Another Pinterest Project (with modifications)

If you know me, you know I am not an organized person. I am having to work very hard to figure this out. I have been thinking about it a lot lately. What did I do wrong in the past? What can I do to make it different now?

One thing I have always heard is "A place for everything and everything in its place."  Sounds simple, right? Maybe for some people, but not for me. One thing is I have never had a place for everything. Part of that is too much stuff. Part of it is not enough efficient storage.

I have been working on the too much stuff. I have gotten rid of so much stuff. Enough? Probably not, but I am still getting rid of things daily.

Now, I have to find a place for everything. I have conquered the kitchen and the laundry room. It really is making a huge difference. I can clean those rooms up so much quicker. Tonight, we had family over for dinner. Because everything was put away, and I knew where it was, I was able to get everything ready in just a few minutes. Clean up was even quicker.

One major clutter problem for us is what we bring in from the car or motorcycle. Keys, purse, camera bag, Dean's computer bag and back pack from the bike, everything from his pockets. How does he carry so much in his pockets? We walk in the garage door. The laundry room is directly to the left, and the living room is to the right. I have been putting my things on the dryer. Dean puts his bags on the sofa. He puts his keys and pocket stuff on a ledge by the dining room. This is not efficient for us at all.

After the buffet was in place, we had empty space in the laundry room shelves. It is just the right size for all of our bags! Woohoo! That really made me feel better to have a home for the bags. That left keys, change, sunglasses, wallet, and various other pocket items.

There is small little wall outside the powder room next to the laundry room. I have a little vintage magazine rack. I don't know the history on it, but it is unique. There is a shelf at the bottom where we each keep a pair of flip flops.

I got rid of most of my magazines when we moved in an effort to declutter. The empty shelves made it seem that much more bare.

In the process of sorting and getting our family photos ready to hang in the loft, we had a few items I decided to repurpose. I have been looking at Pinterest a lot. So many cute ideas. I decided to try a couple of ideas and make them work for us. One idea I liked is a key rack. The other was a frame for writing notes. Hmmm, sounded like a good place to start. I tried two separate frames. That would look nice, but there was no place for all the pocket stuff. I decided to combine the two frame projects and add a shelf.

 I must say this frame was a real pain. Really. I think the frame was built around the glass. I thought I would never get the glass out. I took the above pic after i had gotten the glass out and cleaned it. It had been in our garage for years. A lot of years judging by the dirt on the glass and frame. I had already cleaned it up. Oh, and I had taken the lovely photo below out of the frame. Yep, you can see why it was sitting in the garage.

I had primer left from the buffet project, so both pieces got a nice coat of Zinsser Over Stain Primer. I still have a lot of the green paint from the bedroom project. I told you it would be making more appearances. Both pieces got 3 good coats of the green. For some reason, it just didn't seem to cover as well over the white primer. Cheap paint. What can I say?








Today, I made a trip to Micheal's for some scrap book paper. That was when I had 2 more great ideas.  The first was 2 divide the frame in half and use 2 patterns. One would be my side. One would be Dean's side. The next idea I had would make the paper changeable where I can change it for the seasons!

I only bought enough for two today. I knew I had some scraps here that might work, and Micheal's didn't have Christmas paper that I liked. Above is my Fall look - it should work for October - November, don't you think? Because the paper is glued to poster board, it is thin enough to store behind the one that will be showing. That way, I don't have to worry about a place to store the other seasons' pages!

Here is the finished product! We each have a place for notes. We have 5 hooks for keys and plenty of space for our other things. I do need to add something where Dean can drop his change. There is a dry erase marker Velcroed to the back edge to the left. If we put it up right, it is hidden. We talked about adding coat hooks under the shelf for jackets in the spring and fall. That would mean we would need to find a different place for the magazine rack. I have decided the laundry room is just one step away. We have hangers and hanging space there. Jackets will be fine there.

 We even got a couple of magazines in the mail! I think it looks great. Hopefully, it will help us give us a place for all those things coming in from the garage. I think we will like writing notes to one another, too. Sometimes, he leaves before I am fully awake. If this had been up last night, I could have written him a birthday message last night. Instead, I had to text him.

There are still a few more projects going in the garage. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next.

A Buffet Redo

When we moved from the house in Longview, we packed up our china and serving dishes. When we got to El Paso, we never had a place to unpack them to. Because of that, they stayed packed in boxes for 4 years! Yep. Very unlike us, we didn't entertain much over that 4 year period. When we moved here, we wanted to get them out and actually use them. That was a good thought, but we didn't have a place to put them here, either. That put us on the search for the perfect piece.

We are on a pretty tight budget. We lucked out on the piece we bought the first week that is in the living room. I am going to remake it into an office space. The price on that was unbelievable, so I was hoping that I would find a piece for the dining room at a bargain price. That didn't happen.

After several weeks of shopping, checking garage sales and craigslist, we finally found a real bargain on craigslist. We bought the piece for $50! So what if it is from the 70s. It is a sturdy piece. I was thinking a coat of paint would make a big difference. I researched and checked Pinterest. I had a plan!

Notice the beautiful insets and hardware? I was going to make it work anyway.

I took off the doors and all the hardware. I then taped and papered off the inside. I Wanted to leave the wood inside. I confess part of the reason was less to paint. While I was taking the doors off, Dean suggested we put the doors back on inside out. That way, we don't have all that attractive inset, carving and hardware. I thought it was a great idea.

I bought Cover Stain by Zinsser. It was 18.00 at Home Depot. I had several small rollers. I was set.
 

 Remember I am married to Dean - a perfectionist. Sometimes I wonder why he picked me. I am so far from perfect. I don't mind a more casual look. Maybe some shabby chic. Maybe some antiquing. Dean, not so much. Since I am asking for some help, I am trying to make this as much like he would like it to be as possible. Compromise is interesting some of the time. I digress. I was going to explain that I put two coats of primer on to get a perfect cover. Notice the perfect theme? That comes back to bite me a few days later as we tried to put the doors back on.

Because the doors meet and don't have any dividing boards, they had to meet just right. Two layers of primer and two layers of paint really add on the thickness. Oops. We didn't plan for that. this is when things slowed down. We had to do some sanding and painting. Just the sanding blocks was not cutting it, so we invested in a new palm sander. I know we have one, but Dean hasn't gone through all the tools. I will be glad when it is cooler and he can do that. It surely will make some of our projects a lot easier to have the right tools. We probably needed one anyway. Ours was really old. It was an old hand me down when we got it.

Finally, after about 10 days, we had it completed! It is a really heavy piece. We moved it in last night, and I filled it up.

 Here is the final product! Looks great, doesn't it?  Don't the raised panel doors look so much better than the heavy carvings?  I am not sure how I am going accessorize the top quite yet. I don't want a lot, so we can use it to serve from when we have parties.

And here is the dining room. I need to get some artwork for the walls. The house is shaping up!

More projects coming soon!

The Powder Room & A Table Redo

We have a pretty little powder room in the new house. It is right off the living room, so it gets a lot of use. I had an old table I got from my grandmother. I knew it needed a mini makeover.

 

It was already painted. It looked like spray paint. We decided just to paint it like it was. I really liked the color we bought for the bedroom pieces I posted about last week. I bought a gallon of it - for $11.00 for the gallon, I couldn't see paying that much for a quart. I think it goes well with the wall color, and since everything in this house is painted that same color, I figure I can use it in several places. If you follow me here, you're going to be seeing it a few more times. In fact, I have a project going in the garage right now.

 

There you have it - the finished product. Below is what it looks like in the powder room. I need to find something to do with the kleenex box - I will have to check Pinterest for that! :) 

Bedroom makeover part 1

Dean and I have not had a headboard for our bed since at least 1983. After we got rid of the bed that had real springs and ticking mattress, we didn't have a headboard. Anyway, we have debated options for years and years. We wanted something different - out of the ordinary. We talked about fireplace mantles. We considered doors. We looked at covering something with fabric. Dean designed a great one that was supposed to be part of the remodel, but since we moved before the remodel was finished. Well, a lot was left undone on the personalizing. We have come up with lots of great ideas, we just never did anything.

We were determined to do something when we go here. We had to - the bedroom is off the living room. It is sort of visible. Yes, that means I have to make my bed everyday. Sort of cut down on napping.  Below is what you did see when you walk in -tall walls and lots and lots of that color - everything in the house is that color including the ceiling.

We started looking at ideas again. Not long after we moved to the house in Longview, we took the screen doors off. The one in the back had a duck on it. We didn't hang on to that one. The one in the front had great swirls. I had thought of painting it to put on the front porch. When we moved, I hauled it with us to El Paso. Again, I thought about painting to mount outside. Never did.

One day, after we got here, Dean suggested making a frame for it and using it for a headboard. Great idea. Until we dug it out of the garage and took it to the bedroom. No need for a frame - it was perfect like it was! Great news as sometimes Dean turns simple projects into big deals. Yeah, he did it with this without a a frame. I can't imagine what it would be like if had to build a frame. The frame had separated, and of course that would never work. So, we had to start on a 3 day journey to repair it.

On the left, is the broken part of the piece. On the right is Dean's solution. Clamps, bungies, and a yard stick. After day 3 of JB Weld not working, I suggested tie wraps. Yep. They worked great!

Also in that room was a little wicker and table. It was a freebie. And an awful color. I wanted a certain color, and I couldn't find it in spray paint. We did it the hard way and brushed it on.

The wicker was falling apart, so we just clipped it out. We left it in the rocker, but the table just had to be cleaned up.

I had purchased some great pillow covers in India. I had not bought pillows to go in them, because they are so expensive. I decided to go to Ikea. They were even 6.99 there. They did have some .99 pillows. They were standard size, but not very fluffy. I just stuffed them in the covers - it worked great! It was time for Dean and I to have new pillows, so we bought 2 pillows. I went through all of the extra pillow cases and found a couple that went with the decorative pillows.

I am not finished in there. I still want to get a rug for the wide open space in the floor. I also want to do some work on the dresser and bedside table. I purchased it for 65.00 at a thrift store in El Paso. A great find, but it needs a little cosmetic help. I will be working on that in a week or two.

For now, it is looking so much better.

As I get more done in here. More to come . . .

And my pic of the day for the 3rd is below