Vacation Projects #3 and #4

Okay.....these projects are taking FOREVER!  I've put so much work into them already and it seems like I am still so far away from completion.  I thought I would be done in a couple of days but I'm already on three and it looks like tomorrow before one is actually done.  So here are some "in progress" updates:

Project #3:  Update Oldest Son's Room

This project includes painting his room, painting his bed, rearranging furniture, and creating a new desk area (as mentioned in this post).  Early on I was able to get the bed spray painted.  It's an old cast iron bed that my mother got at a yard sale for $5 when I started college.  The white paint just really wasn't him so it went black to work with his existing bedding.  Three cans of Rustoleum Satin Black was all it took.

I was also able to get his room painted.  In order to keep his room within a reasonable budget I used the $5 can of oops paint that I used in the boys' bathroom earlier this year.  There was still 3/4 of a can left so I was certain I had enough.......or did I?  The blue was really hard to cover with the lighter gray and needed two coats.  I did manage to get it painted without blue splotches but had to literally scrape the can to get it.

Vacation Project #2

Well, it's now day three of vacation and although I did work on project #2 yesterday it's not completely finished.  I worked on it some more today but it's still not complete.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the big reveal day......but for now, on to what became yesterday's Project #2.

Several places in the blog world have been doing photo galleries.  My favorite is Young House Love's as seen here and here.  I'd love to have a hallway that I could do that do. However, after living in my house for six years I had still yet to hang any family pictures.  I had a couple of 8x10 school photos that sat on a table but nothing on the walls.

So I decided to go through the house looking for frames that would work for my own gallery wall.  I found several frames of all sizes and finishes stored in boxes or in the garage.  I also did not mind that the frames didn't match and I don't plan on making them "match" by painting white or black.  The majority of the frames already had pictures in them that I still enjoyed looking at.  I decided that if they were important enough for me to frame at the time they are still important.

So now for a place to create my gallery.  The main hallway on the first floor has too many doors and other wall "scars" such as the thermostat and doorbell so it wouldn't work.  The stairwell also has a couple of "scars" and I also can't trust the boys to keep their hands off the walls so it wouldn't work.  And I really didn't want it in the living room to compete with another large piece of art already there.  So, the only place left and where I decided to put it was in the hallway at the top of the stairs that connects the boys rooms.

The jelly cabinet was holding towels for the boys' bathroom but we were able to relocated them to the hallway closet in the same hallway.

Vacation Project #1

Well, it's vacation week for me!  So in between physical therapy appointments for my ankle I plan on attacking my to do list.  I got a start over the weekend with the spray paint - but more on that later.  Today I finished a project that wasn't officially on my to do list - amazing how that always happens to me.

As you know, Pinterest is my new obsession.  I found a great idea for the laundry area but everytime I've seen the picture it never links back to a detailed site.   But I love the idea of the storage on the doors.  Too bad I have bifold doors on my laundry closet.  Bummer.

 

Then this popped up and the wheels in my head started turning at full speed........

This closet hack featured at Apartment Therapy was my "a-ha" moment. A couple of brackets and a magnetic clasp later and these guys had changed their bifold doors to solid doors.

 

After deciding that if it didn't work out or I didn't like it that it was an easy undo (patch and paint a few holes in the back side of the doors) off I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to get supplies.  Here's my list and price breakdown:

1 pkg of bracing bars (4 to a package) $1.97

2 magnetic latches $1.49 each

2 mountable wire shelving units $19.97 each

1 small block of wood - already owned

1 kick style door stop $5.97

Here's where I started:

Desk DIY Planning

Vacation is coming up at the end of the month.  It will be a stay-cation for us this year.  My oldest will be gone to Governor's Scholar Program so I've decided I want to work on his room while he's gone for five weeks and vacation will be the best time.  Here's what it looks like now - mess and all....

The paint's been up since we moved in 6 years ago and there's nail holes and such that need to be filled.  The room is small - only 10 by 10 with a small alcove that's almost 4 foot wide.  The bedding was bought about 1 1/2 years ago at WalMart.   The bed is an old cast iron bed my mom picked up at a yard sale for $5 when I got my first college apartment.

I'm definately keeping the bed and would like to work with the bedding.  I'm also keeping the dresser (from Ashley Furniture) and the wire shelving unit (Lowe's) that houses his tv, stereo and game systems.  The desk however needs to go.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice desk and has served it's purpose the last 3 or 4 years but as you can tell from the pics he keeps it covered and there's really no working room.  My original idea was inspired by John and Sherry at Young House Love when they used a door to create a desk.

I've looked at the local Goodwill stores over the past few months but no luck. So today I went to again to Goodwill and made the trip to ReStore looking for something that would work for building a desk. Apparently the desk angels were smiling upon me today........at Goodwill I found this filing cabinet for $7.50. 

 
Happy with my find I hoped that ReStore would show me the same kind of love.  And what do you know?  Walking in a sign greeted me with HALF OFF ALL DOORS.  Woo Hoo!  Now to find a door.  Well, actually two doors.  I've decided my other son needs a similar desk for his room.  And.......here's what I brought home!

I found two doors in fairly good condition that were 18" wide.  There were plenty of 24" doors but with the small size of the room I wanted the narrower door.  The best part?  They were marked $5 per door!  With the half off sale I was able to get two doors for the price of one!  Woo Hoo!

 

I also found some 2x4's already cut down to 30" they were selling for 25 cents each.  I found six that were in really good shape. These will become the legs and supports for the desks.  

 

 Here's even a picture of how things will look once the building begins (sans wood legs - but I had a nice stand in for those!).

Excited about my finds I talked to the oldest about the plans for his room while he's gone.  Although I'd like for the makeover to be a surprise I decided not to tempt fate and get his opinion beforehand.  He's on board with it but.............my mind wouldn't stop working...........and I started thinking about the alcove and how turning the entire area into a desk might be a better use of space...........hmmmm.......so after a little measuring and discussion with the oldest about his wants I designed the following........

The little bench at the end of the alcove houses HVAC ducting so it can't be changed.  Since the height of it is a little shorter than a desk height I decided that the entire are should be used for built in shelving that could house the CPU and monitor along with some smaller desk items.  I only want the shelves to come up to the window sill.  The desk would simply sit in front of this bench area.  A couple of smaller cubbies of the shelving unit would be below the desktop but these could still be accessed and used for more long term storage items.

Now I've just got to plan out the exact sizes of the shelving pieces and determine a price to build everything.  If this plan works out then the youngest may have an extra extra long desk for his room!

More on the project once vacation gets here!!!!

All images property of Honeysuckle on the Vine.

Garage Kept

This past weekend was Memorial Day which has become my unofficial Spring Cleaning weekend.  In this post, you saw the shrub trimming that went on today.  The day before I tackled the garage.  The kids were in school so I was solo on this.

I'm not sure if it's just our house or if everyone has a little bit of this but during the winter everything just gets tossed into the garage.  It's never put on the shelf where it belongs or it's just overflow stuff that never had a home to begin with.  So about this time of year is a good opportunity to organize and clean.

These pictures were taken with my phone so the quality isn't the best.  I also forgot to take pictures before I started so these were taken after some sorting and moving things around.  Things got separated into groups:  things to go the shed, things for trash, things to go through later, things to shred.  I finished the day with two full bags of trash and one paper box full of papers to be shredded. 

 

The white cabinet I've had for over 12 years and it has gone through 2 other houses before landing here.  When I first moved in (over 6 years) ago I had thought about putting it above the washer and dryer but with the ceiling in there being slanted because of the stairs it really didn't work out so here it has sat in my garage with things getting stacked on top.  After all these years it has warped some but was in fairly good condition so thanks to a friend who stopped by on their lunch hour I was able to get the cabinet hung.  I also found the hardware for hanging the ladder.  Woo Hoo.

 

 

There's still a lot of stuff in the garage and the toolbox needs to be organized but I always feel so much better when things are organized. Don't you?