Spray Paint Thrift Store Finds for Pops of Color

I came home from a friend's Life Expressions sign party recently, put the sign on my mantel, and got that icky feeling, the one that comes after bad haircuts, impulsive eBay purchases, and, like in this case, after choosing the wrong paint color.  I've had experience with all three, that's for sure.

Luckily, this instance turned out to be of the happy accident variety, because look:

The color was so wrong for our family room that, even with the lights still off the next morning, easygoing Mike declared it too bright.  However, it looks just right in the bold flower garden that is Sophie's room!

This discovery lit that fun little fire that makes me tap my foot until naptime or bedtime or anytime I can break out a can of spray paint or the camera or the sewing machine and put an idea into action.  This idea involved moving Sophie's dresser to the big empty wall that has been nagging me to decorate it since we moved in, finally putting that voice to rest (for now).  The wall this move left empty is much less intimidating than the other, the perfect size for the new arrangement I had in mind.

Sophie will be greeted with that storybook typeface every morning, and the message will likely be one of the first she learns to read.  It's perfect.

 

The butterflies were a Salvation Army purchase from months back.  Pairs and sets of wall art tend to lure me in because they make it so easy to create cohesive arrangements like this one.  I spray painted these a glossy red and hung them around my big mistake.  I truly love turquoise and red together.  The combination reminds me of the colors in Curious George books.

Butterflies before their makeover

Uh-oh, I'm kind of diggin' the butterflies in their natural state again.  I suspect these will take on a few colors in their time in our home.

Since the last post about Sophie's room I have also found a couple of throw pillows, the green one at Home Goods and the blue one on sale at Meijer of all places.

 

I also finally hung the red flower I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  It had been sitting on Soph's dresser while I worked out this puzzle.  I'm pleased with how it's all finally coming together.

 

While it is feeling more and more like the little girl's bedroom I envisioned for Sophie, this room still needs some work.  The next project will probably be curtains.  We'll see how those change the space and whether or not I finally rule out other ideas like painting the walls something more playful or even painting the bed red.

 

Where the Play Set Landed

After considering our options, concerns, and readers/friends' advice, we chose to put the play set on the side of our house further from the road to leave that more level area for other uses such as party tents in the future.  This relatively private corner has been the retreat I hoped it would be.  It feels like our yard got bigger now that we are utilizing that area as well. 

To set the structure up on level ground without digging up the whole area, Mike dug a trench at one end and built the set into the incline.  It looks great, is structurally sound (he assures me), and has been a great source of outdoor fun already!

Where should we put a play structure?

We've been spending some time lately trying to select the best location for our kids' outdoor playset.

Our yard isn't huge.  We have great views of trees and expansive yards and common areas around us, and it all feels both open and private, but the fact is our property itself is on the conservative side.

We recently decided to get a play structure for the kids' 4th birthday present.  One of our favorite parks is a five minute drive away, but there are no parks within walking distance.  To make the most of our home and warmer weather play time, we are going for it.

After discovering that new ones of good size and quality run upwards of $3000, and knowing that having Mike build one isn't much cheaper and would likely cut into a lot of spring and summer play time (that was a nice way of putting it, wasn't it?), I started hitting Craigslist.  We were thrilled to find a good deal on this guy and got the ball rolling last weekend:



Mike took a look and gave a deposit, and he will be going out to take it down and bring it home in pieces this weekend.  The next step is the one that's causing me to stare out windows and wander our yard quite a bit.  Where should we put it?



This area above is what we consider the convenient one.  It's the flattest part of our yard, so leveling will be minimal.  It's right behind our driveway, so one kid could play there while the other swings and slides--no location compromise to be made during play time.



Above is another view of that same spot.  The trouble with it is it's closer to the main road that runs alongside our subdivision (the SUV in the distance is just beyond it).  The farther from that, the safer I'll feel, but is the other end of the yard really that much safer?  And should it really concern me with relatively compliant four-year-olds who have never headed toward that particular road so far? 

That other end is below.



The space to the left of the trees is a large common area where the kids can run around.  To the right is our neighbor's yard.  The foreground is our property where Mike would have to do some extensive leveling (and yes, that's snow--almost gone).  I like this more secluded space because it feels safer and just more pleasant.  But if one kid wants to do sidewalk chalk on the driveway while the other wants to swing, I would have to position myself pretty strategically to keep an eye on both. 

The third option is right outside our family room window (kind of in between these two locations).  It would break up our backyard quite a bit, especially since we hope to put in a patio next year right beside that.  But being able to watch the kids from the couch someday might be nice...

Mike is going to get out there with stakes and string so we can really visualize these options and the work that could go into both.

The other question that we ponder is ground cover. Should we go all the way and build a play area with wood chips/recycled rubber for safety and easier lawn mowing?  We're leaning no on that one, but I could be swayed.

What do you think?  If you put up a structure in your own yard, what area do you recommend for us?  Are there factors I'm not even considering? 

Quite likely, we'll just be glad to have swings and a slide and so on, regardless of of what location we choose for the play structure!  I can't wait to share this news with Michael and Sophie.  They might get as excited as I am.

See the update here!

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.

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:

Not so bad, but not functional for us.

into this:

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.

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.

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..

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.



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





This new children's art display works for me!

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.

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

to this:

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.

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...


...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.

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!

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.

 

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.

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. 

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!" 

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.

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.