Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A Laundry Room Updated with a Drying Station is Loads of Fun!

With a few small projects we were able to improve the functionality of our laundry room.  We removed a wallpaper boarder, painted, rearranged cabinets, and added a clothing drying station.

The title of this post was stolen from the sign that now hangs in our laundry room.  Gotta love a little ironic humor when you're spending yet another Saturday knee-deep in towels, sheets, and jammies.

Laundry Room Drying Station
A friend of mine sells these Life Expression signs.  Hosting make-and-take parties has become a bit of a hobby for the rest of my circle of mom friends.

The irony of the title of this post also lies in the "fun" Mike was having when I was painting this sign at a friend's party several months ago.  He spent that same afternoon caring for our kiddos and turning this:

Laundry Room Drying Station
Not so bad, but not functional for us.
into this:

Laundry Room Drying Station
Not super exciting, but it works for us.
He took down the adorable sock border (okay, if this was 1995, I would probably like it...but it's not) and painted before we moved in.  Still, the hook-ups for the washer and dryer needed to be switched so their doors would open away from each other allowing laundry to be moved along easily.  Since the doors of those dang front-loading washers need to be kept open when not in use to prevent that mildew smell (regretting my choice to take that on now--oh, well), having the washer against that wall also keeps the walkway clear of that usually open door.

We also needed a space to hang-dry clothes, so Mike took out the two single cabinets, shifted the two double ones all the way down to the left wall, and hung a bar in the remaining space over the sink.

Laundry Room Drying Station


Laundry Room Drying Station




The space is small, but the drying station and new cabinet arrangement is working well for us now.  

I mean, the room doesn't fold our socks or anything, but it'll do.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Local Artists in a New Locale

Years ago in the old playroom, I tied a length of twine to two eye-hooks and hung the kids' artwork from it with tiny clothespins.  It was a solution that cost next to nothing (had to buy the clothespins), and I loved the look of our children's art display..

Children's Art Display

It's taken me a bit to figure out where and how I would hang the kids' artwork in our new place.  I settled on a wall of the playroom and considered taking the old look up a notch.  I noticed that even their child care center has given in to the sleek functionality of art hanging from wire curtains rails.

Making do with what we have is the name of the game right now, though, and we have several curtain rods that we brought from the old place (re-hung some older blinds for our renters), and plenty of curtain ring clips to match.

Children's Art Display

Another solution that cost next to nothing and I love like the look!

Children's Art Display



This new children's art display works for me!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Combating the Brass: Fireplace

This house came with a lot of brass--brass cabinet pulls, brass light fixtures, brass faucets--but we see those as relatively quick and affordable DIY opportunities.  While we would love to make those changes immediately, we are taking a room-by-room approach to most projects, focusing our funds and energy these days on our main living areas.

So far our interior brass doorknobs and the kitchen cabinet pulls have been replaced with oil-rubbed bronze.  Our bathroom faucets and our shower surround will have to wait until they climb up the priority list, however.  It could be a while.

Updating 1990's Brass

Happily some more brass did bite the dust this past weekend.  Our fireplace went from this:

Updating 1990's Brass

to this:

Updating 1990's Brass



Mike used a brush-on paint designed for high heat.  I took the doors off and cleaned them.  That was the extent of my contribution beyond the ideas and shopping I usually provide.  He then removed the glass from the frames, painted two coats on all of the visible edges, and re-installed it all.

We were unable to find new handles that fit the doors at our local hardware store, so Mike painted the brass parts of those as well.  We'll probably look into ordering some other ones later on.  We'll see.

Updating 1990's Brass

We're surrounded by future projects that will require a lot of time and money to take on.  Knowing how satisfying these smaller changes can be means all the brass tempts us to drop a little cash and put in the weekends sooner rather than later.  Still, we believe the impact will be more satisfying and the funds will grow faster if we hold off for the most part.

So I'll live with bits like this...
Updating 1990's Brass

...for now.  But I look forward to writing "Combating the Brass: Everything Else" one day.

Then I'll start the "Combating the 1990's Tile" series.

Monday, February 3, 2014

A is for Apple - Create a Simple Child's Room Mural

I posted this on Shared and Doubled (our family blog) earlier today, but since it is also about fixing up our house, I thought I would post it here as well.  


Between the kids' nap last Sunday and their playing pretty peacefully together on the morning of a snow day (we've had a bunch this year), I was able to knock this out!

Child's Room Mural


This same artwork was in the kids' playroom in the old house, of course.  It was inspired by a photo I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog that had the same concept on the wall of a nursery.  I didn't keep the catalog, and this is the only photo I could find online of the inspiration.  You can see the bird, but you'll have to trust me that the apple and caterpillar are up there, too.



It's funny to think back to making this for the old playroom before the kids were born.  We bought the frames with a gift card from the shower on the same shopping trip that I bought the pants I wore to the hospital.  I painted the chipboard letters and craft paper backing in our old basement with no distractions at all, aside from a big ol' belly.
Child's Room Mural 
Child's Room Mural
I sketched the stencils with my feet up on the couch, the way I spent a lot of afternoons back then.  I thought I kept the cut-outs just as keepsakes. Turns out it was so I could do it all over again!
I don't have a very vivid memory of painting the design in the old house (pregnancy brain?), but I'm sure later on I'll remember the kids playing around me this time around as I tried not to mess up.  Mike pointed out before I began that we have no more yellow paint for the playroom, so touch-ups would not be an option.  The pressure made me feel all Michelangelo.
Child's Room Mural
I believe I will also recall Sophie telling me I'm very good at painting and asking, "When I grow up to be a teacher, can I paint on the walls like you?"  That teacher thing came 100% from her, despite my suspicion that she has it in her.  I told her yes, by the way. 
Child's Room Mural
Above is a photo I took from my painting perch on top of the toy shelves.  Later I discovered that I dripped paint in Sophie's hair.  Better there than on the walls!
While it was certainly easier to paint with two munchkins peacefully rolling around in my belly, this was admittedly more fun and rewarding, especially when Michael came down from his nap to see what I had started and declared it a "Great idea!" 
Child's Room Mural
Sophie exclaimed that my work was "just beautiful" when it was done.  Best patrons ever.
Mike and the kids also added a shelf to the kitchen area this weekend.

Child's Room Mural

Child's Room Mural

Child's Room Mural
I can't believe how much better this playroom feels to me now.  It's all warmed up with memories of preparing for these two, of infants crawling over my legs, and of a couple of toddlers stumbling around gumming teethers.  We're filling the space now with games of Candyland and Memory and all sorts of imaginative fun, of preschoolers making observations and playing contentedly by my side.