Makin' it Mine

Step by step, putting my personal touches around a house that we can call our own.

Ugly, bare window, meet fresh, happy fabric.

See, I knew you two would get along well with each other!

March Madness

Or goals. We have been in our "new" place for over 7 months now, and my kitchen cupboards which were taken apart for painting & cleaning, are still in pieces. I was so certain that within a couple of weeks I would have all the painting, glazing, varnishing, sanding, and re-assembly completed. Wrong. Somehow "life" just takes over and all my best intentions slip to a back burner, and then just fall off the burner altogther. So last week I decided, March is coming. March is the month when I will at least TRY to get those cupboards conquered.

Enter March 1. I spent much of my day {in between mothering, of course!} staining. I can't wait to see {and show you} the finished product!

Boys' Bedroom

Moving on with a few more home-makeover posts ... here's the BOYS BEDROOM. This room was one of the worst in the whole house, with smashed -out window holes in the drywall, a paint job that made your eyeballs bleed, and the nastiest stained carpet you would not wish to imagine.

Thankfully, my hubby is very handy with drywalling tools, and I have fantastic friends who enjoy watching a real make-over emerge while they paint. We still need a new light fixture, and I'd love to get a shelf/bin system in this room to organize better. And I need to try to match the curtain fabric and sew one more valance. But until then, behold the after ...

Living Room

On our first walk-through of our new home, the living room totally made me shudder. Two navy blue walls, and 2 pale yellow ones. Paired with faded blue carpet and crumbling blinds, it was not a room you'd want to spend much time in!!

{Before Shots}

After closing on the house, a group of dear ladies and friends from church came to help paint. By the end of the day, the room was already transformed so much, and we had only done walls & ceilings!

{In-Between Shots}

 Then came new carpets, cleaning day, and move-in day. And while I have plenty of finishing touches to add {such as window treatments, an up-dated light fixture!, and hanging wall-items}, this is already one of my favorite "transformations" in the house. 

{Completed Shots}

What do you think?

The Huge Nursery

God must have a sense of humor. Giving me first armloads of babies, and now a huge nursery to put them all in! lol The nursery room at the old house was just so big enough to hold 1 crib, a changing table, and a baby. This new house has two bedrooms downstairs; the master bedroom, and another room of equal proportions right across from it. What else could it be but a sewing room, craft room, school room, nursery? I am very pleased with this room AND it's location in the house. Plenty of room for several cribs, several changing tables, a rocking chair, and of course, the humongous closet! Who ever heard of 9 1/2 foot closets? I am NOT complaining, mind you, but buying shelves and rods for these things are about the break the bank. lol  When the new baby comes along, I think Taylor will still have plenty of time and space to hang out there for a while.


When we first walked into the house, the room looked like this:

And the after {still needing the finishing touches}

And the little man himself, who has taken quite seriously after his father's great affection for cats. That trait most certainly does *not* come from his mother's side.

Good night for now. I am exhausted after hosting 10 boys here for Josiah's 10th birthday today! It was a ball of fun, but I have to say, I'm glad I'm not a mother to 10 boys.

Laundry Room Makeover

One of the real joys of the new place here is a first-floor laundry area!! After stooping into a dank, wet, nasty basement for the past six years, I am beyond delighted to have my washer & dryer just 3 feet off of the kitchen! What was not so lovely however was the previous housekeeper's idea of decor. A hot aqua/blue, with a raw, unfinished trimwork {or lack thereof}, and an old shower stall as part of the inside wall.

                                                                    {Before}

And here is my "after" although we are still waiting for the white cabinets that go above the washer & dryer. And then across from them where we built the new wall, is plenty of space for a set of cabinets with a counter top, and maybe a deep sink. But in the meantime, I am already loving the new, fresher look!

                                                                     {After}

The Ultimate Before & After

You know how much I love before & afters? I have featured a couple of them here on my blog, and I follow plenty of other {better} blogs who feature jaw-dropping make-overs! I love it.

Well, owning a home has brought make-overs to a whole new level. Especially when said home is an unbelievable display of the most outlanding and unattractive color schemes one could imagine. And when said home has been refuge to someone's most beloved felines. Oh, double yuck!!

I am amazed at how much has been accomplished in the 5 weeks we have held the key to this house. We certainly have a long ways to go, but there are some fun before & after pictures coming up on this blog.

How about a hot pink master bathroom? Anyone?

{Before}

{After}

Still needs some finishing touches, but I am so happy with how this room has turned out. And am totally being spoiled with all the storage space!!!

Hello, linen closet! Nice to meet you! Are you serious? A whole closet just for sheets and towels?? I could really get used to this!

Before & After

It all began as an {ugly}, 3-dollar thrift store find. But it was solid wood, and I figured I could sand it down and refinish it to a beautiful finish. That was my first error. It was a solid piece, and most of it was wood. Except of course, the top. I bagan sanding the tar out of it only to discover .... flakeboard. Alrighty then. Plan B.

I went ahead and sanded down the rest of it, and painted it black. For the top I put on a piece of fabric, with about 6 layers of Mod-Podge. And I think it turned out pretty well for my first time working with the stuff. The top is all shiny & glossy & smooth.

What do you think?

Creativity 102

I really am having fun exploring & learning with paint, sand paper, fabric, scrapbook paper, and much more! Since I lay around on the couch all day have only a couple of free hours after the children are in bed each evening, I am not getting a huge amount done very quickly, but it is progress. =) Hopefully you all won't mind if my blog is sprinkled with make-overs from time to time.

I decided to re-do my little lamp table in my living room. Again, it wasn't absolutely horrid, but neither did it look elegant or even pretty. Plus, I needed a guinea pig to try out a white paint job. I didn't even think to get a good "before" picture, before I took off the built-in lamp post. I did manage to find one in the background of another photo though, to give you a little idea of what it used to look like.

After the lamp post and cords were removed.

I filled in the center hole with a little chunk of wood, and some wood filler. Let that dry, sanded the whole thing down, and added several coats of white paint. I am very much enjoying the end results too.

The black lamp is one I found at a garage sale for $1. It didn't work, til I fixed the wiring. No, I am not as handy as I might sound ... it was just a loose wire inside. But I am very tickled with my "new" lamp!

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Thanksgiving was very laid back and simple at our house this year. The Zooks from near and far were all together about 2 weeks ago for a big work day at the home place. And the Gehmans are all gearing up for a big Christmas she-bang. So we enjoyed a lazy day at home. Playing games, watching movies, and of course, a delightful lunch. The grocery store was totally sold out of turkeys when I did my shopping, but I gotta say, the ham was not a disappointment either. And the ham soup bubbling on the back of the stove makes it even more sweet.

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Did anyone else brave the early morning Black Friday rush? For the first time ever, I did. My good friend Beth asked me to go with her, so we set our alarms for o'dark thirty and headed to the outlet malls. There was lots of great deals to be had! I found a few items for the kiddoes, a few for myself, and my favorite deal of the day? A pair of heavy winter boots for my hubby, marked down from $70 to $19.99. I must admit, I felt very virtuous, even if I was in Kohls at the ridiculous hour of 4:47.

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Well, that's all for now. There is a diaper "screaming" to be changed. Not to mention it's owner to be trained ... Sigh. Back to reality.

Til next time ...

Creativity 101

eI've always loved seeing before & after pictures. When I was little, my mom used to get used Country Woman magazines, and the first page I would turn to was the make-overs where a woman would get a new haircut, new make-up, and look like a whole different person. I just love seeing how much you can improve something with some creativity {maybe I'm just alittle weird ... I know, I know}.

Anyhow, recently I have found a couple of blogs that feature a lot of make-overs. Remodels. Before & afters. And slowly, slowly the thought began to dawn on me ... I could do that! So this week I aim to try my hand at a few such ventures and see what I come up with.

This evening was my first attempt. I decided to start off with something easy and small ...  in case it was a dismal failure then maybe I wouldn't feel quite so bad. So I found this little footstool at a second-hand shop last week, and while there was nothing really "nasty" about it, I had a different picture in mind.

So I set about taking it all apart ... sanding ... painting ... sanding ... painting ... and then the fun part, re-assembling everything with the new fabric. I love how it turned out! What do you think? It might even be for sale ...

I think I could call this a success.  Now maybe I'll have the courage to tackle my next, much bigger project. Stay tuned.