Master Bedroom Makeover

I've decided that hiring an interior decorator is the way to go!  Well, that or asking your friend who has great design sense to just tell you what to do to your room and then you do it exactly like she says.  (Thanks Brittany!!! ;)

So, here's the before picture of my Master Bedroom...

I took a quick pic before tearing it apart and after Dallin had been playing on the bed so it's not looking it's best.  Good thing it was getting a makeover!

And the after...

The wall treatment was the big deal in this makeover.  I had the wall skim-coated to change the texture to a flat texture and then I put up the trim work all by myself!  This was one of those projects I had to do on my own because it was totally for a design purpose which means Greg opted out of helping ;)

The wall color is called Pale Silver.  It's a Restoration Hardware color that I got at Sherwin Williams.  I was a little nervous as it was going up, but Brittany told me to trust her and keep going and I did and it's perfect!

I'm super happy with how it all turned out! 

Another project checked off my pre-baby to-do list.

Round Two: Laundry/Mud Room

The BEFORE office looked something like this...

...once I remebered to take pictures so it was mid-process of being dismantled.

All of these cabinets were moved to the new office.

This area was always covered in JUNK!  It was the catch-all area and no matter how many times I cleaned and organized it, it always seemed to look pretty close to this.  These cabinets were re-used in the new laundry room.

It was a perfectly decent office...I just had bigger and better plans for this space!

And this was the BEFORE laundry room after we moved the shelf out.  You can imagine how little space there was with a big shelf in there. 

Disclaimer:  I have a friend who lives in town and only has a closet for her washer and dryer.  She claims she would love to have a laundry room this size.  I completely agree that this would be wonderful compared to a closet.  But let me remind you that I am married to a dairy farmer.  We live on a farm and our older kids go to the dairy with him almost every morning.  That's a lot of dirty (and I mean DIRTY...and sometimes pretty crappy...literally) stuff scattered around my laundry room.  Coveralls, jackets, coats, boots, gloves, hats, etc.  It was driving me nuts!

So once we moved all the office stuff out and into the new office, it was time to start in on the fun part.  Lydia and Wyatt LOVED doing demo work!

We've discovered that Wyatt has a knack for these types of things.  He's very patient and precise and will spend the time doing it right (complete opposite of Greg when it comes to home improvement).  I think in a few years I will have him apprentice with our contractor friend so he can learn the ropes and then do all my projects for me in the future ;)



This is what it looked like once we had everything down.  We hadn't planned to take the sheetrock off the wall between the school room and laundry room/old office, but we ran into some electrical problems so down it came.  We also filled in the two doorways that used to be there leading to those two rooms and created a new doorway closer to the kitchen.

We also had to have the garage door moved over a few feet so that we could utilize the space better and make room for a closet.  This was where we had to bring in outside help.

And after a few weeks, lots of stress, lots of unforseen electrical problems (which meant  more professional outside help), and way too little sleep, we are finally done (except for a few finishing touches of course...which will probably never get done!)

So, here's the AFTER:

a new dairy closet right as you come into the laundry room that is strictly for all the dairy "stuff"

(this is the space where the old garage door used to be)

There is another closet next to it with a door that is for other household storage stuff.

This is the view looking back at the door.  Those are the cabinets from the office that I painted.  We were able to put a sink in the base cabinet that is positioned under the window that used to be only part of the office...having a window in the laundry room in great but having a sink in my laundry room is definitely one of my better ideas ;) (unfortunately I didn't actually get an after picture with the sink and window in it and I'm too lazy to do it now)

*also, someday I have plans to paint that door...I'm just REALLY tired of painting at the moment.

This is the view from the garage door looking in.  Check out my most favorite part of the whole house (which I designed and built with a little help from my mamasita of course)! It so great that I'm going to do a whole post about it!  You can also see the door to the second closet and a tiny little bit of the sink.

And this is the door leading into the rest of the house.

Also, please note how amazing my new tile floors look.  Oh my how I debated on what to do for the floors.  I really wanted something simple and easy, but there was so much glue residue left behind from the glue down carpet in the old office that it needed a new base anyway.  We also had to replace the sub floor around the washing machine where there had been some major water damage from a slow leak in the plumbing.  So after all that work, I decided to just go ahead and tile it.  Again, my mother came to the rescue and taught me how to tile.  I spent two days on this sucker on my hands and knees tiling and grouting (keep in mind that I'm pregnant...and crazy).  I have to say I didn't mind tiling but my body sure did protest by the third day.  I am very glad I decided to go with the tile though.  Well, worth the effort.

*and I have to give a shout out to the Bowens for taking pity on me and coming to help me grout.  Good friends are priceless!

OK, enough for now.  More project pictures to come...What?  You thought I was done after an office AND laundry room renovation...ha, ha!  Told you I was crazy.

Round One of Renovations

Wow, it's been a while!

First off, I guess the biggest news (since our big announcement in January) is we found out last week that we aren't very good at patterns after all.  Baby number five is most definitely a BOY!  I really wasn't surprised myself, but most comments I have gotten are of surprise since we has such a nice little pattern going on before and surely it would be a girl.  But boy are we excited for another little BOY to join our family (well, except for Amy...she was a little upset but has since accepted it ;)

Speaking of pregnancy, Greg has decided that this needs to be our last baby.  Most pregnant women have strange cravings and typical nesting instincts.  Me?  I have the urge to start major renovation projects!  He doesn't think our house can handle another renovation so no more babies ;) We'll see how that works out.

When I was pregnant with Dallin we remodeled the kitchen.  BEST DECISION EVER!  A kitchen is a tough reno since it's the heart of the home.  I though doing dishes in my bathtub was a major pain and I was so happy when it was all done.  I think the last month and a half have been so much worse than the kitchen reno was.  I'm not sure if I'm just not remembering right, but WOW, I feel like this renovation has been so long and frustrating.  But very much worth it! (now that it's mostly done)

So, let's start with our first crazy project....

A new office!

We've always had an office next to our small laundry room close to our kitchen.  For years I've dreamed of a larger laundry room and knew it was possible if I could combine the two rooms.  But in order to do that, we needed to move our office.  We had a nice large bedroom right off our front door, and it seemed like the perfect place to move our office too.  The convenience of having it so close to the front door is what sold my idea to Greg.  He really liked the idea of being able to use it to meet with people without having to take them through our house.  Selling my ideas to Greg is probably the most difficult part of the whole renovation...well, that and convincing my mother to come help me do it all! (Have I mentioned I have the best mom in the whole world who is amazing when it comes to these kinds of things?)

We also felt like it was a good time to move Amy downstairs with Lydia and give-up her bedroom for the plan.  So, here's what the room looked like after it had been cleared out and was ready to be converted...

I loved that blue paint...

After painting, putting down a new floor, moving the old office cabinets into the new space, and building a new desktop, we had ourselves a new office!

Of course we had to move the canvas prints into the new space.  They actually work perfect in there.  It's probably now Greg's favorite room in the house.

Also, notice Amy?  The kids love this new little desk space we added just for them.

I love my new shelves and new french door!!!

We also added a little sewing corner for Lydia (I say Lydia because she's already a better seamstress than I am!)  I also love having a closet in the office now because it's hiding all my JUNK!

For us, it was well worth giving up a bedroom for.  We are loving our new space and glad it's done.  And of course once I got the office moved, I couldn't just stop there....stay tuned for our laundry/mud room makeover!

*new paint color is "Amazing Grey" from Sherwin Williams

The LONG Story of Our Front Doors

Last fall I painted our front doors black.  They were previously red, which I didn't mind, but I've always loved the look of black front doors and was ready for a change.  I wasn't as "WOWed" as I thought I would be by them, but they worked.  I was excited to get new garage doors and start swapping out some of the brown tones on the exterior of our home for some darker (almost black) ones.

In January we finally ordered new garage doors.  I backed into one of them a couple years ago, making it almost impossible to open and close.  The openers had also gone out on both of them so we were propping the one door (that could still open) up with a 2x4.  Needless to say, I was super excited for some new doors.  But those suckers are expensive!  We ordered the basic, cheapest ones we could get.  The only upgrade we were going to do was some insulated doors.  But other than that, they were going to be plain, flat panneled, basic doors.  I had also picked a really dark color that I hoped would go well with the black front doors and the darker tones I wanted for the exterior of our house.  We waited...and waited...and waited for the garage doors to come.  At some point we found out that our order hadn't been placed and there had been a big mistake on the companies end of things.  We were assured it would be fixed and that we would have our new doors asap.  So we waited some more.  Finally the big day came! 

But, imagine my surprise when I went outside to check out my new doors and saw this:

They weren't plain, they have fancy trim work on them, and they have WINDOWS!  These were NOT the doors I ordered.  I panicked because not only had they put the wrong doors on, but I LOVED these doors and didn't want to have to send them back.  I was even more surprised when we were told that because of the mistake on the companies end, we were given the upgraded doors at no extra cost.  WHAT!?  and YAY!!!

The only problem was that the "dark" color I had ordered turned out to be much more of a brown than I thought.  Which meant that my black front doors and brown garage doors DID NOT match....at all!

So, I had to find a new color for the front doors.

I recruited some help from Brittany...who has a natural talent for picking paint colors.  She painted her front door a super awesome color and I knew she would pick something fun for my door.  We pulled some blue/aqua/turquoise colors that I liked and I thought I was good to go.  When I showed Greg the color I was going to use, he ADAMANTLY protested! (this coming from the man who usually has no opinion when it comes to paint color).  I figured if he was so against it, I better find something a little less bold.  So I picked out a green that I thought would be nice and neutral:

I hated it.

Even after painting the shutters to match, I hated it.  It definitely matched the garage doors and the house, but it just didn't work for me.

So, I did what I should have done in the first place and went with the color Brittany and I had picked.

and guess what...

I really, really like it!

It gives our house a fun pop of color and it makes our front doors stand out instead of being hidden back in that dark space.  I painted the shutters to match the garage doors and I think it all came together great!

And guess who else likes it too...(but he could just be saying that because he doesn't want me to re-paint the doors again for the 4th time in a year ;)

Drab to Fab...I think.

While doing Lydia's bedroom, I was able to take a few old pieces of furniture and re-do them to match her new room. 

First up was this lovely blue chair that my Grandma gave me several years ago...

...and this old desk that I bought all by myself for $100 when I was about 12 or 13...I was so proud of this purchase.

 I painted the chair "chartreuse" by Sherwin Williams and re-covered the seat with fabric from a shower curtain that I found at TJ Maxx.  I'm planning to make some pillows with the rest of the fabric for a bench in her room...someday.

The desk got painted white and because I had so much fun painting the stripes on her walls, I had to find somewhere else to paint more stripes.  Just for fun, you know!  I don't love the hardware on this desk, but until I find what I really want, I spray painted them black and we're just going to go with it for a while.

I really wanted to paint the desk a fun color, but because I painted the little wall where it was going, pink ("pink flamingo" by Sherwin Williams), I decided white would be best. 

It is now covered with tons of Lydia's junk treasures, so the white desk actually helps it look less "busy".

My favorite re-do for her room was this armoire that came from my mom.  It was part of the bedroom set she bought on her own before my parents were married way back when.  It needed a little TLC don't ya think?!

I lightly sanded her up, primed it, built some new shelves in it (that had been removed to fit a t.v.), spray painted the handles ivory, and then painted the armoire one of my new favorite colors!!!!

("Holiday Turquoise" by Sherwin Williams)

I finished it off with a little distressing...I'm all about hiding my imperfect paint jobs that way!

I love how it turned out and it's so perfect for Lydia's room.

Laundry Room Makeover

Spring cleaning brings out the home improvement junkie in me.  I can't just CLEAN the room, I have to change it somehow.  It always feels cleaner that way.  My victim this last weekend was the laundry room...the armpit of my house.

The horrific BEFORE:

Of course I didn't clean it up before I took the picture.  I love me a good before and after picture and I guess I use the same tactic that they use for weight loss before/after pictures...ever notice how in the BEFORE pictures, the person is overweight, has no make-up, slouches, and is wearing old worn out clothes.  But in the AFTER pictures they look great (aside from the amazing weight loss).  Hair styled, makeup, cute clothes....That's how I like to take my home improvement BEFORE pics.  The messier it is, the more amazing the final results will be.  Plus, this is the reality of my laundry room.

The worse part of this room was the floor...

 Old, worn out, outdated, torn in several places, Linoleum.

I wasn't willing to do anything too drastic since I have BIG plans for this room someday (that will be almost as amazing as my kitchen renovation was).  So throwing money into this room right now would be pointless.  BUT, this floor needed something to happen to it.  Since it was already so bad, I figured I couldn't make it any worse.  So I went out on a limb...

...and I painted it.

(disclaimer:  I did find some great tutorials online for painting linoleum.  I kinda sorta followed some of them.  A floor paint is recommended for a project like that.  I ignored that one and just used some paint I had on hand.  I was going for a more "rustic" look and I'm not too concerned about it looking perfect or wearing well.  I'm also not sure I would do this as a long term solution.  Short term fix is what I was going for here so perfection was not top on my list of priorities)

First I scrubbed it down with some TSP

Then I primed it (and considered the primer a good enough base coat)

I decided I wanted a fun diamond pattern on the floor.  I could have taped it off (like most of the tutorials suggested) but I DETEST taping things off when painting.  I'm not a fan of tape...blue, green, chartreuse...I don't like any of it.  Instead I used a piece of tile and traced my pattern onto the floor (so professional, I know!)

And then I started painting...by hand.  I know I seem crazy now for not using the tape, but this is how I do all my painting.  Luckily I have a pretty steady hand.  I really do hate taping things off!

After painting, I went over it with 3 coats of polyurethane, just to seal it up a bit and protect is a little better.

Not too shabby!

And with a few other things like new wall paint, freshly painted trim work, a new door knob, spray painted hardware, and a new shelf, the room now looks like a very clean and fresh armpit of our house.

Unfortunately I have to fill all that space back up with coats, work clothes, and Greg's "stuff" (those shelves are his domain and he's anything but organized).  But for now it's all piled in the other room and I will admire my fresh and clean looking laundry room for a while longer!

I may have to leave the bottom shelf open though...



Storage Room Clean-up

I have a lot of storage space in my house.  A LOT!  It's awesome, and a disaster all at the same time.  Especially when it ends up looking like this:

YIKES! 

This room has been on my "to do" list for a while and it was time to finally get it cleaned up.  I recruited my awesome mother and we got it whipped into shape!

The toy room didn't look too great after cleaning out the storage room!

I guess it's true that sometimes it has to get worse before it can get better ;)

 My WONDERFUL (and very handy) mom put up insulation and plastic around the room.  Three of the walls were exterior walls and never had insulation in them.  Hopefully this will make a difference for this room and the two rooms above this room.

It's amazing how much better it looks just by getting out all the JUNK we had been collecting!

(That's the biggest problem with storage space...you think you should keep things just because you have room to store it!)

My favorite part!  New shelves and organized home improvement supplies!  I was not sad to see the old moldy shelves go and I can actually get to my endless supply of paint ;)

So much better!

(and so much free space to fill up again :)