Rogers Room Redo {Part 3}

I'm back to show you the after picture of Kristin's bedroom. If you missed out on part 1 & part 2, check those out first! Let me remind you of what the room looked like before we got going.

Here's the before...

and...

 here's what it's looking like today! 

New bed, picture wall, windows hung, side table, dresser, paint...

The gray walls are just perfect!

Just to the left as you walk in the room we hung 2 old windows on the wall. She may put something in the windows one day (such as photos, maps, book pages, etc) but until then, they look pretty good just as they are.

Don't ya just love the picture wall? It's fun, different, and kinda quirky (pretty much just like Kristin!). Between the two of us we already had all of the frames. Also on the wall is an old vent cover (from this lovely lady), a metal owl, and a painting done by her daughter, Madison.

The chair that is being used as a side table was a $2.00 garage sale find.

And that bed! I found this stunning, antique bed frame on Craigslist for $99. Kristin loved it and bought it as quickly as she could. Then I kicked myself for not keeping it! I'm kidding, it was meant to be theirs, it's just too cute and perfect in that room.

We also added a new, white, $10 curtain to cover their closet opening.

Here is the repainted dresser ($40 + cost of paint). We also added an old dress form which she hangs necklaces on, and a pallet shelf I had lying around to store some books. The painting was a wedding gift to them done by a dear friend, Jen.

We reused a small cabinet they previously had in their room as a nightstand for the other side of the bed. Then hung a small cluster of mini frames, and covered the top of the cabinet with a yellow lace doily ($3 thrift store find).

Here's the breakdown-

Wood Antique Bed Frame- $99.00

Paint & Supplies- $60.00

Curtain- $10.00 (gift from me)

Dresser- $40.00

Yellow Lace Doily- $3.00

White Side Chair- $2.00 (gift from me)

Windows- $10.00 (already owned)

Total- $224.00 ($202.00 was the actual out of pocket cost!)

Not too bad, huh! $200 for a whole new room, including a new bed!! There are still a few odds and ends I would like to throw in there, but no hurry, it looks so great just as it is.
I hope you and Jon love your room.

Rogers Room Redo {Part 2}

We're continuing on with part 2 of the master bedroom makeover at the Rogers house (If you missed part 1, check it out here). 

Pulling out the carpet enabled us to de-clutter at the same time. We took out everything that wouldn't be staying permanently and found it a new home, then we tossed anything not worth holding on to.

Here's the room after our first day of working.

Next up was painting! I love painting. It's pretty much instant gratification, which is always fun in a makeover project. We ended up settling on a nice medium gray for the wall (Benjamin Moore Greyhound 1579). After gathering painters tape, brushes, rollers, and edgers, we got to work.

We started by pushing all the furniture toward the center of the room. Then we wiped down any dust on the walls and began to tape away! 

We took turns cutting in on the walls with our handy Shur Line trimmers. If you have never used these before I highly recommend them, they almost eliminate the need to tape a room off. Maybe I'll do a little tutorial on how to use them best??

Once the walls were all painted, we decided to start on the dresser while waiting for the paint to be dry enough to peel the blue tape off. 

Kristin found this dresser at my thrift store for about $40. I actually almost bought it to redo but I couldn't get it home alone and I ended up forgetting about it... till she snagged it!

It was missing one drawer pull, but we have plans for fixing that problem.

We tossed around several ideas for dresser colors; yellow, emerald green, and teal (Benjamin Moore Bahama Green 2045). Kristin loves teal, so naturally it seemed like the way to go.

We took off all the hardware and began painting the drawer fronts. They all got two coats of vibrant teal paint. 

**When redoing a dresser (or anything with drawers) don't paint the sides of the drawers or they'll stick when you move them in and out.

Then we moved on to the dresser (by now, it's well into the evening as you can tell by the dark photos). It also got tw pretty coats of paint. Kristin decided she liked the dresser top left unpainted, with the old worn wood exposed. In the end it  worked well in the room and fits their style much more.

The room and the furniture were looking all freshened up so it was time to move our attention to the collage of photos on the wall.

Pretty much the second we decided on redoing the picture wall in their room we both knew we wanted to do something different and funky, something asymmetrical and a bit more whimsical. 

I always start by collecting everything I have that can be used on the wall and loosely laying it out in the arrangement I have in mind. Once it has a good flow to it, the hammering begins.

I don't have a single picture of the photo wall being hung up, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see it all come together!

Also tomorrow... a total breakdown of the cost for the whole room makeover!

Roger's Room Redo {Part 1}

Meet Kristin Rogers. She's been mentioned on here a time or two... or 50! She is a dear friend of mine and we always seem to talk each other into going thrift store shopping, Starbucks runs, Del Taco, cleaning, organizing, photo shoot planning, painting...etc. We've been friends for quite some time and I'm so very thankful for her and her family.


This is Kristin...

Kristin, Jon and their girls live in a cute little house. The house has been such a labor of love, they've done some major work on this home and it shows! It's packed full of character and special details, and it's just so welcoming and charming.

This is their house.

(Instagram picture, it's the only one I could find)

As with any true labor of love, it takes time to redo every room in a home. Lots of time. Not just weeks or months, but often times it takes years. Over the last 8 years they've painted and landscaped the outside of their home, fixed up their kitchen, torn out lots of teal green carpet, completely remodeled their bathroom, added moulding and trims, and built an amazing bookshelf that lines their daughters' bedroom.

So what hasn't been done you may ask? 

Their master bedroom.

Kristin has been wanting to fix up her master bedroom FOREVER and she asked if I would help her out (or I begged her, I can't remember).

Before we get to the area that is in need of a little help, let me show you some of my favorite parts of their home.

First up is the living room. It's super eclectic and packed full of Jon and Kristin's photography, lots of antique treasures, and original hardwood floors.

Here is their kitchen. Yellow walls, a darling vintage stove, and the beautiful wood counters that Jon made.... yes made, with his own hands. I didn't even know people could do that!

Now that you've seen some of what they've done with their tiny and cute home, lets move on to the room they've been itching to show some love. 

This is their master bedroom. 

Not so bad, right?...

Well here's the part that makes them cringe every time they enter the room. The old carpet, clutter, and random stuff that need's a home... 

along with decorations they weren't crazy about and were eager to change.

Here is Kristin's wish list for fixing up her room:

-Change wall color/colors
-Pull out the nasty old carpet

-Declutter all the random things they've collected over time

-Dresser for their clothes

-Funky up the picture wall to make it more "them"

We also wanted to try and get this done with as little money out of pocket as possible... we all like a challenge after all!

So we got to it. First up, yank out that old carpet!

I would cut a section of carpet, then Kristin rolled the piece up (along with the padding), and tossed them in the kitchen until they could be taken out to the trash.

After an area of carpet was cleared, Kristin went back with the crowbar and pried up the tack strip along with any random staples that were holding the padding down.

We didn't even remove the bed to do this. We simply moved the bed from side to side as we cut strips. Since it was just the two of us we didn't want to go through the trouble of lifting and moving the heavy mattress... Plus there wasn't enough room anywhere!

After a good sweep and wipe down we were done! Start to finish I think it took us about an hour total. That's with FOUR kids to watch after as well... We don't mess around!

Here it is! It already looks so much cleaner, as well as more open and fresh!

Up next... Painting the wall! Check back soon to see what a coat of paint can do to a room. It's kinda amazing.

Finally!

It seems like it's been forever since I posted something on here. I've been so busy doing lots of fun things, I just can't seem to find the time to actually sit down and blog about them.
The other day I helped a friend paint her room gray (more on that soon). I loved looking at those gray walls so much I needed to paint something in my house a similar color asap! So I ran to Home Depot the next morning and got to work.
I've been wanting to repaint the buffet in our dining room for quite some time. I originally thought I would paint it yellow, but now that I'm toying with the idea of moving the yellow rug from my office into the living room, painting the buffet yellow as well would be overkill.
Here is the buffet before. It looks just fine, especially considering the state it was in when I found it.

I grabbed a few supplies from Home Depot. I wanted to keep the project as cheap as possible so instead of spending about $15 on a quart of Behr paint and primer, I decided to buy two 7oz samples; which set me back about $6. It ended up being plenty of paint to do this small project, and I still have about 1/2 jar left over!

First thing I did was clear out the buffet (which mainly stores cook books), and wipe it down.

Then I put down a drop cloth (I use an old table cloth), and propped  up the buffet on four cans of old paint. Best part of all... I only needed one coat of paint, and the whole thing took about an hour to finish.

Here it is, along with all the new picture frames I just put up that still need... uh, pictures!

I'm really liking it against the wall with all the frames, and the change of color helped break up all the white and beige going on in my living room.

Buffet- Found with a "free" sign on it while driving through a neighborhood.2 Behr Premium paint samples- $6.00New roller & sponge brush- $2.00Small Paint tray- $2.00Drop cloth, screwdriver, roller- already owned
Total- $10

Little Switch A Roo

Hi All! I wanted to quickly share a little project we worked on the other day. We were inspired by the black drawer pulls on the recently refurbished cabinet in our kitchen. There are plenty of things we would LOVE to do to this kitchen if we owned this house, but in the meantime we'll make simple cosmetic changes that make it feel more "us".

Here is our kitchen before. The hardware is silver and a bit more modern looking than I usually pick.

And here's our kitchen after we switched out the hardware for some inexpensive black knobs and handles.

*Disclaimer: I'm still getting to know all the settings on my camera, but at least these aren't phone pictures anymore!

Here is a close up so you can really see them. I definitely think it flows better with the style in the rest of the house.

I couldn't resist posting this picture. I asked Ruby to move out of the way because she was in the picture, so she laid on the ground thinking she wouldn't be in the picture anymore. Nice try!

I was hired to do a birthday party over the weekend. I just loved how it turned out! I'll share pictures, and a few diy projects I did for the party soon!

The Most Practical White Dining Chairs

You never know what will be the most popular questions when you start a blog. I think I've been most surprised by how many times I've been asked about the white chairs we have in our dining room... 

"Are they hard to keep clean?"

"Do your kids eat at the table?"

"White chairs... with kids??"

Now here's the crazy thing... I find them more practical than the black wooden chairs we have. Seriously! They totally get dirty, like really dirty, but I just pull the covers off and wash them. They come out perfectly white every time. Our black chairs get grimy and I really have to scrub to get them clean. 

Here is what our chairs looked like yesterday before I took them off to wash them. Gross, but not as bad as I've seen them.

 

Here they are all squeaky clean! I usually take them out of the dryer when they are half dry and put them on the chairs to dry the rest of the way (that way they don't get as wrinkled), but since we had friends coming over I let them dry all the way.

And what will I do if we get some major stain on them that I'm unable to get out with good ol' bleach or Oxy Clean (my fav!)?? I'll buy a new cover. The white ones on my chairs are only 10 bucks each at Ikea!
Now if only my couch was this easy to keep clean...

Kitchen Cabinet {Refurbished}

I had originally purchased this cabinet for my little workroom, but  it was too large for the space so I started searching for somewhere else to put it. We have the most awkward nook in our kitchen. If you look at the picture below, it's on the right side between the fridge and the wall by the sink. In this photo we had two small butcher block carts to fill the space, but they were just too small. So, when we realized the cabinet would fit perfectly in that spot I was all too excited.

Here is my $5 cabinet. I forgot to take a before picture so I quickly stuck a couple drawers back in just so you could get the idea.

It has two cutting boards built in as well. Look at that lovely mixture of random white paint and old, chip-y stain.

Before painting I laid down a drop cloth and propped the cabinet up with four paint cans so I could paint all the way to the bottom.

I lightly sanded the piece. I'm not a big fan of sanding projects but all the chipping stain made it mandatory for this job.

 Then I got to painting!

I painted it with two coats of paint. *Hint* Don't paint the bottom of the drawers or the track, it will likely get sticky and not slide as easily if you do.

And here it is in its new home! We plan on adding a new butcher block to the top to extend the piece out. I think it would make a nice little spot for the girls to sit and help me while I cook. 

By the way, the cabinet hardware is by Martha Stewart, you can get them at Home Depot for about $5. I love these, they make me want to add pulls to everything! Kinda funny to think that each pull cost the same amount as the whole cabinet. 

For those of you who like all the nitty gritty details, here it is!

Cabinet, thrift store (half off from $10)- $5.00
Paint, Behr Premium Plus Ultra- I bought a gallon but used about $10.00 worth
Martha Stewart Pulls- $32.00


Total= $47.00