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DIY Entertainment Center Into a Play Kitchen

September 15, 2012

UPDATE:  This kitchen has been pinned a lot.  I have since reshot pics of the play kitchen with better lighting and a better camera.  The pictures towards the bottom of the post are the original but if you want to pin this, I suggest using the newer pics which are now first.

Thanks to Pinterest and the lady who listed her entertainment center for free on Craigslist, my husband and I were able to make our kids a play kitchen for Christmas.   This was even on the list of my almost 11 year old daughter for Christmas, she said they missed our old kitchen we made last year together with what we had laying around our home.

Although our last kitchen was fun and easy to make, the kids were hoping for something a little bigger this time.  There is some great inspiration and creativity out there in blogland which helped my hubby visualize what I was hoping to do.  Check out some of these great kitchens and please, please, please head over to the original blogger if you are going to pin these next three kitchen pics, they would like the credit just as I would want credit for my work!   Under the photo you will find the link directly to the blog post for pinning.

                                                                Source: http://kellyandherboys.blogspot.com/2010/06/prepare-to-be-wowed.html

                                                          Source: http://doubletakedecor.blogspot.com/2011/09/play-kitchen-that-will-last.html

 
                                                   Source:  http://mcbabybump.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-manly-play-kitchen.html

The debate we started with was the glass doors, to remove them or keep them on.  We thought it would be a nice “fridge” so I spray painted the inside of the glass doors for the fridge with the aluminum spray paint.  Next I smoothed out clear contact paper over the doors so the paint wouldn’t scratch off, the contact paper side is also on the inside of the doors.  If it was a fail we would resort to plan B, which we didn’t really have in place.   After 9 months the glass and contact paper are still holding up perfectly!

The countertop was made using Contact Paper from Target for $5 a roll with plenty left over for other projects or maybe more play kitchens.  I had so much fun making this one that I would love to do some more.  If you live near me and want to place an order, let me know!

For the sink we used a stainless steel bowl we found at Savers for $3 and we purchased the faucet from Wal-Mart for $11.  Hubby cut out a hole and then just placed the bowl in there and used some liquid nails around the edge to keep it secure.  For the faucet he drilled the holes and screwed it in.

To make the cooktop we purchased a piece of 11×14 clear acrylic from Home Depot for $2.  I spray painted the back of it with black spray paint so that it wouldn’t scratch off when the kids were playing with it.  The spray paint also gave the cooktop a speckled look that you can see in the picture with it on top of the white paper.  I then spray painted some blank cd-r discs  black as well and used some acrylic paint I had on hand to paint the outer edge gray and a few of the inner edges with a circle as well to resemble a cooktop burner.  The cd’s were then covered with the clear contact paper so once again, the paint wouldn’t scratch off from being played with.  The knobs for the cooktop were free from a local Appliance Store.  I called and asked if they sold oven knobs and I was told I could order some.  When I explained I was looking for some for a play kitchen for my kids, the man told me to come down and I could dig through a box of miscellaneous knobs they had.  I love free stuff!  Liquid Nails was our best friend and what we used to glue down the cd’s to the cooktop and then the cooktop to the countertop.  For the oven knobs the hubby drilled holes through the plexiglass and then pounded a picture nail partway through but sticking up enough so that the knobs stick on there.
The back of the entertainment center was open so we used some beadboard that was leftover scraps from our friends’ dining room project , so it was free which is always nice. The light above the sink is a push button light from the dollar store that is battery operated, we originally purchased a similar light at Home Depot for $6 but returned it after we found the same thing for a dollar.  The light is attached with velcro squares to the ceiling, so when we need to change the batteries we can just pull down the light, change them out and then velcro it back up there.  My husband thinks of all these things, that’s why we work so well together!

For the oven door, my hubby used his jig saw and cut the square shape out and attached a piece of clear plexiglass ($2) to the inside of the oven door with screws.   The plexiglass did end up breaking a bit near the top so he was very careful putting in the last screw the second time around.

For the wire shelf in the oven, we purchased a piece of shelving from Home Depot for $5 and used a hack saw to cut off the appropriate width.  He cut it a little too tight but that worked in our favor and then he used two screws on each side to hold the front of the rack in place.  It was already gray so we didn’t need to spray paint it.

The handles for the stove and the pantry were a bit pricey, the oven handle was $9 and the pantry was $6, the handle for the small door under the sink was only $3 .  I spray painted the hinges on the doors with a $3 can of Rustoleum Alumninum spray paint  which we also used for the oven door, fridge door handles and the fridge doors as well.
The kitchen is done for now but as the kids play with it, we may turn the cupboard under the sink into a dishwasher and possibly add a microwave too.  For now it’s getting played with and the kids love it!

 

Rough estimate for the total cost of this project is $100 including the picture frame, the hand towel, oven mitt and washcloths all which came from the dollar store.  If you have any questions about this, I’d love to answer them!  I hope this will inspire you to turn a piece of furniture into something fun for you children or grandchildren.

I’m linking up here:

 

 

 

 

 

By 28 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, projects

Laundry Room Makeover – Complete!

August 29, 2012

The last few weeks of summer have been flying by with friends visiting from near and far, a little trip back to our old stomping grounds, school supplies shopping and preparing for a new school year.  One of the areas in my home that needed some TLC, organization and a new paint color (flesh colored walls are just not for me) was the laundry room. Not only is the room looking scary, it is very hard to photograph as there is no natural light and it is not very big to be using a tripod in. So bear with me on the photos!

 

My first instinct was to paint the laundry room a blue/aqua or perhaps gray.   Then I thought maybe this room could be a different color from most of the other rooms in our home, which are some shade of blue or gray.  After posting a laundry room paint color question on my fb page, which had a crazy amount of response by the way, I decided to go with green.  Yellow was my first choice and the most popular answer but I went with the second most popular pick, green .  Maybe the blogger Color My World Challenge really did help me introduce a new color in my home, one that I would not have picked if not challenged, I didn’t pick just any green but a chartreuse green.   Digging in my fabric stash I found this blue and green flame point print that I have had for a few years which would go well with green.  Next up for inspiration was a striped aqua and green rug from Target.

aqua green fabric

Here it is, all put together and ready for some laundry!

 

 

 

 

 

I found these great printables at BHG and knew they would be perfect in my laundry room.  Using dollar store document frames and some pink spray paint I already had on hand, I was able to make some wall art for $4.

Here is the link if you would like to print these off as well.

The fabric was used to make a simple sink skirt.  Using velcro with a sticky back and my sweet sewing skills, I covered up the ugly sink for $8.

 

I had this in our bedroom at the last house, it was kind of a sage green color and was laying around in the basement not being used.  A couple coats of some aqua sample paint and a piece of scrapbook paper, new look, new room to use in.

We replaced the wire shelving with some melamine shelving from Menards.  The shelving brackets are from IKEA, I purchased them last year for the Cloffice but didn’t end up using them there.  The baskets are from Hobby Lobby and store our pool towels and cleaning rags.  So where did I put everything that was on the wire shelving?  The drawers under the washer and dryer!  I have no idea why  I wasn’t using the drawers but they hold quite a bit and keep the clutter away.  The toilet paper and paper towel have relocated to a different area of the home.  Otherwise all my cleaning and laundry supplies are neatly tucked away.

Where did the laundry sorter go you may be asking?  Well, I’ve started using a new system for washing our clothes, maybe most of you do this as well, wish I would’ve thought of it sooner.  I just take the entire dirty hamper from child A’s room, throw it in the washer, dryer and then they take the basket of clean clothes to their room and are responsible for putting the clean clothes away.  There is no more sorting of clothes, especially socks and underwear, which was a dreadful task!  Laundry for 6 people can be a bit much at times and this washing one person’s clothes at a time has simplified my life!

Here are a few before and afters side by side so you can see the change!

 

The wall color is Frolic by Sherwin Williams, I scored a gallon of paint for $28 during their 40% off sale a few weeks ago.

The rug is from Target $14

Ironing Board Cover Target $8

Ironing Board Hanger $8

Melamine Shelving  $13

Baskets from Hobby lobby on sale $35 for both

White Clock Target $6

Document Frames for Printables $4

Total $ 118

I’m linking up here:

 


By 20 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, laundry room

Before and After: The Hallway and Stairway

April 27, 2012

Here’s a little refresher on life in our home.  We purchased this house in late June of 2011.  There was pretty much oak and beige covering all the walls and trim/cabinets.  Quite possibly we were a test site for a Sherwin Williams beige collection, I’m not sure but the cans in the basement give me reason to believe this.  The only room not beige were the bub’s bedroom, it was forest green and the main floor powder room which was mint green.  I’ve slowly been eradicating the beige and the oak, in the process we also have decided to switch out the flat oak doors for six panel white ones, still hollow but much better looking in my opinion.   Take a look and see what you think, we just finished painting the stairway and upstairs hallway Owl Gray by Benjamin Moore and switched out all the doors.  I painted the trim when I was working on Little A’s room so the only place left to paint trim is in the basement.  Let’s pretend I don’t have to do that for now.

Here are the before and after shots together.   Can see how much lighter and brighter the hallway is?  It even feels wider and larger in the hallway.

 

This was a tricky space to photograph, the lighting was hard to deal with but I think I captured for the most part the difference!  All that’s left to do is change out the boob lights and maybe hang a few pictures in the hallway.   Ok well and ripping carpeting off the stairs and having lovely wood stairs and flooring all throughout the house but that might be years from now.  I’m loving the light and neutral wall colors with the white trim and doors.

Details:
Trim & Door Paint: Ace Cabinet and Trim Paint in High Hiding White  and also the banister is Ace Cabinet and Trim Paint mixed in India Ink

Wall Color: Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore

Doors: $19 a slab at Home Depot.

Handsome hubby had to make the hinge sets on the doors along with drilling for the knob and shaving  maybe half an inch off each door to get them to fit.  For $19 plus the cost of some tools, it was worth it!  I did have to paint the doors as well.  We reused the brass handles that were on the oak doors.  Hubby wants to replace them and I actually don’t mind them.  Stay tuned for the winner of the door handle battle.

I’m linking up here:


Making Lemonade

By 23 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, newplace, Our Home, Uncategorized

Details on Little A’s Vintage Room

April 25, 2012

I shared Little A’s Vintage Room last week on the blog.  Your comments were so sweet and encouraging to me, thank you!  So I thought today I’d share a few of the details and cost breakdown for the room.   Most of my bedroom makeovers that I’ve done, I have tried to do for $200 or less.  The bub’s first room was my first attempt at a children’s bedroom and the total was just under $200.  His second bedroom came in around $170.  This room might come in a little higher but we’ll see how I did!

One of the best changes I made was spray painting the metal bed frame.  Here is a before with the white, chipped look going on after being abused used by my children for the past 5 years.

Using lots of elbow grease to sand down the frame where it was drippy from it’s last paint job (the hubby’s first and last attempt at spray painting), two cans of primer and two cans of Rustoleum warm yellow spray paint, she’s looking sunny and lovely in yellow.

The embroidery hoops were all purchased from Hobby Lobby or Jo-Anns for an average of $1 each.  The fabric inside the hoops is from vintage sheets and was purchased from Shabby Sheets on Etsy for $10 with shipping.  I spray painted the outsides of the hoops white using spray paint I already had on hand and added the two candle wall sconces which I also already owned. Grand total for embroidery hoops and fabric $17

Above the desk I wanted a place for little A to be able to hang up her drawings and maybe pin some fun photos or whatever catches her fancy.  I found this cork board at Savers for $1.99.  I recovered it by stapling some yellow gingham fabric from Hobby Lobby for $3.50.

 

The two smaller boards on each side of the cork board were pictures we had from a previous bedroom.

I recovered both of the pictures by stapling them with left over fabric from the embroidery hoops and then used velcro adhesive to adhere the giant clothespins.  I already owned the clothespins as well so these two picture frame boards were free

 

The lamp and shade came from Target, with a coupon the total was $13.

I added pom-pom trim that was $1 from Hancock Fabrics to the shade with my glue gun, total $14.

The curtains were probably my biggest expense.  The fabric was $30 for four yards from Fabric.com with free shipping.  I used this tutorial from Tip Junkie on making lined curtains.  I purchased two twin size flat sheets from wal-mart for the lining, $10.  Total for curtains, $40.   This is a glimpse of the curtains,  my sewing skills and photographing things near brightly lit windows are less than stellar so I think it’s better if we just go with this photo.

I spray painted her curtain rod white with spray paint I already owned, total, free.  I found sticking the rods into the ground and spray painting them like this was super easy.  After they dried I then laid them across some cardboard boxes and spray painted the ends that were in the ground.

The chipboard letter A was purchased for $1.50  from Hobby Lobby.   A piece of paper from a vintage Nursery Rhyme Book cut to shape was the perfect vintage look for this letter, cost $1.50.

These wall plaques were $2 each from Savers.  Looking a little dated in brown I knew that some color could really make these cute!

A quick coat of green spray paint in Eden by Rustoleum and voila, fun vintage looking wall plaques for $4!

I debated using the quilt my grandma made as the bed covering and folding up the coverlet at the end of the bed instead, this picture is before all the details were finished up.  What do you think?  Maybe for the winter I can change it up when it gets cold and snowy!

Well that just about covers everything I can think of in her room.  If you aren’t sleeping by now, Congratulations on making it through this post!   As a reward, here’s a look at the finished room one more time.

 

Now it’s time to add it all up and see how I did.

Bedroom Cost Breakdown:

Paint $41

Bedskirt $6

Coverlet $40

Curtains $40

Sewing Desk $7

Drum Stool $20

Pillow TJ Maxx $15

Spray Paint & Primer $15

Lamp $14

Clock $7

Letter A $1

Cork board & fabric $6

Embroidery Hoops & Fabric $17

Picture over Dresser $3

Butterfly placques $4

TOTAL= $236

There you have it, the breakdown and some details on Little A’s vintage bedroom.   I think I covered just about everything I painted, modified or made for her room.  If you have any more questions or want to know about anything else, I would be happy to help you out.

By 7 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, decorating, thrifting, Uncategorized

Little A’s Vintage Inspired Bedroom

April 18, 2012

Remember way back in the beginning of March when I posted about my youngest daughter’s bedroom?   Originally I was thinking an orange and pink look would be really spot on for her but when I asked her what she would pick for her room, she came up with pale pink and pale yellow.  No offense to anyone who has these colors together but it reminded me of some bad 1980s decor.  I was really just stuck  on what to do in her room so I kicked her down to the basement with her sisters, cleared everything out of her room and then used my quilt that my grandma made me a long time ago as my inspiration.  My grandma passed away almost 10 years ago this May so to have a piece of my grandma that I can share with my children and actually even use is special.

 

These two pictures were my main inspiration for this room, the first one was the color palette and the second picture reminded me of my quilt and had a vintage feel, which I liked.

 

Here is a refresher on what her room looked like before I started, lots of stuff taped to the walls, oak trim and doors, black, pink and white color scheme with “puke colored” walls as little A called them.  We moved in last June and she picked out the zebra black and pink theme.  Thankfully she was over it so I could make this room not look like Barbie at the zoo.

First of all, I would like to thank Wal-mart for being open 24 hours a day even though I really don’t like Wally world, buying paint at 11:300 at night did come in handy for this room.   The color is Better Homes and Gardens 10742 Shallow Wading Pool.

The embroidery hoops are from Jo-anns and Hobby Lobby and were all around $1 each.  The fabric in the hoops is from the etsy store Shabby Sheets and was $10 for a few squares of fabric that I used above her desk as well.

The bed frame came from E’s room and was originally white.  A few coats of Rustoleum Warm Yellow gave me the pop of color I was looking for.   The white coverlet is from Springmaid and can be found at Target for $70 but I found this one a bit cheaper on e-bay, $40.  The bed skirt is also Springmaid and was a GW score for $7, currently $40 at Target.  The pillow was $15 and I found it at TJ Maxx.  This was the first purchase I made for this room and was my inspiration with the quilt.

The green table was a thrift store find last summer for $5, originally an ugly brown color nut now sporting this pretty green called Eden by Rustoleum.

The lamp is from Target and with a coupon was $13 for the shade and base.  I bought the pom pom trim from Hancock Fabrics for $1.  The clock is from Hobby Lobby for $7.  Little A painted the cute little inchworm a few years ago.

The curtain fabric is from fabric.com and is by Heather Bailey, Nicey Jane Church Flowers Pink.

The sewing desk is from GW and I picked it up $7.  The cool drum stool is from CL and was $20.

The corkboard is from Savers for $2, the fabric to cover it was $3.50.  The clothespins I had already and used leftover fabric from the hoops to cover up some old pictures we had.

Little A drew a self portrait for her room and I added this drawing of a dog she did recently.

The letter A is a chipboard letter from Hobby Lobby for $1.50, I covered it with a page from a vintage nursery rhyme book.

The butterfly pictures are from Savers and were $2 each.  I spray painted them with Eden by Rustoleum, same color as the nightstand.

The picture above her dresser was a GW find for $3.

Now for the “unfinished” portion of the room.  The closet needs some work and I didn’t take the time to make it “picture perfect” as I needed to take the bub’s outside to play and he was tired of waiting for me.

Time for a few final pictures.

Her room is rather large and it feels kind of sparse in there but she likes to play with her barbie house and also her dolls so for now having the extra room to play is working out in here.  I may find her a bigger dresser but that depends on how I work out her closet.

Things left to finish:

Gut and Paint the closet, add shelving and curtains or doors on closet

Find a bookshelf and/or bigger dresser

For a cost breakdown and more details on her room, you can check out this post.

Ok, if you made it this far, Congratulations!  This was a long picture heavy post!   While typing up this post, I realized how much of her room was thrifted, ebay, etsy and a small amount came from Target.  I really enjoyed shopping for her room and I am sure I’ll be adding a few more things here and there.   The best part of the whole process is that Little A loves her room!

I’m linking up here:


 

Making Lemonade

 

By 52 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, little A's room

The Hallway

April 9, 2012

The projects have been happening around here, just nothing posted lately.  I did give a sneak peek at Little A’s room the other day.  I will be working on finishing that up, I ordered curtain fabric, let’s hope it works out!   Besides her room, my hubby has been changing out our doors on the second floor.  The first floor was easy, it was all of two doors, the pantry and the powder room.  The second floor has nine doors, three of those were special order which we are hoping arrive this week.   The hallway and stairway are also in need of a paint job as I have been hard at work de-oakifying the house and de-beigeifying it as well.  Thank you Lord I only have the basement trim to paint white and sorry but that might be a while.  The entire house was painted in one of the 4 shades of Sherwin Williams beige they picked, seriously and of course they used flat paint.  You can only imagine what my walls look like with 4 kids and two dogs so I am brightening it up with some light gray paint that is washable.

Here are a few before pics of the stairs and hallway, it’s kind of hard to take pictures of a hallway with doors shut and no natural light so try to make it through.  ;)

 

I have already painted all the trim white on the second floor and in the stairway as well.  The banisters are black and you can see a peek of  it in the second picture above.

Here’s the plan, paint the stairway walls and hallway, finish the gallery wall going up the stairs, change out the rest of the doors and possibly de-boobify the lights too.   I think this is manageable for this month!  I’ll be back at the end of April with an update!

I’m linking up here at my friend Lisa’s awesome  blog, come join me and see what others are up to this month as well!

Shine Your Light
 

 

By 5 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, Our Home

Before & After: Little Boy Vintage Americana Room

February 24, 2012

After hours of editing photos, I’m finally ready to share our little boy’s bedroom with you.
To refresh your memory I posted this before of the bub’s room on Feb. 9th over with Lisa at Shine Your Light for her February Before and After party.   The room was dark forest green and had nothing on the walls save for some cobwebs. I really did not like his bedroom and was just waiting for the inspiration to hit.

When I explained to my hubby that I wanted to make it a book nook he immediately wanted to build a ladder and a seat/bench area.  I wasn’t crazy about the idea because I imagine what little boys like to do from platforms, jump off them and break their necks.  Of course I may be over dramatizing this a bit, I’ll let you know if it happens. The hubs built his platform/ladder thing in the nook and I’m so glad he did. After he added the seat and ladder we knew that we wanted a light in there and book storage but it is a pretty narrow space.  After a few options that just didn’t work out we settled for using some fabric storage bins that previously held his socks and grundy undies.  The back of the nook was looking pretty plain and my original thought was stripes but then inspiration struck, barn wood!   Thankfully we had some beautiful barn wood just sitting in our garage!   After that the search was on for a light fixture and Lowes had the perfect one!  I LOVE how the nook turned out and so does the bubs.  Isn’t he so cute reading in it?

I kept his bed the same for now, he is still little and needs the bed rail on at night but for the pictures I kept it off the bed.  The only changes to his bed are the new navy comforter from Marshalls and the pillow I recovered with fabric.  The dresser was from our bedroom in the old house and I repainted it and added some new knobs.  While browsing pinterest I found inspiration to try a chalkboard paint on this dresser. I sifted with a sifter some unsanded grout into the paint, mixed it in really well and painted it on the dresser.   I’m still not in love with it and might repaint it the same color just without the grout. It’s definitely a chalky type of paint on there and I did try using chalk on the dresser but I just don’t love it.

UPDATE:  We added some rain gutter bookshelves to his room by the bed.  Handy to have for bedtime stories and library books.

Here is the before and afters for you, one more time!

Project Cost Breakdown:

Toy Bin from GW (Target) $10
Gallon of blue Pittsburgh paint from Menards $5
Blue Twin Comforter from Marshalls $17
Quart of Red Better Homes & Gardens Paint from Wal-Mart $10
Knobs for dresser from Hobby Lobby $2 x 8+ $16
Navy Curtains from Target on clearance $9.50
Metal Signs from Hobby Lobby at 40% off $15.00
Lamp Shade for Boob Light cover-up from GW (Target)$4
1 and 5/8 fabric for pillows – $10
Boards for Nook shelf and ladder – $20
Light for Nook from Lowes $25
Two Pictures from Hobby Lobby $30
Barn Wood – Blood + Sweat = Free!

Total $171.50

My goal was to do this room for $100 to $150.  I came pretty close!

(The doors and trim paint were not included in the cost of this room because we are replacing the doors throughout the entire house and also painting all the trim white).

This room turned out way better than I thought it would for $170.  The feel is a vintage Americana, tied together by the fabric on the pillows.  What do you think?

I’m linking up here:

Shine Your Light

The DIY Show Off


 

By 53 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, Little Bub's Room, Our Home

Master Bedroom Update (again) Painted Nightstands

February 14, 2012

One day this room will be complete and the title will read Master Bedroom Complete! You won’t even know what to do with yourself because this room has been progressing since November. Really I’m so close to being done, I just need some artwork and to figure out a bedskirt.  The last update from a few weeks ago I suggested it was time to paint the nightstands and you all gave me such wonderful color ideas. I tried green but it wasn’t looking so great. Next choice was coral and we found a winner!

Just a refresher, here is the room a few short months ago, a mish mash of stuff with some temporary red curtains, boring beige walls that looked like purple poop at night and the nightstands I found for $35 total.

The color of the nightstands is Benjamin Moore Rhubarb.  I used a semi-gloss paint to get more of a glossy sheen on them.

I used some rub n buff to goldify the handles of our nightstands.  They were somewhat gold but it was a bit tarnished, this brought the gold factor up a level and it has a little more pop now.

 Here is the nightstand before and after:

Thanks for all your help with the nightstands!  I think they look so much better and add a nice punch of color to the room.  What do you think?

I’m linking up here:

 

 


By 45 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, master bedroom, Our Home, painting

Roomspiration Closets & Nooks

October 3, 2011

Hello and welcome to the Closets & Nooks Portion of Roomspiration!  I’m so glad you are here and I can’t wait to look at all the fun stuff that you will share today!  Today I’m going to share my new Cloffice with you that I just completed last tonight.  I shared my first cloffice on my blog back in January of this year.

 We recently moved and I was missing my old Cloffice for all the papers, bills and stuff  that didn’t have a home anymore.  I found it a temparory home in the kitchen but I didn’t find this very attractive to look at or helpful when looking for a missing receipt.

 I knew right away that a cloffice was in our future and I had the perfect place for it, the front closet.  After a bit of convincing, the hubby agreed we could turn the closet into a cloffice.  Let the fun begin!  The only obstacle was finding somewhere for our games and vacuums, guests to hang their coats when visiting our home.  We completed the entryway a few weeks ago and you can check out that post to see what we ended up doing for the guest coat dilemma. 

Here are the before pictures of the front closet.

One of the first things I did was find my inspiration photo for the colors of the cloffice on Pinterest. 

I then tried to create an Olioboard  to help me visualize what I wanted.  I have not used Olioboard much, as you can tell from the picture below but I will definitely be using it again! 

.  After I had an idea of what I liked, I needed to find a stencil.  There are many choices out there for stencils and you can even make your own which I did in the last cloffice.  I was sent a stencil to try out from Wallovers and I chose the Alyma’s Allover stencil.

It was hard to choose because I also really loved many stencils, including Decodence. 

   I recently stenciled my powder room with a stencil from Hobby Lobby and it was quite trying.  There were little triangles in the corner for lining up the stencil and it worked for the most part but I struggled with it many times.  Wallovers uses the repeating patterns in the stencil instead of the little triangles in the corner.  You can see the pattern at the top, sides and bottom of the stencil.  When you reposition the stencil it lines up nicely and makes it really easy to stencil a wall.

Wallovers also sent me the Topper Stencil which made doing the area near the ceiling very easy.  Here is the hubby figuring out how the Topper works. 

The corners are definitely the hardest part of stenciling.  I chose to make the main wall the focal point of the cloffice and leave the sidewalls unstenciled. 

I used a foam roller from Hobby Lobby for rolling on the stencil paint.  For the wall color, I used Benjamin Moore Regal Select in Galapagos Turquoise.  The BM paint was expensive but I thought well worth the $50 I spent.  The paint was thick and rolled on smoothly without splattering.  I did two coats but after one coat I was amazed at the coverage.  I have tried many different paints but this one is by far my favorite!  BM did not pay me or compensate me in anyway for this review, just my personal experience with this paint.  For the stencil color I decided to try using the Precious Metals paint in Hazel from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot. A quart of paint was about $18 and we used less than half to do the wall in the cloffice.  I rolled two coats on the stencil before peeling off the stencil and moving it to the next spot.  It was hard to wait the few minutes in between coats but I think it looks great and I’m glad I waited instead of rushing ahead.
I love the way the wall turned out and would definitely use a Wallovers stencil again!  The stencil arrived quickly, was not flimsy and was easy to use!  I’m so excited to announce that  Wallovers is offering all my readers a 10% discount on any order now through October 31st! So what are you waiting for, head on over and check out their great selection of stencils. Use the code hydrangea when you order and if you have problems let me know. 

Now for the best part, the after pictures!  Some of the pictures are from last night and though I really wanted some natural sunlight, it just wasn’t in the cards for me.

The finished wall!

 The ceiling before hubby installed the light. 

Here it is with the pendant light.

 The barn boards on the ceiling came from a barn my friend Jenny & I destroyed ripped apart, you can read more about that here.  My sweet hubby did the barn wood ceiling for me.  The pendant light on the ceiling is the Kristaller from IKEA.  The desk lamp is from the old Cloffice.

The gold picture frame is from Monica over at Read My Walls.  Read My Walls has a new product line that is coming out and it’s adorable. You may have seen frames that look similar in style over at Organic Bloom. Well, the style of the frames is all these two companies have in common. Read My Walls is selling these frames at a fraction of the cost that Organic Bloom sells them at. Plus, Organic Bloom only sells these frames to professional photographers. Well, I am not a pro and you probably aren’t either. Thank you to Monica for allowing anyone to own these stunning frames. Hey, that’s not all…Read My Walls also is giving you the option to buy them unfinished. That means, we can get them EVEN CHEAPER and match them to our home’s own color scheme. What a great option! Last but not LEAST…Monica is giving away one these beautiful frames during the month of October! Who doesn’t like things for FREE? So, hop on over to see what new products Monica is making and watch for the frame giveaway details!

The clear file folder holders are from Target along with the file folders and the binder. I am waiting for the pink file folders to come back in at my Target but the blue ones don’t look too bad for now.

The letters which represent my blog name are from Michaels and are painted Coral Reef from Sherwin Williams. The white board/cork board combo frame also came from Michaels. The magazine holders are from IKEA.

The desk was a CL find on Thursday last week. The original desk did not work out for the cloffice but that’s ok, I think this desk is a great fit and I didn’t have to strip, sand and paint it. The seller’s of the desk gifted me with the chair when they dropped off the desk. I recovered the chair with some fabric I found for $3 at Hancock Fabrics. The chair could use some TLC but I simply ran out of time this weekend.
Here’s one more before and after for you.

We are still debating if we will up doors on the cloffice but for now, we are going to leave it open. Maybe it will be a good motivator to keep it clean!   I am also still on the lookout for some different accessories for the desk and maybe something else for the walls.  Stay tuned, this isn’t the last of the cloffice!
I  hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of my new little space.  Now that I’ve shared my closet turned office, it’s time for you to share your closets and nooks!  Please link up below.  The only thing I ask is that you please put the Roomspiration button in your blog post.

Roomspiration 
<div align="center"><a href="http://themustardceiling.blogspot.com" title="Roomspiration"><img src="http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd408/lizzygal18/orangebackgroundbutton.jpg" alt="Roomspiration" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

It would be great if you stopped at a few other links and met someone new today! Thanks for linking up and stopping by!  Don’t forget to visit the other great Roomspiration Rooms and it’s not too late to link up, all links will be open until Oct. 14th!

Entryways – Abode Love
Living Rooms – View Along the Way
Bathrooms – Homemaker on a Dime
Guest Bedrooms – DIY by Design
Craft Rooms -  Family Brings Joy
Dining Rooms – Involving Color
Nurseries – a la mode

 Master Bedrooms - Just a Touch of Gray

By 35 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, cloffice, projects, roomspiration

Boob Light Reduction

September 20, 2011

Good morning! Do you like the title?  Nice and classy, I know.  What can I say?  That’s how I roll.  I even found this definition at the Urban Dictionary.

 BOOB LIGHT:

A dome light mounted on a ceiling that resembles a female breast with a decorative erect nipple. They are often found in pairs in 1980 style homes.

Does every home built after 1979 have the dreaded boob lights?  Our home was built in 2000 and we have a multitude of them in our house and it’s my personal mission to rid our house of them.  I think they might  multiply and I may have the mother of all boob lights living in my dining room.  While I was finishing up the entryway last week, I was scouring Craiglist, Goodwill and Home Depot’s 70% off lighting sale trying to find replacement light fixtures for uber cheap.  I was hoping to find something like the two pictured below but hubby thought they might hang too low in our entryway and I didn’t find any lights anyways.

While blog surfing the other day, I came across this great blog, HOUSEography and this post reagarding a boob fan light combo.  Thanks for the awesome idea Melissa!  I didn’t even finish reading the post, I raced downstairs and grabbed two of lampshades that I found on clearance at Target a month or two ago, for the grand price of $4.98 a piece.  They are the large size shade and worked perfectly in the entryway!

I went from this

To this:

Here’s a view from underneath:

I simply unscrewed that little “nipple” and put the shade on upside down with the ring fitting over the nipple area and then screwed the nipple back on and voila!  Please don’t re-read that sentence too many times, it sounds dirtier every time I read it.  But I just don’t know how else to explain the process to you.  So my apologies.
The shades even soften the light a bit making it feel more warm and welcoming instead of the bright interrogation style boob lights. My hubby just informed me that the lights now have bras on.  Oh man!
Now I just need to get rid of the Mother of all boob lights in my dining room and replace it with something less ginormous!   Also I think that it looks like it could double as a small boat for cats or the Wonder Pets.  I’m not even sure I could sell this thing on Craigslist, who buys boob lights?  Wait, maybe don’t answer that question, I don’t want to know!

Do you have the dreaded boob lights in your home?  Have you replaced them?  Do tell!

***I ended up using the first set of lamp shades for my $15 thrift store lamps  but I replaced the entryway ones with another pair of clearance lamp shades from Target that were only $3.24 each.   You can see it in the picture below.

Don’t forget tomorrow is another round of Roomspiration with Shannon at Family Brings Joy and she’s hosting craft rooms!  This is one that I am super excited about because I always think craft rooms look like so much fun to go play in, kind of like an adult version of a playroom.  Get your minds out of the gutter, you know what I mean!  Anyways, make sure to head over and check it out!
Shannon is a great blogger friend with wonderful ideas, thoughts and an awesome craft room!

I’m linking up here:


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By 10 Comments Filed Under: Before and After, front entryway NP, projects
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