Step Into the Light

My living room is depressing and sad. My dad thinks it is perfect with it's old paneling but he doesn't spend most of his relaxing time in the dungeon. 

 

So I finally gave in and started to paint the living room, surrounded by 3 kids and a little help from my 14 year old niece. I started with trim and made it sparkling white, well after about 3 coats.

It was crazy how much of a difference just he trim made, so I was so excited about painting the rest. Not to mention, I got lucky... like really lucky! I found 2 gallons of Valspar Gravity paint at Lowe's in the oops paint section! I snatched those suckers ups so quick! 

I had no idea how long it was going to take to paint the paneling. Just to give you a description, it was fuzzy. You could feel the wood and it had a fuzzy/splintery texture. I also had to use a brush to paint all the knots and the very deep lines between the boards. I was still cooking dinner, getting kids to take naps, and referring fights.

But it was so worth it! Alaya is my personal model to show how much more livable the living room is after an airy paint job!

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Let There Be End Tables!

It seems that after all the items I have built, that I would be some sort of professional, but I'm not. I am a procrastinator and a little really lazy. I always have all these plans and things I need to do, but I rather just sit around and play with the kids or watch some Netflix. I try to get up and do things that make me feel complete, so I needed some end tables to put my glass of sweet tea so I asked for lumber for Mother's Day. My husband, Jonathan, has refused lumber as a gift for a year or two now, but he has finally given in and let me have what I want.  So I started on some Truss End Tables, with a couple of changes I made along the way.

I was so proud of these two, they were simple and so pretty. It took me a couple hours to put them together.

The Rustoleum Kona stain made them even better and the poly made them shine. I was so excited that soon as they were dry I ran one, well slowly waddled because it was heavy, to the house to see what it looked like!

Then I remembered the thing called a measuring tape. I had measured how long I wanted the table to be but forgot about the height and how short my couch was. Enter the mind cursing one more time! I am always distracted and in a rush to get something done that I screw it all up! So, I put them back in my shed and let them set there for an hour while I cooled off.

 I later went to the shed, ripped them apart (the glue destroyed them a bit) and then started cutting down and redoing everything! And BAM! I got it to fit perfectly. I didn't put the trusses back on because I couldn't get them to work right, but I love it like this. Alaya and Shila are known to hide under there and at some point I want to put trays under there as a shelf. Do you like my walls? I'll post on those also.

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The Coffee Table

When we bought our first house one of our first purchases was a sectional that did not hold up well to my jumping kids. They ripped the cushions at the seams by sliding down them onto the seats. Mason was known to walk across the back and then use the "slide" in certain spots, so the ripping happened in two different locations. Luckily the warranty covered it and we were able to pick out a new sectional. I don't know why I went with a new sectional, because I didn't like the sectional in our small living room anyways. This time I decided to get an OTTOMAN! I guess I wasn't thinking about all the jumping and bucking that happens in our house, because I would have known to not get an ottoman with my kids in the house. So our new couch was destroyed, it began to sag in a couple years due to the newly added trampoline. It was also stained and just plain icky. I hated when people sat down and seemed to just fall into the couch.

So we got a new one, one with a sofa bed so when our family comes down we have an extra place for guests.

The bed also makes up for the fact that Mimi and Pawpaw live with us when they are not in Illinois, so sleepovers happen via the living room! They bed to sleep there nightly.

 With a new couch, I needed a new coffee table and I'm not known to buy anything that I can make. So like any normal diy-er wanting to build a coffee table, I went to Ana-white.com and found  The Rustic X Coffee Table. I had actually been eyeing it for a while, but finally decided to take it on. 

It started off easy enough, a simple frame and I was on a roll!

Then I made it to the X and I was stuck... really stuck. I got this piece to work after a lot of mess ups and I couldn't get the other piece to look straight. I had so many cuss words I wanted to say, but Shila kept me in check. So I sat there and sat there and looked at other people's beautiful X tables and then tried more pieces of wood. 

Then like a miracle out of no where, The Triple Truss Coffee Table was posted during my mini melt down. It was like a calling from the diy gods, I was meant to make a simpler version of the table.  

It is nice, I know. I love it so much! Of course I had to stain and poly it. So I used a Rust-oleum stain in Kona. I ended up using a q-tip to get the stain down into the pocket holes. I had to stain inside because I have the 3 kiddos and I pushed being outside a little too much.

And here it is, the finished project! Along with a sneak peak at the end tables I made later on.

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Shila's Room Part 3: Shower Curtain... Curtains...

So I'm not much of a planner and not very organized, in other words I am random. I had been trying to figure out Shila's curtain situation for a little while and was going to end up just going white sheers to give it a clean look, but sometimes I find better things. So in a random shopping spree my mom talked me into going to JcPenney before a doctor's appointment and I found what I had been looking for.

CAKE! Okay so cake was the start of the good trip, but I found something better since the cake was a little too sugary for my taste, but not Shila's taste.

This shower curtain contained all the colors I wanted to add to Shila's room and had a fun hand drawn look to it, and there were two of them! Even better...

Clearance prices always make me smile and I was all grins knowing I could cover 2 windows for 10 bucks! So as my mom stared at me like I was crazy, I don't get my resourceful decorating skills from my mother, I purchased both shower curtains and took them home.

The next part was incredibly simple that even a crappy sewer could do it, me being the crapper sewer that is.  Since it was nicely folded by the factory I was able to find the center of the curtain easily and just used the already pressed fold to cut it into the two curtains.   Then hemmed the cut edges. Then with some spare ribbon I had left over from Shila's Rapunzel birthday party, I tied up the curtains.

And might I say, I LOVE THEM!

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Shila's Room Part 2: Painting a Little Girl's Room (Not Pink)

I'm in slow motion lately, I start to get things done and then I end up in a dead stop and waiting weeks to finish. I am so happy to be working on Shila's room since she has been stuck in her brother's room for almost a year and it is far from girly.  If it was up to Shila her entire room would be covered in pink and princesses but I know she won't love princess forever and a load of pink might make me a little dizzy when I go in to play.  So I wanted something colorful and bright, which defiantly reminds me of my lively 3 year old. So I went on a trip to Lowe's and looked through the paint samples and came across the perfect color.

It's called Dive In by Valspar and it is beautiful.
I've learned over the years the best thing to do is prep the space before you start painting. File in any holes and sand any rough spots, but our walls were hole free and professionally painted before we moved in so my big step was taping. It takes a little while and is pretty boring, but it is a must! And if you really want a clean line, by the green tape. I've tried all of them and haven't had a better edge than with my frog tape. In fact I still have to redo the dining room from where my beautiful navy blue bled through the blue tape.

So after a lot of tape and plenty of plastic on the floor I started with one wall at a time.  I trim out a wall and then use a roller to paint. This helps keep from a distinctive line around the trim from your paint drying and not blending. I also do it to feel like I completed something since I have to take many breaks checking on, feeding, and giving naps to the kids. This was were I got before my kids decided they were starving.

But withing a couple hours I was done! And I must say I love it so much. It goes great with all the pink things she wants in her room.

Now time to get the bed in!

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Shila's Room Part 1: Making a Camp Loft Bed

It's a little sad to say that we have lived in our house for 10 months and my 3 year old daughter is still bunking in Mason's room. For the longest her room has been a toy warehouse that we don't even really look at anymore.  So I finally got up the nerve to start on it. So during all the playing I have to keep in the back of my mind that even though this is Shila's room, she will one day be joined by her little sister, Alaya, so I might as well design with her in mind too. Even though I am known to change me mind on design constantly, I hope to make it were I would only need minimal changes to make me happy, I mean Shila...

Most smart people start with the paint, but I couldn't do something like that, I started with the bed! Shila had been telling me for months that she wants an up-bed like Mason so all I had to go on was she wanted have a bed where she climbed something to get into it. That is scary when I think about Shila, she is known to be clumsy.

When she was 2 years and 2 days we went on our daily walk to Mimi's house. I also took pictures on our walks through the country. Isn't she a doll, this kid is the cutest!

Well on the way back she started running and I yelled "Don't run! You'll fall!" Then she fell and busted her lip open. We spent the evening in the ER and 4 stitches later she looked like this.

It was a long and horrible night but luckily she verily has a scar and when she gets older a little lipstick will cover it. 

Then last year she was feeding the dogs with her daddy, she was sitting on the four wheeler while her daddy watered the dogs when she decided to climb off. She successfully got off the four wheeler, but broke her arm in the process. So a sad couple of nights in the hospital and a couple lovely drawings from Mason.

  

She spent her 3rd birthday like this...

Soooo, I don't know about bunk beds. Luckily I have and obsession with Ana White and spend hours looking at her page and planning all the things I can make but don't have the time too. I came across her plans for the Camp Loft Bed with Stairs and I knew it was meant to be. Then I procrastinated for months until I got a 50 dollar gift card for Lowe's and decided that was the perfect incentive to build her bed. So with the help of my dad I loaded all the lumber and kreg jig screws I needed and got started on the build.

 I started the project alone, but was soon criticized by my dad that I didn't perfectly level every thing so this is what I did by myself. It looks good to me!

Then my dad, Barney, stood by just to help hold things and include jack-A comments about what I was doing, but in my family sarcasm is how we show love. He was pretty helpful... 

Don't ask me why, but once I finished the bed and everyone came to see it, I really wanted a picture with my girls. I had been out in the dirty shed for hours and had no makeup and verily even brushed my hair, but if I waited to take pictures every time I looked amazing, I wouldn't have any.  So this is my glee to know I spent the day making something for two of the loves of my life and they seemed to enjoy it too.

Shila did more than Alaya!

Even Dottie loved it.

Now to finish the sanding, filling, and painting :( Alaya was my helper when it came to spraying the bed, not really she just watched me set up.

BAM! White bed! I love having a paint sprayer! It makes the process so simple, I just spray, sand, spray, sand. It takes a lot less time then with a brush or roller.

Isn't it beautiful???

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Duct tape table

Just let me apologize that the pictures aren't the best. There are two pictures that were taken years ago and the rest are from my phone since Shila has stolen my SD card for the millionth time.

Okay so sometimes I just get hit with genius, well what I think to be really good ideas. My husband usually stares at me like I'm an idiot when I start talking about what I can make or do, but he is a good sport and usually just says okay. The main reason is that I usually do things by myself unless I really get stuck or frustrated.  So one day a couple years ago I was with Shila, she was maybe 1 and a half, and we were going through our local thrift store when she saw something she had to have.

Oh yes a Wall-E table and chairs for tea parties. It is a great set, no tears or broken pieces, but it's yellow and has Wall-E on it! So I went to Walmart one day and found a table cloth and cut it up and put it on table and presto! great table and chairs!

THENNNN WE GOT CATS! And before I knew it the cats had found the perfect place to claw it's nails into. Before we knew it they had pulled giant holes out of the table cloth and it looked like this.

It was pretty gross and it sat like this for awhile. So one day I was at Michael's and I stared at the duct tape for a couple minutes. So I bought 2 colors, white and pink, and started to work out how I was going to use them. Like most people, I am obsessed with chevron patterns.  I find myself wanting to do a chevron pattern on anything but I have not put it into my house yet, so I thought this would be perfect way.

So I unscrewed all the pieces I wanted to fix and removed all of the nasty table cloth parts. With the chairs I just started by covering a top corner with one piece of tape and working out from then. The best tip is to use a good pair of scissors, mine were HORRIBLE and took longer than it should.

Isn't it beautiful! I still needed to respray the metal pieces, but I'm the only person who seems to see the yellow popping out. The table was the hard part that need some real thought and .... math :(

So I pulled out the ruler and pen and got started with a simple triangle and worked from there. 

It took an hour and a half, in the middle of the night, on my bed, to get it finished but I really enjoyed the process. When I was done I was really happy with how it turned out and Shila was even more excited.

Ugggg so much better! 

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