The Mundane

Well my friends, the no spend month is ending soon. I can’t say I’ll be sad to see it go but it sure does help me refocus when I do this. When I’m not spending on house stuff I can concentrate on bettering what we already have. I’ve decluttered a TON and whenever I felt the urge to go out and walk through a store I just found a new spot to sort through.

I’ve gotten a ton done this month but there’s so much more on my list! When I’m focused on the larger projects I find the smaller ones tedious. But when I’m working on a to do list and not bringing anything new into the house the mundane little things are oddly rewarding.

I’ve put off painting the inside of the built in cabinets in the family room for months – I finally sat down and just did it:

Even though you can’t see much with the doors closed you can tell it’s darker and more uniform in there which I like. For this girl who never even paints the inside of the cabinet doors, this is huge!! ;)

Speaking of painting…a lot of it is happening in the kitchen. I’m still working on the second coat on all the window trim in the bay window:

I won’t finish the white on the walls till the window seat is done, which will be sooner than I planned!! Whoot! Next time you see this spot the seat should be there. :)

We went through all of the toy bins in the basement and I finished up a few little things down there. We have an AWESOME ottoman with storage that holds our DVD books and other stuff:

Problem is the kiddo pushes it around all the time and we never know which way it opens. We have to move around it and pull till we get the right side. This is struggle people.

My solution took five minutes – I found some old belts while going through stuff and since I don’t wear them anymore I used one to make little handles:

I just screwed them into the ottoman framing and now we know exactly where to open and it’s easier to pull up:

I was laughing because as I was doing this I knew I had used another belt in a similar way years ago -- but for the life of me could not figure out where I did it. I placed my little DIY tray back on the ottoman and realized it was on that tray. Ha! I’m smart.

When something needs to be hung I tend to leave it leaning for months – it’s one of those little things that I put off. I finally hung a cute sign in the laundry room:

Love it! I will be installing shelves between the cabinets but until then I went ahead and hung it. Knowing me that could be another year from now. ;)

We’ve had a big mirror leaning in our newly organized closet for at least six months – and it took me all of five minutes to get it hung:

On a whim back in late December (I’ve technically been on this no spend gig since mid-December) I decided to hang a bunch of the random photos we’ve had laying around:

This wall in our loft is HUGE. I have to get a taller ladder to keep going, but it’s not empty for the first time in years!

And finally, as I mentioned I did a lot of purging, but not a lot of organizing just yet. I did switch the contents of a couple dressers around and things make much more sense now. I put all of our linens in the dresser in the dining room turned library – and I have a couple of empty drawers now too!:

I’d still like to get some shallow baskets to organize things a little more – baskets may be my first purchase. :)

These no spend months remind me that sometimes it’s the smaller projects that make me feel the most accomplished. It also reminds me that I’m pretty darn lucky to get to do the “mundane” in a house we love – I’m grateful for it. :)

Making (DIY) art pop

Hey there all! Hope you had a lovely weekend! Hope those of you in the NYC area are stocked up – please be safe over the next few days!

Real quick, I wanted to remind you that the eBook sale finishes up tonight – it’s your last chance to get the 76 eBooks I told you about here. Baking, crafting, DIY, photography – it’s all covered in the books and it’s an incredible deal for less than $35! You can order yours here – I believe the sale ends at midnight tonight (EST).

OK, onto my latest DIY! So this is another one of those little projects I’ve had on my mental list forever, and this no-spend month is as good a time as any to get it done. Seriously, I want to go shopping SO bad. But this has been a GREAT month of getting lots of projects done and I will power through. :)

Back when I was finishing up our family room reno I needed some art for a wall and did a very quick piece of my own using a canvas I had picked up for another project. It turned out OK but it was a little dark and moody for the family room. The colors went gray instead of blue so I didn’t love it there.

I was changing things around in the master so I ended up hanging it there – and quite liked it. I don’t know if it will stay forever but for free art it will stick around for awhile:

A couple months ago I was finishing up small projects in that room and went ahead and framed it out with basic wood lattice trim from the hardware store:

I didn’t miter the corners or anything – they just butt up against each other. I quite loved the natural wood with the gray painting too:

I’ve been wanting to do the same with the painting I did years ago that now hangs in our foyer:

I just knew it would look more professional and finished off with a little edge to it. Problem was, I’m not spending on DIY this month and I didn't have enough of that lattice stuff. So I searched through the wood pile in the garage and came up with a solution. Cause I’m a hoarder crafty like that. :)

Remember the underlayment I used to do the inexpensive wood treatment over our fireplace?: 

Well when I had them cut it down at the store I kept the scraps. It’s really hard for me to give up stuff I know I can use later. And that I did:

I had a couple pieces that were a little over two inches in length so I sanded down the rough edges, then gave them a coat of black paint on the front and back:

This stuff takes paint really well so I never have to prime first.

Since it’s so thin I was able to avoid the garage and just cut with my miter box and handsaw:

Old school baby!

I used my nail gun to secure them to the side of the canvas:

And I couldn’t believe what a difference it made! It really makes it pop!:

The thickness is just perfect – even better than the lattice stuff. It’s a lot more substantial:

You can see here how I didn’t miter the ends – I just boxed it out:

The edges of the underlayment stuff weren’t great but after it was painted, you can’t even tell. I really really love it! I love touches of black and now this all ties in together nicely with the stairs and the bench underneath:

Not bad for FREE. You can see how I transformed this old canvas into our personal art (I did it with the Bub) here. It’s something I treasure and I’m glad it has even more of a presence now:

If you don’t have scrap laying around the lattice is about $4 for eight feet – for less than ten bucks you could give a canvas some oompf. :) And if you have a big piece of art that underlayment is only $15 for an eight by ten sheet – you could have it cut to whatever size you need.

I did the same look with the giant IKEA map in the basement as well and it really finishes it off nicely:

Boom! Another one off the list and no money spent! I’m concentrating on getting a big project done this week and hope to declutter a few more spots as well. It’s been a productive month for sure!

First kitchen project!

Hello and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day my friends! First of all, I have to say WHOA – I did not expect that response to Friday’s post! I loved reading all of your thoughts! I read every single one and if you left a link to your blog, I will be by…it just may take me awhile. ;)

I think it’s lovely that so many of you are invested in blogs and feel a connection because I do as well. I think I can speak for most bloggers when I say that it’s very important to us. I don’t ever want you to feel obligated to comment here – I know it takes time. But if you want to I love it! :) I feel like that’s how I get to know you.

Anyway, today’s project is a quick one – oh how I wish it was quick to complete! Actually it isn’t done just yet but I’m so happy with the progess I had to share. I think it goes to show what a difference simple changes can make!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue the board and batten that we have in the family room into the rest of the kitchen:

We don’t really have much wall space in there anyway so I wasn’t sure it would be needed. But then I realized it looked a little odd just having a few tiny walls without it…so this project was started.

The bay window and the pantry wall is what I’m talking about today:

(To see more about that glass pantry door, go here. To see how I made the glass more private for cheap, go here.)

Sorry for the bad iPhone pics – I didn’t realize how bad they looked till I got them on here. There were a few things I wanted to do in this area – the old baseboards had stain all over them (that would normally be covered by quarter round) but I’ve been redoing the base in here anyway. That wall was still the old wall color – a Ralph Lauren color called Sisal that I had mixed at Home Depot nearly 11 year ago.

And finally, I wanted to redo the door trim to match the craftsman look on the rest of the main floor – this was the last door to tackle, whoot!! I still have most of the doors upstairs but I call that progress!

So the first step was to remove the baseboards around the door – which I’ve told you is a total pain in the butt. One, because our base was installed incredibly well and it’s hard to remove anyway, but two, because we were lazy (see one) and didn’t take the base off before we had the hardwoods installed years ago. It’s hard to get down under there to get it out. But I got it done, then took the old trim off:

I explained that process and how I do the craftsman trim in more detail in this post.

Next up, I measured how high the board and batten would go and then painted the semi gloss white up to that point. Three coats later and it was ready to go!:

If you remember this is a no spend month for me – the door trim was sitting in the garage. I got it a couple months back to do the trim around our bedroom window, but I realized after the fact that it wouldn’t be worth it on there. With the roman shades hung high and the drapes on the sides, you wouldn’t see it anyway. SO…some of that trim got used here.

I started the upper part of the board and batten look with some scrap I had leftover from the family room. So far I’m THRILLED with how it looks:

So much prettier, right? Gah, I will never tire of the power of white trim.

So here’s the thing – you don’t even have to do the whole board and batten look to get a big impact like this. Just the white walls and the trim along the top makes a big statement, right?

I still have a lot to do that I hope to get done this week. The baseboards still need to go in – but I will probably stop at the bay window since eventually there will be a window seat there. Maybe I will just continue it so it looks nice for the time being. I did start painting the trim on the bay windows:

Only one coat on one window though – only eight more coats left (on all the windows). And the lower part of the walls need two more coats of white in the bay window as well.

It will take forever but I can already tell it’s going to look so good!:

In a couple weeks I’ll get a bit more trim to add the board and batten look to these walls too. I don’t think I’ll do many vertical pieces though -- at least not as many as the rest of the room. The walls are too small and I don’t want it to get too busy.

And of course, I need to hang my fork and spoon back up! I get asked about those a lot – I found them at a thrift store years and years ago. They were black and I sprayed them a silver color.

Because I love before and afters (they show me how far it’s come) here’s what we had yesterday morning:   

And here’s what we have this morning!:

Lots left to do but I’m so excited to get this whole area finished up after months of in between!

Doesn’t the white paint and trim look so fresh? Love it! The painting takes forever but it’s a cheap job for sure – and it makes such a difference! Now I cannot wait to get that window seat started! :)

Finished basement kitchenette

Hey hey! Well I’m getting things done this month, that is for sure. The no spend month is in high gear and I’m purging and organizing and getting little projects done like crazy. It feels GREAT! But I’m dying to go shopping. :) I usually don’t mind it but I haven’t stepped foot a “fun” store for more than a month now. Starting to twitch a little bit.

But did I mention I’m getting things done? I’ve had the materials for this project since two IKEA trips ago, which I’m figuring was about eight months ago. As usual, I am incredibly efficient and on top of things!

This was our little basement kitchenette last year:

We had the cabinets installed and then I installed the countertop and painted the cabinets. Then I jazzed it all up with a fun stencil.

A few months later we had the sink installed and since then it’s been a really functional spot. Love it! I’ve always wanted storage up above but knew cabinets would feel too heavy and would block the lighting.

So I picked up these shelves and the EKBY BJÄRNUM brackets from IKEA awhile back. (Sorry, didn’t mean to shout those at you in caps, but I copied and pasted that from their site cause I’m not even trying to spell that.) I could have just used basic stained wood for the shelves but these were the exact color I wanted and they were done, which is nice once and awhile:

That’s actually one shelf – I cut it in half for this wall. So I only used two shelves total. The brackets were easy to install – some of them I got right into a stud:

And for the others I had to use anchors:

You just install one side, then place the shelf and bracket on the other side, make sure it’s level and then mark where your anchors need to go. When you have the anchors in, put the shelf and bracket back up and then secure it to the wall. You have to insert the shelf first!

Funny thing was I’ve put this off forever and it took less than an hour to finish up. Typical! I wasn’t concerned about how strong they were because this one tested them out immediately:

Of course he did.

My original plan was to hang three on each side, but I thought that would get a little busy. We don’t need a ton down here – just a few plates and smaller items so the four hold everything perfectly!:

Here’s the basic sink we put in – it’s just a drop in but very deep. I gotta have a deep sink to hide the dirty dishes. ;) I went pretty basic with the faucet too and didn’t add a sprayer. Kinda wish I would have but we don’t use this sink a ton:

I was using what we had to fill the wall – the dishes were on clearance last year, the basket holds towels and washcloths, the ball jars serve as glasses and the sign above is one I made years ago:

It all came together just like I envisioned it!:

I may add a mirror to the middle to see how that looks. I don’t want it to get too busy so we’ll see about that.

Here it is with the lights off so you can see the stenciled wall a little better:

We also have a small fridge and microwave down here in the stair storage. Someday I can see us adding to this spot and wrapping it around the corner to add a bar or something. For now that area to the right of the cabinets is the Bub’s indoor basketball “court” that he uses every day in the winter. :)

When he’s older we may expand it a bit. For now it’s a great little spot with everything we need for movie and laundry folding nights:

This basement is a dream come true – we absolutely LOVE it down there. And now that we have cold drinks and running water we can just hibernate (which we did a lot over Christmas break). By the way…pizza rolls are the BOMB in a toaster oven. Just sayin. Try it.

One project down, a million to go! :)

Another no-spend month!

Hello all! I hope the end of last year and the start to 2015 were great! We stayed at home and partied in the basement…meaning we sat on the couch and ate popcorn. ;)

I’ve been busy going through rooms, purging and organizing and it feels so good. I love it. I’ve had zero desire to bring anything new into the house – it all must go! So I figured this would be a great time to do another one of my no-spend months.

I’ve done these a couple times before and it’s just a time for me to focus on what we have, make things work and get stuff done around the house. I always have list a mile long of projects I want to accomplish that get pushed aside because of the bigger stuff. And it just feels good to not bring any more STUFF into the house. My only cheat may be an IKEA trip that’s already planned, but I may just reschedule. ;)

I thought I would share a few of my favorite projects from no-spends past so you can see what I’m up to during these months.

I still love my little candlestick table that sits in our family room:

You can see how I made that (with items from Goodwill that I had) here.

Years ago I found an amazing online resource for free prints and used that to create some art in the family room:

I later added some gold rub n buff to the corners of those frames too:

Those prints now sit on the built ins near one of my other favorite no-spend projects, the DIY wood trough: 

This is one of the projects I get asked about most! I made it from scrap wood and it’s SO EASY. These are great for the middle of a long table too.

Another one of my best no-spend projects was when I took an old 80’s night stand we had forever:

And made it over with white paint and handles (all we had on hand).

So much better!:

I didn’t love the scrolly wood underneath so I recently removed that with my jigsaw, as you can see in this Instagram pic from the other night:

It removed even more of the 80’s feel. ;)

I used some scrap wood to build some shelves in the guest room closet:

I hate wasted space and this makes that awkward spot SO much more useful!

I also finished up a big project in that same room:

I had the paint…I just never took the time to do it! Still love this ombre wall!

We had some drapes that needed lined and some sheets I was going to drop off at Goodwill – so I used the sheets to line the drapes:

I share how to line drapes in that post too. The sheets were the perfect weight – love how full they make the drapes.

Like I said, I tend to get a lot of little things done in these months and last time I finished up a bunch of little details in our basement bathroom and shared the reveal:

I adore this room and it’s pretty colors! You can see more of this space here.

I’m looking forward to getting some projects knocked off the list! Hope you’ll find them useful too!

You can see all of my no-spend projects here and here. :) Have a great weekend my peeps!