1. Head to the thrift shop with $20 in your pocket and take a picture.

Babywearing and toddler wrangling optional (but not in my case).

2. Spend that $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.

Here’s what I got. I’m not even that happy with it. I kinda want a do over. Remember how I moved the stroller out of the car? Wishful thinking. Pickings were slim. The frame is going to see some spray paint and the picture will be replaced. And look for the bowls and plates in future food posts. And I will rock out to the CD in the car.

My total:

So I had some money left over. I took that money straight to Trader Joe’s to buy some Monkey Business Trek Mix to cheer me up after a disappointing thrifting experience.

Other interesting finds (not purchased – at least by me).

A big plastic rat. This thing was creepy. But apparently Joanna loved it. So much so that she bought it and declared it her new favorite pet.

This thing. This very skinny chair on wheels? I don’t know what this thing is.

A big picture of the Pope. It was tempting. But the only spot I could think of to hang him would be in the breakfast area and I really didn’t want him glaring at me while I ate my oatmeal in the morning.

The Northwest Indiana Youth Orchestra CD. I was born and raised in NW Indiana (EGI up in the hizouse!!!) and never knew there was a youth orchestra.

3. Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

This proved to be a little more challenging than I thought it would be. There was this.

Not moccasins, gator shoes, house slippers, or sneakers with the velcro. A wooden clog. Joanna insisted it go into our shared cart and one of us was going to buy it. She bought it.

I found some skis, but no kneeboard. Oh, and crutches for when you hurt yourself on those skis or kneeboard.

Ding, ding, ding!!!! PJs with the built in socks!!!! I totes wanted to buy these for the (rocket scientist) hubby, but they looked a little short for him. Bummer. But at least I completed the challenge!!!

So, there you go. I really would’ve liked to spend my $20 on something funner, something I could rehab, but we can’t all have kick a$$ thrift shops. Seriously, though, I really feel like the thrift shops around here are lacking! Except that one time that I scored that awesome dresser for Cupcake’s room.

Have you found any good buys (or creepy ratty ones) at the thrift store lately?

A Progress Report

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

The half bathroom redo is coming along! Although I’m sort of stuck in a holding pattern at the moment waiting for paint to cure.

Bad blogger still can’t find the before pictures of the bathroom. I know I took them. I guess I didn’t actually copy them over to the computer before formatting my card. grrr…….

So here’s some sort of before pictures.

It’s really hard to take pictures in a small space! The walls were BRIGHT yellow. We had an ugly old brass light fixture and ceramic towel and toilet paper holders just like in the master bathroom. I tore up the wall removing the old fixtures. And you can see in the second picture above where I patched the wall. The wall had a bit of texture, but after patching the wall was smooth, so I used a nappy roller to prime those areas to match the texture. It worked like a charm! I can’t even tell where the patch jobs used to be!

I ran into a bit of a hiccup when I went to install the new light fixture (in the dark!). The holes I needed to attach the plate to the junction box were right where the attachment piece for the fixture was. So just when I thought it was going to be easy to get the new light fixture on……..OK, it was still easy. I pulled out the nails that were holding the junction box in place, rotated the box and screwed it back in.

Then I hung my attachment plate making sure the two pieces that hold the light fixture in place were level. A little wiring and my light fixture was hung!

I hung a new towel hook and a new toilet paper holder. I love the new placement of the towel hook, over the sink. It’s super convenient there!

I primed and painted the vanity. Though I’m not finished with the door fronts. So it’s still sitting open.

A not so flattering picture of me working on the outlet.

I changed out the light switches and the outlet. Don’t assume that the outlet is on the same circuit as the light switches. You may get zapped (ask me how I know). And the outlet looks pretty, but even though I took each wire off one at a time and put them on the new outlet it’s not working………..I should fix that since our water softener is on the same circuit that keeps tripping.

Excuse the chubby picture…….I just had a baby 3 months ago…….how long do I get to use the I just had a baby excuse?

I wanted a round mirror. I have a crush on this teak mirror and she said she got it in Cincinnati, but they sell one of a kind items, so I figured I would out of luck. I can’t really go searching stores with two kids in tow, so I settled for an IKEA mirror that I knew was in stock. So, yeah, I still made a trip to Cincinnati, but I went with a shopping list (and hubby came, too, to help with kid wrangling).

So that’s what’s been going. Here’s the update on the to do list.

~~Remove light fixture~~
~~Remove towel bar and toilet paper holder and repair~~
~~Remove mirror and patch holes~~
~~Paint walls~~
Paint vanity
Touch up trim paint
~~Install new light fixture~~
~~Install new towel bar and toilet paper holder~~
~~Replace light switch and~~ outlet ~~and covers~~
~~Install new mirror~~
Hang shelves
Accessorize

New Year, New Bathroom

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

Well, not totally new, but updated. I’ve started on the half bath redo. It’s a small bathroom and a small redo. But a much needed redo. I packed up my little helper and braved the snow to hit up Lowe’s for some supplies.

Never before has Cupcake been so happy to go to the home improvement store. First, she got to go by herself. She really dislikes being left out (she cries when daddy takes Oscar to the vet every week for his allergy shot because she wants to go too). Second, she got to take her baby in her new carseat. Third, they were passing out free cake! As soon as she saw it she couldn’t stop talking about the cake. When they finally offered her a piece I couldn’t say no. Her babydoll carseat immediately got tossed into the car so she could dig in. And she’s such a sweet girl she shared with mommy.

In addition to the cake we picked up some paint, wall patches and Frog Tape. And I totally forgot to buy a new light switch, outlet and plate covers.

I’m not one for waiting around, so I had to dive right in even though there were dishes in the sink and coats and shoes littering the floor. Cleaning can wait when I have the DIY bug.

Now I remember taking a bunch of before pictures of the bathroom not too long ago but for the life of me I cannot find them. Hopefully I locate them before I finish the bathroom so I can show the before and after pics together!

The big dilemma with this room is that there is only one light. Once that light is removed you can’t close the door and use the bathroom. There’s no window, no skylight. It’s an interior room. The first thing I wanted to do is get the old light fixture down so I could start patching underneath it. If you remember from my master bath redo there is quite the mess under those old, ugly fixtures. Boy was I surprised to take the old light down and find this!

They did it right! All I was going to have to do is work on the paint line around where the old fixture was. Oh, and take back the two wall patches I bought because I don’t need them! While I’m there I’ll buy my new switch and outlet.

On to the next thing that would need some patching. The towel bar and toilet paper holder. Also known as the best arm workout ever. Those suckers were glued on and glued on good! I applied caulk remover around the edges of them to soften it up and make it easier to remove. But one of those suckers was just really on there! I dug at it for over an hour. Just the one!!! The other two pieces weren’t too hard, though. They did, however, leave a bit of a mess behind.

Eek! That’s what was left behind of the troublesome one. The other side of the towel bar wasn’t quite as bad, but still needs work.

And the mess behind the toilet paper holder.

I’ve put joint compound on them twice and sanded them twice and they still need another coat (or more).

And because I’m antsy I started cutting in a little with the paint because I wanted to see what it looks like.

There’s a lot to do in this bathroom. Ideally I’d like it finished by next Wednesday (which is Kids’ Reads day!) as I am hosting my sorority meeting, but really I don’t see that happening. I guess I just need a working toilet, sink and light by then.

Here’s the to do list:
~~Remove light fixture~~
~~Remove towel bar and toilet paper holder~~ and repair
Remove mirror and patch holes
Paint walls
Paint vanity
Touch up trim paint
Install new light fixture
Install new towel bar and toilet paper holder
Replace light switch and outlet and covers
Install new mirror
Hang shelves
Accessorize

Do you have any DIY projects in mind or in progress for the new year?

What’s Going On?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

I had grand plans of heading out to a local park to finally get some family photos while the weather was still nice, but I’ve had a sick 2 year old all weekend. She’s been running a fever, very cranky, not sleeping and just feeling icky. She wasn’t acting like her normal jumpy self. She’s spent a lot of time on the couch. So much so that she kept falling asleep on it. You know this kid is sick if she falls asleep somewhere other than her bed!

Luckily she hasn’t passed it to her sister. Infants with fevers are an automatic hospital stay, so I’ve been doing my best to keep the two apart. The perfect excuse to go shoe shopping and to the fabric store and out to lunch with a friend. I can easily take the little one with me. And I did.

And she’s feeling much better today.

Just for funsies here’s a picture of some baby feet.

When Cupcake was born she wore a harness for 12 weeks for her hip dysplasia so I never got to see her little baby feet. So I’m a wee bit obsessed with them this time around…….