new year, a little organization

I have a small space in the house reserved just for "my stuff." It's located in the closet of the kids playroom. {pssst I can't wait to one day take over the whole room} But since that's years and years away I figured I may as well make the most of what I've got for now. As you can see from the before photo I had the whole back wall that was screaming for some storage.

I started by painting the wall "ballet white" by Benjamin Moore. I also took a trip to Lowes and bought three wood brackets and a stair tread of all things for the shelf. {the tread was the perfect size and I liked it's finished rounded front edge} After whitewashing all the pieces they were hung and more storage was born!

I picked up a small linen ribbon board from Michaels.

Pens, pencils, brushes and cutting instruments found their way up high safely away from tiny hands.

The new shelf space above the desk helped to unclog my side shelves.

The white boxes from IKEA hold things like glitter, glues, stamps, punches, ribbons and paints. The white can on the floor is filled with fabric remnants and yarn. 

All in all it feels like a fresh start and I can actually find the things I need a little bit faster. It cost me around $50 including the shelf and items from IKEA. 

Happy Monday and cheers to a new week!

linking up to:
my uncommon slice of suburbia
the shabby creek cottage
french country cottage
my romantic home
the shabby nest
tatertots and jello
six sisters' stuff
cottage and vine

white painted frenchies

I've got a bit of a natural wood glass paneled door collection on my hands in this house. One pair of french and 4 more singles. Thats 6 doors or 12 sides which need 2 coats of primer each= 24 plus 2 more coats of white trim paint= 24. 24+24= 48 whopping coats of paint not to mention all of the scraping afterwards. So far I've got one side of the frenchies totally done. 8 down 40 more coats to go. 

I need a little inspiration to keep me going! 

wish me luck!

*source

window makeover

So earlier this week my lone little family room window was listed as exhibit B on my attack in the family room, you remember him. He's the one sporting the plastic brown blinds and black wood valance. After ripping down the valance I discovered they had removed the trim from the top of the window to accommodate said "handsome" valance. (just in case you're wondering those little dudes living in top of it are none the than the Fab Four bobble heads) I should also mention the minute we moved in those walls were neutralized to a plain white until I could figure out my final palette. Oh and a word of advice when you're looking at houses- if the the furniture seems to be arranged strange in a room you may want to move it to see what's hiding under it. 3k on carpet later- lesson learned. 

Dunzo:

new paint on walls and trim

shades and rod/rings from Lowes

I made the curtains from Waverly Fabric Lunar Sky Azure Ikat Damask (say that name five times fast)

The little has something new to twirl around in. 

the paint: martha stewart "fledgling" color matched by Sherwin Williams in their Harmony Line- eggshell/satin

linking up to frugal friday @

tater tots and jello

china cabinet before and after

Happy Friday y'all! My new latrine is going in as I type and I never thought I'd be so excited about a toilet! I can't quite show you the transformation yet but to hold you over here is a little project I completed recently. I picked up the china cabinet at a consignment shop for $125, a steal in my opinion. I sanded it and then..... spray painted it white. Yes I said spray paint. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. Ignore the awful wall color it's still on the to-fix list. 

OK, now back to watching Toy Story with little L.

Nick sent me this picture of Trixie chillin on the recently made over settee Saturday night. She's such a fancy little thing. By the way The Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Ultra Cover for wicker made the paint job super easy! One coat and then a second just for touch ups is all it took. I used the color Granite in satin to get a grey look over the old white, it's actually much lighter than it appears in the photo. The cushion is from Pier One, and pillows on the sides are from Pottery Barn and the center pillow is from Restoration Hardware. There are two matching side chairs as well and they will all look perfect for the new 4 seasons room.

laundry room before/after

As I mentioned the other day it was time for a little spring cleaning on my house. I spent the weekend working on a quick laundry room makeover. It was part of my continuing quest to "de-oak" the house. I used some paint that we had left over from refinishing Lucy's changing table, bought some new glass knobs at Hobby Lobby and a new sack holder for the wall. The whole project set us back around $25 and I think the results show it was money well spent. Fresh and updated. Happy Monday all!

Powder Room Makeover

"How hard could it be?" Famous last words right there. That was the kiss of death. I quickly realized Friday night that my wallpaper attempt was a wash. As is sat on the couch waiting for yet another contractor to call back, (who never did) I decided to once again take matters into my own hands. I turned to the one solution I was capable of: PAINTING. 

 I knew I wanted something more sophisticated than the "golden girls green" that was on the walls, so I figured if I couldn't have my wallpaper I would at least take a sample of it to the store and have the color matched. I also knew I wanted to work in the metal fleur de lis plaque I picked up in Sarasota on our New Years trip too. The little things eventually fell into place from there over the course of the weekend. I'm more than thrilled with the results and for that I'm super thankful!