Step-In Closet

“I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!!!”…said the white rabbit…and says me.  I didn’t make the link-up deadline for the One Room Challenge this past week because I was teaching a two-year old how to use the bathroom properly BUT never fear, I’m still in it and I intend to finish the kids room before the big reveal day – November 8th!  I started painting their rug a couple of days ago and I’ve got one other little thing to iron down (literally) and then it’s finito! 

Week four saw me in their closet.  I put up a whole Instagram story about their closet situation and a couple of things I did to make it better a few weeks ago (and didn’t save it because I just am not that on top of things) but then didn’t go in again.  Great except when I left off, there were a couple of big bins and bags full of clothes right when you walk in that needed to go.  Let me explain from the top though, in case you missed the story.

This house has decent-sized closets – they’re pretty long inside but they have regular, doorway-sized entries so almost all of the usuable rod space is behind a wall.  It’s not ideal when you have four kids in a room and need access to all of their clothes regularly.

Here’s what their closet looked like shortly after we moved in:IMG_8789
There was a hanging rod in there but we took it out and hung it in my closet as a second rod so I could get more organization.  Then, we set up that closet organizer (it’s this one that I found at Dirt Cheap…here’s a similar one*) and it seemed like a great idea at first because it’s got double rods on one side and shelves on the other; perfect to hold all of the kids stuff and keep it organized.  But then we realized that half of it would be behind the wall and, while still accessible, a big pain.

Then, one day not too long ago, I stumbled upon this closet makeover Amy cranked out.  And you know what it is?  Genius.  That’s what.  Her hubby’s closet has a wider doorway than that of our kids’ but it’s the idea that counts.  I couldn’t copy it fast enough.

Kids/Guest Bathroom Reveal

So, I did a thing.  I know I casually mentioned I was doing it a few weeks or so ago but…

I brought this horribly lit, outdated bathroom…

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into 2018 with a little bit of paint and some better lightbulbs.

One Room Challenge–Week 3

It’s Week Tres of the One Room Challenge and gosh, I was hoping to be able to write a post all about how we fixed the drawers of this dresser:IMG_9121(If you need a refresher, there’s a whole post about it and it’s surrounding disappointment here.)

BUT, when I went to Home Depot early this week to buy supplies, I walked out of the store with zero anything because the things I needed to fix the drawers cost more than double what I thought they were going to cost and I’m just not ready to invest that much in this dresser.

HOWEVER, I did go to Lowe’s yesterday and there I found what I needed at the price I wanted and so HOPEFULLY, we can work on the dresser this weekend and I can maybe squeeze in a post about it next week.  *fingers crossed*

Until then, I’ve got to have something to show for the third week so how about a little glimpse at the little gallery wall I hung this week?

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The full gallery wall monty will of course be available in the week six reveal.  :)

.           .           .

To make up for my lack this week, there are two hundred plus bloggers knocking out room makeovers over at the One Room Challenge website.  Go get yer fill.

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Watercolor Diamond Wall–DIY

When Anthony first walked into the kids room and saw the diamond accent wall I had just painted hours earlier, his first comment was “Did the kids paint that?”…with a smirk of course because HE KNEW I had an accent wall planned.  I ‘ha ha’ed and showed him my inspiration pic:il_570xN.1500597129_kvvp(Triangle Murals wallpaper from Anewall Decor on Etsy)

And then we had a little discussion on abstract art and how popular it is these days and how that’s awesome for people like me who like to diy stuff like watercolor, diamond accent walls because it totally fits into that category and allows my quick paint job to pass as bonified art and/or maybe wallpaper.  ;)

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Bonified art that anyone could do.  Anyone.  With not a lot of time.

(I know, their faces say it all.  Ironically, I snapped these right before I laid them down for their afternoon siesta and apparently the camera aimed at them was a fun distraction from that fact.)

Here’s how:

One Room Challenge–Week 2

Week 2 of the ORC is here and, amazingly, I’m right on schedule (all the thanks to the two chicklets who have been taking awesome naps)!  My goal was to get the kids room painted before the week was over and bada bing, bada

BOOM!  Here’s what their room looks like right now!

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Yep, week 2 also saw me, not only painting their room but “bedazzling” their wall with diamonds.

I CANNOT WAIT to show you how those diamonds came to be and I will in my next post (pssst…it’s CHEAP & EASY!), but before I could even get to that fun part, I had to cover up the tan walls.  If you’ve ever painted a kids room before while it was being inhabited by said kids, you know, it’s muy inconvenient.  To get to the walls you have to completely upheave their room – move beds, dressers, whatever else they use on the daily.  For us, that meant moving the furniture from one side of the room to the middle one day and the other side the next day.  It also meant moving the kids into the play room and our room to sleep for a few nights.  (This is why, if I get the chance to paint before we move into our next house, whenever that is, I WILL.)

Swing Arm Lamps

Once upon a time we were having dinner with some friends and one of these friends asked me if I had any use for a pair of lamps she didn’t need anymore.  She had seen what I had done with some hand-me-down lamps before and thought maybe I could work wonders on these.  But before I could even get a word in, Anthony piped up with a resounding “NO”. 

So maybe at the time, we had too many lamps.  I was going through this cycle, which really wasn’t a big cycle, of rehabbing a couple of lamps, finding more lamps to rehab, and listing the former ones.  So sometimes we really had a bunch of ununsed lamps sitting in our house because some were awaiting a little love and some were awaiting a new owner.  And I was totally ok with it. 

Anthony though, well, he was not.  Understandable.

Why do you care?  Well because one day during those lamp-hoarding days I was walking through Goodwill with all (three at the time) of the kids and what did I spot?  These:

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They were marked at $8 for the pair.  Argh, I had to have them.  But I resisted the temptation because I love my husband so much.  But then those lamps haunted me and the headboard was a dream waiting to happen and I thought they might look so great with that headboard and so…I went back to Goodwill the next day, bought them, and immediately stuffed them under our bed when Anthony wasn’t looking.

And they stayed there for the next couple of years.

Doh.

One Room Challenge–Week 1

Oops, I did it again…

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(Thank you Britney.  While I couldn’t give you role-model status, you will forever be a part of my teenage years.)

I signed up for the One Room Challenge!

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My brain is still not sure why my fingers signed up BUT, we're going to go with the flow over here and cross another room off of our to-do list.  The great thing about the ORC is it provides LOTS of motivation! 

So, the room we are going to tackle is…

Our Kitchen in Print

I love writing this blog.  I love coming up with things and showing you how to achieve the same look/end product for less.  All of that requires lots of pictures tossed out into the interwebs of our nest.  While it’s great fun to get to see our house on a screen on the www, it’s EVEN MORE fun to see it on paper…magazine paper that is!!!!!! 

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A few months ago I was contacted by This Old House magazine.  Katelin, the writer of their Budget Redo column, wanted to know if they could feature the kitchen in their October issue and golly gee, I said “of course”!  So, if you’re a subscriber (you can subscribe online too!), check out page 30!

I thought the kitchen’s debut in this month’s This Old House would be a great opportunity to check in on it and let you know how everything is holding up five months later (read the original reveal post here)!  How are things holding up to the test of time?  Well, most things look like they were done yesterday, a few not.