Shelves, shelves, and more shelves

Moving from the completed mudroom inside to the living room, my first mission was to increase storage. So I hung some handmade shelves (design courtesy of Anna-White.com) and I added shelving to my closet. It wasn't exactly cheap - each shelf ended up costing about $20 but the storage space is well worth it!

Sidetracked: Kitchen Floor Before

My kitchen floor has been slowly demo-ing itself. It's so miserable it's jumping off the floor. At some point, I'm going to put in a dishwasher and move around cabinets in the kitchen, so I'm not ready to commit to an actual floor but can't live tripping over peeling linoleum anymore, so I ordered some inexpensive vinyl tiles to cover it in the meanwhile.

Since the edges were rolling up off the subfloor, I assumed it would be easy to remove the linoleum. Haha! The joke was on me. I'm left with a layer of glue, a layer of paper, and sometimes a layer of vinyl to scrape off. Good times.

Living Room Closet Makeover: Before

Having only three closets in the house, each is pretty important. This is by far the biggest of the three so it needs to store just about everything. Closet organizing systems are ridiculously expensive, so my plan is to fill it will shelves and baskets. Here are the before pictures.

Just one more piece of furniture...

I definitely have a tendency to let things spiral out of control. This potting bench is an example of just that. It all began when a kid at work was selling Yankee Candles as a fundraiser. I couldn't decide which set of candle holders to buy, so I bought both.

Well, not surprisingly, six candle holders are a bit much for one piece of furniture. The obvious solution is to build a new piece of furniture, right? So I decided to build this potting bench. Of course, the bench in the plans was too big, so I had to shrink it down. Yup, I had to do math. The project went a lot more smoothly than the bench I built but one shelf was not quite square which caused the legs to be uneven. Rather than stick a piece of paper under the leg, which is my usual solution, I had to replace one leg. It doesn't tip anymore but the shelves are far from level. Nonetheless, I think it looks just fine. I spent most of today finishing it. I tried to weather the wood using a vinegar steel wool solution but that just stained it red. So I scrubbed it with steel wool soaked in vinegar and it looked better. I tried a gray stain but that just made it look dull and painted. So I painted it with green tea. The tea and rusty vinegar are supposed to somehow make gray. The tea and brush turned black but not so much the wood. It definitely looks better and it definitely looks weathered, so I'm pretty happy with it. And I'm hoping I can finally declare the mudroom done. I actually ordered some tile for the kitchen floor to force myself to stop making furniture for the mudroom.

Btw, the bench cost $26 to make. That is why I have started making furniture. I'd rather have a so-so potting bench that I made myself and fits perfectly in the space than a crappy $50 potting bench from Ikea made without any actual wood and barely fits in the space.

Shoe boxes

The final touch on the bench was the monogrammed boxes from home.

Beer + HGTV = Trouble

Fueled by too much HGTV and a deep hatred for Ikea, I googled around and discovered the inspirational Ana White, a self-proclaimed girly-girl who makes her own furniture and posts plans and tutorials to help others follow in her footsteps. In need of a bench for the mudroom, I found a plan for a "simple" bench. Well, simple, it was not. In fact, it took me almost four months to finish, but in the end I have a decent functional bench for under $30 and I learned a lot. I am no longer petrified of power tools and I no longer cry at the thought of going to Home Depot. And the mudroom is officially done. Little victories.

More on the mud room ... Or should I call it the sand room?

I finally finished the dresser. It was a cheap veneer dresser that was here when I bought the house. It was cowboy themed, too! I couldn't escape the wild west! I took off the longhorn handles, painted, sanded, and antiqued it. Phew! It took some time but I love the outcome.

More Mud Room

I don't love curtains. I love lots of light, open windows, and a sea breeze. But I have a very nosy next door neighbor, so I had to compromise. I wanted cotton gauze curtains but couldn't find any, so I had to finally unpack the sewing machine.

Mud Room Makeover

Well, most of you know that I spent last year juggling (poorly) three jobs and two dying dogs. I had no time to work on the house and had to just make the best of living in a construction zone. Just before Thanksgiving, I had to put my sweet 15 year old, Jasper, down. Just 6 weeks later, my beloved basset hound, Moses, lost his battle with cancer. It was definitely the hardest two months I've had to endure and I miss them both terribly, but I am glad to have all of our suffering and stress over. I am also glad to have the extra sleep and a tiny bit more time to work on the house. I definitely can't stand to live in a construction area much longer...


The orignal mudroom

I decided to start the remodel at the front door and make my way back to the bedroom at the back of the house. The mudroom makeover is coming along well albeit VERY slowly. It actually began shortly after we moved here. Before I had a chance to install the dog door, Moses had a terrible potty accident on the carpet. I have no idea what he ate, but it destroyed the already questionable carpet. Rather than scrub, I decided to tear the carpet out. Much to my surprise, I unveiled and even nastier carpet. I took that up as well and lived with the plywood subfloor for the past year.

Have you ever seen nastier carpet??

In the meanwhile, I painted the old faux wood paneling and trim white and painted the old exterior red wall green. I love that sea green color and one day, I intend to paint the outside trim, porch, and shutters that color.

My brother was nice enough to install a new light fixture...

Finally, Jenna and I installed slate floor tile just after Christmas. The tile is the off-the-shelf stuff from home depot and the whole floor cost under $300 to install. Considering the cost, I'm pretty happy about the outcome. I installed a little trim to cover the edges and the floor is good to go...

Next up ... some curtains and furniture!