New Space For My Man

My husband never asks for anything for himself.  He does everything for his girls, me and our two daughters.  We also have a girl dog and a girl bunny.  He is surrounded by estrogen and has no place to call his own in our home.  Day after day he diligently goes off to work to support and provide for his girls.  He never buys anything frivolous.  The only money he ever spends on himself are the times when he needs new running shoes.  He is selfless and happily does everything for his family.  He never complains.  When we do have some extra money he tells me to get something nice for the girls and me.  We have a cozy, "smallish," three bedroom home and there is no corner carved out just for him. 
Even the garage is filled with all my "crapola."

I wanted to change that, so I'm making him a

"Man Cave." 

Not this kind of cave.

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Hopefully it will be more like this kind of Man Cave.


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He really doesn't want to watch Vampire Diaries, Survivor, Switched At Birth, Nate Berkus, Selling New York, and all the other shows his girls watch.  He needs his own TV to watch sports, documentaries, and the History Channel.  He has never asked for a no girls allowed space, but he listened intently when I told him my plan.  It took him a few days, but now he is totally on board.

 It's fun seeing him get excited about having a space of his own.

The dilemma, where do you find space for a more testosterone friendly room when you only have three bedrooms and they are all occupied?

You get creative and you make due with what you have.
No time to lament about what we don't have.

Here is the room I'm converting into a place my husband can call his own.

It's a challenge because this is our living room/office and it incorporates the front door and the hall to the girl's bedrooms.  There aren't any walls to separate it from the rest of the house.  It's also an awkward shape.  It's the first room guests see when they walk in the house. I need to come up with a plan that will make my husband feel welcome, but still not look we live in a themed sports bar.

I painted this space blue/green after seeing the cover of the 2007 Jan./Feb. issue of Veranda. 

I did layers of joint compound and paint glaze to achieve the effect. 

Time for change, it's been like this since the cover came out.

It's had a few different looks in the past, but the wall color hasn't changed.

We use it for Thanksgiving dinners because we don't have a formal dining room.  

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2011

I ripped out the carpet a few years back and painted the concrete floors. 

I've done several floors like this in my house.   

Those are staying, but I'm re-painting the border. 

The scroll detail is too feminine for a Man Cave.

I put up our Thanksgiving Tree right after Halloween in here.

Thanksgiving Tree 2011

Here's the room getting ready for a new coat of paint.

Here is the direction I'm going.

A new sleek flat screen TV and industrial furniture.

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I think I'll have to design some more industrial shelves for this room like I did in our great room.

Gray walls with warm wood.

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Maybe a map or two of his home state New York.

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Darker gray ceiling with beefy crown molding.

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Maybe something like this?.

 

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Cozy stremlined furniture with an industrial masculine feel.

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The walls and ceiling have been painted, but I'm not going to finish this room in lightening speed. 
My oldest daughter had surgery this last week and
I was gone all weekend at a volleyball tournament.

I painted the walls Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray HC 170  and the ceiling 

Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray HC 168.

I'm adding crown molding so you won't see the unpainted seam where the walls and ceiling meet.

I'll show you the progress in the next post.

Do you have any room renovations in the works?

Does your man have his own Man Cave?
Do you have any style tips that I can use to make this masculine room blend with the rest of our home?
I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks for checking it out.

Mirror Transformation

If your anything like me, you have a callous on your index finger from some trigger happy spray painting.  Here is a quick mirror transformation that I did this week with my old friend spray paint. 

Here is the before. 

Not bad, but I'm over the brown.

I am slowly getting rid of the any traces of the Tuscan look in my house and these mirrors are part of the change going on.   I love re purposing stuff I already have. Why buy new when you can just give an existing piece new life with a little spray paint.

I purchased these metal mirrors hanging behind my living room couch several years ago at Marshall's on clearance.  They were a distressed brown and gold finish.  I'm going to slip cover the couch, but haven't gotten to it yet. 
To see more of how I changed our living room into our home office go here.

After carefully removing the mirror I spray painted the metal frame white.  Then I taped off the outer border of the frame and painted the inside grill work bright gold.  Be careful removing the mirrors.  Newer mirrors are often hot glued in place and difficult to take apart.  This was the case with these mirrors, but I was able to gently remove the glue and ease the mirror out of the frame.  Wear gloves and eye protection in case it breaks.  Been there, done that, it's a bummer when they break.

Then I used a gray glaze over the whole piece.  Here is the glaze I mixed up.  A little white paint, black paint, water, and glazing medium.

Piper is very curious about everything and she tried to help.  She curled up in my lap while I was sanding.  I think Roscoe sent her a message that I need puppy help with my DIY projects.

 After the glaze dried I distressed the whole piece with some sandpaper.

Here is the mirror detail before sanding.

Here it is after sanding.

I washed the mirrors with warm soapy water before putting them back in the frames.
Soap and water is the best mirror cleaner I've found, no streaking.
Here they are back in the living room.

I'm liking the gold detail on the mirror with my HFH re purposed hanging light fixture.
You can see more of that project here.

I like them...for now. 

Bye bye Tuscan, hello Swedish Gustavian?

How has your design taste changed? 
Are you transitioning too?
I would love to here all about it.
Thanks for checking it out.

Goodbye Old Living Room, Hello New Office

Thank you friends for all your condolences about Roscoe.  We are off to New York to visit my husband's family and the timing is a blessing.  The hardest time for our family is when we are at home.  Roscoe was always in the middle of all of our activities and now she isn't around. 
The change of scenery will do the family good.

So while we are gone I wanted to show you how I changed up our living room to make it into a more usuable space.   

Do you have a room designated as an office in your home? 
This has been the dilemma in our house since I let my daughter's have their own room.  Our home has three bedrooms.  When we split the girls up we lost the office/ TV room.  Since then the computer has been in my older daughter Casey's bedroom.  We turned the closet into a computer desk.  This hasn't been a great situation.  I wake her up if I'm on the computer really early in the morning or late at night.  If she needs to do homework and I need to work on the computer she has to move to her bed.

Here is the solution.  We made the living room into the office.  Not the best situation, but you got to work with what you have and  we rarely use this room.  Last Thanksgiving I coverted the living room into a dining room for the day.  We don't have a formal dining room either.  We were hosting dinner for our family and the weather wasn't cooperate for an outdoor event.   To see more Thanksgiving pictures go here.

On a day to day basis this room mostly functions as a passage way.  Going in and out of the front door and to get to the kid's bedrooms, but not much else.
 This is what it looked like before.  Brown, brown, and more brown.  I'm slowly getting rid of it.  There's Roscoe in the bottom right hand corner directing the photo session.  She always liked to help with whatever project I was into at the moment.

Here is how it's set up now.

  The concrete floors will stay this color, but everything else is slowely getting a face lift.

Most recently it looked like this while I was redoing Cami's room. 
Scary!

I just painted this table white.  It was brown and it matched the wood detail on the couch.  Next to get a makeover are the mirrors on the wall behind the couch.  I want to slip cover the couch too when I get the sewing bug again. 

I painted and made the pillow a few years ago.  It's just acrylic paint on duck cloth.

I added two wicker chairs across from the couch.  I found them on Craig's List for $20 for the pair.

 I pull them out the front door when we entertain in our outdoor room.

This is the view when you walk in the front door.

More shells, faux coral, and an orchid.

I moved the desk from my family room to this room and placed in front of the window.

It's difficult to photograph this room during the day because of the South facing windows.  I love looking out into the garden and seeing the humming birds visiting my flowers, but it doesn't make for good photos.

The only other new bought piece in the room is the new swagged light over the desk.  I purchased it for $20.  Sorry I didn't take a before picture.  I thought I did, but I can't find them?  It's another Restore find.  It had dated seventies etched glass panes covering each side of the fixture. 

 

I removed the glass and spray painted the light gold.

It needed some dimension so I gold leafed the whole thing. 

I'm a messy leafer.

I added some beads and faux pearls to each hole left from removing the glass.

Me trying to be artsy.



It's on a dimmer but again I'm not a great photographer.  Here's the desk before my husband helped me move the computer.  I lived with it like this for a while to make sure I would like it before taking the time and effort to move the computer out to this room.

Here you can see where I attached the beading wire into the holes left from removing the dated etched glass.

While having the computer in my living room isn't ideal, it's working out great so far.  Because the computer desk is dark and the computer is black they kind of blend into one another.  Your eyes are drawn to the white round table in the middle of the room first.  At least that's what I tell myself.

Where is your computer?  Do you have a gorgeous office to work in?  Or are you like me, gratefully making due with the space you have.

I would love to hear about it.

Thanks for checking it out.