Mastering the Bath

Can you guess who's gonna be showering at their neighbor's house for the next week?

Finally our long awaited master bath redo is upon us. Boxes and boxes of beautiful tile are stacked and waiting for their turn to shine! 

 The dark wood is certainly a departure from my usual love of painted cabinets but for this small space it just seemed right. This is the last of the renovations for our little house and I cannot wait to see it all together.

Wish us luck!

& pretty tile

Our Enchanted T.P.

Yep, that kind of t.p. It seems my upcycling ways have rubbed off on my wee ones, because my oldest little fellow has been collecting T.P tubes from our house for months. Whenever we have guests he proudly drags out his giant bag  and dazzles them with his collection. For months I have been asking him what his tubular plans were, and for months he has refused to tell me. Well as of this very morning his bag was at absolute capacity and we decided it was high time we put all those tubes to good use.

It really is a great thing having kids, had I spent 6 months collecting tp tubes and then assembled them into a castle for any other reason I'd just look crazy! 

the proud architect! 

This well appointed abode quickly found a deserving family

And a staff of knights to protect it!

The King and Queen are enjoying settling into their new digs

and the royal pooch seems to be enjoying the view!

The king is planning on expanding his castle and a royal decree has been issued for more t.p. rolls!

What are you up to this sunny afternoon?

& Tubular Towers!

Adventures in Budget Renovations- Doors and more (part 2)

A few days ago I showed you the first parts of  us finishing up our kitchen which entailed relocating our washer and dryer, installing an on demand hot water heater on the outside of our house and adding a deck from the door to nowhere around to the existing deck. Part 2 of our seemingly never ending kitchen renovation begins with the installation of that beautiful door you see in the horrid photos below. I do apologize, but there is just no way to stage construction photos. With that fabulous new door in we could finally turn our attention to removing the large bank of cabinets that used to live over our washer and dryer. These cabinets did offer a TON of storage but at 18" deep they stuck too far out into the already limited space, so down they came!

*since these were impressively sturdy cabinets we decided to re-purpose them as garage storage*

 just look at all that visual space! 

Once the offending cabinets (shown here on the floor waiting to be carried to their new home) had come down from the wall we began planning a shallower pantry cabinet to fill this wall. After sketching and debating for several days Jess finally set to work building my pantry, eek!

At 7' tall and 5' wide this is a much more suitable fit for this space!

Here is the beginnings of the new pantry cabinet. In order to make the best use of the limited space we have in our kitchen we opted for a shallower floor to ceiling pantry. The new cabinet measures just 13" deep but with six shelves we are sure we will have ample storage for everything. Personally I find it is a lot easier to keep a shallow pantry tidy rather than the extra deep ones that things get lost in!

Here is the cabinet as of this morning. Hopefully by this weekend it will be finished and then I can fill/sand/prime and paint while Jess starts on the doors. 

We are off this weekend on a camping trip with my son's school, which is perfect timing since the sawdust and tools are really starting to get old!

I hope you also have a fabulous weekend!

& sawdust!

Adventures in budget renovations- doors and more (part 1)

Way back in January I showed you the unsightly side of our kitchen in this post. Back then our washer, dryer and behemoth hot water heater were all still looming large in my small kitchen. But all that was okay by me because they were blocking the door that lead to a 10 foot drop to the ground below. The door had been blocked off and useless since the previous owners of our home tore down the rotting deck it once opened on to. 

looking a little cramped, right?

yup, that's a door back there!

Rebuilding the deck was on the top of our list since it is not only a mega hazard and an eye sore, but would keep a bank from financing our home when we sell it. Before we could even think about building the deck we had to relocate the washer and dryer to our garage. This meant running all new plumbing out to the garage, thank goodness all our plumbing is under our home and not run through the walls! While the garage may not be the most glamorous place to do laundry, it was the only real option in our tiny 1200 sf. home.
After those monsters were removed we installed our *new* fancy on demand hot water heater. You may remember that in January's post I spoke about how we had gotten a "gently used" on demand hot water heater...well long story short we got it installed and that darn "gently used" water heater was a lemon. After shelling out several hundreds of dollars more for a brand spanking new one I made the hubby swear to not make anymore large purchases off craigslist! After I finally quit fuming over our water heater folly it was time to get to work connecting the door to nowhere to the rest of our beautiful redwood deck.

Here is the outside of the soon-to-be door to somewhere

(don't worry this doug fir lumber was slathered with that nasty green weather proofing/bug proofing stuff before we added the decking)

all built by this handsome man!

here is a messy but finished view from the old deck to the new, if you look between the grey storage box and the blue ice chest (classy, right?) you can see where the darker, older stained wood stops and the lighter newer wood begins. 

we actually only had to add about 12 feet of deck to tie it into the existing deck but since it is quite a ways up in the air it took several summer afternoons and weekends to get it all finished. Jess has, of course, done 97% of the work on this project, leaving me just the painting and sanding and such. Having to learn as we go has been hard but it is really amazing to see how far our construction skills have come since we started! 

Tomorrow I'll be back with the second part of this huge project. This week has been crazy busy and the never ending construction in our kitchen has of course left our house upside down! Currently the entire contents of our pantry cabinets are on our kitchen table, and our kitchen counters are covered with  drills, levels, screws and plaster dust! We are almost there, and someday soon I'll be able to say that I have a FINISHED kitchen!

& Patience!

I {heart} Funky Furniture

There are ups and downs to living in a college town. For instance, Craigslist is always picked over which means getting your hands on a real craigslist treasure is hard to do without paying well over the list price. Also, the furniture section is a constantly rotating selection of  saggy threadbare sofas and particle board desks. But there are up's too...Sometimes you are able to score an amazing piece of cabinetry that is not only nearly free but also holds some of our college town's history. Behold...

Complete with high gloss hunter green paint, a suspicious smelling drawer and 11 unmatched antique glass knobs...stunning isn't she!

As soon as I saw the blurry photo of her on Craigslist I called my husband and told him it had to be mine, and he had to pick it up on his way home from work. The gal he got it from said it had been in her family for a long time but she had no idea where it came from. Once it was home I started cleaning and cleaning and cleaning that's when I discovered the little brass plaque on the side that said 'Cal Humboldt' with an inventory #. This bedraggled beauty had been a part of a college laboratory, and I even remembered seeing something similar in one of the geology labs. Judging by the construction I think it is from the late 20's or early 30's. The unmatched glass knobs and streaky green color had been added later by the mother of the woman we purchased it from.   Out came my old fashion Milk Paint in Snow White and I set to work with a vision  (one my hubby had trouble seeing!)

As many of you know milk paint does not require primer, but I did lightly sand this high gloss piece and then wipe it down with TSP substitute. I painted 3 thin coats of milk paint sanding lightly between each coat, as I wanted to build up the paint for a more durable finish. After painting, sanding and distressing I waxed the piece with an old T shirt and Trewax furniture wax.

For the hardware I chose to re-use most of the beautiful antique glass knobs, but for the top 3 drawers I used some antique chrome bin pulls my mother in law gave me a few years back. I love the way the chrome bin pulls remind me of it's collegiate past while the sparkly glass knobs add a little pop of contrast.

I love the way the piece looks weathered and funky without looking too contrived. The former green color peeks through the white paint in just enough places and the soft focus quality of the milk paint really add a much needed texture to my living room.

I get such a kick telling people that my husband and I share an alma mater with this chest, and since we do not display diplomas around here it's a great reminder of the the musty classrooms and labs we spent years in!

Sharing at:  Furniture Feature Friday & rollerskates!

Enjoy the ride

Hello all my lovely friends! I hope you all had a great weekend. Ours had a few ups and downs, but overall it was a surprisingly productive weekend around here. Although I'm currently battling an intense flare up with my Crohn's, I was finally able to get around to hanging up these little jewels in my dining room.

Now before you think I might have a little problem let me remind you that I work at a restaurant and that's where most of these corks are from.

These letters couldn't be easier to make! I simply cut the basic letter shape out of thick cardstock then hot glued my corks to the cardboard. The finished letters are about 10 inches high and are able to either stand on their own or be hung on the wall. They do, however, take forever to make! Then again maybe that's just because I'm a perfectionist and have to find just the right cork for each spot.

Hopefully I will have some finished photos of the dining room to share soon but I have a few other things to wrap up first, like this darn flare up!

& plentiful corks

Life is what you make it {pt.2}

A few weeks ago I showed you the beginnings of our diy chandelier project here. After finishing gluing, rewiring, and painting I am finally finished! Believe me when I tell you that there is no more dangerous thing to do than make a ball out of very delicate wood veneer and then leave it lying around 2 little boys for a few days. Perhaps I was a little over zealous when I had my husband take down our old chandelier well before I was ready to hang the new one. A few dimly lit days later we got it all hung up and I'm in love! 
so again, we went from this

through all this

to this!

It still needs a bit of tweaking, 

I'm not loving the bulbs but they were the only ones my local Ace had.

I think I'd like to order some round edison style bulbs for it...and a dimmer!

I love the shadows the rings cast on the ceiling at night

now I just have the rest of my dining room to finish!

So what do you think? 

Tomorrow I am hoping to start my Frightful Feasts countdown to Halloween

I have all of the boys favorites plus a few new spooky recipes to share

& Pumpkin Spice!

Book Fairy Costume

Last year I  decided I was going to be a diction-fairy for Halloween. I had been making book page wreaths for my winter boutique and this just kinda evolved out of hours spent with a glue gun and  rolled book pages. If you have made a book page wreath the this should be pretty simple. If you haven't made a book page wreath then it's still pretty easy just with a bit more reading. Rather than make a new one, I'm just breaking down how I made it last year so if it gets confusing just let me know!
Book Page TutuFirst take a scrap of fabric 3-4 inches wide and cut it to just a few inches longer than what you want the waist to be. You want just a few inches of overlap to make it easier to put on and so there is no gap in the back.

Next lay the strip of fabric out flat and begin gluing on the rolled papers in rows along your strip. I started with the bottom row and went up so the pages with lay out nicely. 

For each rolled up section of paper I used 2-3 pages together because dictionary pages are so thin. 

To make the paper rolls I like to do a mix of actually rolling the pages into cones/tubes

and mixing in a few more free formed paper rolls. Like this S shaped roll

Make sure after you roll the pages that you fold the end before gluing so the rolls spring out like a tutu and not just lay flat.

To glue the roll down you will apply glue only to the folded part of the roll and then stick it down to the strip.

Continue rolling and gluing until the entire strip of fabric is covered except for  a few inches at the end. I did 3 layers of rolled papers but for fuller tutu you could continue to add layers.

here's the 1st/ bottom layer

2nd /middle layer and you can see the top layer folded over to the side

and here's the finished tutu. Once I had the top layer all glued down I  went along the top edge and trimmed along the strip of fabric so I would have a nice straight edge. I like the raw edge look of it this way but this year I might go back and add some ribbon along the top edge to make for a more finished look.

At the end you could either attach the tutu with safety pins or fold the ends over and add a cute ribbon to tie the tutu with. Last year I did saftey pins and they worked out fine, this year I want  to go back and add the ties to make it easier to take on and off. Also if you are making this for a child you would want to maybe do the ties so there is no fear of poking with the pins. 

Dictionary Fairy Wings

First you remove the entire cover from the dictionary. 

I wanted fairly rigid wings that would not flap around as I walked so I took a piece of  scrap wire from my garage ( you could use a wire hanger) and bent it slightly then hot glued it to the inside of my wings. 

next to cover the wire and add some interest I glued several fanned out pages to the inside of the cover.

Near the top of the center binding I punched 2 holes and strung a large rubber band through to use as straps to wear the wings. You could certainly use ribbon here and even leave the ends long so they flutter behind you as you walk. I think that is what I'll be doing for this year!

here's what you can see of the rubber band as you wear the wings. The large rubber band made for a very comfortable fit last year but honestly I'm not sure where this gigantic band came from.

This year I will be wearing this again but I am hoping to go back and re-vamp it a little and maybe even make myself a paper corset or paper wig to wear with it. What ever I do, I promise I will not wait until the last second! 

Hope this tutorial is inspirational for all the amazing things you can do with paper! All together this costume cost me only about 10 hot glue sticks, 1 thrift store dictionary (50 cents) and about 2 hours to put it all together.

If you decide to make an outfit please share your photos!

 & paper cuts