Laundry Room Reveal!

Here is what it looked like when we moved in 

(and it pretty much stayed this way for 3 years!)

I've always wanted to decorate a girls room and use a little pink, 

since this is the only "girls room" in the house I seized the opportunity!

I love it!

****UPDATE I recently added corbels to the shelves (as pictured above),

 click HERE to see more :)

Love my built-in hamper!

Here are the sources:
For more on the painted "chevron" wall treatment click here
The grey paint color is "storm" by Benjamin Moore
The Pink fabric on the back of the chair and the back of the shelf can be found here
The Turquoise fabric on the bulletin board can be found here
I found the bulletin board at a thrift store and using spray adhesive attached the fabric then trimmed out the edges with a roll of nailhead trim.  I followed this tutorial.
For more info on the desk chair, click here
The pink rug, laundry baskets, small silver clock, and numbered hook wall plaque  I found at TJ Maxx
The pink/orange vases on the desk were clearance items at Target
The grey angel wing candle holder, 3 tree topiaries, and small green wreath are from Taipan
The small grey urn above the washer is from Kneaders
For more about the large safety pins on the wall click here
The cabinet hardware is from Hobby Lobby
The frames above the washer and dryer were ones I had in storage
The frame on the desk is from Home Goods
The brass "service bell" is from World Market
The desk lamp tutorial can be found here
The brown sewing machine cabinet was made by my Father and I am the lucky one to get it!
And Finally-
The fabulous pink and turquoise books on the shelves were FREE!!!!!!  From Re-Store - Did you know they give away their books for FREE!!!!!  I was so excited to find that out!  Not a great selection but hey you can't beat the price.  I did pay a few bucks for some additional books at a thrift store.

Mudroom Reveal!

We had lockers installed!  I love that each boy has their individual space and lots of hooks for all their jackets and bags.  They are also doing a good job of putting their shoes in their basket each day.

I LOVE ORGANIZATION- especially when it looks so pretty!!!

All the Hardware and "initial letters" are from Hobby Lobby except the "Boys" hooks 

which I found about a year ago at Rod Works.

Baskets from Target.

Rug from rugsusa.com

The grey color on the cabinetry was a match to AS chalk paint in French Linen.  It's the same color I fell in love with on my painted nightstands - click here to see.

I diy'ed the chalkboard from a thrift-store picture.  I like to leave my boys with an inspirational thought or scripture as they walk out the door each day.  I used Brass metallic spray paint for the frame and then antiqued it with black paint.  The corbel/shelf is from Home Goods and is a great spot to put keys.

Of Course the mudroom will actually look like this (below) on a daily basis,

but it's a Big improvement from BEFORE!

Jackson's Room Reveal!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For more info on the painted stripes click here.

For more info on the Desk and Chair just click!  The plug-in wall lamps are from ikea.

The Skateboard Bench at the end of the bed was made from an old skateboard I picked up at a garage sale and these legs.

For the guitar "art"  I just picked up some fence planks at Home Depot for about $5, and screwed them together using the plank scraps on the back (same as this other project).  Next I roughly painted them grey and attached the guitar hook.  For the Skateboard Hat Rack I picked up a cheap skateboard at a garage sale, using the heat from a blow dryer I carefully removed the grip tape then attached the hooks and hung it!

I stole this idea for the Bike Wheel art from PB Teen.  I got the cheapest bikes I could find at good will,  removed the wheels, cleaned them up and hung them.  I left two "as is" and spray painted the red one.  The graphics, I printed off my computer for free and stuck them in the spokes.  Total $20.

For the gallery wall I give all the credit to my son Jackson.  I took the photos of him and he created the artwork!  Simply using some different effects on Picasa he came up with some very cool pictures!  The frames are from ikea.

It's only been one week but I am loving school being in session!!!  I loved my summer with my kids but I'm definitely enjoying more time for projects and Blogging too!

Those of you who Home School - my Hat's off to you! Seriously -I don't know how you do it!

What's behind Door #2

The Powder Bath Transformation!!!

So I told you all I had plans to stencil our powder bath with this stencil.  What I didn't tell you is that I have actually had the stencil for months and haven't been able to bring myself to get out the paint and start this project.  I'm a little tired right now of projects (yes I am human).

Then I saw this idea from Vintage Revivals and it got my wheels spinning.

What if I just traced the stencil using a paint marker?  It sounded a little easier than painting it and it got me excited enough to attempt the project so it was already a win.

Here is the BEFORE: (Lots of room for improvement!)

And the After:

I used Sharpie Paint Pens (water-based) in the color "silver."  They cost $4.00 each (you can get them on sale for cheaper) from Michaels or other craft stores.  I used a total of 4 pens to do the whole bathroom.

Overall this did not end up being easier or harder than stenciling with paint and probably took the same amount of time.  However there were some aspects that did end up being easier -
No mess of paint, cleaning up of brushes, or getting out a lot of supplies every time I worked on it.  No taping baseboards or the edges along the ceiling, and I didn't have to remove any outlet covers or anything else for that matter!  The corners were also much easier this way than working with paint (again still not easy just easier).  In the future if painting a stencil, for the corners I think I would use this method of just tracing it out in pencil in the corner, then take the stencil down and paint in the lines.

The tile on the floor is a fake marble tile from Daltile - "Carrera star." I had the 12x12 square tiles cut in half so that they became 6x12's and could be laid in a brick pattern.  

Tracing (as opposed to painting) the stencil definitely achieves a different look 

and I am very happy with that!

 It just took time - no skill - just time.  There are probably easier stencils out there to trace, I just happened to already have this stencil so that is the one I traced!  Mistakes are still evident but thankfully not too noticeable when you look at the big picture.  I did find that a wet wipe was once again my best tool for fixing mistakes and cleaning up lines as soon as the stencil was removed and the paint was still wet.  I took my time on this project and only spent 1 or 2 hours on it a day (somedays more, somedays less) and I completed it in one week.  I would guess around 14 hours total.  The really nice thing was that it was VERY easy to work on a little bit at a time.  It was pretty mindless work so I enjoyed listening to a book while I worked - it's my favorite way to "read" lately and I highly recommend it when you're working on projects!

Part of this rooms transformation was also having an electrician install these sconces that I scored at a garage sale (thanks Kori!).  So no more ugly bar light as seen in the "Before" photo.

Click here for more information on the mirror above and here for information on the artwork below.

Once I was finished and stood back to look at this small room with all its pattern and design going on (and knowing that I had traced the whole thing by hand) I had a bit of a moment where I suddenly thought "oh no - I'm like the guy on "A Beautiful Mind" - I'm even a math teacher like him (yes that is true)!  If you haven't seen the movie basically I am just admitting that this room proves how crazy I am.  Everyone that now uses my powder bath in the future will exclaim "you traced this all by HAND!" and then they'll think "Man she is crazy"!  And now that I have posted this on the internet I can hear all of you thinking the same thing!  It's ok, I already knew I was crazy, this room just proves it :)

And if you don't follow my blog and are curious about the numbered door (?) - check out this post.

(Another) Boys Bedroom Transformation

BEFORE:

AFTER:

More BEFORE:

 I knew paint would help the white trim areas stand out and it looks a lot better!  The blue paint is Benjamin Moore "Newburyport Blue."  The frames are from Ikea and the prints I found here, here, and here!   For the first two pictures I imported them into Picasa so that I could resize them to be 3600x3600 or 12x12.  The last one I was able to get customized from Etsy.

The bed sheets are from amazon, the grey quilt and sham are from Target, and the orange throw is from Ikea.  The beds themselves were a find from Down East Home, a local store.  The grey curtains were a closeout from Target, and the white wood curtain rod is from Lowe's.

 The lamp above is a pottery barn kids lamp that I found at Down East Home, I added the orange ribbon trim to the shade.  The large orange clothespin on the bottom shelf of the nightstand I found at Hobby Lobby for $4 (half off).  The airplane was a kit from a book that my boys aunt sent.  The football pictures below I found at TJ Maxx Homegoods.

 This wall is still needing some artwork - once I figure that out I'll be sure to share!

This room was really hard for me to photograph, all the pictures with the window in them turned out so dark!  I'm still learning!  The walls are dark but not so dark that it is a cave, the above picture is the best representation of what the room really looks like.  I'm loving the Navy blue and Orange combo!