"Momma Likes Pretty Things" - Dresser Turned Lego Storage

Do you have a love, hate relationship with legos? Because I do. I am tired of stepping on them, worrying the baby will swallow them and seeing them slowly take over every room in my house. But, they're educational and my baby is sure to be a famous engineer as a result of playing with them.

My oldest has his own room. We also have a playroom. Still, somehow, those darn things still wind up migrating to the office and living room, too. They needed a place to go and they needed it fast. And it had to be pretty, 'cause Momma likes pretty things!

I found this beauty in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Like this store was on the corner of a cornfield and another cornfield. Kid you not. I paid $35, which was too much, especially since she didn't even have a back. But she had perfect lines and I really liked her faux-four top drawers.

Pretend I am skinny and have a nice tan, Mkay?

I definitely think she was worth it, don't you?

I took out the bottom four drawers and replaced them with water hyacinth baskets, you know, for legos. Because that just makes sense....right??

I do not understand furniture varnish. Why do they put that awful stuff on top of beautiful wood? Look what was hiding under there!

These are the greatest baskets. $19.99 each at the Hobby Lobby but I used my 40% off coupon on each of them.

A little distressing to keep things interesting....

And she's ready for work!

Would you ever guess there were a billion legos in there?



P.S. You will notice SouthernRevivals.com in each of my dresser pictures. I will soon be moving my DIY/Home Decor stuff over to this new blog and returning this one to my artwork. I hope you'll head on over there and 'follow' if you've been enjoying this series here because you won't see it here much longer!

Linking up to....

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Living Room Reveal ~ What now?

A reveal of any part of my house would not be complete without toys.
Just keeping it real folks.

Ready for the real thing?

Green. Green. And more green. You can see pics of the during here.

You don't miss the green, do you? I know I don't!

A peek of our painted wallpaper hallway - you can find more on that here.

Made a subway art sign for my wall above the couch out of part of a dresser top. Not sure if I want to leave it that high or put it just above the couch on the paneling. I love the paneling so much I hate to cover any of it up but now I'm hard pressed as to what else to put on the wall. And it needs something else. Currently thrifting for some fun end tables and chunky lamps. Maybe that'll fill things in over there a bit.

Christmas art my oldest made years ago. Daddy drew the pics, he painted them. Love those but they come down after Christmas. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do here. It involves more wood, lighting and a nice chunky picture frame. We'll see.

See. This area really needs....something.

Ever noticed how much nicer everything looks with Christmas decorations. I hate taking them down.

One of these days I am going to tackle that mantle. It needs to be chunkier and a lot less black. Can you paint those metal inserts? We're about to find out!

Definitely going to redo the tile around the fireplace one of these days, too. It's so boring especially now that we jazzed up the walls. I'm thinking some little glass tiles? Also, going to get around to putting in new flooring throughout the whole house. Seeing as the crazy people who built the house put it in all willy, nilly in every direction but the right one. Either way, that tile on the floor...has. to. go.

One of my most favorite things we've ever done, our Pallet Coffee Table

Of course, I would love it even more if I could decorate the lovely wooden tray that graces it but as far as the baby's concerned it is only fit to hold his "Crucks".

And the biggest dilemma of all...what I am going to do with that big empty corner once that amazing tree is gone. I wanted to cry just thinking about it and now, as I sit here typing this and staring into the abyss that once housed that very tree, I am more stumped than ever.

Well, like I said, everything looks nicer with Christmas decorations. But really, there has to be a way to make it all holly, jolly in the meantime. Right?

I'm not sure. But if I ever get it figured out, I'll be sure to let you know. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!



Linking up to....

New Year - Time to Organize

I am not a clean freak. I love a clean house but I hate to clean one. I am, however, a neat freak. If these people I live with would just put their crap back where it came from I'd be a much happier person!

I already hate cleaning. Is having to tidy up before I can clean up going to make me any more likely to do it? Um, no. But it's hard, especially after Christmas, to find a place for everything and if it doesn't have a place to go, chances are, it'll stay where it's at. And I can't have that. I can't.

Here are some ways I plan to organize in the new year to help us put things back where they belong.

contemporary kitchen design by detroit kitchen and bath Al Williams

I would give a million dollars to be able to put my Kitchen Aid in a cabinet and save my already minuscule counter space.

traditional kitchen design by san francisco interior designer Alisa Hofmann

Yes. Yes. Yes. Why didn't I think of that!

Family Handyman.com

This year, somebody really must do something about the Hell-Hole (aka - The Garage)

VIA

Another one of those, Why didn't I think of that?, moments. A tension rod to hold your stuff. Genius.

The Container Store

FEET - n. Objects used for finding Legos in the dark

Can you identify? Here's the solution. Of course, you have to get those little Lego loving fiends to pick them up for it to work. Good luck with that.

Do your linen closets look like this? Yep. Mine neither.


Let the organizing begin!

My Final Project of 2011 ~ Part 1

(And yes, that's our mattress in the middle of the floor but that's a different story for a different day.)

Green. I'm not really sure how I feel about it in general I just know I couldn't live with it in my house. When we moved here back in 2007 this was the color of our living room, dining room and foyer. And apparently everyone loved it but me. Honestly, that's why I lived with it so long. I thought I must be missing something that everyone else could see.

Can you tell how green it is? It's showing up a little more yellow in this pic than I think it was in real life. But it was definitely a not-so-distant cousin of Granny Smith.

It took me forever to decide what color I wanted to repaint. I wanted to do the foyer, dining room and living room 3 different colors and that's a tough thing to pull off since they are basically one wide open space with only arches and columns for separation. The foyer and dining room were easy. I had no idea what to do for the living room so I just painted it a neutral color what worked well with the other two until I could figure out where to go from there. I still probably didn't get it right but since I love the paint in the dining room and Mr. Peach loves how the foyer came out, I don't see things changing anytime soon.

As far as the living room went, it wasn't so much the paint color as it was those high ceilings that was throwing me off. Where do you put pictures, art, anything! on a wall like that? At it's tallest point our ceilings are 20' tall and anything I hung on the wall got swallowed up by.....wall!

As luck would have it, I was stalking visiting Mandi over at Vintage Revivals when I saw this. And I instantly knew what I had to do.

As soon as we put that first board on the wall, I knew I'd made the right decision - even if the reluctant carpenter had his doubts.

It was the perfect way to divide those ginormous walls with more than just boring paint.

I loved it immediately, as soon as we had the pattern laid out on the wall - which wasn't as easy as I had imagined. I'm an "eyeballer" and apparently one must measure and do lots of mathy stuff for a project like this to work. Thank goodness I live with a Valedictorian and thank goodness he lives with a Creative because, Man!, I am in love!

I wish I could just go ahead and show you the after, especially since we finished this project before Thanksgiving, but there's just too much else to be done. (Which is code for let me pick up all these toys the kids got for Christmas before I take pictures or it will totally spoil the effect!)

But it's amazing so I promise to show it soon. Even if there really are lots of other things I'd like to do in the room, that I'll be lucky to finish before 2013 gets here. Unless you're one of those people who believe we won't still be here in 2013. In which case, I should really, really get back to work!

Happy New Year,