Our Super Frugal Bedroom Makeover

Ok, this is embarrassing to share this picture, but I cannot believe that Nathan and I lived with our room looking like this for several years. Unfortunately I didn't take more "before" pictures, this is just one I happened to have on our camera. In this picture you can't see the cheap Walmart end tables we got with our wedding gift card money for $15 each. In the back is the dresser we bought for $20 from a person whose mother had just died. We had never owned a "bed", and just slept on a very comfy, expensive Tempur-pedic mattress. I don't know why we bought a goldish bed in a bag from Bed Bath & Beyond either, since I hate gold. This room has so many things wrong with it, but we have had it for way too long. Anyway, Nathan made the mistake one day after we had had a garage sale, that we should sell our bedroom furniture. I told him that we didn't have the thousands of dollars we would need to get a nice set so why would we get rid of what we have? But his comment got the wheels in my head turning and my Craigslist search started...

I wanted to find furniture that was within our little town/city so we didn't have to travel far. I found an ad that didn't have any pictures, just said that it was a queen sized cherry sleigh bed and two nightstands for $175 obo. I emailed the person for pictures and saw that it was a pretty nice set for a steal of a deal. When I went to pick them up, I asked her if she would take $120 since I had that in cash from selling stuff at our garage sale, and she did say "obo". She said "sure" and so I got a bed and two heavy duty nightstands for an even better steal!

 Here is the bed....you can see that it is in pretty good shape, but I wasn't a fan of the cherry and wanted a more "espresso" look. Thanks to Pinterest I discovered General Finishes Java Gel Stain! I could turn any color wood, in pretty much any condition, into a beautiful dark, rich piece of wood for very little money and with very little effort! Scroll down to see the progress...

 Here are the few scratches that came on the bed...

 All you have to do when working with gel stain is to lightly sand the finish of your piece of furniture (see the nightstand above (with the hardware removed)). I used a 320 grit sandpaper, which is very soft and non-abrasive. You then wipe off the sanding and it is ready for the stain. I also wanted to go from pulls to knobs ,and so I used wood filler and filled in the two holes the hardware left behind.

 Above and below are the parts to the dresser (after sanding), I accumulated about a week or two after the bed and nightstands (you can see 2 of the drawers in the back with 1 coat of the gel stain applied). I ended up finding the dresser on craigslist, from the same seller, who had listed the dresser also for $175 obo. I emailed her telling her I was the same person who bought her other pieces and would love to take her dresser off of her hands, but could only pay $50 for it. She said "sure" and I went back and got the last item I was needing! I was going to replace the pulls on the dresser too, but their width from screw to screw was 3.5" which is super hard to find anywhere other than online, and the new pulls started at $7 each. I wasn't about to pay that times 12 (the number of pulls to replace) so I went the spray paint route and just redid the look of the hardware thanks to Rustoleum. (That is a story in itself...I tried out so many different types of Rustoleum and was disappointed with the look or quality of many of them. I ended up going with the hammered look, which included the primer as well, and that achieved a decent look that wasn't going to chip off. Thanks to Walmart and Home Depot for continuously letting me exchange used spray paint cans).

 The gel stain was $19.99 a quart, and I bought one can of java, and one can of clear top coat, thus spending $40. You apply both gels with a sock on your hand, and wipe it on. After each application I let it dry overnight, and did two coats of each = 4 days process. The longest part to the transformation was re-doing the hardware on the dresser because I kept buying paint that I wasn't happy with and thus had to exchange and re-do. If that had worked right from the start, it would have been one day's time for the hardware. 

So to break down the cost of the furniture, I got a queen sleigh bed, two night stands and a dresser for $170. The paint materials were $40 for the stain, $7 for the spray paint and primer, $3 for sandpaper, and $8 for 4 new knobs for the night stands = $228 for an entire bedroom set that looks brand new! Plus, I have half of the cans of paint left so I could do a whole second bedroom with my supplies that are left over!

Doesn't our room look so much better?! I am so happy with it. As you can see, I also replaced our lamps, bedding, and little accessories. Let me break down the costs of those too so that it gives all of you who have been living with your bedroom set that you hate but don't replace because: "nobody else ever sees it" and "we don't have enough money" :)

2 Lamps from Home Goods (shades included): $60
Bedding (comforter and pillow shams from Target): $49 (supposed to be $99 but I got the manager to give it to me for less, long awesome story)
2 King pillows (to fit in shams): $20
3 Decorative pillows (Target): $30
Frame (above the bed, from Hobby Lobby): $22 (picture inside was something I made for Nathan for our anniversary using heart cutouts from our photographs...100 pictures from Snap Fish for $5)

On the dresser:
Blue vase (Home Goods): $30
White wood sticks (Home Goods): $7
White wood frame: $6
Green frame: $6 (both frames also from Home Goods)

Everything else I pulled from other rooms or our storage.

Let me say this too...I had sold $140 at a garage sale, $50 from our previous bedroom furniture, and plan on selling more of our old decor. But that makes $190 in earnings from our old stuff. The total spent on our new decor is: $235, which added to the furniture is $463. $463 - $190 =  $273 on an entirely new bedroom!

Now all I need is some window treatments and a rug for under the bed, but those can wait since I am perfectly content with the way things are now. I hope this can encourage any of you to sell the stuff you have always hated, start searching on craigslist for someone who is desperate to get rid of their old stuff too, and score some great deals on a new room that you love.

The last few months

So it has been awhile and I thought I would just upload the latest pictures and post them on here. Here are the boys excited that we had just picked out our last real Christmas tree and it was nice that the guy from Home Depot loaded it on top of the car for us. (Thanks to the Home Depot after Christmas sale I got a really nice fake one for $49, normally $199...hello simplicity!)

 Our neighbors were super nice to surprise us and give us their tickets to Toy Story 3 on Ice. Nathan took Chase and Kai along with our brother in law Adam and his son Jacob. They had a blast!

 For their cousin Joseph's birthday they all went to Lollipop Park, an indoor fun zone for kids.

 And here are some of the pics we have taken of Hunter when he was 2.5 months to 3.5 months. I will have to start taking some more recent pictures since he is already older and bigger than these pictures depict.

 Christmas morning before the boys got to come down and see everything.

 Can you tell they had just woken up?

 Mr. Hunter decided to wake up early Christmas morning too. I bet it wasn't due to excitement or anticipation for what Santa brought him (which was nothing :) ).

 We have been being dumped with snow periodically here in Colorado and one day we decided to go on a family walk to go sledding down the street. I carried Hunter in the Baby Bjorn and he fell asleep. When we got home I unlatched him and he just slept like a log on our giant LoveSac. Too bad that didn't last so long.

 Gotta support the Broncos

 Hunter's blessing day. I put on a sweater for him to stay warm afterwords and realized that we matched perfectly.

Hunter's Here!

Once again I have not figured out how to put these pictures in order, so bear with me, but....Hunter is here! Ok, this is kind of old news since he is now a month old, but it is official now, I am writing about his arrival on our blog :). 

Most people like to hear some details on how he made his entrance into the world, so I guess I will start with those. My due date was Oct. 23rd, but since my mom was arriving from CA a few days later, my doctor would not be on call that day, and I have never had my own dr. deliver me before, as well as we have two boys to shuttle to someone's house to take care of them while we are in the hospital, we decided to go the induction route. I had never been induced before and have heard a good amount of horror stories, but since my doctor said I had had two deliveries already, that it should be easy. Nathan's grandma's birthday is October 20th, and we thought that it would be neat to give her a birthday present by having her great grandson on her birthday, plus 10/20 is kind of a neat date to have for one's birthday. So early that Thursday morning we checked in at 5am, and got settled in. By 6:30 I was hooked up to everything and pitocin was coursing through my veins. I was only at 1.5 cm, so a lot of progress needed to be made. About an hour or so later, no progress, but I was feeling it and the nurse said I could have an epidural. I knew I could hold off, but why wait? So the anesthesiologist came in, let me have it, and about 10 min later my doctor's colleague came in and broke my water to see if things would progress. When they checked me after doing so I was at 4cm. Well my dr. called the nurse soon thereafter since she had made an exception for me to deliver that day and wouldn't be able to make it in to the hospital until after 12pm, so she called to see how things were going. My nurse told her, and that prompted my doctor to tell her to take me off of the pitocin since I was progressing too quickly. So at around 10am they stopped the drugs, which was kind of a bummer to have things slow down, but at the same time I did want my doctor to make it in time. The contractions continued, but a lot slower and weaker. A little after 12 my doctor came in, got the drug going again, and my progress sped up again. Around 1:00 two nurses came in and proceeded to move me to this side laying position. I just followed their directions since they seemed to know what they were doing, and within 5 min I felt pressure down below and they said I was ready (they were amazing to make that happen so quickly and easily). My doctor came in, I pushed 3-4 times, and Hunter was born at 1:24pm. He was 6lb13oz, 21 in. long. He was a little guy, but he was the healthiest out of our boys, with a loud cry right away, no jaundice, and good on everything else they check. My doctor even forced Nathan to cut his embilical cord since he hadn't wanted to with my other two before (Thankfully he didn't pass out :) ). 

Thanks to several different friends watching our boys, we were able to take it easy the first two days and stay in the hospital. I was ready to leave after 24 hours, but we found out, the morning after Hunter was born, that Nathan had a severe case of strep throat, and thus wouldn't be much help once we got home. Thankfully he got on antibiotics right away, but he was feeling miserable and had to keep his distance with a mask on the whole time. I was kind of lonely those two nights at the hospital, but I was glad he was able to get sleep, and I was glad to have the nurses' help while staying there.

On the following Wednesday, Nathan picked up my mom who was kind enough to come up for 8 days to help out with everything. It was so much fun having her here to chat with, play with Chase and Kai, and take care of Hunter so I could rest. On Friday night, at 9:30, someone rang our doorbell. I have to admit I was a little scared since who would be coming at that time, but when I looked through the peep hole I was totally shocked to see my dad standing outside. He not only surprised us, but my mom as well, and he was here to stay the rest of the time and go home with my mom the following week. It was such a blast having them both here. We even were able to have them for Halloween, which was great. Having them leave made me realize how much I miss them, and how I hate that we live a flight away, too far to drive. Anyway, I was super grateful for all that they did for our family, and I already miss my mom's cooking.

Thank you also to the many people in my ward, as well as friends and family who were super awesome to call me up and ask when they could bring dinner. Not only did they all bring wonderfully yummy meals, they were all gluten free, which is super thoughtful. I received the most help after having Hunter than I have had with my previous two boys, and I can't tell everyone thank you enough for not listening to me, and providing me help in various ways. You all allowed me to take it easy, heal, and have a much easier time adjusting to having a third boy. Of course I am still adjusting, but having three weeks where we were helped in so many ways was a wonderful gift. So thank you.

Ok, now onto the rest of our pictures:

Chase and Kai have been awesome older brothers. From the very start they have shown a huge amount of love and caring for their little brother, and are always wanting to hold him, get things for him, or give him his paci and tell him shush, shush, shush when he is crying. Hunter is very lucky to have them.

Kai is always the first to ask to hold Hunter, and will hold him the longest when he gets the chance. He has been so loving and so cute with his little brother.

Thanks to my friend, Kari, Hunter has a large assortment of Christmas outfits to sport this time of year. Thanks Kari!

Having a newborn sure takes a lot more time and energy than either Nathan or I remember. We tried to have him sleep in our room for the first few weeks, and then we came to our senses and moved him out of our room. Waking up every 1.5-2 hours sure does take its toll, and thankfully newborns will sleep pretty much anywhere during the day, that Nathan was able to lay back and relax while being an awesome dad.

I thought this picture was funny because this is the position he fell into after one of his many feeding sessions. Oh, to be a baby: to eat, sleep and poop. To be able to eat to your heart's content and just fall down in a total relaxed slumber.

Thanks Mom for all of the time you spent holding the little guy and giving me a break! Isn't my mom one hot mama? It is funny, because I am used to my mom being a cute, petite lady, but since no one around here had met her before, I can't tell you how many people came up to me after she had left and referred to her as being "hot". Of course I had to pass on the compliment to her, because what grandma of 10 grandkids doesn't like being reminded of her good looks? I hope I can age as well as she has and get that compliment in 20 years too :).

Aww, Dad, I just love you too. Thanks for surprising us all and coming up. Obviously Hunter thanks you too. And don't feel left out, you are equally as good looking as your wife :).

This picture makes me laugh because of the costume Kai loves to wear. Not only does he have awesome karate moves when he wears it, but it almost looks like he is doing some special move on Hunter :)

So this picture should be one of the first on this post, but oh well, I can't figure out how to do that :). So here he is, shortly after being born. It is crazy how big my hand looks in comparison to his face. And just for your reference, I have fairly small hands. I sure am glad to have all of those hospital bracelets removed too...those were a literal pain!

Here is Nathan, a proud and tired papa. Not only was he tired from our early morning check in, I think he was mostly tired because he had strep throat and he didn't know it yet. Poor guy. Thankfully no one else in our family got it, especially our newest little dude.

Another pic of him shortly after arriving.

Proud older brother Kai.

The two big brothers, happy to finally see their little brother for the first time. They came at the perfect time too, because the hospital I delivered at has these two nice ladies visit all of the patients every afternoon with a gourmet dessert cart. If they had come any earlier or later they would have missed out on choosing one for themselves.

Now Chase is the proud older brother to two boys. We couldn't have had a better son to be our first too. Chase is so responsible, caring, and helpful. I know he will be the best example for Kai and Hunter to have.

Hunter's first time out and about. Here he is on our way home from the hospital.

No time to waste, here is Nathan and all of the boys watching the cartoon X-Men shortly after we all got back home together. I think I am definitely out-numbered now.

Our little baldie, only a few days old. It is crazy how much they grow and change in a short amount of time.

Last, I had to include Chase and Kai in their Halloween costumes. I thought I was being way organized and taking advantage of an online costume deal in August so that I wouldn't have to worry about costumes when I had a newborn, but there were so many better deals I could have easily taken advantage of shortly before Halloween. Oh well, the boys loved their costumes anyway, even though Kai had to keep tilting his head back to see everyone :). They scored a ton of loot too, which if only I was eating dairy I could be enjoying all of the chocolate along with them. I guess Hunter's happy tummy is more important than my happy tummy.