Be Our Guest!

Last post, I said I'd show the "new" guest room I've been working on this summer. I did get one photo before we had a real-life guest move in for a couple of weeks. 

This is looking into the room from the doorway. It's still a work in progress, but is okay for someone to stay in. 

A couple of summers ago my nephews and niece pulled up the carpet in here. The boys spackled, and painted the walls and trim white for me. I painted the subflooring white, and put down a few small rugs. I was in a hurry to have the room livable for a weekend visit from my sister and her husband. It stayed that way until July of this year, but I was determined to not put off finishing it any longer, and pulled the flooring out from under the bed where it was stored, and got busy. 

When we took down the wall between the dining room and den, there were two different floors. We'd originally done the den in this golden-y oak-y style of laminate flooring that needed to be changed to match what we'd eventually chosen for the public areas of the house. When Greg switched that out last summer, we knew there was probably enough to do this bedroom, and he tucked it under the bed. I pulled it all out, Greg counted boards and did the math, and we had just enough, if I was really careful with my cuts. He then found another box in the garage, so we had a bit more wiggle room, thank goodness. He got the first row done, then I did the rest. As I got to the other side of the room, I needed his help again, and he finished it out. It really warmed up the room! 

Before the floor, I took an afternoon and wallpapered the one wall. I'm not usually one for accent walls, but feel like this gives the room an old-fashioned look, like I might have found in an upstairs bedroom at my late Aunt Sherry's old farmhouse. This is pre-pasted wallpaper, so I just had to dip it in water, then put it on the wall. 

As far as the basics of room design, before furniture and decorating, I caulked the trim along the upper walls, but have yet to put in baseboards. I also want to paint the closet door and the room door white to match the trim. 

The bed is a queen, a little large for this room, but it's so comfy and roomy, and I love it. The mattress is a hand-me-down, barely used set, the bed rails I purchased from Facebook marketplace for $10, and the headboard was a clearance purchase last summer. The headboard had been in a box in my garage for a year, so I had in my head what I remembered it looking like, which was a tad bit different than reality when we unpacked it this summer. I really like it, but feel it's a bit heavy visually for the look I'd wanted for this room. I have purchased a different one, and will switch it out after my guest leaves, and see which one I like best. I have a feeling I already know... 

The dark headboard was from Walmart online, and this white one is from Overstock, and is currently out of stock. 

The bedding is a few years old, purchased on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I love matelasse bedding and was thrilled when I found this bedspread and the pillow shams (that are at the back of the pillow pile). Pillows need some work, I know, and there is a plan for some fun ones in here.

The night-stand is one Jess got at a garage sale many years ago. I chalk painted and distressed it before my sister was here for that weekend. 

The plant stand next to it was in pretty bad shape when I got it from a garage sale a few years ago, so it also got a few coats of chalk paint. I'd love a real plant to put on it, so will be on the lookout for that.

The decor piece above the night-stand and plant stand is a crocheted table runner with burlap behind it. I see I need to straighten it in the frame. Some things you just don't notice until you see a photograph...

The little wooden folding chair was from a garage sale as well. The finish was in rough shape, but some Murphy's oil helped a lot. I'd rather not paint this chair.

The piano bench at the end of the bed has been in my garage for probably 10 or more years. It was always my intention to paint it and re-cover the seat to use as a little bench in the living room, but I love it in here. 

I also love this fuzzy rug from Amazon. It adds some softness and fun to the room. 

Curtains are white sheers with a mini-blind under it, like every other room in the house. I love the airy feel of the sheers, and the blind keeps our privacy. 

The opposite wall has a hand-me-down dresser and a small bookshelf, both of which I chalk painted. I'll show those in my next guest room post. 

So that's what I've been working on lately, and was happy to get this much finished before my current house guest arrived. She's been traveling for several weeks, so came with lots of her belongings, as well as two kitty boys, so that room is full up with her stuff right now. I'm so glad we have a space where they can feel comfortable and have some privacy while visiting. 

I have lots more to say about this subject, so we'll talk more in some future posts. Until then, I'm going to enjoy the cooler weather and sunshine outside, the quiet day inside, and will be back to chat in a few days. 

Stay safe - wash your hands - wear a mask!

Laundry Room with German Schmear

I said I would share projects, so here's the first one. It was started a year ago in April and finished up several weeks later in July. Sometimes I have to wait for someone to be able to help. Ahem. 

Anyway, we redid the laundry area. It's a small space tucked in by the back door. In fact, if you open the back door all the way, you'll hit the dryer. The hot water heater closet and the furnace are both located back there as well. Not much space to work with.

The left-side cupboard held laundry supplies, the iron, light bulbs, and various cans of spray paint. The right-side cupboard was literally full of junk. Stuff we tossed in there in case it would be needed someday - not that we'd have known to look there for it if we did need it. Random tools, cups of screws, empty containers in case we needed one to store something else we'd probably never look at again. It only took a few minutes and a trash bag to empty that one. In fact, emptying the cupboards one day while I was decluttering is what sparked this renovation.  

You can see we attempted some added storage with shelves and hooks. The table blocks the furnace and hot water heater access, but it's easy to pull out. It was the hooks on the wall to the left that were in the way. Any time we needed to get to the furnace (more and more often in the past year) those hooks had to be emptied and then bent upwards so the door could clear them to open.

We tore down the cabinets and they'll be used elsewhere. I think Jess has them in her garage at the moment. You can see where Greg missed taking out a screw and manhandled a nice hole in the wall. He fixes that. 

We only moved out the dryer to be able to work on that back wall. I started this project using that stepladder, but ended it using a small scaffolding we bought for my birthday present. No pics of it, yet, but I'll share that with you soon. It's been one of the best birthday presents ever. 

The back wall is all patched and painted. The color is "Feathers of a Dove" from Valspar. That color will eventually be throughout most of the entire house. I did put on two coats, but to cover that dark red, that's not bad.

Here's the faux brick panel Greg put up for me. You can see he cut around the panel where the washer hoses are connected. This wall took a whole brick panel plus a little more. 

The German Schmear technique was easy - just smearing on joint compound. I made sure to really get it into the grout lines, then scraped and smeared on the brick until I liked it. It's so easy to personalize the look you want with this technique, using just a little or really covering that red brick. I loved the look immediately. You can see I got joint compound on the wall to the right. That wiped right off with a damp cloth. 

Here it is, finished. It dried with a bit of an ivory tint to it, which I wasn't expecting. Apparently it was the type of joint compound I used. I could whitewash it, but I was eager to be finished, and it isn't going to show so much when the room is finished, so I left it. I did caulk the edges where the brick meets the side walls, just for a more seamless finish.

Greg put up the pipe/board shelves. We started with just the two shelves. I still wanted plenty of storage back here, but I wanted it to look nice, so I ordered those gray cloth baskets online. They were on clearance, and by the time I wanted more, they weren't available. Those two wicker baskets are Goodwill purchases. They're pretty sturdy, with wire frames. The one on the left I keep pulled just slightly forward to keep the top of the washer from hitting the pipe there when I open it. I insisted on deep shelves, so that's a little bit of effort I have to make to keep things from getting banged up.

You can see how the panel for the washer hoses just kind of fades into the wall. Greg didn't want to hang the shelves quite that low, but 1. I'm short and need a grabber or stepladder to get to the baskets as it is. 2. It helps hide that plumbing panel. He liked it in the end. 

The glass drink dispenser has Downy fabric softener in it. The glass bottles on the left hold bleach in one, vinegar in the other. Those were fun, until I accidentally grabbed the bleach instead of the vinegar and poured it into the softener dispenser... No damage to any laundry, thank goodness, but I if I'm going to use those bottles, they need labels first. 

You can see the little table on the left. It holds a tray with the big glass canister full of powdered laundry soap, and whatever doodads I find in pockets as I fill the washer. Between the washer and dryer is the folding drying rack that I put on the back deck or set up in the dining room for the laundry that needs to be air dried and isn't hung up. 

It's difficult to get a photo of that left wall in it's entirety. Here's the new shelf above the furnace and water heater closet doors. I painted the doors and trim to match the walls, so they blend in rather than stand out. 

The iron hanging bar is just high enough that the doors clear it and except for sliding the hangers one way or the other, nothing needs to be moved besides the table to access those, and that slides right out. 

This little table is actually half of a library table I got from my dad many years ago. The veneer was very damaged after he used it in his basement (damp) laundry area. Greg sliced it in half for me a few years back. I re-stained it for this room re-do, and it's perfect for this little nook. It does sit in front of the washer just a bit, but not enough to make it hard to get to the machine. 

So here's the "official" after photo. We added a third shelf above the washer/dryer, and a new rug. The floor needs to be done, but that waits until the kitchen floor gets done, so a rug it is. I don't show it, but we did replace the light as well. Not with the pretty decorative hanging light I was thinking I wanted at first, but a plain  LED "boob" light that makes it so I can see in there at night. I'm good with that. 

And here it is in it's current at-this-moment state. It's not as prettily arranged, but this is real life. It's still nicer to do laundry in here than the way it was before. 

It was so easy to lighten and brighten this space and make it pleasant to work in, and I'm really happy that I decided to empty those cupboards. 

Next up is the guest room - see you in a few days!

Catching Up

There hasn’t been a “week in photos” post in a few weeks because we’ve been busy and I haven’t taken many pics. Three weekends ago we began our very own version of Renovation Realities (a funny DIY network show about people doing their own home renovations). Greg is a very handy DIY-guy, and I’m a pretty good assistant for him. Jessica worked for a contractor a few years back, so she’s an even better assistant. Nick provided some much-needed muscle to get the project started. We found a couple of surprises that needed to be dealt with, and they could have been major, but fortunately were not. They just added a bit of extra work since Greg had to cut holes in the sheetrock and then repair those holes. We also added in a few things we hadn’t originally planned on which made for more sheetrock work and extra days. Then I lost a day to having my first wisdom tooth pulled unexpectedly.

What was the project? Initially it was simple – pull up the carpet in the living and dining rooms and hallway. Plank the dining room walls, then paint the dining room, living room, and hallway. Then lay a wood laminate floor in all of those areas. We figured a weekend and three or four days of the next week.

As these things go, “the project” has taken three weekends and 6½ week days. Oh, and it’s not done. There are little things to finish up. There are always little things to finish up, right? So when those little things are done and the place is put back together, I’ll do a blog post on the process and what all we did. In the meantime, here’s a pic of the “almost after”:

We love it, but I can tell I’m going to be a neurotic mess about that floor. Just warning you.

The boys’ preschool year wrapped up mid-May. Bradley has been gone for summer visitation for three weeks. He returns next weekend. We all miss him terribly, but we know he’s having a good time. Fortunately he was still here for Grampy’s birthday celebration.

The other day Silas told me he was “out of love-yous”, so I told him I’d refill his supply. There was a long stream of “Iloveyou, Iloveyou, IIoveyou…” – you get the idea. He thought that was wonderful and made me do it over and over again. I made him some hot glue letters and numbers to play with, and added some shapes as well. His fave was the heart and he used it to spread around some of those “Iloveyous” I gave him. (Just use a hot glue gun to make shapes/letters on parchment paper, let cool, then peel off.)

Little Layla Loula has been an angel while we’ve been pounding and painting and moving things all around. She didn’t like the loud stuff so much, but has been interested in all the activity. You know what else she’s interested in? Food. Jess started her on cereal, and after a couple of weeks I added in banana, and now she’s in love with avocado as well. She eats like a champ.

In between all this, there has been gardening, tooth pulling, doctoring, thunderstorms, and regular life on the prairie. This week the focus will be on putting the interior of the house back together. Woohoo, back to normal!