A Man's Man's Pad

My husband has a home office devoted to his business and HOBBIES! It's your typical man's man's pad - golf paraphernalia, bowling trophies, tools, computer stuff, and a picture of his beautiful wife (eh hem), but it needed something to finish up the room and tie it together.



My husband's uncle gave him this rocking chair. It's INCREDIBLY comfortable and just needed a new cover. I was surprised how easy this seat cover was. Each cushion took 1 yard of fabric. I kinda just "eyeballed" it, used some 3 dimensional thinking and sewed it together hoping it would work, and it did!



Valance: I actually ran out of fabric to make full on drapes, so I only did a valance which worked out well since the hubs wants to put up some bamboo blinds. I wish I had a pattern because I think it would have been easier. Again, I "eyeballed" it, took some measurements, made some guesstaments, and voila!



With the scrap pieces, I made a runner for the bookshelf. The fabric was such nice quality that the finished product came out really nice. All the edges are nice and crisp.


(Leather "B" and P51D Mustang from Home Goods, beautiful framed wife from Your Dreams :D)

Project: Tile

I love the shows on NJN like This Old House. They have really practical projects and every time I turn on the TV, they are doing a project we're doing! Today, they were tiling a floor and so are we! We called a plumber to put in the dishwasher and he recommended that we tile the floor first, so now we're in a mad rush to get the floor tiled. It works out since this really puts a fire under us to get this project done and over with!

Area: 113 SF (add 10% and round up)
Materials:
Coffee and cinnamon sprinkled elephant ear $3


Tools: ~$25 We made the investment in purchasing the tools since we plan on tiling the bathroom floor and someday half bath. Tools really add up quick and can be a tough pill to swallow especially if you need 2 of each.


Flooring: This stuff is extremely heavy, so bring your muscles when you get ready to purchase.

• Backerboard $8.99/3x5 sheet
• Tile $1.14/SF - Tile was on clearance from .49+. We spent a little more for this tile which had a varied pattern with touches of grey in it. Also, the tile had a slate-like finish that we liked the look and feel of.
  
• Grout $13/bag - Grout comes in different color options. We went with the "marble beige".
  

Thinset $36/bag - This is the bond that will go between the tile and the sub-floor. This is white, but I think we should have gotten the gray color, so you can see the notches in it as you lay it down.


Before: The dishwasher will go to the right and the cabinets will be replaced. The sink will be removed.


Stay tuned!!!

Productive Weekend

We did lots this weekend! Taking advantage of the warm weather, I cleaned up all around the yard. I painted the chair rail and touched up the paint in the hallway.

At Walmart, we picked up these curtain rods from Better Home & Garden. The quality isn't great, but for something that is just going to hang there, it does not matter. I wouldn't recommend them for heavy drapes.

Keith put them all up and I put up a pair of shears. It makes the room look so romantic now.



Next, I will sew a valance for each window.

Spring To-Do List

We already have plans for projects this spring, but I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum.

1. Clean out the basement. Donate to good will.
   
2. Paint walls down to basement. Install hooks to hang brooms n stuff.
3. Dig a trench and extend the gutter.
   
4. Lay pavers down for a patio.
5. Make a sitting area on deck.
6. Install a toilet.
7. Sew drapes.
8. Repaint the banister railing.
9. Mulch
10. Finish Kitchen.
11. Do kitchen floors.
12. 
    

Hip's Love Handles

I didn't get a chance to take an after photo yesterday, so here it is.



Before: Today, I sanded down the spackle used to fill the corners and nails. I primed over the spackle spots. As I painted, I noticed that I needed to go back and sand the crevices with a fine tool.



I still have more touching up to do - a tiny bit more spackle in some holes, sand again and a little paint touch ups.

The Chair Rail continued...

I took a 3 week hiatus from house work to start my seedlings for this year's garden. I tended to them while I searched for this outside corner molding piece to end the chair rail in our hallway.



Before:


First, I primed and gave them one coat of paint. To paint within the crevices, dab the paint brush into the crevices instead of brush strokes.


Cut the last piece of chair rail leaving enough room for the corner piece. Nail.


Fill the holes in, sand, prime and repaint.

Alphabet Hooks from Anthropologie

Before I met up with Brooke from Claremont Road and Louella Court, I stopped by Anthropologie for these alphabet hooks that I've been eyeing up for several weeks. I love customizing our house in little ways to make it more "us". Now we won't get our towels confused either.

Hip Gets Accesories

While I worked on the bathroom, Keith installed the chair rail in the hallway.



Measuring


Glue


Nailing


Before & After


One tired husband.

Budget Bathroom Make-Over

For 2 weeks, my bathroom Bland wouldn't stop moaning about how jealous she was of Hip the hallway. Finally, I gave her a make-over, so she would shut her lid.

The Make-Over:

• Sewed a new shower curtain.
• Gave the molding and doors a new coat of white paint in high gloss.
• Replaced the cabinets with new hardware.
• Replaced blinds with matchstick roman blinds.
• Hung some wall decor.

The break-down:
Everything, but the hardware was on sale. It took some time to shop for these things.

• Hardware $2.57/piece - Lowe's.
• Matchstick blind $17.99 - Walmart.
• 3 set of mirrors $14.99 - JoAnn's.
• Paint leftover from living room $23-27 - Home Depot.
• Magnolia picture $1 - The Goodwill Store.
• Fabric $6.38/yard - JoAnn's.

From this picture: The new knobs really give the old cabinets a face-lift. The matchstick blinds give privacy, yet allow a lot of light to get in. The glossy white molding is super shiny and easy to maintain.


This set of mirrors mimic the Celtic pattern that is in the fabric of the shower curtain.


Installing new hardware is easy and takes 2 seconds. Hold the screw from the inside of the cabinet and twist the knob on. While the hardware is off, give your cabinets a thorough cleaning with some non-toxic wood cleaner.

Sewing the shower curtain:


My make-shift pin cushion.


(right edge is top of curtain) The back of the curtain. I sewed 2 pieces of fabric together to give it the width I needed.


When I sewed the 2 pieces together, I was careful that the pattern met up in the same place, so that it looked continuous. I pinned it and sewed slowly.


To give the curtain a crisp corner, I folded the fabric back on an angle. This helps keep the curtain from flaring out when it's hung.


For the top where the curtain rod would go, I folded the fabric over by 4.5". I sewed a line 1" from the edge and then again 3" apart. The 1" is for a little ruffle. The 3" is for the rod. This allowed enough room for the rod to sit comfortable.

The finished curtain is 68"Lx90"W. I should have gone maybe 75"L, so that it could sweep the floor a little and conceal the bathrub, but I made the mistake of not factoring in the extra deep rod pocket space (4.5") when I bought the fabric. Also, 90"W was perfect! Store bought curtains are 70x72 which doesn't give enough "scrunch".

What isn't seen here is that I diligently took off all the hardware on the bathroom door and cleaned the old paint off them. It makes a world of difference in appearance in my opinion.

I have a couple of more things to do:
Sew a tiolet seat cover and mats.
Replace the TP holder with something nicer.
Add more hooks to the back of the door.
Eventually replace the medicine cabinet and put up crown molding.

"Really Hip People Live Here"

This weekend, I repainted our hallway. I have always wanted a bright splash of color somewhere in our house, but it seemed like such a huge commitment. They always look so great in design magazines and blogs, but let's face it. YOU have to live with it.

Before: Just neutral. On the light colored walls, you could see every scuff mark. Also, it just seemed like a "pass through" room with no interest.


I decided I just wanted half the wall to be painted and install a chair rail along the wall. First, I measured 39" up from the floor and marked the wall. Using a level, I drew a straight line across the wall. Then I put painter's tape along that line. I painted the lower half in high gloss in Swan Wing by Behr.


With a color so bold, it was a must to lay down a drop cloth EVERYWHERE. I regret not taping the ceiling because it was such a pain to edge. I made a few bumps which I had to touch up. It was just messy in general because I had to be more careful than usual as I worked.


Starting out was scary. The first coat looked like the home of Shamu in an ocean blue color. It needed 3 coats for an even look. As you can see, it goes on differently each time. The following day I still had to go over many spots that did not look even.


We made the flip decision to paint these two slivers of wall too. After doing that, we realized it was a mistake. The contrast was too great, so I repainted these two walls back to the color of the living room. As a transition, I left the bottom white. (The blue in the photo is not what it looks like in person).


After 3 coats and lots of touching up! The finished product. I love it! I don't regret it at all. The paint is true to it's color from day to night. I hope the wall says "Really hip people live here". The white molding can really be appreciated now and will make a great backdrop for hanging artwork.


Next weekend, we will install the chair rail and molding for a faux wainscotting look. The only thing I would change is I should have gotten the paint in FLAT not semi-gloss. The sheen is kinda weird when it's on such a bright color. We're changing out the light fixture, so we think that will soften the light reflecting off the wall. Also, bit by bit I have to repaint all the doors and molding. The first time around, I never gave them a second coat and that really shows in my opinion. You can see shades of light and dark showing through the white. This will take a while because the 5-panel doors take a lot of patience to paint.

Weekend Projects

Keith has been working on a little project for me. I designed a pull out drawer/cabinet for next to the stove that can be used for storing spices and baking pans. He spent all weekend building it. More to come on that soon...

We went to Lowe's to pick up some lumber when I saw this rug on clearance for $8! Originally $30. The kitchen floor gets very cold and I've been thinking about getting a rug anyway. These playful flowers on this rug were perfect.



We got knobs for the cabinet doors and Keith installed them. He had such anxiety about doing it because a mistake would be extremely apparent! They were $2.55 a piece.



The seeds are out in stores!!! I am really particular about what I get. I've been choosing select varieties online, but if I can get some basics from the store, it works out to be less expensive.

What should I cook first?

New year. New cast iron enamel pot. What should be the first thing I cook?

The Container Store

I love me some organizational stuff! This is the moment I have been waiting months for! We avoided opening our wedding gifts until "the kitchen was ready". It became a tiresome song, but boy does it feel good now. I spent the last few days cleaning, ohhing and ahhing over the glaze of the dinnerware, and placing everything ever so perfectly in it's place. Yeah, I'm a dork.

What are some organizational systems that you love? What little things work for you?



At the Container Store, we picked up these plate racks. They really save space, so you can stack your salad plates on top and take advantage of the vertical cabinet space.


I lined all the drawers to keep things in place and for maintenance.


Little storage bins for all your miscellaneous needs. Hooks for inside the cabinets to hang pot holders and such.


We also want to pick up the under cabinet pull out trash bin.


And these pull out cabinet organizers for cleaning products and pots and pans.