Raise Me Up

If you remember, the last time that we visited the Master Bedroom, I had just completed the modern, wood cut out headboard inspired by West Elm.  (Design plans found on Ana-White.com.)  I tried to make it work with our box spring and mattress because I really dig the extra comfort that the box spring provides, but unfortunately like Paris Hilton and underwear,  platform beds and box springs just aren't made for each other. 

Forgive the messy bed making here, and stick to the point, which is that the combination of the box spring and the mattress make the mattress too high to even appreciate the beautiful new headboard.  I briefly contemplated loosing the box spring entirely, but realized that this would require a lot of additional work, as I would need to add in a frame into the bed frame for my mattress to sit on.  More time and money, of which both are scarce in this super home reno project.

Instead, I cheated a little and just unattached my headboard from the frame, lifted it up and reattached it about 5 inches higher.  The legs of the headboard don't touch the ground anymore, but that won't be noticeable once I build the nightstands.  (I swear I'm going to build those soon.  Promise.)

You may have noticed that we added a little bling above the bed too.

 I'm not sure if this is the final placement of the star burst mirror right now, or if I will place it more off-center with some photos or shelves to one side, but I'm waiting to see everything come together before making a decision.

Imagine here a nice, modern, dark wood night stand on either side of the bed, with a fun, sparkly lamp on each side, sort of like these. 

Glass Jug Table Lamp from West Elm

Haley Table Lamp from Crate and Barrel

I'd also like to loose the white throw blanket on the end and look into some sheets and throw pillows for an additional pop of bold color to shake up the white and blue thing we've got going.  These ideas from West Elm's Bedroom Pallets section really inspired me (especially since they already sport my dark blue wall color & my headboard.)  I'm thinking a deep purple or turquoise throw pillow, and some crisp white sheets would break up the colors a little bit.

And of course someday we'd love to replace the carpeting with hardwoods... but we're just not there yet.  Not with dozens of items left on The List.  There's so much I want to do to make this house feel more complete and styled, but instead I'm living in a bunch of half done (or not at all tackled) rooms.  But hey, we haven't even been in the house 6 months yet, and we've gotten so much accomplished.  I just need to stick to the One Project at a Time mantra, and see what I can get accomplished this weekend... Happy DIYing!

#178- I'm Flored!

After my floor planning post yesterday, I was thrilled to get home and find this guy waiting for me on the front steps:

You literally couldn't get out of my way fast enough as I ran up to the Playroom to tackle #178 on The List, covering these ridiculously dirty and soiled floors with my beautiful new Flor rug. 

Step 1- Open up the box and sort out what we've got.

Dark moody picture- sorry! I was too excited to pause for appropriate lighting.

I had four colors, and four of each square.  I must have spent an hour laying them out on the floor for a "random" pattern.  (Type A people don't do random very well.)

Step 2- Then you just use the Flor Dots, which are really just large, circular stickers  to connect the tiles to each other in each corner. 

This process went pretty quickly, but was a little more tricky since I was laying my tiles on top of an existing carpet.  Since the floor underneath each of my stickers gave a little, it was hard to press each tile firmly to the sticker.  I ended up sliding a thin, hard, piece of plexi that I had on hand underneath each corner as I adhered the sticker, which helped.  For anyone else considering placing a Flor rug on top of a carpet, I suggest you purchase some additional Flor stickers (which can be purchased for just $4.99 extra at checkout) to hold together not just the corners of each tile, but also the center of each edge.  That way when you step on a tile and the carpet below gives a little, you aren't separating your Flor tiles.  I plan to purchase a few more for some added security, but in the mean time, here she is:

How sweet is my little man reading a book in the corner?

 Super fun, right?  Here's the boring before:

Now I've definitely got the bug to spruce up this room a bit more.  I plan to purchase some more bins and baskets for the shelves to make that look nicer, as well as add some new artwork and curtains.  I also have already created plans for a dark wood play table that I want to build to coordinate with the shelf... but there I go again, too busy thinking about the next project to enjoy the progress of this one.

The rug is the perfect playful combination of colors that I was looking for, but I think muted enough that it's not obnoxious.  The size is also perfect, a square with about 18" or carpet showing around the perimeter of the room.  It's just enough to cover all those gross stains completely, but not too big to be overwhelming in the space.  I'm very anxious for this room to look like it has a purpose, not just be a big hallway, so I can't wait to get working on the details of this room.  To be continued!

Floor Planning

Now that I'm finally finished with the Laundry Room, I've focused my attention back on the Playroom.  As you might remember, the Playroom is a sort of awkward layout that was created after the previous home owners added an addition to the house.

Originally the Guest Room and the Playroom were the only two bedrooms on this floor, but when the previous owners converted what was formerly a hot tub and sauna room into two additional bedrooms, the Playroom became a "walk through" room to get to the new bedrooms.  (Yep, you heard right.  This 1980's house formerly hosted a massive hot tub and sauna room.  So totally 80's.  I wish I had pictures.)  

On our first walk through of the house I was really deterred by this strange layout, but once we settled on the idea of making this space a Playroom for the "Kids Wing," I was sold.  I love that I can close the door to the Playroom and hide our little monster's mess by day, or provide lots of quiet for the  munchkin by night.  As the little one gets bigger this room can become a study or den, with a "cloffice" in the closet and perhaps a TV and comfy couch for when Ry and his future brother/sister are too cool to watch TV with us.   

One problem we've been trying to figure out though, is what to do with the mismatched flooring.

The Hallway, Guest Room and Playroom all sport a really dirty carpet, while Ryder's Room and the future Nursery have a wood-like laminate.  To be clear, when I say "really dirty", I mean "sick and wrong."  After some intense scrubbing and cleaning, here's what I was left with:

I try not to think too hard about what those stains are from. Stop thinking... Stop thinking... 

Ideally we'd love to replace the hallway and all 4 rooms with hardwood floors like we installed in the Living Room, Dining Room, Foyer and Kitchen, for a more cohesive look throughout the house.  We're talking about another almost 600 square feet though, and that's going to take a lot more saving.  So in the mean time, I've been looking for a very low pile rug that I could place over the carpet in the Playroom to cover the stains and protect my little monkey from the grossness.

While I've searched nearly everywhere, (including Overstock, Land of Nod, Target, Pier 1, Pottery Barn, and a bunch of outlets), everything thing was either too thick, too expensive, or the wrong size.  The room is almost perfectly square, and after laying out a long rectangular rug it just didn't seem to fit the space well.  No matter what I tried, all signs lead me back to Flor.

If you've never shopped Flor before, they sell large, square carpet tiles that get laid together to make one big rug or full room carpet.  The benefit is that you can mix and match colors, textures and patterns, and layout the squares in the shape and size you desire, to make a custom rug perfect for your room.  Plus, they are incredibly easy to clean (you can literally pick a square up and wash it out in the sink), which is perfect for a playroom.  The problem is that they can be a bit pricey, with cost per 20" x 20" tile ranging anywhere from $10-$70 each. With 16 tiles needed to make a 7'x7' square, that could add up pretty quick.  So I've been stalking Flor for months now waiting for the perfect sale, and about a week ago, magic happened.

A few of my favorite color combinations and designs from Flor's Nursery Collection.

Like winning the lottery- Flor had a closeout on their Fez style- a very low pile, high traffic, soft felt square.  Not only did they come in the perfect combination of colors for the Playroom (dark blue, orange, grass green and yellow), but they were clearance priced at $6.49 a tile!  Top that off with a 50% off shipping coupon code, and I paid just $115 total for my custom carpet solution.  I'd love to show them to you, but apparently I bought the last of them, because when I went back online the next day to get a screen shot, they were no longer available.  You'll just have to wait until tomorrow, because the box will be delivered this afternoon and I can't wait to get home tonight and put it together. 

The Laundry Room Reveal

As promised, it's finally time to show you my completed Laundry Room.  But first, let's take a look at where we started:

And here's where we are today:

 I love this little corner with one of my favorite quotes framed and the fun "My Stache" jar I etched.

 This drying rack from Ikea has been used countless times already, and I love the new utility sink and rack above it which holds paper towels, sponges and a finger nail scrub brush for all the paint, stain and dirt I get under my nails when doing projects.  Maybe someday we'll upgrade to a fancier laundry tub, but right now, with dozens of dirty projects still ahead of us, I'm glad to have a place to rinse out paint, grout and other messes without worrying about ruining the sink.

After the total mess that was the laundry shoot, I'm so proud of how it, and the shelving turned out.

And how about this sexy rug that I painted?

This is one of my favorite photos of Ry ever, and I thought it would bring a smile to my face whenever I was in there folding insurmountable amounts of laundry.  And that watering can?  It's from Ikea and started like this:

So I pulled out my trusty can of Rustoleum Night Tide which was left over from this project.  Piece of cake.

And here's some more of that great wood counter top from Ikea.

And a shot of the fabric I hung to hide the ugly outlets and plugs.

I even organized the cupboards a bit.  By removing all the shelving from this one I have the perfect space for a hamper and a place to store laundry baskets when not in use.

The top cupboards hold towels and extra bedding.

While the bottom holds rag towels, the first aid kit and cleaning supplies.

So there she is.  Barely 50 square feet, but a whole lot of work and projects.  If every room in this house takes as much work, I'm in for some trouble.  For this room, a dream, main floor Laundry Room in my dream house, it was totally worth it.

#177- Cutting a Rug

I've been looking for a rug for the Laundry Room for some time now.  The small, square, white porcelain tile with brown grout doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, and I figured that a good short term solution would to put a rug so fabulous on top of the tile that you wouldn't even notice it.

I wanted something with a pop of color, and a bold, modern design, but refused to pay upwards of $100 for a rug for the Laundry.  Top it with a kind of awkward size requirement, (the space is 2 feet wide and only about 6.5 feet long, while most runners are a full 7 feet), and it was a difficult search.  I did, however, find the perfect dimensions and sale price on this name rug from Ikea- just $29.99.

The problem was it was beige and boring.  But once I saw this inspiration on Pinterest from Pudel-design, and I had my motivation.  The blog warned that it was a long process, but I was too excited about the idea to care.  Rookie mistake.

I started by printing out a pattern I liked on a large 11 x 17 piece of paper, and cutting it out.  Then I just traced the design on my rug.

 

It took me a little while to come up with the right writing utensil, since a pencil didn't show up, nor did a pen.  A Sharpie was too dark and took multiple coats to cover over with paint, but a dry erase marker was just right because it was dark and visible on the rug, but covered with paint easily.

You can see in this photo down below in the lower left hang corner where I was tracing with Sharpie and the paint definitely did not cover it.  Oops.

It's not that this project was hard, it just took an incredibly long time.  After I had finally traced all my design, I had to go through and fill it all in.  And at least 4 hours later, it became painfully obvious that my paint was going to need 2 coats.  If I had to do it all over again, (and for those of you planning to attempt this,) I would definitely paint the entire rug with a coat of primer as my very first step.  Otherwise the fibers are so porous, it will take multiple coats to get the color and coverage you're looking for.  A can of spray primer would have been ideal.... but I don't want to think about that.  Don't say I never did anything for you.

See the shapes in the top center?  Just one coat.

Speaking of paint, I just purchased 1 quart of indoor, flat latex paint, and it worked great.  In some of the blogs I have read about painting rugs I've seen people use fabric paint or add a fabric paint additive to make their paint softer, but I didn't seem to have that problem.  I think it is because my rug had much more texture than a flat sea grass rug.  My paint soaked right in and still feels relatively soft to the touch.

For brushes I started with a small, angled craft brush to trim out the edge of the design.

And then I found that a thick stencil brush gave me the best coverage for the inside of the design.  And after 8 hours of work when 2 coats of my blue/gray/green was applied to the entire rug, I realized that I was going to have to paint the lines of my design white.  I didn't want to, and I tried to convince myself that it wasn't important, but I'm obsessive compulsive like that, and it just had to happen.  See?

 

Way better right?  But guess what- another 3 hours later once all the white was filled in, I had to go back with the second coat of white.  Shoot me.  See how 1 coat of primer would have cut the project time of this one in half?  Here's a closer look so you can see why the white needed a second coat:

All in all it wasn't too bad actually, for about a week I'd just spend a few hours every evening painting while I was watching TV with the hubs. (And yes, a few pathetic weekend evenings staying up late, watching a chick flick and drinking a glass of wine while crafting.  My 16 year old self would be so disappointed in my lameness. ) It was sort of cathartic actually, and it made me feel artistic even though I've never painted anything but walls or furniture.  

Here's where I ended up after approximately 12 hours on this project. (Which is probably an underestimation.)  It was a long haul, but totally worth it I think:

So check in tomorrow for the big Laundry Room reveal.  (Well, it's a big deal for me anyway.  Try to humor me.)