New year, new projects

I have all kinds of plans swimming through my head for our house.  Some are small and fairly inexpensive and some we need to win the lottery to execute.  Many of my smaller scale, don't need to win the lottery to accomplish projects will take place in our kitchen/dining room.  

For as long as I can remember as a kid, I have been obsessed with window benches/seats.  I dreamed of lounging/reading/eating in a window seat.  I don't think I even knew anyone that had one which must have made them all the more coveted.  Fast forward to me at 26 years old, buying a house with a perfect place for a window seat and the idea didn't even dawn on me until 10 years later!  I can't believe it took me so long to see what was right in front of me, the perfect place for a window seat! 

Sure, it looks just fine like this but isn't it just screaming for a built-in window seat?!?  Yes?  No?  Well, I think so and I will build some storage in it too.

Moving on.  I have some more ideas for enhancing the fireplace wall following the most genius furniture move of 2014.  Here is what it looks like in its current state...

Looks fine now but wouldn't it look more purposeful with some architectural detail in the form of a "wall" that is planked and is wider than the fireplace and goes up to the ceiling with some trim and crown molding?  

And wouldn't it be even better if those hideous cords could be hidden?  Yes?  Are you still with me?  Well this project should be done in the next few weeks and you can see if you like it after the reveal.

Finally, the project that is most involved and requires some custom work by my dad is my kitchen island makeover.

It is perfectly functional and does the job right now but don't you think it would be nice to have some storage and a beverage fridge under it and have it a bit longer with a nice butcher block counter top??  Yes?  Can you envision it?

Of course, this will lead to a lighting change in this area but I am up to the challenge.

So I am hoping to get these projects done before June.  And will this be the year that I give in and paint my trim white already???

Stay tuned for reveals!

Chalkboard wall + deer head + glitter

I was wandering around Michael's the other day, try to keep my head from exploding thinking about all the potential projects I could do when I came across a paper mache deer head.

 "Mom, mom, MOM!  I want to be in the picture too!"

I don't know about you, but when you see a paper mache deer head, do you not think of white paint and gold glitter??  No?  Weird.

Anyway, I spray painted the head and ear part with my favorite spray paint. Let that dry and then wrapped that part with Saran wrap to glitter the antlers.

But then the great North American glitter spill occurred...

Ok, fine that was a bit dramatic.

Here is the final product...

Which I did love but it was not really the impact I was hoping for.

So Saturday morning, I woke and the idea just popped into my head.  I need to paint a wall in the living room with chalkboard paint.  The deer head would look amazing on that!

I snapped a quick iphone pic to show you the before.

Don't mind the mess:)  Its real life, people.

And here is the after with paper mache deer head included...

Seriously in love with this wall now.  I am suddenly in love with black and gold.  The wooden frames I found in a shed while visiting my parents recently.  My dad had made them for a pergola project.  I found the horseshoe in my grandma's shed.  She had even painted it white at some point in time:)

I used Rustoleum chalkboard paint.  So go get some and paint a wall, quick!

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Built-in Bliss

Remember the built-ins I wanted to add??  Well, my parents were here this weekend and we got most of it done.  I designed and drafted up a plan and we went from there.  See photo show below:

Before shot.  I also painted the wood half wall and it totally changes the look of the room!

Measuring and framing out the toe kick.

Carpet cut out.

 Sully providing entertainment.

Installing the toe kick.

Installing the 16" deep base.

Base is in, now working on the top.

The supervisor, supervising.

The painting zone, aka the bowels of our home.

Getting the header in place, where the lights will be installed next weekend.

The trim is in place!

Painted!

This morning when the paint is all dry.

So we will be adding the lights and doing the wiring next weekend.  If you think I could leave this empty until next weekend, you are crazy.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  It is exactly what I wanted!  There were a lot a decisions to be made about closed vs open storage on the bottom, color of the wall and shelving unit and shelving height and how to deal with the half wall on the right side of the unit.  All of these decisions had to fit into the budget too.  In the end, I love what I have but may add some doors on the bottom eventually.  For now, I love that the bottom is Sully friendly and he has a place for all of his stuff and he can see it.


I have some touching up to do with the walls and I will show you the finished product and give you a rundown on the cost next week.  For now, I have lots of staging (aka moving things around and finding more books for the shelves) to do.

Linked up to the Thrifty Decor Chick February before and after party!

Fleece mittens

It is almost that time of year again.  I looked and looked and looked but could only find one of Sully's 4 cute penguin mittens I had from last winter:(  I did find his cute newborn fleece mittens though.  So that gave me an idea....

I have lots of fleece just hanging around, begging to be used in a project so I decided to make some fleece mittens.  Heck, I even had some elastic laying around!

Step 1:  Trace your little one's hand or at least put them to work and have then trace their own hand.

Step 2:  Add approximately 3/4" to the tracing and draw a line in to use as a cutting guide.

Step 3:  Cut.

Step 4:  Trace the pattern onto your fleece and cut it out.

Step 5:  Get your elastic and cut a piece to attach to each cutout.

Step 6:  Sew your elastic onto the wrong side of your cutouts. I did this by starting to sew the elastic to the cutout and then stretching the elastic while finishing sewing the elastic to the cutout.  (Got that?)

Step 7:  Sew your cutout halves to their pair.

Step 8:  Trim off the elastic and turn right side out.

Voila!!