Pinterest: Contact Paper into Frosted Glass

About a year ago it really started bugging me that we the top maybe 1/5 of our front door and the entire dining room door was clear uncovered glass.  It bothered me that any person as tall as me could easily look in our front door and see the living room, office, dining room, and the long hall to the bathroom.  It bothered that the neighbors that lived across the street from our dining room door always seemed to be sitting on their front porch when we were sitting down to eat dinner.  It was borderline creepy.

I'd thought about curtains or blinds but I didn't really want to do much to keep the sunlight out.  I just wanted to feel a little less exposed.

Thank you, Pinterest.   I found this great pin that led to this great blog (not just this one post, her whole blog is pretty great.)

I already had contact paper.  score.  I decided to use the stencil for the front door and solid blocks for the dining room.

And I ended up tracing my stencil right off the computer screen because we didn't have ink in the printer at the time!  seriously, I didn't even want to wait for printer ink.  After lots of tracing and lots of cutting out and measuring, I gave it a go.

I probably should have worked slower and took my time, but well, I was excited and I rushed through getting it finished.  It's not perfect, but I really like it and I think it's much improved!

I put the contact paper on last summer (talk about slow on posting!) and I haven't had any trouble with any of it peeling off.  

front door glass

the dining room door

Hand prints on Canvas

Here's the great thing about Pinterest, I am great at replicating.  I can look at something, figure out a way to make it and often times make it better/something I like more but I am horrible at innovating.  which is basically why pinterest is so amazing for me.  I can see thousands and thousands of great ideas and then adjust them a little to make them fit me/us better.

I'm pretty much a gigantic copy cat and I'm starting to come to terms with that. 

I recently ran across this great idea of hand prints on canvas and I got to thinking about where I could display this in our house if I did it.  Well, there's a perfect spot in our long beige hall (that is already being filled up with pictures in black frames) that can not only be a great place for 4 canvases ... but many more can be added for years to come.

so the idea was to get 4 canvases.  8X10 for Husband and I because our hands are bigger.  And 5X7 for the kids. Then I decided that unlike the pinterest idea, I wanted all the backgrounds to be the same.  I decided black.  And I already had that at home.  Next, I had everyone pick out a color they wanted their hands to be.   Came home and made it happen.  

our colors.  Can you guess who picked the pink ...

I used another pinterest idea to paint the canvases.  I put push  pins in the backs of them, so they stood up off the paper. So there was no canvas drying TO THE PAPER.  fabulous idea and no touchups needed.

I decided to do the hand everyone writes with (even though Son uses both equally now, I went ahead and used his right)
I like how my blue hand is facing Husband's red hand.  Plus, you can see my wedding ring.  Daughter loved this and stamped about 8 pieces of paper after her canvas.  Son hated the paint on his hand and finally displayed his deep dark secret ... he has 6 fingers.  ;-)

After the hand prints dried, I added everyone's initials and the date 11-11.  We'll hang then just like in the picture and in  a year or two, do another set for the kids to hang under these.  And so forth and so on.  Until the space is top to bottom hand prints, with Husband and mine always on the top.   (sigh) this gives me a warm feeling.

Downstairs Improvement Part 5: The Sewing Room

This room is without any before pictures.  Because really, there's not much difference.  I patched nail holes, touched up the white trim, painted all the doors, touched up the walls (all with paint we already had) and thoroughly mopped and repainted the floor ($30!!) And set up my sewing stuff down there.

That's right.  My sewing stuff had worn out its welcome in our bedroom. Husband was tired of it always being out and in the way.  And I was tired of always having to pack it up when I was done and unpack it when I wanted to sew. Something had to give.  

That was actually how I pitched the whole "Let's fix up downstairs idea," after we found out Husband didn't get the Mobile job. "Love, if you help me clean up and fix downstairs, I'll move all my sewing stuff down there."  That's all it took.  We started the next day.  And I was grateful for his help.  I did lots of little stuff, like cleaning and painting the doors, during the day while he was at work, but I really enjoyed those full weekend days of working together.  Even though we never really worked in the same room at the same time, we were close enough to talk.

4 of the 6 doors I cleaned and painted.  crazy that we have 6 doors down there. And  I still have the exterior door left to do.

This is the door that goes to the cellar.  I'm telling you, the biggest favor the previous owners did us was leave most of their paint behind.  With some cleaning, sanding, and a fresh coat of paint, this door looks fabulous.  A great pop of color in a very neutral room.

The windows are previous exterior windows. They now give a view of the drywall room.  The boxes are fabric and batting that's still packed up.  The beautiful cellar door is next and the shelves ...

These are 2 of the 3 fold up bookshelves I used in college (the third one is under the stairs). $3 worth of white spray paint and $16 for 20 of those lidded shoe box sized containers and I was ready to store fabric, scrap fabric, thread, and most everything else of my sewing supplies.  Plus my iPod and dock.  It's my main source of entertainment for the moment. The door to the right leads to the under-the-stairs-room

my rulers, cutting boards, iron and board.  I thought I had enough rulers until I started hanging them ... clearly, I need more to fill empty space.  And even more clearly, I'm ridiculous.

my current sewing setup and design wall.

I'm still using a television tray for a sewing table like I was upstairs.  I haven't found any table/desk I'm crazy about or seems right, so I'll keep on using this.  Husband says he's going to make my table.  We'll see. The chair is one from the office and it's a little too tall for the tv tray so my back hurts a little from hunching over, but it's ok for now.

The design wall was my most exciting purchase when I made it.  Now, I'm pretty much over it.  It's a felted table cloth.  Table cloth side tacked to the wall.  And it cost $5.  I thought it was fabulous.  Until I started trying to put my Skill Building Sampler blocks on it.  fail.  They stick ... mostly.  If there's the least bit of moisture in the air, down they go.  I've thought about quilt batting, felt and flannel.  But JSS suggested I get what she has, a felt design wall that is marked with lines for measurement. I trust her judgement and I've seen hers in action so that's probably what I will end up upgrading to soon, coupon in hand.

Everything in the sewing space just has the feel of temporary.  The design wall will be in the same place, but needs to be changed, the sewing table is definitely not going to be there for long term use, but I do like the placement of it in the room, the shelves are great, but I already have more stuff than that space allows, so while I'll leave that I will also have to add more storage to it.  And I have no idea what yet.

Also, ideally, I'd like to get a cheap television set and dvd player for down there. But, again, that's a long term goal and nothing I'm even actively shopping for now.  The iPod is keeping me moderately entertained.

Also, since I took the pictures I've put up the other set of gifted curtains Tiffany sent.  They warm up the room.  I really love the space.  It's nice to go downstairs and sew while the kids play downstairs (or even better, nap upstairs). Plus, I have the satisfaction of doing the job (mostly) by myself.

Downstairs Improvement Part 4: The Hoop Tent in the Main Room

So, here's a little sneak peak of the main room, in the form of the Hoop Tent.  I got the idea from pinterest.  It's a quilting hoop, silk panels, string, a circle ring, a topper fabric and fishing line.  Seriously, the picture is beautiful.  And my first attempt to replicate it wasn't too shabby.  I used a quilting hoop ($3 after a coupon at Hobby Lobby), gifted curtains, a discarded shower curtain ring and fishing line.  I also used two throws we already had but didn't use and two more of those $2.50 pillows and green pillowcases from wal-mart.

The space.  It's hard to tell, but there's already a hook in the ceiling which is what gave me the idea in the first place.

I pinned the curtains to the wall for the main reason that I was afraid my kids, who have the reputation of playing hard, would tear them down.  (The door on the right is the double doors (former exterior doors) leading into the drywall room.)

The kids went crazy with excitement.  

Daughter squeezing my leg with excitement

"finished" I added some scrap fabric to the top to cover up the fishing line. THIS is Son's favorite thing downstairs.  

Even though the kids are in love, I'll tell ya, I'm not.  It just looks so bootleg to me.  My favorite part is the curtains.  I've decided that soon, I'm going to take it down and try again for a more polished look. I'm thinking  of dyeing the curtains for some added color to the room, and taking more care with hanging it.  Plus, putting a better fabric as the topper. Truthfully, I'd like to find a bigger hoop too, but so far 15 inches is the biggest I've come across.  There's room for improvement.

STAY TUNED: tomorrow is the grand finale - THE SEWING SPACE!

Downstairs Improvement Part 3: The Boring Drywall Room

I think, by far, this room was the biggest job.  It's also the weirdest room in the house.  The previous homeowners planned on it being some weird little extra kitchen for downstairs. It's fitted with water fixtures for a full sink and wired with electrical lines to support a full sized stove/oven and fridge.  And there are a DOZEN wall outlets. Weird, I tell you.  Esp because all you'd have to do is walk about 50 steps to your right and up a flight of stairs and you'd be in a fully furnished amazing kitchen.  They never installed any of the kitchen things though and for that I'm grateful.

Like I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of water damage to be fixed in this room.  And Husband was set to do it himself.  And he did.  Well, it's not finished yet, so I guess I should say, "He will."

I really have no clue how much anything for this room cost except for the two sheets of drywall.  That was a total of $12.  I know he also got drywall putty, drywall nails and drywall sandpaper. But I don't know how much is cost.  

The biggest hole to patch and the hardest because he had to work around an A/C duct. The brick on the right is because this room was an add-on. The brick wall used to be the entrance to downstairs. Dry walling a ceiling = hard.

Two smaller holes and an electrical line we've got to do something with

From left to right, the current downstairs door to outside, the half bathroom and the smallest patched hole.

the last hole

Husband cleaning up the dry wall installation mess.

There's still some work left to do in this room.  The drywall putty needs to be sanded.  The ceiling, walls, door casings and baseboards need to be painted.  And the floors will probably need to be painted because right now it is a different color than the rest of the downstairs.  It looks like we'll only need ceiling paint and wall paint, so that's nice.  Plus, we need to replace the blinds on the exterior door and I have plans to paint that door white to match the other doors.

But Husband is gone for work about 60 hours a week and it's college football season.  He'll get it finished when he gets it finished.  Our plan for this room is mainly just storage.  I'm thinking the Christmas stuff and some things from the shed in the yard, like the kids' wagon and a couple of other riding toys.  We definitely won't be turning it into a weird second kitchen!

Downstairs Improvement Part 2: The half bathroom

 The half bathroom was the smallest project in terms of it being the smallest space we worked on, but the biggest in terms of how much it needed done.  It had a toilet and a pedestal sink and that's all.  bare drywall, bare concrete and no other fixtures (besides the light).

Luckily, this job ended up being pretty inexpensive too.  I painted the door (which was beige), the door casing and the ceiling with the same white I used in the under-the-stairs-room.  Only time will tell if we should have shelled out extra money for "ceiling paint" but I think it's completely fine.  I painted the walls the same blue that is in the under-the-stairs room.  And a little of the floor paint purchased for the main room was used on the floor.  Total cost thus far?  zero.

To finish the room, I bought a small white trash can for $2, a mirror for over the sink for $10, a towel ring for $6, a hand towel for $3, a bottle of hand soap for $2, a toilet paper caddy that holds 3 rolls for $8, 4 8X10 picture frames to hang some of the kids' art for $2 each and $4 worth of shoe.

Total spent: under $45
Just like with the under-the-stairs-room, I still have to get baseboards to finish the room.  But it's not an immediate need.

before

naked drywall

I like the pedestal sink but the lack of storage meant that I needed shelves or something for the toilet paper that held more than one roll. And I wasn't too keen on shelves.

after

toddler art.  The two on the left are Daughter's and the two on the right are Son's.  Both kids got really excited when we showed them the bathroom and they recognized their art.

Every time I go in the bathroom, I think the mirror is too far away from the sink, but  when Husband stands in front of the sink, it has to be that high to be able to see the top of his head in the mirror. Buying a longer mirror isn't very important now, but I might upgrade it one day and bring the smaller one upstairs for something.

Again, I'm pretty proud of the work in this room, because aside from hanging the towel ring, I did it all.  The sink is short/small enough that Daughter can reach the water knobs and the soap by herself, and she thinks that's fantastic.

Downstairs Improvement Part 1: Under-the-Stairs-Room

I guess I should start at the beginning.  In August, we took a family day trip down to Mobile.  But this one wasn't just for fun.  Husband had a job interview. Yes, we were seriously considering moving to Mobile. And if Husband got the job, we would have moved. Husband and I started talking about what-ifs, what-we-need-to-dos.  And talk quickly turned to the list of things we'd need to do to the house before we could sell it or, worse case scenario, rent it out.  Number two on the list was turn the 702 sq ft of finished downstairs space into actual usable family space. In the six years that Husband has owned the house, it's never really been used for anything except a place for the dogs to stay in extreme weather.  Husband ended up not getting the job, but I was still thinking of this list of to-dos.  

Why wait to do these things until we're trying to get rid of the house?

Why not do them now and actually get to enjoy our hard work?

There are 4 finished rooms downstairs (and the unfinished 300sq ft cellar that we ignored except for organizing and cleaning).  There's the under-the-stairs room, the main room, the smaller side room that sustained substantial drywall damage when we learned that the previous owners installed 3 of the 6 water sources in the master bathroom, that's directly above this room, incorrectly, and the half bath.  

I'm starting with the room I was probably the most excited about first.  And except for husband putting two nails in the wall, I did it all by myself.  

before.

bare wood paneling and plain concrete. cold and uninviting.

under the stairs

the 4th wall

The most important thing to me about this improvement was that it be cheap.  We just don't have the money to spare right now.  But I also didn't want it to look bootleg.  Luckily, so much of what I used in this room, we already had or I was able to find cheap.  The only exception?  The $10 can of chalk board paint.  It was the single most expensive thing I bought.

I used wall paint that we already had in the cellar (the blue that Son's room was when Husband bought the house). We already had the white paint I used to paint the window and door casings.  And since we had already decided the main room's floor needed repainting, I used a little of that paint on the floor.  I bought the chalkboard paint for $10.  Thrift store frames for the chalkboards for $5 each.  White spray paint to paint the the frames and a bookshelf I've had since college was $3.  I picked up two pillows that were $2.50 each to use as cushions.  Covered them with pillowcases we already had but don't use anymore. Then bought two .74 packs of chalk. $8 worth of shoe (the wood that usually accompanies baseboards) And that's it.  I still have to get baseboards, paint and install them.  THAT will end up being the most costly thing in the room, but the room really feels unfinished without them.  And I'd like to hang some curtains too.  Just something sheer and light.

Total spent thus far: right under $40

Total fun has thus far: priceless

the kids checking our their new chalkboards.

Daughter's first drawing

the cat approves

I used the bookshelf to butt up against the stairs and I still haven't decided if I'm going to leave the stairs unfinished or not.  The shelf now has coloring books, crayons and simple wooden puzzles on it. (the white strip on the left is the shoe.  I thought that was all we'd need as far as baseboards go, but they aren't tall enough to cover the gap between the paneling and the floor.  boo)

When the time comes that I trust my kids a little more, this is going to become a magnetic wall and I will bring out my 3 packs of magnetic poetry that I packed away when I realized Husband's fridge wasn't magnetic.  I'm excited for the day, but also realistic that it will probably be years away.

Since I took these pictures, I've hung my old cork board above the chalk boards for the kids to hang their art.  I'm really excited about this room.  And I love how much the kids love it.  Daughter calls it "my little room."  And Son doesn't seem to mind she claimed ownership because he has his own favorite thing downstairs and it's not in that room.

After I started painting my measured off chalkboard to fit into the frames and I saw how little of the $10 can of chalkboard paint I was going to be using, I ALMOST decided to scrap the frame idea and paint the entire wall.  But the thought of wasting $10 on the thrift store frames was enough to deter me.  Maybe later that'll be an upgrade to do - A SUPER HUGE WALL SIZED CHALKBOARD.

Herbs and how they made Sunday better

Sunday was looking to be a fabulously relaxing day. Husband finished up a pipe replacement job in the basement on Saturday and we were both looking forward to a day of fun and rest.

I don't know how much anyone has paid attention to pictures I've posted of our bathtubs, so I'll explain them a little. We have two and they are both claw foot. Freestanding with the water and drain pipes all exposed. Kids were napping and we were in the tub, when the hot water pipe became disconnected.

PEOPLE, hot water spewing everywhere (including into a hole that led to our basement but we didn't know about that part yet). In a furious scramble I'm collecting towels and buckets to keep as much water off the floor as I could and Husband ran for the pliers. It was probably less than 3 minutes from the time the pipe disconnected to when Husband stopped it. But wow, it felt like about 15.

I went downstairs to get the shopvac and discovered that water was leaking from the basement ceiling. At first we thought it was more leaky pipes but then we realized it was water pouring down an unsealed hole around a copper pipe connected to the tub. Husband was tearing out drywall and I was trying not to cry.

That night we both congratulated each other on a job well done. We handled it quickly and efficiently and without and tense words spoken to each other. We both grew up in homes where verbal abuse was the norm and things were often blown way out of proportion, so I thought that deserved a big pat on the back.

ugh. But it's another thing to fix in the house. (a whole wall and ceiling worth of drywall in the basement)

ok, that's the end of the bad news part of the story. I see a little humor now. just a little though.

A few hours later we stopped by wal-mart for a couple of items for dinner and I realized the herbs were out in the garden center. I needed that. A lot.

I gathered up 9 basil and 1 mint.

As you can tell, they are much shorter than they would have been if I'd waited another month to buy them. But, well, I didn't want to wait. I wanted to watch them grow.
The one in the blue pot on the right probably won't make it. It was a tiny little withered mess that I almost threw away. And if it ends up dying I'll just take one of the plants out of the crowded planters to replace it.

btw, the low last night was 38 but I brought them in the house anyway. silly? yes. I also water them with warm water.

The blinds came down

The window in our bathroom is such a weird size. It was custom made to center over the tub. I didn't mind the weird size until the kids broke several blades and messed up the pull mechanism on the blinds. They looked horrible. I wanted to take them down and replace them with something. ANYTHING. cheaply. the cheaper the better.

I still haven't checked anywhere but wal-mart. I'm not making a special trip to price blinds and we just haven't been to Target, Home Depot, Lowe's etc. in months.

Wal-mart's widest length was two and a half inches shorter than the broken blinds. I did a little more measuring to see if it would work and there would be a noticeable gab from where the blinds end and the window jam on both sides. I thought that'd look as bad as having broken blinds. (sigh) I hate when simple things are made difficult.

I ended up buying a tension rod on clearance ($3) and two panels of sheer crinkle white curtains ($9 each). So under $25 which was cheaper than the too short blinds.

While I was ironing the wrinkles out of the curtains, I had a slight identity crisis. When did I become the "kind of" woman who irons curtains? (This is the ONLY window in the house that has curtains. The kids have valances that match their bedding but that's it) I suddenly felt very domestic, almost maid-like. I didn't like it. Then I realized that the only reason I was ironing the curtains is because I wanted to because I was too lazy/cheap to search for blinds that fit. Cheap and lazy, that's me. I calmed down, hung the curtains, and sighed. They looked pretty great.

As you can see, the real winner here is the cat. She gets more space on the ledge because the blinds aren't there. You'd think she'd be a little nicer to me, but no. She still sleeps on my pillow every night and bites my hand every time I try to pet her. She loves Husband and the kids. She loves to bit me. The one who feeds her.

The curtains REALLY light up the room. It's a nice change. And maybe the next time we're out and about, I'll price some blinds.

The Napkins and Place Mats. It has started

I've been talking a lot about getting cloth napkins lately. (And thinking about it even more) I think it's a great way to cut down on our paper trash. And I figured with enough napkins, I can just wait and wash them with a load of towels so I wouldn't be creating an extra load.

Well, then I got to thinking about place mats. And if we had cloth napkins and place mats, I could give Daughter a 'fun' new job. She could set the table for dinner. I also thought that giving her a job she could be excited about that involved sitting at the table to eat would encourage more family meals. win, win, win.

SamsClub.com has 24 napkins (various colors) for $17.43. That's .72 a napkin. I thought that was a pretty good price, especially since the product reviews were good. but I wasn't sure we needed 24. Actually, I had no idea how many we would need/should get. AND more importantly what color I wanted.

WHITE. yes, that's what I really wanted. But after talking to a couple of friends (and Husband) I was talked out of white. So if not white, what? something else equally neutral. French Vanilla? Sandalwood? both available. Eh, I decided to think about it. I still really wanted white, I just had stain doubts now.

Well, now to the place mat question. Tina sent me the link for making no-sew place mats. Perfect, now if I just had a fabric store within 40 minutes. I don't. That puts the 'make my own place mats' idea on hold until I can get some time away from the kids to visit a fabric store. Hopefully soon.

After a week of thinking about all this, I decided to get enough napkins and place mats to at least start the setting the table routine with Daughter.

First, I cleaned out a low drawer in the buffet that would be "her" drawer for napkins and place mats.

Second, since we were going to Sam's Club ANYWAY on Sunday, we stopped to look at napkins. The store we looked at (wasn't our normal Sam's) didn't have the 24 pack, but they did have an 8 pack. The price came out to .90 a napkin. I thought this was respectable and would give us a good start and idea on how many we would need. Now, guess what color we got. not white. not beige, not tan, not cream ... black. I'm still not sure why, other than that's what Husband suggested and I didn't want him to feel excluded from the process. black? seriously.

Home from Sam's, we decided we were going to have a salad for dinner. (this is relevant, I promise) but we only had spinach, onion, feta, bacon and croutons (and Husband's homemade dressing). Daughter and I loaded up in the car to pick up a cucumber and a few avocados. Seriously, these are the standard for our salads ... add pine nuts and it would be perfect.

Anyway, at Wal-mart I think, 'well, I'm here. I might as well price place mats' Home department - there are about 5 choices. The cheapest was the vinyl place mats for $1. The most expensive was a few dollars. I didn't really see any of the more expensive ones I liked and was glad about that because I didn't want to spend $3 on one place mat. Then I get the idea to check out the Seasonal department. SCORE. Those place mats were only a dollar. I picked green. Well, I asked Daughter and she picked green.

Back at home, I show Daughter her buffet drawer, put the napkins and place mats in it and then take out one of each to show her how to do it.

This is the table after She finished setting it. (notice the price sticker from the place mat stuck to the table and a green hot wheels van in the center of the table ... All Daughter's idea)

She got really excited by the whole process and of course the praise hyped her up. We kept telling her how this was her job and how she was already very good at it. yada yada yada. She loved it. "I did ALL BY SELF, Mommy"

This is what my place looked like with all the colors melded together. Notice how I seriously have a love for croutons. AND the Alabama souvenir cup. I like it ONLY because I can sit down to eat a meal and not have to get up to refill my ice water with extra lemon. it's a nice size for the girl who likes to drink a lot.

Now, I am under no delusion that my black, green, blue table is beautiful and elegant and a decorating masterpiece. It doesn't clash and my Daughter got to set the table and we didn't waste any paper napkins. and right now, that's good enough for me.

When you can't redecorate -- face lift!

Husband had already lived in his house for a year when we met. So it was pretty much decorated. or at least filled with things he needed. Two things he had was a brass lamp that's probably 30 years old and a dresser with brass knobs.

Seriously ... the brass was bad. I didn't like it. at all.

but when your decorating budget is ZERO you just live with things you might not love because they work.

I've been thinking about replacement lamps and silver dresser knobs for years, but haven't done anything about it.

THEN I remembered this:

There was a time in college when I had a brass butter knife but I needed it to be silver. real bad. so I went to Fred's and bought some silver spray paint. Over seven years later, it's still in my craft box, because really ... you never know when you're going to need silver spray paint. And Wednesday, I DID!

I sprayed the lamp first because all it required was removing the lamp shade. notice I didn't take out the bulb. That was part laziness and part not wanting to get paint down in the inner workings of the lamp. (too bad I didn't get a before shot of the lamp. Just imagine a shiny brass before)

And after. I like it.

This is the dresser before. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take a picture until the knobs were already off. oh well. I didn't want to put them back on ... so again ... imagine.

the knobs, prepaint.

the knobs, postpaint.

And the dresser after. Notice how we have a VHS/DVD player AND a cable box but no television. yea. There is no plans for ever replacing the television in our bedroom. We should find other storage for the player and box. Again, I like it.
I decided when I started my project that I wouldn't tell Husband and see how long it took him to realize I'd changed something. BUT because of my excitement, I spilled the beans that I did a household face lift project that I'd been wanting to do for years. It only took him a couple of hours to discover the dresser and shortly after the lamp. I fail at surprises and keeping secrets from Husband.